Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
as i have gone alone in there and with my treasures bold i can keep my secret ware and hint of riches new and old 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 from there is no place for the meek the end is ever drawing nigh there'll be no paddle up your creek just heavy loads and water high
If you've been wise and found the blaze, look quickly down your quest to cease. But tarry scant with marvel gaze, just take the chest and go in peace. So why is it that I must go and leave my trove for all to seek? The answers I already know. I've done it tired and now I'm weak. So hear me all and listen good. Your effort will be worth the cold. If you've been brave and in the wood, I give you title to the gold.
That's Forrest Fenn, reading a poem from a book he self-published, entitled The Thrill of the Chase. Whether you enjoy poetry or not, you might want to go back and listen to it again, because the poem he was reading is no ordinary poem. It's more of a riddle, a riddle that contains a set of clues pertaining to the location of a treasure that Fenn has hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
The treasure, which according to Finn, is housed in a chest that is 10 inches wide and 10 inches long, contains about 40 pounds of gold nuggets, gold coins, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, a collection that he had been curating for decades as an art dealer and amateur archaeologist in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1988, Forrest was diagnosed with an advanced stage of terminal cancer
and was told that at most he had about one year left to live it was then that the eccentric art dealer came up with a plan to leave the planet on his own terms he would put some of his favorite things in a box and travel to his favorite place on earth where he would swallow a handful of pills and peacefully enter an internal sleep he would include the location of his treasure and his remains in a riddle included with his biography that he would have a friend write and publish
But unforeseen circumstances prevented Forrest Finn from sticking to this plan. He won his battle with cancer. Twenty years later, Finn still enjoyed the idea of a treasure hunt.
But this time, he would use it as a way to encourage people to get off their couches and go outside to experience and explore and enjoy nature. I want to get the kids out of the game room and away from their little texting machines and out in the sunshine and the mountains and the trees. You know, we're not doing that anymore. And this time, he would be alive to see it. In 2010, he hid the treasure and published the book that contained the clues of its location.
When word got out that a millionaire was giving part of his fortune away to the first person who could find it, the response was rabid. A rich guy buries a treasure worth millions and leaves clues on how to find it. Well, tens of thousands have taken him up on it. They've been chasing those clues, looking to get rich. It is estimated that tens of thousands of hunters have traveled to New Mexico where they think the treasure is located. New Mexico's Department of Tourism has even used the story to promote the state.
Finn says he stopped counting emails somewhere around 60,000 and claims to have received at least 18 marriage proposals. He has not provided many additional clues outside of the original poem, but he has stated that the treasure is 5,000 feet above sea level and can be easily accessed by an 80-year-old man. But that has not stopped some of the more fervent treasure hunters from exploring dangerous terrain. In 2013,
A woman from Texas searching for the treasure had to be rescued. She became lost in the New Mexico wilderness and endured a night of freezing temperatures and rain before a search party found her the next day. A few years later, Randy Bilyeu, a 50-year-old retired mechanic and grandfather, moved from Florida to Colorado to hunt for the treasure full-time. In January 2016,
Bilyeu's inflatable raft and his dog Leo were found near the Rio Grande River, just south of Santa Fe. Seven months later, they found his skeletal remains. His cause of death is unknown. Randy Bilyeu was the first confirmed death related to Finn's treasure, but not the last. In June of 2017, the body of Paris Wallace, a pastor from Grand Junction, Colorado,
was found in northern New Mexico, a few miles away from his abandoned car, and a month later, the hunt claimed its third victim. Human remains believed to belong to 31-year-old Eric Ashby were discovered in the Arkansas River near Fremont County, Colorado. Ashby had moved to Colorado the prior year to hunt for the treasure. He disappeared on June 28 when his raft overturned in the water.
Forrest Fenn has expressed sadness over the tragedies, and has even chartered helicopters to help search for the missing hunters. He maintains that the hunt has resulted in more positive experiences than negative ones, and with the encouragement from thousands of other hunters, the search continues. But Fenn Forrest is not without his critics.
The New Mexico State Police Chief has implored Finn to end the search because hunters are putting themselves in danger. People start to make decisions that aren't based in good sound judgment when it comes to money. Linda Bilyeu, the ex-wife of Randy Bilyeu, the first man to lose his life in the hunt, claims that the entire treasure hunt is a hoax and that her ex-husband lost his life searching for nothing.
I think this treasure hunt is ludicrous, out of control, dangerous, and it should be stopped. Linda posted an open letter to Forrest Fenn on her website in which she accuses the millionaire of being self-absorbed and playing with people's minds. She says nothing will ever influence Fenn to end the search at this point, not the fact that hunters had dug up the graves of his mother and his brother or that Fenn himself had received death threats.
