Man Returns $1000 Found In Bedford Woods, Has Special Connection To Owner

BEDFORD (CBS) – A Lexington woman misplaced $1000 while out on a walk in the woods. It was later found by a Bedford man on the same trail. When the man gave it back, they both realized they had met before.

"A $100 bill is something you really can spot from a long way away," said Steve Kissel.

A recent daytime walk through Old Bedford Reservoir Park took a very interesting turn for Steve Kissel.

"As I got closer it was multiple $100 bills," Kissel said. "As I got closer it was even more!"

It was about $1000, crumpled and wet, in early February snow.

"Sure I could have kept the money, but what would that make me?" Kissel thought.

Kissel couldn't find the owner on his own. But Bedford Police tracked down Lexington resident Karen Einstein and returned her money.

"One of my housemates had given me cash for his share of the rent, and I was on the way to the bank to deposit it," Einstein said. "When I lost it, I just felt so awful."

Police put the two in touch, and turns out - this wasn't the first time they've spoken.

"I remember we had a conversation, she doesn't remember but I remember because it was very meaningful to me at the time because my mother had just died," Kissel recalled. "She was going through a situation where her fiancé had died. We were talking a little bit about what that experience was like."

What are the chances? He returned something quite valuable, to the person who'd given priceless perspective when he needed it most.

"Doesn't happen very often," he said. "So that was kind of nice. God bless them, the police in Bedford really came through."

The woman offered Kissel a reward for his honesty, but he did not accept it.

"Those woods mean everything to me and losing the money the way I did was terrible, but I'm just so grateful," Einstein said. "With everything that goes on in the world it can be easy to give up, but this really restored my faith in humanity."