Joshua Maddux: Stuck in a Cabin's Chimney // 616

Summary

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Going West: True Crime

Episode 616: Joshua Maddux – Stuck in a Cabin’s Chimney
Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft & Heath Merryman
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Main Theme:
A haunting, unsolved mystery surrounding the disappearance and tragic death of Joshua Maddux, whose mummified body was found years later, upside down in a chimney of an abandoned Colorado cabin. The episode delves into the baffling circumstances, explores theories (from accident to foul play), and discusses the lasting grief and questions faced by Joshua's family and the Woodland Park community.

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Episode Overview

• Purpose:
  Daphne and Heath unpack the mysterious death of 18-year-old Joshua Maddux, missing since 2008 and found in 2015 inside a cabin chimney. They debate possible explanations—accident, misadventure, or homicide—and dive into local rumors and investigative dead ends, examining alibis, physical evidence, and psychological possibilities.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Joshua Maddux’s Background and Disappearance

• Joshua’s Early Life:
  • Born March 9, 1990; grew up in Woodland Park, Colorado.
  • Artistic, thoughtful, nature-loving, described as “one of the nicest people” by his sister Ruth (03:59).
  • Family endured tragedy with his brother Zach's suicide in 2006, profoundly affecting Joshua (07:16).
• Disappearance Details (May 8, 2008):
  • Last seen leaving home for a walk.
  • Known to enjoy solitary hikes but took nothing for camping; initial family concern was low due to his habits (08:25–09:43).
  • Family waited five days to report him missing, later criticized; they believed he needed space as an 18-year-old (09:56).

2. Discovery: Grim Findings at the Cabin (August 2015)

• The Cabin:
  • Located less than a mile from Joshua’s home; abandoned and in disrepair (11:34–12:39).
• Body Discovery:
  • Joshua’s upside-down, mummified remains found lodged headfirst in the chimney, in a fetal position with legs above his torso, disconnected (12:39–13:21).
  • He was wearing only a thin thermal shirt; socks, shoes, underwear, and pants were found neatly folded inside the cabin (13:37).

“We don’t know why he took his clothes off, took his shoes and socks off, and why he then went outside, climbed on the roof, and went down the chimney. It was not linear thinking.” — Al Bourne, Teller County Coroner (15:14)

• Condition of the Body:
  • No signs of trauma, struggle, knife marks, or bullet wounds; advanced decomposition required dental records for identification (14:37–15:14).
  • Coroner deemed dehydration or hypothermia most likely causes, but could not confirm (15:21).

3. Baffling Physical Evidence & Scene Details

• Chimney Access and Blockages:

  • Cabin featured a metal grate/wire mesh on chimney top, supposedly to keep animals out.
  • Large wooden breakfast bar moved from an interior wall to block the fireplace (23:45). If Joshua entered through the roof, how did his clothes get inside and why block the fireplace after he entered?
  • Unanswered: “How do you get your body down the chimney but your clothes are already inside?” (43:22, 42:49–43:53).

• Cabin Location Context:

  • Once nearly isolated, but by 2012 had new houses built nearby; visible on Google Street View at the time Joshua’s body still lay undiscovered (20:07–20:26).

4. Official Rulings vs. Community Suspicion

• Coroner’s Conclusion:
  • Death ruled accidental (31:04), citing a voluntary act to gain entry to the cabin.
  • Family, cabin owner, and public questioned this logic due to evidence and oddities:

“We’ve come up with the most plausible explanation and it will remain an accident. He did come down the chimney. That’s our conclusion.” — Al Bourne, Coroner (30:54)

• Community Doubts:

  • Chuck Murphy (cabin owner) insisted the chimney’s heavy wire mesh would be near-impossible to bypass (38:22).
  • No clear evidence Joshua struggled with drugs, suicidal ideation, or mental illness beyond grief over his brother's suicide (28:12).

• Family’s Emotional Response:

“It’s not what we wanted. Obviously we wanted him to come home, but at least now we can stop looking. It’s a nightmare. I mean, it’s horrible.” — Sister Ruth Maddux (26:56)

• Reflections on Accident vs. Foul Play:
  • Some theorycrafting around hypothermia-induced “paradoxical undressing” and “terminal burrowing,” but the orderly folded clothing challenged these ideas (44:08).
  • Hosts ponder if Joshua could have been seeking shelter, injured, or facing confusion/mental distress; Daphne argues folding clothes isn’t typical of a hypothermic state (44:09).

5. Theories and Notorious Suspects

• Was It Foul Play?
  • Hosts discuss (46:09–46:42) the prospect Joshua was murdered and hidden in the chimney or died accidentally while with others, who then covered up his death.
• Andrew “Andy” Newman:
  • Former acquaintance of Joshua’s, later gained notoriety for violent crimes across six states (47:40–53:30).
  • Rumors sparked by a Reddit thread and local gossip that he might be connected to Joshua’s death (53:30–54:11).
  • Police and coroner cited no direct proof Andy was in town at the time or involved (54:13–55:28).

6. Enduring Mystery and Family Grief

• Official Statement on Unresolved Questions:

“I know it’s not a natural death, and I’m confident it’s not suicide. My other options are an accidental death, homicide, and undetermined cause. It is frustrating that we can’t pin it down.” — Coroner Al Bourne (55:31)

• Family Mourning:
  • Joshua’s siblings, especially Kate and Ruth, express ongoing pain and horror at his likely suffering (56:39), paired with gratitude for closure after years of searching.
  • Cabin has since been demolished and replaced by new homes.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• A community heartbreaker (03:59):

  “He was, quote, actually probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” — Ruth Maddux

• On the chilling discovery (12:41):

  “His legs had been found above his body and were disconnected from his torso…inside a chimney. He is head, like fetal position, upside down.” — Daphne

• On investigative confusion (14:37):

  “We do not know why he took his clothes off, took his shoes and socks off, and why he then went outside, climbed on the roof, and went down the chimney. It was not linear thinking.” — Coroner Al Bourne

• On the search for closure (26:56):

  “At least now we can stop looking. It’s a nightmare. I mean, it’s horrible.” — Ruth Maddux

• On speculation and official frustration (55:31):

  “It is frustrating that we can’t pin it down.” — Al Bourne

• Family’s pain (56:57):

  “It’s a horror story in my mind to imagine what my brother must have gone through. It’s been very awful. It’s a nightmare that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.” — Kate Maddux

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Major Theories Considered & Host Reflections

Accident?