Not even that a madman targeted his daughter and granddaughter, convinced that they were the actual treasure. Linda insists that the treasure does not exist and will never be found because the treasure is Forrest Finn's legacy and legacies live on forever. And if the treasure were ever discovered, his legacy would end. And that's not something that Forrest Finn would ever allow. Finn maintains that the treasure hunt is not a hoax, but the true treasure is found in the thrill of the hunt.
And many people searching for Finn's treasure would agree, and so would Tommy Thompson, the subject of our main story. Thompson's remarkable discovery of a lost treasure turns into a tale of greed, mistrust, and ultimately, tragedy, as tales involving money usually do. A treasure hunt turns into a manhunt on this episode of Swindled.
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In September of 1857, the SS Central America, a wooden steamship belonging to the United States Postal Service, was traveling to New York City from Panama, hauling 578 passengers, 38,000 pieces of mail, and 20 tons of gold, worth about $400 million. It had been mined in the California Gold Rush. In the course of its journey,
The ship crossed paths with the Category 2 hurricane about 200 miles off the coast of South Carolina. The storm's powerful winds and destructive waters inflicted irreparable damage to the ship's sails and boiler. Without power or the ability to maneuver out of the storm's path, the ship had no choice but to ride it out. The ship's crew battled the storm for over two days, at one point using buckets to scoop out the rising water that was rushing aboard the vessel.
but in the end, they were no match for Mother Nature. At 8:00 PM on September 12th, 1857, the SS Central America sank, killing 425 of the 578 people on board. Many economists credit the sinking of the SS Central America as one of the major contributors to the first worldwide financial crisis known as the Economic Panic of 1857.
The large gold shipment that was en route to the New York banks was never delivered, drastically reducing the American money supply and creating a national catastrophe. Instead, the thousands of gold bars and coins went down with the ship, coming to a rest on the seafloor more than a mile beneath the Atlantic Ocean, where it remained untouched for the next 130 years. In the early 1980s, an eccentric oceanic engineer from Columbus, Ohio,
named Tommy Thompson, became obsessed with shipwrecks and spent years studying the SS Central America. Thompson partnered with Bob Evans, a geologist, scientist, and historian, and developed a plan to locate the sunken ship. Thompson and Evans recruited Larry Stone, a renowned expert in underwater search theory, to help create a probability map of the Central America's location. Devising the map took over three years and multiple revisions to complete.
By cross-referencing historical data, such as the ship's last reported position, the estimated wind speeds recorded during the hurricane, and survivor accounts of where the ship sank, the team was able to produce a 1,400 square mile map divided into a grid of two square mile sections, each with an assigned probability that it was the shipwreck's final resting place. Thompson and Evans, or the Columbus America Discovery Group as they had become known,
needed a team of scientists, engineers, and historians. They needed a research vessel equipped with sonar technology and electronic detection gear. And they needed a robotic submarine, the type of submarine that was capable of operating at least 7,000 feet underwater. The type of submarine outfitted with the mechanisms required to retrieve 20 tons of gold from the bottom of the sea. They needed the type of submarine that did not exist yet. They needed money.
because they planned to develop this submarine themselves. Tommy Thompson began raising funds for his exploration and met with many eager but skeptical investors. He used the sunken treasure as part of his pitch and promised to share to everyone who contributed as a return on their investment, if they were able to find it, of course. In total, Thompson was able to raise $12.7 million from more than 160 individual investors.
mostly from acquaintances in Columbus, who were more excited about the opportunity to be part of something big than the prospects of making a fortune. One investor even wrote bye-bye on the memo line of the check that he handed to Tommy. Thompson used the money to hire a crew and to rehabilitate a Canadian research vessel named the Arctic Discoverer. Other funds were used to pay engineers who had successfully developed a remote-controlled underwater vehicle named Nemo.
It was equipped with everything they needed to find and retrieve the treasure without leaving the safety of their ship. Video cameras to inspect the wreck, robotic arms to collect the treasure, and thrusters that would be used to remove the top layer of silt covering the shipwreck. The Columbus America Discovery Group set sail in the summer of 1986, methodically exploring each section of their probability map. No shipwreck nor treasure was discovered during their initial voyage.
