by Marion Zagar and Curt Fonger – Jan. 30, 2013

Recently the residents of the Golden Sun R.V. Resort held a fund raising event to assist Superstition Search & Rescue (SSAR) in their quest to purchase night-vision equipment. This vital piece of equipment will aid SSAR in locating missing people during night time searches.

Volunteers in the Park prepared and served baked potatoes along with delicious toppings to over 225 individuals at this sold-out event. All proceeds gained from this fun event will be used for the night-vision goggles as well as other equipment that SSAR may be in need of.

As a result of this fund raiser, Golden Sun participants were able to turn over a check to Director/commander Robert Cooper for $1,000 Dollars.

Golden Sun R.V. Resort has played a pro-active role in the Apache Junction community for the past few years by selecting and sponsoring fund raisers for community entities that help the residents and visitors of Apache Junction and surrounding area by raising monies to further enhance their public service.

Previous fund raising events have assisted the Apache Junction Fire District, the Apache Junction Police Department and now the Superstition Urban & Wilderness Search & Rescue Organization.

For more information about SSAR, please go to: www.superstition-sar.org.

by Joshua Rhett Miller, Fox News – Nov. 29, 2012

Three years ago, a Denver bellhop ventured into Arizona’s Superstition Mountains determined to find the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, an elusive, vast gold reserve that has lured prospectors since the 19th century.

Jesse Capen, 35, had made finding the hidden treasure an “obsession” fueled by more than 100 books and maps on the legendary – and perhaps nonexistent – mine named for German immigrant Jacob “The Dutchman” Waltz. On Saturday, years after Capen’s Jeep, wallet, backpack and cellphone were found by hikers, volunteers from the Superstition Search and Rescue finally located what they believe is Capen’s body.

“We call ’em Dutch hunters out here,” said Superstition Search and Rescue Director Robert Cooper. “They’re infatuated with all the lore and the history of the lost Dutchman mine and he was part of that.”

While the remains have yet to be positively identified, Cooper said he’s “confident” the remains are that of Capen based on where the body was found, clothing found nearby and other identifying characteristics. The body, Cooper said, was found in a crevice roughly 35 feet up a cliff face in the southern portion of the Superstition Mountains, near the 4,892-foot Tortilla Mountain.

“We had been out there searching nearly every weekend for three years and this particular time we were scouring an area where a small daypack was located and had a few articles in it and we started scouring the cliffs,” Cooper told FoxNews.com. “And then we were able to spot a boot in a crevasse 35 feet off the floor, making it nearly impossible to see from any direction. He was in a tight spot and that’s why it took so long to find this young man.”

Capen’s father declined to comment, and his mother, Cynthia Burnett, could not be reached. But in 2010, Burnett told the Denver Post her son had become “obsessed” with the legend of the Arizona gold mine.

“This is beyond obsessed,” Burnett told the newspaper. “He has more than 100 books and maps on the legend.”

Cari Gerchick, communications director for Arizona’s Maricopa County, told FoxNews.com that the body is currently classified as unidentified. An autopsy took place on Tuesday, she said, and the results are expected to take weeks.

“We do not have a specific identification at this time,” Gerchick said.

In December 2009, a month after Capen’s disappearance, his campsite was found and clearly indicated his level of devotion to his newfound infatuation, Cooper said. A copy of Estee Conaster’s “The Sterling Legend: The Facts Behind the Lost Dutchman Mine” – billed as the definitive work on the lost mine – was found in his tent.

“So we kind of know what he was thinking and doing there,” Cooper said. “He would stay at his hotel, rest, shower and then head back out … a couple of days in, a couple of days out. All these guys think they found it or know the answer.”

Capen, who had worked at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel for more than a decade, had ventured to the area at least two other times in the past decade in search of the mine.

“He worked [the] graveyard [shift] and he mostly kept to himself,” hotel employee Terry Reyes told FoxNews.com. “[The lost mine] is the reason why he went there. He took a month off to go search for the treasure.”

Cooper said Capen’s undoing was likely the result of heading out in search of lost gold alone.

“People should always tell someone where they’re going, have a plan and have someone go with them,” he said. “Most of our searches are for people who went in alone.”

Asked if he believed the rugged mountains contain one of the most enduring tales of treasure in North American history, Cooper replied: “I don’t believe it. Our wilderness doesn’t appear to have any gold in it, but a lot of people believe there is.”

