Scott Guise, Author at The Ring Finders

August 17 2017  in the Big Darby Creek at Trapper Joe’s Canoe Livery in Grove City, Ohio.  Craig Ziecina and I traveled and met one another (He from Michigan and I from Virginia) to find Janelle’s lost ring.  The story is as follows as best I can remember:

Janelle’s house burned down and shortly after her now Husband proposed to her with his Mother’s engagement ring.  They decided to go to the canoe livery (they live in Columbus, Ohio) to try and relieve some stress from the house fire.  No sooner had they put in, the canoe hit a log and flipped over and when she came up her ring was gone.  While her coworkers and even her boss told her not to call any of us (which makes no sense) for fear we would steal the ring (or it would stay lost right?) she did.  She told me that it was lost a month ago in the river, when actually it had been 4 months but she was worried that I wouldn’t try to help her.  After explaining that we find things lost for years etc., I started to get information about this place form her point of view and where the canoe flipped, the bottom composition as she remembered it, and the speed/condition of the river at the time.  She mentioned that the river was very high and moving very fast. When we arrived months later it was a lot lower however still very strong.  I called Craig to help me dive for this, because as we all know, fast moving water is a hazard in and of itself.  Getting trapped was not what I wanted of course.  While the river was very low and we probably looked like a couple of morons with tanks sticking out of the water, I knew it would be the best way to keep the search going, knowing the bottom composition would change rapidly and in eddies, the silt etc., doesn’t just flow downstream.  At any rate, the ring was found by both Craig and I (checking each other’s signals) in a pocket 5 feet away from where she flipped (gold is 25X heavier than water).  We also found 6 Iphones which I gave all to Craig to help with his expenses.

Janelle couldn’t believe it until I sent her a picture of the ring (after she described it again) and we met an hour later down the road.  She brought reward money, “This is all we have for the rest of the month” and with her baby in her hand and knowing her story, I declined any payment.  It was a great experience, and again, paying it forward.  By the way, I also found this little guy (the turtle) about 10 feet away from the ring and surfaced with both. 🙂

Since we moved to Lexington, Virginia the ring finding has been pretty null and void as most people aren’t aware of our capabilities and give up before asking for help.  Yesterday I got a call from Veronica while I was in an Instructor Class and she seemed hesitant but also wanting to receive my help.  I kept in touch with her throughout the day through text to get information while I was in class.  I went out early this morning to Smith Mountain Lake, VA to help Veronica find her white gold 1 carat wedding ring she lost a couple days ago.   She mentioned her party did try to buy a metal detector on craigslist yesterday (not waterproof) for about $100.00 to try and find it and were not successful.  I explained to her how this is not just something anyone can do with the wrong equipment let alone lack of experience and explained some of the processes that some of us use to build rapport and make it less of a business transaction and more personal.  I found the ring in about 20 minutes which was awesome, but I also came up out of the lake with a ton of metal trash in a very short time, of which I showed her.

So glad I could help her out before they had to leave around noon today. She was very grateful, learned there are still some honest people in the world, and I really appreciate the reward she gave us for finding the ring. First find of the season and a success.   She also doesn’t live too far away so hopefully word of mouth will get the ball rolling.

   Thank you again Veronica!!

Link for first video –