BWBS Ep:151 Bigfoot Took Her!

In the summer of 1987, sixteen-year-old Theresa Ann Bier vanished in the remote Sierra Nevada mountains—one of the strangest and most unsettling disappearances in California history. She had gone camping near Shuteye Peak with forty-three-year-old Russell “Skip” Welch, a man who claimed to be a Bigfoot "exper"t and promised to show her proof of the creatures he insisted were real.

When Welch returned alone, the explanation he offered investigators became infamous: he said Bigfoot had taken her. This episode examines the real facts behind Theresa’s disappearance, cutting through decades of rumor, folklore, and speculation. 

We explore who Theresa was, the troubled circumstances that made her vulnerable, and Welch’s disturbing behavior leading up to the trip. His story shifted repeatedly—wild tales that obscured the truth and frustrated investigators—but nothing he said ever led to a single piece of evidence.

Search teams combed hundreds of square miles with helicopters, dogs, and volunteers. Two separate campsite locations, drug paraphernalia, and threatening phone calls to Theresa’s family painted a picture far darker than anything involving legendary creatures. Yet without a body or physical evidence, prosecutors dropped the case just days before trial, fearing they would lose their only chance to seek justice.

Decades later, Theresa remains missing. Welch died in 1998, never revealing more, never abandoning his story. The mountains around Shuteye Peak have kept their secrets, and the truth about what happened to Theresa remains hidden somewhere in that vast wilderness.

This episode confronts the real events behind a case where myth became a shield, where a vulnerable teenager slipped through every system meant to protect her, and where the most terrifying part of the story has nothing to do with Bigfoot.

It’s a journey into the Sierra Nevada, into the shadowed intersection of human deception and wilderness mystery, and into a tragedy that still echoes nearly forty years later.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
For decades, people have disappeared in the woods without a trace.
Some blame wild animals, others whisper of creatures the world
refuses to believe in. But those who have survived they
know the truth. Welcome to Backwoods Bigfoot Stories, where we
share real encounters with the things lurking in the darkness Bigfoot,

(00:23):
dog man, UFOs, and creatures that defy explanation. Some make
it out, others aren't so lucky. Are you ready, because
once you hear these stories, you'll never walk in the
woods alone again. So grab your flashlight, stay close, and
remember some things in the woods don't want to be found.
Hit that follow or subscribe button, turn on auto downloads,

(00:46):
and let's head off into the woods if you dare not.
All stories are about the shadows that lurk in the dark.
Sometimes legends collide with real life and ways we least

(01:09):
expect it. The Sierra Nevada Mountains keep their secrets well.
In the summer of nineteen eighty seven, beneath towering pines
and across granite ridges that have stood sentinel for millennia,
something happened that would blur the lines between folklore and
forensic investigation. Something that would transform a local legend into

(01:29):
a murder suspect, and a murder suspect into a witness
to the impossible picture this a sixteen year old girl
stands at the edge of a dark forest twenty five
miles northeast of Bass Lake, California. The elevation is over
seven thousand feet. The air is thin, carrying the scent
of pine resin and something else, something musky and wild

(01:53):
that makes the hair on the back of her neck
stand up. She's been told they're hunting for Bigfoot's been
and told by a man more than twice her age
that the creatures are real, that they live in underground
caves throughout these mountains, that he's communicated with them before.
Within hours, she will vanish from the face of the earth.
What happened to Teresa Ann Beer on that June day

(02:15):
remains one of the most bizarre missing person cases in
California history. Not because a teenager disappeared in the wilderness.
That happens more often than we'd like to admit. Not
even because the man she was with gave multiple contradictory
stories about her fate. That too, is disturbingly common in
cases like these. No, what makes this case extraordinary is

(02:37):
that the prime suspect's ultimate defense was that Bigfoot took her,
and even more extraordinary, some people believed him. This is
not just a story about a missing girl. This is
not just another true crime case with a suspect who
walked free. This is a journey into the intersection of
myth and murder, where ancient legends collide with modern forensics,

