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'He was gone; that ring was there': Maine woman pleads for return of stolen wedding ring

Mindi Vestal said someone smashed her car window and stole her wedding ring from the center console.

PORTLAND, Maine — Almost everything Mindi Vestal owns is in her car.

She and her husband are moving to Waterville. The La Quinta hotel in Portland has been their temporary home for the past five weeks.

She woke up Saturday morning to find her car window smashed.

"I just burst into tears immediately," said Vestal. 

Of all the items missing from her car, some bingo winnings, and her custom wedding ring.

"My husband built the ring at a jeweler. He didn't just buy it off the shelf, so it means ten times more," said Vestal.

She said she took the ring off on Thursday night after her finger started swelling up. She left it in the center console, intending to put it back on her finger when the swelling decreased. 

Saturday morning the ring was gone.

Shards of glass still litter the floormats and crevices of the leather seats and the holes in the air vents. A garbage bag covers the driver's side window frame.

"It just felt like everything we had worked for was kind of shattered because that was the only thing I had as a constant in me and my husband's relationship," said Vestal.

Her husband, Staff Sergeant Loydell Vestal II, served in the Air Force for 16 years, deploying to Afghanistan, Iraq, and all over the world. He kept that ring in his pocket on his first deployment. He proposed when he got back.

"Four deployments, multiple missions. He was gone. That ring was there. Weeks not talking to him and difficult months away from him and that ring was there," said Vestal. "That ring was there. As silly as it sounds, I talked to it when he was gone. I had full blown conversations with it because I didn't have him. That ring was on my finger after he's been overseas God only knows how many times. Having that ring back would be everything. It would be everything. That's all I want."

Vestal said she would drop charges if someone returns the ring to police.

Anyone with information about the ring should contact Portland Police.

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