Chapter 102: Vanished in the Redwoods-The Disappearance of Theresa Bier

In Today's episode, I dive into the mysterious 1987 disappearance of 16-year-old Theresa Bier in the remote Sierra Nevada mountains near Fresno, California. Accompanied by 43-year-old Russell Welch, a self-proclaimed Bigfoot hunter, Theresa vanished without a trace during an expedition in the wilderness. Welch was later arrested but never charged due to lack of evidence. What happened deep in those woods? Join me as I explore the strange circumstances, disturbing theories, and unanswered questions surrounding the Theresa Bier case—a mystery that still baffles investigators today.

Anyone with information about Theresa's disappearance is encouraged to call the Fresno Police Department at [phone] The case number to reference is 8736264

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217DFCA - Theresa Ann Bier. (n.d.). https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/217dfca.htmlBigfoot Part 01 (Final). (n.d.). The FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved April 26, 2025, from https://vault.fbi.gov/bigfoot/Bigfoot%20Part%2001%20%28Final%29/viewCalifornia Bigfoot Expedition 2025. (n.d.). https://www.bfro.net/news/roundup/california.aspCrair, B. (2018, August 16). Why do so many people still want to believe in Bigfoot? Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-so-many-people-still-believe-in-bigfoot-180970045/Galvan, L. (1987a, June 19). Man blames Bigfoot for missing girl. The Fresno Bee, B1–B4.Galvan, L. (1987b, June 19). Man blames teen-age girl’s disappearance on Bigfoot. The Camarillo Star, B5.Galvan, L. (1987c, June 20). Police release picture of girl who left on trip to find Bigfoot. The Fresno Bee, B3.Oct 04, 1987, page 9 - The Lompoc Record at Newspapers.com. (n.d.). Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/image/540243142/?match=1&terms=Theresa%20BierPulaski, A. (1987, October 3). Abduction Suspect Released. The Fresno Bee, B2–B3.StrangeOutdoors.com. (2024, December 17). The shocking disappearance of Theresa Ann Bier — StrangeOutdoors.com. https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/theresa-ann-bierThe odd disappearance of Theresa Bier: Was Bigfoot to blame? (2025, April 6). Cold Case Explorations. https://coldcaseexplorations.com/california-cold-or-unsolved-cases/the-odd-disappearance-of-theresa-bier-was-bigfoot-to-blame/Theresa Ann Bier – The Charley Project. (n.d.). https://charleyproject.org/case/theresa-ann-bierYoung, J. C., & Widom, C. S. (2014). Long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on emotion processing in adulthood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(8), 1369–1381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.03.008

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending.
In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay
the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,
waiting to be heard and have their stories told. This
is the Book of the Dead, a true crime podcast

(00:21):
where we remember forgotten victims of heinous crimes, reopen cold cases,
ree visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath
the years of silence. I'm your host, Courtney Liso, and
every week we turn to another chapter, one victim, one mystery,

(00:43):
one step closer to justice. Brought to you by Dark
Cast Network indie Podcasts with a twist. Hello, Hello, Welcome

(01:11):
to the next chapter in the Book of the Dead.
The case I have for you today doesn't have many answers.
In nineteen eighty seven, a sixteen year old girl headed
into the Sierra foothills of California with a man twice
her age on an expedition to find proof of the

(01:32):
legendary Bigfoot. Days later, the man returns from the mountains
without his companion, and what would follow would be a
decade's long mystery that has yet to be solved. This
is the disappearance of Teresa Bear. Now, before we get
into this case, I do want to stress that there

(01:53):
is not a lot of information on it, So regarding
any background information, there's nothing conclusive that was stated as
fact in any publications. Some things can be inferred as
most likely being true due to specific characteristics being released
on websites like the Dough Network, but there is the

(02:17):
possibility that events that took place during Teresa's childhood that
have become part of her story may not be entirely accurate.
Teresa Beer was born on April sixteenth, nineteen seventy one,
in Fresnoe, California, to Shirley and David Beer. Teresa was

(02:37):
the youngest of two girls, and her mother reportedly was
quite young herself when she gave birth to her daughters. Unfortunately,
whether because of Shirley's young age or for a plethora
of other reasons that could have contributed to Shirley's resentment
of her children, she subjected her girls to a lot