(03:00):
the line between predator and prey becomes impossibly blurred. This
is the story of how the Sasquatch, that towering figure
of North American folklore, became central to a criminal investigation
that remains unsolved to this day. But first we need
to understand something crucial. The mountains where Teresa disappeared are
not ordinary wilderness. These are mountains with a reputation, Mountains

(03:25):
where things have been seen that cannot be easily explained.
Mountains where the impossible has been documented, photographed, and whispered
about for generations. So settle in lock your doors if
it makes you feel safer. Though, if the stories are true,
no Locke would stop what roams those high peaks after dark.

(03:46):
What you're about to hear is the true account of
a case that challenged everything investigators thought they knew about
missing persons, about criminal psychology, and about what might be
sharing our wilderness with us. This is the complete story
of Teresa and Beer, Russell Skip Welch, and the creature
that may or may not have come between them. Every

(04:06):
detail you're about to hear is documented fact, drawn from
police reports, witness statements, and investigative records. The conclusions you draw, however,
are entirely your own. To understand what happened to Teresa Beer,
you first need to understand where it happened. The Sierra
Nevada Mountain Range stretches four hundred miles through California and Nevada,

(04:29):
a massive granite spine that includes Mount Whitney, the highest
peak in the contiguous United States. But we're not concerned
with the entire range. We're focused on a very specific area,
the region around shut Eye Peak, rising eighty three hundred
and fifty one feet above sea level in the Sierra
National Forest. Shut Eye Peak is not just another mountain.

(04:51):
It's home to one of the oldest fire lookout stations
in the Sierra Nevada, a lonely outpost that has watched
over these forests since nineteen oh seven. The current structure,
built in nineteen fifty seven, stands like a sentinel above
a landscape of granite domes, dense forests, and hidden valleys.
From its heights on a clear day, you can see

(05:12):
from the San Joaquin Valley to Mammoth Mountain, from Bass
Lake to the edges of Yosemite. But Shut Eye Peak
and its surrounding wilderness have another distinction, one that doesn't
appear in any Forest Service brochures. According to the Bigfoot
Field Researchers Organization, California has recorded more bigfoot sidings than
any state except Washington and the Sierra Nevada. Particularly the

(05:35):
region around Shut Eye Peak has been a hot spot
for encounters with something that shouldn't exist. Let me paint
you a picture of what we're dealing with here. The
BFRO has documented over four hundred and forty five bigfoot
sidings in California alone. Twenty four of those occurred in
El Dorado County, just north of where our story takes place.

(05:57):
The reports are remarkably consistent. Creatures standing seven to nine
feet tall, covered in dark brown or reddish fur, with
eyes that reflect light like those of a nocturnal predator.
Witnesses describe a distinctive musky odor, something between a wet
dog and a skunk, strong enough to make your eyes water.
The indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada, including the Mono

(06:20):
and Miwalk tribes, have stories going back centuries about large
hairy beings that inhabit the high mountains. They called them
by different names, but the descriptions are eerily similar to
modern Bigfoot reports. These weren't just campfire stories to them.
These were warnings about real creatures that should be avoided
at all costs. In nineteen sixty seven, just twenty years

(06:43):
before Teresa's disappearance, the famous Patterson Gimlin film was shot
in Bluff Creek in northern California's Humboldt County. That shaky
footage of a large, hairy biped striding along a creek
bed became the most famous piece of alleged Bigfoot evidence
in history. Whether you believe it's real or an elaborate hoax,

(07:03):
it put California on the map as Bigfoot country. But
the sightings didn't stop with that famous film. Throughout the
nineteen seventies and eighties, the reports kept coming in from
the Sierra Nevada hunters who spoke of finding massive footprints,
some measuring up to twenty four inches long and eight
inches wide, pressed deep into soil that barely showed their

