Teen Missing for 7 Years Found Dead Inside Chimney — A Mystery That Still Baffles Investigators
When 18-year-old Joshua Maddux left home one spring morning for a walk in the woods, no one could have imagined it would be the last time anyone saw him alive. Seven years later, his body was found in one of the most chilling and perplexing places imaginable — trapped inside a chimney.
A bright young man disappears
Joshua, a creative and kind-hearted teen from Woodland Park, Colorado, was known for his love of music, writing, and the outdoors. Despite enduring heartbreak — including his parents’ divorce and his brother Zachary’s suicide in 2006 — Josh remained optimistic and full of life.
On May 8, 2008, he told his sister Kate he was going out for a walk. It was something he did often. But that day, he never returned.
At first, his family thought maybe he had gone off on an adventure, as he sometimes dreamed of traveling or joining a band. But when days passed with no sign of him, his father Mike Maddux filed a missing person report. Police, neighbors, and volunteers scoured the nearby forest, but there were no clues — no sightings, no tracks, nothing.
Years passed, and the family’s hope faded but never fully disappeared.
The shocking discovery
In August 2015, construction workers demolishing an old cabin less than a mile from the Maddux home made a horrifying find. Inside a chimney, curled into a fetal position, were the mummified remains of a young man.
Dental records confirmed what everyone feared — it was Joshua Maddux.
“When I heard the news, I nearly had a heart attack,” his father said.
Even more unsettling were the strange details surrounding the scene. Joshua was wearing only a thin thermal shirt, while his pants, shoes, and socks had been neatly folded inside the cabin. A heavy wooden bar had been positioned to block the fireplace from the inside, sealing the chimney.
Unanswered questions
Teller County Coroner Al Born found no evidence of foul play — no broken bones, stab wounds, or bullet injuries. He initially ruled the death accidental, suggesting Joshua may have climbed into the chimney and become trapped, eventually dying from hypothermia as temperatures dropped that night.
But Chuck Murphy, the cabin’s longtime owner, wasn’t convinced.
“There was a metal grate installed at the top of that chimney years before,” Murphy said. “There’s no way he could’ve climbed in from above. He didn’t go down that chimney.”
Murphy added that the cabin had a foul odor for years, but he assumed it was from animals — never imagining a person was inside.
A case reopened — and re-closed
After growing public skepticism, Coroner Born reopened the investigation. The way Josh’s body was positioned — head-first — raised new doubts. Some believed it would have taken more than one person to place him there. Born later changed the cause of death to “undetermined.”
Rumors surfaced about a man who had bragged of putting someone “in a hole.” That same man, with a violent criminal record, had been seen with Josh before his disappearance. However, no solid evidence ever linked him to the case.
A tragedy without closure
For Joshua’s family, the discovery brought an end to seven years of uncertainty — but no real peace.
His sister Kate admitted, “It just doesn’t make sense. None of it does.”
Murphy agreed: “We’ll probably never know the truth. All I know is he didn’t go down that chimney.”
The strange, haunting case of Joshua Maddux remains one of Colorado’s most unsettling unsolved mysteries — a story of a young man who vanished close to home, only to be found in the most inexplicable of places.