Paul Miederhoff, Author at The Ring Finders

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)

Lost wedding band found after 30 years in Lake of the Ozarks
Rose contacted me about looking for her deceased husbands wedding band. It had slipped off his finger while he was swimming by their private dock at their summer home on Lake of the Ozarks. The loss occurred 30 years ago. They had wanted to have someone search for the ring but could think of no one until Rose heard about The Ringfinders.
We came up with a plan to get permission from the current owner of the property, then meet there to search for the ring. I was expecting mud and tree debris on the bottom but there was none. The water clarity and temperature was nice.
I want to commend Rose for thinking to bring pictures of what the search area looked like 30 years ago before the new boat dock was built. With planning and good diving conditions, I found the ring within 30 minutes!
Upon seeing the overwhelming emotion expressed by Rose at that point, I was extremely grateful that I was able to finally connect her with the ring that meant so much to her.

Found lost gold cross necklace at Lake Of The Ozarks Mo

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)

Lost gold cross necklace at Lake Of The Ozarks Mo.

Deb contacted me wanting to know if I would look for a gold cross necklace. The necklace belonged to her teenage nephew and had fallen through the crack of their boat dock. I explained that I was quite certain that I would find it.
We discussed fee and expenses, then agreed to meet on Sunday. Upon arrival and after setting up the equipment, we lowered a small rope with a rock as a weight to the spot were the necklace went down. Using this method I was able to follow the rope down. The rock was positioned exactly above the necklace. Checking with my divers light yielded no result due to the area having been disturbed by previous attempts at finding the necklace. I then used my Garret pinpointer probe and immediately located the necklace. This only took about five minutes. I love it when a good plan comes to fruition!

Lost ring in Cape Girardeau Mo.

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)

Dillon lost his Damascus wedding band while playing in the back yard with his dog. The next day, I showed him how to use my Garrett GTA 350 detector and I used my Teknetics T2. He actually found the ring himself in a few minutes. I have had this happen before. Searching as a team can save time because the ring owner knows were to look. Dillon was not only pleased with having his ring back. He also enjoyed the pleasure of metal detecting.

Another Ringfinders successful recovery
Paul J Miederhoff
theringfinders.com

Lost watch in a private pond near Fairdealing and Poplar Bluff Mo

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)

My metal detecting friends Dale and Brian asked if I would help find a submerged watch for Preston. The watch was given to Preston 25 yrs. ago by his mother. It had fallen into his private pond about 2 yrs. ago.
On arrival Dale helped me set up the diving equipment and acted as my safety watch. Brian provided moral support while sitting in the shade and drinking a sports drink. The watch was found under the dock in about 10 minutes.
The dive was somewhat pleasant due to the 97 degree day, except for the pesky little bluegill that kept biting me.
A

Lost wedding ring in The Lake Of The Ozarks

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)


So, the amazing wasp sting was not the only excitement from the 4th! The final chapter was closed today – and E and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

On Saturday, July 1, the day could not have started off any better, kids playing and getting along. Then Stacy Van Iten, Bob, and myself heard the “oh no!” from Erica. Drop…..splash……in goes her wedding ring, to the bottom of the lake of the ozarks! Lucky for us, it was less than 10′ under the dock. Unlucky for us, it was Ozark water.

No sweat, we have insurance. I looked for it with a colander for a while sifting through inches of leaves, nothing. We tried a magnet, no luck. We had an offer to wait till the water recedes and use a metal detector – good plan! We go on about our weekend with great friends.

Fast forward to July 3, we are on our way home, and reality set in. The ring meant more to us than a replacement, the engagement, the wedding, and the anniversary band! Tears started flowing down her cheek – I had to do more.

I called the local dive shop and hired them to dive down to search for it. I drove all the way home, turned around and drove back down to the lake to meet the diver in the morning of July 4th. JJ went down with scuba gear with no luck – over an 1.5 hour dive.

