48 Hours - The Fenn Treasure - Encore

Episode Date: December 26, 2021

Millionaire Forrest Fenn hid a gold-filled chest somewhere in the Rockies and wrote a poem with cryptic clues. Tens of thousands searched for it and five people died trying. A story of obsession. "CBS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil reports for "48 Hours."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I think Forrest wanted to become a legend, and I actually think he succeeded. He was described as a modern-day Indiana Jones. Forrest came up with the idea to hide a bronze chest filled with gold somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

I bought this beautiful little treasure chest and I started filling it up with wonderful things. There's 265 gold coins, hundreds and hundreds of gold nuggets. He wrote a 24-line poem guiding people to the location of the treasure. Yeah, that's exactly it. He created effectively a treasure map in the form of that poem. I'm going to read the poem. So here it goes. 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.

There'll be no paddle up your creek, just heavy loads and water high. So hear me all and listen good. Your effort will be worth the cold. If you've been brave and in the wood, I give you title to the gold. And I read that poem and oh God, it was like a hook. No place for the meek. The bug got in me and I couldn't let it go. I tried to climb up into that cave there. I couldn't sleep. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard. How much was that treasure worth? I think that one million is a pretty good mark to use.

I made at least 85 trips. I didn't find the treasure yet! We had so much fun, it was crazy. Since there's a mountain lion in the area, we don't want to take any chances. So, we're bringing our gun. I have spent over 2,000 hours. This is where I ran into my rattlesnake. Searching for forest fenced treasure.

Well, I made it hard deliberately. If it was easy, anyone could do it. For at least five people, the search for Fenn's treasure was the last thing they ever did. Yes, unfortunately, this treasure hunt did claim at least five lives. Randy Bilyeu was the first. Harris Wallace also died in the Rio Grande River.

Eric Ashby died in the Arkansas River. There was a gentleman who was hiking in Yellowstone and ended up falling off of a cliff. Two men who went out with snowmobiles. I've got them in sight still. One of them froze to death, and the other one was hospitalized. Forrest Fenn was a bad person. He could have stopped this madness

before it became what it became. It wasn't worth it. How does Forrest Fenn respond to that? By, to some degree, digging in his heels. He didn't like the idea that anyone would tell him to bring his hunt to an end because of a few deaths. He said that if somebody was murdered because of the hunt, that would probably be too much. did you know that the movie candy man was partly inspired by an actual murder. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

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It's just the best idea yet. High atop a ridge near Dinosaur National Monument, 53-year-old Mike Sexton froze to death. This is the last known photo of him, taken in March 2020 as he hiked in that remote area. Days later, Mike's body was airlifted off the mountaintop. He's coming up. He's about halfway. Mike became the fifth person to die while searching for Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure. Mike was full of life. Mike was an adventurer and always smiling, always laughing, a big deep chuckle. Friend Liz Key struggles to reconcile Mike's love of adventure with his terrible loss.

I'm glad that he took this adventure. I am very sad that he's gone. I miss Mike every day. I miss his hugs when I'm stressed. I miss his support. I miss his voice, his laughter. Beth Van Oz today is forced to cope without her longtime boyfriend. Mike had been her rock after she suffered a brain injury. He was more than just my partner. He was, in some ways ways my caretaker. After Mike's death, Liz felt compelled to send Forrest Fenn an anguished email.

How many people have to die before your game is done? I'd receive an email back and he just gave his condolences to Beth. Forrest Fenn was a very complicated person. Dan Barberisi explores Fenn's complexities in his new book, Chasing the Thrill, Obsession, Death, and Glory in America's Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt. He believed in stories that were bigger than just your run-of-the-mill standard tale. And he dreamed big. He believed in big things.

And Fenn had lived a big life, beginning with his days in the Air Force when he was shot down twice in Vietnam, and later as the owner of a well-known Southwestern art gallery. How did a retired fighter pilot reinvent himself in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with not just an art gallery, but one of the most famous art galleries in America. I think he would tell you it's about the show you can put on. And there's no question that Fenn put on a good show. His gallery attracted celebrities like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Steve Martin, and Ralph Lauren. But there were recurring whispers that Fenn may have built his impressive collection by plundering ancient Native American pueblos.

