In the spring of 2013, after severe flooding in South Carolina, two tourists were walking along a littleknown trail in Conger National Park when they stumbled upon human bones under the roots of an old oak tree.

When the police arrived, they found a skull with a nail driven straight into the frontal bone.

An old map was attached to the nail.

An examination showed that the remains had been in the ground for about 10 years.

Dental records identified the person as Roy Denver’s, 35, who went missing in August 2003.

He disappeared in this same park while searching for Civil War treasures.

His friend was with him at the time.

The friend returned alone.

Roy Denver’s worked as an office clerk for a small company in Colombia.

He processed insurance documents, earned an average salary, and led an ordinary life.

He had a sister, Jessica, and his parents had died several years earlier.

Roy rented an apartment alone and had few friends.

His colleagues described him as a quiet man who kept to himself.

But Roy had a hobby that took up all his free time.

He searched for historical treasures.

It started about 5 years before he disappeared.

Roy stumbled upon an online forum where people discussed lost treasures from the Civil War.

The southern states are full of such legends.

The Confederate army retreated, abandoning their wagons, and burying gold and silver so that the northerners would not get it.

Many of these treasures were never found.

Roy began studying archives, maps, and old newspapers.

He spent his evenings and weekends on this.

He bought a metal detector, drove around abandoned places, and dug holes in forests and fields.

He found nothing, but he didn’t give up.

Sometime in early 2003, Roy met Vic Lanes.

Vic was older, 42, and worked as a used car salesman.

They met on the same forum, then got in touch by phone.

It turned out that Vic was also from South Carolina, and lived in a neighboring town.

They began to go on searches together.

Vic was talkative, confident, and constantly told stories about treasures he had supposedly almost found.

Roy listened and believed him.

In the summer of 2003, Roy started telling his sister about some kind of map.

Jessica remembered how he came to her for dinner in June, was excited, and said he had found something important.

It was a wartime map showing where the Confederates had hidden gold bars when they retreated from Charleston in 1865.

Jessica asked where the map came from.

Roy said he had bought it from a collector online.

He paid $300.

Jessica shook her head and said it was probably a fake.

Roy was offended and left early.

Vic also knew about the map.

Roy showed him a copy at the end of July.

Vic said the map looked authentic.

It had markings, names of old roads, and a drawing of the terrain.

The cross was in a swampy forest area south of Colombia.

Vic looked at a modern map and compared it.

The area matched the territory of Kongari National Park.

Dense forests, swamps, impassible areas.

Few tourists, especially in the summer when it’s hot and humid.

The perfect place to hide something valuable.

But there was a problem.

Roy didn’t just find the map.

He told other people about it.

On the same forum, he posted that he had a map to Confederate treasure and was going to find it.

Several people wrote to him in private messages.

Roy didn’t reply to everyone, but he did communicate with some of them.

One of them lived in Georgia and was named Ronald Becker.

Roy corresponded with him for several weeks.

Ronald asked for details and asked to see the map.

Roy sent a photo of a copy.

Ronald wasn’t the only one.

Two other men from Georgia also contacted Roy.

They knew Ronald and communicated with each other.

Roy didn’t know this.

He thought he was corresponding with different people, but in fact, it was one group.

They offered Roy a deal.

They would provide money for the expedition, pay for equipment and equipment rental, and in return receive a share of the treasure if it was found.

Roy agreed.

He needed the money.

By that time, he was in debt.

He had taken out a car loan and hadn’t paid it off on time.

He owed money on his apartment.

He hoped that the treasure would solve all his problems.

The meeting with the people from Georgia took place in mid August.

Roy drove there with Vic.

They met in the parking lot of a roadside cafe somewhere between cities.

Three men, Ronald Becker, and two others whose names Roy didn’t remember.

They looked serious and didn’t smile.

Ronald was large with a short haircut and tattoos on his arms.

The others were similar, athletic builds, dressed simply in jeans and t-shirts.

Roy showed them the map and explained the plan.

They listened and asked a few questions.

Then Ronald said they would give Roy $2,000 for the expedition, but if the treasure was found, they would get 70%.

