GARDEN CITY, Utah — Arianna Rees was paddleboarding at Bear Lake with her family in the summer of 2021 for her birthday celebration. They decided to get out into the water that was about 15 or 20 feet deep. Rees had her phone in a waterproof lanyard, but it wasn't tied to the paddleboard, so when she jumped, it fell off.
Rees says she spent an hour and a half trying to find her phone, but the depth of the lake and consistent waves made it an unsuccessful mission. Rees was understandably disappointed as she had another trip coming up and was not in the best financial position to buy a new phone.
"I didn't expect to ever see my phone again, and I thought someone would take it if it ever did find its way to shore," Rees said.
Twelve days later, Chris Lawson had just proposed to his now-wife Jessica, and they were wading in the lake water when he stepped on something.
"I reached down and picked it up and it was somebody's cell phone... it looked like it had been under the water for a while, so we thought we'd charge it and see if it worked, and it did," Lawson said.
For months, Jessica Lawson put out classified ads and made calls to Verizon and Apple trying to find the owner and never could — until now, a year and a half after Rees originally lost it.
"A stranger came along and told me to check the sim card," Jessica Lawson said.
The Lawsons found out they could find Rees' phone number if they pulled the SIM card from the lost phone. Rees still had the same number, just a different phone.
"I got this text from someone and they're like, 'Hey did you lose a phone about a year, a year and a half ago?'" Rees said.
The Lawsons asked her to describe the phone as multiple imposters had tried claiming it as their own or a relative's over the months.
"I described my phone and said I lost it at Bear Lake, and they said 'Yeah, that's your phone,' and I was just floored," Rees said.
Despite the phone possibly being in the water for many days, the couple told Rees it is still in "fantastic condition," crediting the waterproof lanyard.
"I'm going to be picking the phone up this week and probably giving them a gift basket or something because they went above and beyond to try and get it back for me," Rees said.
The Lawsons say they were inspired to keep looking for the owner after all this time because they know how important phones can be for information and memories.
"I just know I'd want someone to do that for me if that was my phone," Jessica Lawson said.
Rees says she is touched by the amount of effort the couple put in to find her.
"It's really, really cool now to be talking with them, and just to realize how good people are and persistent about being good has been really encouraging," she said.