There were certainly some questions about how he came in possession of some of those artifacts over time. In 2009, long after Fenn had sold his gallery, his home was raided by federal agents from the Bureau of Land Management. And it ultimately turned out that Fenn was not charged with anything in that case. The next year, Fenn self-published his memoir, The Thrill of the Chase. To get families into the great outdoors, Fenn put a little incentive inside his memoir, that distinctive 24-line poem. He claimed it contained clues that would lead one clever person to the 10-by-10-inch chest of gold he'd hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

If you can follow the clues in the poem to the treasure chest, you're going to be amazed at what you find. Fenn launched a modern-day treasure hunt, but it was slow going at first. It felt like a small little treasure hunt for a few people who knew about it. When did that change and why? It got noticed by the larger media. There were a few big pieces, one in Hemispheres magazine, one in Newsweek. I think the name of that reporter was the same as my name.

Whatever it was, it was a very hard name to pronounce, but I'm pretty sure it was Tony. That much I've got. It's pronounced DeCopal, by the way. It really started to raise the profile of it in a significant way. It wasn't long before tens of thousands of people were on the hunt. In 2015, months before any of the searchers died, Fenn spoke to CBS News about the likelihood of anyone finding his treasure. It isn't impossible, but you're not going to stumble over it. You have to deliberately go to it.

Fenn said the spot he chose was so beautiful he could imagine it as his final resting place. The original version of the poem actually talked about his bones being there next to the treasure chest itself. Fenn dropped that idea. The searchers had their own reasons for going on the hunt, and it became clear that many were seeking more than a box of gold. I think a lot of people really wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves. Maybe there was something missing in their lives, and for others it was that they felt that people hadn't believed in them to the extent that they should have. Searchers shared their passion and began to compare so-called solves, their interpretation of the clues in the poem. It was all online

until some got the idea to meet in real life. And so, of that was born Fenbury. Exactly what it sounds like. It's a Forrest Fen Jamboree. Each summer, Fen's fans flocked to Santa Fe, where Forrest Fen was their star

attraction. I think I described it as meeting a beetle, you Forrest Fenn was their star attraction. I think I described it as meeting a beetle, you know, it was that kind of thing. Everybody just lined up literally to get their brief moment with Forrest Fenn. People use the word eccentric, but I don't think that's the right word for him. He was just his own man. Sasha Dent was living in Albuquerque when she took up the chase. I probably searched for Forrest Fenn's treasure about 300 times. She became an insider.

Forrest was such a major part of my life. And Sasha saw firsthand the good that came from Fenn's game. There was account after account of families who were brought together because of Forrest Fenn's treasure hunt. There were relationships built on the treasure hunt and marriages. And that includes her own marriage. You gotta breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out all the beauty. Another of Fenn's favorites was Katya Luce, a singer-songwriter who knew Fenn in the 90s before he wrote his memoir. writer who knew Fenn in the 90s before he wrote his memoir. When she later came across Fenn's book,

well, gold fever struck that very night. I couldn't sleep all night long. I'm either Googler-thing, Googling, reading the book again, underlining, highlighting. She estimates she spent $75,000 over seven years of searching. It was a great time, she says, even during some dangerous moments. I had a very close encounter while I was searching for the treasure with a cougar. And I just froze, but then I lifted up my hoodie really tall and made myself bigger. I went marching really strong and did like a pseudo chant really loud. Hey, oh yeah, yeah, hey, hey, hey, hey. Katia came away unscathed, but others were not so lucky. This is not some Disney-fied hunt where at the end of it, everything turns out okay. The reality is if you don't take this thing seriously, it will get you.

Look just to the right of that tree off in the distance. I see it. You see it? That's where we're going. For five years, no one could find the location of Ben's treasure. But the searchers had become a tight community. If it's snow covered, it's pointless, I think. We were like a support group for each other.

