But despite its length, the docuseries is as notable for what it leaves out about this strange tale as it is for what's included.
Director Jared McGilliard and his team subtly downplay the human cost of Fenn's stunt even as their offering essentially promotes one just like it. Granted, Gold & Greed does a credible job setting the stage.
In 2011, Fenn, then in his early eighties, penned a memoir entitled The Thrill of the Chase, which his website described as "the remarkable true story of Forrest Fenn's life and of a hidden treasure, secreted somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe." The book was said to include nine clues to the treasure’s whereabouts — specifically in a poem that reads, in part: "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."
Here's the full text of the poem:
Deaths Connected to Fenn's Treasure Hunt
Over the years that followed, thousands of people headed to the Rockies from Santa Fe to Montana to look for the treasure, fulfilling Fenn's goal of using lucre to tempt people into experiencing and enjoying nature. But then, in January 2016, a man from Colorado, Randy Bilyeu, disappeared after heading to New Mexico to look for Fenn's riches — and the following July, his body was positively identified. His death followed the rescue of a treasure-hunting woman from Texas who'd gotten lost three years before.During this period, Fenn corresponded with Westword on numerous occasions. In an email Q&A after Bilyeu's remains were ID'd, Fenn wrote, "It is tragic that Randy was lost, and I am especially sorry for his two grown daughters." However, he said, the incident didn't make him regret starting the treasure hunt. In his words, "Accidents can happen anywhere. Randy may have had a heart attack or otherwise become incapacitated."
Fenn emphasized safety for treasure hunters. "Anyone who goes into the mountains should be prepared, use a GPS and always be aware of possible dangers," he noted, adding, "Many people don’t have experience hiking in the mountains, but that doesn’t mean they should stay at home. Just be careful and don’t get overextended."
Linda Bilyeu, Randy's ex-wife, wasn't reassured by these words. In an email interview for a follow-up post, she expressed doubts that the treasure is real. "Randy lost his life searching for 'nothing,'" she wrote.
Then came news that Paris Wallace, a pastor from Grand Junction, had vanished on June 14, 2017, while seeking the treasure. His car was subsequently discovered, and on June 18, the New Mexico State Police stated that a body had been located at Rio Grande Gorge, not far from the community of Pilar — and between five and seven miles from the abandoned vehicle.
Shortly thereafter, New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas, who appears in the docuseries, told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he felt the treasure hunt should be brought to a close.
"I would implore that he stop this nonsense," Kassetas said of Fenn, adding, "I think he has an obligation to retrieve his treasure if it does exist."
Kassetas's words had an impact on Fenn, who told Westword, "I have to respect what the chief said," and admitted that he was contemplating whether the time to call off the search had come.
During a subsequent email interview, however, Fenn explained that he'd reached the opposite conclusion.
The chief's call "caused me to stop and think for a few days," he revealed. But he also noted that of 600 emails he received after Wallace disappeared, only eight unsigned messages urged that the treasure hunt end. As a result, "after a long deliberation and discussions with friends, I have decided that stopping the search would not be fair to the thousands who have searched the Rockies and gone home with wonderful memories that will last them forever. A number of family members who have been estranged for years have reunited to join in the search."
Cut to June 28 that same year, when a third Coloradan, Eric Ashby, vanished while on his own search for the treasure; around four weeks later, human remains were found that were confirmed as Ashby's body in early 2018. At that point, Fenn stopped responding to Westword's queries, even as the search for the chest of gold continued.
Netflix Spends Little Time on the Fatalities
Greed & Gold mentions the passing of Bilyeu, Wallace and Ashby, but that's about it. The filmmakers don't bother to expand on their stories in any meaningful way, treating them, more or less, as an aside. But the deaths didn't end there.One of the project's main narrators, Benjamin Wallace, who wrote a Fenn roundup for New York magazine, cites a fourth casualty without mentioning the individual's name. However, A Today show feature about the Netflix series references five people who died on Fenn-inspired missions, including another Coloradan, Mike Sexson, plus Jeff Murphy, an Illinois native.
Additionally, at least two others — Jeff Schultz and Mike Petersen — reportedly perished amid related quests. And Linda Bilyeu told Westword she'd been in contact with the loved ones of yet another fatality who had decided not to make their personal tragedy public.
Hence, as many as eight people, four of them from Colorado, may have died seeking Fenn's riches. And it's not as if the folks behind Greed & Gold were unaware of Westword's reporting on the subject. In episode three, the headline from one of our 2020 posts, "Forrest Fenn Still Offering No Proof Treasure Was Found," is spotlighted, with the words "No Proof" pulled out graphically for greater emphasis. But instead of sharing the possibility of more victims with viewers and including an investigation into the credibility of the assorted claims, McGilliard and company choose to lavish attention on several searchers who failed to find the treasure.
Among those featured are the Hursts, a father and two sons from Wyoming who essentially blew up their lives out of conviction that the treasure was under a specific boulder in Wyoming (it wasn't). The series also features Lou Boyer, a pilot who brought his family along to the place he incorrectly figured the chest could be found (he wasn't close); Cynthia Meachum, who grew close to Fenn personally (and hints she may have had an affair with him); and Justin Posey, whose early partner in his explorations was a brother who subsequently committed suicide.
Here's the trailer for Greed & Gold:
The documentarians' sympathy for Fenn can be seen in sequences focusing on a man arrested for stalking his granddaughter; the stalker thought she was the treasure. Moreover, his decision in June 2020 to disclose that the treasure had been found without including key details — at first, he didn't even divulge the state where it happened (Wyoming, within Yellowstone Park) — gets relatively little scrutiny, in part because he died so soon thereafter.
The reported discoverer of the treasure, a medical student from Michigan named Jack Stuef, chose not to appear in Greed & Gold. But the explanation in the docuseries for why he didn't immediately take credit after Fenn declared the search over differs substantially from the reasoning in December 2020. On Medium.com, Steuf explained that he had chosen to remain anonymous after obtaining the chest "not because I have anything to hide, but because Forrest and his family endured stalkers, death threats, home invasions, frivolous lawsuits, and a potential kidnapping — all at the hands of people with delusions related to his treasure. I don’t want those things to happen to me and my family."
As for why he finally stepped out of the shadows, he said, "The U.S. District Court for New Mexico has ruled that Forrest’s estate must provide some of my personal information to a woman I do not know and with whom I have never communicated who has brought a meritless lawsuit against me. This would make my name a matter of public record, so I chose to come forward."
The man who found the treasure added: "My family and I have prepared for the potentiality of this day. Since finding the treasure, I moved to a more secure building with guards and multiple levels of security, and I have taken appropriate measures to protect myself. After I brought the treasure down from Wyoming to Santa Fe to Forrest, I put it in a vault (not Forrest’s) at a secure location in New Mexico. It will remain there until I sell it."
The sale happened in late 2022, and the total amount, approximately $1.3 million, felt a little underwhelming; there are some modest fixer-upper homes in greater Boulder that go for more. Yet rather than ending there, Greed & Gold tries to hype up a new adventure. The aforementioned Justin Posey divulges in the final frames that he's hidden a new treasure, boasting that tips about where to search have been sprinkled throughout the docuseries.
The odds of Posey's treasure sparking the sort of mania that Fenn managed to stoke seem slim. Yet Greed & Gold has clearly proven to be popular, reaching Netflix's top ten.
Thus far, we haven't heard of anyone who's died looking for a new fortune. Let's keep it that way, America.
