Good News for 10-Year-Old Kid Who Couldn't Keep the $10,000 He Found and Turned In

It seems the 10-year-old boy who turned in $10,000 cash he found in a hotel room drawer in Kansas City a year ago will be allowed to claim the money after all.

Tyler Schaefer and his dad Cody didn't follow a number of procedures outlined in a 1939 Missouri statute for claiming lost cash when they simply handed over the money to a pair of off-duty police officers and headed home to Rapid City, South Dakota. After inquiring about the cash, they learned they probably wouldn't ever see it — but Tyler's dad had a noble perspective.

Tyler and his dad. (Image source: KMBC-TV)

“We did the right thing and turned it in,” Cody Schaefer told KMBC-TV. “At least it’s something to show that doing the right thing is actually worth doing the right thing for, you know?”

But Missouri state Treasurer Clint Zweifel sent a letter Thursday to Darryl Forte, chief of staff of the Kansas City Police Department, saying the road should be cleared to allow the Schaefers to claim the cash, according to ABC News.

“I am certain you and I agree that this young boy and his father did the right thing by turning the money over to the Kansas City Police Department,” Zweifel wrote in a letter provided to ABC.

The letter was drafted after a review of state law, regulations and Missouri’s Unclaimed Property process, and requests police turn the money over to the treasury office so the Schaefers can claim it.

“The Treasurer believes the boy and his father did the right thing,” a spokesman for Zweifel told ABC News. “Now the state has to do the right thing and get the money back to the family.”

[sharequote align="center"]“Now the state has to do the right thing and get the money back to the family.”[/sharequote]

The Missouri law the Schaefers were supposed to follow to claim the cash requires that finders file an affidavit with a state court judge within 10 days; physically post a list describing the money on the courthouse door and at four other public places within the city; and publish ads in a local newspaper for three consecutive weeks, according to the Kansas City Star.

But with the state treasurer's directive, the Schaefers can file paperwork to claim the cash once it's in the hands of the treasury office.

The Schaefers did not return ABC News' calls requesting comment.

Here's a clip that aired previous to the Missouri state treasurer's decision: