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Colorado Bureau of InvestigationJoshua Maddux was last seen leaving his Woodland Park, Colorado, home on May 8, 2008.On May 8, 2008, 18-year-old Joshua Maddux told his family that he was going for a walk. He had a love for nature and the quiet solitude of Woodland Park, Colorado. Josh often wandered for hours, sometimes lost in thought, sometimes strumming his guitar or jotting down lyrics.When Josh didnt return that evening, his family didnt immediately panic. But when several days went by without any sign of the teenager, it was clear that something was wrong. For the next seven years, Joshs loved ones searched ceaselessly for him. They checked camp sites and homeless shelters, hoping that hed simply run away to start a new life. Then, in August 2015, construction workers demolishing an abandoned cabin just a quarter-mile from the Maddux familys home found a body stuck in the chimney. It was Joshua Maddux. Had he climbed into the tight space himself and become trapped or had something more sinister happened?The Disappearance Of Joshua MadduxJoshua Vernon Josh Maddux was born in Colorado Springs on March 9, 1990. He was a talented writer and artist from a young age, and he enjoyed playing his guitar and creating his own comic strip called Stickman and Smiley. When he didnt come home after going for a walk near his home in Woodland Park, Colorado, on May 8, 2008, his father wasnt initially concerned. But when Josh still hadnt returned the next day, Mike Maddux started calling his sons friends. Nobody had seen him.Maddux FamilyJosh Maddux with his sister, Ruth.It was then that the family started to worry. Two years earlier, their oldest son, Zachary, had died by suicide. Josh had taken his brothers death hard, and while he hadnt seemed to be struggling with his mental health, the Madduxes were concerned that Josh had succumbed to his own demons.Still, they never stopped searching for him. Days turned into weeks, then months, and then years. Joshs sister, Kate, clung to hope. As the Colorado Springs Gazette reported in 2015, Kate wrote for a neighborhood website years after her brothers disappearance, Since Josh was 18, it has been reasonable to assume he may have decided to leave town to start a new life.Unfortunately, that wasnt the case.The Gruesome Discovery Of The Boy In The ChimneyIn August 2015, more than seven years after Joshua Maddux vanished, a demolition crew stumbled upon a shocking scene while working at an empty cabin in the Maddux familys neighborhood. As workers began dismantling the fireplace, they discovered a partially mummified body crammed inside the chimney in the fetal position.The remains were sent to the medical examiners office and were identified as those of Joshua Maddux. The county coroner, Al Born, found no sign of trauma, such as bullet holes or broken bones. It appears to have been a voluntary act to gain access, Born noted. But others werent so sure.Google MapsThe abandoned cabin where Joshua Madduxs body was found, seen here in 2012.The cabins owner, Chuck Murphy, told the police that there was a metal grate on the top of the chimney to keep wildlife out. There was no way Josh could have replaced it himself after crawling inside. Murphy rarely visited the residence, but when he had stopped by in recent years to check on things, hed noticed that it smelled bad, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Hed assumed it was just a dead animal.Whats more, Joshua Maddux was wearing only a shirt when he died. The rest of his clothes were on the fireplace hearth. Hed clearly been inside the house prior to entering the chimney, so why would he have climbed in from the top?With each new discovery, the mystery only deepened. What Happened To Joshua Maddux?In the years since Joshua Madduxs body was found, various theories have unfolded surrounding his mysterious death.Coroner Al Born maintained that Josh had likely shimmied into the chimney in an attempt to enter the house and was unable to get back out. It was not an instant death, he told the Huffington Post in 2015.How he died is only a matter of speculation, continued Born, 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.Hypothermia can begin in temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the low in Woodland Park the night of May 8, 2008, was 37 degrees. Its possible that Joshua made it into the cabin, became trapped, and started exhibiting unusual behavior due to the low temperatures. Paradoxical undressing, a phenomenon in which people suffering from hypothermia remove their clothing because they feel hot, is one explanation for why Josh was found mostly undressed. Delirious from exposure, the teenager may have crawled into the chimney in a desperate attempt to find warmth.Kate Maddux/GoFundMeJosh Maddux loved music and playing the guitar.However, theories of foul play have also persisted. In small towns like Woodland Park, rumors spread quickly. One tip mentioned that Josh was seen with another man