Plea to stop $1m treasure hunt as second body is found
A TREASURE hunt devised to get unhealthy Americans off the couch and into the Great Outdoors has now cost two fortune seekers their lives.
A hoard of more than $1million in gold coins and jewels is said to have been hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains range by eccentric millionaire art dealer and former Vietnam fighter pilot Forrest Fenn.
Mr Fenn, 86, had planned to inspire his countrymen in 2010, when he claimed to have hidden a 22lb Romanesque bronze chest stuffed with loot and then published a 24-line poem containing clues to its whereabouts. Since then, thousands of adventurers are believed to have headed to New Mexico, the most probable location, to search for the bounty.
But last week Mr Fenn faced calls to end his lifestyle stunt after the body of Paris Wallace, a pastor from Colorado, was found in the Rio Pueblo de Taos, a tributary of the Rio Grande, 50 miles north of Santa Fe.
After an extensive search police had found Mr Wallace’s car next to the river along with a rope he had tied to a rock leading across the water.
New Mexico’s police chief, Pete Kassetas, said: “This is putting lives at risk. I would implore that he [Mr Fenn] stop this nonsense. Certainly, we want people to get outdoors and enjoy New Mexico, but you have to do it safely. I think he has an obligation to retrieve his treasure if it does exist.”
Last year another treasure hunter, Randy Bilyeu, 54, set out looking for the loot on a raft with his dog. His body was found six months later.
Mr Wallace’s widow, Mitzi, defended the “Fenn’s Treasure” initiative and said she would continue the search for it with her teenage son. “Our treasure is that time we spend together,” she said.
Mr Bilyeu’s ex-wife Linda was less forgiving, accusing Mr Fenn of perpetrating a hoax. She has said: “Only one man has the power to stop the madness yet he continues to pretend he’s doing a good deed .... ”