• Joshua entered via chimney, seeking shelter or adventure (possibly during hypothermia).
• Problems: physical and behavioral implausibility, neat folding of clothes, blocked fireplace.
• Orderly clothing suggests intention or composure, not frantic hypothermic confusion (44:08, 44:09).

Foul Play?

• Suspected involvement of others (specifically Andy Newman, a drifter with a violent past).
• No evidence conclusively tying Andy or anyone else to Joshua's death.
• Hosts skeptical that anyone could get Joshua (alive or deceased) onto the roof and insert him headfirst into chimney, especially half-naked (46:42–47:03).

Suicide/Mental Heath Crisis?

• Family and hosts find this unlikely—no supporting evidence, and the chimney scenario does not fit.

Cover-up or Prank Gone Wrong?

• Possible accidental death in the cabin; someone panicked afterward and hid the body.
• Blocking the fireplace and the position of clothing imply a staged scene.

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Timeline of Critical Events

• May 8, 2008: Joshua disappears after “going for a walk” (08:25).
• August 6, 2015: Joshua’s remains found in a cabin chimney, less than a mile from home (11:34–12:41).
• Sep 28, 2015: Death officially ruled accidental (31:04).

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Closing Reflections

Daphne and Heath end with deep empathy for the Maddux family’s suffering and confusion, echoing community frustration at the lack of satisfying answers. The episode underscores the unresolved, almost surreal nature of Joshua’s case, encouraging listeners to share the story—and perhaps, someday, bring new light to the mystery.

“Something really strange happened inside that cabin and we need more details… let us know what you think.” — Daphne (59:07)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Personal Connection: 02:20–03:22
• Joshua’s Background: 03:59–08:25
• Disappearance Details: 08:25–11:34
• Discovery in the Chimney: 11:34–13:21
• Physical Evidence/Coroner Quotes: 13:37–16:42
• Cabin Context/Development: 19:24–21:41
• Scene Oddities (Chimney, Bar, Clothes): 23:45–26:11, 42:20–44:08
• Theories & Community Doubts: 38:06–44:08
• Possible Foul Play (Andy Newman): 47:40–55:28
• Family Reflections & Closure: 56:57–59:07

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For visuals, case maps, and further discussion, visit @goingwestpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

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Transcript

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[Heath]

Foreign. What is going on? True crime fans, I'm your host he

[Daphne]

and I'm your host Daphne and you're

[Heath]

listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

Hello everybody. Boy oh boy. Thank you Miranda for recommending this case. This is one I have heard of for a while. I've seen like the picture associated like the diagram associated with this case as well as that school photo of Joshua that has just broken my heart for years and we're like, we need to cover this because this is the strangest, creepiest story.

[Heath]

Yeah, it's one of those ones that I feel like probably has. I'm sure a lot of people have speculation or different opinions that are associated with today's case, but yeah, I mean, it's, it really is so strange. Just like trying to figure out what exactly happened.

[Daphne]

Oh my God, truly. We're gonna have photos, of course, on our socials for you guys to see. We're gonna have maps, different things so you can get like a better visual of what we're talking about. We're gonna do our best to describe it to you with words, but it's like, it is like beyond confounding. So without further ado.

[Heath]

Alright, guys, this is episode 616 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

In May, in 2008, an 18 year old man vanished without a trace near his Colorado home. For years his disappearance remained a mystery until a grim discovery inside an abandoned cabin nearby changed everything. After his body was found under heavily suspicious circumstances, lodged upside down and inside a chimney, there were rumors of foul play, hushed accusations involving a violent local man, and questions that investigators still cannot fully answer. This is the story of Joshua Maddox. Joshua Maddox was born on March 9, 1990 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to parents Roberta and Mike. He grew up alongside two sisters, Kate and Ruth, and a brother named Zach, and was the youngest of the four. Now, they say that Joshua never met a stranger and in fact his sister Ruth described that he was, quote, actually probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. The Maddoxes were deeply religious and valued, keeping their kids close. So for the first few years of his education, Joshua was homeschooled by his mother. But after second grade, he started attending elementary school in Woodland park, which is like a mountain community located about an hour and a half southwest of Denver. It's also very close to Colorado Springs, which is where, like I just said, Joshua was born.

[Heath]

It really does have. It kind of has like a more rural feel to it, even though there is a town there, you know?

[Daphne]

Yeah, it's like it has like 8,000 people living there now. So around that time it was a very similar population. So it's quite small, but yeah, very rural, but you're close to big cities. So kind of like the best of both worlds. Like the landscape of this area, there's very tall trees, but there's also like a lot of rocks and a lot

[Heath]

of pine trees and stuff.

