Joshua Maddux went out for a walk — and never returned.

Years later, his remains were discovered trapped inside a chimney, and the circumstances of his death remain unexplained.

A frantic search
Joshua Maddux was an 18-year-old with a free spirit and a love for the outdoors.A bright student with a flair for writing and music, he lived in Woodland Park, Colorado, with his father and two sisters. Life had already thrown him unimaginable hardships — the painful divorce of his parents and the devastating loss of his brother to suicide in 2006 — but Joshua’s resilience shone through, keeping his optimism and adventurous nature alive.

On May 8, 2008, Joshua left his home for what seemed like a simple walk. The nature-loving teen with the long blond hair often wandered alone through the nearby Pike National Forest.

He even told his sister Kate he was heading out — but he never came home.

Days turned into a frantic search. His father, Mike Maddux, called friends and combed the neighborhood, but there was no sign of Josh. After five days, a missing person report was filed with local authorities. Despite the police and family scouring the nearby woods, months stretched into years with no clue.

Josh’s family clung to hope. His sister Kate imagined he might be touring with a band or writing novels under a pen name, living the solitary life he loved. They expected him to return one day with stories, perhaps even a family of his own.

At the same time, the family couldn’t help but reflect on the tragedy that had struck just two years earlier, when Josh’s older brother Zachary died by suicide shortly before graduating high school.

Josh’s father, Mike, later said Zachary’s death had hit Josh hard, but friends and family insisted that, before his disappearance, he seemed happy and full of life.

A grim discovery
It would take seven long years before anyone found Josh.

In August 2015, construction workers made a grim discovery while demolishing an old cabin on Meadowlark Lane to make way for new homes.

Inside one of the cabin’s chimneys, wedged in a fetal position, was a mummified body. Dental records confirmed the worst: it was Joshua Maddux.

“I about had a heart attack,” Mike Maddux said.

The abandoned cabin was less than a mile from his home, just two blocks away.

“When his body was found, he wore only a thin thermal shirt. His other clothes, pants, shoes, and socks were neatly folded inside the cabin,” authorities reported.

Even stranger, a heavy wooden breakfast bar had been dragged to block the chimney from the inside.