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!
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
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Janet called me and was very emotional over the recent loss of her wedding ring in her yard. She told me she was married fifty-two years to her husband that recently passed. She was devastated at the fact she just lost her yellow gold baguette diamond wedding band of thirty years. It meant everything to her for all the memories this ring represented and she was very upset that it was now missing from her finger.
She told me that it had become loose in recent times and on a few occasions it slipped off her finger but she was always able to find it. Because of this she was very aware of the loose fitting wedding ring and was constantly fiddling with it making sure it was still on her finger.
However just a few days prior to our conversation she told me she had walked down her gravel drive way to her mail box. She collected a few small pieces of mail, came back to her garage where she placed the mail down then walked over to her front yard. She then picked up a few sticks and went over to pull some of the ivy vines off a tree trunk before it choked the tree out. She said with a lot of certainty as soon as she walked out of the ivy it came to her immediate attention that her cherished wedding ring of thirty years was no longer on her finger and missing! She then went back into the ivy and started searching for her ring to no avail. Her daughter and son-in-law arrived thereafter to assist her by cutting back the ivy vines in front of the tree. They picked through all the pieces before placing the scraps into a box. They continued to raked the bits up and looked as hard as they could. All this and still no ring was found. After the search efforts in the yard Janet’s daughter did some searching online and found TheRingFinders.com and told her mother to give me a call.
We believed the ring to be safe on her private property so we scheduled a search with a early morning start. Janet pointed out exactly where she walked and her actions that helped put me in the correct spots. With a confident and experienced effort I conducted the search fo her lost wedding ring.
Watch the exciting conclusion of this ring search on this episode of the SeattleRingHunter searches for 30 Year Old Gold Diamond Wedding Ring Lost in Ivy Patch Bothell WA.
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
Watch video link below…
I received a call from a coworker that his friends daughter had recently lost her iPhone in Greenlake Seattle. She had been sitting on the T dock when her iPhone slipped out of her pocket and sank to the bottom of the lake. I learned it was a new iPhone so there was a good chance this phone had some basic water protections built in. We had high hopes that the phone would still be working after the recovery. After exchanging a few txt messages with Grece and a few screenshot it was very clear where the phone was lost. I told her she would not need to be present during the search. I agreed to head out in the next days to recover her phone and contact her with my results after my efforts.
Upon arriving at Greenlake it was moderately busy with walkers enjoying the park. The weather was absolutely amazing with fresh air pleasantly blowing lightly. The swimming areas of the lake had not been reopened due to social distancing policies so the activity on the lake waters was at a minimum with a few paddlers and some random kids swimming. Having the day at the dock I planned on prioritizing Grece’s iPhone recovery and then spending some additional time doing clean up and treasure hunting at this site.When time allows it’s alway a great opportunity to pack out some garbage from our local waters.
Our Greenlake park is extremely popular serving over one million visitors per year. Knowing that this is a very high traffic park and a hand full our our local underwater treasure hunting buddies visit this site often I was not prepared to find as many goodies under the dock waters as I did!
Watch this exciting episode of the SeattleRingHunter in full dive recovery mode to see how many cell phones were actually removed from Greenlake Seattle.
Please like, share, comment and subscribe to my YouTube channel #SeattleRingHunter and as always thanks for the support. I want to use this platform to get the word out of the amazing recovery services offered by the TheRingFinders.com members across the country!
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
Watch video linked below…
Franck contacted me and told me the day before he lost his footing on the marina dock and fell into the water. He managed to grab at something in the water and just happened to save his glasses but his mobile phone slipped out of his pocket and landed in the silty bottom of our puget sound waters. Come along with us as we recover Franck’s lost cell phone from the Quartermaster Marina in Vashon Island WA.
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
Watch video linked below…
Dennis contacted me wanting to know if I could retrieve his dropped cell phone from Lake Sammamish. After a quick chat we set a schedule to meet the next morning at the site. It is important to stress the importance of taking proper safety measures whenever working within any body of water with active watercraft. Proper safety protections were implemented along with on shore lookouts to ensure a safe operating environment for this sallow dive recovery. The mission’s sole objective was to recover Dennis’s fumbled cell phone from a very specific identified drop zone. This was not a long drawn out random treasure hunt. As soon as his phone was acquired from the silty lake floor the dive was concluded and the site was cleared for its typical use.