An untold number of prospectors have searched the Superstition Mountains for the mine. In the 1840s, according to the Denver Post, the Peralta family of Mexico mined gold out of the mountains, but Apaches attacked and killed all but one or two family members as they took the gold back to Mexico. Some 30 years later, Jacob Waltz – nicknamed “the Dutchman,” even though he was German – rediscovered the mine with the help of a Peralta descendant, according to legend.

Waltz, who died without revealing the mine’s location, reportedly shot people who followed him as he returned to it for more gold.

by Monica Alonzo – Nov. 26, 2012 08:29 AM

Superstition Search and Rescue team members have located the remains of a man in the Superstition Mountains.

Volunteers discovered the remains about a half-mile from the spot where Jesse Capen, a gold prospector in search of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, had set up his campsite back in 2009. Capen, a 35-year-old Denver man, has been missing for nearly three years.

Although the remains must still be identified by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner, it’s possible that while Capen never found the gold, the search team has finally found him.

Robert Cooper, one of the leaders of the Superstition Search and Rescue, says that when the official search was over, Capen’s mother asked them if they could keep looking for her son.

The team has been searching for Capen since he went missing nearly every weekend for nearly three years.

He says the body was found in a tight space about 30-feet off the ground. The team marked the spot, left the body undisturbed and notified the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

“We never give up until the individual is found,” says Cooper, cautioning that positive ID hasn’t yet been made in this case to officially determine whether the remains are of Capen.

In 2010 New Times ran a story featuring Capen: Fool’s Gold: Prospectors Have Looked for the Lost Dutchman’s Gold for a Century, But Jesse Capen Figured He Could Find It. He Probably Died Trying.

Here are some excerpts, and note that Cooper pointed out that most people are found about half-mile from their campsites.

“…Jesse Capen, a 35-year-old Denver man who disappeared up this trail back in December. They’ve been out here at least six times in the past four months, combing the craggy terrain for any sign of his body, a shredded piece of clothing, or the few belongings Capen brought with him to Arizona that weren’t later found in his tent or his Jeep.

There aren’t many clues, and that might just be how Jesse would have wanted it. Capen was searching for the fabled Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, and like most of the other treasure hunters who’ve made their way to this remote area in the south-central portion of Tonto National Forest over the past 120 years, he was extremely secretive.

Capen was obsessed with the legendary mine. Though Jesse barely mentioned the subject to family or friends, they found more than 100 books and maps on the subject in his apartment after his disappearance. Capen saved up vacation time for two years so he could take a month off from his job as a bellhop at a Denver hotel, giving him plenty of time to search. Last summer, he traded his car for a Jeep with four-wheel drive. The vehicle is perfect for navigating the yard-high drop-offs on the pocked three-mile dirt “road” leading up to the Tortilla Trailhead.

Capen had been out to Arizona to look for this mine — probably the most legendary lost mine in American history — at least two other times in the past decade, though no one knew about one of the trips until after he disappeared and his computer files were searched. All in all, it’s made for a hell of a mystery.

Robert Cooper, commander of the search squad, says a lot of people don’t have any idea how dangerous this area, 50 miles from Arizona’s capital, can be. Several men in the first group of searchers who set out on the 2.5-mile trail from the end of the road to Capen’s campsite carried a sidearm.

Mountain lions are the main concern — the area is crawling with them — but there’s also a danger associated with the grizzled prospectors who squat in these mountains, hunting for gold. Not far from where Capen disappeared, there’s a prospector living in the wild, poaching small game and dodging any Forest Service personnel who might make their way up the road to catch him digging on government land.

Odds are, though, that Jesse had some sort of accident that left him incapacitated, and he’ll eventually be found within a rugged half-mile of the campsite. Statistically speaking, people are almost always found within that distance, says Cooper, whose froggy drawl recalls a soft-spoken Jim Nabors.

Local rescue team volunteers make annual trek
Apache Junction News
By Curt Fonger

October 8, 2012

Superstition Search & Rescue (SSAR) once again participated in the Annual Grand Canyon “Over the Rim Clean-up,” during the weekend of September 29-30. The event was organized by the Arizona Mountaineering Club (AMC).Three teams assisted the Grand Canyon National Park Service this year: the Arizona Mountaineer Club; Central Arizona Mountain Rescue Association (CAMRA); and Superstition Search and Rescue.

The 2012 event saw thirty SSAR team members and their families attend this volunteer, fun event. Over 100 combined volunteers from the three groups spent two days cleaning up one of the world’s natural wonders. What a way to spend a weekend!

Bag after bag of trash, such as cell phones, cameras, hats, toys, footballs, flashlights and, yes… coins, lots and lots of coins were hauled up from far beneath the rim.

One of the SSAR team members, Donnie Rudd, rappelled over 600′ down at Yavapai Point to collect a metal foot locker that someone had thrown over the side. Rob Canby, another team member rappelled down over 300′ near the Bright Angel Lodge point to retrieve numerous signs that another irresponsible person had thrown over.

What a tremendous team effort to accomplish this nearly impossible mission. The importance of retrieving the coins results from the California Condors trying to eat anything shiny, which could be fatal for one of these 9 1/2 feet giant winged scavengers which are a protected species. Thus, collecting coins from the depths of the canyon is crucial to their survival.

The sunny skies, temperatures in the mid to high 70’s with full moon nights for all those that camped at the Mather Campground made for a perfect weekend.

The bull elk were in rut, so the increased activity of elk bugling throughout the day and night was incredible. There were bull elk, cows and calves walking through the camp; the parade of these wild, awesome creatures was endless.

The Superstition Search & Rescue team is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that meets on the second Tuesday of every month at the Apache Junction Elks Club on north Hwy. 88 at 7 p.m. Anyone who is interested in more information on how to join this incredible group of volunteers is welcome to attend the meeting. For more information go to www.superstition-sar.org.

By EJ Montini

August 25, 2012

Earlier this month, I wrote about the death of a good man who was also a good son and a good brother. It’s the kind of story we often do in the news business. What we don’t often do is cover the aftermath, in which the victims of such a tragedy seek, and sometimes find, grace.

This is about the aftermath.

Sometime in the late afternoon of July 25, while driving south on U.S. 60 out of Show Low, 57-year-old Jeff Block lost control of his Dodge Ram truck, leaving the roadway and plunging several hundred feet down the embankment.

The truck’s wreckage with Jeff’s body inside finally was discovered two weeks later, a few hours after I’d spoken to Jeff’s anguished father, Sherwin.

“To have a child be missing without any clues, without any rhyme or reason, it’s just … just a terrible thing,” he told me. “It surely is.”

Jeff was traveling with his all-white, blue-eyed wolf-mix dog named Blue. The dog had not been found when I initially wrote about the accident. The next day, Sherwin called to tell me that a team from Superstition Search and Rescue had returned to the crash site and located Blue’s body.

The day Jeff disappeared, he telephoned his father to say he was driving outside of Show Low and would be unable to get back to Phoenix in time for their scheduled dinner. The two of them were planning to drive to Colorado early the next day on a fishing trip.

When Jeff didn’t show up, his brother Dan flew in from California. He and his father drove the steep, treacherous stretch of U.S. 60 between Show Low and Globe.

“My father, brother and I were on that road in late May,” Dan told me. “Our father took us up to Greer for a fly-fishing get-together. It’s something we do regularly. My dad and my brother were heading out the next morning to go fly-fishing for my brother’s birthday. We drove the road to see if we could spot any signs of a truck going off. We saw some wreckage but it wasn’t his. You’re thinking maybe he was hurt, surviving and needed our help. But it’s extremely difficult to spot things.”

Even from the air.

Dan organized private flyovers of the area before the Civil Air Patrol got involved in the search. But Jeff’s truck isn’t the first vehicle to have gone off U.S. 60, and a number of the old wrecks are still visible. One of the volunteers searching for Jeff suggested the old wrecks should be marked so that spotters in airplanes can more easily find a recent accident.

“Then someone suggested painting big X’s using the color blue,” Dan said, “because of Jeff’s dog and because it’s not a color you see in the desert. Another friend said we could call the effort Project Blue, something we figure Jeff would like.”

(You can read more about it or make a donation at jeffblockismissing.wordpress.com.)

In an e-mail after Jeff’s dog was found, Sherwin wrote to me, “Jeff and Blue will be cremated together and their ashes strewn on the Frying Pan River in Colorado, where Jeff and his brother Dan loved to fly fish. We’ll do that next year on July 30th.”

Jeff’s birthday.

“This has been a terrible ordeal for our parents, my sister and me,” said Dan. “Jeff was a great guy. Our family is close. But people have been very kind to us. We’ve made friends out of this, and we wanted something good to come out of a terrible experience. We have that with Project Blue.”

In Norman Maclean’s great novel “A River Runs Through It,” a father and two sons are bound together by faith, family and fly fishing, sort of like the Block boys and their dad.

