Deadly hunt for treasure in N.M.

State police call on antiques dealer to end ‘the Chase’

The New Mexico State Police chief wants a wealthy antiques dealer who has hidden a $2 million treasure in the Rocky Mountains to “call off the hunt” after the search turned deadly.

Thousands of people have gone looking for the gold, jewels and other trinkets since Forrest Fenn revealed the treasure’s existence in his 2010 memoir, “The Thrill of the Chase.”

The clues intended to lead enthusiasts to his cache were concealed in a 24-line poem in the memoir that concluded: “So hear me all and listen good/Your effort will be worth the cold./If you are brave and in the wood/I give you title to the gold.”

Two treasure hunters have died while searching for the treasure Fenn says is hidden in New Mexico’s mountains.

“I want Mr. Fenn to retrieve the treasure or call off the hunt after he retrieves the treasure,” New Mexico State police Chief Pete Kassetas said recently.

In summer 2016, Randy Bilyeu, a grandfather from Colorado, ventured into the New Mexico wilderness — and never returned.

Now, it has happened again.

Police believe they have recovered the remains of a Colorado pastor who had gone in search of the hidden bronze chest.

Paris Wallace was reported missing by his wife, who confirmed the pastor from Connection Church in Grand Junction had been searching for the treasure, according to the Daily Sentinel.

Search-and-rescue teams found Wallace’s Chevrolet Tahoe near a tributary of the Rio Grande — the Rio Pueblo de Taos — then discovered his backpack downstream, according to the newspaper. Later, authorities recovered his body.