90-Year-Old Man’s Confession To His Family Kicks Off A Wild Chain Of Events

Young Theo was on vacation with his mom over at Trinity Hot Springs in Featherville, Idaho. The boy was very adventurous and was excited to explore the waters. Since he was very small, he was a pro at finding hidden treasures.

In Pre-K, his teachers would bury little treasures in the playground’s sandbox for the children to find. Theo would find most, if not all of them, so to ensure there’d be enough for the other kids, he was not allowed in the sandbox. But at the Featherville resort, he would have no limitations whatsoever.

Flash-forward to Theo at the hot springs. As he swam and explored, he noticed something shiny among the rocks of the pool’s floor. He reached down and fished it out of the waters, recognizing what it was right away.

The treasure was a wedding ring, and a very beautiful one at that. Although Theo took great pride in his treasure hunting skills, he knew what the right thing to do was. With his mom proudly supporting him, Theo gave the ring to the resort staff, who had a lead on who the owner was.

Trinity Hot Springs keeps a log of “Lost Not Yet Found” records. There was only one woman on the list who happened to leave a report that she’d lost her ring. They gave her a call right away.

Unfortunately that woman was not the owner. She had found her ring later the same day she filed the report, but the the report wasn’t updated to reflect that. With no other leads, the resort owners decided to take to social media.

They posted on Facebook about the missing ring, but left no description of it. This was to keep the ring safe from strangers hoping to pawn it off and make fast, easy money. They had to be alert for messages from scammers looking to make a buck.

Sherrie McClure Lowery had spotted Trinity Hot Springs’ post and connected with them through the comments section. She had an old photograph of her missing ring that was a little blurry. In Sherrie’s words, it was “a long shot for sure.”

Sherrie had stayed over at Trinity Hot Springs back in the late ’70s. When she realized she had lost her wedding ring, the staff immediately took action, scavenging the pool for her ring. They could not find it.

Over the decades, the hot springs resort would clean out the pool and search for many other lost items. Some were found, while some weren’t, including Sherrie’s ring. It just seemed gone.

For more than 40 years Sherrie thought she would never see the symbol of her and her spouse’s love. There would always be the question of what happened to her precious keepsake, until little Theo made the incredible discovery.

After commenting on Trinity Hot Springs’ post and sharing her photograph, the resort was ecstatic to see the ring in the photograph was the very same ring that was found. All that was left was to reunite them in person.

Dozens of family and friends took to the comments section, overjoyed with the unexpected find. Sherrie and her family made plans to visit the resort and reclaim her prized possession. They had help from the Trinity Hot Springs staff, who planned to book them on a very fitting holiday.

The Facebook post was shared on February 10th, 2020, right in the nick of time for the holiday of love, Valentine’s Day. Since the holiday was just a few days away, Sherrie and her friends believed there would be no availability, but the springs resort would not let them lose this wonderful opportunity.

Trinity Hot Springs commented back, letting them know there was some availability and even offering a package deal for the whole group. With that, celebration ensued, and another familiar name jumped into the comments section.

Rebecca Bloom, Theo’s mother, also commented under the post. She shared how proud she was of her 7-year-old-boy, who chose to do the right thing and give Sherrie closure. She said Theo will be thrilled that they were able to find the owner. Trinity Hot Springs replied to Rebecca.

As reward for finding and turning in Sherrie’s wedding ring, Trinity Hot Springs gave a 1 Year Annual Membership for Theo and an adult — most likely his mom Rebecca — with a 5 Punch Pass. The owner of the resort was delighted to hear all the good news.

Dana Stream, owner of Trinity Hot Springs, was. impressed by how everything seemed to perfectly fall into place. She considered this “a remarkable way to be reminded of love.” Speaking of love, the little treasure hunter himself had some special words to share with Sherrie.

