NY couple finds rusty safe in their backyard filled with money and jewelery

Since they moved into the house four years ago, Matthew and Maria Colonna-Emanuel of Staten Island, New York knew there was a rusty metal box behind some thick shrubs in their yard. They figured it was an old electrical or cable box and left it alone. 

Deer ate the shrubs and the couple hired a landscaper to clear the area out and replant it. The landscapers uncovered the rusty box, obviously an old safe. Using a pickax, the couple opened it.

Inside were $16,000 in soggy hundred dollar bills, plus diamonds, jade, and gold jewelry. While the smelly bills were peeled apart and laid out to dry, the couple found a document linking the box to their neighbors. 

Matthew knocked on the neighbor's door and asked if they'd ever been robbed. They said they had, back in 2011. NYPD confirmed that this neighbor reported theft of their home safe seven years ago. 

Matthew and Maria returned the $52,000 worth of treasure to their neighbors. When the press asked if they considered keeping the items, their answer was unequivocal. "It wasn't even a question," Maria said. "It wasn't ours."  

"The reward is karma," Matthew added. "Good karma."