Roy wanted to bargain, but Vic nudged him with his elbow.

Roy agreed.

They gave him the money in cash right there.

Roy signed a handwritten paper stating that he would return the money or hand over his share of the treasure.

The paper had no legal force, but it was enough for Ronald and his friends.

They said they would contact him in a week to find out the results.

Roy and Vic left.

They plan to leave on August 19th, Tuesday.

The day of the week was chosen specifically so that there would be fewer people in the park.

Weekends are always crowded, but on a weekday, you can work in peace.

Roy took time off work, saying he was sick.

Vic also took time off.

They bought equipment, a better metal detector, shovels, backpacks, water, and food supplies.

Roy spent some of the money Ronald had given him on this.

On the morning of August 19th, they met in the parking lot at the entrance to Conger Park.

Roy arrived in his car, an old beige Toyota Camry sedan.

Vic arrived in a pickup truck.

The weather was hot with temperatures around 30° and high humidity.

Conger National Park is known for its flooded forests.

Huge oaks and cypresses grow there, some of which are over a thousand years old.

The soil is swampy with a lot of standing water, especially after rain.

In summer, mosquitoes and gnats make walking almost unbearable.

They registered at the park office.

They filled out the standard forms, names, contact details, planned route.

Roy indicated that they were going to the western section to the old oak trees.

It was a remote part of the park, rarely visited by tourists.

The ranger, who took their forms, asked if they knew the area.

Roy said yes that they had a map and a compass.

The ranger nodded, warned them about the high humidity, and advised them to take more water.

They thanked him, and left.

The trail started at the parking lot, and went deep into the forest.

The first few kilometers were marked with signs, but then the trail turned into a narrow dirt path overgrown with grass and bushes.

Roy and Vic walked slowly, carrying heavy backpacks.

Roy carried the metal detector in his hands, and the shovels were tied to their backpacks.

The temperature rose, and by noon, it was already unbearably hot.

They stopped every half hour to drink water and wipe away sweat.

By in the afternoon, they reached the area Roy had marked on the map.

The area looked like a normal forest.

The trees were tall with thick trunks and roots sticking out of the ground.

The soil was soft and muddy in places.

Roy took out the map and compared it with the surroundings.

Vic looked over his shoulder.

There was a cross marked on the map next to the image of a large tree.

Roy looked around.

There were many large trees.

He chose one oak tree that seemed to be the oldest and said they would start there.

They turned on the metal detector.

They began to walk in circles around the oak tree, slowly listening to the signals.

The device beeped several times, but when they dug, they found only tin cans, nails, and pieces of wire.

Trash left by tourists or loggers decades ago.

Roy did not lose heart and continued to search.

Vic got tired faster, sat down on a fallen tree, and drank some water.

They worked until evening.

The sun began to set, and the forest grew dark.

They found nothing.

Roy was upset, but said they would come back tomorrow and try another place.

Vic nodded.

They gathered their things and walked back to the parking lot.

The walk took longer because they were walking in the dark, shining their flashlights.

They reached their cars around in the evening.

They agreed to meet the next morning at .

Vic left first.

Roy stayed and sat in his car for another 20 minutes.

Jessica called him that evening around .

She asked how things were going and if he had found anything.

Roy said, “Not yet, but he would try again tomorrow.

” His voice sounded tired, but not discouraged.

Jessica told him not to spend all his money on this venture.

Roy promised he wouldn’t.

They said goodbye.

The next morning, August 20th, Roy and Vic met again at the park entrance.

Roy looked more cheerful and said he had reviewed the map and realized where he had gone wrong.

The real place should be a little further, closer to the stream.

Vic agreed to try.

They registered again and set off along the trail.

This time they walked longer, almost 3 hours.

The trail ended and they had to walk through thicket around puddles and fallen trees.

The mosquitoes were unbearable, swarming around their faces and hands.

Roy sprayed himself with repellent, but it didn’t help for long.

Vic complained that he was tired and that they should turn back.

Roy insisted that they were almost there.

By noon, they reached a stream.

It was small, about 2 m wide, with dark, slow- flowing water.

Roy took out the map again and looked at it.

He pointed to a section of the bank where three old oak trees grew in a row.

He said they should search there.

They turned on the metal detector and began to circle the trees.

The device was silent for a long time.

Then, around in the afternoon, it emitted a loud signal.

Roy froze and ran the detector over the spot again.

The signal repeated.

Vic came closer.

Roy marked the spot and began to dig.

The soil was soft and easy to dig.

After half a meter, the shovel hit something hard.

Roy crouched down and raked the soil with his hands.

A metal object.

He took it out and wiped it off.

It was an old flask covered with rust.

Vic took the flask and shook it.

Something clinkedked inside.

He unscrewed the cap.

Inside were small pieces of gray metal.

Roy picked one up and looked at it in the light.

It was tin, not gold, not silver.

Tin, which was used to imitate precious metals in theatrical productions or fraudulent schemes.

Roy stood silently looking at the piece of metal in his hand.

Vic cursed and threw the flask on the ground.

Roy said it was a mistake, that the real treasure must be deeper or somewhere else.

Vic said the map was fake, that Roy had been deceived.

Roy started to argue, but Vic interrupted him.

He said they had wasted two days and a lot of money on nonsense.

Roy hung his head.

He said they needed to go back and think.

Vic agreed.

They gathered their things and headed back.

They walked in silence, Roy lagging behind.

Vic walked ahead, not looking back.

By evening, they reached the parking lot.

Roy said he was going home and would contact Vic tomorrow.

Vic nodded, got into his pickup truck, and drove away.

But Roy didn’t come home that evening.

Jessica tried to call him the next day, August 21st.

His phone was turned off.

She left several messages, but there was no answer.

By the evening of the 21st, she called Vic.

She found his number in Royy’s phone.

Vic answered and said that Roy had left the parking lot the night before and he hadn’t seen him since.

Jessica called the police the next day.

She said her brother was missing and had last been seen in the national park.

The police contacted the park administration and checked the registration records.

Yes, Roy Denver had registered on August 20th, but he hadn’t checked out.

His car was still in the parking lot.

It was a beige Toyota Camry and the license plate number matched.

The rangers inspected the car.

The doors were locked, the windows closed.

Inside on the back seat was a sports bag with a change of clothes.

In the glove compartment were documents, a park map, and a pack of chewing gum.

Nothing unusual.

Roy had taken the car keys with him.

They were not there.

They began their search.

A group of rangers followed the route Roy had indicated when he registered.

They reached an area with three oak trees by a stream.

They found digging marks and a hole about half a meter deep.

An old flask lay nearby.

Scattered pieces of tin.

But Roy was not there.

There were no traces of his presence beyond that spot.

The search was expanded.

Volunteers and dogs were brought in.

They combed the area for 3 days.

They checked ravines, swampy areas, and thicket.

They found nothing.

Roy had disappeared.

His backpack, shovel, metal detector, and phone were all gone with him.

The police were most interested in Vic Lanes.

He was the last person to see Roy alive.

He was summoned for questioning on August 24th.

Vic came to the station voluntarily and seemed calm.

He told them everything he knew.

He and Roy had been looking for treasure, found tin instead of gold, had a fight, and went their separate ways.

Roy stayed in the parking lot, and Vic drove away.

He never saw him again.

The officer conducting the interrogation asked why Vic didn’t stay and walk Roy back.

Vic said they were adults and each was responsible for himself.

They asked if Roy had any enemies or problems with anyone.

Vic shrugged and said he didn’t know.

Roy lived quietly and didn’t get into conflicts.

The only thing was that he had taken money from some people in Georgia for this expedition.

Vic didn’t know the details.

Roy didn’t talk about it.

This information alerted the investigators.

They asked Vic to tell them more.

Vic remembered the meeting in the parking lot, the three men, the money they gave Roy.

One of them was named Ronald.

He couldn’t remember anything else.

They recorded his statement and let Vic go.

They told him not to leave town and to stay in touch.

Jessica also gave a statement.

She talked about the map, Royy’s debts, and how he hoped to get rich.

She said he was naive and believed in legends.

The police asked for access to Royy’s computer.

Jessica gave them the keys to his apartment.

They took the computer and examined his correspondence.

On the forum, they found Royy’s posts about the map and the treasure.

They found private messages with several users, including a person with the nickname Ron B.

1961.

Using the IP address and other data, they determined that this was Ronald Bcher from Savannah, Georgia.

He was 42 years old and had previous convictions for fraud and assault.

He worked in an auto repair shop, but most of his income came from shady schemes.

The police contacted the Georgia Department of Justice and asked them to find Ronald.

He was summoned for questioning in early September.

Ronald came with his lawyer.

He said that yes, he had met with Roy Denver’s and given him money to search for the treasure, but that he knew nothing else.

After that meeting, Roy did not contact him and did not return the money.

Ronald thought he had been cheated.

He took no further action.

His lawyer provided an alibi for August 20th and 21.

Ronald was working at a car repair shop.

There are records in the time sheet, the foreman’s signature, and witnesses.

They checked it out and everything matched.

At that point, the police had no reason to suspect Ronald of anything more.

The search for Roy continued for another week, but without results.

Kongari Park is huge, more than 100 square kilm.

There are swamps, impassible areas, places where no one has been for years.

Roy could have drowned in a swamp, fallen into a ravine, gotten lost, and died of dehydration.

Animals could have dragged his body away.

There were many theories, but no clues.

By the end of September, the active search had ended.

The case was transferred to the missing person’s investigation department.

Royy’s car was taken from the parking lot and given to Jessica.

She sold it a month later.

Royy’s apartment was cleared out and his belongings were packed up.

Jessica kept the boxes at her home, hoping that her brother would be found.

A year passed, then two, the case remained open, but no new information came in.

Roy Denver’s was listed as missing.

The family gradually came to terms with the fact that he would not return.

Jessica sometimes went to the park, walked along the paths, looked at the trees.

She hoped to see something, any sign.

She found nothing.

In 2006, Vic Lanes moved to Florida.

He changed jobs and started calling himself by a different name, Victor Lane instead of Vic Lanes.

Formally, it was legal, just a preference for a name.

But investigators lost sight of him.

No one tracked his movements and the case went cold.

In 2009, two men were killed in Georgia.

The shooting took place near a bar in a suburb of Savannah.

Both men were connected to criminal gangs and dealt in drugs and weapons.

The police investigated the murders as a gang feud.

The names of the victims were Daryl Kaine and Marcus Hol.

Both were acquainted with Ronald Becker.

They were the two men who had come to meet Roy in August 2003, but no one made that connection at the time.

The case of their murder remained unsolved.

The spring of 2013 was rainy.

South Carolina was hit by heavy rains that lasted for several weeks.

Rivers overflowed their banks and flooded the lands.

In Congre Park, the water rose above its usual level, flooding trails and areas of forest.

When the water began to recede at the end of April, the soil was washed away, tree roots were exposed, and new ravines formed.

On May 6th, 2013, a couple of tourists from North Carolina were walking along one of the littleknown trails in the western part of the park.

They left the main trail and walked along a stream looking for a place to take pictures.

The woman stepped on something hard under the fallen leaves.

She bent down and rad away the leaves.

It was a bone, a human tibia, long and bleached white by time.

They did not touch the find.

They returned to the park office and reported it to the ranger.

He contacted the police.

2 hours later, a team arrived at the site.

Two officers, a forensic scientist, and a medical examiner.

They cordined off the area and began their investigation.

The bones lay partly above ground and partly under the roots of an old oak tree.

Floods had washed away the soil, exposing the remains.

The skeleton was almost complete, lying on its side.

The skull was higher than the other bones as if it had been pushed out of the ground along with the roots.

When the expert came closer, he saw a strange detail.

A nail was sticking out of the frontal bone of the skull.

It was a long, rusty nail driven straight into the bone.

A piece of paper was attached to the nail, soggy and almost turned to mush, but still holding on.

The expert carefully photographed the skull from different angles.

Then he carefully removed the nail along with the remains of the paper.

He packed it in a separate bag.

The rest of the bones were collected and placed in bags for transport.

Pieces of fabric, metal buckles from a backpack, and fragments of a plastic bottle were found near the remains.

Everything was packed up and taken to the laboratory.

The forensic expert began work the next day.

The skeleton belonged to a man between the ages of 30 and 40.

He was approximately 175 cm tall.

His teeth had fillings.

A fracture of the frontal bone indicated a blunt trauma inflicted with great force.

A nail had pierced the bone and entered the cranial cavity.

Death occurred instantly or within a few minutes.

The time of death was approximately 9 to 10 years ago, judging by the condition of the bones and the degree of decomposition of the soft tissues.

Dental records were requested from the missing person’s database.

They were compared with the skeleton’s teeth.

A match was found quickly.

Roy Denver’s missing since August 2003.

His dentist provided a dental chart made a year before his disappearance.

Everything matched.

It was Roy.

The paper attached to the nail was sent for examination.

It had been soaked for 10 years in damp soil, but experts were able to restore part of the image.

It was a map, handdrawn, old-fashioned with notes and a cross.

The very map that Roy had shown Vic and the people from Georgia, or a copy of it.

Experts said the paper had been artificially aged.

Tea leaves or coffee had been used to give it a yellow tint.

The drawing was made with ink that is still produced today.

The map was fake.

The investigator assigned to the case studied the materials related to Royy’s disappearance.

He contacted Jessica and told her about the discovery.

She cried into the phone, then asked what had happened to her brother.

The investigator said it was murder.

Roy had been killed with a nail driven into his head and the map had been attached as a message or a mockery.

He had been buried in the woods under an oak tree.

They returned to Vic Lane’s testimony.

His last known address was in Colombia, but he no longer lived there.

They began a search.

They checked databases and made inquiries to other states.

They found him in Jacksonville, Florida.

He was living under the name Victor Lane.

He worked as a manager in an auto parts store.

In 2007, he was convicted of financial fraud, served two years, and was released on parole in 2009.

The South Carolina police requested assistance from their colleagues in Florida.

Vic was arrested at work on May 10th.

He was taken to the police station and placed in an interrogation room.

The investigator arrived from South Carolina the next day.

The interrogation began on the morning of May 11th.

Vic looked older.

He was already 52 years old.

His hair was gray and his face was gaunt.

When the investigator said that Roy Denver’s body had been found, Vic lowered his head.

He was silent for several minutes.

Then he asked how he had died.

The investigator told him about the nail and the map nailed to the skull.

Vic covered his face with his hands.

The investigator asked what had happened in August 2003.

Vic said he didn’t know.

He had left the parking lot and left Roy alive.

The investigator didn’t believe him.

He put the photos of the skull with the nail on the table.

He said it wasn’t an accident.

It was an execution.

Someone killed Roy and attached the card as a symbol of betrayal or deception.

Who was it? Vic was silent.

The investigator continued.

He said they had checked all the people Roy had been in contact with before his disappearance.

They found Ronald Becker.

They found information about two other men who were at the meeting, Daryl Kaine and Marcus Hol.

Both were killed in 2009 in Georgia.

Only Ronald remained and Vic.

Vic raised his head.

He asked if he needed a lawyer.

The investigator said it was his right.

But if he wanted to make his situation easier, now was the time to tell the truth.

Vic hesitated.

Then he started talking.

He said that after he and Roy found tin instead of gold, Roy panicked.

He realized that the map was fake, that he had been deceived.

But worse than that, he had already spent some of the money Ronald had given him.

He promised to return the rest of the money in a week when he found the treasure.

Now there was no treasure and no money.

Roy owed $2,000 to people who don’t forgive debts.

Vic said that on the evening of August 20th, when they returned to the parking lot, Roy called Ronald.

Vic didn’t hear the conversation, but he could see that Roy was nervous.

Then Roy hung up and told Vic that Ronald wanted to meet to discuss the situation.

The meeting was scheduled for the next day, August 21st, in the evening at the same parking lot in the park.

Vic asked if he should go too.

Roy said no that he would handle it himself.

Vic went home.

