ROCK PORT, Mo. (WOWT) – While tilling his garden, Neal Lansdown uncovered a mystery, and for months, he’s been trying to put a finger on the answer.
“I thought maybe it was an acorn and when I started rolling it around in my fingers, the dirt fell out of the center, so I knew it was a ring then,” Neal said.
After vigorous scrubbing with dish soap and a lengthy soaking in apple cider vinegar, Neal could see that he uncovered a 1978 Omaha Northwest High School Class Ring, with the name ‘Cary Crocker’ etched inside.
But how did it end up more than 70 miles south of Omaha, near Rock Port, Missouri? Neal can only guess.
“I think maybe he worked at a nursery and I bought a potted plant or someplace they make potting soil,” said Neal. “I don’t know. I’d like to know. I’d like to know how it got in my garden.”
So, First Alert 6 contacted members of the Omaha Northwest Foundation.
Members say the owner would want surely want it back and the search has spread across alumni Facebook pages, but locating Cary Crocker has added to the mystery.
“No luck so far,” said Angie Hawkins with the Omaha Northwest Foundation. “Other people look like they’ve done some detective or sleuthing on their own because they’ve put up addresses in Florida, things along those lines.”
These Omaha Northwest alums know how a class ring carries memories, but finding the owner of this one and returning it to him also means solving a mystery.
“It’s a keepsake and it’s something I think of, all the possible stories as to how and why it ended up in Missouri,” said Leanne Mormon with the Omaha Northwest Foundation.
And in a garden that’s produced a mystery, Neal Lansdown hopes it can be solved.
“I don’t want a reward, I just want the satisfaction of knowing where he lost it and to give him the ring back,” Neal said.
And until the ring’s owner is found, the foundation board president will keep the keepsake.
If the owner of the ring doesn’t eventually come forward, the Omaha Northwest Foundation will give it to the school.
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