3.8 - carat diamond found at Arkansas state park

The latest discovery of an Arkansas diamond by a Minnesota man is the largest of the year so far.

David DeCook, a regular visitor to southwest Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park, recently spotted what he first thought was a metallic candy wrapper. It turned out to be a 3.8-carat brown diamond.  

It's the largest found at the park since the 7.46-carat Carine Diamond, found in January of 2024 by a visitor from France. 

The day before DeCook’s April visit, the park received nearly an inch of rain, and twelve inches for the month. According to assistant superintendent Waymon Cox, rainfall causes erosion in the plowed search area, which often leads to an increase in surface finds. Cox says many of the park’s largest diamonds are found simply lying on top of the ground. 

The dfiamonds come in all colors of the rainbow. The three most common colors found at the park are white, brown and yellow. 

Park staff have already registered 220 diamonds in 2025. Five diamonds have weighed more than one carat each. 

In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at the Crater of Diamonds since they were first discovered in 1906 by a farmer who owned the land northeast of Texarkana before it became a  state park in 1972. 


(Photos: Arkansas State Parks)