His iPhone 8 was actually located at 9′ of water. The phone was not visually located and was only recovered by the aid of an experienced under water metal detection process in very low visibility.Dennis reported later that day that his phone actually powered up but had very little batter life after being in the lake for the past five days.
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
Watch video linked below…
This story started with a communication titled Ring Lost in the Sammamish River. My fist thought was that I would be working a flowing river bed but you just never know exactly what to expect until you get onsite to fully understand all the variables at hand.
When Jeff reached out to me he described his situation as follows.
I work for a wildlife hospital and rehab center in Lynnwood. Yesterday afternoon I found a foster family for an orphan goose. Unfortunately, the only way to get to the family was to swim. I swam the young goose across the river and my ring fell of my finger. I forgot to take it off ahead of time. I think there is a decent chance to recover it since I was wearing a GoPro at the time and can pinpoint the area where my ring fell off. However, I don’t want to go back with my own snorkel equipment and risk disturbing the site and thought I would go right to the experts. Any chance I could get your help?
Jeff also sent me his video footage showing him reintroducing a baby gosling back to the wild. While watching the video I could see Jeff is very attached to his wildlife rescue work.
Of course I agreed to assist him as we continued discussing all the details over a phone conversation. Jeff was very responsive and provided great details. He sent screen shots with detailed maps marked up and was well organized in the retailing of events that took place. Being that he had used a GoPro to document the day’s events he was ver confident in the area he thought the ring was lost. After hearing what he had noticed from his video footage I agreed we had a pretty good change of recovery.
Not fully sure of what to expect I arrived with a full kit of SCUBA detecting gear and was eager to get started on the search.The narrow cut off of the rive was a docile waterway like that of an old dirty duck pond to be more exact. This description prove to me more accurate than initially expected. It is apparent the flowing river continues to dump river silty directly into this cut with no flowing outlet.
At first I attempted to wade through the shallow water and scoop up found targets. However I quickly found this to be quite the challenge due to the enormous amount of silt. I found it much easier to put all my SCUBA gear on hand scoop the targets I found with my metal detector. Using my gloved hands and pin pointer made for a more efficient workflow.
After the fist day of searching and not finding the ring I quickly realized I would need to return and deploy my full size 10’ x 20’ PVC search grid. In this manner I could do a very tight grid search and not miss any critical areas. Having a hand on the PVC grid wile working blind in extremely silty waters has proven to very efficient in the past for this kind of work.
I arrived the next week for my second search session and straight away constructed the PVC gird. After floating the grind to the search area and sinking it to the bottom I got straight to work. After very short time scanning the thick silty river bottom I pulled a few piece of junk metal up from the bottom. Then no more than eight feet or so from the shore I locked on to a hot signal and sure enough it was Jeff’s white gold platinum wedding ring!
Later that evening after packing up all the gear I caught up with Jeff and his wife to return his ring. The both of them were so happy to see his ring being returned. Even though they have only been married for a year having made each other rings in a wedding ring work shop they have a great deal of segmental attachment to these rings.
With a rescued gosling reintroduced to the wild
and a man’s lost wedding ring returned to his finger
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
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Lisa called me for help in locating her lost platinum diamond wedding ring set. Two rings not soldered together that she had cherished for the past seventeen years.
She explained to me over our phone conversation how she lost them. The day prior, Mother’s day, her family went out to Golden Gardens beach in Seattle. While on the way in her vehicle she took off her wedding rings, placed them in her lap and applied sunscreen lotion. As so many others have also done she forgot to put her rings back on her finger. As we know this is a very common situation and very difficult for individuals to process after such a loss.
When she told me she lost them at the the Golden Gardens park in Seattle the day before I became very concerned. It was one of our warmer days in the mid 80’s and I knew there was a lot of people taking full advantage of the great weather.
My concerns were if her rings had fallen onto the sidewalk they would have quickly been discovered by someone passing by. It was my priority focus to ensure we got notice to the community of the lost rings as soon a possible.
I learned from our discussion that her husband was a quick thinker and had already placed a lost item report with the Seattle police department. However they hadn’t not posted any notices to Craig’s List, social media or posted any flyers in the area. Quite often its the other way around. The important part is that Lisa and her husband were very receptive in the suggestions and guidance I offered them.
I was able to coach Lisa on how to properly post to Craig’s List with out giving away any of the details of her precious rings and how to make some simple flyers. I also coached her on how to deal with bogus or difficult individuals that most likely are just out to waste peoples time or try to get money out of them.
