Metal Detectorist Saves the Day After Proposal Gone Wrong

Man finds $3K engagement ring that Seth Dixon dropped in pond while proposing
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 21, 2017 10:35 AM CDT

It was the "little plop" heard 'round the world. Seth Dixon and Ruth Salas likely thought they'd never find Salas' $3,000 engagement ring again after Dixon accidentally dropped it off a wooden footbridge and into a pond while proposing in Kansas City earlier this month. But thanks to a man WMUR calls a "Good Samaritan with a heart of gold," the couple now has the ring back—and an extra ring from Jimmy Kimmel to boot. That Good Samaritan, Michael Long, also has a metal detector, and so when he heard about the lost ring, he "thought it would just be nice to get up there, help a random couple out, and find the ring before someone else found it." Long says it took him hours, spread out over two days, to find the ring in Loose Park Pond, pulling up a couple dozen nails and a toy car before he unearthed what he was looking for on Saturday.

Per the Kansas City Star, the ring had already been found when Dixon and Salas appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, where they re-created the ill-fated proposal, then accepted a brand-new diamond ring from Kimmel to replace their lost one. (Long says he got in touch with Dixon in California on Monday.) Dixon said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that they alerted Kimmel's staff about Long's discovery once they found out about it—he noted the ring was found while "Ruth and I have been in Los Angeles"—and that "we have been completely honest ... during this entire process." He also notes Kimmel and Co. still insisted they keep the ring. "Now for the next adventure to get married on October 21, 2017!!!!" Dixon wrote. (More uplifting news stories.)

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