Diver's incredible beach find after learning of family member's death
Shawn Rauch loves to hunt for lost ocean treasure, but nothing could have prepared him for what he found.
An ocean diver has detailed his incredible moment of synchronicity after learning a family member had died in a car accident.
Shawn Rauch, who hunts for ocean treasure with a metal detector, had just pulled up at a beach on Sunday when he heard the tragic news. Although "very upset", the treasure hunter thought that doing what he loved might help cheer him up, so he proceeded with the dive in the hope he'd find some valuables.
It was on his second dive in the sea he discovered a message in a bottle resting on the ocean floor.
"When I got home and read the message, it hit me very hard. On the back of the message was a phone number. I called the phone number and spoke to 'dad'," he said. The man he spoke with was the father of Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, who was only a teen when she died in a car crash that was live-streamed on Facebook five years ago, Shawn revealed, telling Yahoo News Australia it was "tragic".
The diver said he didn't think much of the bottle at first, and wasn't prepared for what it could be. "We were both really choked up on the phone when we were sharing our stories. Such an unbelievable coincidence," he said on Friday. "I feel like I was meant to find that bottle that day."
Father's heartbreaking birthday message to daughter
Shawn, from Sarasota, Florida, decided to share the "amazing story" on Facebook, unable to believe the strange series of events. He explained the father had visited the area on Chaniya's birthday the week before and left the bottle in the ocean at Siesta Key Beach. The message was handwritten on a piece of paper and rolled up inside the bottle.
It said: "I took a trip just to feel close to you. I am in the sunshine state wishing you was here (sic). I know I love you more than life but I no (sic) you love me just as much. Happy birthday until I see you, Love dad"
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Phone call with dad left diver 'ugly crying'
Shawn said he found the bottle in about 10 feet of water just off the coast. "It wasn’t buried. It was sitting on top of the sand," he said. The pair have arranged to meet up when the father visits Florida again. Shawn admitted the phone call had him "ugly crying".
The diver's story touched social media users, with many admitting it "brought tears to my eyes". Others shared their own similar stories and offered support to Shawn.
Teen daughter killed in 2016 car crash
Chaniya was 19-years-old when she was killed in the car crash in 2016. She was the passenger in a car being driven by Brooke Miranda Hughes, 18, in the US state Pennsylvania when a truck and trailer unit ploughed into the back of the car.
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