I was disheartened, but needed to do more. I get on https://theringfinders.com/ and search for all the individuals listed in MO: called and talked to a gentleman in Lee’s Summit, Warrensburg, and Cape Girardeau. It was only when I spoke to Paul J. Miederhoff that I was assured he could find it. He actually told me “piece of cake” and to tell Erica he will find her ring! Wow – let’s do it I thought!

On July 5th, Paul starts his journey to the lake. He arrives and it is raining so he waits a while. He dives for 2 hours with a metal detector no luck. Since he was so far away, I agreed to get him a hotel. He text me that night saying he would find it in the morning, “I am confident” he reassures me. At this point, erica and I were planning for the worse case scenario – buying a new ring.

On July 6th, Paul again show up to start the search. He dives and pulls of plenty of debris, nuts, and bolts. I go about my day at work, in meetings here and there. I walk back to my desk and my phone is ringing, it was Bob. I thought he was calling to tell me that Paul was done and they could not find it. He asks me “did I get his text” I said “what text?” He asked me to check to see if it was the ring, I was absolutely blown away – THEY FOUND IT!

A gentleman I had never met before, not paid a dollar – drove over 200 miles to search for a wedding ring that plunged into LOZ! “Piece of Cake” Paul saved a really important piece of “us”!

Thank you Paul J. Miederhoff of The Ring Finders. If you know anyone that loses a ring, please have them get on RF and search for someone in their area to help! We lucked out and found Paul!

A special thanks Bob, Stacy, Al, Dottye, Jim, Brett, and Brooke for putting up with the craziness that ensued after we lost the ring!

Photo 1: Picture of “Piece of Cake” Paul and Erica – he drove all the way to Liberty and even agreed to meet us at Nile’s T-ball game!

Photo 2: And the ring back in it’s rightful place!

https://theringfinders.com/directory/us/mo

Lost Wedding ring in Timberline Lake Mo.

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)

Wedding ring lost in Lake Timberline Mo.

