Howard Kirby just wanted a comfy addition for his man cave. In December 2019, he picked up a used couch and a matching ottoman from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Owosso, Michigan. The set cost him $50. It looked like an average thrift-store find, and nothing about the purchase suggested what was waiting inside.
As reported by The Times of India, a few weeks later, the ottoman became uncomfortable to sit on. Kirby’s daughter-in-law decided to investigate. She unzipped the cushion and found a hidden box. Inside were bundles of cash totaling $43,170. “I still have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming or something,” Kirby told WNEM.
The money did not come with an explanation attached. As it turned out, the furniture had once belonged to Phillip Fauth, who died in 2019. His granddaughter, Kim Fauth-Newberry, had donated the furniture without knowing her grandfather’s savings were still hidden inside.
The $43,170 Find Left Kirby With a Difficult Choice
Kirby faced a real decision at that point. He later explained that the cash could have covered a new roof he needed. A lawyer told him he had no legal duty to hand it back. Plenty of people who stumble onto unexpected fortune choose to keep it, the way one Florida man handled cash he pulled straight out of the ocean. Kirby went a different way.
Howard Kirby thought he was buying a cheap secondhand couch. He had no idea it would leave him with a 43,170 USD decision.
— Wolf of X (@WolfofX) August 15, 2026
In December 2019, Kirby bought a used couch and matching ottoman from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Owosso, Michigan.
A few weeks later, he noticed… pic.twitter.com/WvFu3IgLpN
He called the ReStore and asked staff to help track down the furniture’s previous owner. On January 16, 2020, he handed over the full $43,170 to Fauth-Newberry.
“Just crazy,” she said of the whole situation. Her husband, Mike Newberry, reportedly wondered why anyone would hide so much money inside furniture in the first place.
Stories like this tend to stick around online for a reason. Money that shows up out of nowhere doesn’t always get handed back this cleanly, and a server who received a surprise tip later learned that firsthand. Kirby’s case stands out because the story ended with the money back in its original owner’s family.
Rick Merling, the ReStore manager, praised the decision. He said Kirby had chosen to “do the right thing,” despite his own needs at the time. Kirby summed up his choice in his own words. “I always thought, ‘What would I do if that ever happened,’ and now I know, and it makes me feel good.”
For Fauth-Newberry, the return gave her family something they never expected. It wasn’t just money. It was a piece of her grandfather’s history, returned by a stranger who could have walked away with it.
