All the pain.

All the pain.

Thank you.

Hey, Crime Sal listeners. Welcome back to another episode of Crime Salad. My name is Ashley, and with me always is my partner in crime, Ricky.

When free-spirited Joshua Maddox failed to return home after leaving for a walk in May of 2008, authorities and family members believed the 18-year-old had simply left to start a new life after the sudden loss of his brother two years earlier.

For seven long years, there were no signs of Josh and no new leads pointing to his location.

That is, until a stunning discovery in the chimney of an old house less than a mile from Josh's childhood home shattered the family's hopes at a happy outcome.

Investigators were quick to rule Josh's death in accident, but renewed interest in the case has pointed out many details that don't add up to support that conclusion.

Do these discrepancies in the evidence suggest something more terrible than an unfortunate accident?

By all accounts, Josh was the kindest, happiest, brightest kid.

He lived in Woodland Park, Colorado, a small town just north of Colorado City.

He was close with his two older sisters Ruth and Kate, and his parents Mike and Roberta.

But Josh was best friends with his older brother Zach.

The Maddox family loved music, and Zach was particularly good at the drums while Josh loved playing guitar.

The Maddox children were all homeschooled for the first few years, but eventually switched over to public schooling.

Josh was a gifted, intelligent student known for being really creative.

One of his passions was comics, and he had created one on his own called Stickman and Smiley.

He spent much of his time on this project, developing new panels, and sharing his work with his many close friends.

By all accounts, Josh with his long blonde hair was a carefree, happy teenager.

But life for the Maddox family took a sudden turn on June 2, 2006, when their oldest son, and Josh's closest friend, took his own life in their family home.

According to Josh's father, having to bury his older brother, pushed Josh over the edge, as he was deeply shocked by the loss.

In the two years that followed his brother's death, Josh worked on finding normalcy again.

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