Hi Chris,
I know you must be a busy person and probably get lots of emails but I hope you take the time to read this one.
I am writing you to thank you for starting “The ring finders”! Well I really can’t thank you enough! Last weekend I had the privilege of working with someone in your organization and I would like to share my experience with you and pretty much anyone else that will listen!
Last Saturday My husband, 2 children and I went to a family members house that lives on lakefront property. I have a 6 year old son and 2 year old daughter. Neither of them can swim and I didn’t anticipate getting in the water. We were just going down for the fireworks and I thought we may have time for a boat ride. However, there were other family members there along with their children and they did get into the water. The other children were running and jumping into the lake when all of a sudden my son (I assume was trying to fit in with the older kids) ran and jumped in as well! Like I said, I was not planning on getting in the water so I was still fully clothed with my jewelry & everything when my son jumped in. I instantly jumped in after him and when I was making my way to my son, I felt my wedding ring slide off the tip of my finger but I kept going because I had to save my son!
After I did get my son, I cried hysterically to my husband about my ring and he had everyone get out of the water in hopes that he could find it since I had a pretty good idea of where I was when it came off. I was in about 5 foot of water and it was a very murky lake with mud, rocks & seashells all along the bottom. My husband looked until the sun went down while I looked after our kids but he had no luck. We cried the whole way home that night and basically told each other we knew it was hopeless to look for it but we couldn’t live knowing we didn’t try everything we could to find it.
This ring meant more to me than any other possession I’ve ever owned! My husband had purchased it before we had children and there was no way we could have financially replaced it living paycheck to paycheck like we do now. My husband told me that night he was heart broken that I didn’t have a ring to wear anymore. I felt so guilty for losing it though, I didn’t even feel I deserved a ring! It was more than just a financial thing though! That was my wedding ring! It was a ring my husband had created and designed all himself, it was the ring he purposed to me with, the one he exchanged vows to me with and I never took it off. The thought of living without it was absolutely devastating! I was physically ill over it and it was the worst day of my life!
My husband decided to go back down to the lake in the morning with an under water metal detector he was able to borrow from his grandpa. I had to stay behind with our kids and I felt so helpless! All I had done was cry and pray! I had never prayed so much in my life!
As I sat and cried I thought I could do some research online & maybe some how help. I am the type of person that googles everything! I remember thinking how stupid it was to google “how to find a ring in a lake” because it was impossible! To my surprise I came across videos of you doing just that! I was then desperate to find you so I went to your website and then realized there were ring finders all over the world. I was able to find Paul Miederhoff in Cape Girardeau Mo! It was 8:00 in the morning on a Sunday though. My husband then called me and said he couldnt get his metal detector working so i panicked and called Mr. Miederhoff! To my suprise he answered his phone at 8 in the morning on a Sunday. I told him what happened and he dropped everything he had planned that day immediately and drove 100 miles on a holiday weekend which also happened to be his wedding anniversary and jumped in a lake to look for my ring! I couldn’t believe someone would do that for me, a complete stranger! I had called him at 8 AM and he was in the lake by noon! He told me he would find my ring and to be honest I didn’t think it was possible but I figured we had to try! Within 30 minutes of being in the lake, he did in fact find it! I couldn’t believe it! I was so happy, I fell to the floor crying! I am incredibly grateful to you for starting this organization and to Paul for what he did! I had no clue there was anyone that offered this type of service. When I prayed to find my ring, I didn’t realize God would literally send me an angel to answer my prayers! That’s the only explanation I have! I’ve never met anyone so selfless and caring, Paul must really be an angel! I will be eternally grateful to him for what he did and I just had to share my story with you as I can’t sing his praises enough! There really are no words for what he did for me! I don’t know if there is anything I can do for you or him but I would love to write a review or testimonial or anything else I can do! I just can’t say enough great things about him! Not only did he give me back my most priceless possession but just the fact that he dropped everything and came to my rescue like some kind of super hero! I’m still in amazement! I have taken over a week to write this email just because I can’t find the words to express my gratitude! To be honest, I don’t know if I could have went on with my day to day life and functioned without my ring, I feel like when he found my ring, he also kept me from going down into a dark depression! Well I hope you have read this whole email and see how Paul was able to represent you and your company! I truly believe he is an angel that was sent to answer my prayers and I can’t thank you both enough! Please let me know if there is any way in the future that I can recommend your services or just share my experience with others.

Thank you,
Kimberly

Ring lost in the Lake Of The Ozarks Mo.

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)

Lost ring in Lake Of The Ozarks Mo.

I received a call from Dave on July 4 as I was traveling to recover a ring in Illinois. He said his wife saw the ring fall into the water just inches from the boat dock. What a sinking feeling that must have been!
Upon learning that the location was just 7ft deep with a fairly solid bottom, I told Dave “piece of cake, I can be there tomorrow”. The trip is 4.5 hrs. therefore Dave said he would check for a place to stay the night.
Dave had asked his best friend Bob and Bob’s dad (property owner) to assist me in finding the ring. Upon my arrival we set up the diving equipment and started the search. I quickly realized that there were some adverse conditions involved with using a metal detector. We knew where
the ring went down but it wasn’t sitting there on top of the leaves, twigs, limbs, logs and misc. metal trash. The ring had sank deeper due to being disturbed from previous attempts at finding it!
We soon resorted to drilling holes in my 5 gal. bucket and then using it to bring up mud. Bob and his dad scanned the mud with my spare detector. Upon dumping the 18th bucket of mud they saw the shine of a beautiful triple wedding ring. Their mood changed from frustration to intense jubilation. I drove 3 hrs. to personally return the ring to Erica and Dave who had been at work the last couple days. To finally meet this great couple was a very pleasant experience.
It needs to be stressed to everyone to not disturb the site of a ring lost under water. Just get with theringfinders.com.
I enjoy the challenge of solving problems which others have attempted. I especially enjoy the smiles I get upon returning a very cherished piece of someone’s life.

Lost ring at Timberline lake Mo.

  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)