While at work on Wednesday I received a call from Krissy regarding a lost diamond engagement ring. Krissy communicated to me that several days earlier she was at a playground in New Castle, DE and while playing with her 2 year old her ring slipped off her finger. She was very upset and very convinced that the ring fell off in a very specific part of the playground and slipped beneath the rubber mulch. Prior to calling me, she and her husband and several others had spent quite a bit of time on hands and knees looking for the lost ring. I told Krissy I would meet her at the playground on Friday afternoon.
We met at 3 pm, Friday afternoon at the playground. After introductions I did what I always do when I meet people who have asked for my help…I show them how all my equipment works. I do this for 2 reasons…1) I want them to feel confident that if the ring is there I’m going to find it and 2) If I cover the entire area in my search they can be 100% confident that it must be somewhere else!
We walked around the playground and she pointed to the specific area that she was horsing around the most with her 2 year old. My intent was to start there and basically cover the entire playgrou nd if I had to. I didn’t have to!!! About 3 minutes into the search I heard a sweet low tone in my headphones…my pinpointer immediately identified her ring about 3 inches deep in the rubber mulch. I said Krissy….and pointed. The emotion of seeing her ring got the best of her for a second and then it was just pure joy for both of us. This job as a Ringfinder is so much funner when you’re successful in finding the lost item and Krissy’s joy made my day!!!
I connected with a guy named Felipe who lost his wedding ring on a Baltimore, Maryland sports field that is utilized as a kickball field and dog park.
He lost the keepsake while playing an adult game of kickball. He was on a league team that was playing against another league team. He believed that during the game the ring must have slipped off his finger because he had remembered seeing it on his finger prior to the game and even during the game at some point. The question for him was, “Where did it end up?”
When he realized that he had lost the ring, he gathered up his teammates and even acquired the help of the other team’s members to join in the search. There must have been 20 people or more searching for his missing gold wedding band! After everybody finished searching, there still was no recovery of the ring.
Brian Rudolph with The Ring Finder’s Discovers Felipe’s Lost Wedding Band on Sport’s Field in Baltimore, Maryland
The loss of the ring took place a week before I corresponded with Felipe who was desperate at that point to find the wedding band. He texted me and said, “I really appreciate your help. I cannot meet up with you on the field for the next few days, but I sent you a map of the general location of where the ring may have come off. I also tried with a metal detector with no luck.”
I assured him that if someone had not picked up the ring off of the sports field since the time of its disappearance, I would recover it for him with no questions asked. I was that confident. But come to find out, it would not be so easy to find the ring!
I responded by saying, “I can get out there tonight. Let me know what time the park closes…”
Felipe responded, “Sounds great to me….really, I married my wife not a ring…so it’s just sentimental. If you find it.. it would be awesome!”
Felipe sent me a Google Earth photo of the field and he marked two most likely areas where he thought the ring might have fallen off.
He also texted me some additional clues: “I was behind first base receiving a foul ball….5 feet away from the trees. I also dove and threw someone out running home….leaping from pitcher’s mound to home plate direction”. This was some good information for me to process when I got out on the field later that night.
That evening, I drove to downtown Baltimore City to the specified park where the ring was lost. It was still daylight but the sun would be setting quite soon. Once I got to the correct field, I studied the map that he provided for me and I got my bearing straight as to where he might have been in the grass when he lost the ring. I searched everywhere. Along the tree line, within the tree section, all over the field where he was playing kickball, the sidelines, and even in the areas where he walked to go use the bathroom. I searched between trees and all kinds of brush. I thought it was a good sign when I found a handful of keys on an old key ring that must have been lost during a past game. However, there was no sign of the ring anywhere. Soon, I was wearing my headlamp and doing a second grid search after I had finished initially going north to south and east to west already. Still, there was absolutely nothing found. After 4 hours I finally had to call it quits for the night. And because the park was over an hour away from my local area in Maryland, I had resolved that I did all that I could and it would be too difficult for me to return to the search site again since I thought I did what I could in all that time.
