Salty Scuba Squad: Reuniting lost treasures, solving mysteries

PHOENIX - Ever get that sinking feeling that you may have lost something in the river? Well, that's where these guys come in.

"After coming out here for a little while, we realized that there was a lot of treasure and also quite a bit of trash," Connie Wickstrom said. "We decided we wanted to make an active difference in picking that up so we can keep the river looking the way it does now." 

Wickstrom, a.k.a the "Salty Scuba Chick," started patrolling the Salt River two years ago. Since then, she's gained a following. Now, she's expanding into a non-profit called the Salty Scuba Squad. It's a group of 45 volunteers who clean out the river.

"We did have a clean up earlier in the year, and we picked up a thousand pounds of trash underwater from just around the ridge area here at the river," she said.

And you never know what you'll find – from reuniting lost treasures to helping solve crimes and mysteries.

"Some jewelry, a lot of phones, keys, wallets," she said. "We found weapons down here, and we were able to get that right back to the sheriff's office."

Recently, they've reunited lost phones – salvaging cherished photos – and now they're trying to return these wedding rings.

"Ten carats, shiny silver gold wedding band," John Michael said.

"A couple of them have inscriptions inside which you can’t see, so that’s the way we will be able to identify who they belong." 

"That is our favorite part of this whole thing is the look on someone’s face when they’re getting something back that they didn’t think that they would ever see again," Wickstrom said. "That was really cool and really rewarding."

Their best advice?

"If you don’t want to lose it, don’t bring it to the river, and if you are going to bring it, lock it down – carabiners, tie straps whatever you can do," Wickstrom said.

Salty Scuba Chick
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