You're among people who get that it's not just about the money. He says it cannot be stumbled upon. It's about being the one who cracked the code. I have looked and I have looked and I have looked. And the other people, they get it. I know at least probably 30 places where it's not. You would talk about your solve, as they called it, but you never gave the exact location. I told you we're not going to be in Yellowstone.

The distances didn't work out really well for me. Toby Younis hosted a popular YouTube show about the hunt. Everybody believed they were going to find their treasure. There was no acceptance of the idea that someone else would find the treasure. And divorced grandfather Randy Bilyeu was convinced he had as good a chance as anyone. I met Randy a couple times at some of the Fenn gatherings. Randy was always my protector. Randy grew up on Long Island, New York, and his sister Kathy Lebold remembers he loved sports and animals.

Randy learned of Fenn's treasure in 2013 and started searching the next year. I think he was excited about the adventure of the hunt, and he thought if he found the treasure that he would use the money to help his family. And if you knew Randy, you knew Leo, his long-haired Jack Russell. Leo was his best buddy, and he took him everywhere. Randy and Leo moved to Colorado to be closer to the search area. And at the beginning, Kathy says, he was good about letting his family know when he was going out on the trail. But later, that changed.

I think he thought he was getting really, really close to it, and he just wanted to, you know, excite us all with the news that he had found it. On January 5, 2016, Randy and Leo headed out to the Rio Grande, northwest of Santa Fe, with a small raft. Temperatures hovered around freezing. He was gone for 10 days before he was reported missing.

I had a sinking feeling that something was really very wrong. Flight nurse Aaron Johnson was part of a medical helicopter crew sent out to look for Randy. On the initial search, they found nothing and headed back upriver. And that's actually when we found his raft. It's a raft. It's blue. They landed on a sandy bank of the river and were in for a surprise. There was a small dog that was there and barking at us. He had a sweater on, which was pretty dirty, but I'm quite certain that that sweater saved his life. There were three of us on the ground the whole time. Aside from the raft and his dog, we could find really nothing else. No backpack, nothing. Leo seemed frightened,

but Erin eventually coaxed him to eat a Clif Bar the pilot had on board. And at the point where we had to leave, I had a big, thick jacket, and I just threw it over him and scooped him up and brought him on the helicopter. Kathy saw the heartbreaking news on TV. Only Leo had been rescued. It was probably one of the worst days of my life. The treasure hunting community got word of this and many of these people wanted to help.

Determined to find Randy's body, drone pilots shot hours of footage that was posted online so the treasure hunt community could go through it frame by frame, looking for signs of Randy. Other searchers put boots on the ground. It was rugged. I mean, it was harder than any treasure searching any of us had done. It was rough.

We searched very, very hard every day for over a month. Boris Fenn rode in a helicopter to look for Randy. Fenn also met with Kathy when she came to Santa Fe. Fenn was sympathetic, but told her he wasn't willing to call off the treasure hunt. I think a lot of people could argue that his priorities are perhaps not what they should be. That instead of the people or the human cost, he cared a lot more potentially about his treasure hunt. I think a lot of people could argue that his priorities are perhaps not what they should be, that instead of the people or the human cost, he cared a lot more potentially about his treasure hunt. And the treasure hunt was everything to Fenn, even though it put his family at risk. Forrest was harassed over the years. His family was harassed. There's a man who's done prison for stalking Forrest's granddaughter. There's a man who's done prison for stalking Forrest's granddaughter.

Get on your knees. Get on your knees. And this man, Robert Miller, was arrested for burglary in 2018 at Fenn's Santa Fe home. So what the hell's going on? I thought the poem directed me into here. I thought it said... Poem? Yeah, the treasure map, the treasure hunt, you know. So you came on the property because of a poem? Are you serious? Yeah.

What did his family think about all this? I think his family had a hard time with it, honestly. Isn't there a treasure? I'm sorry? Isn't there a treasure? At the same time, this is what Forrest Fenn did, and they were kind of along for the ride there. Did you break the lock?