(07:25):
own boot prints. Campers reported strange vocalizations in the night,
long mournful howls that didn't match any known animal, wood
knocking sounds that seemed to answer each other across valleys,
and most disturbing of all, the sound of breathing outside
their tents from something much too large to be a bear.
In nineteen seventy, near the Nevada border, witnesses reported hearing

(07:47):
what they described as siren like howls that lasted for
minutes at a time. The sounds were recorded and later
analyzed by audio experts, who couldn't match them to any
known animal vocalizations. The frequencies and tonal qualities suggested a
massive chest cavity, something with lung capacity far exceeding that
of any recognized North American wildlife. Chuck Langrel, a self

(08:13):
described sasquatcher who spent years searching the Sierra Nevada for evidence,
claimed to have had multiple encounters in the region. He
spoke of following creek beds into the mountains at night,
finding stick structures that seemed deliberately constructed, and discovering bedding
areas made from pine boughs that showed the impression of
something large and bipedal. One particularly compelling account from nineteen

(08:36):
eighty five, just two years before Teresa's disappearance, came from
two hikers near Genoa in Douglas County, on the eastern
slope of the Sierra Nevada. They reported encountering a creature
standing near a creek approximately fifty yards away. According to
their BFRO report, it was about seven feet tall, covered

(08:56):
in long brown hair that looked like dry pine needles.
Its face resembled that of an orangutan, but with a
more human quality to the eyes. When it noticed them,
it raised its nose to the sky and made a loud,
huffing sound before disappearing into the forest with a speed
and agility that seemed impossible for something so large. The

(09:17):
area around Shut Eye Peaks specifically had its own history
of strange encounters. Local hunters and forest service employees spoke
in hushed tones about areas of the forest that felt wrong,
places where the usual forest sounds would suddenly cease, leaving
an oppressive silence that made even experienced outdoorsmen uneasy. There

(09:37):
were reports of massive nests constructed high in trees far
too large for any known bird, and discoveries of deer
carcasses that had been twisted and broken in ways that
suggested enormous strength. Doctor Jeffrey Meldrum, who was a professor
of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University and specialized
in primate locomotion, studied footprint casts from the Sierra Nevada

(10:00):
region before his recent passing. While maintaining scientific skepticism, he
stated that some of the prints showed details dermal ridges,
tow positioning, and weight distribution patterns that would be extremely
difficult to fake. The mud dynamics shown in some casts
suggested a weight of six hundred to eight hundred pounds
distributed in a way consistent with bipedal locomotion, but unlike

(10:23):
human gate patterns. The concentration of sightings in the Sierra
Nevada isn't random. The region provides ideal habitat for a
large elusive primate if such a thing exists. Dense forests
offer cover, numerous water sources provide sustenance. The remote valleys
and cave systems could shelter a breeding population while keeping

(10:45):
them hidden from human observation. The area's biodiversity could support
an omnivorous diet, from roots and berries to small game
and carry on. But here's where our story takes a
darker turn, because while most bigfoot and camp involved brief
sidings or strange sounds in the night, there have been
other reports, less publicized, but far more disturbing, reports of

(11:08):
people who went into those mountains and never came back,
Reports of experienced hikers who vanished without a trace in
areas known for sasquatch activity. The nineteen eighty seven disappearance
of Teresa Ann Beer would not be the first time
someone vanished in the shut Eye Peak area. Over the years,
there had been other disappearances, other missing persons cases that

(11:30):
were never solved. Most were attributed to accidents, to getting lost,
to the usual dangers of wilderness travel, but some of
the circumstances were strange enough to raise questions. Experienced outdoorsmen
who seemingly walked off established trails, and vanished children who
disappeared from campgrounds in broad daylight with no trace despite

(11:52):
extensive searches There have been researchers who've documented thousands of
mysterious disappearances across North America's wilderness areas. While they stop
short of blaming Bigfoot, they note patterns in wilderness disappearances
that defy conventional explanation. Many occur in areas with the
history of Sasquatch sidings. Victims are often found if they're

