Engagement Ring Rescued From the Shallows of Lake Erie After Three-Day Search

Bride-to-be Samantha Peckens was having some summer fun playing football in the water with her fiancé Adam Frost when the unthinkable happened. Her 1-carat princess-cut diamond engagement ring flew off her finger and vanished into the murky waters of Lake Erie near Buffalo, NY.

Drew Supon (inset) saves the day for bride-to-be Samantha Peckens.

Peckens screamed "My ring fell off," and instantly there were 30 bystanders and friends helping with the search. Despite their combined efforts, they couldn't find the ring.

Frost tried to console his sobbing fiancée, saying that it was OK and at least no one got hurt. But Peckens was devastated. The two have been a couple for 15 years, since they were teenagers.

"We went through so much together as kids and [the ring] was everything to me. It never came off my finger. And when it did, especially in the water, it just broke my heart. Absolutely broke my heart," the 27-year-old Peckens told the local NBC affiliate, WRGZ.

Peckens and her friends came back to the shore the next day to continue their search. Joining the group was Drew Supon, a part-time treasure hunter, who owned an underwater metal detector. Still, by the end of Day 2, there was no sign of the missing ring.

"We were starting to give up," said Peckens.

Supon had other ideas. He returned to the water on Day 3 and worked an area that he felt was promising. Supon and the detector finally worked their magic.

While wading in three feet of water, Supon reached down and slid his hand under five inches of sand. He wasn't sure what he found, at first. "Then the sun hit it at the right angle, and what I thought was another Pepsi pull tab, was Sam's ring in my hands," he exclaimed.

1-carat princess cut diamond engagement ring is resurrected from a watery grave.

Supon kept his discovery low key and let Adam do the honors.

Peckens recounted the scene... "Adam came up to me and said, 'Did you find the ring yet?' I said, 'No, I didn't find it yet,' and he had it in his hands. I said, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' I started crying. It was like he proposed to me all over again."

"If you lose it and it comes back, it's meant to be. I feel like it's good [omen] for the rest of our relationship," she said.

Supon is now the odds-on favorite to be the honorary best man at the Peckens-Frost wedding.