Wallet lost in Arizona river returning to owner after nearly 20 years

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- An Arizona man out kayaking and diving with his family in the Salt River found a wallet lost in the water in 1995 and was able to return it to its owner.

Jeremy Bingham of Mesa said he was on the river with his two brothers, two sisters and sons Taylor, 17, and Zachary, 14, when he found the tattered wallet about 15 feet below the surface of the water near the Goldfield Mine in Apache Junction.

"Finding a wallet that was lost and preserved in the river for over 28 years was a real treat -- like finding a little time capsule complete with Sears and JCPenny credit cards," he told the Mesa Tribune.

The wallet contained multiple credit cards and a driver's license belonging to a woman named Julia Hsia.

Bingham said he spent months searching for Hsia online and was finally able to connect with her on social media.

Hsia, who lives in Chicago, said she had been visiting her cousin Arnold in Arizona in 1995 with her then-boyfriend, Paul, and her then-6-year-old cousin, Matthew, when she lost the wallet.

Hsia said Arnold had recently gotten a new truck and wanted to show it off by driving across the river. He misjudged the depth of the water, however, and the vehicle ended up being carried downstream and filling with water.

Hsia was able to help Matthew get out of his seat belt and they were able to reach shore with help from Paul and some onlookers who rushed to help. She said she lost her wallet along with everything she had on her except for her camera, which was on a strap around her neck.

The wallet is now in the mail on its way back to Hsia.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of wallet it is. I'm dying to see what I looked like in that license picture. I didn't even know I had credit cards," she said.

Another lost wallet was recently found after an even longer period of time: 65 years. A contractor found the old wallet behind a wall at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta and turned it over to the cinema's owner, Chris Escobar.

Escobar was able to return the wallet to Thea Culbreth Chamberlain, 71, whose mother, Floy Culbreth, lost it at the cinema 65 years earlier. Culbreth died at the age of 87 in 2005.