Contact me for all your metal detecting and recovery needs. Rob 402-580-6933. Land, water, cracks in concrete, rings, keys, hearing aids, phones, etc. Helping law enforcement. Serving Lincoln and the greater Nebraska area.
This story starts a week earlier with a call about a lost item in Lake MacConaughy in Nebraska. The area I was given was the largest specific area I’ve ever been given. It was doable but the hours I calculated to do it was beyond what I had and was not looking forward to it. I went anyway. I knew that if I swung over it I’d find it. 16 hours of water searching later without success I started some shallow water searching. Just then I swung over a class ring. Hopefully I can get that returned. I headed back to my chair to send the class ring information to Mark my history friend who loves to do these types of searches and he is good at it. I was beat down, tired and trying to collect my thoughts on my game plan. I then noticed that I missed a phone call and text message. Without finding that class ring I might not have looked at my phone for hours and seen the call for help. I read the message and then listened to the voice mail. An urgency behind the questioning voice asking me if I ever do recoveries at the Republican river by Harlen lake gave me a second wind for the trip. I messaged back and Kaitlyn begin to explain what happened. Without knowing all the details I immediately started packing up to make the 2.5 hour trip. As I traveled we continued to communicate and work out a game plan. They were going to meet me and help me find the spot where the loss happened. Jayson and Kaitlyn showed up from Kansas within minutes of my arrival. I knew we were going to make a good team the way we were able to do this. NOW the story. Every year April, Jaysons mother and her family and friends would do a group float down the Republican……Except this year was different. Andrew, Aprils husband wasn’t on the trip, he had passed away a few months earlier after a long and courageous battle with pancreatitis and the complications that came with it. April, supported by her friends and family, embarked on what was supposed to be a great day enjoying the precious family she has. As they begin the relaxing and fun time tubing the river, she put her hand down to try and stop herself so she could help someone who got a little too close to an over hanging branch into the river. She felt it….the feeling no body wants to feel. Her wedding ring got pulled off and dissappeared into the strong current of the river. Devastated, she immediately stopped and started to look for it. One by one others came to look for the priceless sentimental symbol of her bond with Andrew. With no success, they had no choice but to continue on with the trip. With a heavy heart April tried to enjoy the time with her company. The next day Kaitlyn with determination was on the internet searching for anything. Anything that could help her find Aprils ring. That’s when she came across theringfinders.com. She eventually contacted me and divine intervention had it that I was far west from my home and was beat down from the 16 hours I had just spent on another water recovery and needing to decompress. This was exactly what I needed. It took some good teamwork to find the exact tree and then hike all the equipment in. Jayson and Kaitlyn were so helpful and because of their determination to help his mother get her ring back we made quick work of the recovery. Through multiple texts, facetiming and even a simulated float down the river, in a tube that we found in the bushes, we were able to come to an agreement on the spot. I geared up and started upstream and even with the tree. I ran a test with a similar ring tied to fishing string,to see how the ring would react with the current. Then slowly moving with the current in a straight line, I got a signal. The signal I knew that I was looking for with a white gold ring could fall right on a pop tab signal depending on the KT of the gold. Using my pinpointer I then carefully worked the target into my hand. I pulled it to the surface. Yep, it was a pop tab. This could be a very long search as I have literally experienced 100’s of pop tabs before on other recoveries. Another foot or two downstream of that signal was another signal. A pop tab comes in no lower than a 25 on my VDI and this was a 21/22 and a nickel comes in at a 20. I tried not to smile and give false hopes as I carefully used my pinpointer to narrow down the signal to a spot no bigger than a quarter. I then grabbed the handful of rock and sand bringing it to the surface. The whole time keeping my pinpointer by my hand to make sure the target is in my hand. I opened up my hand. We all looked in disbelief. It was the ring. I held it up and relief hit us. It was over. They had put me in the spot, literally right on it. A quick fist bump and we headed for the shore and then hiked back to the cars. Jayson and Kaitlyn headed off for Kansas to surprise his mom, April. I stayed and thanked God for the success and to reflect on the weekend. It was my greatest honor to be entrusted with the recovery of such a priceless sentimental ring.
