how to find lost ring in river Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost Wedding Ring Found After 17 Months in the River near Richfield, Utah

Back in the summer, I was tagged in a post of Facebook regarding a lost titanium wedding ring that was lost while tubing the river in July of 2022. As he was exiting the river, he reached out to grab the only rock that was above the water line at the time and his ring slid off his finger. His wife posted the story and location of where he lost it and over the several months, many local detectorists went looking for it. I started to do a lot of research on the river trying to compare the water levels to the day he lost it to when it would be a good time to go looking for it. The location was about a 2 hour drive from my house so I wanted to make sure the conditions would be best to locate it. I reached out to a local adventure guide service in the area and they gave me the data on the river and when historically it’s at its lowest point. His wife was hopeful that one day the ring would make it back to them and so I reached out to her letting her know I was going to go search for it and the research I had done.

The day I went to search for the ring, the river was lower and moving slower than the day he lost it so I was hopeful that it could be found. Last winter season produced the largest runoff Utah had ever seen on record so my theory was that the ring would be near the rock he reached out for unless the runoff took it down stream. The area was under a small bridge so I knew there would be a lot trash in the area. When I got to the river, I focused in and around two large rocks that I had determined would have been sticking out of the river when he was there. I removed several pieces of trash and then got a faint signal under a large rock just two feet from the rock in question. I couldn’t reach under it so I had to move the 2.5 foot rock out of the way. Sure enough it was a ring!!! The post said there was an engraving inside the ring that read “Julie’s Dave”. The ring was black from being in the river but it matched the description. Not knowing if it was the correct ring, I search for a little longer in the area but nothing else was found. When I got home, I cleaned the ring and to my astonishment, I saw the engraving and confirmed it was the lost ring that had been in the river for 17 months. I reached out to her and later that week met up and returned the ring! What an amazing experience! Check out the video below to see how it all came together!

 

Lost Gold Wedding Band… Found in Annapolis, Maryland’s Severn River

  • from Washington (District of Columbia, United States)

Justin’s Handsome 14 Karat Gold Wedding Band Shining Above the Waters of the Severn River!

Justin and One of His Sons Proudly Displaying the Very Large Wedding Band that Had Settled to the Bottom of the Severn River for Almost Two Weeks!

BRIAN RUDOLPH, LOST ITEM RECOVERY SPECIALIST (LAND, WATER, SAND, HOUSES & VEHICLES) WILL FIND YOUR LOST KEEPSAKE! CALL ASAP (301) 466-8644!

I received a phone call from a gentleman named Justin who explained to me that he lost his 14 karat yellow gold wedding band while he was playing with his children in the Severn River located in Annapolis, Maryland. The family loves to visit grandma and grandpa who live in the Sherwood Forest community which overlooks the beautiful water. Justin went on to explain that he was picking up his children and throwing them into the water when he believed that he saw his wedding band fly off his finger. The desperate man attempted to dive to the bottom of the river to see if he could claim his most precious keepsake, but unfortunately he couldn’t find the ring anywhere. Justin realized at that point that there was no other possibility of recovering his ring other than contacting a professional metal detectorist who could either search while wading in the water or dive below to recover the band. He looked online and found the elite international metal detecting service directory called THE RING FINDERS. There were two detectorists in his area, so he contacted a fellow out his way and then the other was me, Brian Rudolph.

Once I heard the entire story of what happened to Justin’s ring, I shared with the gentleman that I would be more than happy to help him recover this lost keepsake. He expressed that he wanted to get it back as soon as possible. I thought that was very “chivalrous” of him because he wanted the symbol of his love back on his finger right away! That’s how much he loves his wife! We set up a time for me to come out to the private gated community sometime in the afternoon the following day. I couldn’t wait to get into the water. Justin said that the water was approximately five to six feet in depth when he was playing with his children at the time that the ring got lost in the water. This fellow measured around 6 feet, 2 inches tall, so he didn’t feel uncomfortable in the deeper section off of the private beach along the pier area.

I mentioned to Justin that if the tide brought in a depth of water over 5 feet, 2 inches or more, I would most likely have to return with air supply so that I could dive for the ring. He thought that I would be able to recover the item without having to bring dive gear. We exchanged information and I told him that I couldn’t wait to meet the family and return this very special piece of property to his hand once again.

Early the next morning, I was woken up by a phone call from the other metal detectorist who serves the Annapolis, Maryland area. I didn’t know who the gentleman was because I had never met the other detectorist, but once he explained who he was, he went on to share that he had just come out of the Severn River and was unable to recover Justin’s wedding band. Even for the 6 foot tall detectorist, the water was too deep and his metal detector stopped working when it got flooded by water entering its inner housing compartment. Even though it was a waterproof detector, the Severn River got the best of it. Apparently, the fellow got called out to help prior to my call and he wanted to let me know what I would be up against when I would come out later that day. The guy was shivering and I felt so bad that he endured such conditions trying to help dear old Justin.

