Kid Angler Hauls in Big Purse at Hartwell Lake

An 11-year-old boy fishing from a South Carolina dock reeled in an unusual catch -- a purse that was thought stolen from a boat in the lake 25 years ago.

April Bolt said she feared her purse had been stolen when she left it on her husband's boat at a Hartwell Lake dock in 1992 when the couple went out to eat with his parents.

"I was devastated, I was crying," Bolt told WHNS-TV. "I knew it was going to be a lot of work trying to cancel all my credit cards and license. The main thing was my little boy was 15 months old and all his pictures were in there."

Bolt recently received some surprising news from a family friend -- her purse was apparently in the lake the whole time.

The friend, Ben Meyers, said he was fishing July 4 with an 11-year-old relative on Lake Hartwell when the child hooked something heavy.

"I get my net and he gets it to the top of the water, all of a sudden I see it's a purse," Myers explained. "I said 'man you ain't caught no fish, you caught a treasure!'"

Meyers recognized Bolt's maiden name, April Deanhardt, from an ID that was among the contents of a wallet inside the purse.

Bolt's daughter, Abby, said the find is a window into another era of her mother's life.

"It's quite humorous, considering the wallet, perfume, lipsticks, numerous credit cards from stores that were open 25 years ago, family pictures, 52 cents in change, a check book, a teasing comb, etc. -- it's a serious time capsule!" Abby Bolt told WYFF-TV.