Recent Nor'Easter brings message in a bottle

It took a nor'easter to blow back the message in a bottle Heidi Mozzo set afloat from an Ocean City, N.J., beach on July 1, 1985.

The coastal storm that battered the United States' eastern coastlines earlier this month dumped Mozzo's bottle onto a North Carolina beach after nearly a quarter-century at sea, reported The Press of Atlantic City.

Mozzo, whose maiden name is Heidi Kay Werstler, was 6-years-old when she cast the green plastic soda bottle into the Atlantic Ocean as part of a city-sponsored contest, according to the Atlantic City newspaper. Participants included their names, addresses and phone numbers in their notes. The participant whose bottle traveled farthest would win a prize.

Workers at The Sanderling Resort & Spa in Duck, N.C., found the bottle while cleaning up after the recent storm and called officials in Ocean City, N.J., The Associated Press reported. Following news reports about the discovery, a stranger asked Mozzo if she was the same Heidi Kay.

Now 30, Mozzo is married, living in Delaware with her husband and young daughter, and excited to claim her prize: a box of saltwater taffy.

"I do love saltwater taffy," she told the newspaper.

For more, visit The Press of Atlantic City