After thanking the detectorist for calling me and giving me the update, I called the client and the two of us discussed a new strategy. Instead of me coming out that particular day and experience water that would be too deep for me to wade in the river, I decided that the best thing to do would be to bring out my air supply and dive for the ring. Justin was completely on board and he was willing to wait another week until I had my new trailer hitch attached to the vehicle so I could haul my additional equipment (my other car died six months earlier and I needed a new receiver attached to my latest vehicle). I greatly appreciated his patience as it would take a few extra days to get an appointment at the hitch center.

We had talked on a Monday and we were hoping by Saturday I could get out to the river and conduct the recovery. Unfortunately, I would not be able to have the hitch put on until later that Saturday afternoon, and therefore we would have to postpone the search for another day. Then, weather conditions got rough during the following week and it wasn’t until Friday of that week (11 days after Justin initially called me) that I was able to make the trip to Annapolis, Maryland to conduct the recovery operation.

Finally, the day arrived when I was able to meet up with Justin and his family out by the private community beach and conduct the search for Justin’s missing wedding band. The day was simply picture-perfect! There were only blue and sunny skies and it felt warm and comfortable outside.

I couldn’t wait to get in the water! I arrived at the gated community around 4:15pm on that Friday afternoon. Justin met me outside the gate and I then followed him into Sherwood Forest as he took me to the private beach area where he believed he saw the ring fly off his finger. I will never forget how exclusive I felt as I drove behind Justin’s vehicle and passed the community golf course and country club, along with exquisite homes and beautiful landscaping all about. Eventually everything in front of me opened up to this most magnificent natural painting of God’s gorgeous creation of the vast water of the Severn River with sailboats and other vessels moving across the water as people enjoyed their summer fun! We drove parallel with the river and finally we reached the parking area where the beach was located.

There were plenty of people in the water and enjoying the summer day. It was hot outside and delightful in every regard. I loved seeing all the activity with families and children moving about along the shore. Children were enjoying their play time in the water, as well.

As soon as we both parked, Justin and I officially met one another “face mask to face mask” and then he promptly took me onto the pier, which was perpendicular to the lovely sandy beach. He walked me all the way to the very end of the boards and it was there that he pointed out towards the water where Justin claimed that he saw his ring slip off his finger and head down below. I didn’t waste any time and immediately got into the river and checked out my surroundings. Obviously, the tide was being good to me as I was able to still have my head above water. I realized that my six-foot metal detectorist friend who came out nearly 2 weeks earlier didn’t have such favor. It turned out that I didn’t need to use the air supply after all based on what I discovered regarding the tide flow at that point in the day.

I looked at Justin and I said to him, “What’s the big deal here? Let’s do this!” He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. I told him this was no big deal and I headed back to the car to pull out all of my gear. I couldn’t wait to recover Justin’s cherished wedding band!

Once I got everything I needed out of the vehicle, I transported my Xtreme sand scoop made by fellow Ring Finder directory member, John Volek, along with my metal detector, harness, floating sifter (to dump sand and shells into in order to detect for precious metal), waterproof headphones and my pinpointer. I was ready for business!

As I made my way into the water from the sandy shore, everyone looked on to see what was going to happen. I saw Justin on the pier near to my route in the water and I said to him, “I’ll be back with your ring”. We both smiled and I just knew that I would love every minute of this search!

Once I got to the spot where I needed to start searching, I began my imaginary water grid line as far out as I possibly could, but starting closest to the pier pilings. Slowly and methodically I moved from west to east and then back again towards the pilings. When I reached a distance that I knew was way too far from where Justin could have lost the ring, I moved back in the direction from where I came and continued adding to the gridlines, moving slowly in the direction towards shore. As I slowly metal detected the bottom of the river, one of Justin’s sons swam over to me. I asked the kid what his recollection was regarding where he had been thrown off of his dad’s shoulders and he confirmed that I was searching in the right area.

I continued with my consistent grid pattern, moving the coil underwater back and forth, hoping to pull up a signal that I was all so very familiar with regarding classic men’s 14 karat yellow gold wedding bands like Justin’s! I did find a few random targets, including a BMW key fob. I also found different parts and pieces that came off of boats and other types of equipment which ended up at the bottom of the river. Yet, I still had not found the item that I was commissioned to recover. Each time I pulled up something, I would hold up the artifact high in the air and the large audience of adults and children along the beach were keeping watch of what I was discovering.

