Grandma finds $97,000 in Cracker Barrel bathroom

Murfreesboro, Tennessee - What would you do if you found a purse with thousands of dollars inside? Would you keep it or give it back? It was never a question for one Tennessee woman.

Billy Watts, a grandmother of 12, said she tries to lead by example.

She found the purse with nearly $100,000 in it in a Cracker Barrel bathroom last week and gave it back. Watts said the money was in the purse, hanging on the hook of a restroom stall door.

"It was a tapestry, real pretty bag. How anybody walked off and forgot it, I don't know," she said.

Watts said she searched the bag for a name or address, but I couldn't find one. That is when she spotted the money.

"I thought, 'If I turn it in up here, the wrong person might get a hold of it, and it might not go to the rightful owner'," she explained, so she took it home.

She counted the money with her husband, which was $97,000 in all, and then called Cracker Barrel to leave her information.

"I said, 'I won't tell you what I found in the bathroom, but give them my number if someone calls'," she recalled.

15 minutes later, Watts said a woman called her apartment. She identified the bag and a picture inside.

Watts said she met her at the Cracker Barrel parking lot and said she was offered a reward, but didn't take it.

"She came up and hugged me. She offered me $1,000, but told me she needed every penny she could so I thought, it's not my money. If she needs it that badly, it knew she didn't really want to give it, so I didn't take it," said Watts.

She said while she could've used the money, the thought of keeping it only crossed her mind for a moment.