Texas story mirrors plot of Swingle's gold novel

Sometimes fiction and reality are not so different.

Former Cape Girardeau resident David Vogelsang recently contacted Morley Swingle, author of "The Gold of Cape Girardeau," about a similar real-life situation that took place in San Diego, Texas, where he now lives.

A pair of plumbers from San Diego discovered more than 400 gold and silver coins worth about $500,000 in October, the same month Swingle's book was just off the press. Swingle's novel is about the discovery of gold dug up in the basement of a home in Cape Girardeau.

Swingle, who is the prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau County, said, "There are no reported cases of buried treasure having been found in Missouri as of yet. Our law in Missouri, the law of treasure trove, follows the English common law, allowing finders to be keepers of the treasure."

Texas recognizes the mislaid property doctrine. If a property is mislaid, it is presumed to be left to the custody of the next property owner -- with the exception of the property's rightful owner.

The Texas plumber and his assistant, Serafin Trevino and Connie Moseley, are disputing the ownership of the coins with homeowners Alejandro Lopez Jr. and his wife, Angelica. In December, the dispute became more complicated when Gloria Garcia Lopez, the daughter of the doctor who built the house, entered the picture.