It was sometime around the fifteenth minute mark into the search when I hit a similar signal that the metal detector had picked up a few minutes earlier. I was hoping that this particular target would in fact be Justin’s wedding band. The visual display indicator numbers on my screen were coming up in the range of exactly what I was looking for. I knew that Justin’s fingers were quite thick and large, so we were definitely looking for something that had some serious weight to it and plenty of gold to go around. I used the same method to search the bottom as with all of my other targets that I pursued earlier. I pushed my sand scoop down into the sand at the bottom of the river and then brought the scoop to my side so that I could metal detect that particular spot to see if I grabbed the object or not. Unfortunately, I missed the item and repeated the same sequence of actions. Once again, when I moved the scoop of sand and shells off to the side and then waved the metal detector coil back and forth in the area of where I was scooping, I still was getting that same target signal down below. I was determined to find out what this object was and I would not move on until I had my answer.

Once again, I pursued the target and aimed my scoop right in front of me and pushed as far down as I could into the sand and silt. Then, I brought the loaded scoop over to the side to see if I had success in removing the piece of metal from its resting place. To my excitement, when I swung the coil back and forth at the bottom of the river in that spot where I was working, there was no longer any indication that a piece of metal was in that location. Whatever I had detected, it was now in the scoop. I then lifted the sand scoop up above the water and then flipped it to remove the contents onto the floating sifter that was tethered to my detector harness.

It was now time to inspect what was dumped onto the sifter and see if I hit the bull’s-eye. Well, to my overwhelming delight, buried in the middle of all of that sand, shells, silt, and clams, I saw a fantastic sight to behold! I caught a glimpse of a yellow gold ring piercing through the pile. I did it! I successfully found Justin’s handsome yellow gold wedding band! With excitement and elation, I picked up the huge piece of jewelry and held it up in the air and yelled to Justin and all of the others, “I got it! I found the ring!” Everybody along the shore and the kids in the water all began clapping and congratulating me on the recovery of Justin’s ring! I was so glad that I was able to find his band when I did because the tide was moving in quite quickly and I only had just a handful of minutes left before the water would be above my mouth area. I walked from out of the deep area towards the sandy beach holding the ring up high and showing everyone what came from the depths of the Severn River!

Justin was beyond thrilled at this fabulous success story! Everything happened so fast and I couldn’t have been happier that we were able to recover the item without any confusion or complications! Sometimes water searches are not so easy as there are so many factors that play into how the ring gets lost and what people remember at the time of the disappearance. This search and recovery was definitely in the books as a quick and easy recovery! Justin kept thanking me over and over again as he placed that large ring on his finger! He introduced me to his wife, Kelly, and their two boys that were hanging out around me gathered to see what I had pulled from the bottom of the river. Some of the community members yelled over to congratulate me and I in turn thanked everyone for their kindness and support. I was just so happy to get this very sentimental keepsake back to its proper owner!

It was truly a wonderful story on that beautiful summer afternoon! I was so elated that Justin believed in my abilities enough to wait over a week and a half for me to make the hour trip to the Severn River and lift that handsome piece of gold from the depths of the water and return it back to the one who received it many years ago from his beloved bride on their most precious wedding day! Indeed, I certainly love what I do and I love doing it for people like Justin, Kelly and their two boys!

If you would like to view the SEARCH VIDEO and the fantastic RING REVEAL pertaining to this search, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and you will be notified when the search video is uploaded onto YouTube.

SUBSCRIBE TO BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO VIEW THIS SEARCH VIDEO!

If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and the RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the video will be uploaded soon. To receive a NOTIFICATION letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE: go to YOUTUBE by CLICKING THE LINK BELOW or OPEN your YOUTUBE APP on your device. In the SEARCH BAR, type: THE RING HERO, click SUBSCRIBE and lastly, CLICK ON THE “BELL” to receive NOTIFICATIONS when this latest search video is available to view! 

BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL LINK: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmcn09QqWhHrj-7SGqlUBJQ

CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644!

VISIT THE RING FINDER’S WEBSITE TO READ MORE OF BRIAN’S SUCCESSFUL SEARCH STORIES at:

https://theringfinders.com/Brian.Rudolph/

HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!

VISIT BRIAN’S LOCAL WEBSITE FOR ADDITIONAL STORIES AND INFORMATION AT: www.theringhero.net

 

Ring Lost While Paddleboarding, Found by SCUBA Diver in James River, Richmond, Virginia

  • from Fairfax (Virginia, United States)

Rob Ellis: Underwater Ring Recovery Specialist. Call or text 703-598-1435

June 7th, 2020 James River, Midlothian (Richmond), Virginia

Jake was paddle boarding off of his neighborhood dock when his gold wedding band slipped off. He called me and we set a date to search. My wife, son, and I met Jake and he took us to the dock. As you can see from the photos, it was a beautiful day for a search.