If there was any time that I felt self-defeated it was after this search that I conducted. I had promised Felipe that I would find the ring if it was still out there and I just did not know if it was or not after I finished the search. But I gave it four hours and turned up nothing. I thought that maybe somebody may have seen it on the path that was adjacent to the play field and took off with it sometime following the game. But how could anyone know unless it was turned in?
I called Felipe and left a voicemail message requesting for him to call me. In addition to that, I texted him and said, “I am so sorry that I didn’t find your wedding ring. My search was extensive and careful. It’s possible that it might be in the tree line area even though I did check it. But I did not check all of the spots since I had so much of the field to grid, as well.”
Felipe responded, “Thank you so much Brian! We will definitely go back and look more in the area where the trees are. A million thanks man…..and I will absolutely let you know if we magically find it. I, and we appreciate it so much. Thank you”.
I thanked him, as well for giving me the opportunity to try to find the ring, and I just felt terrible that I could not pull the special keepsake from the field. However, something just did not set right with me when I had to call off any future searches because of the factors I mentioned above.
Felipe and Anne Express Their Happiness Upon the Return of Felipe’s Special Gold Wedding Band
Another week had passed since my initial search, and I just could not shake the thoughts about not finding the ring. I wondered if Felipe found it out in the field or if it might have been picked up by someone, or that it may have still been left out there untouched and unfound. I decided to text him and see what the status was regarding the ring.
I said, “Hey there. Just checking to see if you guys found the ring yet. I will be in North Baltimore this evening and if I find the missing ring for this other person, I could shoot out down to the park if you would like me to if you haven’t found it already. Let me know. I can check the woods a bit more thorough.”
He responded, “I still haven’t had any luck….and still working late hours.”
I said, “Would you like me to give it another shot? I can check those woods out much more carefully.”
He replied, “That would be amazing…”
I told him that I decided that I would return one more time to see if I could pull the ring from the field if it was still there. I explained to him that I just did not feel quite right about giving up even though I thought I gave it all I had. He really appreciated my willingness to return and he said that he could meet me out there with his wife to help in the search and perhaps guide me a bit more in terms of where the bases were and where he was in the outfield.
I said, “If you feel pretty sure that that ring is still out there, I will find it,”
We planned to meet that evening around 6:30pm out on the field in Baltimore. Felipe and Anne were already there on the field when I arrived. We greeted one another and then reviewed all of the possibilities once again as to where the ring could have ended up.
I told the two of them that I am a man of prayer and that God does do mysterious things for us when we least expect it. Even regarding things like rings being found when they’ve gone missing. Anne said that after I suggested that they join hands and pray as a couple over the situation with the missing ring, they in fact prayed for the first time together that the ring would be found. She said that that was very new for them to do. I smiled with excitement and encouraged them and then we started searching the field.
I did most of the searching around the wooded areas at first. They took to the kickball field parameters and eventually I ended up searching in places that covered the field where Felipe played. He showed me the approximate locations where the bases were set up. I metal detected a new grid all over the areas then I searched a week prior. But this time I went farther out into sections that extended outside the boundaries of where the game was played. I detected every type of metal in places leading to where Felipe had walked away from the field to use the bathroom and I went into the woods to retrace every step that he took on that day when he lost the ring.
It was inspiring to see husband and wife searching everywhere to claim back Felipe’s wedding band. I will never forget his words that he shared in front of his wife recounting what he said to her back at their house after the ring went missing and they couldn’t find it anywhere. He said something like, “If I can’t get the ring back, I still have the most important part of my life anyways”. That really touched me hearing him say that and his wife Anne gave a huge smile towards her husband and big love embrace!
We looked hard for a couple of hours before it was time for the couple to leave the park. They gave up for the time being because they had to attend to something else. They said their goodbyes to me and thanked me for trying again. I was highly optimistic and motivated to keep searching and expressed much hope to them that it could still be out in the field. I think I may have prayed with them that God would help me find the ring. I explained to them at some point that God loves the covenant of marriage. The wedding band and engagement ring are symbols of that covenant love and commitment. That’s why I ask for divine favor from above when I’m out there looking for rings. Unfortunately, sometimes, circumstances present themselves in such a way that there is no possible way for me to get the ring back, (for instance, if it was picked up and taking away by somebody already), and in the end, I know I did all that I could do.
