Good Samaritan returns lost engagement ring — just in time for proposal

Thanks to a fast-acting Good Samaritan, Steve Buice was able to propose on Tuesday night as planned.

That evening, Buice was gearing himself up to propose. He was with a friend in a San Diego Home Depot parking lot, getting wired with a microphone — he wanted to record himself popping the question to girlfriend Josefina Karpecki — when he put his jacket on the trunk of a car next to him.

Moments later, the owner of the car drove away, taking Buice's jacket with him.

Inside the jacket's pockets: Buice's wallet and the diamond ring he was about to give his girlfriend.

About 20 minutes later, the owner of the car walked up to Buice, waving a black jacket at him.

"Then he says, 'I have your wallet and your diamond ring,'" Buice told 10News.

Buice's friend recorded the ring reunion on camera.

"Unbelievable! He found us! It's about seven minutes before I ask her to marry me," Buice said on camera.

The Good Samaritan quickly disappeared, not leaving his name nor accepting a reward for his good deed.

A few minutes later, Buice proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes.

Buice told 10News that he and Karpecki are hoping to locate the kind stranger so they can give him tickets to Disneyland.

"So they can be at the happiest place on earth because my girlfriend and I…we're on the happiest place on earth right now," Buice explained.

This isn't the first heartwarming ring-reunion story we've shared.

Last March, a 13-year-old Manitoba boy found a wedding ring and posted an ad up on Kijiji, hoping its rightful owner would see it. She did, and offered the teen a $200 reward.

Last February, a homeless man in Missouri returned an engagement ring accidentally dropped into his cup. The story went viral, with thousands of donations pouring in from around the world to reward the honest man.

In January 2013, 15 years after stealing them at a party, a thief returned gold wedding rings with an apology.

In August 2012, a New York City parks worker dug through garbage to find a woman's lost wedding ring.

In October of that same year, a man found a Vegas couple's lost wedding ring in Florida.

And in November 2011, a very determined husband searched a landfill for his wife's lost custom engagement ring. He found it.

Hold onto your rings, folks.