Couple Finds Rare Yellow Diamond

A Granite Bay couple with a penchant for visiting national parks made a wild discovery on their latest trip: an extremely rare yellow diamond.

Photo Insert: The Wredberg's find is the biggest yellow diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park so far this year.

KCRA 3 News reported that Michael and Noreen Wredberg for seven years now have made it their journey to travel across the country to visit the many national parks available. When parks started to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic forced closures, the couple decided to visit one in Arkansas.

While there, Noreen made note of the country's only diamond mine open to the public, which was an hour away from the park they were visiting. She told her husband she wanted to add it to their itinerary.

Little did they know they were going to find the biggest yellow diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park so far this year. "I found it hard to believe," Michael said. "We're two people who just wanted to experience digging for diamonds in a real diamond field, you know. And it was like, 'It just must have been our day."

The two had no idea what they were in for, simply showing up, paying their entrance fee, renting shovels and buckets, and then getting to dig. With Michael doing the heavy digging and Noreen sifting through the unearthed soil, they chipped away for the sole purpose of the experience.

However, Noreen would lose interest early on with her knees hurting from kneeling on dirt and gravel. She stood up and started exploring around. As she walked around, the sunlight would reveal sparkling on the ground. But each time she examined the glimmer, it would turn out to be a rock.

Noreen would repeat this for a little over half an hour when she once again saw a sparkle. This time, as she pushed the dirt from the rock, she said she noticed dirt was not sticking on the stone — they were told that's a sign that they might have found a diamond.

"Moved a little bit of dirt out of the way, and it was a good-size rock," Noreen said.

The stone was the size of a jelly bean, leaving Noreen to doubt she had actually found a diamond.

She said she ran over to Michael so they could go get it examined. She did want to look and see if they could find more but Michael convinced her they should immediately go get the stone they already found examined.

The Wredbergs told KCRA 3 when they showed state park employees what they had found, three park rangers were called in — one of them armed. A short time later, the couple was told they had unearthed a 4.38-carat yellow diamond.

The couple said they were told luck was in their favor because it had rained days ago, and the largest diamonds are always found on the surface shortly after substantial rain blows through the area.

Since their trip they returned from earlier this week, their massive find has been kept secure in a safety deposit box, waiting to be appraised for its full value.

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