(12:13):
found at all, in locations that were previously searched multiple times.
Some are discovered at elevations higher than where they disappeared,
despite the logical assumption that lost hikers travel downhill. The
Sierra Nevada Mountains are beautiful but unforgiving. Even without considering
the possibility of unknown predators, they post significant dangers. The

(12:36):
elevation can cause altitude sickness in the unprepared. Weather can
change rapidly, with summer thunderstorms bringing lightning, hail, and flash floods.
The granite slopes that make the region so scenic can
also be treacherous, with loose rock and hidden crevices. Black
bears and mountain lions are legitimate threats, though attacks are rare.

(12:59):
But on June five, first, nineteen eighty seven, when Russell
Skip Welch drove Teresa Ann Beer into those mountains. He
wasn't worried about bears, or weather or altitude. According to him,
he knew exactly what lived in those forests. He'd seen
them before, communicated with them, understood their ways. He was
taking a sixteen year old girl to meet creatures that

(13:20):
most people don't believe exist, whether those creatures were real
or imaginary, whether they were flesh and blood or convenient fiction.
By the end of that day, Teresa Ann Beer would
be gone. And the question that has haunted investigators for
over three decades is simple, did something take her? Or
did someone kill her? To understand how Teresa Ann Beer

(13:42):
ended up in those mountains, we need to understand who
she was and the circumstances that led her there. This
is not a story of a rebellious teenager making a
reckless decision. This is a story of a vulnerable young
woman who had already endured more trauma than most people
experience in a lifetime. Teresa was born on April sixteenth,
nineteen seventy one, in Fresno, California, to David Beer and

(14:06):
Shirley Richmond. From the very beginning, her life was marked
by instability and pain. The household she was born into
was allegedly abusive, chaotic enough that social services eventually intervened.
Teresa and her siblings were removed from their parents' custody
and placed in foster homes, beginning a cycle of displacement

(14:26):
that would define her childhood. The foster care system in
the nineteen seventies and eighties was overwhelmed and under resourced.
Children like Teresa often bounced from home to home, never
staying long enough to form lasting connections, never feeling truly
safe or wanted. Each new placement brought new rules, new faces,

(14:46):
new potential dangers. Some foster homes were caring and supportive,
others were anything but. Eventually, Teresa's father, David, managed to
reclaim custody of his daughter. He had divorced Shirley and Rea.
She married a woman named Margie Richmond. Stay tuned for
more Backwoods Bigfoot stories. We'll be back after these messages.

(15:09):
For a brief moment, it might have seemed like Teresa's
life was stabilizing. She had a father who wanted her,
a new stepmother, a chance at a normal family life.
But according to later reports, this new arrangement brought its
own problems. Teresa allegedly faced abuse from her stepmother, though
the specific nature and extent of this abuse was never

(15:29):
fully documented in available records. Unable to endure the situation
with her father and stepmother, Teresa ran away. She was
still just a child, but she had learned that sometimes
the danger you face on the streets is preferable to
the danger you face at home. She made her way
to Fresno, where her great grandmother lived. For a time,

(15:50):
she found refuge there, a brief respite from the chaos
that had defined her young life, but even this arrangement
was temporary. Eventually, Teresa moved in with her uncle, John Richmond,
who was granted custody of her. On paper, this might
have looked like another positive step. She was with family,
with someone who had gone through the legal process to

(16:11):
become her guardian. She was enrolled at Central High School
in Fresno. She had an address, a routine, something approaching stability,
but behind closed doors, according to later investigations, the nightmare continued.
Teresa allegedly faced sexual abuse from her uncle and his friends.
The very person who was supposed to protect her had

(16:33):
become another predator this abuse. Investigators would later conclude likely
contributed to her poor academic performance and her vulnerability to
other predators who might promise her escape or affection. Think
about the psychological impact of this sustained trauma. Children who
experience repeated abuse, especially from caregivers, often developed complex post

