Police plea over deadly hunt for treasure

SANTA FE, New Mexico - New Mexico's top law enforcement officer is urging the author and antiquities dealer who inspired thousands to search remote corners of the western United States for a hidden chest of gold and jewels to end the treasure hunt.

The plea from State Police Chief Pete Kassetas follows what authorities believe is the latest death related to the effort to uncover Forrest Fenn's treasure.

Colorado pastor Paris Wallace disappeared last week while searching for the bounty in a rugged area along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico. His family reported him missing, triggering an extensive search.

State Police believe a body recovered on Sunday is Wallace's. Medical investigators were working to make a positive identification.

Kassetas told reporters that Fenn should retrieve the treasure from wherever he hid it and stop what he called nonsense and insanity.

"He's putting lives at risk," the chief said, noting that he planned to contact Fenn personally to ask him to call off the hunt.

Fenn has dropped clues to its whereabouts in a cryptic poem in his memoir, The Thrill of the Chase.

He told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper on Monday that he has been considering how to make the search safer or cancel it altogether but has not made any decisions. He called Wallace's disappearance tragic.

The 52-year-old pastor traveled to the Espanola area last week. His wife reported him missing on Wednesday after he didn't return home and hotel staff informed her that his belongings were still in his room.

Rescuers spent two days searching the river until rafters spotted a body downstream about 11 kilometers from where Wallace was last believed to have been.

Last year, searchers spent weeks looking for Randy Bilyeu, another Colorado man who disappeared in the New Mexico backcountry while looking for the loot.

Volunteers led by Bilyeu's ex-wife eventually picked up where the official search left off, and Bilyeu's remains were found several months later.

Associated Press