Man who died in Yellowstone fall was hunting for treasure millionaire says he buried

On a bright morning last summer, Jeff Murphy disappeared through the northern gates of Yellowstone National Park.

The 53-year-old had traveled from the Chicago suburbs to the Montana-Wyoming border, and his planned hike up a nearby mountain trail should have taken him about half a day. But as the hours passed and no one heard from him, his wife reported him missing, The Washington Post reports.

Park workers mounted a massive search operation. Eight hiking teams, four horse teams, five dog teams and a helicopter fanned out around Turkey Pen Peak, whose 7,000-foot summit overlooks the Yellowstone River. On June 9, rescuers found Murphy’s body at the bottom of a steep, rocky slope.

For months, Yellowstone officials offered little information about Murphy’s death except to say that an investigation was underway. But on Tuesday, a local news station confirmed what some have suspected all along: Murphy died - as have at least three others in recent years - in a quest for treasure that a millionaire said he buried in 2010.