Joshua Maddux went out for a walk \u2014 and never returned.<\/p>\n
Years later, his remains were discovered trapped inside a chimney, and the circumstances of his death remain unexplained.<\/p>\n
A frantic search
\nJoshua 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 \u2014 the painful divorce of his parents and the devastating loss of his brother to suicide in 2006 \u2014 but Joshua\u2019s resilience shone through, keeping his optimism and adventurous nature alive.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He even told his sister Kate he was heading out \u2014 but he never came home.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Josh\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the family couldn\u2019t help but reflect on the tragedy that had struck just two years earlier, when Josh\u2019s older brother Zachary died by suicide shortly before graduating high school.<\/p>\n
Josh\u2019s father, Mike, later said Zachary\u2019s death had hit Josh hard, but friends and family insisted that, before his disappearance, he seemed happy and full of life.<\/p>\n
A grim discovery
\nIt would take seven long years before anyone found Josh.<\/p>\n
In August 2015, construction workers made a grim discovery while demolishing an old cabin on Meadowlark Lane to make way for new homes.<\/p>\n
Inside one of the cabin\u2019s chimneys, wedged in a fetal position, was a mummified body. Dental records confirmed the worst: it was Joshua Maddux.<\/p>\n
\u201cI about had a heart attack,\u201d Mike Maddux said.<\/p>\n
The abandoned cabin was less than a mile from his home, just two blocks away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen his body was found, he wore only a thin thermal shirt. His other clothes, pants, shoes, and socks were neatly folded inside the cabin,\u201d authorities reported.<\/p>\n
Even stranger, a heavy wooden breakfast bar had been dragged to block the chimney from the inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joshua Maddux went out for a walk \u2014 and never returned. Years later, his remains were discovered trapped inside a chimney, and the circumstances of his death… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n