This year alone, he has helped reunite nine couples with their rings.
Kevin Niefer uses several metal detectors to find lost wedding rings. (CBC)
Just last week, Niefer got a call from a Calgary couple that would lead him to his toughest assignment to date.
Will Hoff had lost his wedding ring in the Waiparous River near Cochrane. After about an hour of searching in the fast-moving rocky river, Niefer was able to find the ring.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Hoff exclaimed moments after Niefer plucked his ring out of the water.
Niefer says he isn’t in it for the money. Although couples often compensate him for his efforts, he doesn’t charged them a set amount.
“When you find it and people go ‘Oh no! I can’t believe you found it!,’ That’s pretty exciting, right? And to be able to return something that sentimental — that’s the biggest reward,” Niefer said.
We received an email from a gentleman named Les, he said that he was changing clothes in his apartment bathroom and when he went to pull his shirt over his head his wedding ring slipped off and hit the floor. He said he actually heard it hit the floor. He decided to finish dressing and then find the ring. Mind you this is a very small apartment bathroom.
Les looked and looked for the ring, he and his wife checked everywhere. They even had the maintenance men come and move their washer and dryer in the attached room to see if the ring was underneath. Les lost his ring on his ONE MONTH wedding anniversary. It has been 3 months since the ring went missing and he found “The Ring Finders” on the internet. He lives literally 5 minutes from my home.
My wife, Ellen, and I arrived about 7pm not really believing we would have much luck. Metal detectors are not of much use inside a home let alone a small apartment bathroom. But Les was so nice and asked us to try so we agreed. We took our Garrett Pinpointers and our Detection Camera Scope. Upon seeing the size of the bathroom we knew it had to have bounced somewhere strange.
In looking at the bathroom we found a small open lip under the cabinet where the kick plate is. It was only a 1-1/2 inch opening that I could not even get my hand into, I got out my 3ft Detection Camera scope and worked it into the slot, nothing at first but on the second side, there in the dark glowing under the light from the camera scope was Les’s Platinum Wedding Band. I said, ‘hey Les, take a look at my detection screen, is that your Ring?’ He was so excited, he and I had to break loose the baseboard under the sink in order to reach it. He hollered for his wife, “they found It, they found it!” Another successful hunt for “The Ring Finders”.
Hello from Don & Ellen Wilson in Dallas, Texas. We got a call today from Mrs Bundy, her 8yr old daughter, Briar, had lost her Gold Signet Ring at the playground of the local Country Club. We met at the Country Club and began searching the area where the daughter said she saw the ring fly off her hand. She was playing Queen of the World by standing on top of a picnic table and threw her arm out like she was Queen. The ring came off of her hand and was lost.
After 3 weeks of searching by Briar, her parents, other family members and the Country Club grounds & Management staff everyone had given the ring up for lost. Mrs Bundy’s sister in New York read an article about “The Ring Finders” and told Mrs. Bundy she should check the website and see if there was a “Ring Finder in the Dallas area” She did and found my wife and I.
After about an hour of searching we were about to call it quits when I asked the little girl to get back up on the picnic table and re-inact the event. She did, then my wife said “no wait, do it again and close your eyes and do it the exact same way”. Briar did as we requested and did it completely different than she had previously showed us. This time I saw that it was possible the ring may have flown in a different area of grass. We began to detect this area and in 5 minutes the ring showed itself. I called the little girl and her mother over and asked, ‘is this your ring’? They were so excited and so grateful.
Another great day in the life of “The Ring Finders in Dallas,Tx”
I received a 911 emergency call the other morning to help find a lost platinum wedding band that was lost in a persons garden. The young lady wanted the ring found ASAP and unfortunately I was working and had to make her wait till the next day.
She told me that her daughter had thrown the ring in the garden and she was afraid that a bird might find it or a squirrel and the ring would be gone for good. I felt pretty confident if she couldn’t see or find the ring… they couldn’t either.
After talking about the next days search and ensuring her that I will find it, she then told me that she had gotten mad at her husband and tossed his ring in the back yard.
This happens a lot and most people don’t like talking about it, and most times I can’t get a video or a picture because they don’t want to be online showing others what happened and I completely understand. I have had a couple of people in the past let me do my story in regards to getting mad and throwing the ring and that just shows others we are all human.
The search was an easy one, the ring had been stomped into the dirt near a shrub, that being said the young couple wouldn’t have had a chance to find it as it was already buried an inch or more.
I could tell that they were both happy and I was too! I get to meet some great people and hear the stories about their ring and what it means to them to get it back
I received a call the other day while I was at work in regards to a lost platinum wedding band, lost while the man was cleaning out his SUV on the side of the road by his house. We discussed the search and I was able to get to his place before dark at around 8 pm to start the search.
I was feeling confident that this would be a quick search and I’d be on my way home within 30 minutes or less…Not…It was almost midnight and I had to pack it up and head home without finding the ring. Sometimes this happens and I knew the ring had to be there some where so I told the young man and his wife that I’d be back on the weekend to continue my search for his platinum wedding band. I could tell they were both disappointed but I assured them that if it was there I would find it.
The only place that I could think it would be was in the very large and thick hedge along side their property, I did spend some time searching under the hedge but mostly I concentrated in the areas that someone could come along the next day and find it. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss the most obvious place and I searched them over and over, I did have some problems with power lines just above me but I was able to stabilize my metal detector.
Saturday came and I was off to search for this young man’s ring, I brought a rake and I was ready to shake the hedge and rack everything under the hedge to the front and detect. I started at the most likely spot under the hedge on my stomach and slowly worked inch by inch with my hand held pin pointer (detector) after about an hour and half way up the hedge I got a nice loud signal and I moved the branches and leaves near the root and there I saw his beautiful platinum wedding band!
I think it might have gotten caught up in the branches and when I shook the hedge it fell to the ground, I was so happy to see that ring and to give it back to the young mans wife as he wasn’t home at the time. When I knocked on the door and she saw the ring I could tell how relieved she was! I have the greatest job in the world…I get to make people smile!
Thank you for the very kind reward Darren! I’m so glad your ring is back where it belongs!
We received a panic call from a young man about 8pm one night saying that his girlfriend had lost the locket and chain he had given her somewhere in his front yard. He wanted us come that night but we were tied up and promised to come early the next morning. We arrived around 7am and he explained that he and his girlfriend had been playing around in the front yard when the incident happened. She had placed the item in the pocket of her hoodie prior to playing around. She was extremely upset with him and he was really upset that he couldn’t find it himself.
We got out our detectors and began scanning and in just 5 minutes or so we got a HIT. We found the locket and chain. He was shocked and happy and could not thank us enough.
What a thrill to have another successful hunt for “The Ring Finder”.