Missing teen found trapped inside chimney after 7-year search
Joshua Maddux went out for a stroll — and never came back.
Years later, his remains were found stuck inside a chimney, and the details surrounding his death are still a mystery.
A desperate search
Joshua Maddux was an 18-year-old with a free spirit and a passion for the outdoors.
A bright student with a talent for writing and music, he resided in Woodland Park, Colorado, with his father and two sisters. Life had already dealt him unimaginable challenges — the painful divorce of his parents and the heartbreaking loss of his brother to suicide in 2006 — but Joshua’s resilience shone through, maintaining his optimism and adventurous spirit.
On May 8, 2008, Joshua left his home for what appeared to be a simple walk. The nature-loving teen with long blond hair frequently roamed alone through the nearby Pike National Forest.
He even informed his sister Kate that he was going out — but he never returned home.
Days turned into a frantic search. His father, Mike Maddux, reached out to friends and scoured the neighborhood, yet there was no trace of Josh. After five days, a missing person report was submitted to local authorities. Even though the police and family searched the nearby woods, months turned into years without any leads.
Josh’s family held onto hope. His sister Kate envisioned him possibly touring with a band or penning novels under a pseudonym, living the solitary lifestyle he cherished. They anticipated his return one day, bringing stories with him, and maybe even a family of his own.
At the same time, the family couldn’t help but think back to the tragedy that had occurred just two years prior, when Josh’s older brother Zachary took his own life shortly before graduating high school.
Josh’s father, Mike, later remarked that Zachary’s death had deeply affected Josh, but friends and family maintained that, before he vanished, he appeared happy and vibrant.
A grim discovery
It would take seven long years before anyone discovered Josh.
In August 2015, construction workers stumbled upon a grim find while tearing down an old cabin on Meadowlark Lane to clear the way for new homes.
Inside one of the cabin’s chimneys, curled up in a fetal position, was a mummified body. Dental records confirmed the worst: it was Joshua Maddux.
“I nearly had a heart attack,” Mike Maddux said.
The deserted cabin was less than a mile from his home, just two blocks away.
“When his body was discovered, he was only wearing a thin thermal shirt. His other clothing, including pants, shoes, and socks, were neatly folded inside the cabin,” authorities reported.
Even more bizarre, a heavy wooden breakfast bar had been moved to block the chimney from the inside.
Teller County Coroner Al Born performed an autopsy. There were no indications of trauma, no fractures, no knife wounds, and no bullets. No drugs were discovered. Initially, Born classified the death as accidental, suggesting that Josh had climbed into the chimney, got stuck, and succumbed to hypothermia as the nighttime temperatures fell into the 20s.
However, Chuck Murphy, the owner of the cabin, strongly disagreed.
“The place was damp,” Murphy stated. “It had a terrible smell. There was raccoon droppings everywhere.”
Twenty years prior, he had installed a sturdy wire mesh at the top of the chimney to keep animals out. “There’s no way that guy could have crawled into that chimney with that steel mesh in place,” Murphy asserted. “He didn’t come down the chimney.”
Reopened the case
Confronted with these discrepancies, Born decided to reopen the case. The positioning of Josh’s body indicated he entered head-first, likely needing two people to do so. He updated his conclusion to include accident, murder, or undetermined causes — but still maintained that Josh came down the chimney.
“This one really challenged our thinking,” Born confessed. “We can’t figure out why he removed his clothes, took off his shoes and socks, and why he went outside, climbed onto the roof, and descended the chimney. It wasn’t straightforward thinking.”
Police received information suggesting that someone had boasted about putting Josh “in a hole.” One individual with a history of violence had been seen with Josh prior to his disappearance and was subsequently arrested for an unrelated deadly stabbing. However, investigators were unable to confirm any details. Born expressed skepticism that a single person could have placed Josh in the chimney by themselves.
Unsolved mystery
Murphy would occasionally check on the cabin throughout the years and had detected a foul odor, but he assumed it was due to rodents that had perished inside. He never considered inspecting the chimney, which was obstructed by furniture. Additionally, due to the cabin’s isolated location, no one would have heard Josh’s pleas for help.
For Josh’s family, the revelation brought an end to years of uncertainty but provided little solace. Kate confessed that the situation was perplexing. They had anticipated that Josh would be found somewhere else, far away from home.
“It’s truly a puzzling situation. A heartbreaking, awful tale,” Murphy pondered. “We may never truly understand what transpired with him. In my thoughts, it’s a nightmare to consider what my brother endured.”
“The only thing I’m certain of is that he didn’t go down that chimney. I believe it will stay a mystery. One of those sorrowful tales.”