(16:56):
traumatic stress disorder. They may struggle with boundaries, have difficulty
recognizing dangerous situations, and be drawn to anyone who shows
them attention or kindness, even if that attention comes with
red flags that others might recognize. Teresa was described by
those who knew her as a slow learner, someone who
was easily influenced and manipulated. This wasn't a reflection of

(17:19):
her intelligence, but rather the result of trauma and educational disruption.
She had been moved so many times, had missed so
much school, had been dealing with so much emotional turmoil
that academic success was nearly impossible. By the spring of
nineteen eighty seven, Teresa was sixteen years old, trying to

(17:40):
navigate high school while carrying burdens that would break many adults.
She was isolated, vulnerable, and desperate for something, anything, that
might offer her a different life. She was, in other words,
the perfect victim for a predator who knew how to
identify and exploit vulnerability. Enter Russell shelter In Welch, known

(18:01):
to everyone as Skip Russell. Skip Welch, was forty three
years old in nineteen eighty seven, though his life had
already taken turns that would be important to understanding what
happened in those mountains. He was a house painter by
trade when he worked at all, but his real income
came from disability checks. He lived on the margins of society,

(18:21):
in the shadows between the normal world and something altogether darker.
Skip was not a physically imposing man. Those who knew
him described him as average height, thin, with the weathered
look of someone who had lived hard. But what he
lacked in physical presence he made up for in the
intensity of his beliefs and his ability to weave stories

(18:41):
that captivated the vulnerable and the curious. His obsession with
Bigfoot was well known among his acquaintances. This wasn't a
casual interest or a hobby. Skip claimed to be a
student of the legend, someone who had dedicated years to
understanding these creatures. He told anyone who would listen that
he had seen Big Four at multiple times, that he

(19:01):
had communicated with them that he understood their ways and
their language. But Skip's stories went beyond simple sightings. He
claimed that there were large numbers of Sasquatchs living in
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, dwelling in underground caves and tunnel systems.
He said they had their own society, their own culture,

(19:22):
that they were far more intelligent than most people assumed.
He spoke of them with a reverence that bordered on
religious fervor. To understand Skip Welch, you need to understand
the subculture he inhabited. The Bigfoot research community in the
nineteen eighties was a mix of serious researchers, weekend hobbyists,
and true believers whose passion sometimes crossed the line into obsession.

(19:46):
There were conferences, newsletters, informal networks of people who shared
citing reports and theories. For someone like Skip, who struggled
to find his place in mainstream society, this community offered
belonging and identity. But Skip had another obsession, one that
would prove far more dangerous than his interest in cryptozoology, methamphetamine.

(20:08):
He was a known user, and meth in the nineteen
eighties was a different beast than today's product. It was
often cooked in small batches with inconsistent purity, leading to
unpredictable effects. Chronic meth use causes paranoia, hallucinations, violent behavior,
and a disconnection from reality that can persist even during

(20:29):
periods of sobriety. The combination of meth use and Bigfoot
obsession created a dangerous psychological cocktail. The drug would have
amplified his beliefs, made his fantasies seem more real, and
impaired his judgment in ways that would have tragic consequences.
Friends and acquaintances later reported that Skip would go on
extended rants about Bigfoot while high, mixing fact and fiction

(20:53):
until even he might not have known where one ended
and the other began. Skip's personal life was marked by
tragedy and dysfunction. His wife, Shannon, had died of a
drug overdose, leaving him even more untethered from normal society.
He lived in various places around Fresno, sometimes with his mother,
sometimes in trailers or cheap rentals, always on the edge

(21:15):
of homelessness. Despite his marginal existence, or perhaps because of it,
Skip had developed a disturbing pattern of behavior. He had
a history of taking young girls to the mountains. His
own daughter, Chandra would later tell investigators that she had
warned other girls about her father. She knew he would
use the promise of adventure the allure of seeing something

