Lost Diamond Engagement Ring in Washington DC...Found in Toyota Corolla

Brian Rudolph, Lost Item Recovery Specialist (Land, Water, Sand, Snow, Leaves, Cliffs, Houses & Vehicles) Will Find Your Lost Keepsake! Call ASAP (301) 466-8644!

I received a desperate call for help from John who lived in Colorado. He was calling on behalf of his fiance, Bebe, who lost her engagement ring while visiting her sister and girlfriend in Washington DC. The couple was to get married in less than 2 months. The two of them were devastated over the loss of the very sentimental and priceless jewel.

While Bebe and the others were taking photos by the Washington Monument, she realized that she was not wearing her 14 karat white gold, 2.5 carat solitaire diamond engagement ring with 2 carats worth of diamonds that were set into the band. With little panic experienced at that time (because she thought that maybe she had left the ring on the nightstand at her sister’s house), the young lady (along with her entourage) walked back to her friend’s car to see if the ring was lying near the curb on Constitution Avenue (because she remembered hearing something fall on the concrete just as she was getting out of the car when they first arrived). Unfortunately, the very sentimental and expensive keepsake was nowhere to be found. However, as I mentioned, Bebe wasn’t too concerned about it since she still thought she may not have worn the ring out of the house that day.

That night, the women searched the apartment for the missing ring and still it did not turn up anywhere. This started to worry the young bride-to-be. Then, in the middle of the night, Bebe, who couldn’t sleep at all, remembered that she had applied lotion to her hands in the backseat of the vehicle just prior to taking the walk onto the Washington Mall grounds. It was then that she began to panic. She woke her best friend up and the two of them went down to the car to check around the back seats hoping that the engagement ring ended up somewhere on the cushions or on the floor. Again, Bebe came away with nothing. It was at that point that the friends took off into the night and searched along Constitution Avenue in the vicinity of where they had originally parked the car the day before. Sadly, the bride-to-be had to call her fiance up in Colorado to let him know that the ring was gone and that it had presumably fell out of the vehicle after applying lotion in the car prior to touring the Monument grounds. John was crushed because he had spent a great deal of time searching and purchasing the diamond ring and planning how he was going to ask his sweetheart to marry him. Now, it appeared that the jewel was gone forever… until a glimmer of hope appeared…THE RING FINDERS, the elite international directory of metal detectorists.

As soon as I got the call from John who found me on THE RING FINDERS website, I instructed him to publish a Craigslist ad in the attempt to get word out to the public just in case an honest person was searching for the owner on the online website. I told him that I would not be able to get out to the site until later that evening due to having another client for the remainder of the day. So, later that evening, I drove to downtown Washington DC and searched all along the street and grassy areas between the curb and the sidewalk. Ironically, I did find a ring but it was not the one we were looking for.

After completing the search on Constitution Avenue, I called my client and let Bebe know that I didn’t find her engagement ring anywhere in the area. I advised her that it would be a good idea for me to check her girlfriend’s vehicle just to make sure that the ring did not end up in some unexpected crevice or crease in the backseat. She told me that she was pretty certain that they cleared that area when they looked back there in the middle of the night, but she said she would welcome any more support possible just to make certain that the ring wasn’t in the car.

The next morning, I met up with Bebe and her friend to inspect the Toyota Corolla. First I checked the floor and under the front seats from the rear side. The jewel was not in those places. Next, I used my endoscope to check inside and under the rear seats. I spent about 45 minutes placing the probe into various spaces and creases with the hope that I would discover the diamond ring somewhere in one of the crevices that I explored. Just as I was about to wrap up my investigation, I decided to check one more place deep down beneath the rear seat where Bebe had been sitting when she applied lotion to her hands just after taking her engagement ring off. My scope showed nothing unusual for most of the time that I was monitoring that particular spot, and then something curious appeared on my screen! The video probe picked up what looked like a piece of jewelry in the shape of a halo. After adjusting the endoscope for a few minutes just to get the right angle to see what exactly I was observing on my screen, I couldn’t believe what I had discovered! I did it! I discovered the gorgeous 4.5 carat diamond engagement ring! Apparently, the sentimental keepsake must have rolled off of Bebe’s lap when she was getting out of the vehicle and then it fell down into a hole located to the left of the seat belt lock. Most of the time, rings that are placed on laps end up coming out of the vehicle and dropping onto the concrete below. In this particular case, Bebe’s ring stayed in the car!

Once I identified where the ring was hidden, I used my special tools to grab the jewel from under the right rear passenger seat! My client and her friend were in a state of disbelief! They couldn’t believe the news that I shared with them that I had identified and recovered the missing ring! We all celebrated with a feeling of elation that I had not experienced in some time! It was just one of those moments that I will never forget! I had found the ring in a place where no one would have searched and certainly no one would have ever found it! That incredible piece of jewelry would have ended up in the salvage yard once the Toyota Corolla had its final day on the road.

Just a few minutes after I returned the ring to its rightful owner, the three of us Facetimed John and surprised the living daylights out of the depleted young man! The look on his face was incredibly memorable! He could not believe that the nightmare was over and that the presumed unrecoverable ring had been pulled from Bebe’s girlfriend’s car! He could not have been happier with the news and he looked as shocked as the rest of us were!

My client told me over and over again just how grateful she was that I never gave up when I didn’t find the missing ring downtown and that I then suggested searching the Corolla! And when I didn’t find the keepsake in the vehicle for so very long, I still did not give up the fight but I continued until that exquisite « symbol of love » was surprisingly located and recovered! I was very proud of my work that morning and I certainly will never forget this particular search!

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