Missing man may have been on quest to find hidden treasure

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. — A man who moved to Colorado recently to start a quest to find a hidden treasure has been reported missing.

Eric Ashby moved to Colorado Springs to search for the famous Fenn treasure.

The Fenn treasure hunt was started in 2010 by Forrest Fenn, a multimillionaire who hid a treasure worth millions, the "Today" show reported.

He wrote a poem in his self-published autobiography called "The Thrill of the Chase."

So far Fenn has released 13 clues, nine in the poem and an additional four on his website, as to where the treasure is, or is not, located.

Ashby was reported missing 10 days after he was last seen. He was rafting with friends on the Arkansas River. The raft flipped and three of the four made it to shore. But no one at the time reported the raft accident to officials at the time. Ashby's family eventually told police of his disappearance, KRDO reported.

Officials recently recovered human remains 15 miles downstream from where the raft flipped. But they have not released any identification, KDRO reported.

Two other treasure hunters died during the hunt. Paris Wallace and Randy Bilyeau were both found dead, Wallace last month, Bilyeau in 2016. Officials there had asked Fenn to end the hunt before anyone else could get hurt, The Albuquerque Journal reported.

He has declined, telling KOAA, "Don't look for the treasure any place where an 80-year-old man couldn't put it."

INLIINE

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