No, the glass. No. Even with all of that, Forrest saw how much good his treasure hunt did for how many people. And he know that the good far outweighed the bad. The search for the treasure continued. As did the search for Randy. Six months after he went missing, his body was found on the riverbank. Obviously, we were devastated that he wasn't alive.

He was a great father, grandfather, and uncle to my son. With Randy gone, Leo was adopted by none other than Erin Johnson, the nurse who rescued him. In the five years with his new family, the ultimate rescue dog has even learned some new tricks. Kathy is happy he's found a new home, but she thinks about her brother every day. I wished he'd been more careful. I wished he hadn't gone out that day, but, you know, he was enjoying what he was doing. Randy was not the last to die searching for Fenn's gold. The next year, the hunt claimed three more lives. He had become obsessed by Venn's treasure, and that was the only thing that mattered to him.

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Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases. And this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals.

Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. In June 2017, a year and a half after Randy Bilyeu died, three more men lost their lives in a matter of weeks. Jeff Murphy was searching in Yellowstone National Park. Very tragically, just misstepped and ended up falling off of a cliff and passing away. Around the same time, writer Dan Barberisi went on his first search with his treasure hunting partner, Jay Rayner.

What was it like going from four months of research on a computer to being out there in the wilderness? The first thing that stood out to me, how much bigger a point on a map is in real life. You know, you look on a map, oh, this isn't that big. I can cross this area with just my finger alone. Once you're actually out in the wild, you see how big those distances are and how much land there actually is out there pretty quickly. It really hits you in the face pretty fast. Reality wasn't the only thing hitting Dan and Jay in the face.

Reality wasn't the only thing hitting Dan and Jay in the face. We're out there thinking that we're, you know, adventurers, explorers, and all of a sudden it starts hailing. And we very quickly realized that we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Days later, in that same exact area, a Colorado pastor named Paris Wallace set off to search the Rio Grande near the Taos Junction Bridge. As you move through life, there are those points where you have to seek God to find out what he wants you to do. And he crossed the river by himself, and it was high waters then. Paris's body was recovered four days later, a few miles downriver. His death spurred the New Mexico State Police chief to ask Fenn to call off the hunt. Fenn refused.

There was a huge amount of anger at Fenn over this. I mean, you can understand why. I mean, this is a treasure hunt. It doesn't need to exist. And yet he wouldn't stop it even after multiple people had died. That's a pretty hard stance to take. Fenn justified continuing the hunt by pointing out that any outdoor activity came with risks. In the summertime, we jump in a swimming pool. But if somebody drowns in a swimming pool, should we drain the pool or should we teach people to swim?

That's the way I feel about it. And the treasure community rallied around Fenn in support of the hunt. Here I go! 99.9% of people who go out looking for his treasure make it home safely with tons of memories and new experiences to treasure. And Fenn did keep warning searchers to be safe. Be more careful. Be more mindful. He constantly reminded everyone to not go anywhere a 79- or 80-year-old man couldn't go.

Many searchers, Dan says, set off on the treasure trail with great excitement, but sometimes were unprepared for how wild the wilderness can be. It can get you in multiple ways. It can get you emotionally. It can get you physically and, you know, mortally. but sometimes were unprepared for how wild the wilderness can be. It can get you in multiple ways. It can get you emotionally, it can get you physically and, you know, mortally. I think that is actually part of what drew so many people in, is the reality that this thing was real. This treasure chest was real.

The fortune was real, it was there to be had. But the danger was real too. This was a true adventure. Searchers like Eric Ashby understood the risks and were willing to take them. Fear was not part of his game. He didn't know how to be afraid. Paul Ashby raised his son Eric as a single father in the mountains of Tennessee. Eric grew up playing sports, riding motorcycles, and was taken by the quest at the center of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Eric was a great kid. Everybody who knew him loved him.

In 2016, Eric moved to Colorado. He told his dad he was headed west to take part in his own quest, Fenn's Thrill of the Chase. He became obsessed. Dad, I can do this. Was he motivated by the money the treasure represented or by the recognition solving it? Oh, it's surely the recognition.

