Look, we were expecting some kind of huge reward. Because isn't that why get people back their wallets. But actually we're just really happy that Alexis got her purse back. And also, we got to solve the mystery of the missing wallet.
The Mystery of the Lost Wallet.
I have a good friend named Jim. But the small problem with our friendship is distance. He lives in LA and I live in Sydney, Australia. I get to see him once every five to ten years. But I'd still consider him one of my best mates. So one of the most exciting things on my calendar this year is that I've managed to make it to his house in LA for a visit. And as soon as I arrived at his house yesterday, I was immediately drawn into the mystery of the lost wallet.
There's a mystery that has hit the house of Jim. Jim has been handed a random lady's purse, a wallet. Actually, I'm just going to introduce you to Jim.
Hi!
Now he can tell you how he came to be in possession of this wallet.
So I live in a high-rise condominium and the doorman downstairs told me that he was given a wallet and he thought that it may be I'd be able to help locate the owner. So obviously, it wasn't someone who lived in the neighbourhood and we didn't have a lot of information, no phone number. So it became mine. And I've spent about a week or so along with other people's help trying to locate the owner.
So Jim loves people and always seems to have amazing characters staying with him. So when I arrived at his home, I wasn't surprised to meet Rob.
I got here the day before you came. And Ryan and Jim.... Ryan, who's a neighbour and friend of Jim was here and they're just chatted up and he had mentioned the wallet. I got real interested because you know, found wallet because infinite possibilities. So we just rifle through it and try to learn about who this person is, so we can find her in return the wallet to her.
Rob has done a good job of taking over the case of the missing wallet. But the fact is, I found the owner.
I found the wallet. I told you.
I would say I found the wallet.
Look, Rob has done a good job of taking over the case of the missing wallet. But he's search had been stalled. He'd tried to contact the owner of the wallet on Facebook, but it seems his message had disappeared into a black hole. The message request section of Facebook is a place where messages go to die. It's almost like a black hole or a place where the sun definitely does not shine. So look, let's give Rob some credit after he found the Facebook page owner, who we can now name because we're confident that we figured out that the owner was a young woman named Alexis Arnold. So we contacted a relative of hers who then put us in touch with Alexis. Neither Rob or I have a car. So we asked his friend Elizabeth, who is really lovely, to give us a lift there.
I'm here on this adventure because my purse has been returned to me many times.
Oh, I don't have the purse.
So I'm a complete idiot. And yes, I left the wallet back at Jim's house. We collected it and then we went and met Alexis.
You have no idea how much you saved my life with this. I must have dropped it. I went to a hotel to valet and when I came back from the bathroom and my wallet was missing I thought they had stolen it.
And you reached out to my aunt in Kentucky, which was super random. My mom calls me and she's like "You're aunt all the way from Kentucky says that someone found your wallet."
This piece was produced by Dan McHugh as part of the 24-hour Radio Race from KCRW's Independent Producer Project. A big thank you goes out to James Smith, Rob Conroy, Joyce Bush, Elizabeth Croydon, Damien Merlina, Raul the Uber driver, and of course a big thank you to the mystery creator Alexis Arnold.
