Box sold for $10 with $23,000 ring inside

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., June 13 (UPI) -- A California woman who hid her $23,000 diamond wedding ring in a watch box said her husband sold the box for $10 because he thought it was empty.

Racquel Cloutier, 31, of Laguna Niguel said she hid the ring in the watch box in her husband's closet to keep it safe from her 2-year-old twins while she was in the hospital giving birth to another child, ABC News reported Thursday.

Cloutier said she went looking for the ring when she returned home June 5 and was dismayed to learn her husband, Eric, had sold the seemingly empty watch box for $10 at a June 1 garage sale.

"I go into my husband's closet, can't find the box, and then he tells me he sold it. I said, 'You sold it? What do you mean you sold it?' I immediately started crying," Cloutier said.

"I'm very, very, very upset," she said. "I'm trying to remain optimistic but I don't know anymore. There's a small chance whoever bought the box doesn't know the ring is in there."

Cloutier said her husband described the buyer as a blonde woman.

She said her husband "feels really terrible" and they are hoping the ring will be returned.