The diamond wedding ring had been missing for more than a decade

Jennifer Tilbury's search for the owner of a wedding ring she found has come to a close.

She returned the diamond ring to Bruce and Nicola White, the previous owners of Tilbury's Tsawwassen home, on Thursday.

"I kept hitting dead ends so it was nice to finally get a conclusion and a happy result out of it," she said.

Tilbury discovered the ring in late April behind a set of built-in shelves as she was renovating a bathroom.

Bruce White has no idea how it ended up there and noted the piece of jewelry had been missing for over 10 years.

"It was out of sight, out of mind for all these years. [We] always wondered where it went but never gave it any more thought than that. I think it's just wonderful that there's honest people in the world," he said.

The ring was White's mother's wedding ring and it was passed down to him after his mom passed away in 1996.

The Whites, who still live in Tsawwassen, weren't the original owners of the house but had lived there since the mid 1980s and only moved out last year as part of the B.C. Hydro right-of-way buy out program.

After finding the ring Tilbury began trying to get in touch with the Whites so she could return it. She had their names since mail intended for them was still being delivered to the house. Tilbury searched online, talked to neighbours and tried the post office in attempts to find contact information.

"I've had things that I've lost returned to me and I remember the feeling of being overwhelmed and happy, so I wanted to do that for somebody else," she said.

Tilbury eventually contacted the Optimist and the Whites got calls about the ring after a story ran earlier this week.

Her husband Dean said he was surprised other media also picked up the story.

"We never thought it would go on the front page of the Optimist either," he said.