By Theresa Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 12, 2008

Of all the ways Keith Stetzer imagined a diamond ring ending up on the ground of a Tysons Corner parking garage -- a bad divorce, maybe an insurance scam -- the truth was far more simple.

Susan Brahms tends to take her rings off to put lotion on her hands, and it is likely that's how the 3.02 carat solitaire diamond ring ended up there, said those who returned the ring to the Brahmses late Thursday.

Stetzer and his wife, Linda, found the ring covered in dirt near a concrete barrier two weeks ago and had been trying to find its owner since. Yesterday, what had been lost, then found, was finally claimed.

"We were starting to wonder if anybody was going to come forward," Stetzer said.

In reality, about a half-dozen people had called Mervis Diamond Importers since news reports about the ring appeared July 5. The Stetzers, of Fairfax County, enlisted the company's help in verifying the owner after seeing "Mervis" imprinted on the ring's band. The Stetzers checked Internet sites such as Craigslist for clues, and Jonathan Mervis, whose grandfather started the company, documented the search daily online.

On July 7, Mervis wrote: "We had several callers today all with a story of their own lost ring. From the details they were able to remember, the numbers don't add up and it so far seems that none of them is the rightful owner."

Then, this one on July 10th: "I think we may have found the real owner. It's too early to tell, but we have a man with a certificate that claims to match up to the diamond found."

Stetzer said he was on his way home from his construction job when Mervis called him that night to say that the ring probably belonged to Mark and Susan Brahms and that Mark Brahms was bringing the certificate to the store. The Stetzers grabbed the ring and met them there.

It was a match, Mervis said. The size and dimensions were the same, but the clinching piece of proof came in a microscopic "Mervis 2000" inscription on the diamond; it was part of a limited millennium series, Mervis said.

"He was kind of overjoyed, kind of in disbelief," Mervis said of Mark Brahms, adding that his wife was in New York but heard the confirmation by phone. "He said she was just sobbing on the other end of the phone."

The Brahms could not be reached for comment yesterday. The Stetzers said the grateful couple gave them a reward, which they plan to donate to a charity.

Jonathan Mervis said that before meeting the Stetzers, he never considered anyone would be honest enough to return such a valuable ring. That combined with the calls from people he could not help inspired him to start an online lost and found dedicated solely to rings, he said.

For his part, Stetzer said he is relieved that he no longer has to keep the ring secure and that the calls from reporters will cease. If they hadn't found the owners, he and his wife had already decided to auction off the ring, valued at $40,000, and give the money to charity. It was never theirs to keep, Stetzer said.

"We didn't earn it," he said. "That's not the way I was brought up; my wife neither."