For the third time in two years, Dennis Senibaldi and his team at the Windham Transfer Station in New Hampshire successfully located an engagement ring amidst 20 tons of very disgusting and smelly trash.
Exactly a year ago, we recounted how the general services director used surveillance video to narrow down the location of a garbage bag containing a bridal set that had been accidentally thrown away.
A local resident mistakenly discarded the rings that his wife had cleaned and wrapped in a white napkin to dry. In the Windham community, trash bags can be delivered directly to the local transfer station.
Senibaldi knew their surveillance video would provide vital clues as to exactly when and where the man dropped off his garbage. After viewing the video, Senibaldi, his crew and the owner spent 30 minutes sorting through a trailer and found the ring in a grey-handled white trash bag.
Fast-forward to the week of Thanksgiving, when another distraught resident contacted the Windham Transfer Station with a similar story.
“She gave me some particulars: at what time her husband threw the trash out, what was in the trash bag, what kind of car he was driving,” Senibaldi told Boston's WHDH-TV.
Once again, Senibaldi reviewed the video to pinpoint where the bag may have ended up.
“We were able to track when he was here, exactly what time he threw the trash out and where the trash in the trailer was located,” he said.
The trash in question “was literally the first scoop into the trailer,” according to Senibaldi. That meant the bag was at the bottom, 12 feet deep.
After two hours of digging through the trailer of trash, Senibaldi and his crew found the solitaire diamond engagement ring. It somehow escaped its bag and ended up on the floor of the trailer covered in red paint.
“I grabbed the ring, brought it up, cleaned it up for her, called her up,” Sendibaldi told WMUR-TV.
“Talking to her on Wednesday, she was completely heartbroken," he told WHDH-TV. "Friday, when she came in, she was happy as can be, gave me a big hug and was very thankful."
Senibaldi noted that the story could have easily had a tragic ending. If she had called 15 minutes later, the trailer would have already been at the incinerator.
“We are public servants and I think this really... brings the meaning of public service,” Senibaldi told WHDH-TV. “That’s why I work here.”
Credits: Screen captures via 7News, whdh.com.