Woman finds family's century-old ring on South Carolina beach 2 years after it went missing

She stepped out into the early August morning to find the low-tide beach empty, gold and orange rays spraying across the sky. Inhaling the smell of salt and damp, Maxine McLeod Miller began to stroll along the dune.

Ahead, sticks with bright ribbons marked two sea turtle nests. Instinctively, she scanned for signs of newly hatched life.

She had walked this stretch of South Carolina's Edisto Island countless times over her more than 50 years, since the days when her childhood self raced across the hot sand and splashed in the foamy surf. Her grandfather had purchased property on this sea island in 1935, and the lot had since hosted two houses and four generations of McLeods.