Woman Reunited with Wedding Ring Lost During Hurricane Milton Evacuation After Metal Detectorist Finds It: 'I Cried'

A woman who lost her ring while evacuating during Hurricane Milton has finally been reunited with the precious item months later — all thanks to a metal detectorist.

Melissa Martin told WTSP-TV that she had lost the item in October 2024 after taking it off and putting it in what she thought was a safe place at the time, while packing essentials in her car needed for an evacuation from her home in Seminole, Fla.

"I took my ring off, and I put it in my pocket and I told myself I should go put it away," Martin told the outlet. "I never got to it, then went in later to put my ring away and it wasn't in my pocket."

She said that she had looked everywhere for the ring — which she had kept on her finger for about 25 years at that point— including inside the house and on the lawn, but didn’t have any luck finding it.

Related: Hurricane Milton Turns Up Couple's Wedding Ring That Had Been Missing for Nearly a Decade

The ring would go undiscovered until three months later when, by a twist of fate, she came across a Facebook post from metal detectorist Steve Thomas, who had success finding rings in the past with his metal detector, according to a blog post Thomas wrote on The Ring Finders website. Martin reached out to him to see what he could do.

"I called Melissa and set up a search,” Thomas recalled to WTSP-TV. “And what I do when I come over, I have that individual recreate what they thought they were doing when they lost their ring.”

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They recreated Martin’s path during the evacuation, and Thomas said in his blog that he dug up “scrap metal and a penny” at first. However, within 30 minutes, he eventually found a hit with the metal detector in her front yard. Upon closer inspection of the area, Thomas told WTSP-TV he “saw the edges” of a metal item, “which turned out to be Melissa's golden platinum ring."

Martin recalled the emotional moment of finally finding the special item after several months.

"Oh I cried," she recalled. "We were hugging, crying — it was such a wonderful moment.”

Related: Kentucky Man's Wedding Ring Returned to Widow 61 Years After He Lost It: 'Needle in a Haystack'

She shared a photo of herself with a big smile on her face as she pointed to the wedding ring that was found, which was once again secured back on her ring finger.

As for Thomas — who offered his metal detecting services to Martin for free — he said that he was only happy to help.

"It's a thrill for me to find [the item], and the second thrill comes when I put it back on her finger," he told WTSP-TV. In his blog, he added that the “rush” he felt returning the missing items to their owners “never gets old.”

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