Son reunited with parents' stolen items after couple pull bag from Lake Oconee

GREENE COUNTY, Ga. — A couple who were fishing in Lake Oconee reeled in more than just fish last week.

According to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, the couple were fishing under the Interstate 20 bridge along the lake when they snagged a messenger bag – and it wasn’t empty.

Inside, the couple found two handguns, gold pins and some other jewelry.

The Sheriff’s Office said one of the pins was engraved. Deputies were able to use the engraving to track down the owner, who was deceased. They were then able to find the owner’s son in Alabama and returned the pins to him.

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Investigators learned the pins were stolen in 1993. They also determined the guns were stolen in a burglary in a nearby Alabama town in 1993.

Deputies said the pins were from the fraternity and sorority that the son’s parents were part of in their college days in the 1930s.

It remains unclear how the bag ended up in the bottom of Lake Oconee, a state away.

“It's great to be able to get these items back to the family after 26 years in the lake,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Cox Media Group