Maine Tag | The Ring Finders

Gold Wedding Ring Lost In Cape Elizabeth, Maine Leaves, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Tuesday, May 26th, I received the following voicemail,
Hi, my name is Missy D******. Um, I have a ring that needs locating. If you’re available, Um, it is a men’s, um, pretty heavy gold wedding band that was lost on Sunday afternoon. I know the general area where it may be. And yesterday we looked ourselves with the metal detector, but we only found like keys and nails. Um, so we’re hoping you might have some better luck. Uh, we are at ** ******* in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Um, and the phone number is 410-***-****. hoping you can help us out. Um, looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you. Bye.
I called Missy back and she told me that just a few days earlier, she and her husband Joe, had been doing yard work, on their property. Joe had been raking leaves, pulling dead vegetation and picking up downed branches, from the winter. Joe would then take those items, load up his John Deere Gator, and drive them to the composting area and dump the contents. At the end of the day, around 6-7pm, Joe noticed his wedding ring was no longer on his finger. Remembering some photos that had been taken around lunchtime, Joe and Missy looked at the photos, to see if Joe had his wedding ring on, at that time. Sure enough, at approximately 11:45am, there is a photo of Joe with his wedding ring ON his finger. Now, just 6 or so hours later, it was gone. After asking Missy many questions, Missy to me that Joe’s parents live next-door and at one point went over there and was inside their house. Joe had also gone inside his house and played with his 2 1/2 year old daughter, Imogen. Other than that, Joe had been outside for hours and hours, cleaning up their property. I told Missy I could search first thing in the morning. Missy would show me the areas Joe had been working in most and I would go from there. Joe and Missy had already borrowed a metal detector and had searched the most likely areas, the previous day, with finding the ring.
Once I arrived, I wasn’t prepared as to how big of an area needed to be searched. The most likely spots the ring would have come off, was around the house, where Joe had been collecting leaves and the other vegetation. Rings, typically don’t just fall off your finger. You are usually doing something like picking up all the items Joe had picked up. Joe was also tossing those items, into the Gator and there was a good chance his ring had come off around the house or dumped out back, near the composting area. Missy showed me the area around the house Joe had been working and the composting area. She and Joe really thought it would be in the composting area, among the branches or leaves and I wasn’t going to argue. It is definitely and area the ring could be hiding. I decided to start my search down in the composting area, since I was already there. The area had multiple areas where I could see where leaves, branches, grass clippings and food had been dumped. Not all were recently dumped and I decided to check all the areas. The area had already been searched with a metal detector, by Joe and just like Joe, I came up empty handed. I then decided to search the areas around thee house, where Joe had been picking up all the yard debris and was throwing it into the John Deere Gator. Again, I came up unsuccessful, in locating the Wedding Ring. I then started searching the entire property between the man made pond and the house. This is some of the area that Joe would have driven the Gator, to and from his work area, to his dump area. I really wasn’t confident the ring was going to be found, in this area. It’s not an area Joe had been working in but only traveling through. But, in searches like this, you need to be thorough , just in case. The yard was full of metal an I mean full. There seemed to be wiring, pipes and other assorted metal. I would find out later that in fact there was metal, buried all over the property, from years of different kinds of projects. This slowed me down immensely and I was able to search about 1/2 the yard, when I decided to call it a day. I had now been here a little over 3 hours and I would like to return to finish searching but would also like to have Joe there with me and point out the exact areas, he had been. I also wanted to break down some of the piles of leaves, branches and any other piles that could be hiding the wedding ring. Since the area was much larger than I anticipated, I also wanted to bring Gary Hill with me so that not only could we recheck areas already searched, we would search the remainder of the lawn and around his parents property. I let Missy know of my plan and she told me Joe would be home all weekend and he absolutely could help by breaking down the piles of debris. We decided that this up coming Sunday would be the day to resume the search.