shortly before his disappearance someone who went on to have a long criminal history. However, he was never officially named a suspect in the case of Joshua Maddux.Did Josh really climb into the chimney on his own? Was he murdered and then stuffed inside? Or, worse, did someone trap him in there and leave him to suffer?Regardless of how Joshua Maddux died, his family was left to wrangle with their unimaginable loss.I have expected Josh to return home to my fathers house at any time with a wife and small children so that they can meet their grandparents and two aunts, Kate Maddux wrote. Josh has always been known for his musical and literary talent, so maybe we would find him playing music with a band on tour or catch him authoring successful novels under a pen name so that he could keep his preferred lifestyle of solitude in the woods.The last seven years has been really difficult and painful, Kate told the Huffington Post in 2015. But given the strange circumstances, its kind of a miracle that were having the opportunity now to give him the proper service and burial he deserves. Hes not lost anymore. This isnt how we wanted him to come home, but he has come home, and thats important.While the question of where Joshua Maddux vanished to that spring day in 2008 has been answered, the circumstances surrounding his ultimate fate remain one of the strangest mysteries in recent history.After reading about the disappearance of Joshua Maddux, learn about Hannah Upp, the woman who vanished three times. Then, go inside 11 unsolved disappearances and the theories behind them.The post What Happened To Joshua Maddux? Inside The Mysterious Case Of The Boy In The Chimney appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Meshbesher & Associates, PAByron David Smith fatally shot teenage cousins Haile Kifer and Nicholas Brady when they broke into his house in 2012.Byron David Smith was a retired security engineer for the U.S. State Department. He spent his career protecting American embassies around the world from terrorist attacks. But on Thanksgiving Day 2012, he became a killer himself.Smiths home in Little Falls, Minnesota, had been broken into several times throughout 2012, leading him to install an extensive surveillance system. When he spotted a teenager he suspected was behind the burglaries driving through his neighborhood on Nov. 22, he decided to set a trap.Smith moved his truck and turned off all of his lights so it would appear as if he werent home and then hid in his basement with a gun. Before long, 17-year-old Nicholas Brady entered his house through a window. As Brady walked down the basement stairs, Smith fatally shot him. A few minutes later, he also killed Bradys cousin, 18-year-old Haile Kifer, when she came looking for him but not before he taunted her as she bled out on his floor.Instead of turning himself in immediately, Byron David Smith waited until the next day to ask a neighbor to call the police. His subsequent trial sparked debate about castle doctrine and property defense laws, but chilling audio of the murders that was recorded by Smith himself ultimately put the killer behind bars for the rest of his life.The Events Leading Up To The Thanksgiving Day CrimeAfter a busy career protecting U.S. embassies in cities like Bangkok, Cairo, and Beijing from outside threats, Byron David Smith settled down for a quiet retirement in Little Falls, Minnesota, in 2006.That period of calm came to an end in 2012, when burglars started breaking into his house. As reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2013, the thieves stole an envelope full of cash, a video camera, a chainsaw, copper wire, a gas siphoning kit, a shotgun, and more. Smith reportedly noticed the items were missing after hed hired a local teenager named Nicholas Brady and some of his friends to do yard work. He soon became paranoid, started carrying a gun around his house, and added security cameras to his property. Minnesota Judicial BranchSurveillance footage captured Nicholas Brady trying to find a way in to Byron David Smiths house.Then, on Thanksgiving Day, everything came to a head.The Murders Of Nicholas Brady And Haile KiferOn the morning of Nov. 22, 2012, 64-year-old Byron David Smith was visiting the home of a friend who lived nearby when he saw a teenage neighbor drive past. He suspected the girl had something to do with the break-ins, so he put a chilling plan into action.He moved his truck several blocks away, went to his basement, turned on an audio recorder, and sat in a hidden chair with a book, a water bottle, and some snacks. In the next room, a screen streamed footage from Smiths outdoor surveillance cameras. While the neighbor Smith thought was behind the burglaries never showed up, two other teens did. Just after 12:30 p.m., 17-year-old Nicholas Brady broke Smiths bedroom window and crawled into his house. As Brady walked down the basement stairs, Smith shot him twice.KSTP 5 Eyewitness News/YouTubeNicholas Brady was 17 years old when he was killed while