Trail to Dock

Beautiful Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The depth was about 10 feet with visibility from zero to five feet. After discussing the variables with my shore crew, I decided to use a circle search reel of my own design. There were some sunken logs and debris entangled with fishing line and hooks. This complicated the search. After about 45 minutes, I got a signal on my safety line to surface from my dive master. After some more discussions with Jake, she recommended I shift my search area about 40 feet upriver. It’s a good thing since that is where I found the ring!

 

Flag to Keep Boats Away

Entry/Exit Area

Underwater View

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uncovering 1

Uncovering 2

Uncovered!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jake SMILE!

James River Ring

Some of the trash found & removed.

 

 

Lost Gold Engagement Ring Set…Found in Frederick, Maryland’s Monocacy River

  • from Washington (District of Columbia, United States)

Emily’s 14 Karat White Gold Engagement Ring with Opal Stone and Diamonds

Emily’s 14 Karat White Gold Nesting Band with Diamonds

After a Week at the Bottom of Frederick Maryand’s Monocacy River, Emily’s Beloved Engagement Ring Set was Found and Returned to the Bride-To-Be by Metal Detectorist and Ring Finder, Brian Rudolph!

Emily and Mark Excitedly Show Off the Bride-To-Be’s Beloved Engagement Ring Set That Was Thought to Be Lost in the Monocacy River Forever!

CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!

Emily and Mark got together with a bunch of their friends and headed off to a fun swimming hole near Frederick, Maryland on the Monocacy River, located not far from Monocacy National Battlefield. It was a hot summer day outside, perfect for couples to hang out, take a plunge in the river and make a fun-filled day outside. Unfortunately, their plans started to fall apart quite quickly when Emily’s two rings went missing some time while they were all out by the water. She was pretty convinced that she lost the rings during the 30 minutes of play time in the river with her fiancé. Mark was holding her up while she was lying in his arms in the river, and she believed it was probably at that point when the rings slipped off her finger. Emily didn’t feel the jewelry come off of her finger, but she believed that it was the most probable scenario that the water had something to do with how the rings fell off of her finger.

 

In Emily’s moment of panic, as she came out of the water, the young lady told the rest of the group what had happened. Immediately a search began to look for the rings out on the riverbank and in the shallow parts of the water where they could see all the way to the bottom. One of the rings that went missing was Emily’s engagement ring. It was made of 14 karat white gold, centered with a lovely opal stone and accompanied by several diamonds surrounding it. The other ring was part of the engagement ring set, a 14 karat white gold nesting band, very petite in size which held three small diamonds along the top of the ring. The sad part of the whole ordeal was that Emily had just received these precious keepsakes on the day that she was proposed to only a month or so earlier (Her wedding date is scheduled for September 2020!).

 

The fact that the bride-to-be lost both of her rings was very difficult for her to deal with and you can imagine how upset she was for the rest of that day (and for the next week, as well). Everyone kept searching in the water to see if they could spot the rings, but nothing was found. As the group made their way into the deeper area of the river, there was just no way to see that far down in the water where Emily believed the rings may have come off. Besides the loss of her jewelry, the worst part of her afternoon came when she had to leave the river empty-handed.

 

The couple was desperate to see what they could do to get the newly engaged lady’s rings back. Emily was not about to give up hope yet, and that hope was about to be called by Mark’s future bride! They looked online to find tips on how to pull a ring from a river, and The Ring Finders directory popped up on Google. Emily immediately contacted me and before long we were talking on the phone to make plans for a recovery effort.

 

I put Emily at ease by telling her that I had successful recovery stories dealing with finding rings in water. Some people told her that the rings most likely had been washed down river which would make it impossible for them to ever be found again. However, I assured her that those rings did not go anywhere after they fell to the bottom of the water. She was relieved at my words.

 

Once I received all of the details about the missing engagement band set, I asked her additional questions to help me get the entire picture of what we were dealing with. Because she lost the rings at a state park, I told her that I would need to pursue special permissions from the park service in order for me to conduct a recovery mission. She had lost the rings on a Friday, I believe, and then she first contacted me the following day or so. Therefore, I would have to wait another 24 hours before I could contact the park service to request a permit to search the river on Emily and Mark’s behalf. When we got off the phone, we had a plan in place to begin the process of getting me in the Monocacy River as fast as possible!

 

Monday came and I was on the phone calling various departments connected to Maryland’s state park service. I was initially bounced around between the county of Frederick and the Maryland park service. But, eventually I was able to talk to the right people who set me up with a top administrator who could affirm that I was talking to the correct people to pursue a permit for Emily and Mark. One employee at the park service referred me to a website where I could apply for special permissions to search the water. Metal detectors are strictly prohibited at this particular park as most state parks prohibit the use of any detector. What was supposed to take possibly up to two weeks or more to “hopefully” get a permit request approved, I was able to get an official permit in hand within three days of filling out the paperwork! I was granted full access to the river! Thanks to the hard work of a couple of top administrators at the park service, they were able to push the paper and “cut the red tape” a whole lot faster than the usual process! I was quite excited with the news that I was free to search the water much sooner than later! Though I was only given a specific period of time that I could search the river and after that I would not be able to continue any futures searches, I felt I had a large enough window to get the job done (if the rings were not already plucked out of the water by other metal detectorists).

