Engagement ring returned to Alabama couple

DESTIN, FL - Chris and Michele Thiel were celebrating their first wedding anniversary Jan. 31 when she lost her diamond engagement ring.

The couple were staying at the Emerald Grande and had enjoyed a dinner at Commander's Palace before visiting a few nightspots along Destin Harbor. They returned to their room about midnight and woke up to find Michele's ring missing.

"We looked all over the unit," said Chris, a 1990 Choctawhatchee High School graduate. "It wasn't in the room. We backtracked and called the restaurants."

But Chris and Michele ended up heading home to Fairhope, Ala., without the ring insured for $7,000.

The Thiels filed a claim with their insurance company Feb. 2. Two days later, their adjuster called to say the ring had been found.

"She was crying like a baby," Chris said of his wife's reaction. "We figured it was gone."

A pizza chef at O Sole Mio in Destin had found the ring in a parking lot.

"When I found it, I didn't know if it was a real ring or fake ring," Alfonso Di Bonito said.

But he hoped a co-worker might help him find the owner. He brought it to work the next day and Linda Williams discovered the diamond was laser-inscribed.

"We got the inscribed number off the diamond and contacted the American Gem Society," said Lisa Peters, owner of Destin Jewelers.

It turned out Chris had purchased the Tycoon-cut diamond at Destin Jewelers. Peters contacted the insurance company, which called Chris.

"It really did surprise me," Chris said. "Everyone did the right thing and Michele got her ring back. She'd been sick all week."

Chris picked the ring up at Destin Jewelers last Thursday and proposed again to his wife that evening.

That's when Michele noticed how loose the ring was on her finger. Chris said she took it in the next day to be sized.

The ring is special to the couple because it was a big purchase for Chris, who is a police officer in Fairhope. Michele is a paramedic there.

"I was happy she has her ring back," Di Bonito said. "That ring means something and she was so sad. It is the best thing to get it back to her."