(03:00):
of really horrific abuse. When Teresa was three years old,
Shirley twisted her daughter's leg through the bars of the
crib so violently that she broke it, leading to surgery
to repair the damage. Teresa was left with a terrible
scar because of this. Shirley would also beat her daughter,

(03:21):
breaking multiple ribs, which resulted in a visit from social Services.
The girls were removed from the home, staying in foster
care for a time before a family friend from church
took them in. According to Strange outdoors dot Com, Shirley
and David would go on to divorce after their daughters
were removed from their care, and David would later marry

(03:44):
a woman named Margie Richmond, who had briefly been married
to Shirley's half brother, John. Margie had custody of her
and John's two girls, and after she and David married,
they regained custody of Teresa and her sister as well.
What should have been a turning point for Teresa and

(04:05):
her sisters starting a new, happy life with their father
and stepmom was not the case. Margie subjected all of
the children to abuse, putting a lock on the refrigerator
and taunting the girls who were starving, forcing them to
watch as she enjoyed a full meal. Because of this

(04:25):
trauma and neglect and abuse that she had been subjected to,
as well as bouncing from place to place from the
age of four. Theresa, as she grew into a teenager,
was described as a slow learner and quite immature for
her age. According to the Fresno b it's very well
documented in medical journals that emotional and physical neglect or

(04:49):
abuse can cause several challenges for children as they grow
and develop, and it can even follow them into adulthood.
A journal article from the National Library of Medicine and
explains that prolonged mistreatment and neglect of a child can
and will lead to difficulty predicting the consequences of their actions.

(05:09):
They may have difficulty understanding various things, be at risk
of displaying delayed social behavior, issues with regulating their emotions
or being able to understand the emotions of others, and
problems interacting in social settings. It's also possible that children
of abuse and neglects are more trusting of those that

(05:33):
show them any sort of kindness. Now, based on this
and the severity of her abuse and the lack of
stability in her home life, it could have resulted in
Theresa being very immature as a teenager, and she likely
had difficulty understanding things in school or possibly following directions

(05:54):
while I can't state that as fact, it's more than
possible that this was the case. Now. It's unknown how
long she lived with her father and Margie, but by
the time she was sixteen years old, Teresa had moved
back to Fresno from where her father was living and
into her great grandmother's house before her uncle would be

(06:15):
granted custody of Teresa. Her uncle's name was John Richardson
or Blind Johnny, and if that name is familiar, it's
because he is Margie's ex husband. John had allegedly lost
his eyesight during a game of Russian Roulette, hence the nickname,
but some believed he still had some semblance of his

(06:38):
eyesight left after that incident. In addition to the two
daughters that Margie and David had custody of, John also
had two boys from another relationship, as well as a
seventeen year old girlfriend who lived in the home named Tamara.
John's home was not the haven it should have been
when he gained custody of Teresa. Though allegedly Teresa missed

(07:02):
a lot of school while living with John due to
being forced to stay home and babysit, and although unsubstantiated
by any news outlets. There were allegations of Teresa being
sexually assaulted by her uncle and his friends. At every
turn from toddlerhood, Teresa was failed by every single person

(07:24):
who was supposed to protect her and have her best
interests at heart. Her parents, her guardians, and cps all
failed to do the very basics of making sure she
was in a stable and loving home. There was no
protection for Teresa at any point. On June first, nineteen

(07:45):
eighty seven, Teresa is getting ready for school when her
uncle is visited by an acquaintance, Russell skiped Welch. According
to the Camarilla Star, John was only loosely acquainted with Russell.
Some reports suggest he was just the name, but John
said yes when Russell offered to drive Teresa to school.

