Second Wedding Ring Found on Beach Volleyball Court – Milwaukee, WI
It was Monday evening, April 10th. Milwaukee resident, Matt Duellmann, was enjoying playing beach volleyball at Fat Daddy’s, the popular Sport’s Pub in Milwaukee. He was there with his good friend and volleyball teammate, Gabe Stoltz. That’s when Matt’s white-gold wedding ring flew off his hand. Matt had worn it for nearly two years. Despite searching with rakes and using a metal detector, Matt’s ring eluded discovery.
To make matters worse, just 5-minutes before, Matt’s friend and teammate, Gabe Stoltz, felt his tantalum wedding ring leave his hand. Both rings vanished in the deep sand.
I was getting ready for bed when I received a text message from Gabe’s wife letting me know about the two lost wedding rings. Could I assist? Over the years I’ve learned that time is of the essence with lost ring searches. And so, I arranged to meet Gabe on location within the hour, arriving around 11:00 p.m.
I performed a quick forensic overview of the events leading up to the ring losses. Gabe showed me where he was standing when the ring vanished and I could see the tell-tail rake marks in the sand.
As is so often the case, the volleyball court was full of metallic debris, coins, foil wrappers, pull tabs and bottle caps. But knowing the conductivity value of tantalum, I could safely ignore many of these signals. Finally, a deep, but clean tantalum-signal invited investigation. Sure enough, it was Gabe’s ring! 
We then quickly moved to the area where Matt had lost his ring. A systematic grid search brought his white-gold ring to light as well. Two losses, two searches, two finds and two grateful smiles!
Trish called and said she was at the beach with her son Shawn, his ring slipped off his finger in shoulder deep water. It was a large med school ring that I figured wouldn’t travel to far due to its size. She gave me all the details and that she also spoke to the lifeguards, and they were going to keep an eye open for it. Luckily we have had very light breezes, and a pretty calm surf for New Jersey. We arranged to meet at the next low tide, and that’s where I started, right at the waters edge. After one pass I went right into the trough, it wasn’t easy working there with the waves breaking, and the strong moon current pulling. I only worked a small area because the life guards had pointed to the spot they were standing when the ring slipped off. I got a nice strong signal and prayed it wasn’t a penny, knowing the ring was quite large, and would signal the same. With a few small shakes to clear the sand I felt klunk, klunk, and was almost certain it was the ring, YES!!!!!!! it was. This ring is extremely special, Shawn’s dad had given it to him for his Med School graduation, and unfortunately he passed last year. 
