Michael Van Tassell, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 5

Lost Wedding Ring Found After a Year at the Bottom of the Lake- Provo, Utah

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I received a call from a woman who had lost her wedding ring in Utah lake. The only issue was that she lost it in August of 2022 when the lake was 47% full. With the great snow year we had here in Utah, the lake is currently 87% full. She was walking on the rocks when she made a quick move to catch herself and the ring flew off her finger into the water. Utah lake is a shallow lake and because of that, the visibility is less than 6 inches. I decided since I would not be able to see in the water to set my discrimination on my minelab equinox to only get signals from 9-13. I used a couple of rocks for markers from where she sent me pictures of where she was standing. I tried my best to grid back and forth picking up a few lead sinkers and then I finally got a decent hit on the detector. I took my glove off to feel for the item and immediately realized it was a ring. Could it be her ring? After returning to the surface I looked down and sure enough it was!

After almost 14 months at the bottom of the lake, It is back where it belongs! So happy for you Melanie and thanks for reaching out to me!

 

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Another Apple Watch Proactively Returned to Owner- Utah

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I have spent almost 10 hours under the water looking for a lost ring for a gentleman who lost it the day after he got married. Every time I have dove in the area, I have found other items to return. So far I have returned two apple watches and an iphone 13 from that location. On my last dive, I found 7 apple watches in the area but only 3 would turn on after being dried out for a week in a bag of rice. Of the three, only one had medical ID information which lead me to the owner who lived out of state. I love proactive recoveries cause most people have given up ever seeing their items again. She was so grateful to me for reaching out and sending her lost item as she was preparing to buy another apple watch!

Make sure to fill out your medical ID info on your wearables, you may never know when it might come back to you!

Full video of the recovery and return:

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After 51 Days in the Lake, Found Owner of Apple Watch Ultra Near Kamas, Utah

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After my last post where I dove down to find a lost apple watch and came back with 10 total apple watches, I started to dry them all out and see which ones would charge. Now the thing with apple watches is that if they have a medical ID info or are not locked, I can usually find the owner. I have returned 3 proactively over the last year. After drying them out for almost a week, only 3 powered back on and only one had the medical ID information. I was able to find the contact information and reached out with a short clip from my dive and letting them know I had found their apple watch. I was surprised to find out that the apple watch in question had been in the water for 51 days!!! It was an apple watch ultra and was lost while on a backpacking trip in the mountains. He had tried to find someone that would scuba dive to find it but gave up hope. It was so awesome to meet up with him and return it! Please check out the second half of the video to see this happy reunion!

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Lost Apple Watch in the Lake Near Kamas, Utah- Found

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I received a call from a gentleman who had just lost his apple watch that day in a lake above Kamas, Utah. The lakes in the area are well over 10,000 feet elevation making the water extremely cold. After seeing a few videos and explaining where to look, I made the 1.5 hr drive to the location. I then had to hike about a mile to get to the lake with over 60 lbs of equipment to dive. After getting set up, I could see that the clouds were rolling in so I decided to get in and get out as fast as possible. I was looking for a white band apple watch so it should stick out. Well it just so happened I stumbled into an apple watch graveyard cause after about 20 minutes, I came up with 10 apple watches, 2 sun glasses, and 2 other watches. Fortunately one of the 10 apple watches was his!!!

Later that night, we were able to meet up and after a stressful 24 hours, he had his apple watch back on his wrist! Hopefully I can find a few of the owners to the other 9 apple watches!

Full Video on Youtube:

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Massive 3+ Karat Diamond Ring lost in Alpine, Utah- Found

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On Saturday, I was heading to run some errands with my 2 year old when I received a call regarding a lost diamond wedding ring. While babysitting a neighbor’s puppy, She went out into the yard to do some yardwork and took off her rings. After finishing, she went back to where she had put down her rings and could only find the wedding band. She went back inside to review the security camera footage and saw that the puppy had gone over to where she had put down the rings and immediately thought the puppy had swallowed the ring. In a panic she rushed the puppy over to the vet to have x-rays done. When the x-rays came back negative, she searched all night around the backyard for the ring but was unsuccessful. She even borrowed a metal detector from a neighbor but still no sign of the ring.

Since I typically have my detector in the car for situations like this one, I quickly drove over there to see if I could help. I met her and her sister and went over the area of where potentially it was lost. They were so kind to bring out some toys and watch over my son while I detected the grass. Fortunately, It took only about 10 minutes to locate the beautiful 3 Karat diamond ring. As you can see by the video below, everyone was very happy! Enjoy!

 

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Lost Cell Phone in 40 Feet of Water Above Heber, Utah- Found

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I received a call regarding a lost iphone at the bottom of a lake above Heber Utah. While celebrating their wedding anniversary, they decided to take a canoe around the lake. The lake was located in the Uintah mountains which was above 7800 feet elevation. While out on the canoe, a bee flew around her and since she is allergic to bees, she went to swat the bee away and her iphone fell out into the water. Cell phones can be easily replaced but what can’t be is the photos and memories that are on them. She hadn’t backed up her iphone is over a year so with the loss of cell phone, the stress of losing all those fun memories came with it. Also the newer model cell phones seem to be a little more water resistant so I knew if I could get up their quickly, there was a good chance the phone could still work.