But the crew returned to shore to study images of targets produced by the ship's sonar technology. One of the images from a high probability area depicted a large mass of what appeared to be a mound of coal, a good sign that a ship was nearby. The crew returned to sea the following summer to explore some of the more promising targets, especially the site that contained the mound of coal. And a few days into their search, they found something. It was a ship. More specifically,
It was an 1850s era wooden steamship just like the SS Central America that they were looking for. But was this THE Central America? It was hard to tell, but one thing was for certain: there was no gold or treasure to be found. Although empty-handed, Thompson's crew remained encouraged because their tools and planning and theories were working. But there was more work to be done. In the winter of 1987,
Bob Evans, Tommy's original partner and chief scientist of the expedition, continued to analyze the sonar photos. He found one that was particularly interesting, even though it was taken in a low probability area. It appeared to be more piles of coal and the shape of a wooden ship. The more he analyzed the photo, the more he became convinced that he had found the Central America.
And the more he analyzed the photo, the more he realized that they had wasted an entire summer and millions of dollars searching in the wrong spot. The Columbus America Discovery Group's third expedition began in the late summer of 1988. They embarked straight towards the new location identified by Bob Evans and used the unmanned robotic submarine to inspect the ocean floor and what they found.
was amazing. There it was, the SS Central America, with its iron side wheel protruding from the ground. Tommy Thompson and his crew had accomplished a scientific and historical achievement with enormous implications and enormous riches. There was gold,
two tons of gold. The crew spent the next two summers retrieving as much gold as they could find, but according to experts, a large amount remained undiscovered. The crew made their triumphant return home, and Tommy Thompson garnered national recognition. Mr. Thompson, what did you find down there?
What's the cash value?
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Many different people and organizations came forward to lay claim to the treasure: a Texas oil baron, a university, a group of Catholic monks, and 39 insurance companies. The insurance company sued Thompson's group, claiming that their companies had insured portions of the gold 130 years earlier at the time of the shipwreck. They wanted reimbursement for the payouts they were liable for when the ship sank.
Before any crew members or investors received their cut, the gold needed to be marketed and sold and converted to cash. And in order for it to be marketed and sold and converted to cash, rightful ownership of the treasure needed to be determined. Therefore, essentially, the gold became frozen and court.
Thompson remained optimistic and predicted that these legalities would be settled in a few years, and if entitled by a court of law, everybody would receive their shares no later than 1992. But a ruling was not made until 1998. After almost a decade in admiralty court, the Columbus America Discovery Group was awarded about 15 tons, or 92.5% of the total recovery, with the insurance companies receiving the remaining 7.5%.
We've all heard the expression "worth its weight in gold". Well, gold from a lost treasure is actually worth more than its weight in gold. The historical significance and backstory of gold increases its value in the mind of collectors and dealers. Tommy Thompson knew this going into negotiations with the gold marketing companies and attempted to obtain the best return possible. And he did it alone. Details were scarce.
In fact, by the time he sold the gold in 2001 for about $50 million, Thompson had almost completely cut off communication with the rest of his team. There were no more letters, no more meetings or financial statements. His team of investors were due at least $13 million from the sale of the gold, but Tommy Thompson was nowhere to be found. After five years of radio silence from Thompson in 2006, the investors were fed up and decided to sue him.
They wanted Thompson to produce a record of inventory containing every piece of gold that was recovered. Thompson complied by submitting an inventory of what was sold to the gold marketing company, but investors knew that that was not a complete record. It had come to light that Thompson had accepted a million dollar kickback from the gold company for contracting with them to make the sale. Thompson had also been given 500 gold coins worth anywhere from $900,000 to $3 million, which he had apparently kept for himself.
Throughout the hearings, Tommy Thompson never appeared in court. He had moved away from Ohio and was now living in Florida, opting to communicate by written letter or through his lawyer, if he decided to communicate at all. In September 2008, Tommy Thompson was arrested at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, on a prescription drug charge and resisting arrest without violence. He was also charged with false presentation and possession of a fake ID.
Tommy was carrying nine different identification cards, eight of which were fake, but all of the charges were subsequently dropped for unknown reasons. After numerous unmet requests for a complete inventory, the judge ordered Thompson to appear in court on August 13, 2012 to speak to him directly, and August 13 came and went, and Tommy Thompson failed to appear, so a warrant was issued for his arrest for contempt of court.
Tommy Thompson had just become a federal fugitive. Tommy's last known address was in Vero Beach, Florida, at a mansion that he rented for $3,000 a month named Gracewood, where he lived with his girlfriend-slash-assistant, Allison Antikyre. For privacy reasons, Tommy had worked out a deal with his landlord, Vance Brinkerhoff, to keep the utilities out of his name, and he paid only in cash. Cash that, according to Brinkerhoff, smelled moldy,
as if it had been stored in a cool, dark place. There was a massive mold problem in the kitchen area. Frankly, I suspect that's where he was keeping the cash. Tommy was friendly with his landlord. We like to talk about some of the artists and French Impressionists. But not too friendly. Never showed me any coins. No. Don't think I didn't ask. But friendly enough that when Brinkerhoff read about Tommy's arrest warrant online,
He immediately called Tommy's lawyer, instead of calling the police. By the time U.S. Marshals arrived at the mansion, Tommy and his girlfriend had fled, but they had left a few things behind. A book entitled How to Live Your Life Invisible, empty bank wraps for stacks of $10,000, metal pipes that authorities believe were used to store money underground, and 12 active cell phones, each assigned to a different attorney or family member.