[Daphne]

Pine trees, yeah, totally. So, but again, we'll Post photos if you guys want a visual. Well, his family remembers Joshua as a gifted student with a keen sense of humor and a talent for making friends. He was also very artistically inclined and even created his own comic strip, which he called Stickman and Smiley. He enjoyed writing music and loved to sing his songs on guitar. He was described as thoughtful, loving and kind. Just overall, a great kid. His parents did eventually divorce, and Joshua mostly remained living with his father, Mike, and his sisters. But in 2006, tragedy struck the otherwise very close knit family when on June 2, just a week before his high school graduation, Joshua's older brother Zach was found deceased in the family home, having taken his own life after a long battle with depression. Now, despite the fact that his family knew that he had been struggling, of course his death came as an absolute shock, and they were all really left reeling from the loss. Mike Maddox, their dad, later said, it was so difficult on Josh when his brother died. It pushed him over the edge. It was a big shock for the family and a big shock for Josh. He thought highly of his older brother and just, you know, the fact that Zach was Josh's older brother, he really idolized him and looked up to him. This was really hard on him. But still, his family says that Josh maintained a mostly upbeat outlook despite this devastating loss. Though he did kind of withdraw from his social life a bit, understandably so. He spent much of his free time just recharging in nature and would even occasionally camp out in the woods overnight on his own just to kind of take space that he needed from the stress and the grief that he faced, like being in this beautiful rural area. He really just tried to connect with

[Heath]

the outdoors, of course, and nature can be one of the most healing things for a human being. And on May 8, 2008, it was really no different. Josh took off from the family home, telling his sister Kate that he was just gonna go for a walk. He would frequently go for hikes alone, so nobody was concerned yet. As the hours ticked by and he never came home. But as it grew darker and colder, reaching temperatures in the low 30s down to the high 20s or between minus 1 degrees Celsius and negative 6 degrees Celsius, his family kind of started to become concerned. The following morning, when he still had not yet returned home, his dad Mike, remembered, I got up one morning and Josh was there. Then he never came home. The next day, he still didn't come home. I called his friends, but nobody had seen him. Nobody knows where he is, which, again,

[Daphne]

is concerning, especially because he was Just going on a walk. He told his sister, I am going on a walk. That's it.

[Heath]

Yes. You know, and it's one of those things where if Josh was known to go off on his own and maybe camp out a night, like, maybe that's kind of where their minds were going to at first.

[Daphne]

But he didn't have any of his stuff with him. You know, it's not like, oh, I have like some camping gear, I'm going off in my car somewhere. Yeah, but, yeah, maybe they thought, oh, we could have missed a detail. Maybe he did bring stuff with him.

[Heath]

So his parents and sisters started their own grassroots search, calling around to everybody who knew him and everybody he was basically close with just to see if they had any idea where he was, but continued to come up empty handed every time. His family waited five days to report him missing, which is something they were later criticized for, but they really didn't think that something bad had happened right away. His sister Ruth actually explained that Josh was 18, so they figured that he may have just been taking space from his family. So it wasn't until a few days passed with no word from him that they realized that he may actually need some help or he may have gotten himself into trouble. Now, the Pike National Forest loomed nearby and offered over a million acres of wildlife in which to explore, or in Joshua's case, and which he may have gotten lost in or possibly been injured.

[Daphne]

Yeah, basically this whole town is surrounded by the woods, so. And national parks, which again, you can see if you look at the map on our social. So they're kind of thinking, oh my God, he could actually be anywhere.

[Heath]

So the first few weeks of the family's search were abuzz with search efforts as his family diligently tracked down every possible avenue in hopes of possibly ascertaining Joshua's whereabouts. You know, they, at this point, they're very concerned because it has been, you know, nearly a week since he went missing. But as weeks turned into months, no news about Joshua surfaced. And during his first winter missing, his family became increasingly frightened that the worst had happened.

[Daphne]

Well, get this. Josh remained missing for seven whole years. It wasn't until August 6, 2015, that his body was discovered under truly baffling circumstances. That really left way more questions than answers. Well, that summer, again, 2015, a team of construction workers were demolishing an abandoned cabin less than a mile, or about one kilometer from Josh's home in Woodland Park. And inside the chimney of the cabin, they came upon a set of mummified remains wedged Head first folded and stuck in the fetal position. His legs had been found above his body and were disconnected from his torso. So again, essentially, picture inside a chimney. He is head, like fetal position, upside down. That's what we're looking at here.

[Heath]

Yes. Head first down that chimney.

[Daphne]

Like, essentially kind of in the middle of the chimney. And this was obviously a very confusing find. And investigators admitted that he most likely would have had to enter the chimney head first in order to wind up in this position. You know, obviously if he is upside down, it would make the most sense that he would have entered head first. But when you really look at it that way, like from an investigative standpoint, that's what they're trying to figure out. How did he end up in here? So for them to come to that conclusion of, like, well, he would have had to go down head first. That doesn't really make sense. Why would he enter that way? Why would anybody enter anything head first when you're going down something? You know what I mean?

[Heath]

Yeah. You would think that if you're trying to get to the bottom of the chimney and you're the per. You're the person, nobody else was responsible for it. If you're the person that's going down the chimney, you would want to go feet first.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Like shimmy down like the Grinch.

[Heath]

Yeah, exactly. You want to shimmy down. You want to land on your feet.

[Daphne]

Right. So that's why this is so concerning. Not only to find him like that, but to realize how he would have needed to go down it. Well, maybe even more curious was that he was only wearing a shirt which was like a thin thermal. His socks, shoes, underwear and pants had been removed and were folded up neatly awaiting him inside the cabin. So he is, like, naked except for a thin thermal shirt. And of course, tender a chimney. You gotta be on the roof. You gotta go from the top outside. But his clothes are already in the cabin. Not just strewn about, but they're folded neatly inside.

[Heath]

So it's like he had been in the cabin at one point.

[Daphne]

Right.

[Heath]

And then either, you know, something happened inside the cabin, or possibly he left. And then the door was, like, locked behind him. And he's like, how. How do I get back? Yeah, I don't know. That's so weird.

