A Massachusetts woman is feeling thankful after a stranger helped her recover her missing wedding rings.
Kimberly and Peter Reggiannini were driving home to Westwood, Massachusetts from New York City last month when Kimberly realized she’d taken off her wedding rings in the car, but forgot to put them back on. The couple had stopped at the Branford rest area on Interstate 95 to get gas and use the bathroom. The rings, which were in Kimberly’s lap, fell out when she got out of the car. She didn’t realize they were missing until they were back on the road.
“It was more emotional than I thought it was going to be. Because you like to tell yourself, oh it’s just a thing, a material thing. But they have so much attached to them," Kimberly said.
The couple called police and local pawn shops and turned to social media, hoping someone might find the rings and return them. NBC Connecticut covered the story.
Enter Connecticut State Police Sgt. Robert Derry. He saw the couple’s story and took it upon himself to review hours of surveillance footage of the rest stop to see if he could find any leads.
“I couldn’t believe when I saw what appeared to be somebody who picked them up. Luckily we were able to ascertain a license plate number. I found a telephone number for the registered owner,” Derry said.
Local
Derry said the person who picked up the rings told him thought it was costume jewelry. He picked the rings and then reached out to the Reggianninis with the good news. The finder won’t face any charges.
“I honestly had given up all hope and when the officer called me and said, ‘I found your rings,’ I think I might have even said like, ‘No, you didn’t,’” Kimberly said.
“She called me crying right after and said oh they found the rings. And I was like, no they didn’t. There’s no way,” Peter added.
The rings were insured and the couple had started looking at replacements, but it wouldn’t have been the same.
“Having them back, I feel so lucky. I’m the one who lost them. You know I was beating myself up about when they fell off my lap at the rest stop and to get them back seems almost too good to be true,” Kimberly said.
Sgt. Derry said he was pleased with the happy ending.
“This is definitely one of the very good days that I’ve had in my career.”