Felipe and Anne took off and I continued my search. Evening fell to complete darkness outside. The happy yellow lights shining from the fireflies reminded me that I was not alone out on the green grass. Occasionally, someone walking their dog would come by and it was nice to know that there was still activity going on around me.
I pressed on for about another hour and a half and I gridded the entire kickball field once again and searched farther outside the imaginary base lines, hoping that something would turn up. There was nothing at home plate, and nothing around first and second base. My last area to grid out was approximately 10 yards outside of the third base area. Back and forth I went, yet nothing turned up. I was getting all kinds of signals and I was checking everything on the ground that appeared to be close to the surface, if not on top of the surface. But every time, it was a pull tab or a coin left behind by someone playing on the field. Then, I hit a signal that gave a nice loud sound in the detector and I looked at the screen and the target appeared to be on the surface. The numbers that appeared were right in the range of what a man’s gold wedding band would show up as! I started to kneel down with my handheld pinpointer to investigate the target, and there in between pieces of grass, I saw Felipe’s beloved wedding band! The yellow gold was calling out for me to pick him up and bring him home! I was so elated! I found the ring! Yes, I found the ring! I could not have been more happy at that moment! My decision to return back to Baltimore and drive all of that way and spend all those hours out on that field, even into the late hours of the night, completely reaped the results that I was looking for! I was feeling just like a little kid who had just found the buried treasure that was lost in the thicket of the grass and I just fell completely to the ground and rolled around in utter excitement! I couldn’t wait to share with the couple that our prayers were answered!
There were some people walking by who saw how thrilled I was at whatever it was that I found and so I got to share my discovery with them! They too were so happy for what Felipe and his wife and for the good news that they were about to hear and what they were about to receive back!
I packed up my gear after saying goodbye to that group of people and headed for the car. I was smiling from ear-to-ear all of the way back to my parking space about a quarter of a mile away! When you search for so long and nothing becomes of it, and then you determine that you’re going to return after time has passed and you start all over again, wondering if it will lead to anything positive, and then you “hit gold”, there are no words to describe the awesome feeling!
I wanted to surprise Felipe with the news so I called him and left a voicemail message when he didn’t pick up. Then, I texted him and shared, “I left a Vmail. Left the field. Bugs eating me alive even with spray. Call to debrief. I did all I could do.”
When I said that I did all that I could, I was not dishonest in the least! I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to connect with them but I was certain that they would get back to me sometime in the next day. Well, I didn’t have to wait that long to break the news because just as I arrived at a Royal Farms convenience store up the street from the park to grab a drink and a snack for my hour and fifteen minute drive home, Felipe called me back!
These are the moments that I love the most when I get to reveal the wonderful news! Sharing that the priceless keepsake had been found and that it will once again be returned to the hand that once wore it, is the most exhilarating experience!
Felipe had read my text and was not thinking in the least that I had found the ring! But after I played with him for a moment or two, he got the best surprise of his life! In less than 30 minutes, Felipe and his wife were pulling into the convenience store parking lot with a bottle of champagne in hand to celebrate the precious moment when Felipe would be reunited with his very handsome wedding band that was presented to him by his wife Anne only a short time ago! I will never forget that evening when we all partied in the parking lot as we celebrated such a fantastic moment for Felipe! Anne shed such special tears of happiness as the reality of the situation sunk through her being! I was so honored to be called upon to help return what was once lost!
If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.
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 VIDEOIS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.
Michael was out on the beach at Mission Bay in front of his apartment when, while waving to someone, his loose fitting wedding ring flew off into the sand. A search by sifting through the sand proved fruitless, so, an online search was in order where he found The Ring Finders website. When I turned on my phone in the morning, I noticed the text and contacted Michael. We made plans for a 10am meet and search. After arriving, meeting Michael and his lovely wife, we went to the site while talking and getting the ring loss story on the way. The search area was fairly large, but, not ridiculous. All dry sand and maybe 30 X 100 feet or so. I started at one end and after 3-4 passes, several coins, and a dog tag later, his gold wedding band came to light. All smiles on the happy couple now and thank you for the reward.