So on Sunday, May 31st, Gary and I arrived nice and early, at 7:30am. Joe came right out to meet up and walked up around the property. Joe told us he remembered that he had also thrown some branches and brush, into a marshy area, behind one of yhe piles dumped leaves and branches. Awesome, a new area to search. Joe had to get back up to the house and do somethig, so Gary and I started searching the new area that Joe had thrown some branches. After searching the very wet area, the ring remained elusive. I started breaking down a pile of leaves, to flatten it out. The piles were deep of fresh and old leaves. I also threw a bunch of branches out into the marshy area, to get them out of the way. Gary would start searching some of the other piles. After 30-45 minutes, Joe returned with a rake and saw the one pile I had broken down didn’t need to be broken down any further. Joe thought for sure the ring would have been in that pile of leaves and branches. Joe then took us up to the area around the house and showed us where he was standing, when the photo, showing his ring at noonish, had been taken. Gary and I searched the area again. I had searched it a few days earlier and Joe had searched it almost a week ago. Still no wedding ring. I asked Gary to search the area of Joe’s Parents property, that Joe had traversed across. I would pick up where I had left off, in my previous search. With Joe still walking along with us, visually searching, I told him that Gary and I were out of options. I wanted to check the piles of leaves one more ime before we finished. This time I started on the pile to the far right. I was a large pile of leaves that had been searched with a metal detector by Joe, myself and Gary. As I was finishing up the area, Joe asked if he should level the pile down even more, since it was still a large pile. I told him to go for it and I would be back in a few minutes, after I searched the next pile of leaves. Just about 3 minutes later, I hear Gary yelling, Dennis, Dennis, I got it. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I rushed over to where Gary was and he to Joe and I that he has a solid low tone, ringing up as a 34 on his TID. Definitely in the gold range. Gary said he saw just a glimpse of gold when he heard the target but the object had disappeared back in the pile of leaves. As Joe and I stood there watching Gary, Missy and Imogen heard the commotion and were comng across the lawn. I moved up to the pile as Gary was probing the pile with his pinpointer. We then heard the pinpointer go of and Gary started removind a few leaves at a time, so as to not move the target once again. Finally, a white gold ring appeared. After almost another 3 hours of two of us searching, Joe’s Weddind Ring had been found, by Gary. Just crazy that this pile of leaves had been searched 4-5 times but until Joe was breaking it down, the ring had stayed hidden. Joe di tell us that a week ago he had moved some of thee leaves and may have pushed the ring either deeper into the leaves or to the back side and only now reappeared as he was breaking the pile down further. To Gary and I, it didn’t matter. The ring had been found. We left the ring where it was found and let Imogen “find” the ring and give it to “Daddy”. A very sweet moment, captured on video. Everyone was in disbelief that after maybe 11-12 man hours of searching a very large property, Joe had his wedding ring back, thanks to our newest ring finder, Imogen.
So, Gary and I don’t like giving up and continued to searh and it paid off. With Imogen, Joe and Missy’s help, another ring was back on the finger. A true team effort. “We have the best job in the world. I love my job. If it matters to you, it matters to us.”
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Diamond Engagement Ring Lost In Freeport, Maine Grass, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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Late Tuesday, May 26th, I received the following voicemail.

“Hi there, my name is Hillary S***. I found you from Facebook. I lost my diamond wedding ring. Uh this morning. And um, I’ve been searching for it and I’m having no luck. I live in Freeport, Maine and I’m wondering if you are around and could maybe help me find it. I’m hoping for a miracle. Um, I basically put it in my pocket. I was heading out the door and, um, put it in my pocket on my way to drop my kids off at school. So there’s a couple of locations here in FreeportME where I’ve already asked permission if I could bring somebody over to do a metal detector kind of thing. So one place would be just the Freeport Montessori School , which is right in front of the Town of Freeport Library here. Um, and also through the trees, which these 2 places are like within 30 seconds of my house and then my own driveway. So it’s about a 2 minute drive to each of these locations from each other. Um, and in fact, through the trees, they have a metal detector. So this like teenage boy has been over there. trying to help locate it, um, But so far no success. I’ve searched through my car, thinking it fell out of my pocket while I was driving. But anyways, if somebody could give me a call back, uh, my phone number is area code 607-***-***. That’s 607-***-*** and again, my name is Hillary. Um, and I’ll be around all week. So if somebody’s able to come, it would be great to talk about what you charge and how it works and figure it’s better than nothing. All right, thanks so much. Bye- bye.”

I called Hilary as soon as I saw the voicemail. Hilary was very upset and told me that she has been wearing this engagement for 16 years and wanted to do everything possible to locate it. Hilary is also 8 months pregnant and this morning her wedding and engagement rings were not going on her finger because they were so swollen. She had taken them off, the previous evening because the were so tight, on her finger. Hilary has two children that she needed to get them to school and was a little behind. Since she couldn’t get the rings on her finger, she put them in her pocket, intending to put them on in a few minutes, when she returned home or whenever the swelling went down. Hilary also told me that she had put her keys, in the same pocket as her rings, along with her phone. Hilary and the children went out the door and each child was dropped off at their different schools, respectively. The entire trip to both schools, with getting out of the vehicle was only 15 minutes or less. Once Hilary arrived home, she reached into her pocket to try putting her rings on again and only her wedding ring was there. The engagement ring was missing. Panic set in and Hilary immediately went out side and searched her vehicle and gravel driveway. The engagement rig wasn’t found. She then went to the Montessori School school in Freeport , Maine and to the Through the Trees school where one of her children attend. This is a non profit outdoor school starting for preschoolers. The engagemet ring was not found at either location. Hilary told me that the owner of the outdoor school has a metal detector and that both the owner and his 13 year old son had been searching for her ring but have not been able to find it. At both schools, she had gotten out of her vehicle and the area at both were very small, as to where the ring could be. Hilary’s husbund had also been searching their property and vehicle, along with the two schools. I could tell Hilary was just beside herself and wanted to find this so badly. This ring represented 16 years of her and her husband’s life together, with two children and a third on the way. I told Hilary that I was already booked early the next morning but it was for a water shutoff valve, that wasn’t going anywhere and I would search for her ring first, then the valve. We agreed to meet at her house at 7:00am, bright and early. I would also see if GH would be able to help, now that I had two jobs lined up and had no idea how long each would take.
Gary and I arrived propmtly at 7:00am and Hilary showed us the area of her gravel drivway that she had parked in. Even though Hilary and her husband had visually searched the driveway, rings have a way of hiding, in the loose gravel and possibly even hidden underneath the loose gravel. The area was very small and we didn’t find the ring but did come up with a dollar or so, in coins, just under the gravel, with no digging required. As Gary and I were driving up to Freeport, we both agreed that the ring most likely came out of her pocket, when taking her keys or phone out of her pocket. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall out, in her driveway. With the possibility of the ring coming out, of her pocket, in her vehicle, I brought my Borescope, so we could check every crevice around her seat. The small camera at the end of the Borescope can get into places that the human eyes can’t get to. After a search of the vehicle, still no ring. Off to the first school, Through the Trees. The school was literally just 2-3 minutes, from her house. She had dropped her first child off here and had backed into the gravel parking lot, got out, walked across the drivway and a grassy area, to a picnic table, where she left her child, with the other students. Hilary then returned to her car and drove to the Montosorri School, just another few minutes down the road. As the three of us stood in the driveway, Gary and I went over the search areas. The gravel parking lot and the path across the grass, to the picnic table. I didn’t have high hopes of finding the ring here as the owner and his son had already searched. I asked Gary which side he wanted to search and he took the grassy path and picnic tabe as he was closer to those locations. Ok, I will take the gravel parking lot. Within 90 seconds of searching I hear Gary say, “I got it”. Both Hilary and I swung around and looked at Gary and I said to Hilary, “He found your ring”.. Hilary looked shoked and said something along the line of, “Are you sure? I don’t want to look and be disappointed”. We walked over to Gary and he asked Hilary if that was her ring. Gary hadn’t touched the ring and it still was in the grass. Hilary couldn’t see it until gary told her that it was right in front of his detector. When the ring came into focus, beneath the grass, Hilary says “Oh my God, THATS CRAZY, OH MY GOD, THATS AWESOME.” She then is just beaming ear to ear and puts her hand to her face and says “Oh you guys are the best” and let out an relieved laugh. When I asked her how she felt, she said she didn’t know what to say. I did post a very short video of Hilary seeing her ring, after Gary found it. Please check it out. She was still amazed and in disbelief. Hilary then showed the owner of the school, that her ring had been found and another mother that had just showed up and everyone was very excited, laughing and smiling. As Gary and I drove off, we could see Hilary still beaming, showing her ring and admiring it, back on her finger. So how did Hilary’s engagement ring end up there? The most likely explanation is that after dropping her child off at the picnic table, Hilary walked back towards her vehicle and removed the keys out of her pocket, causing the ring to fall out.
Another ring back on the finger, another smiling client and I’ll say it again, “We have the best job in the world. I love my job. If it matters to you, it matters to us.”😃💍❤️🙏