 

Every day leading up to when I received the approval to search the river, I kept giving updates to Emily who greatly appreciated all of my efforts. I was delighted to help the couple in every way possible! The next step was to schedule a time to meet Emily and Mark over by the park where the rings went missing the week before. I looked at my calendar and set up the next possible timeslot when I could conduct the search. I needed them to show me where everyone was hanging out on that dreadful afternoon when the rings left Emily’s finger. Then, I could search all of the probable locations where the engagement ring and nesting band fell to the bottom of the Monocacy. We agreed on meeting that Friday, which was the Friday following Mark and Emily’s excursion when the initial happy and fun afternoon suddenly turned so very sad and disappointing for the couple.

 

Friday arrived and I headed to the Monocacy River to meet Emily in the park where the rings went missing. Mark was not able to join us due to his work schedule. We met in the park parking lot and then Emily walked me to the spot where the group of friends were all hanging out the week earlier. It was a considerable journey through the woods alongside the riverbank before we got to the place where she lost the rings. When we got to the spot where everyone went swimming that day, we walked down onto the riverbank where there were lots of stones and pebbles – perfect for keeping my gear dry above the water.

 

Frederick Maryland’s Monocacy River

Emily then showed me where she played in the water and where she and Mark drifted downriver approximately 50 yards or so. She had an idea of where she thought she may have held onto some rocks as the water current was taking Mark and Emily downriver. She thought that maybe the rings slipped off when she was trying to brace herself at that time. Emily couldn’t be certain of her predictions because there were times when she was just floating in the water and the rings could have slipped off at any of those moments. In any case, I was given a very good picture of how things looked on the day that the rings disappeared and I then had all of the parameters to work with as to where the rings may have settled to the bottom of the river.

 

The water depth was probably around two and a half feet to three feet deep closer to the middle of the river and maybe higher in a few other spots. It was very shallow due to the fact that we had gotten so little rain in the weeks leading up to the search. Though most of my body was above the water, the current was quite swift so I did have some opposition from the speed by which the water was traveling. The terrain at the bottom of the river also made the search more complicated because of how difficult it was to move about without tripping over a rock or small boulder.

 

My search grid would involve a 50 yard area from left to right (down river) and 30 yards from one side of the river to the other side (though Emily and I agreed that I only needed to search 20 yards from our side of the Monocacy riverbed out towards the middle of the river because she didn’t float close to the opposite end of the riverbank). Once we finished going over all of the details, I headed back to the car to put on the rest of my wetsuit and gather all of my gear so I could soon begin the search for Emily’s missing rings!

 

Emily wasn’t sure if she would ever get her rings back, but I kept telling her that all things are possible if she would keep believing the positive and not doubt. I shared with her that in life, we must doubt our feelings of doubt and believe the impossible can happen. The Bible says, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Yes, it was a large area to search. Yes, it is hard enough to metal detect that amount of space on land, let alone the degree of difficulty in searching a moving body of water like the Monocacy. Yet, I was determined to find Emily’s lost rings. And I didn’t just want to return to her the opal engagement ring, but also the other white gold band, as well! Before I headed out into the water, I prayed that the Lord would favor my search and to give Emily some hope inside to believe for the impossible! God loves the covenant of marriage, as He created it, and her engagement ring was a symbol of promise (betrothal) unto marriage! Therefore, I always know that I have favor from above when searching for lost engagement rings and wedding bands!

Emily’s Rings Lost Somewhere in the Historical Monocacy River

As Emily hung out on the shore, reading and doing some work on her tablet, I began my hunt for the missing rings. Because the items were very petite in size and made of 14 karat white gold, picking up the target signals on the detector would not be easy. Having a small, white gold object lost at the bottom of a body of water is not a good combination. The signals are light and very difficult to hit effectively, especially if you swing the metal detector coil too fast. Every step taken and every decision made out in the river had to be slow and very methodical in the way that I conducted this search.

 

My first grid was about 20 yards downstream, starting where Emily pointed out the first hotspot to investigate. There were rocks of various sizes covering the bottom of the river and there was nothing but stones in between the larger formations. Not only did I have to metal detect over and around and underneath all of those obstacles, but I would have to deal with many pieces of garbage that were discarded in the water over a long period of time. I found old beer can pop tops along with torn up cans, miscellaneous pieces of aluminum and much more throw-away items of trash. I would end up using two of my Equinox 800 machines with two different size coils. I used a 6 inch coil and an 11 inch coil as well. The smaller coil was helpful to get around some of the larger rocks and downed trees. The larger one was helpful to cover more territory in the river, as long as I wasn’t slowed down by metal trash that was settled close to other pieces of garbage at the bottom of the water.

