Man returns wedding ring to owner after finding it at Hampton, NH beach with metal detector
MARSHFIELD -- Rain or shine, day or night, Lou Asci suits up, metal detector in hand, and heads to a beach. He volunteers his time to find valuable items other people have lost.
"We've all been there. We've lost something special to us and we want it back and it's a horrible feeling," said Asci.
It's a feeling that Francesca Teal knows well because her wedding ring fell in the ocean in Hampton, New Hampshire earlier this month.
"Honestly I had to let myself say at some point alright I'm never going to find it," said Teal.
Lou saw her plea on Facebook and after three separate trips, he found it eight days later.
"I took a picture of the ring and sent it to Francesca and said please tell me this is the ring so I can finally get off this beach. She texted right back," said Asci.
"I freaked out. I think I jumped up and I was like 'it's it, it's it, he's got it!' And I looked at my husband and he got super emotional," said Teal.
When asked how it felt to return the ring, Asci said, "it was pretty much what motivated me to do that third and final trip: to give it back. The ocean has plenty of rings. This one doesn't belong in the ocean."
Asci's friend Mike Chorzewski alerts Asci when he hears of lost items on social media.
"To do it at night with a metal detector and just a headlamp and find it under water. I don't know how he does it. But it's the perseverance that he has and he just always seems to find that ring," said Chorzewski.
Asci got his metal detector as a gift for Father's Day five years ago. Since then, he's been hooked on the hobby and successfully found dozens of rings and other items in the process.
"I've found a lot of rings. But about a dozen owners that we've matched them up to," said Asci. "Someone that lost something that precious to them, they need it back. So that's the motivation."
"My husband and I will never be able to thank him enough for bringing this back to us and just getting to experience his true generosity and we will always make sure we put that forward," said Teal.
Asci said while he was looking for Francesca's ring in Hampton, he found a men's wedding ring and he is currently looking for the owner.