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Against All Odds: She Found The Perfect Engagement Diamond in This State Park Adventure

After nearly a month of determined searching, 31-year-old Micherre Fox of Manhattan, New York, struck personal gold — or rather, diamond — at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park, unearthing a 2.30-carat white gem just hours before ending her trip.


Fox’s diamond hunt began two years ago with an unusual engagement plan: she wanted to find her own stone. “There’s something symbolic about being able to solve problems with money, but sometimes money runs out in a marriage,” she said. “You need to be willing and able to solve those problems with hard work.” Her partner supported the idea and agreed to wait.


When she learned the only public place in the world to dig for and keep any diamonds found was in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, Fox set her sights there. Fresh from graduate school and with a month-long break ahead, she prepped for two weeks before starting her three-week dig on July 8.


Most days she worked the 37.5-acre diamond search area, taking breaks to cool off in the park pool or at Diamond Springs Water Park. On July 29, her final day, she was walking along the West Drain when something glittered at her feet. At first, she thought it might be dew on a spiderweb. A nudge with her boot proved otherwise. “It was the most ‘diamond-y diamond’ I had seen,” she said.


She carried the stone straight to the Diamond Discovery Center, where staff confirmed she’d found a white, or colorless, diamond weighing more than two carats — the third-largest found at the park in 2025. “I got on my knees and cried, then started laughing,” Fox said.


The gem, about the size of a human canine tooth, has a smooth, rounded surface and metallic luster, with tiny blemishes hinting at its violent formation deep in Earth’s mantle. Fox named it the “Fox-Ballou Diamond,” combining her and her partner’s last names, and plans to set it in her engagement ring.


Assistant Superintendent Waymon Cox said her find shows that timing is as important as effort. “After weeks of hard work, Ms. Fox found her diamond sitting right on top of the ground.”


Reflecting on the experience, Fox said, “After all the research, there’s luck and there’s hard work. When you are literally picking up the dirt in your hands, no amount of research can do that for you; no amount of education can take you all the way.”


So far this year, the park has registered 366 diamonds, 11 weighing over a carat — and Fox’s find may be its most personal success story yet.

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