Young boy finds ring lost in S.C. river one year earlier

July 16 (UPI) -- A 9-year-old searching for shark teeth in South Carolina found something far more valuable -- a wedding ring that had been dropped in the water a year earlier.

Rivers Pardee, 9, was searching for shark teeth along the Stono River with his dad, Ed, when he found the ring in the pluff mud on Wolf Island.

"It was like just a little shiny thing sticking up," the boy told WCBD-TV.

The duo took the ring home and cleaned it. They decided to track down its owner when they had it examined by and expert and discovered it was valuable.

Carrie Pardee, the boy's mother, posted about the discovery on a social media page dedicated to returning lost rings to their owners.

"A guy responded to it, to my wife, and said, 'Hey, my buddy had lost a ring on that island approximately a year ago,'" Ed Pardee said.

The man explained he had been with Megan and Chris Beane in July 2023 when Megan's ring came off in the water off Wolf Island.

Chris Beane surprised his wife with the found ring by re-proposing.

"I stood there and looked at it for a second in complete disbelief," Megan Beane recalled.

The couple said they are grateful to Rivers and his parents for the return of their precious object.

"We are so thankful for this sweet family," Megan Beane wrote on social media.