Woman helps family find closure after 'message in a bottle' discovery on South Carolina beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A woman who found a message in a bottle on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is helping a grieving family find closure.

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Jennifer Watts said she was looking for shark teeth with her daughter when she found the bottle washed ashore.

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She said a friend on Facebook convinced her to open it, and she couldn't believe what she found inside.

The letter belonged to a father mourning the death of his 5-year-old son.

One day before Watts made her discovery, the father and mother each wrote a letter and tossed it into the ocean.

"It's heartbreaking. I wouldn't wish the death of a child on my worst enemy," Watts said.

The child died in a car fire in 2017.

His parents said the beach was his favorite place in the world. They asked Watts to return the bottle and letter to the ocean.

"He just wanted me to throw it back in, and it's probably still painful at this point," Watts said.

Watts said she and her daughter tossed the bottle off the end of the pier Friday afternoon, hoping it would be far enough out to prevent the bottle from washing up a second time.

Cox Media Group