A Texas district attorney discovered a defendant in a 1980's drug case had stolen jewelry that was put in evidence.
A class ring that was thought to be lost was found and returned to its rightful owner after spending 36 locked up as evidence in a case.
Texas’ Parker County District Attorney Jeff Swain and Wendy Bravo, an investigator with the DA’s office, discovered that a defendant charged in an old 1980’s drug case had stolen jewelry that was then put in evidence, according to Bravo.
A 1956 Dupo High School class ring and a ring that looked to be from the Air Force were found together in an envelope in a file cabinet in the District Courts building, WFAA reported. The only clues they had as to whose it may be were the initials “P.W” on the ring, the new site said.
Knowing that the jewelry may have been stolen, the DA’s office was determined to return them home.
“When you’re trying to find something these days what do you do,” Swain asked, according to WFAA. “You go get on Google, right?”
Early searches informed the office that the high school was in Illinois and that their potential match was a woman that graduated in 1956 named Peggy Wall, WFAA reported.
"I emailed the principal and Wendy and I both posted online looking for help finding a P.W. from Dupo. It wasn't long before we figured out that we were looking for Peggy Wall, who graduated in 1956," Swain said, the Weatherford Democrat reported.
Bravo took to Facebook and posted in a group for people that grew up in the area, hoping someone could aid in her search.
“From a little bit of research, we found a "Peggy Wall" that was in the class of 1956. We don't have much information other than that. I am posting here in the hopes that someone might remember her or her family and have them get in touch with me. We would sure like to get these items returned to her or her family,” said Bravo in the post.
Unfortunately, the post didn’t serve its purpose, but Bravo didn’t stop there.
She searched law enforcement databases, thought about signing up for ancestry.com, and then finally found the woman's brother, Leroy, when she looked through 1950 census data, according to the Weatherford Democrat.
“Leroy had passed away, but I found one of his children and, with a couple more calls, I found Peggy, now Peggy Tucker, living here in Keller," Bravo said, according to the Weatherford Democrat.
"She said, ‘That's it. That's my ring.’ And she was very excited,” said Bravo, according to NBC DFW.
