100th RECOVERY! Lost & Found Wedding Ring – Fredonia, WI

An evening swim in Lake 12, near Fredonia, Wisconsin resulted in the loss of Coty Becker’s white-gold wedding ring. It was later in the evening Coty realized, to his horror, that his ring was missing.

His wife, Kayla, discovered my forensic metal-detecting services when she stumbled upon The Ring Finders directory of metal-detecting specialists online. I was visiting family in Michigan when I received a text message from Kayla asking if I might help solve Coty’s lost-ring mystery. I arranged a drive up to Fredonia on June 28th, a week after the ring’s disappearance. My wife, Kathleen, accompanied me and provided emotional support to Kayla while I searched. Coty was working at the time.

Underwater searches can be challenging. As so often is the case around boat docks, the lake bottom was heavily populated with metallic debris, leftovers from decades of human occupation. The area where Coty had been swimming was no exception.

Using a similar ring, I was able to calibrate my XP Deus ll multi-frequency detector, tuning it for the presence of 14 Karat gold. About 15 minutes later, a promising signal in my headset invited further investigation. As the mud and silt washed out of my scoop, Coty’s ring suddenly appeared amongst the remaining pebbles. Case solved!

I finished searching the area and retrieved an old penny, just what I hoped to find. I handed the coin to Kayla under pretense of it being a ‘good luck’ penny. Then I proceeded with a verdict. I said, “I am confident the ring is not in the water.” The disappointment in Kayla’s face was immediately evident. But I quickly followed by explaining, “I say this because your husband’s ring, is in fact, in my scoop!” I then invited Kayla to retrieve it from my scoop. A myriad of emotions followed, mostly in the form of Kayla’s huge smile.

As for Coty, Kayla texted me the next day saying, “He was very happy and relieved and loved hearing about you finding it! He’s so thankful!”

Coty’s underwater ring search was not a particularly technical experience. The usual challenges were easily overcome and in a relatively short amount of time. However, this ring search goes down in my books as very memorable. It marks my 100th documented recovery as a member of The Ring Finders directory of metal-detecting specialists! What a privilege it has been to have brought such joy and relief to the hearts and lives of so many people. The smiles say it best, « It’s more than a ring! »