ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico medical investigators have positively identified a body found in the Rio Grande as that of a Colorado pastor who went missing while searching for a supposed hidden treasure.
State Police announced the findings Friday, nearly two weeks after rafters spotted the remains of 52-year Paris Wallace about seven miles downstream from where he was last believed to have been.
Family members told authorities that Wallace had come to New Mexico to search for the treasure of Forrest Fenn, who announced several years ago that he hid a small bronze chest containing gold, jewelry and artifacts somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
Thousands have hunted in vain across remote corners of the Western U.S. Another Colorado man died in 2016 searching for the treasure.
Following Wallace’s death, authorities called on Fenn to end the treasure hunt, but he has not done so.