At one point, the narrator of the novel, one of the brothers, says: “My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things — trout as well as eternal salvation — come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.”

by Haley Madden – Aug. 10, 2012 05:41 PM
The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team

The body of Jeffrey Block, the Apache Junction man reported missing July 26, is the one found inside his truck, officials said.

Authorities found Jeffrey’s dog dead Thursday, said Commander Robert Cooper, a Superstition Search and Rescue spokesman.

Block’s family reported him missing July 26 after he failed to return home from a trip to Show Low with his dog, Blue.

The pickup truck and his body was found Wednesday in a Gila County canyon off U.S. 60.

Officials believe Block’s vehicle crashed, said Elias Johnson, a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Blue was found near the windshield of Block’s truck. The truck continued to roll about 600 to 800 feet below, Cooper said.

Block and his dog Blue were taken to a Globe mortuary. They will be cremated together and their ashes will be spread in Colorado on their grandfather’s property, Cooper said.

By Christina Fuoco- Karasinski
The News

An Apache Junction man who vanished during a trip to Show Low was found dead Wednesday, Aug. 8, at the bottom of a Salt River Canyon after a car crash. His dog, Blue, was deceased with him.

According to Robert Cooper of Superstition Search and Rescue, it is unclear who found the bodies of Jeff Block and Blue, as well as his white Dodge Ram pickup near the bottom of a 1,000-foot canyon near mile post 295 in Gila County. Block and Blue had been there approximately two weeks.

Many people are coming forward to say they found Block because there was a reward, Cooper said.

Superstition Search and Rescue spent 11 days looking for Block and his dog. Cooper said it was difficult to see the crash scene because of the intense damage to the truck.

“All of us looked over that lookout point,” he said. “You can’t see the vehicle from anywhere on the road. We flew a helicopter over three passes in that canyon. The wreckage rested where other wreckage was. I can see why my helicopter didn’t recognize it. It blended in with dozens of other debris.”

Block’s family reported him missing after the 58-year-old, along with Blue, failed to return home from a trip to Show Low on July 25.

Cooper said soon after Block’s family reported him missing, the Superstition Search and Rescue Team received a “plea for help.”

“We got involved immediately,” Cooper said. “We personally passed out 3,000 fliers to people in Show Low, fliers to every business, pizza place. We made a big impact on that community.”

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Air Unit flew the length of the U.S. Highway 60 to Top of the World, east of Superior, as well as mountain access roads in Pinal County, searching for evidence of Block, a press release said. The results were negative. Cooper said that the PCSO didn’t do enough to help with the search.

“Pinal doesn’t care,” Cooper said. “Why didn’t they engage? It’s because they don’t care. If you don’t call back the family, you don’t care.”

Block’s family issued a statement on the website jeffblockismissing.wordpress.com. It said that as a tribute to Block, the family would like to collect donations on behalf of Superstition Search and Rescue (SSAR) and other charitable organizations involved in the search.

“Please help us applaud the efforts of SSAR, helping provide them with equipment and supplies for this and future S&R (search and rescue) efforts,” the family wrote.

“Everyone will be invited to attend when we present the funds to the SSAR group and other charities where my family and I can individually and personally thank each and every one of you for your help in searching for and finding our brother/son/uncle/friend.”

They are also collection funds to cover expenses of Block’s search and “final resting.” Cooper said that Block and Blue will be cremated together and their ashes spread in Colorado.

Finally, all other contributions will be pooled and donated to the organizations involved with the family in the last two weeks, and to the humane society in honor of Blue.

All donations may be made to Jeff Block Memorial Fund, the humane society or Superstition Search and Rescue, P.O. Box 3584, San Ramon, CA, 94583.

Apache Junction News
By Tom Kollenborn

February 28, 2011

Gold and treasure have attracted men and women to the Superstition Mountain region for more than a century. Ironically, their quest for lost treasure or gold has often turned tragic. Searching for treasure in the summer months with little or no experience in the region can result in deadly consequences. The vision of riches has led many to their final resting place among the rocks and cacti of this unforgiving land known as the Superstition Wilderness Area.

