Liz Key: "How many people have to die before your game is done?" I did receive an email back and he just gave his condolences to Beth.ĭan Barbarisi: Forrest Fenn was … a very complicated person.ĭan Barbarisi explores Fenn's complexities in his new book: " Chasing the Thrill: Obsession, Death and Glory in America's Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt."ĭan Barbarisi: … He believed in stories that were bigger than … just your run-of-the-mill, standard tales … And he dreamed big. He was in some ways my caretaker …Īfter Mike's death, Liz felt compelled to send Forrest Fenn an anguished email. Mike had been her rock after she suffered a brain injury.īeth Van Oss: He was more than just my partner. I miss his support … I miss his voice, his laughter.īeth Van Oss today is forced to cope without her longtime boyfriend. Liz Key: I'm glad that he took this adventure … I'm very sad that he's gone.īeth Van Oss: I miss Mike every day … I miss his hugs when I'm stressed. Mike was an adventurer and always smiling, always laughing, big deep chuckle.įriend Liz Key struggles to reconcile Mike's love of adventure with his terrible loss. Mike became the fifth person to die while searching for Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure. He had searched the area nearly a dozen times before and wanted to go out one more time before the COVID-19 lockdown. In March 2020, Mike Sexson went searching for Fenn's treasure near Dinosaur National Monument. Days later, Mike's body was air lifted off the mountaintop. The last known photo of him was taken in March 2020 as he hiked in that remote area. High atop a ridge near Dinosaur National Monument, 53-year-old Mike Sexson froze to death. "He said that if somebody was murdered because of the hunt that would probably be too much." A MODERN-DAY TREASURE HUNT
![the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41-UKBAnq-L._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
"He didn't like the idea that anyone would tell him to bring his hunt to an end because of a few deaths," Barbarisi says of Fenn. Five people ultimately lost their lives in the process. To others, he was reckless and cost lives.
![the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/RMQAAOSw-uVfD1y4/s-l300.jpg)
To some, Fenn was a hero, providing a way to instant wealth and adventure in the great outdoors through the treasure hunt. "And for others it was that they felt that people hadn't believed in them to the extent that they should have." "I think a lot of people really wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves … maybe there was something missing in their lives," journalist Dan Barbarisi tells Dokoupil. That article is widely credited with introducing Fenn's modern-day treasure hunt to a national audience. "CBS This Morning" co-host Tony Dokoupil wrote an article about Fenn's treasure in 2012 for Newsweek magazine. hundreds and hundreds of gold nuggets," Forrest Fenn said of the fortune worth at least $1 million. And I started filling it up with wonderful things. "I bought this beautiful little treasure chest. "I really think the greatest thing that drove me was wanting to match wits with the man himself," she says of Fenn, who laid out his treasure hunt challenge in a 24-line poem.
![the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy](http://mrtnmcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/agate.png)
![the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy the thrill of the chase: a memoir book buy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2_ljvYnRW0M/maxresdefault.jpg)
Sacha Dent was captivated by Fenn's challenge. Tens of thousands of people set out to search for the treasure - some of them obsessively. In 2010, eccentric millionaire Forrest Fenn launched a treasure hunt when he announced that he had hidden a chest worth an estimated $1 million in the Rocky Mountains.