As the PD article suggests, an earnest, good-faith effort to locate any and all heirs would be the only honorable resolution.

Hmm. This may be a lame situation instigated by a couple of dumbasses, but there is a dangerous precedent that could come from it. I sincerely hope that a judge does not find for Kitts. Yes, maybe the money wouldn't have been found at all without him and, geez, wasn't it nice that he didn't steal it. Give him the contractor of the year award for his sterling character. He apparently then went on to tear additional holes in Reece's home without her permission looking for more loot. That might be the reason for the measly 10% finders fee. I'd be pretty pissed if Mr. Fixit got greedy and dismantled my home without my ok too. I can't tell who got snotty first. Reece probably could have been nicer and offered Kitts more of a share, unless this occured after he got all smashy with the sledghammer. Seriously, it is HER home. Ask first. To get back to my original point, Kitts was a contractor in Reece's home. The friendship thing is legally irrelevant. Do we want to open the door to contractors who already rape us financially getting a stake in our property as well? Hell NO! Dude was exceedingly lucky to have been offered what could amount to a $50,000 finder's fee, but he turned it down and tried to extort more by threatening a lawsuit. Ever heard the old fable about the cat and the fish? A cat catches a fish in a lake. He then looks down and sees his own reflection in the water. He mistakenly assumes this to be another cat with yet another fish. He greedily tries to snatch the fish from the "other" cat and loses the one he'd already caught, ending up with nothing. Here's to hoping some long forgotten relative of P.Dunne shows up and neither of these cats gets any fish!

Amanda has a law degree a**hole.

This seems pretty cut and dried to me: It's HER house. SHE gets to keep the money (Unless someone comes forward to claim it). And whether or not she offers the contractor a "finder's fee" is entirely up to her. She doesn't owe him anything beyond payment for the work he was originally supposed to do. (And for him to tear up her house without her permission goes to show what a greedy a-hole he really is. If it were me, I wouldn't give him one dime).

AFTER WE LIVED A FEW YEARS IN A HOUSE ON LONG ISLAND MY FORMER HUSBAND WANTED TO SELL THE HOUSE AND WOULD ALWAYS TELL MY SON, "THERE IS MONEY IN THE WALLS--WE HAVE TO SELL IT TO GET THE MONEY OUT OF THE WALLS". I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT THE INTRINSIC VALUE OF THE HOUSE, THAT THE HOUSE HAD GONE UP IN PRICE. I NEVER THOUGHT THERE WAS ACTUAL MONEY IN THE WALLS. AFTER THAT COUPLE FOUND ALL THAT MONEY IN THE WALLS IN LAKEWOOD, OHIO, I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT MAYBE THERE WAS ACTUAL MONEY IN THE WALLS. MY SON WOULD BE SHOCKED.

DUMBASS CONTRACTOR..... EASY SOLUTION.... 1. PUT THE MONEY BACK--- it is not yours. 2. MAKE HER AN OFFER ON THE HOUSE--- duh. I think that would've been fair?!?!lol!

I think Al has got the just of this, as well as the fact that the money was "clearly" labeled with the past homeowners name. People from that time period were not very comfortable with banks. It's been something of a common habit amoung members of that generation to have money stashed inside books, mattresses, inside hidden drawers of desks and whatnot. So his squirreling his savings away in the wall may have been his way of saving up for the future. (then again he could have been hidding his share of "jobs" that he'd been criminally involved in..you never know.) But either way, the law even says that the original owner (or heirs) need to be located before any of the money can be redistributed to anyone. Also, if you notice, Kitts took some bills to have them "appraised" - question, did Reece "know" he took the bill to do that? Also the knocking other holes in her walls without her permission to look for more loot bit, definitly over the top! That was just him getting greedy right there. Now, did he even complete the work that he was hired to do for her? Did he offer to repair all the damage he did to the rest of her home looking for more "treasure"? She offered him 10% for finding it, after all the blasted damage he caused he's lucky she'd offer anything. Now, she has to get the job on the bathroom done and the other damage fixed too. If she'd paid him up front to do the job, she'd better get a refund. Frankly, with him going out after her for the money like that, getting greedy and acting like some spoiled toddler with "Finders Keepers" he doesn't deserve a single cent! Plus he's setting himself up as someone NOT to do business with. Sure he was honest, but in the face of all that money? He sure made a turn around, I don't think I would trust him coming into my house to do any work. What if he finds the "lost" wedding ring that belonged to your now departed mother, while doing a "job" and decideds that he wants a "reward" for finding it? Or maybe he wants to "keep it" since it's finders keepers - right? The court would be right to put the money into a vault for safe keeping til it is discovered is this guy Peter Dunne has any living relatives. (siblings, nephew or niece, maybe a cousin or aunt or uncle?) Who knows, maybe the "rightful" heir is in a financial bind, about to lose their home or needing an operation. This money turns up right when it's needed...but here we have a feud over who gets it by two people that truely need to look at themselves and do the right thing.

I know that the articles say Peter, but this is what someone posted about the possible owner. Isn't there a P.I. that could do the detective work to find out the "real" owners of this money/inheritance? It just seems that it was put into those walls for a reason. It should go to the Dunne family or relations. This "finders keepers" garbage is just totally bogus! Kitts acting like a spoiled brat! He's also ruining his image, people aren't going to forget his behavior on this. Patrick J. Dunne was the owner of the home. He was married to his first cousin Mary Bridget (Mame) Gannon. They were originally from Chicago, Illinois, but their family disowned them, so they took Mary Bridgett's sister with them (Agatha Gannon) and they moved to Cleveland. Ohio. Patrick J. Dunne had a business partner named Arthur Mcbride who was already moved to Cleveland. You might remember him as first owner of the Cleveland Browns. Patrick J. Dunne and Arthur Mcbride owned Yellow Cab, and part of what is now Thistledown. Patrick J. Dunne and his wife had no children, they both passed away before Agatha. They left a huge fortune to Agatha Gannon. Agatha had no children, and left the fortune to her nieces, and nephews (Gannon's). I'm sure part of this fortune has to do with the Gannon burn unit at Metro. Hospital, and some of the Gannon golf outing charities. This is a very large Irish family. I think the money will be given to the rightful heirs.

Well there ARE clearly identifiable heirs so this is getting more interesting by the minute a suit on their behalf is in the making

Good!! They should never reported the found money. They should have sold the money to the collectors and got the $500,000.00 for it and then split it $250,000.00 each. But becuase of their numbskulls, I hope the heirs get the money!!!