On Saturday morning, I woke up to the following text message, “Looking for help finding 2 lost rings in N Myrtle beach, wondering if this number is still valid? Thx!” It was followed by a second text saying, “Good morning! I lost 2 rings during high tide at N Myrtle beach, quiet beach, one is a family heirloom, and I desperately need help finding them! Thank you!” I responded asking her to call me with my phone number. Kasey called about 30 minutes later and I started asking questions. What day and time she lost them, how she lost them, how deep was she, etc. Turns out she lost them 2 days prior while playing with her twin toddlers in about shin deep water. She also said she lost them about 6 p.m., which meant that she lost them about an hour after low tide. It was just coming up on high tide, but I told her I could be there in 10-15 minutes. I knew I had no chance of finding them right then but I wanted to get an idea of what I was up against. When I got to the beach I met Kasey, her husband Brian and their twin 3 ½ year old’s. Talking to Kasey she said one of the rings was a gold wedding band that belonged to her great grandfather, Leonard « Leo » Zuccoli, and the second ring was a silver ring that Brian had given her. Both Kasey and Brian had picked spots on the resort as a reference point to where the rings were lost, which was a huge help. I grabbed my PI detector and started a grid search perpendicular to the beach. There was no way I could get out as deep as I needed to. The tide was still coming in and the waves were big enough that if I did hit a target, there was no way I could stay on top of it and try and dig it out. After a short time, I told them I’d be back at 4 p.m. and work the outgoing tide.
The four hour wait seemed like forever, so I left a little early and got there about 3:30 p.m. I started another perpendicular grid search. I still had about 3 hours before low tide, so I took my time and worked the outgoing tide keeping my reference points on the resort. In about an hour and a half I had hit one target, which turned out to be a bottle cap. I noticed that Kasey, Brian and the kids had shown back up on the beach and were talking to a few ladies from New Jersey. All of a sudden I got a great signal, right in line with Kasey’s reference point. It took me 4 scoops of sand to get the target out of the hole. With the target in the scoop, I gently sifted out the sand in the waves and BOOM! I had a man’s gold wedding band in the scoop. Kasey had told me that the 100 year old family heirloom was « Leo’s » wedding band that had been passed down to her. She also shared that Leo was an immigrant and when he married Kasey’s great grandmother he made the wedding band. Kasey said that Leo had used some of his mother’s gold jewelry, melted it down and fashioned his own wedding band. Ok, I had one ring in my pocket and still needed to find a silver ring that Brian had given Kasey that was still hiding in the sand someplace. Kasey had told me that she lost both rings at the same time in the same spot. I rechecked the hole and got nothing, I searched around the hole expanding out on all sides and still nothing. I didn’t want Kasey to have to wait any longer to get Leo’s ring back. I marked the hole and made my way back to the beach, searching as I went. Kasey had her back to me and I wanted to do the WOW factor but wasn’t 100% positive I had the right gold wedding band. So, I called her over and her face lit up anticipating that I had found them. I asked her what Leo’s ring looked like and as she’s explaining it, I held the ring out and said “is this it”. Well, from her excitement there was no doubt I had the right ring. Tears started flowing and she was shaking like a leaf. We had a short celebration with her and Brian then I headed back out to find the second ring. After about 30 minutes I started noticing a lot of bait fish swimming around me, not a good thing to see when its dinner time for bigger fish. As I’m walking in about knee deep water swinging my detector, I hit a big fish with my coil. I got a quick glimpse of it as it swam off which was enough for me to decide to call it a night and go back in the morning.
I showed back up the next morning to hit the 6:30 a.m. low tide. After a little more than an hour of a thorough grid search, I wasn’t able to find her silver ring.
While I was doing my original search on Saturday afternoon, an unknown gentleman walked up to Kasey and Brian as they were watching me. They told him their story and he gave them the painted shell that’s in the picture, telling them it was a sign her rings would be found. I wanted to make sure I got a picture of the shell with Leo’s ring sitting on it.
Kasey and Brian – Thank you for calling and trusting me to help find your lost treasures. I’m sorry I couldn’t find your silver ring. Have a safe trip back home to Cleveland.
Jim
