Lost engagement ring found in lake - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

Anyone who's ever lost a piece of jewelry knows how upsetting it can be, but for a bride-to-be to lose an engagement ring at the bottom of Lake Erie, it's devastating.

"Just losing that ring off my finger, I felt not complete," said Samantha Peckens.

In the dark and murky waters of Lake Erie in Angola, New York, was Peckens' one-carat princess cut diamond engagement ring.

The ring slipped off Sunday when she was playing football in the water with her fiance, Adam Frost, and friends.

"I screamed 'My ring fell off!' to everybody and everybody instantly started looking. And he's telling me 'It's ok, no one got hurt,' this and that, as I'm sobbing," she said.

Frost was there to console Sam, as he's always been.

The two have been together 15 years, since Peckens was just 12-years-old.

That's why the ring just couldn't be replaced.

"We went through so much together as kids and growing up together and it 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," Peckens said.

As many as 30 people searched the first day and found nothing.

Enter Drew Supon.

Supon treasure hunts in his spare time and knew his underwater metal detector would come in handy.

"We were picking up a lot of trash and bottle caps and pop tops. You'd be amazed how much junk is out there," Supon said.

But it was the end of day two and still they didn't find the ring.

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

Supon was more optimistic.

"We were finding it. I had a really good feeling about it," he said.

Back in the water on day three Supon said he just had a feeling about one spot.

"I just decided to slide my hand under the sand and raise it up and it was so dark and once it settled 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 recalled.

Jaws hit the bottom of the floor of Lake Erie and Supon handed the ring over to Sam's fiance.

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

Once just an acquaintance, Drew might now be honorary best man at the wedding.

"I keep on saying he's my hero," said Peckens.

"Three to four feet of water. Five inches of sand. It was basically a needle in a haystack so I'm pretty amazed that we found it," said Supon.

Every time Sam looks down now and sees that ring on her finger she knows it's fate.

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

The happy couple has yet to set a date for the wedding. And as for Drew, he says he'll definitely keep treasure hunting after this, but he doesn't expect anything will top this find.