Hi, My name is Lee and I just joined Ringfinders.com. I have been metal detecting as a hobby for over three years. Many years ago I worked doing land survey and specialized in finding “ hard to find” property corners that no one else could find. So it isn’t new to me. My favorite part of metal detecting is the opportunity to find a persons lost jewelry and reunite what they thought was lost forever.This is why I decided to join Ringfinders.com.
Joe’s buddies were throwing him a bachelor party here in San Diego. Got the beach house, check, got the beer, check, took an Uber to get the Cardiff Crack (a special Tri Tip roast beef sold up the coast a ways), check, hitting the beach and throwing the football around in the water, check. What they forgot was that you should leave jewelry at home and not take them to the beach…..especially out in the ocean. He’s from Arizona, and just started wearing this ring, so, a common rookie mistake :-). The cold water combined with slippery conditions allowed his ring to just fall right off in the waist deep surf. An online search and The Ring Finders popped up with my contact info. I get the call just a hair after high tide, so, we made arrangements to meet a good 5 hours later when the tide would be a lot further out. Makes the search much easier to contend with when you can avoid most of the surf, current, and undertow. I arrive around 8:30 pm and meet Joe at the location. Earlier I had him take some reference points and pace off how far he had been out in the water. These were important details that help narrow the search area and increase the likelihood of success. I started gridding and getting no targets at all…..as in mind-numbingly quiet. After about 4-5 passes, I get a solid 11 and scoop a bottle cap. Rats….even though I figured it wasn’t going to be his size 14 tungsten carbide ring, I was at least hoping for something good. 2 more passes and I get a screaming 20 on my Equinox. Now, that’s more like it! Sure enough, Joe’s ring was in the scoop. He and his buddies were totally amazed and thrilled that Joe’s ring was recovered. Let the bachelor party begin! It will be a lot more pleasant trip home to AZ too, since I just realized that the ring is inscribed with “til death”, which might have been the consequences coming back home without the ring! Pleasure to meet you Joe, and the bachelor party gang, and thank you for the reward.
Lost while pulling weeds, a newlywed looses his beautiful Tungsten wedding ring.
Found in about 15 minutes for this newlywed who was sick at the loss, but fortunately he had a good idea of the area he lost it in and it made for a quick recovery.
Jennie was wise in remembering to remove the platinum mother’s ring from her finger, giving it to her husband Wade to keep in his zippered pocket while she was waterskiing. Unfortunately after returning back to their camp Wade jumped into the lake to move a swim float, at some point his pocket became unzipped and the ring came out Wade showed wisdom too in contacting a ring finder for help. The search took about 5 hours as there were many targets in the waters of this 100+ year old lake house . Having used both of my air tanks the first day, I told Wade I wanted to come back and continue my search. I returned to the site a few days later and found the ring buried in silt, about twenty minutes after starting my search. Although the ring matched the description, I sent a photo and called Wade to confirm. Wade informed me that it was the ring and how happy they were that it was found. Since I still had plenty of air I asked Wade If I could stay and continue to search the area. Wade said sure, I told him I would let him know if I found anything cool. I ended up finding a second ring, a sterling silver men’s band buried 7 inches in sand and sent a photo of it to Wade. It was a cool find because it turned out to be Wade’s wedding band which he had lost 10 years earlier. Even cooler was the fact that both rings were recovered on the day of their 12th wedding anniversary. A portion of the generous reward I received is being donated to the Area Interfaith Outreach- Child Hunger Program in Rockland, ME which provides take home meals for children to eat on weekends and vacations when they don’t have access to school provided breakfast and lunch.
