Lost and Found

This is the best story I've heard all week. My luck NEVER works this way!

Couple Never Expected To See Lost Money Again
Man Discovers Briefcase Frozen In Snowbank

POSTED: 10:50 am EST March 25, 2005
UPDATED: 2:42 pm EST March 25, 2005

CROYDON, N.H. -- When Ken Dandeneau lost thousands of dollars he had taken from a safe deposit box in January, he and his wife figured they'd never see it again.

But when Ken Blanchard dug it out of a snowbank this month, he never considered keeping it.

The $8,000 was for a settlement on a house, and Dandeneau had it in a zippered portfolio. He had planned to convert it into a cashier's check the next day. His wife, Susan, put it on the roof of their car, thinking he couldn't miss it. He did, of course, and it fell off sometime after he drove away.

The couple launched a frantic search, eventually posting flyers in the neighborhood and offering a reward.

Fast-forward to Wednesday afternoon, when Blanchard, who retired from Sturm Ruger in 1997, went for a walk in front of his home on Route 10. Blanchard walked by what he thought was a notebook in a snowbank. On his way back home, it caught his eye again, so he got a shovel and dug it out.

After running the frozen portfolio under warm water, he opened it and found two checkbooks, a credit card and a vehicle registration. Then he noticed the side pocket.

"I opened the pocket and found a pile of money a half-inch thick, frozen solid," he said.

"Wow, that's a lot of money," he remembers thinking.

He said he knew immediately he would turn it in.

"I was brought up honest," Blanchard said.

On Thursday, Blanchard went to the police, who contacted Dandeneau.

"It shocked the heck out of me," Dandeneau said.

He gave Blanchard a reward, saying it was fortunate there were people like him in the world.

It turned out that getting the money back led to other good fortune.

Friday morning, Dandeneau heard a story about the recovered money on the radio and called the station to find out how it had learned of his adventure.

"I call in and end up on a contest line ... so they ask me a question and I got it right and I'm going to a concert," he said.

He won front-row tickets to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.

Dandeneau joked that he was considering buying a lottery ticket to see if his streak would continue.