SANTEE, Calif. — In tears Tuesday, just one day after a plane crash fire in Santee destroyed their first home, newlyweds Cody and Courtney Campbell held out hope they would find Cody's wedding ring in the rubble.
He had been wearing a black rubber ring and kept his other ring in their home.
"To get it back would be amazing, but in the end, this is all that matters,” Courtney Campbell said.
Then the next day at their home of only five months, the couple sifted through ashes and debris until they finally found it, Cody's wedding ring. It was charred black but all in one piece.
Courtney wrote on Instagram: "We are speechless. Also intact, soaking wet, and now perfectly imperfect, the letter Cody wrote to me on our wedding day and gave to me with our photo."
With the words of the letter bleeding onto their picture, the couple plans to have it framed.
They also found wedding gifts and cards and a bronze placard for "Mr. & Mrs. Campbell" with their original wedding date, December 6, 2020 that they postponed to May 2, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's a blessing though to find a wedding ring because those things are irreplaceable,” said neighbor Jackie Elias, who lives on the street behind the Campbells at Jeremy Street.
Elias says she is overjoyed the couple was able to find the small ring in all the destruction.
"That is amazing. It is a miracle itself yes, just the fact that they found a wedding ring or found anything through all of that it's just a blessing,” said Elias, who says the plane crash shook her home and she and her three sons thought it was an earthquake.
Cody and Courtney took a picture in front of what's left of their home saying, "it is a reminder of how incredibly grateful we are to be here."
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