Lily Collins Recovers Stolen Engagement Ring Nearly Three Years After Theft

Nearly three years after her custom rose-cut diamond engagement ring disappeared from a spa locker at The West Hollywood EDITION hotel, Lily Collins announced on March 6 that it was back on her finger, crediting a Chicago jeweler who purchased it at a trade show and recognized it as hers.

Collins posted a selfie to her Instagram Stories showing the ring and wrote: "So grateful to @joethejewelerchicago for helping recover my original engagement ring after it was stolen almost three years ago. Having this home means SO much to us. I'm still speechless it's back on my finger."

The ring at the center of the story is a one-of-a-kind piece: a rose-cut diamond co-designed by Collins' husband, writer-director Charlie McDowell, and Los Angeles jeweler Irene Neuwirth. Collins had previously described being surprised by the design while noting it was "exactly what I would've wanted." Brett Afshar, jeweler and founder of Queensmith, estimates the stone at 2 to 3 carats, with the ring valued at approximately $80,000.

The theft occurred on May 6, 2023, when Collins, staying at the Edition Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, visited the spa and secured her belongings in a locker. When she returned, her engagement ring, wedding band, and electronic devices were gone. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed to PEOPLE that officers responded to a burglary call at the hotel after a well-known female celebrity's belongings were taken from a secured locker, with the report categorized as "over $10,000." The theft was investigated, but no arrests were made.

The recovery came through Joe Hakimian, who brands himself as Joe the Jeweler and owns both Hakimian Imports and Rose Estate Jewelers in Chicago's Diamond District. Hakimian told the Chicago Tribune that he purchased the ring at a New York trade show roughly six months before the story surfaced, then realized weeks later whose ring he had acquired. He returned it to Collins shortly after making the connection.

How a bespoke, one-of-a-kind piece designed by a specific jeweler for a specific client traveled from a hotel spa locker in West Hollywood to a New York trade show floor over the course of nearly three years remains unclear. The chain of custody between the 2023 theft and Hakimian's purchase has not been publicly established, and it is not known whether law enforcement was notified at the time of the ring's return. Collins' wedding band and the electronic devices taken in the same theft have not been reported as recovered.

The ring's return closes a painful chapter for Collins and McDowell, who became engaged in September 2020 and married in September 2021 at Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado. The couple has since welcomed a daughter, Tove Jane McDowell. That Irene Neuwirth's handiwork, and the stone McDowell selected with such personal intention, found its way back is the kind of resolution that almost never happens with stolen jewelry — and that makes the role of a vigilant trade-show buyer all the more significant.