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Lost Sentimental Gold Wedding Band Found in the Snow, Portland, Maine.

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Monday January 23, 2023, I received a text from someone who lost a very sentimental wedding band, in the snow. Fred, had been cleaning the snow off of his car, during a storm that would eventually drop 10-12 inches of fresh snow on the area, along with sleet and freezing rain.  When Fred got back into his house, he noticed his custom made wedding ring was missing. He went out looking for it around his car but had no luck locating the ring. Fred states that he started to panic, as the plow would be coming back through and was afraid of the plow would take it down the road and be forever lost. Fred rust back inside and frantically searched online on how to find a lost ring in the snow. At that point, Fred found The Ring Finders website. Fred then contacted me with the text message. I immediately called Fred back and let him know that because of the snow day I would not be able to make it to Portland because I was home alone with my 5 year old granddaughter whose Kindergarten school had been canceled. The police were also asking everyone not to travel because of the weather. I then told Fred that if he could shovel the snow from around the car and throw it up onto the lawn, it would be safe from the plow and I could get out to his place the next day or so, if he so desires. Fred said he would let me know and went back outside and shoveled all the snow around his car, up onto the lawn.

I did not hear back from Fred until 3 days later , when he texted me and let me know that he and his wife had been sifting through the snow that he had thrown up onto the lawn and had found the priceless ring.
InFred’s own words.   “Just wanted to let you know that we searched the snow I put on the grass again tonight and found my ring! Thank you so so so much for that idea! I was totally losing my head and you helped keep me sane and I got my ring back thanks to your quick thinking! ”

Fred then went on to tell me how the custom ring was made.Again, in Fred’s own words.                        “It’s gold and white gold with a ruby. It was made along side my wife’s by melting down some old family rings that were given to us for that purpose.” “My wife’s is two rings. The engagement ring sits inside the wedding band. It’s rubies and sapphires.”

So even though I did not find his ring with my detector, I feel absolutely elated that this very sentimental ring is back where it belongs, on Fred’s finger. Fred sent me a photo of his ring and his wife’s custom made ring. Beautiful and now back together  

 

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Lost ring, found in Maine Lake

  • from Rockport (Maine, United States)
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  1. I received a call from a gentleman who lost his wedding ring off the dock at his parents camp on Toddy Pond. I drove up the following day donned my scuba gear said a prayer for St. Anthony’s help and made the recovery quickly utilizing only my pin pointer in about 9 feet of water. Since both the owner of the ring and his father are in the business of marketing eye wear to optometrist’s I will be donating a portion of his generous reward to the Camden Lions Club to help their work with those whom are visually impaired.

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