A teenager who had been missing for seven years was finally found trapped inside a chimney — a discovery that has left both investigators and his family deeply baffled.
On May 8, 2008, eighteen-year-old Joshua Maddux left his family home in Woodland Park, Colorado, for what seemed like a routine walk. It was something he did often. Josh, with his long blond hair and love for nature and music, enjoyed hiking alone through the vast Pike National Forest surrounding their small mountain town of just eight thousand residents.
That day, he told his sister Kate he was heading out, and she thought nothing unusual about it. But Josh never returned home.
As the days passed, worry grew. His father, Mike, called around to friends and searched frantically for any clue. But no one had seen or heard from Josh. Five days later, he officially filed a missing person report. Police, friends, and neighbors joined in an extensive search through the neighborhood and nearby forests — but despite their efforts, Josh seemed to have vanished without a trace.
His family tried to hold on to hope. They imagined that maybe Josh had decided to leave town and pursue his dreams — perhaps traveling, making music, or writing under another name. Believing he was living freely somewhere felt easier than accepting the worst. Kate often pictured him one day walking back through their front door, maybe with a partner or children, ready to rejoin their family.
But the disappearance had struck at an already fragile time. Just two years earlier, Josh’s older brother Zachary had died by suicide before graduating high school, leaving the family devastated.
Mike later admitted that Zachary’s death had left a deep scar on Josh, sending him into emotional turmoil. Still, friends described him as positive and optimistic before he went missing, insisting he seemed to be coping well.
Then, in August 2015 — seven years later — the truth finally surfaced. Construction workers tearing down an old cabin made a shocking discovery that would end the long search, according to MailOnline.
The cabin, located on Meadowlark Lane, belonged to 80-year-old builder Chuck Murphy, who was preparing to demolish it to make space for new homes. The structure had been abandoned for more than a decade, slowly decaying among tall pine trees. Murphy’s brother had lived there until 2005, but afterward, it was left to rot and used only for storage.
When workers began breaking apart one of the chimneys, they uncovered something horrifying. Inside the narrow brick shaft was a mummified body, wedged tightly in a fetal position — knees bent toward the chest, body twisted unnaturally.
Police were called to the scene, and dental records later confirmed everyone’s worst fear: the remains were those of Joshua Maddux, Strange Outdoors reported.
Hauntingly, the cabin stood less than a mile from the Maddux home — just two blocks away. Despite years of searching, no one had thought to check the old abandoned property.
The discovery only deepened the mystery. Josh was found wearing just a thin thermal shirt. His pants, shoes, and socks were neatly folded beside the fireplace inside the cabin. Investigators also noted that a heavy wooden breakfast bar had been torn from the kitchen wall and dragged across to block the fireplace opening.
Teller County Coroner Al Born performed an autopsy and found no signs of foul play — no broken bones, no stab or gunshot wounds, and no drugs in his system. Born initially ruled Josh’s death as accidental, theorizing that he had tried to climb down the chimney, gotten stuck, and died of hypothermia in the freezing Colorado nights.
But Chuck Murphy rejected that theory outright, insisting it didn’t make sense with how the chimney was built.
“When the chimney was constructed twenty years earlier, a thick wire mesh grate was installed near the top to block animals and debris,” Murphy explained. “There’s no way that guy crawled inside that chimney with that steel webbing. He didn’t come down the chimney.”
Born countered that the mesh wasn’t visible in photos because it had likely been removed with scrap metal during demolition. He also speculated that it might have rusted away over time. Still, faced with inconsistencies, he reopened the case three days after his initial ruling.
Investigators were especially disturbed by how Josh’s body was found — headfirst down the chimney — a position Born said would likely have required assistance from others.
He later updated his findings, stating the death could be an accident, a homicide, or simply undetermined. Yet he maintained that Josh had somehow entered from above.
“This one really taxed our brains,” Born admitted. “We don’t know why he took his clothes off, took his shoes and socks off, and why he went outside, climbed on the roof and went down the chimney. It was not linear thinking.”
To make matters even stranger, police received tips claiming someone had bragged about putting Josh “in a hole.”
Authorities looked into a man with a violent criminal history who was reportedly seen with Josh before his disappearance and later arrested for a deadly stabbing in New Mexico. However, due to the time that had passed, investigators couldn’t verify any of the claims, and Born doubted a single person could have forced Josh into that position.
Murphy recalled occasionally noticing a foul odor around the cabin over the years but assumed it was from rodents. He said he never suspected anything sinister — especially since the fireplace was blocked by furniture. Given how isolated the cabin was, even if Josh had screamed for help, police said it was unlikely anyone would have heard him.
For the Maddux family, finding Josh brought closure but no peace. Kate later said the discovery made no sense — they had imagined her brother anywhere in the world, but never just blocks from home.
“It’s a real conundrum. A tragic, terrible story,” Murphy said. “All I know is he did not go down that chimney. I think it will remain a mystery. One of those sad stories.”