(08:06):
Russell was forty three years old, had a substance abuse disorder,
specifically methamphetamine, and was also a quote students of Bigfoot.
Most of you listening are probably familiar, at least in
the general sense of Bigfoot or sasquatch, But if you're
not familiar with this particular cryptid, the legend or idea

(08:31):
of Bigfoot ran rampant close to seventy years ago. In
northern California when the Humboldt Times reported that a construction
crew had stumbled upon some sixteen inch long footprints. While
the legend of these ape like creatures has been around
for centuries in the legends of Pacific Northwest indigenous tribes,

(08:52):
this particular headline made waves throughout America and there have
been numerous alleged sightings ever since. Acording to the Smithsonian Magazine,
and if you're curious, the FBI vault has a section
on Bigfoot, which I've added to the source notes for
your viewing pleasure. There are countless believers of Bigfoot all

(09:15):
over the country, and there are frequent excursions that these
believers go on in order to try and find evidence
of Bigfoot, who can allegedly be found in more rural
areas with an abundance of protein sources like deer. So
Russell is one of these believers, and when he offers
to take Teresa to school, he talks her into coming

(09:38):
with him to go camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
between Yosemite and Madera to look for proof of Bigfoot.
According to The Camarilla Star, detective Doug Stokes said that
Teresa had told at least two of her friends that
she and Russell were going camping, and she was apparently
very excited to do so. They were spotted at multiple

(10:02):
locations that day, but Teresa never made it to class.
Before this camping trip was to begin, John was notified
of Teresa's absence from school that day, but even though
he was concerned enough to go around asking Teresa's friends
if they had seen her, he wasn't concerned enough to

(10:24):
tell the school that she was to be dropped off
by Russell. Allegedly, he claimed that she had stayed home
because she wasn't feeling well. When Teresa failed to return
home that evening, John called the police and reported her missing,
informing the police that he had last seen Teresa with
Russell Welch. Over the next few days, the Fresno police

(10:47):
learned about the camping trip and that this particular area
they were going to was very familiar to Welch. They contacted,
according to The Camarilla Star, the Mariposa County Sheriff's Department,
the US Forest Service rangers, and the Madera County Sheriff's Office,
urging them to be on the lookout for Welch and
Teresa and his car, a tan over brown nineteen seventy

(11:11):
seven two door Monte Carlo. During that search, police, according
to medium dot com, spoke to Welch's daughter, who told
police that she had warned Teresa not to go with
her father because he was known to lure girls to
the mountains, supplying them with drugs to entice them into
having sex with him. According to Strange outdoors dot com,

(11:33):
police located one of the girls that Welch had brought
to the mountain side, seventeen year old Michelle Ryan, who
claimed that Chandra had also warned her not to go
to the mountains with Welch. Michelle said that she and
two male friends had gone with Welch, and while she
believed she had been drugged, had made it back from
the mountain trip. Four days after Teresa was reported missing.

(11:55):
On June fifth, Madera Sheriff's deputies spotted the Monte Carlo
near North Fork, but there was no one around when
they approached. For some unfathomable reason, they left and returned
to the area a few hours later, but by that
point the car was already gone. Now Allegedly, a woman

(12:17):
who lived in the area. Named Dorothy Davis told police
that she was friends with Welch and he had visited
her that day, telling her that he was very upset
that the girl that was with him had been abducted
by Satanists. Additionally, there was an allegation that John Richardson
was contacted by an unknown woman who told him that

(12:38):
Welch had a pistol and was demanding that John stopped
making trouble for him. If he didn't, Welch would go
after John's children. Now, since I couldn't find any reports
of this threat being made, this may be exclusive to
the quote unquote legend of Teresa's disappearance, but it's worth

(12:58):
mentioning it would be another five days before police would
be able to track down Welch. They found him at
his mother's home in Sunnyside, where he was promptly arrested
on charges of failing to appear in court for a
drunk driving violation on June tenth. Now, Welch did cooperate

(13:19):
with police, explaining that he would show them where he
and Teresa had gone camping. He brought them to a
campsite near shut Eye Peak and Clean This was the
spot where he had seen Teresa for the last time,
Detective Stokes said, quote. He said this is where he
and Teresa had set up camp before she disappeared. He

(13:39):
claimed they made several sightings a bigfoot and that he
wanted to return to the camp, but she refused and
the two became separated. Police searched the area and found
a purse belonging to Teresa, as well as several articles
of her clothing. They also allegedly found a few photographs,
one of Russell playing the guitar the campsite, one of Teresa,

(14:02):
a couple of them together, but nothing nefarious in the photos.
Over the next two days, due to the heavily rugged terrain,
police brought in a mounted posse and bloodhounds to help
try and locate Teresa, but they were unsuccessful in that search.
According to the Fresno b Welch was adamant that there

