Man went missing while searching for treasure, friends say

Investigators are working to identify what could be the remains of a man who went missing during a Colorado rafting trip.

Eric Ashby's friends say he disappeared while searching for hidden treasure.

"Something happened down there that day, and we just want answers," friend Dave Gambrell said.

Gambrell says Ashby moved to Colorado just to search for $2-million worth of gold and jewels, supposedly hidden in the Rocky Mountains.

Thirty-one-year-old Ashby is reportedly one of many treasure-seekers, using clues mapped out in a cryptic 2010 poem by New Mexico art dealer and collector Forrest Fenn.

Authorities say Ashby was on the Arkansas River with three other people last month when his raft capsized. While the others made it to safety, Ashby did not.

His sister Lisa Albritton tells ABC News, "Something sinister happened that day at the river and I am looking for justice for my brother."

Officials discovered human remains Friday afternoon, but they have not yet been identified.

The group that was with Ashby that afternoon has not been charged with any crime.

Fenn's promise of riches has been blamed in two more deaths. Pastor Paris Wallace and Randy Bilyeau were both found dead in New Mexico after searching for that chest filled with gold and jewels.

Authorities spoke out last year after Wallace's death and asked Fenn to put an end to this mystery before anyone else got hurt.

"I want Mr. Fenn to retrieve the treasure, or call off the hunt after he retrieves the treasure," New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas said.

But Fenn tells ABC News that he compiled a "list of suggestions that will make people safer when they go into the mountains."