I also informed her that one or both of her rings could still be hiding in her vehicle. I explained to her that as a recovery specialist the metal detector is only one of the many tools I use to help locate lost items.
I offered to do an extensive search of her vehicle with my video endoscope to make absolute certain if they were tucked away under a seat or in a hard to see crack that we would find them.
She made her poste to Craig’s List and headed out to meet me with flyers in hand.
I had searched the whole area and completely searched her vehicle. In the process of checking her vehicle I found a kids ring that got misplaced by her son.
Yet after all the physical searching Lisa’s wedding rings were not to be found. Now we waited and prayed for their return.
Two days later I received this message from Lisa…
Lisa’s two platinum wedding rings had landed on the sidewalk.
The rings were returned by an amazing family that found the rings that day and later found Lisa’s Craig’a List posting.
As I always say its not how they get found, but as long as they get recovered…
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
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Michael contacted me after having found my RingFinders page seeking assistance in recovering his wedding band. He had lost it the day prior just before all the parks got shut down due to the COVID-19 shut down orders. He and a few buddies went out to ride some mountain bike trails to get some fresh air. Before taking off from the parking lot he placed his black tungsten carbide wedding band of almost two years into his pants pocket. He said he typically uses a zippered fanny pack but didn’t bring it on this day. He then shoved his phone into the same pock and took off on his ride up the mountain with his buddies and dog. When he return to the parking lot he pulled his phone out to place into his car and noticed his pocket was turned inside out. At this point he then realized his wedding band was no longer in his pocket. He told me the parking lot was hard packed dirt and not much gravel at all so it was easy for him to visually clear area around his car. He noted that there was three key places on the hill that he stoped to take his phone out and he was quite sure the ring was still on the hill.
After hearing that his pocket turned inside out when he retrieved his phone at his car I ask him to check his car. I instructed him to look under his seats and floor mats carefully with a bright flashlight to be as sure as he could to rule his vehicle out. He later confirmed that the ring was not in his vehicle to the best of his knowledge and he was most assured it was still at the mountain bike park somewhere. He didn’t witness the ring falling out of his pocket so we weren’t exactly sure where it had landed.
He also told me he lives and works two and half hour up North of the park and would not be able to revisit the site until the weekend. I assured him I would be able to perform a search the next morning and we would be in contact. He started txting me plenty of maps and detailed pins of the locations he remembered taking his phone out of his pocket. The search plan was set. Because of my past experience and combined knowledge of TheRingFinder community I encouraged him to post a Craig’s List add simply stating that he lost a wedding ring a that park with zero details of the ring, to offer a reward and to leave his contact phone number for easiest contact. My concern was to make sure incase someone eyeballed the ring after he drove off they may only search Craig’s List post for a few days and quickly forget to look agin. I wanted to make sure we had this part of the equation covered. I agreed to head out the next morning to execute the field search.
It is so important to act quickly in calling an experienced Recovery Specialist and getting the initial over the phone conversation started! We can’t stress this enough and to those that do like Michael did it more than often pays dividends in a successful recovery. I often wonder why some people hesitate even after finding TheRingFinder.com directory listing and all the successful stories we post why anyone would hesitate even a moment in making that initial phone call. So if you have lost and item of value and are reading this story considering if you will make that call simply stop reading this and pick up the phone. Even if your outside of my area and you need someone to chat with I will help you find some support in your local area and proved a few tips along the way. Even if you think a metal detector would be of no use that is of no matter. The detector is only one of may tools I use though the recovery process and it all start with a simple call and easy chat.
Again much credit got to Michael as this is exactly what he did. He was sharp and on his toes and a pleasure to work with assisting with information in every way possible. The next morning as I was heading out he informed me the night before he got a txt from his Craig’s List post about fining a lost ring but no details or call back. I informed him to expect a few bogus contacts and if anyone has really found your ring they will reach out to you with solid details. I also said this is normal and until they txt you an exact photo of your ring that I would continue with the search and that I did.
