SCITUATE – A man with a metal detector is being called a hero by a woman who lost her wedding ring at Humarock Beach in Scituate.

A lost ring and a desperate search

“We shook our hands off because his hands were dirty from the sand, and I noticed my ring was gone and my heart sank,” Courtney DeFusco said.

DeFusco’s husband, Stephen, spent hours searching while she worked as a nurse at Mass General. Even her son, Jackson, searched where they spent time at the beach.

“We found pennies…not the ring,” Jackson said.

Courtney DeFusco feared that the approaching waves would wash the ring out to sea.

“I went to the corner store to get water and the lady – fortunately from our wonderful community here in Humarock and Marshfield – mentioned Richard,” said Stephen DeFusco.

New hope to find the ring

“The area was about the size of a football field. This is not a containment, but a large-scale search,” Bonanno said.

It was a few exhausting hours as Bonanno searched the beach with his shovel, dragging the sand to leave his mark. He was about to give up when he was pushed.

“My shoulder hurt, my arm hurt and I said I have to stop,” Bonanno said. “I went all the way back to the dune and said I just have to go back two more times and started where I started. I only made one pass, didn’t find it and halfway through the second pass I heard the metal detector go off.”

“My jaw dropped, my jaw completely dropped open, like I couldn’t believe it just happened here. I have my wife’s ring in my hand after searching for it for 12 hours,” said Stephen DeFusco.

“Divine Intervention”

“There is no denying that this was divine intervention,” said Courtney DeFusco.

“It’s a challenge to find it, but when you actually pull it out of the sand, it’s incredible,” said Bonanno. He and his metal detector have helped about a dozen people find their lost jewelry over the years. He is retired and spends his free time donating bicycles to children through his Rolling Wave Foundation.

“To learn what he does is just incredible. This man is like a modern-day saint!” said Courtney DeFusco. Now her ring is in the shop being adjusted.