– Think of all the times I've walked across the bridge into town and never suspected a thing.
On an autumn day in 2009, Hilde Johannesen was the victim of an unprecedented petty theft in her car.
While driving home from work, the window was broken and a purse was stolen.
– I was slightly cursing and scared to see the window broken, why me?
Hilt Johannesen quickly arranged new cards, and days and years passed. Losing the wallet and purse was eventually forgotten.
Photo: Tom Edwinson / NRK
The case was dropped by the police, insurance covered the broken pane, and Johannesen had to order new cards and move on with his life.
– But I have often wondered where my wallet and purse went that day.
As the years passed, Hilt thought less and less about the 2009 incident.
I thought it was a memory
Fast forward to 2024, a little more concretely, to February 17th.
The city bridge in Stavanger needs maintenance and a team of workers is on the job.
One of them was the northerner Paul Austin Jacobsen.
Paul Austin Jacobsen was doing maintenance work on the city bridge in Stavanger when he made a strange discovery.
Photo: Private
He says they are working on removing a section of formwork between the bridge and the ground.
Can you guess what falls out of Jacobsen's disposal joint?
– I thought someone might have left the wallet there as a souvenir or curiosity. I have seen it elsewhere. Someone has written their initials, etc.
At first he didn't understand what was put on the concrete block, but when he saw it was a purse he hit on the thread of the woman on the card.
Johannesen on the other end responded, but somewhat skeptically.
The pocketbook has become worn and dusty over the past 15 years, to say the least, but there is no doubt that its contents belong to Hild Johannessen.
Photo: Tom Edwinson / NRK
– The strange phone call she received
– I thought who is calling now. Should I answer or not? “I might have been a little rude at first,” she laughs.
But when Jakobsen told her her name, her date of birth and two pictures of her children in the wallet, she was convinced.
– HHe told me all my personal information and eventually I had to trust him. It was completely different.
Jacobsen thought the whole scheme was very funny and wanted to get the wallet back to its owner.
Hild Johannesen didn't believe the man who called to say he had found his wallet.
Photo: Tom Edwinson / NRK
– She is not rude! I understand that she was skeptical. Jacobsen said it had to be the strangest phone call she had ever received.
There was nothing of value in the wallet that went missing in 2009, but Johannesen wants to get it back, and Jakobsen is happy to help.
The children in the pictures on the wallet are now grown up and the cards have long since been replaced.
– I laughed, the whole arrangement was strange. All these years I had no idea about being a five-minute drive from my house, he says.
Jakobsen believes the person who stole the wallet saw an open hole and threw it down. Then it is put back.
– I've never found anything close to this before. Let's say it's special.
Paul Oystein gave Jacobsen a bottle of wine to thank Hilde Johannesen for her discovery, and received a nice hug in return.
Photo: Tom Edwinson / NRK
15 years and a good northerner Johannesen finally got his wallet back.
– An honest man called me. He got wine from me and I gave him a good hug.
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