 

I believe Emily hung out for a couple of hours before she needed to pack up her things and head on out. She kept a great attitude even though I had not yet found her rings. By the time she started walking back to the car. I told her from the water that I would be relentless in my search in finding what had been lost. Just before she took off, I asked Emily where Mark proposed to her with the rings.I wanted to get the whole story behind these precious pieces of jewelry that became extremely sentimental on the day of the proposal! Everything about the location of where Mark popped the question and how he proposed to Mark was absolutely beautiful and so fairytale like. This only propelled me even more to do whatever necessary to get these rings back on her finger! We said our goodbyes and I assured her that I would give Emily an update upon leaving the park.

 

If one were to observe the amount of territory that I had to search in this historical river, it would only emit stress on that person and bring lots of second-guessing to the mind based on the difficulty of finding such petite pieces of white gold at the bottom of the water. There were so many places that the bands could have ended up. There weren’t any clues to go by as to whether the rings came off at the same time, or if one came off in one location and then the other slipped off sometime later. Honestly, I loved the challenge and I was just so happy to give it my all in attempting to return these sentimental pieces back to Emily.

 

The main strategy that I implemented was to continue searching all of the hotspot locations where Emily may have lost the rings and focus my efforts on gridding each pass, heading downriver and then back up the river, approximately a distance of 20 feet for each pass. The width of the grid parameter was probably around 20 yards left to right.

 

While I was out there in the middle of the river, I couldn’t help but be so grateful for the beautiful weather that I was experiencing. It was warm outside, with no chance of rain in the forecast. To be surrounded by such amazing creations of God, there was just nothing like it! Then, add to the experience the whole idea of searching for lost items that mean so very much to another human being, it makes life so fulfilling and fun!

 

I had given myself a good five or six hour window to search the river that day. Afterwards, I would need to head north to Pennsylvania, near historical Gettysburg for a wedding that I was attending. I had been invited by a grateful couple that I helped in recovering the bride-to-be’s engagement ring that was lost 40 yards out in the Atlantic Ocean just two weeks before the wedding! She lost the ring on her bachelorette party weekend! I was quite honored to be a part of the festivities! It was kind of special that at one point in the day I was searching for a bride-to-be’s engagement ring set, and then later that night I would be celebrating the wedding of a bride who would be wearing the ring that I was able to return to her from the depths of the ocean! I thought that it would make an even more enchanting story if I was able to recover Emily’s rings before having to continue north towards Pennsylvania that afternoon!

 

Four hours passed by and I continued my detecting efforts in the water for the missing rings. Each time I covered a section of the river, I was only encouraged that I had eliminated more possibilities as to where the jewelry could have ended up. I had not lost any of my drive and enthusiasm for finding Emily’s rings. I kept swinging my detector in straight lines going up and down the river and then side to side. I was continuing to cover a distance of about 20 yards wide and search in 20 yard sections of the entire 50 yards, up and down the river.

 

At some point, I was finishing one of my grid passes when I hit a signal that was in the range of Emily’s lost rings. This was not the first time that day that I had gotten other potential targets to check out. In fact, I had plenty of them. In those first many hours of searching, I consistently pulled pieces of trash out of the water, but no rings had been found. This current signal was yet another one that I needed to check out. I knew the exact range of VDI numbers (these are numbers that help to identify the type of metal the target could potentially be) to look for on my machine and this piece of metal was showing the kind of target that got me curious! The numbers on my Equinox 800 detector screen were dancing around a number: four, five, seven, nine, and I believe eleven, as well. I was looking for such low numbers on the scale of my detector and I knew that the signal that I wanted was not going to pound hard in the headphones. Rather, it was going to be light and questionable. These rings were very petite, and therefore there wasn’t a lot of white gold on them at all to be detected easily. Like I did with many other potential signals that day, I reached down into the water, right over the spot where my metal detector had picked up the signal, and I surveyed the metal object with my Garrett handheld detector called a “pinpointer” in order to isolate the location where the object was resting. Once I was confident of the exact area where I knew the object was hiding, I placed the handheld detector off to the side (which was attached to a cord and clipped to my harness belt), grabbed a cluster of stones and sediment in the vicinity of where the buried object was and brought it all up to the surface for review. I have to use this type of method in rivers because it is impossible to use a scoop in this type of environment due to the quantity of stones and rocks that are stuck to the bottom of the water. Therefore, I have to use my hands to bring up the objects that I am potentially looking for. Next, I grabbed my pinpointer again and scanned over the contents that were in my hand to see if I found the metal object that I had detected moments earlier. To my great surprise, my eyes first focused in on the loveliest opal stone, then some small diamonds surrounding it came into view, and finally I saw the white gold band! Indeed, I had found the engagement ring! It was a fantastic moment! In this vast area of water, I had recovered this small precious keepsake! Like a needle in a haystack!