I made the 100 mile drive the next day and met Patricia and her family near where the cell phone was lost. We had to hike a fair way to get to the location and carrying all the dive gear and detectors was quiet a journey. The water was also very cold due to the high elevation and recent run off from the winter. They were told it was about 25-30 feet of water so I geared up and used my Air Buddy dive system to get down to the bottom. The bottom was full of dead branches and bushes and probably only had 1-3 feet of visibility on the bottom which is not uncommon for around here. I dove for about 30 minutes and then came up to let the sediment at the bottom of the lake settle down. On my second dive, I went a little further down (35-40 feet) and as I was cruising along the bottom detecting, I could see the edge of what looked like a cell phone sticking out of the sediment. Sure enough it was  the iphone! I quickly returned to the surface and presented the phone back to Patricia who was so happy to see it. 48 hours later, I received an update from her that after sitting in a bag of rice, the phone did manage to charge back up. She was able to get all those great memories back and I couldn’t be happier for her and her family!

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Lost Titanium Wedding Ring in St. George, Utah- Found

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After a windy weekend in St. George, Utah, I received two calls regarding lost rings. I made plans to make the 300 mile road trip down to St. George, Utah the following weekend to help look for them. While I was getting ready to leave, I saw a post about a 3rd lost ring at a local lake in the area. Since I was already headed down, I figured I would proactively reach out and see if I could help. Sad part about all three missing rings is that the people did things right. Each person had taken their rings off to get into the lake and while in the water, the winds came up and blew either their tent or bag where they had placed their rings. This was the case with this one as he had put his titanium ring in the tent and went to go play with his kid. The wind picked up the tent and in the process the ring fell out into the sand.

After getting permission from the local authorities, I matched up his picture with the landscape and started to grid off the area. I covered the entire area but didn’t find the ring. I started to think that maybe it didn’t fall out with the wind but that it fell out after they were leaving the lake. I started to grid off the beach area from the parking lot to where they had put down the tent. Sure enough, the lost titanium ring was about 50 feet back towards the parking lot in the opposite direction of where the wind blew the tent. Over the years of returning lost items, I have learned to apply alternative scenarios from where people tell me and it’s amazing how often the ring or item is not where they thought they lost it. I could have easily chalked this one up to someone picking the ring up cause it wasn’t in the normal search area described but glad I was able think outside the box and that lead to another great recovery! We met up later that afternoon and he was so happy to see his wedding ring! Check out the video below!

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Lost Diamond Gold Ring in South Jordan, Utah- Found

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Received a call from a lady regarding a lost diamond gold ring that had been given to her by a late uncle. She received this ring when she lived in Iran and had it on her finger for several years. While playing volleyball in the park with friends and family, she went to hit the ball and the ring popped right off her finger. They spent the next several hours looking for it and even went out and got a metal detector but were unable to locate the ring. That is when she found me online and we made plans that night to go search for it before the park services started to mow the lawn.

With just an hour of light left in the day, I met her at the location and started to grid off the area. Parks are historically very trashy areas so there were a lot of low tone signals. Small gold rings will give off a signal very similar to a pull tab or small piece of aluminum. As the sun was setting, I got a good hit on the detector and sure enough it was the ring! It had flown 20+ feet from the area of where they were playing volleyball. Her reaction when I brought it to her is the whole reason I love doing this! Check out the video below!

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Lost Massive Silver Ring with Moonstone in Salt Lake City- Found

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I received a call about a massive silver ring with a beautiful moonstone that was lost in Salt Lake City near Hogle Zoo. I decided to drive up there right after getting the call knowing that larger items are easier to spot and get picked up by others. He mentioned to me that he was there with some friends and went to give a buddy a high five and the ring just came flying off his finger. It was a gift from another friend and very sentimental to him. He spent a good period of time looking for the ring before reaching out.

When I arrived we went back to where he was sitting and started to grid off the area. Silver is a very high tone signal which makes it easier to filter out on the detector. The issue was that the Cottonwood trees were in full bloom and so there was a thin layer of cotton fluff all over the ground which made the silver ring blend into the surroundings. After understanding where he was sitting and the trajectory the ring could have taken, I started to grid out about 50 feet to make sure I covered the area. It took me about 15 minutes to locate the ring. As you can see on the video, the ring was camouflaged very well in the cottonwood fluff that was all over the ground. I’m super happy to get this beautiful ring back to him! Thanks for reaching out!

Please check out the full recovery on the YouTube channel:

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Lost Diamond Gold Ring Found After Being Lost for 2 Years in Ogden, Utah

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I received a call from Lou regarding his lost ring in Ogden Utah. He explained that he had been working in the yard and at some point the ring came off his finger. They tried searching through the weeds he was pulling and even got a metal detector to help with the search. It was a gold ring with 3 diamonds through the middle and he referred to it as his “old friend” since it had been with him for 23 years. He also told me that he had lost it two years ago and was looking to replace it but wanted to give it one last attempt.

When I arrived at his house, he showed me the area he had been pulling weeds and since it was along the side of the house, I knew there would be a fair amount of interference. I used my smaller coil and started to grid off the area. After a couple pieces of trash, I got a very clean signal close to the surface about 6 feet from where Lou was working. I brushed some dirt back and sure enough, it was his ring! The search took about 15 minutes. After 2 years of being lost, Lou has is “old friend” back!!! So happy Lou gave me a call.

You can watch the recovery on my YouTube channel- Massive Gold Ring Found After 2 Years of Being Lost

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