The furniture had passed through a charitable resale shop.
Its previous owner was unknown to Howard at the time.
There was no obvious person demanding that the money be returned.
That made his decision especially meaningful.
He had a genuine reason to want the money.
He could picture how much easier his circumstances might become if he kept it.
But wanting something and believing it rightfully belongs to you are not necessarily the same.
For Howard, that distinction eventually became the deciding factor.
Sources: WNEM, January 16, 2020; CBS Detroit, January 23, 2020.
The Question That Money Could Not Answer
At some point after discovering the cash, Howard consulted an attorney.
According to multiple contemporary news reports, the lawyer told him that he had no legal obligation to return it.
That advice could have ended the matter.
Howard had bought the furniture through a legitimate transaction.
The money was concealed inside an item that had been donated and subsequently sold.
And the amount was large enough to make a real difference in his financial situation.
But legal permission and personal morality are not always identical.
Howard still had to decide what he believed was right.
The Associated Press reported that his Christian faith played an important role in his reasoning.
For him, the decision was not simply about calculating the potential benefits of keeping the money.
It was about living according to the values he believed were important.
He understood that the cash had belonged to someone before it ended up in his possession.
Even if the previous owner had accidentally left it behind, that did not make the money feel like his.
He also understood that returning it could mean sacrificing the opportunity to repair his home.
This was not an abstract ethical dilemma.
It involved a real financial cost.
That is what makes the story compelling.
Many people believe in honesty.
Many people teach their children that taking something that belongs to someone else is wrong.
But it can be far more difficult to apply those principles when the amount involved is substantial and the consequences are personal.
Howard was faced with exactly that situation.
He could accept the unexpected windfall and solve some of his own problems.
Or he could search for the person who had unknowingly lost the money.
He chose the second option.
Rather than attempting to justify keeping the cash, he contacted the ReStore where he had purchased the furniture.
He wanted the employees to help identify the person who had donated it.
It was a simple decision with extraordinary consequences.
And it started a chain of events that would soon bring together two families who had never expected their lives to intersect.
The Mystery of the Furniture's Previous Owner
The staff at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore faced an unusual situation.
A customer was contacting them not because something he purchased was broken, but because he had discovered a fortune hidden inside it.
And instead of asking whether he could keep the money, Howard wanted to return it.
The store began tracing the furniture's history.
Eventually, the employees identified the person who had donated the sofa and ottoman.
Her name was Kim Fauth-Newberry.
Kim and her husband had donated the furniture after the death of her grandfather, Phillip Fauth.
Phillip had died in July 2019, leaving behind belongings that family members eventually needed to sort through.
The sofa and ottoman were among those possessions.
As frequently happens after someone dies, relatives must decide what to keep, what to give away, and what to discard.
Furniture can be especially difficult to manage.
Large pieces may not fit in family members' homes.
Some items may have sentimental value but little practical use.
Others may be donated because relatives believe someone else could benefit from them.
That is what happened to Phillip's furniture.
Kim and her family had no idea that a substantial amount of cash was hidden inside the ottoman.
According to the Associated Press, Phillip was known for being careful with money and frequently making purchases in cash.
He had even paid approximately $9,000 in cash for a roof replacement.
That detail helped explain why the discovery, while astonishing, was connected to his habits.
The cash found in the ottoman appeared to have been part of his personal savings.
The bundles had been organized with paper clips and handwritten notes, suggesting that someone had deliberately stored them rather than accidentally leaving money behind.
But the family's knowledge of Phillip's habits did not mean they knew about the hidden fortune.
They had donated the furniture without realizing what it contained.
By the time the money was discovered, the furniture had already traveled from Phillip's home to the charity shop and then into Howard's house.
It was an extraordinary sequence of events.
Had the family inspected the ottoman more carefully, the money might have been found before the donation.
Had someone discarded the furniture, the cash might have been lost.
Had another customer purchased it, the outcome might have been different.
Instead, the furniture ended up with someone who decided to search for its former owner.
And that decision would allow a grieving family to recover something they never knew had been missing.
Sources: Associated Press, January 17, 2020; Habitat for Humanity, 30 Years of Fantastic Finds at Habitat ReStores.
An Unexpected Reunion at the Charity Store
On January 16, 2020, Howard returned to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
This time, he was not there to purchase furniture.
He was there to return the $43,170.
Kim Fauth-Newberry arrived to discover that the money her grandfather had hidden inside the ottoman was being given back to her family.
It was an emotional and deeply unusual meeting.
The cash had been sitting inside a piece of furniture that the family had already donated.
They had no reason to expect to see it again.
In fact, they had not even known it existed.
The Associated Press reported that Kim was astonished when she saw the stacks of bills.
Her reaction reflected more than surprise at the amount.
The money was associated with her late grandfather, a man whose habits and personal history she knew.
What had initially appeared to be ordinary furniture now contained an unexpected connection to his life.
For Howard, the meeting confirmed why he had made his decision.
The money was no longer an anonymous fortune hidden inside a cushion.
It had a history.
It belonged to a family.
And returning it meant ensuring that the savings reached people who had a personal connection to the man who had accumulated them.
Howard gave back the entire amount.
He did not demand a reward.
He did not negotiate to keep a portion.
He did not use his financial difficulties as an excuse to retain some of the money.
Every dollar was returned.
Rick Merling, the manager of the ReStore, was deeply impressed.
In his comments to local television reporters, Merling emphasized that Howard had chosen honesty despite having genuine needs of his own.
The store manager saw the decision as an example of someone choosing to act according to his values rather than personal financial advantage.
And Howard himself expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
He had once wondered how he would behave if he unexpectedly found a large amount of money.
Now he knew.
The answer gave him a sense of peace.
The woman whose family had unknowingly donated the cash received an extraordinary surprise.