Chelsea Gotta of Pella, Iowa, walks again to her automobile after posing with the trunk of cash she discovered off Mueller Park Path within the mountains east of Bountiful on Sunday, July 16, 2023. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
John Maxim, left, and David Cline announce plans to cover $20,000 within the Utah wilderness throughout a press convention in South Salt Lake on Might 31, 2022. The 2023 treasure hunt was held as properly, however controversy after the occasion has precipitated the organizers to think about future occasions. Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information
It took 51 days for Chelsea Gotta of Pella, Iowa, to seek out the $25,000 treasure hidden by two Utahns close to Mueller Park Path in Might. Nevertheless it took no time in any respect for Reddit customers to query the legitimacy of the hunt after its completion, and the occasion is now engulfed in controversy.
Web goers wrote of a potential leak centered round a person named “Jaqui,” who was accused of aiding Gotta in her quest for $5,000 of the prize cash.
Amid the chaos, hunt organizers John Maxim and David Cline addressed the post-hunt controversy just lately on the “Cache Me Outdoors” podcast and left the way forward for Utah Treasure Hunts in jeopardy.
“We nonetheless don’t know if we’re going to do one other (treasure hunt), however we’ll see,” Cline mentioned.
The annual occasion in its fourth 12 months, whereas extremely standard, has been a cash pit for the organizers. That might be wonderful with Maxim and Cline, who put $22,000 towards this 12 months’s hunt, so long as it remained enjoyable for them. This 12 months it was not, they mentioned.
“As soon as this complete factor broke, that was the very first time that me and John checked out one another and had been like, ‘Why are we even doing this,’” Cline mentioned.
Whereas the hunt’s masterminds acknowledged the validity of peoples’ considerations surrounding a leak, which Cline describes as their “greatest worry,” they weren’t happy with the tough therapy of Gotta on-line and the way rapidly all the pieces was referred to as into query.
“I hope after 4 years of doing this, even in any case this craziness, that individuals consider that we actually try to be as honest and trustworthy and open as potential,” Cline mentioned. “However even in any case of this, if you happen to nonetheless don’t, then simply don’t waste your time sooner or later in search of it.”
Cline and Maxim spent two days with “no sleep” investigating the potential of a leak. They questioned household and mates and even briefly entertained the concept of planted recording gadgets selecting up their conversations.
“We had been like Sherlock Holmes, going by way of our complete historical past,” Cline mentioned.
John Maxim, left, and David Cline announce plans to cover $20,000 within the Utah wilderness throughout a press convention in South Salt Lake on Might 31, 2022. The 2023 treasure hunt was held as properly, however controversy after the occasion has precipitated the organizers to think about future occasions.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information
They rapidly dominated out the potential of a leak and believed that Jaqui “legitimately” solved the poem round July 6. Cline mentioned the poem’s resolution was completely in his head and never written down wherever, making a leak more and more unlikely. And he doesn’t perceive those that consider they might have orchestrated it.
“The integrity and the belief that the treasure looking group has in us is just about essentially the most precious factor we've,” Cline mentioned. “And to assume that we might simply need the hunt to finish so we’re simply going to offer the answer to some random particular person, that’s loopy to me.”
Nonetheless, one accusation turned out to be true. Gotta confirmed Jaqui despatched her the answer shortly earlier than discovering the chest, in line with Cline, however he careworn that doesn’t take something away from her accomplishment.
“She labored her butt off, and he or she was, like all the opposite treasure hunters, up late making an attempt to get stuff,” Cline mentioned. “... Even when it was leaked, which we’re fairly certain it wasn’t, (Gotta) nonetheless did nothing unsuitable. As a result of she doesn’t know that, she doesn’t know who this particular person is. It's just a few random particular person within the ether that has one other concept, similar to lots of of others.”
“She received this factor honest and sq.. 100%,” Maxim added. He mentioned Gotta was one of many high treasure hunters the complete time and didn’t just like the “responsible till confirmed harmless” angle that many on-line customers had been taking.
And as mentioned on the podcast, there aren’t any guidelines towards treasure hunters serving to one another out. Something goes in treasure looking so long as it's authorized.
After the information broke, Cline found he had a complete chat historical past with Jaqui, and he rapidly recorded all their conversations earlier than the account was deleted, which helped give him “a fairly good concept” of who the particular person is. Maxim confirmed they've messages from Jaqui because the QR hunt final 12 months.
Cline hasn’t reached out to Jaqui, however hopes she is going to contact them to clear the air. Till that occurs, he can by no means be 100% certain what transpired. Regardless, Maxim and Cline know issues want to alter. They’re planning to have a “heart-to-heart” quickly and see in the event that they need to do the 2023 QR hunt within the fall.
Proper now, although, the way forward for Utah Treasure Hunts is unsure.