Jeweler replaces ring lost in Goodwill donation

ATLANTA — The couple who lost their engagement ring after donating clothes to an Atlanta Goodwill has had a bit of good luck come their way.

Helzberg Jewelers, where Josh Miller originally bought the ring, is replacing it for the couple free of charge.

Miller said he's extremely grateful and anxious to move on with his life.

Miller's good fortune comes after several donation offers poured into Channel 2 Action News.

Last week, he told his bad luck story about donating a jacket to Goodwill that still had his girlfriend's engagement ring in the pocket. He said he hid it in his ski jacket and was waiting to ask her father for her hand in marriage before he popped the question.

"It was a very large purchase for us, and I just made a very bad mistake," Miller said.

Some people offered to replace the ring, and others questioned if a Goodwill employee responsible for screening donations may have kept the ring.

Channel 2's Carl Willis asked that question to Goodwill of North Georgia's Senior Director of Retail Operations Brian East.

"It's an ongoing investigation," East said. "We're going to look into it. We have a host of policies and procedures to deal with that, if that happens to be the case, but it's our hope that it isn't."

East said donations are typically sorted, screened and placed on the sales floor within 24 hours.

He said donations are seasonal, and said there's a chance Miller's donated ski jacket may not have been placed on the floor.

Miller said he made the donation April 9. He realized what happened April 11 and filed a report with the Atlanta Police Department.

A week later, the coat has not been found and neither has the ring.

East said the charity is cooperating with police and said a manager helped Miller when he returned to the store.

"On the day that he came, he and the manager on duty looked through the store to see if they could locate it themselves," East said. "Since that time, we have gone through anything we sell back to our recycler."

Miller said he knows it's a long shot that he'll see the ring again. He's just hoping whoever has it will do the right thing.

"That ring means more to me than anything I can explain," he said. "If anybody has that ring, or knows where that ring is, I would greatly appreciate if we could have it returned to us."

On Tuesday afternoon, Willis spoke with a representative from Bluenile.com. The company's CEO was touched by the story and has offered to replace Miller's ring with a nearly identical ring for free.

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