James was here in town for a wedding, and staying at a beach resort at La Jolla Shores. Yesterday was a hot and dry day, so, He was out enjoying the beach and throwing a ball to his cousin in the cool, shallow water in front of the resort. Well, we know the scenario here! Ball gets thrown, and his family crest, signet, heirloom ring decides to take a dip too. Ring hits water, sinks quickly into the sand, and disappears. An online search brings up The Ring Finders website and my contact info. The tide had already receded a bit, and was still heading out, so, my wife and I jumped into the car and headed to the location. We were actually able to find parking not too far away, which two weeks ago would have been impossible on a Saturday afternoon. We meet James out on the beach and he shows us the search area. He makes his best guess at where “ground zero” was and I start a spiral search out from there in the wet sand. Half hour later and no ring, I start a cross grid and expand out beyond my initial grid. Another half hour later and only two targets total, I finally get a sweet, solid 16 on my Equinox just outside my initial search area. Sure enough, James’s ring pops out of the shallow plug of sand. A pleasure to meet you James, and thank you for the reward.
Rob Ellis: Underwater Ring Recovery Specialist…Call or text 703-598-1435
Ring Lost in Pennsylvania Lake Recovered SCUBA Diving
Lost July 15th, 2019; Sara and Alberto called to ask if I could find a lost ring. Sara was swimming with her daughter in their community lake. The daughter reached for Sara and accidently pulled the ring off Sara’s finger in about 10 feet of water. As the photo shows, the ring is intertwined bands. One of the bands is covered with diamonds. Sara’s ring matches Alberto’s ring, and the set has great sentimental value for the couple. They live outside my normal area, about 5 hours away. I offered to search, telling them my fee would include reimbursement for travel and overnight accommodations.
Sara and Alberto were hesitant so we discussed researching potential local options. I also suggested they call RingFinder SCUBA divers who were closer. Following my advice, Sara and Alberto found a local diver with a metal detector from a nearby dive shop. The diver agreed to search the area, removing submerged wooden boards from the bottom. Though he used a metal detector, he was not able to find the ring.
Next, they tried a SCUBA certified RingFinder team from another state. Unfortunately, they seemed uncomfortable with the conditions, unfamiliar with normal search patterns, and were also unable to locate the ring. Sara called again asking me to take the job.
July 30th, 2019 My Divemaster (Mrs.E), and I drove up and stayed in Wilkes-Barre. The next morning I searched for two hours. I had not anticipated how cold the water in the spring fed lake would be. Just below the surface the water temperature was in the mid-50s. The bottom had a layer of fine silt which, once disturbed, quickly decreased visibility (which was poor to begin with). I found numerous small bits of aluminum cans and bits of other trash. After 30 minutes, my perception narrowed and my efficiency decreased due to the cold. I didn’t find the ring. But, now that I was familiar with the conditions I knew I could adjust for the cold and improve my search pattern. I asked Alberto if I could return and conduct another search for no fee and he said agreed.
August 12th, 2019 Mrs.E and I made the trip again. This time I used a thicker dive suit (7mil). Because the weather had turned colder and the water was colder, visibility was better and I could recover targets more effectively. One of the finds was a set of lifeguard keys used to open the gate to the lake and facility. I used a PVC grid I’d constructed but surfaced after an hour with no luck. My wife and I discussed our interpretations of the potential location of the ring, and she suggested searching closer to the dock. Within 30 minutes I heard a clear target. I gently waved my hand to move the silt and uncovered another piece of aluminum. Sitting next to it was Sara’s ring!
June 30th, 2019 In Chesterfield (near Richmond) Virginia, Dustin was playing on a boogie board in the lake behind his home. He felt his ring slip off and quickly mentally marked his location and where it dropped. The ring is a family heirloom, which made the loss even more heart rending. After buying a detector and not being able to find it himself, he called me.
The water depth was about 4 feet deep, and the mud was almost a foot deep. Dustin had searched the area so the bottom was disturbed. There was a chance the ring had been inadvertently pushed into the mud, so I needed to be able to locate deeper targets. I started with my ATMax and a standard coil, but the signals were erratic. I switched to my Excalibur underwater detector and started to locate and remove the usual trash targets like fishing lures and pieces of aluminum. When I didn’t find it after an hour, I re-interviewed Dustin and visualized how a strong young man like Dustin would have been pushing his board. Using that information, I went a little deeper into the water and hit on a clear target. The depth and mud made it difficult to extract. Another successful recovery of a family treasure!
For help to recover your item, please text or call 703-598-1435
and it made for a quick recovery.
