Lost Ring Found After 49 Years in Sullivan County

Picture yourself almost 50 years ago, hanging out with your friends on any body of water. You wrap up the day and realize your favorite piece of jewelry is missing. At the end of the day, you're probably upset about it, but you have to accept that it's gone forever.

That's exactly what happened to James Newman in 1971.

The Sullivan County Sheriffs Office shared Newman's story on their Facebook page this week, with a new twist.

According to the post "thanks to some good detective work by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and modern technology," Newman is now reunited with his 1971 class ring.

So here's how the story goes: James Newman went waterskiing on Swinging Bridge Lake out near Monticello and lost the ring. He cut his losses and figured he wasn't going to see the ring again. Then, in the 1980s, the Swinging Bridge Marina owner Bill Croissant found the ring in the mud.

Moving forward, they drained the lake again somewhere between 2005 and 2007 and Croissant remember that he had the ring, so he brought it to the Sullivan County Sheriff's office. Sheriff Mike Schiff said in a statement "got a printout of the class of 1970 from the Washingtonville High School in Orange County. But the inscription was hard to read."

The ring went into their "cold case files and stayed there until COVID-19 hit. Thanks to a slowdown in crime, Schiff got some help from Sheriff’s Detective Sergeant Jason Gorr. With new technology, Gorr was able to locate the owner of the ring, James Newman of Atlanta, GA.

Sheriff Schiff said that James Newman was shocked to hear that the ring had been found. Schiff said, "He had totally forgotten about the ring and couldn’t believe that it was found."

Apparently they found it in the nick of time, as Mr. Newman's 50th class reunion is coming up soon.