The money to him was totally irrelevant. Eric told his father he was going out to search the Arkansas River outside Canyon City, Colorado. More than a week later, Paul got a phone call from a woman who said her name was Becca. She told me on the phone, Mr. Ashby, your son is drowned. And she says, I'm sorry, Mr. Ashby, your son is dead. And she hung up. Becca turned out to be Rebecca Nyes, who had worked with Eric. She and three men were with Eric at the river. And they had drawn up this contract outlining exactly how they'd split the treasure.

She later told police what happened that day. He said he had swum the river that we were about to cross ten times before. And so, you know, we figured, though, we should be fine. Becca said they'd bought a two-person raft, but Eric got in alone and had no life preserver. So he just jumped out. It looked like he had made it to the rap, but then we didn't see him anymore. And that was right where the rapids, you know, would have taken him. Becca told police two of the men went down river to look for Eric, where they saw a photographer who told them he called 911. The photographer also captured

this photo of Eric's empty raft. Hearing someone had called police, Becca and the others went back to their car and went home. A decision Becca tried to explain. I want to know why no one stayed there to tell us this information because, again, now I'm back in... We were still easily in harm's to see what we should have done, but

in the moment, we had never been involved with anything like that. Eric stepped in a situation that was impossible. Nobody could have done it. The thing that makes it worse is that nobody stopped him and that it was just a case of, oh, well. Eric was worth so much more to me than, oh, well. After Eric's body was recovered,

Paul traveled to the river to see where his son had died. I took the excursion train that comes down the gorge, and one of the company managers was on the train with me, and he went into the bar, the lounge car, and come back with a beer. He says, this is for you and your son. And we shared our last beer right there. Paul says he never heard from Forrest Fenn. If you had been able to reach Forrest Fenn,

what would you say to him? Say, Mr. Fenn, is this something one day you're going to have to go to whoever our maker is and say, yes, these people were drowning or dying, falling off cliffs, whatever, and I could have stopped it, and I chose not to. I was honestly surprised that it didn't end in that summer of 2017. But the hunt did not end. And in March 2020, a fifth man died. About 2 o'clock in the morning, I looked up, the stars were out. I looked over to my left, and there was Mike. It was like, oh, I remember telling myself, oh, no, Mike.

What do you think of Forrest Fenn's decision to continue the treasure hunt? Learn more about the search for the treasure at 48hours.com. Mike was the kind of guy that walked into a room smiling and made everybody feel better just by coming around. Beth Van Os says her longtime boyfriend, Mike Sexton, knew about Randy, Jeff, Paris, and Eric, the others who died while searching for Fenn's treasure. I think Mike knew of the danger. He just maybe ignored a little bit of it or thought he could get around it.

It had been nearly three years since any searchers had died. I think people thought that maybe they had gotten past that point where people aren't going to die anymore looking for this. Mike was convinced he knew where the treasure was, along the Colorado-Utah border in Dinosaur National Monument. He made nearly a dozen trips there, but he needed someone with a four-wheel drive truck to help. That's how his poker buddy, Stephen Inlow, got involved with the hunt. I was very excited to be with Mike on these trips. I just enjoyed traveling with him. This was the first time Stephen spoke publicly about their ordeal that began in late February 2020. The men rented snowmobiles in Denver and set off for Mike's spot.

The snowmobiles proved to be too heavy for the depth of snow that we had. Mike and Stephen got stuck, but managed to call 911. Is anybody injured? No, no, we're not injured. Just stuck. Looks like I've got a pretty good location on you. I'm going to get you some help headed your way, okay? They were rescued, but the close call didn't deter the pair from going back out just a few weeks later, on March 17, 2020, days into the COVID pandemic. Mike was adamant that he wanted to make another trip before the quarantine started. Mike and Stephen drove to Salt Lake City, where they rented snowmobiles they thought would be better on the terrain. On the second day in the wilderness, they left their

