TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — There's a mystery brewing at Colossal Cave that could use your help.
Cave lead, Dalton Carper was recently mapping out a path to start up their wild cave tours for the first time since COVID, when he spotted a wallet that was definitely out of place.
"We were crawling around for a while in a spot that not a lot of people have probably ever been, and we found it sticking out of the ground," he explained. "Obviously it piqued interest when you see something lime green coming out of the cave, so we picked it up."
The wallet was in pretty good shape, although part of it was caked in dirt and mud from being in the cave. Inside it, there were some clues as to who the owner was. The driver's license belong to Mancie Susan Love, who also had some old credit cards, a Fry's card, a library card, among some little notes, but nothing else too unusual.
Carper quickly employed the help of Laure Sylvia, the coordinator for the cave, to see if she could find Mancie Love online, or through social media.
"We started looking her up and we found that she did pass away last January 30th," Sylvia said. "She was 80 years old. And so we started looking for family but we haven't been able to find any family members. There were no names listed in the obituary."
Still, she searched Facebook, Instagram, and googled her name countelss times, but nothing came up. We even helped out, calling the funeral home listed in the obituary, asking them to pass along our contact information, but we haven't heard anything back.
Adding to the mystery, the parts of the cave where this wallet was found, doesn't exactly have stairs. Getting there on one of the wild cave tours involves climbing and crawling, so the running theory is that the owner of the wallet was pretty adventurous.
The ID was issued in 2009, around 14 or 15 years ago, so even if it was lost right away, that could mean Mancie Love had been out exploring in her mid 60s.
With the same kind of tenacity she must have had, Sylvia and Carper are just as determined now, to return this little piece of her life to her loved ones.
"Bringing something that her family thought might have been gone forever, back to them, I think would be pretty special for them," Carper said.
"We just want to reunite you with this wallet and give you a little happiness, and just make it right," Sylvia agreed.
So if you are related to Mancie Susan Love, or if you know her family, please reach out to the team at Colossal Cave. You can call them during the day, 7 days a week, at (520) 647-7275.
Claire Graham is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. She grew up in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in musical theatre. Claire spent a decade in Washington state, where she worked in journalism, met her husband and welcomed their baby boy, before moving back home. Share your story ideas and important issues with Claire by emailing claire.graham@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.