Winnebago County deputy finds missing Apple Watch in lake

WINNEBAGO COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) - An Apple Watch sitting at the bottom of a lake for months was recently discovered by Winnebago County law enforcement. It’s been returned to a girl in Wrightstown and get this it still works!

Imagine cooling off with your friends at Plamann Park on a hot day in July and having your smartwatch sink.

“We were on the diving boards towards the deep end. Then I would say about the 3rd or 4th time that I jumped in off the boards, it felt like something hit my wrist,” said Molly Leupnitz.

Whatever hit Molly’s wrist, knocked off her Apple Watch and it disappeared. Even the tracking feature on a smartphone couldn’t help her locate it.

Sometime later, Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office was conducting a dive training at the park when Deputy John Gende spotted something unusual under the water.

“Picked it up and it was an Apple Watch,” said Deputy John Gende.

For the officers, like most people, they say they thought it wouldn’t turn on, but it was still worth a shot. To their surprise, the watch still worked.

“We’re able to get into it after it turned on and then it was unlocked so, she was able to track down the parents through whatever info was on there,” said Deputy Gende.

“They called asking if this was Andrew Harris, and your daughter is Molly? Yep. Okay, why is the Sheriff’s office calling about my daughter at 9 in the morning? This is a little odd. But immediately when they started mentioning about a watch and a dive team, I was like oh okay. I know what we’re getting at,” said Andrew Harris.

Molly was reunited with her watch again and with a little bit of rust and wear, it seemed to work just fine.

“I just want to say thank you because I’m just glad they put in the work to find the owner of the watch,” said Molly.