truck five miles from the main road and headed off for a day trip on the snowmobiles. We left a lot of our provisions back in the truck, thinking we were just going to be gone three or four hours. We take off the snowmobiles, and we're on the south side of the mountain this time, and we ran out of snow. It became dry. They left even more supplies on the snowmobiles and set off on foot with a sled to carry home the treasure, which Mike believed was close. We had some candy bars, a couple of energy bars, and maybe a gallon and a half of water between the two of us. It didn't look that far away, but it proved to be ridge over ridge over ridge that took a lot longer than I thought

was going to take. By six o'clock on Wednesday I was kind of nervous I hadn't heard from him. When the men hadn't returned the snowmobiles Wednesday night, the rental company called the police, who called Beth and Stephen's wife. Not knowing was just the worst, just the most awful thing. Mike tried to hike to higher ground to get a cell signal, but hours later returned unsuccessful. At that point, both men were so exhausted, all they could do was lay where they were.

The next day, it began to snow. They had no more water. I remember my hands and knees eating the snow crystals, and blood was dripping from my mouth, stinging the snow. I cried for help. I asked God. I asked Jesus. Just anyone, call 911. We need help. Desperate for hydration, Stephen began drinking his own urine and felt warmth spread throughout his body.

And I could just feel that was a moment that I'm going to live. And I told Mike he's got to quit eating the snow when he was shivering and told him what he needed to do, and he said he'd rather die. On Friday, we could hear helicopters on the other side of the mountainside, and we knew they were out searching for us. And so that gave us hope, But we never saw the helicopter. That night, I woke up about 2 o'clock in the morning, and Mike was about 6 feet away from me.

He was on his hands and knees with his arms cupped around his head, his head flat on the ground, and he had no shirt on. And so I knew he had died, and I knew why. Hypothermia. He had died, and I knew why. Hypothermia. People suffering from extreme cold can feel hot in the moments just before they die. I remember telling myself, oh no, Mike. Later that Saturday, Stephen heard the helicopters again, louder this time, and saw them down in the canyon below.

With all the strength he could muster, he grabbed the orange sled and he waved it toward the helicopter. And then, just like in the movies, the helicopter rose up above the cliff, and I knew I was saved. And I passed out. Next thing I knew, two guys were picking me up, asking me if I could walk. I couldn't even stand. And I just remember whispering goodbye, Mike. Mike was later taken off the mountain in a body bag. Beth got the devastating news that afternoon. I mean, you can say I love you, but until somebody's really gone and you can't say it anymore,

you just don't realize you have more than that to say. A year later, Beth and Mike's friend, Liz Key, finds solace in that last photo. His grin. The look in his eye of, this is where I want to be. I am very sad that he's gone, but I'm glad that he did what he loved to do. Mike was the fifth person to die seeking Fenn's treasure.

He was also the last, because only three months later, Forrest Fenn made a stunning announcement. The message was very short and simple. It said, the treasure has been found. In the summer of 2020, just as thousands of treasure hunters were about to begin looking yet again for Forrest Fenn's chest of gold, they got a piece of news that left them reeling. My heart stopped, honestly. I was like, oh my God, I cannot believe this has actually happened.

Did somebody really find it? Or, you know, and if so, who? Or, you know, and if so, who? The news broke on June 6, 2020, when Fenn made this stunning announcement in a brief post he sent to a blog used by the searcher community. Fenn wrote, the treasure has been found and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago. I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot. Overnight, the gold rush that had sustained the searchers was over. And many were left feeling a bit cheated. We didn't have a name.

We didn't have where it had been found. We didn't have any other information other than it had been found where he had left it. And is it really, really, really true that they found it? I want to see, you know. So the guy did send pictures. For the first time, searchers could see Forrest pouring over the contents of his famous treasure chest.

