Saturday, January 7, 2012

More on the wedding ring

So, as you know, I'm trying to find Aimee's wedding ring. Short story: it doesn't look good.

Aimee and I on our wedding night
Initially Caroline thought her clothes (and thus her ring) might be in the purse/backpack she had that day. I'm not sure where it had been kept during the dive excursion, but it had made it back to the house in Florida and I'd brought it home. So this morning I located it and practically tore it apart looking for the ring. No luck. And the clothes she'd been wearing weren't in it either.

I then called the Coast Guard investigator in Key West. Didn't reach him but left a message, letting him know what I was looking for. He called me back later (I missed the call), and he left a message stating that they had not recovered those clothes and did not have her ring. Last place for me to check was with Jacobs Aquatic Center (JAC), which is where the group had done their training (in the pool) before they'd gone out on the boat. I had hoped that Aimee might have put her clothes (and ring) in a locker there. However, I'd been in those locker rooms, and the lockers didn't come with locks, and Aimee wouldn't have had one, so I doubted she'd left her clothes there.

I call JAC and spoke to someone in the concessions stand. She told me that any lost valuables that were turned in (like a ring) would have been taken to the manager's office. He wasn't in, but she'd said she'd have him call me. She was also VERY sad about what happened, telling me multiple times how sorry she was for my loss (JAC does not appear to have played any role whatsoever in this incident).

I don't know if the manager will call me or not, but I'm nearly certain the ring isn't there. That leaves only a few other possibilities:
1. One of the other law enforcement agencies that were on scene (shore) somehow took possession of the clothes (seems far fetched, as they would likely have been out at sea where the boat went down, and to my knowledge the Coast Guard was the only one present when the boat was brought up).
2. Aimee left it somewhere at the vacation house and I never saw it, and thus it got left there. Since the owner never called to say an item was found, it either WASN'T found, or someone found it and kept it (second one seems unlikely, there's not even a diamond in it).
3. Aimee put it somewhere in our luggage before she left, and I haven't stumbled on it yet. However, I pretty much unpacked everything, and no ring.
4. It's sitting on the bottom of the ocean a few miles off the coast of Key Largo.

And I'm afraid number 4 is the most likely option.

4 comments:

  1. I've been thinking about her ring for awhile and trying to think of where it might be. Geoff thought it might be with her ID and credit cards if she took them with her. Maybe in the change purse of her wallet? Really hope you find it soon!

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  2. Her ID and credit cards WERE in her wallet, which was in her backpack/purse, which I tore apart yesterday morning. Good thought, but I checked there. Going to go through lugage again tonight.

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  3. Pat...I wouldn't think she'd taken it off on the boat, but you never know. If you'd like I'd be glad to send an email to all the dive operators here asking them to keep an eye out. We just might get lucky/blessed.

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    1. I would've thought she'd left it on, but it wasn't on when her body got to the Medical Examiner's office, and she didn't go to a hospital. Best guess, she took it off and it in the pocket of her shorts (she was wearing a pair of shorts and t-shirt before she got on the boat, so she had to have changed back into her swimsuit at some point), and that's where it still is. I still don't know what happened to those shorts and t-shirt.

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