In July, 2010, three men from Utah embarked upon a treasure-hunting quest that ended their lives tragically. Curtis Glenn Merworth, Malcolm Jerome Meeks and Adrean Charles headed for an unknown destination deep in the Superstition Wilderness Area. In the summer months the ground surface temperatures can heat up to 180°F. The darker the ground the hotter the temperatures can be. The air temperature was above 110°F and water was scarce within the vastness of this mountain wilderness. A blind vision of golden riches drew these men into this internal hell like a magnet. The men were aware of the dangers apparently because they carried umbrellas to protect themselves from the burning rays of the sun. However, they failed to carry enough water to survive the stifling heat. The victims’ parked their car at First Water Trailhead around Tuesday, July 6, 2010.

Soon after the men arrived they were reported missing. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) set up a search and rescue command post at First Water Trail Head on Sunday, July 11, 2010. The sheriff’s office had a helicopter transporting search crews to different points within the wilderness to conduct searches. The helicopter crew searched the area by air looking for any visible clues. Approximately a hundred people were searching the area on foot, horseback and by air. All of this searching did not produce a single clue as to what happened to these men or where they had gone. The MCSO Search & Rescue Command Post was taken down on Sunday July 18, 2010. Members of the MCSO, Pinal County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), Superstition Search & Rescue, and other volunteers continued searching for the three missing men through December 2010. As of January 1, 2011, not one clue had been found associated with these three missing men. It was as if they had vanished from the face of the Earth.

Searching for hikers is one thing, but searching for treasure hunters is something entirely different. Hikers and horseman generally remain on wilderness system trails. However, treasure hunters (Dutch hunters) wander in all directions over the mountain’s vastness looking for clues to a lost gold cache. A clue might be a pictoglyph, a certain shaped rock, a cactus or maybe an old claim marker. These treasure hunters are usually far removed from system trails and often in extremely rugged country. I’m sure the MCSO and other search groups did everything possible to locate these missing men. These officers are dedicated men and women who are here to protect and serve us.

Once the officials scaled back their operations the volunteer groups began their search for the three missing men. I followed the activities of the Superstition Search & Rescue Teams during their searches. They are a very dedicated and highly trained group of young men and women who devote hours of volunteer time to help others. This team is a member of CERTS, a Community Emergency Response Team working with the Apache Junction Police Department and trained by the State of Arizona. We cannot fault anyone for not finding these men sooner because in the end they were far off any beaten path. They were in an area it was highly unlikely anyone would search.

Richard “Rick” Gwynn, author and prospector, was hiking in the Superstition Wilderness Area on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 trying to piece together clues about the lost gold of these mountains. Gwynn was about two miles east of First Water Trailhead when he made a gruesome discovery on the NNE slope of Yellow Peak. He found two skeletons fully dressed lying on loose steeply sloping black-basaltic rock talus about 150 feet wide and 1000 feet long. Nearby he found two umbrellas they had been using for shade. Near the bodies was a battery-powered lamp. Rick said it appeared the men had died of natural causes. They had no water. Summer temperature on the black basaltic rock probably reached an easy 180°F. No human or animal would have lasted very long lying or crawling across that black rock. Again the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office helicopter and search teams began a search for the third victim. You must bear in mind this is extremely rough terrain, and again the search had no success.

After the MCSO was done searching, the Superstition Search and Rescue Team (SSAR) returned to the field. They began a search on Thursday, January 13, 2011, searching northward toward Black Mesa near the southeastern part of the mesa. About 3/4 miles north of the first site that SSAR team found what appeared to be debris field that included a bone. They had no idea it was human, but thought it was fresh.

The team returned to the area on Saturday, January 15, 2011 and found skeletal remains. Search Commander Robert Cooper immediately notified MCSO and a helicopter rescue team was called out under the direction of Deputies David Bremson and Jesse Robinson. They supervised the removal of the third victim’s remains from the wilderness area.

 

This discovery and removal of the third and last body closed another sad chapter in the history of these mountains and the search for missing Utah prospectors. The failure of these men to understand the dangers of the mountains in the summer months cost them their lives.

Finally the three Utah gold hunters had been found – ending one of the most difficult searches in Superstition Wilderness Area history. Their vision of lost gold had been a fatal attraction.

Apache Junction / Gold Canyon News
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski January 24, 2011

Superstition Search and Rescue has found the body of a third man in the Superstition Mountains Saturday, Jan. 15, believed to be Utah treasure hunter Curtis Merworth.

Robert Cooper, director of SSAR’s urban search and rescue, said the discovery of the two other bodies two weeks ago helped in the recovery process.

“He (Merworth) was on top of Black Mesa, tucked under a tree,” Cooper said. “He found a nice shade tree and found some dirt. When you lie down, your body shuts down. I imagine he was on his way out for help.”

