A woman reported that her wedding ring - worth almost $28,000 - was stolen right off of her hand while she celebrated her granddaughter's engagement Friday night. It happened at the Avenue Wine Cafe on 5th Avenue South in downtown Naples.
Anne Schilling said that she and her husband Gerard were just about to leave the celebration at around 10 p.m. when a woman from the next table gave her a hug and congratulated her, taking her hand in her own for a few moments. It wasn't until after Anne and Gerard arrived at their home in Estero that she noticed her ring was missing.
"I took my watch off and I looked down, and my diamond was gone. I flipped," Schilling said. "I said, 'that lady that hugged me.' It was unnatural."
Schilling said that the ring is made of gold, and has a 2.2 carat diamond. She said it was appraised at a value of $27,700. She had worn it every day for the past 56 years of her marriage.
"It has never fallen off my finger," she said. "I've never almost lost it. I've had it day and night."
Schilling said she didn't even know the woman at the next table, and thought she was just caught up in the excitement of her family's celebration. But now she's positive that it was the bling on her finger that the woman was really excited about. She believes the woman had a trick up her sleeve to slip the ring off of her finger.
"You have to be very very careful, you have to pay attention to strangers," she said. "You just chalk it up to a lesson learned."
Anyone who has information about this crime is asked to call Naples Police at 239-213-4844.
