Oklahoma family finds 2.79-carat brown diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

An Oklahoma family found a 2.79-carat brown diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Ark., on Sept. 13, park officials said. The discovery was announced Sept. 23 by Arkansas State Parks. The group, from Cookson, Oklahoma, about 65 miles southeast of Tulsa, was at the park to celebrate the birthday of Raynae Madison’s nephew, William, when they struck gold, park officials noted.

The family had purchased a beach digging kit and sand-sifting tools from a dollar store before they arrived at Crater of Diamonds, and they chose a spot on the north side of the park’s 37.5-acre diamond search area near the Prospector Trailhead. They dug several buckets of dirt and began sifting through screens when Madison spotted an oblong, shiny stone. “I honestly thought it was too big to be a diamond,” she later told officials, adding that initially she thought it was just really neat. The aunt’s remark underscores the sense of discovery that accompanies finds at the state park.

Officials later confirmed the gem’s identity as a brown diamond weighing 2.79 carats. Madison opted to name the gem the William Diamond in honor of her nephew. Park interpreter Emma O’Neal explained that brown diamonds from Crater of Diamonds occur due to plastic deformation, which creates structural defects during a diamond’s formation or movement in magma. Those defects reflect red and green light, combining to give the stone its characteristic brown appearance.

The find came from the north side of the park’s 37.5-acre search area near the Prospector Trailhead, a location that has yielded numerous discoveries in Crater’s ongoing run of gem finds. The park and its visitors have contributed to a robust record of diamonds found this year. Through 2025, Crater of Diamonds State Park has reported 403 diamonds found, including four weighing more than two carats, illustrating the park’s enduring appeal to gem hunters.

Earlier this year, a Minnesota farmer described a candy-like diamond he found, likening its appearance to a Werther’s candy wrapper, highlighting the variety of shapes and hues that occasional finds can present at Crater. In 2024, a French visitor located a 7.46-carat diamond at the park, naming the gem Carine after his fiancée, continuing Crater’s history of notable discoveries that attract visitors from across the globe.

As Crater of Diamonds continues to operate as a public park that lets visitors search for gems with permission to keep what they find, discoveries like the William Diamond underscore the site’s reputation as a living laboratory for geology and mineralogy. The park’s ongoing catalog of finds offers a tangible link between amateur gem hunting and the deeper geologic processes that form diamonds deep underground.