Store manager dumpster dives to find $1,200 lotto ticket

June 20 (UPI) -- An Oregon store manager went dumpster diving to find a winning $1,200 lottery ticket a customer lost.

Mary Peabody and her husband, Larry, discovered the ticket was missing after they pulled out an envelope where they thought it was when they went to Wilsonville to cash it, and it wasn't inside.

Larry Peabody had bought the winning ticket at the Lucky Spot store in Southeast Portland, Oregon, but after trying to redeem it there, realized the ticket price was too high to redeem there. Any prize over $600 has to be claimed at Wilsonville Payment Center, Salem Main Office or by mail.

The couple returned to the Lucky Spot, hoping the store somehow still had it.

When they were told the store did not have it, but employees would go through the garbage later that night to search for it, the couple was losing hope.

However, manager Deana Thompson went dumpster diving along with her boyfriend and employees and went through six large bags of garbage until the ticket was found intact.

"She didn't have to do anything for us, she didn't have to go through the garbage and look for this ticket and if she did find the ticket she could've kept it. She's an honest, lovely person," Mary said. "Like my husband said, it's like we won the lottery twice."

Peabody said they will use the $1,200 ticket to go on a vacation for her husband's birthday.