No hoax, it's out there, poem is key, millionaire says

Hunt for hidden treasure costs man his life

Randy Bilyeu poses for a photo in June 2015 during a visit to northern New Mexico in this picture provided by his ex-wife Linda Bilyeu.
Randy Bilyeu poses for a photo in June 2015 during a visit to northern New Mexico in this picture provided by his ex-wife Linda Bilyeu.

Randy Bilyeu was determined to find the treasure. And what a bounty it claimed to be. Forty-two pounds of coins, diamonds, rubies, jade carvings, sapphires, a frog figurine cast in pre-Columbian gold and other loot stuffed in a bronze chest 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall. Estimates vary, but the total value of the box is in the ballpark of $1 million to $3 million.

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AP Photo/File

In this March 22, 2013 file photo, Forrest Fenn sits in his home in Santa Fe, N.M.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Map showing location where Randy Bilyeu's body was found.

Bilyeu knew the booty was hidden in Colorado, or maybe in New Mexico. But it was supposed to be somewhere along the Rio Grande, in the mountains to the north of Santa Fe.

A millionaire and eccentric named Forrest Fenn hid the chest in 2010, when Fenn was 80. He left a poem with clues to its whereabouts. Occasionally he would reveal nuggets of information, like when Fenn said the chest was at least 5,000 feet above sea level.

Having caught the Fenn treasure fever, Bilyeu moved to Colorado from Atlanta in 2014. He bought a raft, The Washington Post reported in January, to explore river systems in the area.

On Jan. 5, the 54-year-old Bilyeu embarked on such a reconnoitering trip. Bilyeu was alone except for his dog, Leo. He was equipped with a wet suit, waders and a GPS system, according to The Associated Press.

When 10 days passed without word from Bilyeu, his ex-wife Linda Bilyeu filed a missing person's report. Within 24 hours searchers had found his dog and raft. There was no sign of the treasure hunter.

"He liked the thrill of it," his daughter said in an interview with Inside Edition at the time of Bilyeu's disappearance. "He told me that it kind of connected to him spiritually."

After Bilyeu's disappearance, Fenn got involved in the hunt for him. He purchased three days' worth of helicopter flight time to look for the missing Bilyeu. Days passed, and officials halted their search. Volunteers continued on. There was no sign of Bilyeu.

Bilyeu seemed to have vanished into the hunt that consumed his life. And some six months later, officials confirmed the worst: Bilyeu had died in pursuit of Fenn's treasure.

Santa Fe police said on July 26 that Bilyeu's remains were found in the Rio Grande, according to the AP. The cause of death was not reported. An investigation is ongoing.

If it were not for Fenn's appearance on the Today Show in 2013, in all likelihood Bilyeu would never have heard of the treasure. Fenn, who had made a fortune as a dealer of antiquities, wrote an autobiography in 2010 called The Thrill of the Chase. In its most famous passage -- a short poem -- he sketches out where he hid the treasure. It was an idea he had been harboring since 1988, when Fenn was diagnosed with kidney cancer and was given a grim prognosis.

The slim volume sold briskly for a self-published autobiography about a pilot who found fortune as a treasure seeker and art dealer. The big draw, of course, was the loot. Fenn's book accumulated something of a cult following. Would-be hunters flocked to online forums to dissect the poem and flocked to the American West on treasure-hunting excursions.

"I've created a monster," Fenn told Newsweek in 2012.

When he appeared on national television a year later, Fenn's monster grew to Godzilla size. Tens of thousands of people have gone looking for the treasure, NPR estimated. In the 2013 aftermath of the reports on the Today Show and NBC News, a Texas woman briefly disappeared in the New Mexico wilds.

Fenn has been accused of lying about the claim that he hid the loot. But, then, Fenn is no stranger to controversy.

When he arrived in the Santa Fe area in the 1970s, Fenn began drumming up media hype about his wares. Locals grumbled about his approach, which struck them as atypically mercenary when dealing in ancient art.

"He's a newcomer," a longtime Santa Fean remarked to The Washington Post in 1982. "He has a cynical outlook toward art that isn't appreciated by a lot of people here."

Fenn, who by that point had been in Santa Fe for nine years, stood by his tactics. "You can lose money or break even, but if you make money, you get a dirty name," he told The Post at the time. "Artists and art dealers are supposed to be sacred."

He also attracted federal attention. In 1986, after U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management special agents raided galleries in Colorado and Utah, Fenn told the New York Times: "The agents are assuming that the artifacts were taken illegally from public lands; I question their evidence."

In 2009, another investigation led to confiscations of artifacts and computers from Fenn's home. The dealer was adamant to the Los Angeles Times that he had legally acquired the objects.

Even if Fenn placed the treasure box, the matter of where he placed it could be controversial. He has indicated that the treasure is not on private property. If it is buried in U.S.-owned soil, it would conceivably be a crime to remove the artifacts. (Fenn said it would not require digging to find the box.) The government could also make a convincing claim for antiquities found on federal property.

This possible stumbling point does not trouble the millionaire. "I own the government," he told the Daily Beast in 2013. "I'm a taxpayer."

Bilyeu's ex-wife took Fenn to task in the Albuquerque Journal. "There's no treasure -- it's not real. He lost his life for a hoax," she told the Journal in an interview. "We're disappointed that he lost his life because of a treasure hunt."

Fenn did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Washington Post. But he assured the Albuquerque Journal that the chest exists.

"The treasure is real," he said, "the story is real."

Of Bilyeu's death, Fenn called the event "very unfortunate, and I'm sorry." He added: "I don't know what to say. It's terrible."

Fenn's poem, and the nine clues that he says it contains, remain as cryptic as ever:

As I have gone alone in there

And with my treasures bold,

I can keep my secret where,

And hint of riches new and old.

Begin it where warm waters halt

And take it in the canyon down,

Not far, but too far to walk.

Put in below the home of Brown.

From there it's no place for the meek,

The end is ever drawing nigh;

There'll be no paddle up your creek,

Just heavy loads and water high.

If you've been wise and found the blaze,

Look quickly down, your quest to cease,

But tarry scant with marvel gaze,

Just take the chest and go in peace.

So why is it that I must go

And leave my trove for all to seek?

The answers I already know,

I've done it tired, and now I'm weak.

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.

treasure

SundayMonday on 07/31/2016

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