[Daphne]

That's the thing. It's so freaking weird. It's like you can't. You can't figure it out. Well, Al Bourne, the Teller county coroner, maintained, quote, this one really taxed our brains. We found his clothing just outside the firebox. So inside Outside the fireplace, he only had a thermal T shirt. We don't know why he took his clothes off, took his shoes and socks off, and why he then went outside, climbed on the roof, and went down the chimney. It was not linear thinking. Well, unfortunately, due to the amount of decomposition, because seven whole years had passed, there was very little that an autopsy could do to determine the cause or the manner of death. But the coroner was able to confirm that there were no signs of trauma or struggle on his body. They even had to confirm his identification via his dental records. That is how. How much decomp had set in. Al Bourne felt like the most likely cause of death was either dehydration or hypothermia. He stated in his report, quote, the hard tissue showed no signs of trauma. There were no broken bones, no knife marks. There were no bullet holes. There is so far, no answer to a number of things. It is very confusing. It was not an instant death. How he died is only a matter of speculation. But we know he did not starve to death because that takes many weeks. So then you go down the chain and you have dehydration, which can take just a few days. And the other thing would be hypothermia, which could take a day or two. We have no evidence to say which one came first. Which, like, either way, the idea that he was stuck upside down in a chimney, half naked, unable to get out for even a day or two, even a minute or two, makes me sick.

[Heath]

Yeah. I mean, you could just imagine the amount of claustrophobia. This really does remind me of the Nutty Putty Cave incident where that guy went down upside down, he got stuck. But what he died from is the fact that all the blood had rushed

[Daphne]

to his head, which you can imagine could be the case here as well.

[Heath]

Yeah, and I was thinking about that as well. If you were stuck upside down, how long would it take for you to die because of that?

[Daphne]

Oh, God, it's so. I mean, it's truly like a horror story.

[Heath]

I mean, imagine, like, laying your head off of a bed for numerous days,

[Daphne]

even a couple minutes. You're like, yeah, it hurts.

[Heath]

Yeah, it hurts. It does not feel good.

[Daphne]

But let alone a day or two or more, oh, my God, it's just unimaginable. Well, additionally, Al felt that there was no evidence to support the conclusion of foul play, trauma, or drug use. And I mean that from, like, an evidence level. Like, again, because he said there was no knife marks, there's no gunshot wounds, there's no evidence that there was Drugs in his body. Like they don't have that concrete evidence, so they can't say that. Well, another baffling detail was the circumstances of the chimney itself. So this particular cabin had not been inhabited in many years. In recent years, it had been owned by an 80 year old man named Chuck Murphy. And at times it had functioned as a hunting cabin, a storage facility, a rental property, and even a place for gamblers to meet up and play cards. It had been rented out as a live in facility until 2005. So about three years before he went missing, when its last tenant moved out and the home fell into disrepair, which was likely more troublesome than it was worth to continue to maintain. The cabin featured frequent animal activity, rotting wood, and it no longer had working electricity. It was cold, wet and drafty and would have cost too much to bring back up to livable standards. Chuck himself admitted the place was damp. It smelled like hell, there was raccoon poop all over the place. So for years, it sat defunct on Chuck Murphy's parcel of land. Again, this guy's like 80 years old. Until finally he was approached to sell the land to a developer hoping to build single family homes on the land, which was far more profitable than maintaining the property. So Chuck agreed to sell and the cabin was slated for demolition.

[Heath]

And that's exactly the point in time that they found Josh.

[Daphne]

Yes. And I want to again, if you can't go look at photos on our socials right now, I want to describe this area. So right now, like when I went to look at the Google street view today, I was like, what the hell? This is a suburban neighborhood. There's a bunch of homes nearby, There's a lot of trees, and right across the street is a line of trees. There's no houses across the street. Yeah, but there are some behind it and alongside it, all on a line, there's like, they're new builds, super beautiful houses. Like a really nice street, honestly. But then I went back to 2012, which is the farthest you can go back for Google Maps for this street on Meadowlark Lane.

[Heath]

Yes. And this was before they found Josh.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Okay. I'm glad you just remember. Reminded me of that. Because if he was found in 2015 when that Google car went past, little did they or anybody else know Josh's remains were in that chimney. When you look at it on Google Maps in 2012, he's in there.

[Heath]

Yep. You can literally see that cabin. And it's so eerie to know that Josh's body has been in that chimney. Or was in that chimney at that time, but had been in that chimney for years.

[Daphne]

So disturbing. And so it makes a huge difference when you look at it back in 2012, and then you look at it now, because back in 2012, you know, you can see there's. The windows are boarded up. The cabin itself sits, like a little bit off the road. And then there's no houses next to it. It looks like there might be something on the street behind it. And there. There was. You know, when I first heard about this case, I'm picturing this as like a cabin in the middle of the woods.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

That's not it.

[Heath]

You think it's like way, way out there, but it's not like that.

[Daphne]

No, it's not. It's like surrounded by streets and neighborhoods and all that stuff. This particular street, though, just had a lot of trees on it. So if he was going on a walk again, this is only about a mile away from his family home. He could have wound up there for sure.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And it wasn't a super remote area whatsoever, but there wasn't anybody next door quite yet. But as of 2009, the first house on that street was built. And then over the years, more and more came up, and now it's full.

[Heath]

Right. So we know that when Josh went missing between 2008 to, you know, today, they had been starting to develop properties there, different houses and stuff. So you can imagine back when he did go missing, there probably wasn't a ton around.

[Daphne]

Right. But actually, yeah, because the first house was built in 2009 when he went missing, it might have been in development, maybe, which means there might have been somebody else on that street. But otherwise, you know, if there weren't builders there, there's really nobody. Nobody on that street.

[Heath]

Well, thankfully, this project, you know, when. After Chuck sold that land, it was still in its early phase when Joshua's remains were found, or else they may have never been found, or at least they wouldn't have been found intact to, you know, paint some picture here.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Because if they had demolished it and then found the bones, you would have no idea where was he in this house.

[Heath]

Right. We wouldn't know the position in which he was in the chimney or anything,

[Daphne]

or maybe that he was even in it, like, thankfully. Wow.

