The Mystery Deepens: What Really Happened to Joshua Maddux?

A Grim Discovery

Seven years later, in August 2015, construction workers demolishing an old cabin on Meadowlark Lane made a shocking discovery. 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 cabin was less than a mile from his home.

Authorities reported that Joshua wore only a thin thermal shirt. His other clothes—pants, shoes, and socks—were neatly folded inside the cabin. A heavy wooden breakfast bar had been dragged to block the chimney from the inside.

Investigation and Questions

Teller County Coroner Al Born conducted an autopsy. There were no signs of trauma, no broken bones, no weapons, and no drugs. Born initially ruled the death accidental, theorizing Joshua had climbed into the chimney and succumbed to hypothermia as nighttime temperatures dropped into the 20s.

But the cabin’s owner, Chuck Murphy, disagreed. “The place was damp. It smelled like hell. There was raccoon poop all over the place,” he said. Twenty years earlier, he had installed steel mesh at the top of the chimney to block animals. “There’s no way he crawled inside with that mesh,” Murphy insisted.

Faced with these inconsistencies, Born reopened the case. The position of Joshua’s body suggested he entered head-first, likely requiring more than one person. The coroner revised his ruling to undetermined, acknowledging the bizarre and unexplained circumstances.

Unsolved Mystery

Over the years, Murphy occasionally checked the cabin and noticed a foul smell, but assumed rodents had died inside. The remote location meant that even if Joshua had called for help, no one would have heard him.

For Joshua’s family, the discovery ended years of uncertainty but offered little comfort. Kate admitted the situation made no sense—they had expected him to be somewhere else, far from home.

Murphy reflected, “It’s a real conundrum. A tragic, terrible story. We’ll never really know what happened. One of those sad stories that just haunts you.”

Joshua Maddux’s death remains a chilling mystery—a heartbreaking reminder of life’s fragility and the unanswered questions that can linger for years.