Editor’s note: Eli Dean, an intern with The Glenwood Herald, is the author of this report.

The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro announced on Monday, May 11 an addition to the long and ever-growing list of large diamonds found at the park.

In a press release, the park announced that Keshia Smith, a Pennsylvania native who spent a year planning and researching her trip beforehand, discovered a 3.09-carat diamond on a trip last month with her boyfriend and his brother. It ranks as the second largest diamond found at the park so far this year.

Smith’s journey to the park and finding a diamond is one of struggle and hope. After the death of her son in October and her father a few weeks before the trip, she said the difficult time was a lot to deal with.

“I have felt so much pressure the last six months,” Smith told park staff. “In October, I lost my son, and we just buried my dad a week ago. It has been a lot.”

She told park staff that her discovery on April 22 was something she hoped for to keep her spirits up.

“I really needed this,” Smith said. “I really prayed for this, and I just can’t believe it actually happened.”

Smith said she found the diamond on the south end of the park’s 37.5 acre search area, close to where John Huddleston found the first batch of Arkansas diamonds in 1906. Unsure of what she found when she dug it up with a shovel, Smith continued digging but kept it in her bag. After showing it off at one of the washing pavilions, she was encouraged by others to take it to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center to get it examined. It was there where staff told her that she had found the success she had been praying for. Park Interpreter Sarah Bivens said Smith was full of joy upon the confirmation of her discovery.

“Ms. Smith exuded joy from the moment she walked in the door,” Bivens said. “It’s not uncommon for larger diamonds like this to be found during the first hour of the finder’s dig time. Sometimes, I think diamond finds like this are just meant to be.”

Smith said she dedicated time prior to her trip considering possible spots to dig and areas where diamonds could be, which included talking with regular park visitors on where they might look, some of whom she met on the day of her find. Other park guests reportedly described Smith as being joyful about the simple opportunity to dig, let alone actually finding a diamond. On the second day of her visit after scouting different areas of the park the previous day, her hard work paid off.

The white diamond, which Smith named Za’Novia Liberty after her two grandchildren and America’s 250th anniversary, resembled a heart to Smith, who told park staff she immediately recognized the shape.

“To me it looks like a heart,” Smith said. “That’s the first thing I saw when I found it.”

Park officials described the diamond as having “a few unique inclusions around the edges.” It is colorless and has a “flat, smooth appearance.” Smith’s diamond in the 214th registered diamond found at the park this year.

The park is located on Arkansas Highway 301 and is one of the only places where the public can search for diamonds at the volcanic source. In its 120 year history, over 75,000 diamonds have been found at the park, which was designated as an Arkansas State Park in 1972.