Clearly, Tommy did not want to be found. Meanwhile, almost three decades after the initial discovery of the shipwreck, Thompson's partner Bob Evans was granted the rights to retrieve the remaining treasure from the SS Central America shipwreck. You recovered two tons of gold. How much is still there? Well, it could be equal to that. It could easily be equal to that. You know, the amount of wealth that was on this ship is staggering.
when you think about it. And the amount that could still be down there, it could easily be equal to what we found already, or it could exceed it. Joining the Odyssey Marine Exploration Company, Evans and crew unearthed another 15,000 silver and gold coins, 45 gold bars, and hundreds of other artifacts. Its total value is still unknown. More than two years had passed since anyone had seen or heard from Tommy Thompson.
The U.S. Marshals claimed that Thompson was one of the smartest fugitives that they had ever hunted, and his unlimited resources and 10-year head start did not make finding him any easier.
It was assumed that Tommy and Allison had left the country and were living off the grid with no financial limitations and no paper trail. A treasure hunter who had once lived near Vero Beach is now wanted by the FBI. Digital billboards are going up in Ohio and here in Florida to publicize the face of Tommy Thompson. A federal judge ordered his arrest last year after he failed to appear in court in Columbus, Ohio. U.S. Marshals received dozens of tips about Tommy's whereabouts.
but one of the tips from a maintenance contractor who had worked at the couple's Vero Beach mansion suggested that the Thompsons might be living a little closer home than originally thought. Investigators spotted Tommy's girlfriend Allison in Boca Raton, Florida, in an upscale suburban area surrounded by beaches and golf courses. They tracked her movements for over seven hours and watched as she used a combination of taxis and public transportation to avoid detection.
Eventually, she returned to a Hilton hotel, where she and Tommy had been living for the past two and a half years. Tommy Thompson and Allison Antikyre were taken into custody, and their residence was searched. Authorities found almost half a million dollars in cash, numerous laptops and tablets, over 40 different cell phones, and three voice-disguising devices.
There were also registration papers for a trust in Belize and information regarding expatriation and asylum. So Michelle, what's next in this case? What's going to happen is that both of them will be extradited back to Ohio to be able to face what they've been trying to capture them for over the last couple of years. Tommy did not want to be extradited to Ohio.
He claimed that the colder climate would irritate the symptoms of his encephalitis that he had contracted from a mosquito in South America, but his wish was not granted.
On April 8th, 2015, in Ohio, Tommy Thompson was found guilty of criminal contempt for fleeing rather than answering questions about the whereabouts of the gold.
Thompson took a plea deal that included two years in prison, with one year of supervised release, 208 hours of community service, and a $250,000 fine. And a condition of the plea bargain was that Tommy would be required to answer questions in closed-door hearings about the whereabouts of the 500 gold coins that were missing. The first of these hearings was on October 16, 2015, after reviewing thousands of pages of documents.
Thompson's attorney claimed that his client simply could not remember the location of the gold coins. Federal prosecutors and investors accused Thompson of being evasive and, quote, feigning ignorance. Tommy was forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine the extent of his memory loss. His memory problems were minor, and he was able to recall decades-old information about his career in business with, quote, great specificity.
The court ruled that Thompson had violated his plea bargain by not disclosing the location of the gold and ordered him to remain in jail indefinitely for civil contempt with the added bonus of a daily $1,000 fine until he remembers. His two-year prison sentence would begin thereafter. Two years later, Thompson is still in jail, still not cooperating, and facing a third contempt of court charge and racking up more than half a million dollars in fines.
His health has noticeably declined as he relies on a wheelchair to move around the courtroom. In August of 2017, Thompson requested his release from the civil contempt charge so that he could begin his two-year sentence. His motion was denied and he remains in jail indefinitely. It's a shame how such a groundbreaking scientific and historic achievement has become overshadowed by greed and litigation. Was this Tommy's plan all along? To take the money and run?
According to Ted Thomas, one of Tommy's cousins, Tommy was driven by exploration and his love of science and technology. Tommy did not care about the gold. He cared nothing for material things. Adding, you don't throw away your life for something that's yellow and weighs a lot. Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen. For more information about the show, check out swindledpodcast.com.
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