 

Though I had nobody around to share the excitement with, I expressed all of my joy and happiness into my GoPro video camera that I had been using to document the entire search up to that point! I gave thanks to the Lord for giving me the ability to find the ring and bring it up from the river where it had been resting at the bottom for over a week! I was thrilled at finding the band! Between the two rings, this one was the most important one to Emily because it was her engagement ring. Yet, I was not going to stop at that point. I would continue searching for the nesting band once I secured the recently found item in my zipped up case attached to my metal detector harness. I made sure that Emily’s opal ring was not going to be lost again in that river!

 

Discovering one of the sought-after pieces that went missing was such a boost of encouragement to me! My search methods that day were working effectively! So far, I had not believed that I had overlooked either target that I was after! Could I have missed the other ring due to it consisting of a thin band of white gold? It was possible. But, I kept my mindset on believing that I was thorough and accurate in my grid moves. When one is detecting in water, there are no cones or tape to keep you walking in a straight line! You have to be extremely careful not to move too far to the right or to the left, or sweep too short on either side of your body as you move forward with the detector.

 

Once I found the first of the two lovely rings, I was back at it again, searching for the second one, which was even thinner than the engagement ring. I had barely gotten a decent signal off of the last ring and so I was confident that this one would be even harder to recover. I believe I had another 30 minutes or so for me to try to strike gold, but at the conclusion of that search day I was unable to walk out of the river with both rings. I had no time left and it was imperative that I got on the road and start heading towards Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the wedding that would take place later that evening.

 

Before I made my way out of the river, I took note of where I had found the first ring and I would resume my search the following day. How could I have not been pleased with the results so far? I was able to recover half of what I was sent out to help with and there was still more work to be done! I walked out of the water and gathered up my gear and returned back to the parking lot, packed my things in the car, changed out of my wetsuit and then headed north.

 

During the whole drive to the hotel, I couldn’t stop thinking about how blessed I was to recover the engagement ring! I couldn’t wait to get back in the water and search for the nesting band! In keeping my word to Emily, I called her but I had to leave a voicemail message. I was vague about my search, hoping I could surprise her the next day with the news that I had found both rings, and not just the opal engagement ring. That was my hope!

 

The next morning, I left the hotel and drove south to Washington D.C.. I had received an urgent call from a desperate husband who shared that the day before his wife had lost her wedding band at the National Zoo. I immediately headed to the Nation’s Capital to help the couple out. Once I completed the search in D.C., I drove back north again, which was 45 minutes in the direction towards the Monocacy River.

 

Upon arrival, I once again setup all of my gear along the river bank and quickly made my way over to where I had found the engagement ring the day before. I knew the location because there was a particular formation of rocks along the side of the river, and I had lined up that formation with the place that I had found the first ring in the middle of the river. I knew that if I started walking from those rocks straight out into the middle of the river, I would end up at the location where I found the first ring. Secondly, I could feel a certain rock with my dive boots that was below the surface of the water and it was near that rock that I had found the engagement ring very close to that particular formation. From that point, I counted approximately 30 feet down the river and that was where I had finished my search the day before. I was now ready to begin the second chapter of my recovery efforts

 

For me, I love the thrill of the challenge to find what is not easily obtainable, especially out in the middle of a river. The current was much faster than the day before, so I needed to work smart and place my feet in certain positions where I would not lose my balance from the swift movement of the water. It was another lovely day outside and once again I could not ask for better weather conditions.

 

My strategy of the day was to not change anything with the way I searched the day before. I kept doing my grid lines with the same method that I had implemented on Friday and I worked my way farther down the river and then back up again, pushing my way against the stubborn water flow. Then, I would move back down the river and continued to do this in straight lines. Not knowing when the two rings came off of Emily’s finger, it led me to tighten up my mental focus. I had to tell myself that finding the other ring was obtainable just as I found the first one, even though it was a lot more petite and the gold was even thinner than the band of the first ring. I had no idea what the distance was between the first ring falling off and when the second one hit the bottom of the river. However, I wasn’t going to be intimidated by how much more territory needed to be detected!

