1 Carat Mystery Stumps Family

Published on 15/08/11

April Sanati was practicing her golf swing in her Torrance backyard last week when she noticed something glimmering in the ground.

Bending over to examine it, the 8-year-old quickly realized that she had found a diamond in the rough.

Literally. Poking out of the ground in the family's makeshift backyard golf course, was a perfectly shaped diamond about the size of a small pea.

"I was picking up balls, and I saw something shiny," said the third-grader at Arnold Elementary School. "I told my dad."

Her dad, Gary Sanati, couldn't believe it was real. Too big, too elegant, he thought. It must be an imitation, a fake, a fugazy.