Remains found of treasure hunter who went missing while searching for millions worth of gold and jewels

Randy Bilyeu knew the story well, how eccentric antiquities dealer and author Forrest Fenn says he hid a treasure chest somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe along the Rio Grande.

By Fenn’s account, it’s a royal treasure — 44 pounds of coins, diamonds, rubies and other jewels worth between $1 million and $3 million.

Bilyeu set out to find the treasure in early January and had been missing ever since.

On Tuesday, police in Santa Fe, New Mexico, announced in a press release that Bilyeu’s remains were found on July 18 north of Sandoval County's Cochiti Lake along the Rio Grande River. They did not release a cause of death. The investigation continues.

“That’s very unfortunate, and I’m sorry,” Fenn told The Albuquerque Journal when notified of the news. “I don’t know what to say. It’s terrible.”

Fenn gave clues about the location of a small bronze chest in a cryptic poem in his self-published 2011 memoir, “The Thrill of the Chase,” according to CBS News.

The information has inspired a near cult-like fascination with the treasure. Thousands of people who have blogged about their hunts have looked for it, searching through remote corners of New Mexico, Yellowstone National Park and other mountainous areas, CBS reports.

Fenn, 85, has issued warnings to the treasure hunters, known as “Fenners.” Don’t search in the winter. Don’t look “any place where an 80-year-old man couldn’t put it,” he has told people.

In January, Bilyeu, from Broomfield, Colo., set out on the Rio Grande River west of Santa Fe with an inflatable raft, his dog, a GPS device and a wet suit to find the treasure, CBS reports.

After he was gone more than a week, a concerned friend notified Bilyeu’s ex-wife, Linda Bilyeu, in Florida, who reported him missing. Searchers found his Nissan Murano near the river, then located the raft and his dog, Leo, downstream.

But Bilyeu, a 54-year-old grandfather, was gone.

For days, authorities fruitlessly searched the area. When they called off their search, fellow treasure hunters, family, and Fenn himself, kept looking, crossing rough terrain on foot and flying drones overhead.

“I don't feel responsible for what Randy has done, but I wanted to be part of the rescue,” Fenn told People magazine earlier this year.

To help Bilyeau’s family, a Fenn enthusiast set up a GoFundMe page where his daughter wrote that her father had for the past few years loved exploring the Rockies and “embracing the thrill of the chase.”

A Texas woman also went missing while searching for the treasure in March 2013, but she was luckier. She got lost near Bandolier National Monument and was found by rescuers after spending one night in the mountains.

Linda Bilyeu told The Albuquerque Journal she was thankful for the volunteers who had helped search over the last six months.

She also said she doesn’t believe the treasure even exists.

“We're disappointed that he lost his life because of a treasure hunt,” she said. “There’s no treasure - it's not real. He lost his life for a hoax.”

Fenn told the Journal on Tuesday that the hidden treasure chest is not a hoax.

“The treasure is real, the story is real,” he said.

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Remains found of treasure hunter who went missing while searching for millions worth of gold and jewels."