Air travel can be a discombobulating thing! Add to that the urgency we all feel when our Uber driver lets us know that he or she awaits, and you've got a recipe for disaster, like the $32,000 one that took place in San Jose a week ago today.
The scene: SoCal woman Libby Dahl arrived at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Friday, June 10, at 9:15 p.m., and used a restroom near the baggage claim in Terminal B. According to KCBS, as she she washed her hands, the restroom soap was loosening her engagement ring, a 3.25-karat gold band with 1.2-karat diamonds valued at $32,000. So, she placed it on the counter.
But then Dahl tells KCBS, βThe Uber driver called to say he was there, we needed to hurry up, so I just grabbed my bags and ran outside."
The pricey ring remained in the restroom, as, Dahl told the OC Register, "a split second mistake turned into a nightmare."
When Dahl realized her oversight, she rushed back to the airport. But, she says, though only 20 minutes had elapsed, "when I got there it was gone."
She "checked with custodial staff and Transportation Security Administration agents, but the ring was never turned in," the OC Register reports.
"It had to be a woman that took it," Dahl told ABC 7.
"And that's extra heartbreaking because that's someone that knew the value of it and still not want to turn it in."
Though the ring is insured, Dahl says that it means a lot to her and hopes that it will be returned. If it is discovered, she asks that the finder call San Jose police at 408-277-5400.
The ring, which Dahl describes as "white gold with a round center diamond in a square halo setting," was custom made for Dahl based on "rings she displayed on her Pinterest board," the OC Register reports. It was given to her by her fiance, Jeremy Jorgenson, when he proposed to her at her parents' Minnesota home on Christmas Day, 2015.
Though the couple has yet to set a date for their wedding, they hope to marry in fall 2017, preferably with the original engagement ring on her finger.
"It's stupid that I even took it off, but makes me so sad someone would take it and not turn it in, especially a woman in the women's bathroom," Dahl says.
"I just want it back and would pay a monetary reward to get it back. Its sentimental value is irreplaceable."