He first hiked in with the 20-pound bronze chest, and then he returned with the gold and artifacts, according to an article by Wired magazine. The Colorado man's body was found the next month in the Arkansas River east of Florence, Colorado, People magazine reported.įenn took the treasure into the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 2010. Paris Wallace, 52, a pastor from Grand Junction, Colorado, was found in the Rio Grande about 50 miles north of Sante Fe, New Mexico, in June 2017, the Taos News reported.Įric Ashby, 31, went missing in June 2017 while searching for the treasure. Jeff Murphy, 53, of Illinois was found dead in Yellowstone National Park in June 2017 after falling about 500 feet down a steep slope, KULR reported. Randy Bilyeu, 54, of Colorado was found dead that July along the Rio Grande in New Mexico, according to The Associated Press. The first death connected to the hunt was in 2016.
"My heart and prayers go out to the family and friends." "What happened was tragic," Fenn said at the time in an email to the Denver Post. (MORE: Treasure Hunter Dies After Being Stranded in Utah Wilderness ) The most recent death was in March when a Colorado man - Michael Wayne Sexson, 53, of Deer Trail - was stranded by winter weather while seeking the treasure in Dinosaur National Monument along the Utah-Colorado border. He declined to share the photo on Sunday, according to the New Mexican.įive people have died searching for the treasure.
The man sent a photograph to Fenn confirming he had found the chest, Fenn said. Over the years, Fenn published clues to the treasure's location online and in a 24-line poem published in his 2010 autobiography "The Thrill of the Chase."įenn told the Sante Fe New Mexican the person "from back East" who found the treasure did not want his name mentioned. (WATCH: Unusually Strong June Cold Plunge Brings Snow in Northern Rockies ) It also contained pre-Columbian animal figures and other ancient artifacts and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds. “I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.”įenn did not reveal the exact location where he had hidden the treasure, which he had said included gold dust, gold coins and gold nuggets. “It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn, 89, said in a statement. Sound Effect's Gabriel Spitzer talks to Dal about his adventures and why he keeps searching for the treasure.After more than 10 years, during which as many as 350,000 people searched for it and at least five people died in the elements while seeking it, a treasure chest worth $1 million hidden in the Rocky Mountains has been found.įorrest Fenn, an author and artifacts dealer who hid the bronze chest in 2010, announced on his website Sunday that it had been found. Dal has gone out searching over 60 times and he runs a websitewebsite about the treasure from his home near Bellingham, Washington. However, these days his main exploit is Fenn’s treasure.
As a search and salvage expert, Neitzel has looked for old shipwrecks and downed WWII planes along the West Coast.
#Fenn the thrill of the chase professional#
However, no one has found the treasure yet, not even professional treasure hunter Dal Neitzel. The treasure, suspected to be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, is estimated to be worth over a million dollars. When he was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, he decided to put some of his valuable collection in a chest and publish a poem with clues leading people to its secret location. Some adventurous adults are following through on those dreams, scouring the western United States for the treasure of Forrest Fenn.Īfter serving in Vietnam as a fighter pilot, Fenn became a wildly successful art dealer in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Many children dream of buried treasure and fantastical adventures in search of gold and jewels. This story originally aired March 26, 2016.