Jeff Wettstein, Author at The Ring Finders

Lost Ring Rescued After Playing Football in Stevens Point Yard

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Cerria contacted me via text on October 15th requesting my help to help recover a ring she lost throwing the football around with one of her sons a few days ago. She mentioned “I lost the ring in my yard. I was wearing two rings on the same finger. I found one that landed and rolled on the concrete…this was a heavier one. The other, I have had not any luck finding and assuming the ring landed in the grass. I’m devastated. It’s a thinner gold ring with diamonds.” We agreed on a time to meet on Friday AM, October 17th. Like a good detective. I always try to ask good questions and had Cierra recreate the activity. She suggested I look in the same area where the heavier ring was found. I looked thoroughly…The grass was sod and very, very thick. I expected the ring be a “surface” find but stuck and hidden under the heavy grass. I recovered the ring about a foot off from the edge of the driveway where she was throwing the football to her son. Cierra was more than happy with plenty of smiles to go around.

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Lost Ring Rescued in Green Bay Yard

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Al reached out to me requesting my assistance to recover his wedding ring in early October. This is a story of three places: 1) Where they think they lost it; 2) Where they say they lost it; and 3) Where I found it. (I did not find this time) Al mentioned “I’m quite certain I lost my ring in the yard because I was cutting my lawn and in and out of my garage all day.” He suggested I look in the front yard first. I did a very thorough search…no dice. I spoke with Al again and he suggested I look in the back yard next because “I spent a fair amount of time in the back yard too”. Before I began my search in the backyard, I asked about looking in his home, specifically, “did you look under the fridge, oven, washer, dryer, furniture, etc. I began my search in the backyard for about 10 minutes until Al came out from the house and emphatically stated, “hold the presses!”. Al showed me his wedding ring he found under the washer. He washed his hands several times throughout the day, and his ring fit loosely because he lost some weight recently. The ring fell off his finger after washing and drying his hands. It fell on a carpet by the washer and bounce further underneath the washer. Al said, “I looked under the washer, but did not look down far enough. The ring was 6-8 inches on the floor underneath from the edge of the washer…Al was all smiles and relieved…

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Door County Wedding Ring Rescue

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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I received a text from Kaden on Tuesday, July 1st, sharing that he was vacationing with his wife, Gabby, in Door County. He was swimming along the shores of the Bay of Green Bay, near Sister Bay. He asked if I would come up and look for his wedding ring, which he lost while throwing a football around. He saw where the ring fell off but could not grab it in time because the waves made it difficult to stand and recover it by hand. Kaden was able to help me locate where he tried to get the ring. I was able to use my machine and recover it by hand.  This was a short search, but a very gratifying one. Smiles all around, especially for Gabby.

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Lost Wedding Ring Rescued in the Snow in Luxemburg Casco

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Frank lost a wedding ring…and not just any wedding ring. This ring belonged to his father. Frank’s father passed away when he was 10 years old, and his sister was seven. Neither of them at their age could comprehend that their dad was gone and not coming back. Their mother passed away in 2021 from cancer. She gave Frank his father’s wedding ring a week before she died. Inscribed inside the 18K gold ring was “Always with you, Love Mom and Dad”.

Frank was repairing a utility box on Monday, February 17th, 2025, damaged by a vehicle sliding off the snowy road into the ditch. He took off his left glove and hastily raised his arm so the sleeve of the jacket would come down on his arm. While he did this activity with some force, the ring popped off his finger and into the snow.

He looked for the ring on Monday and Tuesday without success. He went online and Googled “somebody that finds rings in Green Bay”. Fellow RingFinder, Tom Caldie’s name appeared at the top of the page. Frank reached out to him Tuesday evening. I spoke with Tom about the search on Tuesday evening and wished him luck finding the ring. Tom called me after the search on Wednesday evening and mentioned spending about three and a half hours searching without success. Tom gave Frank my contact information to see if I would give it a try since he was leaving town for the weekend.

Frank contacted me, and I agreed to meet at 11:00 AM on Saturday at the location where the ring was lost. Frank was not one to give up, especially for this ring. He was prepared to shovel snow with two of his friends using a large deep fryer used to boil turkeys in peanut oil, then let the snow melt, allowing the ring to appear.