In an interview, Theo said he hopes to continue his treasure hunting, hopefully finding two rings next time. The pure-hearted boy ended the interview with a message to Sherrie: “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Thanks to the very curious Theo, Sherrie could finally reunite with her ring, and her and her family could look forward to a wonderful vacation together. When these important discoveries come to light, it seems we can count on kids to do the right thing.

Just a few months after Theo’s find, Jose Nuñez Romaniz faced a choice with even higher stakes. The 19-year-old always dreamt of working in law enforcement — specifically as a crime scene investigator. He attended Central New Mexico Community College and studied criminal justice, but had yet to come across a true cold-case mystery.

He didn’t expect a big clue to emerge while helping his grandpa shop online. They were about to purchase a pack of socks, but Jose wanted to deposit some money in his account first. He ran out to the local ATM. Something on the ground caught his eye.

The plastic bag was alone. It had a label on the outside which read “$60,000 in $20 bills.” “When I first saw it, I kind of stared at it for a few seconds, not knowing what to do,” Jose said.

After realizing that he wasn’t being pranked and recovered from his shock, Jose acted. He saw there was a toll-free Wells Fargo number he could try on the machine, but instead, called 911.

Waiting for the police to arrive, Jose took what he thought was $60,000 and sat in his car, waiting. He did call his mom to tell her what happened. Then there was nothing else to do except wait for the police to arrive. But was he crazy?

Nobody else was around, nor did the bag appear to have any owner’s name on it. The thought crossed Jose’s mind that he could buy just about anything he wanted with that money. All he had to do was drive away.

However, thoughts of family convinced him to do the right thing. “My parents always taught me to work for my own. Stolen money would never last you any time,” Jose later explained. He would stay put and help authorities get to the bottom of this matter.

Jose didn’t have to wait long. In a few minutes, two cops pulled up and took the bag and Jose’s statement. When the officers counted the cash, it turned out the bag didn’t contain $60,000; it was actually $135,000.

They had a lot of questions. Where did this amount of money appear from? Based on The Wire and Breaking Bad, normally a large bag of money on the sidewalk means some kind of drug deal went wrong.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the case. The Wells Fargo subcontractor responsible for emptying the ATMs accidentally left the bag of money during a recent refill. We’re not sure of the consequences, but someone probably didn’t get to keep their job after this.

This marked the largest ever amount of money both found and then returned in Albuquerque. Officer Simon Drobik, spokesman for the city’s police, was shocked. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff in 21 years, but this was unique and refreshing for the department and city.” But the story wasn’t over.

After giving to money to the officers, Jose wasn’t expecting to hear from them again. When he was out helping his parents get supplies for their mattress business, Officer Simon called him.

“He asked me how was it to be a hero in the town, and at first I didn’t know what he was referring to,” Jose said. “But then he started telling me about a ceremony to honor me. He wanted me to take my family there and meet the mayor and the chief of police.”

But the student credited his family for his heroic choice. When Jose was waiting all alone with the money in his car, he said he was never tempted to take any for himself. “In the back of my head, I was just thinking about my parents, especially my mom,” he said.

“What she would do if I came home with the money and what she would do with her chancla to hit me,” Jose continued, laughing. A chancla is a flip-flop, and if you’ve been on the receiving end of one, it can sting.

You have to love a humble king. Nearly 50 people attended Jose’s ceremony at the Albuquerque Police Academy, including the mayor, who complimented Jose’s ability to make the ethical choice, even when no one was watching.

“Man, we all know that temptation. Even just to take a little, just one of those bundles off the top. I mean that had to be really hard,” mayor Tim Keller said in his speech. Not a $20 bill was out of place.

Besides the mayor and the police, many businesses around Albuquerque also celebrated the altruistic teen. He’s received gift cards, sports equipment, and even season tickets for the University of New Mexico’s football team.

Jose was also gifted a $500 college scholarship from a local electric company. And the Albuquerque Isotopes asked Jose to throw out the first pitch before a game — though it was in an empty stadium due to COVID-19.