It looked pretty authentic to me, you know, very authentic. But like everyone else, Katya yearned to know the finder's solve. How had he deciphered those clues in the poem? The finder wouldn't say. But a month later, Fenn revealed the treasure had been found in Wyoming. Then, two months later, on September 7, 2020, Forrest Fenn died at his home, where he had just turned 90 years old. I find myself thinking of Forrest often, and I miss our conversations very much. The Finder may have remained anonymous forever,

except for a lawsuit that required the Fenn family to reveal his name. The Finder knew it was only a matter of time, so he came out to Dan Barberisi, who wrote an article for Outside Magazine. Who did find the treasure? A man named Jack Stoof found the treasure. And he was a medical student who had gotten obsessed with this chase around 2018. He was very, very committed to his solve. Hey guys, this is Jack.

In this online message to other searchers... Our challenge is to try not to make guesses. Jack Stoof had shared his approach to Cracking Fence Poem. It is simple and clear and straightforward. You need simplicity in your solve. Dan says Jack had been searching for at least two years. And then one day in a Wyoming forest, Jack says he uncovered the chest. It had almost been covered by leaves and debris.

But Jack said the lid was still visible. He became very paranoid that somebody was going to stumble upon him in that moment. Jack says he hightailed it to Santa Fe where these photos were taken. They seem to back up Jack's story, but Fenwatcher Toby Younis was skeptical. Here is my theory. The hunt was moving forward.

Forrest was aging. The family, Forrest's family, was frustrated with the state of the search. Their houses had been broken into. Their children had been threatened with kidnapping. They were never lovers of the Forrest Fenn treasure hunt. Toby has no evidence but believes that Fenn, knowing he had only months to live, looked around for someone who was close to finding the treasure. Toby believes Fenn reached out to Jack. I imagine this is how it went.

I want you to know that I'm dying. I want you to know that I don't want to leave this treasure hunt to my family. And I'm going to ask you for a favor. Forrest had a saying that he used often. There's an old saying, two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead. Jack refused our request for an interview, but denied he had any help from Fenn. As he wrote online, I am not and was never employed by Forrest, nor did he pick me in any way to retrieve the treasure. I was a stranger to him and found the treasure as he designed it to be found.

I do not believe it is part of a conspiracy engineered by Fenn to give Jack the treasure or anything else of that sort. Dan is in a unique position because he's the only journalist who has interviewed Jack. Jack even allowed Dan to examine the treasure. These photos have rarely been seen. You were able to actually hold the treasure, to touch it, to see it in person. Yes, you know, I have seen and touched and felt and gone through the chest. It was kind of an incredible moment, honestly. Jack told Dan he will not reveal the exact spot where he found the chest

because he fears it would become a tourist attraction that would ruin the area's serenity and natural beauty. I think we will never find out truly where it was found. And there could be another reason, Fenn's original intent, to lay down and die at the very spot where he hid his treasure. I don't want to be buried. If I had my way, I'd lay down under a tree and just like a big old buffalo lays down and dies. Go back to nature. Become part of the earth again.

Jack says he offered to put Fenn's ashes in that special spot, but will not say if the family accepted his offer. but will not say if the family accepted his offer. Dan says he doesn't know what Jack intends to do with the treasure, whether he will sell it piecemeal or as one, or perhaps lease it for display. What is, in the end, the legacy of Forrest Fenn? I think the legacy of Forrest Fenn is extremely complicated. I think that there were a lot of good things that happened because of it. There were also some really bad things that happened because of it.

But if you're Paul Ashby, who lost his only son Eric to the hunt, one of the five men to die chasing the thrill, Fenn's legacy is not complicated at all. He was reckless. He was willing to ignore the fact that people were dying because all these other people worshipped him. A lot of people still do look up to Forrest Fenn, and maybe that's not so surprising. When you feel a dream, you know, live your dream out, follow your heart. And, okay, so I didn't find the treasure, but I found many treasures. This in itself is the biggest treasure of all that I've found. So many magical, wonderful things I could never replace without

that treasure hunt. I'm so grateful for Forrest. Thank you. Thank you, Forrest. Joe Exotic is this wild, large animal owner. His sworn enemy. It's Carol, Big Cat Rescue. Carol's second husband, Don Lewis, disappeared and he just vanished. A new witness.

He said, I will put you in the grinder like I did Don. In a meat grinder? Yeah. 48 Hours, Saturday on CBS. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.