(14:25):
were two possible explanations for what happened to Teresa. Detective
Stokes said quote. He indicated he thought bigfoot had something
to do with her disappearance, or that she might have
left the area with another camper. According to the Lumpoc Record,
Welch claimed that he sincerely believed Bigfoot was responsible because

(14:46):
he had been in constant contact with a troop of Bigfoot.
Welch also claimed that he had spent two days looking
for Teresa, but he ultimately gave up and returned to Fresno,
although he failed to report Theresa disint himself. Now police
charged Welch with felony child stealing, believing that he had

(15:08):
lured Teresa to the mountains for a purpose other than
this Bigfoot expedition. Welch did claim, allegedly unprompted, that if
they did manage to find Teresa, there would be no
evidence of sexual assault because even though she was more
than willing to participate in having sex with him, Welch

(15:29):
didn't engage in such behavior. Considering this information was allegedly
volunteered without reason, I'm inclined to believe that if this
was said, he was lying, but that is purely my
own speculation. Now. Welch pleaded not guilty to the child

(15:50):
stealing charge and was originally released on his own recognizance
before being transported back to jail two days later when
it was realized that a different judge had ordered bond
set at thirty thousand dollars in October, days before he
was to head to trial, the child stealing charges were

(16:11):
dropped by the Fresno County District Attorney el Voice Hooper
out of concern that should Therese's body be found, Welch
would not be able to be tried for murder due
to the risk of double jeopardy. Welch had been previously
offered a plea bargain where if he pled guilty to
child stealing, he would only receive a one year sentence

(16:34):
at the county jail. According to the Fresno b the
stipulation was that Welch needed to sign an agreement waiving
his right to claim double jeopardy in the event that
murder charges were filed against him. Welch and his lawyer
obviously said no, so the DA made the decision to

(16:54):
drop the charges in the hopes of being able to
get him on different charges at a later date. Unfortunately,
though this is where Teresa's story ends. There have been
no updates in the investigation since nineteen eighty seven, which
was scaled back considerably after a two week search, and

(17:15):
if Teresa or her remains were to be found, if
Welch is responsible, it would be too late to do anything.
Russell Welch died in nineteen ninety eight at fifty four
years old. The most common theory, though, is that Russell
lord Theresa to the campsite with the promise of looking
for proof of bigfoot in order to assault her, and

(17:37):
she was very possibly killed in the process, whether by
accident or intentionally, and he disposed of her body. Considering
it took five days per police to track him down,
it's very possible that this is a likely scenario, as
he had such a big head start before police were

(17:58):
able to search the area. However, it would be ignorant
of me to suggest that there aren't other possibilities. Although
police do confirm that foul play is involved in her disappearance,
there could have been an accident, that terrain was rough
with multiple drop offs, or Teresa, if she went off

(18:20):
on her own, could have encountered someone else who had
bad intentions. At the time of her disappearance, Teresa Beer
was last seen wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, and
Lisa sandals. She was sixteen years old, five foot five
and around one hundred and ten pounds, with brown hair
and hazel eyes. She had a surgical scar on her

(18:42):
lower right leg and her front teeth protruded. She also
went by the nickname Sam, but that might have been
a nickname exclusively used by Russell Watch. If anyone has
any information regarding the disappearance of Teresa Beer, you were
urged to call the Fresno Police Department at five five
nine four nine eight one two six' five and, again as,

(19:07):
oways that number will be in the source notes. Below
thank you so much for listening to this chapter of
The book of The. Dead as, always if you enjoyed,
it leave us a review and, share and if you
have any, information please call the. Number it's been a long,
time but there's always a possibility that someone heard something from.

(19:30):
Someone as, OWAYS i hope you have a wonderful week
AND i will see you in the next chapter of
The book of The. Dead, bye, Guys another page, Closed
but the story isn't over for the families left. Behind
the pain doesn't end when the headline's. Fade and for the,

(19:51):
victims we owe them more than silence for our on solved.
Cases if you have any, information please reach out to
local authorities or visit our show notes for links and.
Resources someone out there knows something maybe it's. You thank
you for listening to The book of The. Dead if

(20:13):
this story moved or spoke to you in some, way
talk about, it share, it keep their names. Alive until next.
Time I'm Courtney. Liso stay, safe stay, curious and stay,
vigilant and remember the dead may be, gone but their
stories will not be. Forgotten