Local author and 26-year treasure hunter Rick Gwynne found two skeletal remains Jan. 5 near Yellow Peak and Second Water Trail. They are believed to be Ardean Charles and Malcom Meeks.

“It took a treasure hunter to find treasure hunters,” Cooper said. “That gave us a point last known. Our last point of last known was the vehicle but the whole wildnerness was the search area. When Rick found the body, the search area became between the bodies and the car.”

“We are persistent,” Cooper said. “We just never quit.”

According to Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jeff Sprong, the remains are in the process of being identified. However, Gwynne is convinced that they are two of the Utah treasure hunters missing since July 6.

“I got to looking at them,” Gwynne said. “I said, ‘They must be those guys from Utah.’ There’s two of them. I got to looking around I saw the wallet of the one fellow. I went over and picked it up. It was belonged to Malcom Meeks.”

Gwynne said there were obvious signs of hypothermia.

He said he’s “pretty sure” he found Charles as well.

“(Charles’) lantern was lying right beside him on low light,” Gwynne said. “His glasses were in his pocket. They were on these rocks, I’m guessing at night time.”

Gwynne, who is due to soon have hip and knee replacement surgery, said he stayed the night in the mountains to make the hike down easier on him. Upon exiting the mountains, he called a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office deputy that he knew and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office representatives followed.

“We flew out and I showed them where the bodies were,” Gwynne said. “At that point, they took over and brought the bodies out, both of them.”

Gwynne said that he believes the story that the trio was treasure hunting. People he has spoken to, however, are surprised that the men were not found earlier.

“They were out in the open,” he said. “When I flew over in that chopper, even though I knew where they were, they were extremely hard to see. The skulls looked like white rocks.”

Sprong said he is waiting to hear back from the medical examiner’s office about the identification of the bodies as well as the causes of death.

“We’re looking into the fact that this is possibly going to be two of the men,” Sprong said. “Unfortunately, we can’t confirm it until we get information back from the medical examiner.”

Sgt. Jesse Spurgin, of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said, the department spoke to the detective working the case on Thursday, Jan. 20, and the medical examiner still has not made a definitive identification on the bodies.

“Once final ID has been made, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office will provide a news release,” Spurgin said.

abc15.com
January 17, 2011

APACHE JUNCTION, AZ – A local search and rescue team believes skeletal remains found in the Superstition Mountains over the weekend may be those of a missing Utah man.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jeff Sprong said the office was contacted around 12:45 p.m. Saturday by a subject who reported finding possible human skeletal remains.

Sprong said the person told them it is one person and possibly the third hiker from the group that went missing last July.

The volunteer group Superstition Search and Rescue said they made the discovery.

Members of their team tell ABC15 since July they’ve been searching for the men two to four times a week.

Their biggest challenge was that they had little information.

Sixty-six-year-old Ardean Charles, 51-year-old Malcom Meeks and 49-year-old Kurtis Merworth apparently told family members they were coming to Arizona to find the Lost Dutchman’s gold, believed to be hidden in the mountains. Two of the three men were said to have medical conditions.

The men didn’t have cell phones, family members didn’t know what they were wearing and members of Superstition Search and Rescue say treasure hunters usually venture off trail.

Roger Barrientos, the group’s Wilderness Director, said the third man was found under a desert shrub, perhaps to shield himself from the sun. The week the men went missing it was above 100 degrees.

Barrientos moved to Queen Creek as a child in the 1950s to pick cotton by hand. He doesn’t want to brag, but says he was a good cotton picker. Now he owns his own alfalfa farm.

Barrientos also works hard on his free time, trekking through the rough desert terrain to find missing people with Superstition Search and Rescue.

“My second job doesn’t pay, what it does pay is in the success of helping families find their loved ones, in some cases find closure.”

His reward, he says, is helping people.

The team is trained by the state and include experts in different kinds of rescue to include swift water rescue.

In the case of the missing treasure hunters, Barrientos said they searched the area one grid at a time.

As they expanded their search, the mission was even more difficult because they would have to hike about four hours in just to get to the last point where they had stopped looking.

Sprong said the remains found Saturday will most likely be turned over to the medical examiner’s office for identification.

Authorities said identification of two sets of remains found last weekend may come as early as next week.

If you would like to donate to the nonprofit Superstition Search and Rescue or need their services, visit www.superstition-sar.org . Their emergency number is 480-784-8536.