[Heath]

So Chuck Murphy explained himself, quote, they were just gathering up all the steel, angle iron and things as part of the demolition. They had no idea the mesh had any significance. And we're going to be talking about that mesh here in a second. Well, investigators couldn't determine how he'd even gotten in the chimney, as the opening was narrow and the top supported a metal grate at the base of the chimney, A large wooden shelf described as a breakfast bar was placed in front of the fireplace. So it seemed that whether he had gotten himself wedged inside the chimney or. Or he had been placed inside of it, either Josh or someone else had really wanted him to wind up in there. Now, strangely, this breakfast bar had been affixed to another wall inside the cabin, but it had been ripped down and placed haphazardly in front of the fireplace, which is something that Joshua couldn't possibly have done after getting stuck in the fireplace, if that is, in fact, what happened. Okay, so basically, this little breakfast bar it's sitting on, it's attached to a different wall inside the cabin. There's the fireplace over here on a different wall is this breakfast bar. Right. So somebody at some point had ripped that breakfast. That breakfast bar off the wall and then placed it in front of the fireplace, like, blocking it. So why would you do that? Like, I don't. I don't understand why anybody would feel the need to block the fireplace, Especially because it's not. As we've mentioned, this cabin was abandoned. It was dilapidated. So what is the point of that breakfast bar being in front of the fireplace?

[Daphne]

I mean, he could have done that before he went up to the chimney since it was inside the cabin. But the thing that's weird, the picture that paints for me, I guess, is that somebody was trying to block the fireplace.

[Heath]

That's right.

[Daphne]

And why would you want. Sorry.

[Heath]

Yeah, that's where my mind goes to as well. That somebody was trying to hide something by blocking it, or that they were

[Daphne]

trying to stop Josh from exiting the fireplace if he had found his way down to the bottom of the chimney.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

Like maybe they were trying to trap him in there. If that's where this is going, I don't know. That's just where my mind goes.

[Heath]

Well, that's definitely where my mind is going as well. Well, unfortunately, Chuck couldn't recall when he remembered seeing it moved there. But the reasoning for Joshua being upside down and inside the chimney, as well as how he managed to get in there, and the detail of the partial nudity and the neatly folded but discarded clothing made for a very baffling set of circumstances here. So Chuck is saying that he doesn't. He doesn't remember if he had ever moved that breakfast bar or why it would be there.

[Daphne]

Right, because maybe before Josh even got there, it was in front of the fireplace. And then you would maybe wonder, oh, well. But I don't know, I was gonna say, well, you can't get into it that way because the fireplace is blocked off. But why would you want to? Anyway, I don't know. I mean, I guess if he was really determined to get into the chimney, he would know that the only way he could is if he goes onto the roof. But again, why?

[Heath]

Yeah, because you're not gonna move this breakfast bar, get on your hands, do a fucking handstand inside a chimney and shimmy your way up that way and then get stuck.

[Daphne]

Just none of it makes sense. But, I mean, it would be good to know if that breakfast bar was placed there before Josh even got there or if that's a part of the story.

[Heath]

Well, obviously this entire thing was very devastating, especially in the aftermath of his brother Zach's tragic suicide. And his family was just desperate for answers in his sudden and very mysterious disappearance. However, they did acknowledge that they were thankful for the closure it brought to them. I mean, after so many years, they're like, we just wanted to find Josh.

[Daphne]

But imagine, like, I can't even. I can't even imagine how that must have felt for them to finally find out where he is and that he's deceased and then be presented with the details of how he was found.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And knowing that he was right there in town in some random ass cabin, upside down, and that he may have had a horrific, slow death.

[Heath]

Yeah. And after all those years of probably trying to think of different scenarios in which could have happened to Josh, like, did he catch a ride somewhere? Did he go off on his own? You know, there's probably so many things that they were thinking of over those years just for him to only be one mile away from their home. Well, his sister Ruth maintained, quote, it's not what we wanted. Obviously we wanted him to come home, but at least now we can stop looking. It's a nightmare. I mean, it's horrible. It's so hard to deal with every day. It's good to have closure now because we're not going to just keep looking for him, because that's been really, really tough.

[Daphne]

Well, as they attempted to try to make sense of the strange and tragic discovery, Josh's family held a public community memorial service for anybody who knew and loved Josh, or even those who simply wanted to offer their condolences. Because, remember, everybody loved Josh. His own sister said he's the nicest person she's ever met.

[Heath]

Right. And this is also a fairly, as you mentioned, A fairly small town. It's not that big.

[Daphne]

There's only smaller than where you grew up, which I consider very small.

[Heath]

Exactly. Yeah. So not very many people.

[Daphne]

And like you were just saying, Heath, they were truly astounded when they found out that Josh had only been just up the street from all that time. And they told the press that as far as they knew, he was not suffering from a problem with drugs or his mental health. Of course, his brother passing away a couple years earlier was really hard on him, but a couple years had passed. He seemed like he was doing well, you know, as. As well as he could have been. So it's not. They didn't have anything to report that was strange about his behavior or his habits. However, his sister Kate admitted that they did sometimes wonder during the years while he was still missing if he had simply taken off to have an adventure or gone off to kind of start anew, even though they were like, he couldn't have done that. But they're thinking, well, maybe he did. Because Ruth actually said, quote, josh was a free spirit, and he always told us that he was going to have a great adventure, and he may not talk to us for a while. When he said a while, we thought maybe a few years. So they were being very hopeful. They're like, oh, maybe he's on a great adventure and he just decided to go live his life.

[Heath]

Yeah. Even though they're like, at that point, he's 18. You know, it's like, that's typically when people feel, you know, that you're an adult now. Yeah.

[Daphne]

That.

[Heath]

That wanderlust. They're like, I want to try something new, go somewhere.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So true. You have that freedom now of adulthood. But they would at least have hoped that he would have said, hey, I'm going.

[Heath]

Yeah, he didn't say anything.

