Engagement ring recovered, returned after woman accidentally throws it in garbage

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    WAXAHACHIE, TX (KTVT) — A Waxahachie, TX woman is grateful to have her engagement ring back after accidentally throwing it in the garbage Friday.

Nelly Cabeen had to call the crew at Turkey Creek Landfill in Alvarado, but they were happy to jump into action and help.

“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” said Joseph Soto, a supervisor at Turkey Creek. He, along with Tyler Harwood and Adolfo Calleja, had the challenge of searching through roughly 10 tons of garbage to find the missing treasure.

“Her trash was picked up at 9:00 or 9:30 in the morning and it was already 1:30,” said Karen Fuller, the Special Waste Coordinator. “That trash truck should have already dumped in the landfill and it would have been compacted and crushed.”

As it turned out though, the driver had taken a lunch break. Once the truck arrived, the team got to work. They dumped the contents of the truck in an empty area of the landfill. Luckily the Cabeen had thrown the ring out in a gray trash bag, which helped the group narrow down their search. Incredibly their break came just about 10 minutes into the hunt.

“I opened it up and tossed it over, and I caught a glimpse of a ring,” said Calleja.

The team took the ring and got it cleaned up, then sent a picture to Cabeen. She was so excited that she posted the story to Facebook.

“Tears shed (all mine of course lol) and smiles, hugs and laughs were exchanged. Good is good,” Cabeen wrote in the post.

“It felt good giving somebody back something that they thought they lost forever,” Soto told CBS 11 News.

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