Perfect proposal thwarted after criminal breaks into car, steals engagement ring

ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta couple is celebrating an engagement they will surely never forget.

Ethan's plan was to take his girlfriend Chanler to a romantic dinner in midtown. Chanler thought that they were going to their lake house afterwards for the weekend.

But the real plan was to take her back to her parents' place in Suwannee to propose.

Except the perfect proposal was thwarted when, after dinner, they discovered their car parked in a public lot on 13th Street had been broken into and the ring -- among other things -- was gone.

"She walked up and was, like, ‘What's wrong? It's just a window. They just took your bag. We can get all that back.' I was, like, ‘No you don't understand,'" Ethan said.

"I wanted to break down and cry, but I'm like, 'I've got to figure out how to get this ring back," Chanler said.

"The police came and we did all that and once we got it sorted out, I told her I'm still going to do it," Ethan said.

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The whole family was waiting. They found a ring to give him, and he still popped the question.

"There was literally hundreds of candles and flowers and rose petals from when we walked into the back, and it was so beautiful," Chanler said.

And as unlucky as the situation was, what was lucky is that Ethan had just signed the insurance policy on the ring about two and half hours before it was stolen.

While they would love to get the diamond back, they know love is bigger.

"The ring is important, but yeah, there's a lot more to it," Ethan said.

The couple said a big lesson here is to make sure the ring is insured.

Cox Media Group