[Daphne]

Yeah, he didn't say anything except for I'm going on a walk. So that's why it was like, they hoped that was the case. But they also were like, no, there's no way. Well, his father, Mike, said sadly, quote, for years, there's tears and prayers and hope and hoping. There's hope and wondering and waiting. All of a sudden, you're on a roller coaster. Well, officially, Josh's case was thought to be an accident on September 28, 2015. So the month after he was found, Al Borne, the coroner, ruled the case an accidental death, claiming that Josh had climbed into the chimney and wedged himself inside. He added that this was most likely a voluntary act to gain access, despite repeated pleas to reopen the case or conduct a more thorough investigation. Al Born announced. We've come up with the most plausible explanation and it will remain an accident. He did come down the chimney. That's our conclusion.

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shopify.com goingwest that's shopify.com going west. Well, especially once the details reached the Internet, the questions left behind became far too confounding to ignore. Theories may Be all that are left behind regarding the investigation into his death. But many have encouraged the Woodland park police to take a second second look Due to some of the more sinister details. Josh's family and his community, but especially the owner of the cabin. Again, Chuck took issue with the conclusion of the investigation. Chuck maintained that the chimney had only been built about two decades prior and that it was not in as poor a shape as the rest of the house. But more curiously, he said, was the issue of the metal grate, the that covered the top of the chimney. Thick wire mesh was attached to steel hooks covering the top in order to keep pests out. And Chuck just couldn't imagine how anybody could have gotten inside. Saying it was a heavy wire grate, a wire mesh, I installed it across the chimney about one row of bricks from the top. We didn't want trouble with raccoons and things getting into the chimney. But Al concluded that the grate had most likely fallen prey to rust and been compromised, and that Joshua wedged it open and then wriggled inside, saying nobody saw the metal mesh. We didn't see it in any of our photos. It may have disappeared. So regarding why he was at this cabin, Some wonder if he was meeting up with someone there, While others wonder if he took his own life due to his struggles with possibly dealing with his brother's suicide. Or Joshua may have simply been out exploring and then sought refuge in the cabin as the evening grew colder and darker on the day of his disappearance. He may have also simply just been curious about the abandoned log cabin so close to his childhood home, and then forced his way inside to explore it. But whether his death was truly an accident and how or why he wound up inside the chimney is still a mystery that we may never understand.

[Daphne]

Part of me is like, why would he go in there? You know, he has no idea what's inside, especially because the windows were boarded up. But it makes me think back when I was in maybe my senior year of high school, My friend and I were making a short film, and we found this cabin, like, in the woods outside of Los Angeles. And we were, like, walking and we found it, and it was so beautiful, and all we wanted to do was go inside, and we were, like, trying to get in, but it was totally locked up and closed. Like we couldn't. Weren't going to break in either. But maybe he was curious about it. And then something else I wonder is if maybe somebody was squatting inside, you know, maybe somebody violent and wild enough to do something like shove him down a Chimney. It's just really difficult for me to imagine how and why he got himself in the chimney based on what people are saying about how it would have been so difficult to do. Like again, he would have needed to be on the roof. We know he wasn't wearing any pants or underwear, so he's naked from the waist down. He would have needed to get on top of the roof. This is a one story cabin, by the way. And when you look at pictures of the chimney and how narrow it really is, like, I, I mean, I just want to keep saying why.

[Heath]

Yeah, my first thought was that, you know, maybe he took off his pants and underwear so that they wouldn't get snagged as he was going down the chimney. Like maybe, you know, maybe he had some thought, like maybe there might be a screw or something inside there that would snag his clothing. So I, I gotta like take off. But, but why the underwear?

[Daphne]

But also why you're inside the cabin already, so. Because your clothes are there, so why take off your clothes? Yeah, that's to climb onto a roof.

[Heath]

That's the other part that's so confusing is like the clothes were already inside, so how did they end up in there? I don't understand it.

[Daphne]

Well, and why? Because again, if he was like, oh, I want to get in here, maybe I'll just go down the chimney like I'm Santa Claus. And then he gets stuck. But he, he had already been inside because his clothes were in there. So then why go down the chimney? Especially because again, you would have to be on the roof half naked in a public area where anybody could have driven by. There's like a paved ass road outside. This is a neighborhood.

[Heath]

Yeah, I'm like, again, I'm wondering if he had already gained access to the cabin, like maybe somehow got locked out of it. Because you just can't, you, well, you just can't explain how his clothes are inside the cabin. You know what I mean? Because it's like if you, if you went down the, down the chimney, you're on top of the roof, you went down and you took your clothes off, you would imagine that your clothes would be neatly folded on the fucking roof. Right? Like you would think that they would be on the roof, but they weren't. They were inside the cabin.

[Daphne]

Right outside the fireplace.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Daphne]

That had the breakfast bar in front of it. So unless like we said earlier, that he was like, oh, let me go inside the chimney, let me investigate, I want to go inside. Who the hell, who wants to do that? It doesn't make any sense.

[Heath]

No, it doesn't.

[Daphne]

Well, some have pointed out that if he happened to find himself cold or lost or maybe even injured and seeking refuge inside the cabin as he walked past it, he may not have been in his right mind. And perhaps he thought he would be safer or warmer inside the concealed space of the chimney, which is what is known as terminal burrowing. Or maybe he just wanted to spend the night there inside the cabin, which, again, I don't know why he'd go into the chimney if he was already inside the cabin. But if he had suffered an injury or, like the coroner determined, could have succumbed to hypothermia, he may have been disoriented and didn't realize the dangers of forcing his way into the chimney. Now, the phenomenon of paradoxical undressing, in which someone in the late stages of hypothermia actually feels too warm and begin shedding their layers, may explain why most of his clothes were found inside the home. But that does not justify why they were folded neatly. It just seems weird that somebody in the throes of hypothermia would, like, have the wherewithal to neatly discard and stack their clothes. Right, But Chuck maintained, quote, there's no way that guy crawled inside that chimney with that steel webbing. He didn't come down the chimney. He was only wearing his thermal shirt, no pants, no shoes or socks. Well, contrary to all of these theories is another much darker possibility that one of Joshua's friends or acquaintances had lured him there specifically to hurt him and discard his body in a, you know, in a place that was not obvious, really hide it and make it look like an accident. Because I gotta say, if you wanna hide somebody's body, a chimney feels like a pretty decent place to do it. In an abandoned ass cabin.

