Historic Tybee Island Lighthouse Doorknob Found 750 Miles Away

TYBEE ISLAND, GA — A 155-year-old doorknob is on its way back to the Tybee Island Lighthouse on Tybee Island, Georgia, after police tracked it down several hundred miles away.

Staff at the lighthouse noticed the doorknob was missing June 3. They issued a callout on social media, asking whoever took it to return it with "no questions asked," Tybee Island police said on Facebook.

No one responded, so staff called police and a search for the "important piece of Tybee's history" began.

Just days later, police tips led the investigation to Greene County, Indiana, some 750 miles northwest of Tybee Island. Sheriff's deputies in the Indiana county were led to a man's house, where they found the doorknob and made an arrest, police said.

A surveillance video from the lighthouse appeared to show a man take the doorknob off one of the doors at the top of the lighthouse and put it in his cargo shorts, police said before the doorknob was tracked down.

"Arrangements are currently being made to send the doorknob back to Tybee Island where it can be returned to its rightful home," police wrote on Facebook.

Staff at the lighthouse are relieved to get their old relic back.

"We can't wait for its return," the lighthouse's Facebook account posted.

Charges against the Indiana man were pending Thursday, police said.