They return lost camera using clues in photos

FOUND a digital camera at the backseat of a cab?

You'll be considered a Good Samaritan if you dropped it off at the taxi company's Lost and Found section.

But a New York couple was so determined to find the rightful owner that they searched hotels, pubs and even extended the investigations to Ireland.

After countless phonecalls, online ads and e-mails, they traced the owner in Sydney 10 days later.

The drama began on New Year's Eve, when MsErika Gunderson got into a taxi in New York City.

CLUELESS

Sitting on the back seat was a nice Canon digital camera. The cabby was clueless.

So she brought it home and showed it to her fiance, 26-year-old law undergraduate Brian Ascher.

The only clues were the pictures on the camera: Typical tourist snapshots, complete with a visit to the Statue of Liberty.

How could they find a stranger among the huddled masses?

No one reported a matching missing camera to the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Ads placed in lost-and-found sections of online classifieds came to a blank.

So Mr Ascher scrutinised the photos.

He easily pinpointed Florida.

The group had stood in front of Bob Heilman's Beachcomber Restaurant there. Zooming in on the group to see name tags on their shirts, he spotted an Alan, an Eileen, a male Noel and a female Noelle, plus a Ciarnan.

Under their names was written 'IRE' or Ireland.

He called Canon's Ireland division to see if anyone had registered the $500 camera's serial number. Nothing.

Ads on Irish websites yielded no response.

He checked the date stamp on the photos from the restaurant, but the staff could not remember serving a big Irish group.

Then Mr Ascher's mother, Nancy, and sister, Ms Emily Rann, scoured the pictures for clues he might have missed.

They noticed that one of the pictures showed a doorman helping someone into a New York taxi.

Zooming tight on the doorman's uniform, they made out the logo of the Radisson Hotel.

After several phone calls and a visit to the hotel to show the pictures around, Mrs Ascher persuaded an employee to search the Radisson's guest records.

Indeed, a Noel from Ireland had stayed there on the date stamped on the photo.

But Noel told Mr Ascher in an e-mail that he hadn't lost a camera.

Undeterred, Mr Ascher pored over some photos that showed signs for bars in Manhattan. He spotted an awning in the background that read 'Standings'.

The bartender recalled an Irish group on 30 Dec, as one of the women was a big tipper and said she worked at another New York City bar, Playwrights.

It turned out the woman's family had recently hosted relatives and friends from Ireland, including their friend Alan Murphy.

He was in Florida before heading to New York, where the clan stayed at the Radisson.

Mr Murphy, an insurance underwriter from Sydney, had left his camera in the cab.

He was devastated to lose the pictures from a trip he had planned for years. It was 10 Jan - his 34th birthday - when he heard he would be getting the photos back.

He wrote to Mr Ascher: 'I owe you one. It's good to know there are some honest people left in the world.'

AP

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