Tom had left his detector with Frank to use, and his friend Drew was using it while Frank went back to his house and retrieve a lighter and propane tank to use the deep fryer. I had to change settings on my machine a few times due to electromagnetic interference from the underground power lines…lots of chatter, and it was very tough to hear solid tones. I searched in areas Tom had not detected and could easily see, looking at the snow that was not trampled down. I found the ring about 10 feet away at twelve o’clock or right in front of where Frank was standing when he raised his arm in about six inches of the fluffy white stuff. Frank and his other friend Jesse were unloading more equipment from the vehicle, ready to get some exercise. When they came near the utility box in the ditch, Drew and I planted the ring near a near the deep fryer. Frank was ecstatic the ring was found. The picture above shows a smile not coming off his face for a long time…from one Marine helping another Marine…Semper Fi

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Lost and Found 14k engagement ring, Green Bay, WI

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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I received a call and message from Somer the afternoon of Saturday, October 30th, 2020 (Halloween mind you) sharing she lost her engagement ring in the front yard of her residence. She explained to me the night before friends were over for a social gathering. Somer mentioned she took her ring off to show one of her friends. The friend gave it back while Somer was getting her mail from the mailbox during the evening hours. She decided to put the ring on the mail instead of back on her finger. Well, the ring fell off the mail into the grass (so she strongly believed and thought!) Somer and her fiancé, Nate, spend a better part of the day on their hands and knees looking for ring without success. So, I took my trusty CTX 3030 and began swinging my machine with a small coil since there was a lot of targets in the yard and very close together. My first target rang up “gold” and on the surface…Somer was excited thinking and believing it was her ring…I did too…wrong!!…just under the eyesight of the grass, up popped a nickel. Both Somer and I were thoroughly disappointed. I continued detecting and digging anything that was noting on my machine 2” or less knowing and expecting a surface find. While I was doing my part searching the grass meticulously and the path Somer took from the mailbox to the garage, Nate was meandering on the road near the mailbox, he saw the ring near a manhole cover…right out in the open. None of us have any idea how the ring found its way from the mailbox on the street and not on the grass. Though, I did not find the ring directly, I’d like to believe I shared in the success of rescuing. Ring found and put back on Somer’s hand. She was ecstatic and was a team effort to find. We wish Somer and Nate many wonderful future memories in the years to come. Somer was uncomfortable having her face posted. GB Ring Pic 103020

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Lost Wedding Ring in Central Wisconsin Lake

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Sometimes three times is a charm and sometimes a little or a lot luck comes with it.  I received a text from Nolan inquiring if I would be willing to look for a lost ring in a central Wisconsin lake at the end of July.  It was a vague request.  So, I responded with a few questions about the lost ring via text.  I learned over time the ring belonged to his mother, Jenny.  She and her family were visiting a relative’s place on the lake.  Jenny was spending a fair amount of time in the water on a floatie.  And while on her back, she was moving her arms back and forth in the water.  During this activity, Jenny’s wedding ring slipped off her finger into the lake.  Since the lake is rather clear Jenny watched the ring fall the entire way to the bottom.  Jenny was more than sad.  Her husband Eric was nearby on his kayak when this event occurred.  They both made an attempt to rescue the ring.  No success was to be had the day the ring was lost.  Their son Nolan did some searching on the Internet and discovered “The Ring Finders.”.  Jenny and Eric had no idea such a service existed.  Two days after the ring was lost, I was under water searching for the ring.  The issue I had was, Jenny said “over there” and Eric said “over here” from the pier.  Where you think you lost it, where you thought you lost it and where it’s actually found end up many times in 3 very different places.  I searched 5-6 hours in 10-12 feet of water.  I had no success this 1st time out.  Jenny and Eric thought I might give up 2 hours into the search.  I was having fun, the water was beautiful and the fish in the area were bountiful.  The second time I went, I took fellow Ring Finder, Tom Caldie along.  So now we have twice the chance and area to cover and recover the ring.  Again, another 5-6 hours underwater each and still no ring.  Through Eric, Jenny was having serious doubts and losing the faith that Tom and I would rescue the ring.  We went a 3rd time.  Tom and I know the ring is there and when the coil on our machine goes over it, the music from our detectors will be crystal clear.  This time we put Eric in his kayak on the water and asked him to recollect and jar his memory where he was when Jenny lost her ring.  He was very near her when the activity took place.  Tom and I put our PVC pipe grid down to the bottom of the lake.  In an hour and half Tom’s machine had a significant and repeatable signal.  The ring had settled on hardpan, which was underneath three layers: a carpet of weeds about four inches thick, over about four inches of silt, then about six inches of sand.  His detector shaft kept getting caught up in weeds, so he had to use his arm as the shaft and hand sweep the coil underneath the weed layer in the silt, which meant zero visibility and going by sound and feel.  And, there was this big largemouth bass that kept playing with Tom’s coil like a cat after a toy.  That was funny! Finally, success!  His fingertips felt the two-ring set among some pebbles on the hardpan!  We had searched for close to 20 hours in total.  It was located just outside the one of the corners of the grid we put down.  Tom motioned for me on the bottom of the lake to come up thinking we would discuss what direction to move the grid.  When I surfaced, Eric mentioned, “I have the ring…Tom recovered it” It was a pretty nice feeling after so much time underwater searching.  Jenny was not present when we recovered the ring, but was eventually contacted and was more than ecstactic over the news the ring was found.  Eric’s help was the key to locating the ring by putting him at the scene.  A little bit of perseverance, tenacity, teamwork by all involved and sticktoitiveness on our part didn’t hurt either resulting in another happy ending and smiles on all faces…

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