When I arrived fully aware of our social distancing mandate I cleared the parking lot to ensure the ring had not rolled into the grass. No ring found so up the hill I went. Through the course of the day it quickly became apparent the most efficient way to find the spots of interest was to FaceTime Michael who was two and half hours away and he directed me to each spot with precision detail and pointed out over the video chat what part of the trail he use his phone. This process went on for a few hours and finally at the last spot of interest I as able to recover his thin black tungsten carbide wedding band beneath some bits of nature partially covering the ring. It really was a team effort and not only the two of us. After asking how he found me he told me another key part of the story. After loosing his ring he went to a FaceBook group for Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Trail and made a post about his lost wedding ring. In that post he wrote, “I know I probably will never see it again, but it is very important to me.” With that cry for help he got quite a few concerned responses and ides. Then Jay Speidell wrote, “I just remembered reading a news story about people using metal detectors to find rings for hire. Tungsten should be detectable. https://theringfinders.com/“
Thanks Jay for posting TheRingFinders link I know Michael is very appreciative of your help. It is always exciting being a part of these stories and seeing how they unfold. There is commonalities between these stories but no single story is exactly alike. Some times they don’t result in a recovery but many have found some peace and closure know that a specific area was thoroughly searched and they did all they could. Others stories turn up years later though the oddest of ways. However this story ends with a recovered wedding band and one happy dude ready for another day on the trail.
Watch the full featured story unfold scene by scene her:
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
I received a call from Christi asking for my help in recovering a very special ring she had lost in the back yard. She explained that she had just removed a rock from her dog’s mouth. She then threw the rock towards the arborvitaes hedge line. The next thing she knew her multi generation family heirloom platinum diamond ring was no longer on her finger! She was a hundred percent absolutely certain the ring flew off and was somewhere in the yard. I told her I would be happy to help her out and I was on my way.
When I arrived she retold the story informing me this time that she actually witnessed two items fly though the air after throwing the rock she had removed from her puppies mouth. She even showed me where the rock she threw had landed close to the hedge line. This was all very reassuring news to me lining this up to be a fairly straight forward recovery scenario. She also informed me that she had already received permission from the neighbor if we needed to search the yard behind the fence. As I investigated the fence I quickly realized it was a metal chain link fence and the neighbors back yard had a water feature under construction with large rocks with many deep cracks. I prepared myself mentally that this could be a challenging search if the ring landed close to a metal fence or worse went into the neighbors yard.
She also told me she had considered renting a metal detector from one of our local shops. However after seeing TheRingFinders.com she figured it was the most efficient option to call upon an experienced recovery specialist. As many people report she had no idea TheRingFinders even existed and was very happy to have found us.
With my detector in hand I got under way with the search. Fortunately the arborvitaes hedge line made a great back stop as it didn’t take more than a few quick minutes to locate her cherished heirloom diamond ring. My detector easily rang out a five VDI signal holding true to the platinum ring below. Her puppy even came over to check out what all the fuss was about as I recovered the ring from below the shrubs. Christi was extremely relieved and happy to have her precious ring back on her finger.
I was extremely happy to have recovered her ring and quite thankful it did’t fly past the fence into the neighbors yard. Another ring recovered, another smile earned making for a happy day during a time of global stress and health concerns.
SeattleRingHunter Lost Item Recovery Specialist LAND & SCUBA Call ASAP 206-618-8194
Watch video linked below…
I received a simple one line email from Rudy, “Can you help me locate a ring I lost in my front yard please?” That’s all it took to get the process started. We had a quick phone chat and the story unfolded with all the necessary details. Rudy told me a few days prior he had his wife’s diamond wedding ring in his hand when his toddler ran up to him. They were on the front porch and he picked his daughter up into his arms to show the ring. In doing so her arm smacked the ring straight out of Rudy’s had. He put his daughter back into the house and immediately started searching the tall shrubs trying to find the lost ring. Both Rudy and his wife, Andrea, spent the next several days searching inch by inch. They hand search the shrubs branch by branch and hand sifted the needles below and still no ring. Rudy even took out his own metal detector that he had stashed from a long while back. However not having ever used it before it just made a bunch of senseless noice and was of no use. The day before Valentine’s day Rudy was on the phone with Andrea and since she was deeply saddened that the ring was still missing. Rudy readied he had to find a way to get the ring back. After an internet search on how to find a lost ring he found TheRingFinders.com and reached out to me for assistance.
I arrived on Valentine’s day and the search was on! The yard was small but the couple had become object fixated on a specific area in the bushes. They had spent hour over the previous days looking with no success. They did say they never heard the ring fall so there was a good change it never hit the concrete. I did a focused search from the initial target zone and slowly expanding out when I found the ring just beyond their search area. It had been tucked in the grass with some blown in leaves covering things up.
Watch this exciting story unfold as I search your common everyday front yard for a beautiful diamond white gold wedding ring:
