WI Tag | The Ring Finders

Phone Recovered from Geneva Lake in Williams Bay, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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A Daughter’s Phone Takes a Swim

It was a Saturday evening, September 5, 2026, when the call came about a phone dropped in the lake.  Ryan was anchored outside of the swimming area at Williams Bay Beach on Geneva Lake.  Family and friends were enjoying a perfect day on the water with jet skis, blue skies, and good company when his daughter’s phone went overboard.  The oft-repeated mistake of wrapping a valuable item in a towel and then promptly forgetting about it led to the phone taking a swim. 

“How deep are you anchored?” I asked.

Ryan’s depth gauge read 10.4 feet.  I explained that my maximum depth is 10 feet, but I told him I would be willing to give it a try.  He was securely anchored, so although drift would be minimal, the conditions underwater might prove to be challenging.

After a short jet ski ride to their boat, I donned my flippers and breathing apparatus and sank to the bottom.  Would I be able to reach the lake bed?

The water was clear, but significant seaweed obscured my vision.  Once I sank far enough, I was encouraged when I touched the bottom, though I soon realized the real bottom lay another foot deeper beneath silty sediment.  Perhaps the cell phone rested on top of the vegetation, and I would not even need to use my metal detector.  After a cursory swim around the boat and a little extra time on the port side, I popped up for a breather.  Ryan and I chatted a bit, and he felt that searching the stern area in an arc would be the best approach.  

I again sank to the bottom and started scanning.  It was quiet.  That was good.  I felt that if I heard anything, it would be the phone.  It wasn’t long before I heard a high-pitched screaming tone… the sound my machine makes over a cell phone.  I rescanned the area, and when I reached down into the loose vegetation, I felt the rectangular shape I was hoping for.  The pink case greeted me first.  When I flipped it over, the screen flashed on.  Success!

If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or piece of jewelry, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.

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Diamond Ring Recovered in Lake Geneva, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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Silver or Gold? The Tale of a Lost Ring

Tayler’s friend contacted me Friday evening as I was sitting down to dinner with my family.  Could I help find a lost silver ring in the sand at Riviera Beach in Lake Geneva, WI?   

By the time dinner was over, it was nearing the time to get my kids ready for bed, but I knew the next question.  “Can we go with you, Dad?”  

Playing on the beach after dark is great fun, so how could I say no?  We all piled into the car and met Taylor around 8 pm on September 4, 2026.  

After walking to the general location, we established two horizontal lines in the sand marking the top and bottom edges of the search zone.  After debating how far to the left and right of the center point I should search, I asked if they had taken any photos that day.  Sure enough, someone had snapped a picturesque photo of Geneva Lake with two anchored boats in the background.  Using this information, we established the sidelines, and I decided the best place to begin.  

Before the search started, I confirmed the makeup of the ring.  Was it actual silver, or did it just look silver, because silver and white gold sound very different through a metal detector.  And, of course, silver and gold are very different in value.  She confirmed that it was silver… was mostly sure that it was silver.

After about two passes, I heard a low-grunting signal… not the sound of a silver ring.  Upon closer inspection, my headlamp caught a glimmer of shiny metal, and I scooped a silver-colored ring from the sand.  Tayler gasped and approached the place where I was kneeling.  I handed her the ring, topped with a beautiful diamond, and I asked her if it was her ring… and I added, “That’s NOT a silver ring.  I’m pretty sure it’s gold!”  

It was her ring, and she eagerly slipped it onto her finger.  I sensed her great relief, and I soon learned that the ring was a gift from her father.

My kids, who were exploring the beach and wading in the water, gathered with us to celebrate the finding of the ring.  

At age 47, it’s getting a little harder to read the small stamps inside ring bands indicating gold purity, so I called over my 8-year-old son.  My children often help me inspect my finds, reading ring stamps and years on coins.  Holding it up to the light, he matter-of-factly called out, “It’s 14-karat gold.” 

He confirmed what my metal detector told me, that in addition to the sentimental value, it was indeed a valuable piece of jewelry.

If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or other piece of jewelry, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.

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Gold Pendant Recovered in Brookfield, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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Gold Among the Ferns

The morning of August 30, 2026, was stormy in southeast Wisconsin.  Rain had fallen through the night and much of Sunday morning.  

 

Two days earlier, Pat’s voicemail asked for help finding a lost gold-and-diamond pendant outside her home.  Pat explained that as she was taking down a hanging basket for watering, her gold chain unknowingly caught in the basket hook.  And when she stood up, SNAP! went the chain and away went the heart-shaped pendant.  Where?  That was the question.  She immediately looked through the dirt of the pot and around the immediate area.  It was simply gone… until she called the Ringfinders.  

I met Pat at her home in Brookfield, WI around 2:15 pm.  The rain of the morning gave way to sun poking through, which brightened my mood.  I had my raincoat at the ready and was glad to leave it in my car.  This search would be rain-free.  Pat had many beautiful plants surrounding her property: flowers, trees and shrubs, and many beautiful ferns.  Lots of places for a delicate gold pendant to hide, I thought.

 

I greeted Pat and asked her to again walk me through the story.  As she worked through the retelling, I listened and peppered her with questions, asking which direction she was facing, miming the motions she made, so I understood her fully.  Her landscaping was woodchips, dense ferns, sod, and hardscaping with enough cracks to hide a flying pendant.  To add just one more unique element, there was a small hole in the ground expertly dug by a chipmunk.  Did chipmunks, like crows, like shiny objects?  Could a curious chipmunk have absconded with her gold and diamond pendant?  

I retrieved my equipment from the car, putting on my gloves and kneepads.  I didn’t know how long or short this search might last, so I was preparing for the worst.  Little did I know that I wouldn’t even get to turn on my main metal detector.  I explained a bit about my equipment and that she shouldn’t get her hopes up just because the machine beeps; there would most likely be trash items in her soil, dropped coins near the sidewalks, and so on.  

I started with the most logical location, the hanging pot that created this whole mess.  This was also the first place she looked, along with her planting beds along her porch and walkway.  The plastic pot had a metal hanger, so together we unbent the hanger and set it aside.  I took out my pinpointer (picture a small metal detector, the size, shape, and color of a carrot), which I had explained and demonstrated to her earlier.

I turned it on and began to probe the soil of the hanging basket.  BEEEEEP!  I again reminded her not to get her hopes up.  I began to part some of the fern stems and probe again.  BEEEEEP!  And then I saw a glint… a glint of gold.  I parted further and saw the outline of the heart pendant.  I motioned Pat over and gave her the honor of plucking it from the soil.  

Like most of the items I help recover, this was not just a piece of jewelry.  It was with her for 30+ years, and had great value beyond its gold and diamonds.  On my way home, I received a text: “Safe journey home.  You are an angel for so many people.”  I’m thankful to be able to serve others in this unique way.  

If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or other jewelry item, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.

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Gold Ring Recovered from Lake Geneva

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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The Ring Under the Raft… and More

             A thrown football… fumbled.  Along with the football, Heath’s wedding ring slipped from his wet hands, bounced, and disappeared under the floating raft.  Down, down 8 -10 feet to the sand below.    

            Heath attempted some diving on his own while a friend texted me, “Hey, man – I’m at Lake Geneva.  One of my friends lost a ring off of a floating dock.  What would it look like for you to dive for us?”

           The college reunion to reconnect and set up their Fantasy Football teams clouded over and the loss began to dampen the anticipated fun weekend.    

            The next morning, Friday, August 14th, 2026, I arrived to see if I could help save the weekend.  The weather reflected the mood of the gathering, cloudy and gloomy.  Once in the water, I surveyed the floating raft.  Although tethered to the bottom by a 8+ foot chain, I needed to know how much the raft could drift.  After a quick scan of the bottom (maybe I’d get lucky… I didn’t) I decided to push the raft to its maximum distance and swim it in a circle to determine a rough circumference the chain could pivot.  I quickly saw that the search area was quite large.  Depending on what point of the circumference the raft was pushed to by waves, wind, or humans, the ring could be in a lot of places.

              And so I started a grid search.  There was some trash, but not enough to frustrate me.  There was also seaweed to fight, a few large, floating lime green algae blooms, and a few spots of open, bare sand.  I found nothing but trash, a few coins, and surprisingly, two Apple cell phones.

              About an hour later, I was losing hope as I had cross gridded the area multiple times.  My air would only last for 20-30 more minutes.  The raft was always in motion making it hard to know if my grid system was accurate, and so I switched to concentric circles beginning at the massive concrete pad the raft was anchored to.  About 18 minutes later, I heard a strong signal, and after waving away some sand, the gold shined forth.  I couldn’t wait to swim back to shore.

              By about 8:30am, Heath had his ring back on his finger and the sun was beginning to shine.  I knew when his roommates woke up, the good news would be shared and spirits lifted.  

              If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or other jewelry item, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.    

✤        ✤       ✤

P.S. One of the phones I found worked!  After texting a few numbers that popped up in the notifications, I got a phone call from Cody.  It was his girlfriend’s phone that she lost a week ago while kayaking.  What luck!  Two smiles with one dive!  Cody added..  “We lost two other  phones that day.”    

       About a week later, after getting permission from a landowner to pass through their yard and use their pier, I was back in Geneva Lake looking for two lost phones.  Cody sent me pictures and a good location to begin searching for his brother, Brandon’s phone, and Brandon’s wife, Karla’s phone.  In about 30 minutes I had both phones and was packing up my gear. 

Did both phones work?  Yes! Even after two weeks underwater.  It was a triple joy to return three phones to three very happy people.

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Wedding Ring Recovered from Geneva Lake

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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Through a Crack in the Pier

I met Bob on Friday, July 17th, 2026, to look for his lost wedding ring.  Earlier that week, while Bob was visiting family near Lake Geneva, WI, he took a walk down to the pier.  For reasons I fail to recall, he took off his ring to keep it safe, and somewhere between leaving his finger and setting it on a table, it found its way between the boards of the pier and into Geneva Lake.

Before donning my diving gear, I listened to his story, and together we assessed which section of boards the ring most likely fell through.  To aid me while under the pier, I found a washcloth among some cleaning supplies that I fed down through the boards, held above with the leg of a chair. Once under the pier, I could look for the washcloth to pinpoint the search location.

The pier was expansive and stretched far out into the lake, making the dive deeper than I normally have to go.  My breathing device only gives me ten feet of diving depth, but once I got to the search zone, I was able to reach the bottom.

What first struck me were the dozens of fish under this pier. 

A fisherman’s paradise.  All kinds, sizes, swimming near and far.  The larger ones were not used to a human-sized fish in their territory and (thankfully) kept their distance.  I guess I wouldn’t be alone for this search.

The bottom was free of seaweed and had a hard-packed gravel bottom.  This was great news and made for a quick search.  I dug a few targets, just to make sure I wouldn’t miss the ring, and within about 30 minutes I had the ring snug on my finger.  

When I surfaced, Bob was up at the house having dinner with his family.  I texted him, “I think I have something that belongs on your finger.”

In a few minutes, I could see Bob’s eager smile from a distance, and I was so pleased to return it where it belonged.

If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or other jewelry item, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.

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iPhone Recovered from Lake Mary in Twin Lakes, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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iPhone Recovered… and Dry

Mike called me on Friday, August 7, 2026, hoping my skills might be helpful in recovering his lost iPhone from Lake Mary in Twin Lakes, WI.  Helping navigate a boat to the docking station with the light from his phone the night before, a mishap landed it in the water.  Would I be able to find it still dry and working?  Modern iPhones like the iPhone 17 carry an IP68 rating, allowing it to be submerged about 19.6 feet for up to 30 minutes.  The conditions in Lake Mary were less than six feet, but by the time I was able to arrive on Friday, it would be close to the 24-hour mark.  I was anxious to get in the water and see if I could find his phone.

Mike was unable to meet me, but his friend Mark met me and walked me through the situation.  I was relieved to find Lake Mary shallow, seaweed-free, and with some visibility.  I started a grid search from one end of the pier back to the docking station:  20 feet one direction, 20 back, repeat.  The area did not have an overwhelming number of metal targets, but I dug each sound I heard, making sure I didn’t miss the phone.  It might be hidden by the 1-2 inches of silt covering the bottom, I thought.

My horizontal grid search did not reveal the phone, and after about an hour underwater, I was concerned the encroaching darkness of the already cloudy day might end my search.  I switched to the vertical lines of my grid, and pushed deeper into the lake than I had with my horizontal grid.  About 18 minutes later, a simultaneous sound and sight brought an underwater cheer that only I heard.  There it was, screen down on top of the silt, the green rectangular case clearly visible.  It was lost in a depth of about five feet.

I stood up and looked toward the house.  A group of friends was gathered for dinner, and I could hear music.  I held the phone high into the air and waited to see if anyone noticed.  A chorus of cheers sounded.  “He found it!” one voice called out.

Not knowing if the iPhone might malfunction if I tried turning it on, I decided to let Mike take the next steps.  I left the phone with Mark and headed home.  

The next morning, I received the text I was hoping for.  A photo of Mike with a dry and working phone.  His text said, “We are alive and working perfectly.  Another successful mission!”

If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or other jewelry item, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.

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Two Gold Wedding Rings Recovered in Lake Como, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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Two Rings Reunited

As I parked my car outside of a lakeside bar in Como, WI, I knew the task ahead would be like none I had encountered before.  Could I locate two lost wedding rings from the same couple?  It was 2:00 pm on July 20th, 2026 and I would soon meet Shauna and Chris to hear their story in person.  Like many of my searches, their story began like so many.  Paraphrasing… “I knew my ring fit loosely and it came off in the water.  I can’t believe I didn’t think to take it off!”

Shauna was playing with her three young daughters, sitting in the shallow water, probably keeping her sharp, motherly eyes on each of them.  Pushing off the rocky bottom of the lake to stand up, she felt the ring slip, release, and disappear.  Carefully padding the lake bottom with a flat hand, only gritty sand and small rocks pushed back.  Her ring was gone.

And then the twist…

When I called her back to arrange for the search, she interrupted with… there’s a bit more to the story and she proceeded to tell me that I would be looking for two rings.  In the moment of losing a precious ring, an overwhelming mixture of emotions are released.  Loss, regret, sadness, anger, hopelessness.  I don’t know what Shauna was feeling, but her husband, Chris, stepped in to help bear the burden.  He said something like… “these rings belong together…” and took off his ring and threw it into the lake.  I listened to their story, paused, and asked, “This is going to sound like a strange question, but are you two fans of [the television show] The Office?”  “Yes!”  they replied, wondering where I was going with the question, but clearly energetic fans of the series.  I pointed to Chris and said, “First, you are the Jim Halpert in this story.”  

In season 6 of The Office, Jim and Pam get married.  

As with most weddings, something inevitably goes wrong and for Pam she accidentally tears her veil.  In the moment, to console her, Jim grabs a pair of scissors and cuts his necktie in half, refocusing Pam that their love is steadfast despite what breaks down around them.  Chris reacted in love, and in my book, that gets the Jim Halpert award.  Shauna later commented it did help her to get through the moment after losing her ring.

In the end, both rings were found.  Shauna’s in shallow water, while Chris’s required some diving to recover it.  Both searches were accomplished in an hour and a half because Chris and Shauna put me in the perfect locations.  Their sharp memories gave me the best chance to use the tools and knowledge of metal detecting to reunite the rings.

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Gold Ring Recovered from Geneva Lake in Fontana, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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June 9, 2026

Wedding Ring Recovered from Geneva Lake in Fontana, WI

Raul and his family were enjoying a day at the beach in Fontana, WI when his 14K gold wedding band was lost.  His family spent time in the grass, on the sand, and in the water.  Fontana beach is quite large, so narrowing down the search area was key.

On my way out I texted two fellow detectorists who may have been detecting this beach letting them know I was on a search and “Did they find any gold rings at Fontana’s beach in the last two days?”  “No,” was the reply.  When I arrived, another detectorist was in the water.  I waded out to Tony and asked the same question.  “No, only a quarter so far.”

       Raul patiently answered all of my questions as we worked to pinpoint the most likely spot he would have lost it.  I marked off the edges of my search area in the sand and waded into the shallow water to make my first pass.  Dragging my search coil slowly over the sand, overlapping, so as not to miss anything, I had a strong repeating signal around the third or fourth pass.  I knelt down in the water and waved away the topmost layer of sand in the spot where my detector indicated a target.  Half of the ring appeared like a golden smile.  I picked it up and held it up to Raul who was standing on the shoreline.  

It was the first and only target I dug that morning.  Raul carefully thought through all of my questions and that led to our success in finding the ring.

After a few photos, it was back on his hand and his smile said it all.

        Later, Raul made a kind post on the Lake Geneva Lake Life Facebook group.  He writes: “A huge thank you to Seth for helping recover something that means so much to me and my family.  We are incredibly grateful!”           

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Wedding Ring Recovery from Snow in East Troy, WI

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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December 1, 2025

Wedding Band in the Snow

Caleb called me around 8:00 pm.  Could I meet him in a salvage lot in East Troy, WI?  He had lost his wedding band in the snow.  

By December 1st, Wisconsin was covered in a thick blanket of snow.  The cars in the lot were white domes of snow caged in by a chain-link fence.  The ground, most likely crushed gravel was topped with hard-packed tire lines running throughout.  

         I thought about all the metal that would be competing with Caleb’s small gold ring, and I hoped I would be able to keep the search area relatively small.  It was late and cold, and the roads were not getting any better the longer the night went on.

I assessed the area at 9:12 pm.  I asked Caleb lots of questions in order to decide the best place to start searching.  Thankfully, about ten minutes later I was handing the ring back to Caleb, a grateful smile stretched across his face.    

Caleb’s final text read:

“Thank you so much, Seth!  You have no idea how much it means to me that you were able to find my ring!”

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Engagement Found in Lake Geneva Home: No Metal Detector Needed

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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March 12, 2026

Lake Geneva, WI

Engagement Ring Found: No Metal Detector Needed 

Wednesday, 3:45 pm: Drew’s voicemail asks for help finding a lost engagement ring in his basement.  It’s been missing for a month.  Could I come and bring my equipment?

To my knowledge, there is no detector on the market that can only sense gold while avoiding all other metals, so metal detecting inside a house is almost a lost cause.  Copper wiring and pipes, nails galore, and household appliances have enough metal to immediately overload a metal detector.  I was planning on politely explaining this to Drew, and heading home after work.

Thursday, 4:00 pm: But when I called him and realized he was only eight minutes away, I thought, “Why not have a look?”  

Thursday, 4:10 pm: I arrived about 10 minutes later and started talking with him in the basement.  I began ask

ing him questions about why his wife took off her ring, where she put them, etc., I said, “I should really be asking her these questions.  Drew replied, “We can try to Facetime her?”  

Moments later, I was asking her any questions that would help me to see what she was doing in her basement a month ago when she lost her ring.

“Actually it was probably two months ago,” she added.  The more I heard, the less confident I felt about finding her ring.  Drew was attending to his 1 year old upstairs.

I continued to ask questions, and I was able to reconstruct what happened that night.

  1. She was doing schoolwork at a small round wooden table in the basement.
  2. She took off her rings (engagement and wedding band) as she was pregnant and they were getting tight.
  3. Both were set on the table.
  4. At the end of the work session, she could only find her wedding band… no engagement ring.
  5. She looked under the table, all around, nothing.

I asked one more question.  “Did you have a laptop bag or anything that it could have fallen into?”

Her reply was what I might have expected.  She had checked the bag she had with her at the time, but she could look again.

Before I could think of another series of questions to ask, she interjected, “I found it!”

I must have heard her wrong.  “You found it?” I replied.

Drew heard my question from upstairs, and came pounding down the stairs, asking me the same question, “You found it?”

Not me!  I said, and handed him his phone with his wife’s smiling face, a diamond ring in the corner of the screen.

Thursday 4:20 pm: I glanced at my watch.  It was about 4:20 pm.  “That’s the fastest recovery I’ve ever made!” I said.

Sometimes the difference between a lost item and a found item hinges on the questions asked rather than the equipment.  I own thousands of dollars of metal detecting equipment, have hundreds of hours of experience on land, in water, and underwater, but the right question can often yield the greatest results.

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