A diamond in the rough

27-year-old woman from Texas finds a 3.72 carat yellow diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park

www.arkansas.com MURFREESBORO — A 27-yearold Texas woman says she was searching for about an hour when she discovered a 3.72-carat yellow diamond at Arkansas’s Crater of Diamond State Park Friday.

Miranda Hollingshead said she had known about the Crater of Diamonds for years, and she decided to go with her siblings when she found out the park wasn’t too far from her home.

Hollingshead said she found the diamond at the base of a hill on the northeast side of the park. “I was sitting in the shade, watching a YouTube video on how to find diamonds,” Hollingshead said. “I looked over at my kid for a second, and when I looked down, I saw it mixed in with other rocks.”

After showing her mom and siblings, Hollingshead carried her find to the Diamond Discovery Center, where park staff registered it as a 3.72 ct. yellow diamond. Staff said that rainfall likely played a role in the find. Many visitors choose to name the diamonds they find at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Hollingshead and her son named her gem the Caro Avenger. “He chose the name Caro, and I am a fan of superheroes, so it seemed like a good fit,” Hollingshead said.

When asked whether she plans to sell her gem or keep it as a souvenir, Hollingshead said if she doesn’t sell it, she’ll probably have it mounted in a ring.

It is the largest registered at the Crater of Diamonds since March 2017, when a teenager from Centerton found a 7.44-carat brown gem.

It is the largest yellow diamond since a visitor from Oklahoma City found a 3.85-carat jewel there in October 2013.