I received a call from Lori, on Monday, November 3rd, concerning a lost Gold Cross Pendant , with Diamonds. Lori’s son, Anakin, and his friend, Caleb, had been playing football, in the backyard, after school. Once they were inside Lori’s home, Caleb noticed his Gold Cross Pendant was missing but the necklace was still around his neck. Everyone searched the backyard but they were unable to find the Gold Cross. They even went back out and searched, in the dark, with flashlights, to no avail. We made plans for me to search, first thing the next morning ,Tuesday. Caleb didn’t have school, at Thornton Academy, because it would be Election Day and all of the City of Saco Government wards, vote at Thornton Academy. Caleb would be able to show me exactly where he had been in the backyard, which would be a big help.

Tuesday morning, I arrived promptly at 8:00am and was shown the area to be searched by Caleb, Lori and Anakin. The backyard isn’t very big and I was confident I would find it, if it was there. Caleb wasn’t even sure, if the Gold Cross had been lost in the yard. He was concerned that he had lost it at school, as he was removing his backpack and then putting it back on, throughout the day. Caleb was also concerned that he had lost it, while walking to Anakin’s and Lori’s home, almost a mile, from Thornton Academy. The school and the walk presented problems because anyone could have seen the Gold Cross, in those public areas and kept it. Our best chance at a recovery is for the Gold Cross, to be in the yard. I was told the Gold Cross with Diamonds was a very special gift, to Caleb, from his mother. I could see the hurt in Caleb’s eyes and want to so much, find this special gift, for him.

Now the home is located at the Cote Funeral Home, in Saco. Cote Funeral Home is a very well known and respected local business, that is family owned and on their 5th generation, of Funeral Directors. WOW!!!

As I started grid searching the area, I couldn’t believe how much metal was not only in the area, but also in the ground. Fencing, generator, underground wiring, sprinkler heads are tough but then Lori told me that a home had been torn down, when the expansion of the Cote Funeral Home happened, many years earlier. Could this have been why there was so much metal, in the ground? A demolition would certainly explain a lot of metal, in the ground. After grid searching the backyard, the flower garden and a small area, on the other side of the fence, I was not able to locate Caleb’s Gold Cross Pendant. I suggested to Lori, to notify the Saco Police Department, in the event someone found it on the side walk. I also suggested that they contact Thornton Academy, in the event it had been found at the school. Lori was already ahead of me and told me that they had already contacted TA and the Saco Police. I wished them well and told them to don’t give up searching because these items sometimes are found days, months and yes, even years later.

When I am not able to find someone’s lost item, it bothers me and it bothers Gary Hill , as well. We just don’t enjoy disappointing our clients. It feels like we’ve let our clients down, when we are unable to locate their lost items. I go over the unsuccessful search, in my mind and think if there is anything else I could have done. I just had a bad taste in my mouth, about all the metal, in the search area. That much metal can absolutely cause us to miss such a small thing like the Gold Cross Pendant. Metal in and above the ground can interfere with a metal detector’s ability to find a small gold cross by creating false signals, masking the small target, and reducing the detector’s accuracy. As I thought about it, I decided to go back to Cote’s Funeral Home and search the area, for a second time. Since I had searched the area, with my 11’ coil, I decided to search the area with my 8” elliptical coil. This is my most sensitive coil, to small gold and because it is much smaller than my 11” coil, I would be able to try and isolate a smaller area, under my coil, resulting in less metal being detected, at the same time. If I could isolate the gold cross pendant, under the coil, I would have a much better chance of finding Caleb’s pendant. I immediately called Lori and asked if I could come over, sometime in the next few days and search the area, again. Lori was 100% behind this idea.

So today, Monday November 10th, I went back over to Cote’s Funeral Home, with my 8””sniper” coil. I live less than a quarter mile, around the corner, from Cote’s Funeral Home so I decided that if I wasn’t successful today , I would try again tomorrow. Once I arrived I decided to perform an East – West grid search pattern, as I had already done a North – South pattern, in my earlier search. I started in the corner, next to the generator and once again, couldn’t get close to it, because of all the metal, above and below the ground. Once I was searching, in the open yard, I was still getting lots of metal, but nowhere near what I was getting, with the 11” coil. I was able to isolate the targets much better, with the smaller coil. I was also using a different metal detecting program. I was using the most sensitive program, on my Minelab Manticore, the Goldfield Program. This program along with my most sensitive coil was hopefully the winning combination. I was now feeling very confident ,that if the cross was here, I would find it, with this setup. As I plodded along, I was getting many non ferrous, low conductive targets, which is what I was looking for. Unfortunately all those targets were in the ground and the Gold Cross would still be above the ground. I was now about an hour into the search and about 1/2 to 3/4 of the area had been searched. As I was about to finish up another section of yard, I received another great gold signal. I looked down and couldn’t see anything but grass and leaves. I took my pinpointer out and as I was running it through the grass, I heard the target and caught a very small glimpse of something gold. I looked again and there was a very small gold cross. I couldn’t believe it. Caleb’s gold cross has been found. I called Lori and said, “Guess what I just found?” Lori literally screamed, in delight. She told me she would be right home, in 5 minutes. I left the gold cross, in the grass as I found it and showed Lori just how well it was hiding. Lori then told me that Caleb just had surgery, for a torn ACL, just a few days ago and after I had met him, almost a week earlier. Caleb was in pain still, from the surgery and hasn’t been sleeping well. He is at home recuperating and Lori was going to drive right over to Caleb’s house and surprise him and hopefully cheer him up a bit. I was so happy that Caleb will soon have his Gold Cross back. This should definitely be a mood booster.

Later that afternoon, Lori texted me and said , “Thank you again, so much. He was so thrilled and so was his mom. See the attached photo.” Lori sent me a photo of Caleb, recuperating , with a big smile on his face. Even though I haven’t seen Caleb, since he received his very special Gold Cross back, I got the biggest smile on my face, seeing him holding his cross, and the big smile on his face. Another smile and another piece of jewelry back with the rightful owner. There in no better feeling, in the world, than to help people, like Caleb. I have the best job, in the world. Here’s wishing Caleb a speedy and healthy recovery 😀❤️🙏