breaking into Byron David Smiths house.Brady tumbled down the remaining steps, and Smith approached and shot the boy once more in the head at point-blank range. According to court documents, Byron David Smith told Brady, Youre dead, as he fired his gun. He then dragged Brady into another room and placed his body on a tarp.Eight minutes later, Bradys cousin, 18-year-old Haile Kifer, entered the house looking for him. As soon as Smith saw her walking down the basement steps, he fired. She fell down the stairs, but when Smith tried to shoot her again, his rifle jammed. He then stated, Oh, sorry about that, and pulled out a revolver.KSTP 5 Eyewitness News/YouTubeHaile Kifer, the 18-year-old cousin of Nicholas Brady.As Kifer screamed, Smith shot her three more times, telling her, Youre dying, and calling her a btch. He then dragged her to the tarp, where he fired one last lethal bullet.The Aftermath Of Byron David Smiths Chilling CrimeFor the next few hours, Smith seemingly paced around his basement while talking to himself. His audio recorder picked up statements like, Im sure she thought she was a real pro, and, I was doing my civic duty. If the law enforcement system couldnt handle it, I had to do it. I had to do it.At one point, Byron David Smith said, They werent human. I dont see them as human. I see them as vermin. Social mistakes. Social problems This btch was going to go through her life, destroying things for other people. Thieving, robbing, drug use.Smith didnt call the police that afternoon. He later claimed that he didnt want to ruin the holiday for the officers. Instead, he phoned a friend the next day, asking him to find a lawyer because hed solved the neighborhood break-ins.Morrison County Sheriffs Office/Evidence PhotoByron David Smith concealed himself in a chair between two bookshelves in his basement while lying in wait for the burglars.The friend then called the police, who arrived at Smiths house shortly after. Smith first showed them the broken window in his bedroom and then he led them to the basement. He admitted that hed shot the teens, but he claimed that he was worried they were armed and had fired before he could see their hands.It was all an act of self-defense, Smith explained. But he also incriminated himself while talking to the officers. I fired more shots than I needed to, he said, stating that he was angry because he thought Kifer had laughed at him when his gun jammed. Smith also confessed that hed continued shooting Kifer after she was incapacitated because she was suffering. I did a good clean finishing shot, he told the police.Byron David Smith was immediately taken into custody and charged with murder. His trial began in April 2014, and it led to heated conversations about what constitutes self-defense.The Trial Of Byron David SmithByron David Smiths defense attorney, Steve Meshbesher, began the trial by stating, This is not a case of whodunit, as reported by MPR News in 2014. Mr. Smith is the person who shot and killed those two people, but he is not criminally responsible for the deaths. He is not guilty of murder.Meshbesher claimed that Smith was terrified after the previous break-ins, so when he heard glass break and footsteps upstairs on Thanksgiving Day, he was trying to protect himself. While Minnesota does have castle doctrine laws that state a homeowner can use deadly force to defend themselves, it does not permit executing someone once the threat is contained.Prosecutors argued that after Smith had wounded Brady and Kifer and realized that they were unarmed, he should have called the police not continued shooting.Minnesota Department of CorrectionsByron David Smith remains behind bars for the murders of Nicholas Brady and Haile Kifer.Smiths own audio recordings also painted a disturbing picture. He had taunted the teens as they died and then called them names as their bodies lay in the next room. A jury found Byron David Smith guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Reactions to Smiths conviction were split. Some people believed that Brady and Kifer, who were later discovered to have stolen six bottles of prescription medication from another home the day before they were killed, were asking for trouble when they entered Smiths house. Others agreed that Smith had used excessive force and that the teenagers crimes werent deserving of a death sentence. What is clear is that what happened in Little Falls, Minnesota, on Thanksgiving Day 2012 destroyed three lives and had a devastating impact on countless loved ones, friends, and community members. After reading about the crimes of Byron David Smith, learn about Bernhard Goetz, the Subway Vigilante who made headlines for defending himself from muggers. Then, go inside the twisted story of Elmer Wayne Henley Jr., the teenage accomplice of Candy Man Dean Corll who later murdered the serial killer.The post Byron David Smith, The Minnesota Man Who Was Convicted Of Murder For Shooting Two Teens Who Broke Into His Home appeared first on All That's Interesting.