MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – A Merritt Island High School class ring that disappeared back in the 70s has now been reunited with its owner.
Dee Headley received the class ring from her mom as a graduation gift back in 1973.A few years later when Headley went off to college in North Carolina, her beloved ring disappeared, along with her boyfriend whom she had given it to.
"I was dating, and he loved my ring, and he wanted to hang it on his mirror in his car," said Headley. "And a couple months later, he just disappeared."
Fast forward to Thursday.
"I received a phone call from a gentleman, Glenn Fisher, from North Carolina," said Lou Colombo, who runs the "I love my island, Merritt Island Facebook page," which has thousands of followers.
"He started telling me a story about a brother that he had who died back in 1976," said Colombo. "In his (brother's) belongings, he found a 1973 Merritt Island class ring."
Colombo asked the man to send him a picture of the ring. It was a little blurry, but it appeared to be a girl's ring with the initials "D.H." Colombo then posted the ring mystery on his Facebook page, and within hours, thousands of people had viewed the story.
"I started getting texts from people in my office," said Headley. "Asking me the strangest questions, 'did you lose a 1973 high school ring?' I'm like, 'yeah.'"
One of Headley's co-workers saw the post, knew her initials, did the math and within an hour the mystery was solved.
Headley said she never knew that her former boyfriend had died in a car accident in 1976 until now.
But there's a strange, perhaps even divine, twist. Back in the 70s, when Headley returned home from college, her mom immediately noticed the ring was gone.
"I just told her the truth and she was very angry at the young man for not giving it back to me," said Headley.
When Headley's coworkers saw the post on Thursday, they texted her about the news because she was out of the office.
Headley was away from work on bereavement. Her mom passed away one week ago and Headley said she was forever determined to get the ring back where it belongs.
She is now in the process of working out the details of getting reunited with her ring -- which is still in North Carolina -- but she plans to wear it to her 40th class reunion in October.