BILOXI, Miss. ( WLOX /Gray News) - A wildlife biologist with the Gulf Islands National Seashore was on Horn Island doing bird research when she spotted a lost high school identification card in the sand.

Becky Copeland said the card was weathered, aged and barely legible. But she was able to see the person’s date of birth.

“That’s when I became an internet detective and tried to find any way I could to find out who she was and how I could get it back to her,” Copeland said.

With a little help from Facebook and some strangers in the person’s hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, the mystery was solved.

“When I saw it, I sent a message back to her and I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s me,’” Catherine Hamel said.

Hamel lost everything when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

See Full Page