He never saw Roy again, but he knew that the meeting had taken place.

He knew because a few days after Roy disappeared, Ronald called him.

He said that Roy was no longer a problem.

He said that if Vic said anything unnecessary to the police, he would be next.

Vic was scared and kept quiet.

When the police called him in for questioning, he only told them about the expedition, the argument, and that Roy had stayed in the parking lot.

Nothing else.

The investigator asked if Vic knew that Roy was dead.

Vic said he suspected it.

After Ronald’s call, he realized Roy had been killed, but there was no evidence, and Vic feared for his life, so he kept quiet.

So, he left for Florida, changed his name, and started a new life.

The investigator asked who specifically killed Roy.

Vic said he hadn’t seen it, but he assumed it was Ronald or his men.

Daryl and Marcus, the two who were at the first meeting.

They came to the parking lot on the evening of August 21st and met with Roy.

Vic didn’t know exactly what happened, but the result was obvious.

The interrogation was recorded.

Vic was arrested for concealing information about a crime and obstructing justice.

The lawyer offered a deal with the investigation.

Vic would give full testimony and name everyone he knew in exchange for a reduced sentence.

The prosecutor agreed.

Based on Vic’s testimony, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Ronald Becker.

He was found in Savannah and detained on May 15th.

He was brought to South Carolina and charged with the murder of Roy Denver’s.

Ronald refused to testify and hired a lawyer.

He denied everything, said that Vic was lying, that there had been no meeting.

But the investigation continued.

They checked the phone records for August 2003.

They found a call from Royy’s phone to a number registered to Ronald on the evening of August 20th.

The conversation lasted 3 minutes.

The next day, August 21st, there was an outgoing call from Ronald’s number to someone else.

They checked it out.

The number belonged to Daryl Kaine, one of those killed in 2009.

It wasn’t direct evidence of murder, but it painted a picture.

Ronald knew about the meeting.

Ronald had been in contact with Daryl that day.

Daryl and Marcus were his people.

They could have come to the parking lot to meet Roy.

Investigators went to Georgia and reopened the case of Daryl and Marcus’ murder.

They studied the materials.

Both were shot near a bar at night on March 23rd, 2009.

There were no witnesses.

The bullets were recovered, but the weapon was not found.

The case was closed as unsolved.

The investigator suggested that someone had taken out Daryl and Marcus to cover their tracks.

Perhaps Ronald himself to remain the only one who knew the truth about Royy’s death, or someone else who wanted revenge for something.

It remained a theory, but a logical one.

The trial of Ronald Becker began in October 2013.

The prosecutor presented all the evidence.

Vick’s testimony, phone records, the burial site, and the map nailed to Royy’s skull.

The defense argued that there was no direct evidence that Ronald was in the park on the day of the murder and that Vic’s testimony was insufficient.

But the jury believed the prosecution.

The logic was clear.

Roy had deceived people, taken their money, failed to return it, and failed to find the treasure.

Ronald and his men punished him, killed him, and nailed the map to his head as a symbol of deception.

They buried the body in the forest under the very oak tree mentioned in the legend, a warning to others who might decide to deceive them.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty of firstdegree murder.

Ronald was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

He showed no remorse and remained silent when the sentence was handed down.

Vic Lanes received 5 years for withholding information and obstructing justice.

He served 3 years and was released on parole.

He returned to Florida, lives quietly, and keeps out of touch.

Jessica collected her brother’s remains after the forensic examination was completed.

She cremated them and scattered the ashes in the mountains where Roy loved to hike in his youth.

She gave an interview to a local newspaper saying he believed he could get rich off the legend.

He believed in gold and paid for it with his life.

Literally, the story of Roy Denver’s ended 10 years after his disappearance.

The map that promised riches became his grave marker.

The people he trusted killed him for a deception he himself did not commit.

He was the victim of someone else’s forgery and his own naivity.

The forest hid his body.

The flood revealed the truth.

The murderer was sentenced, but those who had driven the nail were already dead.

The end of the story was as grim as the place where the skull was found under the roots of an old oak tree in soil saturated with swamp water and lies.