Man Finds Woman’s Wedding Rings After Tornado Destroyed Home

Last month, one newlywed Texas couple lost everything when a tornado hit the area and decimated everything in its path, including their home with all their belongings inside.

“Literally our house was just leveled. It wasn’t destroyed, it just wasn’t there,” Justin Duke said. “It was a small, little yellow farmhouse on top of the hill. The perfect starter home.” But of everything Justin and his wife Ariel lost, they were devestated most that her wedding band and engagement ring had been lost in the storm and scattered somewhere in the debris that extended miles in every direction.

The couple had been out searching for the rings, but as days past they started to think they’d never see the sentimental rings ever again. But before totally giving up, they posted photos of the lost rings on Facebook in hopes that they might be returned if someone stumbled upon them. “By the time I had come across it they had kind of given up,” said Nathan Wright, a hobby metal detector. “It was about eight days since it happened and they had a bunch of people out there using rakes and doing everything they could to find it.”

“It’s pretty hard to detect somewhere like that because there’s so much debris and metal spread everywhere,” Wright said. “Their place wasn’t even recognizable that a house was there. It was just broken wood and debris scattered over about 100 yards.” Despite the odds, Wright still felt he had to try and covered about half an acre in the first two hours of looking.

“I got into one area when I started finding earrings,” he said. “The first one I found I was like, ‘OK this could be a pretty good sign.’ I got a signal that I thought was going to be another piece of trash and I bent down and moved a little bit of debris away, and right up under the grass was the engagement ring. I hollered out and was so excited. I’d spent three hours doing some heavy praying I was going to be able to find it.”

Miraculously, Wright even managed to find the second ring about 30 feet away.”This one was about an inch dug into the ground,” he said. “I bent down and knew the gold looked exactly like the engagement ring. To be able to find both of those in the debris-strewed field like that was unreal. I’ll remember that forever.” Wright immediately went to Justin and Ariel and surprised them with the incredible news. “He pulled out the wedding band and we were like, ‘OK cool,’ Then he said, ‘Well if you’re excited about this then you’re really going to like this.’ He pulled it out and there it was. We were just in shock,” Justin said. “I was so thankful he found them. It was amazing. It really was,” said Ariel.

“There is a miracle that can come out of tragedy,” said Justin. “It seemed like we were on downward spiral, but with him finding the rings, we’re on an upswing and getting on with life. We’re going to see what the good Lord has in store for us.”