 

Approximately 45 minutes into my second search that day, I had searched approximately 20 square yards of river from where I found the engagement ring. Like before, I moved the metal detector slowly so that I would not miss any potential signals that I might swing across. So far, all of the targets that I pulled out of the water that afternoon were small pieces of aluminum – still no ring to be found. At some point, as I continued down the river, slightly detecting to the right side of the water, I hit a signal that was extremely light and almost unrecognizable on my detector. I moved the coil back and forth a little bit more and I was still picking up this particular target that matched white gold. From certain angles I was not getting any reading on my detector screen, so I had to move the detector coil at different positions just to see if I was getting  a false reading or not. The signal still showed up and that’s when I started getting more curious. Most detectorists would have moved right across that target because it really didn’t appear to contain much of any metal to consider pulling it up. Someone else would have mistaken it as a small piece of aluminum foil. Because I knew better with white gold targets, I was not about to pass it up. I took my pinpointer and placed it down into the water right over the spot where my detector coil was resting. Then, I removed the coil from the area and immediately the pinpointer found the metal object. The target was obviously just inches from where my hand was positioned! Also, I could tell that it was a small target by the way the tip of the pinpointer was sounding off. Next, I removed the pinpointer out of the way and quickly grabbed a handful of sediment and rocks where the target was resting. Bringing my handful of stones and sand up to the surface, I immediately scanned the contents for the mysterious metal object. I believe that my first attempt came up with nothing and so I repeated the steps over again until I was certain that this time I hadn’t left the item at the bottom of the river.

 

I once again used my pinpointer to detect the clump of stones and sediment that was in my hand, and finally the piece of metal was detected by the pinpointer! Whatever it was, I now had it inside my grip! I knew the object was very small because it was surprisingly hidden in the midst of all of the river stones and sediment. I moved my finger through the items and it was then that I saw it! It wasn’t a scrap piece of aluminum from a drinking can, nor was it part of an old used ketchup packet or flimsy milk peel top! Not at all! It was a petite, white gold ring with a very thin band holding 3 small diamonds that were spread out along the top of the precious metal! I immediately knew that I had found the second missing ring because I recognized the details from a photo that Emily had previously provided for me! I did it! I found the nesting band that was part of the original engagement ring set! I could not have been more surprised by my findings based on how weak the target signal was! What an awesome moment!

 

 

Unless you are a ring finder like those found in The Ring Finders directory, it’s hard to describe the feeling inside when you discover the very object that you were on a mission to recover. When you find the sought-after keepsake that means so much to someone else, there’s almost a feeling of electricity that works through you! There’s such a rush within that excites all of one’s senses when the missing item is found and then returned to its owner! With search and recovery missions like this one, the degree of difficulty is so large that when one finds the lost property (like in the case of these two missing rings), there is just no greater feeling in the world! Taking on a challenge like this and being able to deliver to the distraught owner, not just one ring, but to find both rings in separate areas in the river, 20 yards apart, there are few words to accurately describe the entire experience!

 

Metal Detectorist, Brian Rudolph, Successfully Returned Both Rings to Emily and Mark! Call Brian Rudolph to Help You Find Your Lost Keepsakes at (301) 466-8644

I was so thrilled and overjoyed to find this second ring! I held up the nesting band and kissed it, yelling out loud, “Yes! I did it! I found it! Yes!” All kinds of words of excitement and relief flowed from within me, realizing at that moment that I was able to successfully fulfill this mission! I remember just standing there in the middle of the river, holding Emily’s ring in my hand, knowing at that point in time that there was nothing left to recover from the water! My search was over! It was extremely gratifying for me to leave the riverbank with my equipment in one hand and the recently discovered gold band that was zipped up in my harness case! I couldn’t wait to surprise Emily and her fiancé Mark with the good news! As I walked through the woods along the path leading back to the parking lot, I could see the river through the tree line, and I thought to myself, “I did it! I conquered the Monocacy!” At that moment I could only give thanks to the Lord for something as extraordinary as what had just taken place in the last 24 hours!

 

If you would like to see the video of me revealing the rings to Emily and Mark, please subscribe to the YouTube channel link provided below, and you will receive a notification when the video is uploaded in the next few months. It is worth waiting for! I promise!

 

Emily Couldn’t Have Been More Happy to Hold Her Missing Rings Once Again!

Emily and Mark were beyond excited to receive the missing rings back in their possession! My efforts to recover the special keepsakes in the Monocacy River were 100% successful and the couple was pleasantly shocked with surprise at the outcome! The look on their faces when I returned both rings will always be fixed in my mind! They were so happy and relieved at the sight of those beautiful bands that had disappeared below the water over a week earlier and located 45 minutes away from where Emily and Mark resided! Now, the engagement set was returned home for good! Emily’s finger was finally reunited with its newly found friends (the ring set), and together they now await the arrival of yet another ring this autumn…the wedding band!

 

CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!

 

SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEO IS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.

 

CHECK OUT MORE OF BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ON BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL: THE RING RETURNER AT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmcn09QqWhHrj-7SGqlUBJQ

 

CHECK OUT BRIAN’S WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WHAT THIS RING FINDER IS ALL ABOUT!

READ MORE STORIES OF WHAT HE HAS DISCOVERED AND RETURNED!

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