By Tim Binnall
The saga of the Forrest Fenn treasure took a strange turn late last week when a Pennsylvania man traveled all the way to New Mexico and broke into the author's home looking for riches. The hidden cache of gold, jewels, and other valuables, believed to be worth around $2 million dollars, has spawned considerable controversy in recent years as it has been blamed for the death of four individuals who lost their lives in search of the treasure which Fenn claims that he buried somewhere in the Rocky
The trouble surrounding the treasure finally arrived on Fenn's proverbial doorstep last Friday when a man named Robert Miller reportedly journeyed to the author's residence in Santa Fe with the belief that the riches were actually hidden inside the home. This suspicion led him to break through a gate on the property and then smash a window with an ax in order to gain entrance to a guest house on the property. Once inside, Miller seized upon some kind of chest which he was certain contained the much-discussed treasure.
It was that point that Fenn and his daughter arrived home to see Miller trying to make off with the box. The pair apparently got the jump on him as they were both armed and, thus, were able to detain him until police arrived. Cops subsequently arrested the would-be treasure hunter, who admitted to the burglary and claimed that Fenn's clues about the treasure's whereabouts indicated, in his mind, that it was inside the home.
For his part, Fenn was mystified that Miller would think that, noting that "I've said 100 times that the treasure is not on my property." The author was especially befuddled that the burglar thought that the riches were contained inside the chest which he tried to steal, since not only was it unlocked, but it was filled with towels and linens. Pressed once again this week to call off the treasure hunt, Fenn refused to do so and revealed that, as his advanced age, he is no longer even capable of going to where it is hidden and retrieving the riches.