45 Years of Love Found in the Sand – Wedding Ring Recovery in Beach Haven, LBI, recovered by Edward Trapper, NJ Ring Finder
45 Years of Love Found in the Sand – Wedding Ring Recovery in Beach Haven, LBI
I received a heartfelt call from Carmella, who was understandably devastated after realizing both her wedding ring and engagement ring were missing. She had been enjoying a day in Beach Haven, Long Beach Island (LBI) when she removed the rings for safekeeping, tucking them into her bathing suit while applying sunscreen.
It wasn’t until the next day that she discovered they were gone. Carmella was almost certain she had lost them near the waterline while bending down to pick up seashells.
Despite the delay, I reassured her to stay calm—I would do everything I could to help. Since it was a busy Sunday afternoon, I decided to wait until the crowds had cleared before heading to the exact spot she described. She mentioned they had been sitting near the chairs, so I started there first, just in case anyone showed up and set up for the evening.
Within just five minutes, I received a sweet, unmistakable signal—and up came Carmella’s stunning wedding set, gleaming from beneath the sand. I immediately sent her a photo, and she was overwhelmed with joy and emotion.
We arranged for her to come retrieve the rings the next day at my home. After 45 years of marriage, these rings held deep sentimental value. Returning them was not only rewarding—it’s what makes this job so meaningful.
Brandy called asking if I would be able to come to the beach and help her and her daughter find a necklace she had lost earlier that day. Since I wouldn’t be able to get there until well after dark, I asked if she knew exactly where it had been lost. She assured me they had marked the entire area with sticks and were confident it had fallen out of a pocket inside her beach bag.
Melissa sent me a message in a bit of a panic—her husband Ed had just lost his wedding ring on the beach and she wanted to know if I was available to help. They were sitting right there when he realized the ring was gone. One moment he had it, and the next, it had vanished into the sand. I reassured them to stay put, letting them know I could be there in about half an hour. When I arrived, I quickly marked off the perimeter around where they had been sitting and got to work. In less than five minutes, I heard the satisfying clink of metal in my scoop. The ring was safely recovered, much to their relief. Another fantastic recovery on the Jersey Shore !!
I was at a family picnic when I received a call from Anthony, stating that he had just lost his beautiful cross on the beach, somewhere in the area they were sitting. It was early afternoon and I told him I would be able to swing by soon, and to secure the area so nobody else came and setup their beach things in the exact same spot. Anthony assured me that was not a problem because they were there for the entire day, plus the fact he was very anxious to get his cross back where it belonged around his neck. We spoke about the events leading up to the mishap, that’s when he told me about the big creator he and his friends had dug that day in the sand where they were sitting. He said they had all been digging around looking for the cross for quite a while, but were positive it must be there somewhere, because he had spent the best part of the morning there, digging. It was then I asked them to please stop digging otherwise the cross may get buried to deep for my machine to pick it up. When I arrived I could see the creator from the dune walkover, and it was pretty big. Sure enough, it was close to 4′ deep, and roughly 6′ in circumference. I hopped in, scanned the entire bottom and the walls, without even a squeak of a sound from my metal detector. Next, I scanned the piles of sand they had pulled out of the hole with no luck either. I asked them to pull the piles down lower, to an average of no more than 10″ higher than the regular beach level. Once again, no luck anywhere, so only one more place to look was the bottom, after they pulled about 10″ of sand out. Now, with all the sand moving, I assured that the cross was positively NOT in, or anywhere around the crater. So, back to the drawing board, where he mentioned they were tossing a football on the tide line earlier, and that his friend did tackle him there. I told him I really wish he mentioned that earlier, as the tide had been rising very quickly. Once he showed me the area, the cross was in my scoop within 2 minutes. If Anthony told me that one detail of the day, my search would have started there, and all the sand moving could have been eliminated. Lost of detective work is needed to rescue items from their hiding places.
