Thanks to our coverage, a 14 carat gold bracelet that was lost for months is now back with its owner.
Friday night, 8News Reporter Claudia Rupcich introduced you to David Thomas, an employee at Land’s End at Chesterfield Towne Center. For months, he had been trying to find the owner of that bracelet.
After our story aired, the owner—Rita Sullivan—called our newsroom about the bracelet. The two strangers met Saturday afternoon.
“You made my Christmas, so it needs to go home,” said Thomas as he put the bracelet on Sullivan’s wrist.
Sullivan says her husband James bought her that bracelet when they got married in 1959.
“We had our first child in ’61. He brought me the head as a surprise,” she said, referring to the charm.
The husband went on to buy a charm for the next 5 kids — silhouettes engraved with their first and middle names, as well as their birth dates.
“So he said he’d never forget when they were born.”
They were married for 56 years. After her husband died, she started wearing it more.
“It just brings back a lot of memories. My husband wasn’t big on buying jewelry, so when he bought that and then starting adding the heads, it was very special to me,” she said.
When she lost it at the mall, she was devastated.
“I couldn’t get over how I lost it. But I tell ya, I came back to the stores that day and everything. Looked around, called and everything and called back a few times…nothing, nothing. I figured, maybe somebody needed the bracelet more than I needed it.”
But Thomas knew he had to find its owner, and he never stopped looking.
“It’s what makes it worth it,” he said, looking at a picture of Sullivan’s children.
Sullivan says she watched his moving interview on our newscast Friday night.
“And I said, ‘My God, that’s my bracelet.”
“If it hadn’t been for you and the team at 8, we wouldn’t be here…she wouldn’t have that back on her wrist,” said Thomas.
Sullivan’s six kids live in six different states, but next week they’ll all come together for Thanksgiving.
“When they say ‘Who’s got something to say?’ at the table, I’m going to say ‘Be quiet, I’ve got a big tale,” said Sullivan.
