Brentwood Woman Loses Wedding Ring In Trash
BRENTWOOD (KDKA) -- Beverly and Regis Englert's wedding at St. Sylvester Church in Brentwood nearly 11 years ago was picture perfect. The rings sparkled on her fingers.
"And I always take my rings off before I make dinner," Beverly said.
Beverly says she did just that Sunday evening, putting her engagement ring and wedding band in a paper towel on the kitchen table. Then later, she cleaned up.
"Everything I saw on the table I just picked it up and like I said I accidentally threw it in the trash," she explained.
From there it went curbside for next day pick-up. The next morning, Beverly realized what she'd done.
"Monday morning came and the garbage man took my rings," she said.
Home security camera photos show Beverly running out to flag down the Allied Waste sanitation truck. She pleaded with the driver.
But when she offered to go through the garbage, he told her it had been compacted once and it was impossible.
When the truck made a second pass, she begged him again. He gave a glimmer of hope.
"'What we could do is, we could probably put it in a separate pile for you,'" Beverly said.
Beverly called the landfill in Scottdale immediately alerting them to the problem, but when she and Regis contacted managers, they were told it was mixed in with everything else.
Regis was underwhelmed by the sanitation company's response. "Oop, too bad, it's in the garbage now. Your ring's gone. We're not going to do anything for you."
The rings are priceless.
"It's not the money," says Beverly. "The thing is, this is very sentimental and it is a symbol of my love with my husband."
Allied Waste sent a statement. It says in part: "We are sorry that Ms. Englert lost her wedding ring and realize that she must be very distressed to lose such a sentimental item. For health and safety reasons, we cannot allow anyone looking for lost items to search our garbage trucks and landfills. Searching for a ring in a landfill is truly looking for a needle in a haystack."
David Smith, general manager of Allied Waste Services in Scottdale, refused to answer any questions.
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