[Heath]

Yeah, I would say so. And, you know, maybe it's one of those things where possibly Joshua's death was an accident and somebody was just trying to cover it up. You know, it's not always like a nefarious thing as like, oh, I'm out to get you. But maybe, maybe they were doing some drugs that day. Maybe in the cabin.

[Daphne]

In an abandoned cabin where nobody would be, by the way. That actually makes sense.

[Heath]

Somebody passes away, you're like, I don't want to go to prison. I need to cover this up. Where's a good place to hide a body? Boom. There's a chimney.

[Daphne]

It's just so weird. Still, that that would mean that somebody else would have had to have gotten him up Onto that roof, that he and somebody else would have gone onto the roof and somebody would have put his body down there. Because it would be different if he was found at the bottom and somebody like put him up the chimney instead. And they were on the floor, on the ground.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

But the fact that they would have had to have gotten Josh onto that roof to put him down the chimney, how did they do that? I mean, Josh wasn't a terribly large guy, but it's just like literally no part of it makes any sense.

[Heath]

But then, you know, what's the purpose, I guess, of taking off the pants and the socks and the shoes and all that?

[Daphne]

You know, there's no, there's none in any scenario. So, you know, while this theory of somebody else being involved may sound far fetched, it comes after one of Joshua's former classmates happened to be arrested for an unrelated murder.

[Heath]

Yeah, so let's talk about that. So Andrew Newman, better known as Andy, had built up quite a rap sheet for himself in the years since he left his native Colorado following an arrest in Texas. Authorities told him that he was also wanted in connection with an unsolved stabbing death in Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 2, 2009, as well as an unsolved robbery back in Seattle. According to multiple sources who knew Andy, he had also bragged about murdering a woman in Taos, New Mexico, and discarded her body in a barrel before fleeing town. After leaving Colorado, he was homeless and transient, living on his crime spree for multiple years and jumping trains in order to travel from state to state. His criminal record spanned six states, and each time he spoke with police, he offered up a different name. Andy had recently spent time in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, New Mexico, and ultimately wound up in Houston, Texas, before he turned himself in. Then In June of 2009, after he was attempting to flag down multiple cars in traffic, he showed up at a house on the west side of Houston asking for assistance. Two teenagers who were home at the time, a 15 year old boy and a 17 year old girl, offered him food and water and then reported his presence to their parents, telling them that the man was acting strangely. Apparently, Andy had been going door to door in the neighborhood, begging for food and water.

[Daphne]

Yeah, and the parents are, you know, the kids are like, oh, hey, there's this weird man in our house and we just fed him.

[Heath]

We just let him in. They're like, what? Well, their parents arrived home and offered to drive him to the next county, but instead transported Andy to the local sheriff's department, where he finally turned himself in and was officially arrested for his outstanding warrants. So because he's going around, you, know, trying to get food and water, the parents are like, sure, sure, sure. We can give you a ride somewhere. Bam. To the police station.

[Daphne]

So Andy was fingerprinted and questioned in connection with his crimes Back in albuquerque and seattle. And the crime he was connected with in albuquerque Was a brutal, stabbing death. So what happened There is on May 2, 2009. This, of course, is a little less than a year after josh vanished. About six weeks prior to his arrest, Andy and two residents of an apartment Were hanging out and drinking. And one of the residents, Anthony schneider, Was disabled and needed living care, which andy's friend James waito, was providing for him. James, who offered to let andy stay with them Anytime he visited albuquerque, Left the two men alone in order to go take a shower. And when he came back, Anthony had been stabbed and left bleeding on the couch, which is so freaking sad. And andy was nowhere to be found. Anthony schneider passed away from his injuries, and during that time, Andy fled the area and had been wanted for weeks. But somehow, in the end, Andy avoided culpability for this crime. His mental health was evaluated, and he was found to have diminished mental capacity following years of mental health struggles. So he and his public defender entered a plea of not guilty. On September 12, 2009, he was caught attempting to try to escape police custody. And while being held in police custody, his attorney pushed for him to be admitted to the new mexico behavioral health institute in hopes of achieving the mental acuity necessary to stand trial. His attorney, robert work, told the judge, Mr. Newman has been assigned to be my client. But Mr. Newman is obviously in pretty bad shape this morning. I'm not sure he knows what's going on, so I need to enter a plea of not guilty on his behalf. I would ask that I'm aware, as his attorney, what the charges are, But I've tried to talk to him Best we can get, See if he's in better shape, and ask that a reasonable bond be set. What a strange development. Absolved andy of legal ramifications altogether. Andy's friend and Anthony's caretaker. Again, James, was killed following an altercation at a bar. And unfortunately, without him, the case against Andy fell apart. The charges against him were eventually dropped, and andy remained in a mental Hospital until 2011. And since then, there is little paper trail available for his whereabouts and movements, Minus a trespassing charge in 2013. Now, as for that murder in taos, There is no evidence that he is connected to any such Murder in Taos or elsewhere. So this seems to have been a false confession, maybe born from a desire for attention. So, again, the reason that we're bringing this up, this is just heavily discussed in Josh's case. I know, Heath, you're about to go into, like, why and where this really came about in the first place, but the fact that somebody that lived in Woodland park and knew Josh a year after Josh went missing went on this, you know, wild spree makes people wonder if before he headed to Portland and Seattle, if part of the reason that he fled in the first place is because he first killed Josh and then went off and did all this other horrible shit.

