St. Augustine, FL — A woman who lost both her engagement and wedding rings, valued at approximately $15,000, during a swim at Vilano Beach in St. Augustine, Florida, has been reunited with the precious jewelry—thanks to the efforts of a dedicated metal detectorist.
Casey Johnson was swimming off the beach when the rings slipped off her fingers and vanished beneath the sand. Desperate to recover them, she shared photos of the lost rings on Facebook, hoping a Good Samaritan might come across them.
Her plea caught the attention of Joseph Cook, 39, a local detectorist and content creator known for his beach searches. While he admitted the chances of finding the rings were slim, he volunteered to try.
“I told them they must have a guardian angel—never in my life have I found two rings right next to each other,” Cook said.
Setting out early the next morning, Cook began sweeping the sand with his metal detector around 4 a.m. To his amazement, within just 15 minutes, he picked up a strong signal and unearthed the wedding ring.
What happened next was even more astonishing. Just six inches away, another signal led him to the missing engagement ring.
Elated, Cook contacted the couple and arranged a meeting to return the rings. He kept the full discovery a surprise until the moment of reunion.
“I sent her a message and said, ‘Hey, I might have a present for ya,’” Cook recalled. “They thought maybe I had found one of them. So when I brought out both rings, they were shocked.”
Despite the couple’s insistence on compensating him for his efforts, Cook declined any payment.
“They tried to give me a bunch of money, but I do these things for fun. I don’t take money for it,” he said. “They were probably worth at least $15,000—really nice rings.”
Cook, who regularly shares his discoveries online, said he often feels an intuitive sense when he’s about to find something important.
“Sometimes I get a feeling or a vision and I know it’s going to happen,” he said. “For this one, I had that weird feeling that I was going to find them and I told all my family the night before.”
Cook’s story has since resonated with many on social media, where he’s known for turning what others consider a hobby into acts of kindness.