[Heath]

Well, surprisingly, or maybe not not surprisingly, this all came to light because of a comment in a Reddit thread from one of Andy's former classmates. So I want to read that comment for you guys. It reads, turns out that in addition to becoming a lot scarier looking, Andy had indeed headed down to New Mexico, where he found himself shooting the shit with the caretaker of a disabled guy and got invited over to their apartment. Caretaker gets in the shower, and when he comes back out, the disabled guy is stabbed to death and Andy's gone. When Andy got arrested, he also claimed to have killed a woman in Taos and stuffed her body in a barrel,

[Daphne]

which, you know, that's interesting if you're

[Heath]

making a little connection there. Well, the cops had indeed found a woman stuffed in a barrel and Taos, but already had somebody in custody for it and decided to stick with that guy instead. What? Years later, I found out that the caretaker had died in a bar fight, and without him, the cops didn't have much in the way of evidence somehow, and that case against Andy was dropped, too. So this became, you know, Internet fodder for years and set forth a slew of new theories in Joshua's case. Back in Colorado, rumors abounded in Woodland park about Andy's potential contribution to Joshua's death. And many people, including Josh's own family, urged Al Bourne and the Woodland park police to investigate a link between Andy as well as Josh. So they're trying to find the link there. But Alborn maintained there's a lot of hearsay that this person was the last one to see him and that kind of thing. But they can't give me times and specifics, and we can't generate stuff that goes back seven years. These theories could only make sense if it was multiple men involved. Al added that although Andy was from the area, there was just no proof that he was actually in town at the time of Joshua's death.

[Daphne]

Unfortunately, there's no evidence of anything other than the fact that Josh died.

[Heath]

Yes. However, Al did admit that there was reasonable doubt to his conclusion, explaining, quote, I know it's not a natural death, and I'm confident it's not suicide. My other options are an accidental death, homicide, and undetermined cause of death. It is frustrating that we can't pin it down.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Because remember, even though in the beginning he was talking about. Al was saying, oh, maybe it was hypothermia or starvation or dehydration, but obviously, as we said, he had ruled it accidental. So he doesn't necessarily think any of those things happen because he doesn't know. So he can't say, oh, Josh died of natural causes because he doesn't know how he died.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

Which is why he said accidental, because he knows it's not a suicide. You know, I mean, which. If he knows it's not a suicide and he doesn't think it's natural, then that would mean accidental or foul play. And accidental would mean, oh, well, I think he went down the chimney, not meaning to get stuck in there.

[Heath]

Yeah, exactly.

[Daphne]

But he still doesn't know why he would go down the chimney, which is why he cannot come to a conclusion.

[Heath]

Well, Kate said in an interview, in relation to the rumors about Andy's involvement, quote, we'll never really know what happened to him. It's a horror story in my mind to imagine what my brother must have gone through. It's been very awful. It's a nightmare that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

[Daphne]

Well, while right now we don't know for sure how Josh ended up in the chimney nearly 20 years ago, his family maintains that, again, they are at least thankful that they know what happened to him in some regard, that they know where he wound up and don't have to live with the idea that he may be out there somewhere alive. Ruth now has children of her own and has enjoyed sharing stories about the uncle they never got to meet, but who is very much still a part of their family. Like we kind of said when we talked about where the neighborhood is today, that cabin that Josh was found in has since been torn down and replaced with a beautiful new build. And as of this year, no more investigative efforts have been attempted in the strange, mysterious death of Joshua Maddox. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. This case is really hard because it feels like it. Because of the strangeness that's surrounding it. You know, your mind goes to nefarious things, but it's also like without any evidence of a perpetrator or somebody possibly being involved, you know, there's, there's nothing else to go on to say that foul play was involved.

[Daphne]

No. It's truly so hard. And of course, because this is a true crime podcast, you know, our minds are automatically kind of going, well, there, well, there has to be somebody else involved. But it is hard to go there too because again, that would mean that somebody else was there. That Josh died by nefarious reasons that did not involve like severe trauma to the body or a gunshot or a knife wound.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Which is very much possible. He could have been strangled, but. Or there could have been like drugs involved. Of course, because we don't have the

[Heath]

toxicology possibility, but we also don't know, you know, who Josh might have been hanging with if he was hanging with anybody before he ended up in that chimney.

[Daphne]

Right.

[Heath]

We just, we don't have anything.

[Daphne]

It's so freaking hard. Like, I really don't even know what to think. But something really strange happened inside that cabin and we need more details, so please make sure you share this story and let us know what you think. We're on Instagram @goingwest podcast. We're also on Facebook and TikTok, so comment and let us know.

[Heath]

Yes, and that's also where we're going to be posting the maps and pictures from today's case. So make sure you go check them out. Alright, guys. So for everybody out there in the

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I thought it was safe.

[LifeLock Announcer]

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[Daphne]

If you're looking for new ways to get ahead, then you're our kind of person. We're Udemy and we help learners like you upskill in AI, productivity, leadership and management and more. Learn at your own pace from real world experts. You can also prep for certifications that show employers what, you know, upskill for the career you [e-mail] now back to your regularly scheduled listening.

[Heath]

Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster. I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury bury my sweet nibbles after his untimely end. This is very strange. Angie the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home [e-mail]

[Daphne]

in the US there's a break in every 26 seconds, but when intruders step near Simplisafe, home security steps up.

[Heath]

Stop. This is Simplisafe. Police are on the way.

[Daphne]

Using AI alerts, US based live agents help deter break ins. SimpliSafe no long term contracts. Save 50% on your new system with break professional monitoring at simplisafe.com sxm or with promo code sxm.

[Heath]

Outdoor deterrence requires a Simplisafe Active Guard Outdoor Protection plan starting at $49.99 a month.

[Daphne]

Visit simplisafe.com licenses for alarm license information.

[Heath]

Tennessee 2012.