(21:37):
extraordinary to lure vulnerable young women into isolated situations. Michelle Ryan,
who was seventeen in nineteen eighty six, had experienced Skip's
mountain expedition's firsthand. The previous summer, Skip had convinced her
to go to the mountains with him to search for Bigfoot.
She had gone with two male friends, which may have

(21:57):
saved her life. Even with coms present, She reported having
a traumatic experience. She believed Skip had drugged her, though
she managed to make it home safely. This pattern of
behavior taking young women to isolated mountain locations under the
pretense of bigfoot hunting raises obvious questions. Was the bigfoot
obsession genuine or was it simply a cover for more

(22:20):
sinister intentions. Did Skip actually believe he was introducing these
girls to sasquatch or was he using the legend as
bait for vulnerable victims. The answer might be both. The
human mind, especially one altered by drugs and possible mental illness,
is capable of holding contradictory beliefs simultaneously. Skip might have

(22:42):
genuinely believed in Bigfoot while also using that belief as
a tool for predation. The line between delusion and deception
can become very blurry, especially in someone whose grip on
reality was already tenuous. Skip's knowledge of the mountains around
Shut Eye Peak was extensive. It had spent years exploring
the area. Knew the trails and the hidden places, the

(23:04):
caves and the water sources. He knew where people went,
and more importantly, where they didn't. He knew places where
someone could disappear and never be found. In the weeks
before June first, nineteen eighty seven, Skip had been talking
about a special trip he was planning. He told friends
he was going to make contact with the Sasquatch again,

(23:24):
that he had been receiving signs that they were ready
to reveal themselves more fully. Whether this was meth fueled
delusion or calculated preparation for a crime, we may never know.
What we do know is that sometime in late May,
around Memorial Day, Skip met Teresa Ann Beer. The exact
circumstances of their meeting are unclear, but given that Teresa's

(23:46):
uncle John Richmond knew Skip. It's likely they were introduced
through that connection. To Teresa, isolated and abused, Skip might
have seemed like an escape an adult who was interested
in her, who promised to show or something extraordinary. Skip
would have recognized Teresa's vulnerability immediately. Predators develop an almost

(24:07):
supernatural ability to identify potential victims, to spot the signs
of abuse, neglect, and desperation. Teresa's poor academic performance, her
history of running away, her obvious need for attention and affection.
All of these would have marked her as an easy target.
He began grooming her with stories of his mountain adventures,

(24:29):
his encounters with Bigfoot, the secret knowledge he possessed. To
a sixteen year old girl who had never had stability
or genuine adult guidance, these stories might have seemed like
doorways to a different world, a world where the normal
rules didn't apply, where extraordinary things were possible. Teresa told
her friends Peggy and Janis that she had met an

(24:50):
interesting man who knew about Bigfoot. She was excited about
the possibility of seeing one. She told them she was
planning to go to the mountains with them, that she
would miss school for the trip. Her friends, being teenagers themselves,
didn't recognize the danger. Why would they. Adults were supposed
to protect children, not hunt them. June first, nineteen eighty seven,

(25:14):
began like any other Monday in Fresno. The summer heat
was already building even in the early morning hours, promising
another scorching day in the Central Valley. At the Richmond household,
Teresa was getting ready for school, or at least pretending to.
She had already made her plans with Skip, but her
uncle John didn't know about the mountain trip. Skip arrived

(25:36):
at the house early that morning in his brown nineteen
seventy six Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a car that had seen
better days but still ran well enough to make the
climb into the mountains. He told John Richmond that he
would drive Teresa to school. It seemed like a neighborly gesture,
nothing to raise suspicion. John, who knew Skip and considered
him harmless enough, agreed, but Teresa never made it to

(25:59):
Central High School that day. Instead, she and Skip drove
east out of Fresno, leaving the flat agricultural land behind
as they climbed into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
The route would have taken them up Highway one point
sixty eight towards Shaver Lake, then onto the winding mountain
roads that lead to the shut Eye Peak area. As

(26:20):
they drove higher, the landscape changed dramatically. The brown dried
grass of the valley gave way to pine forests. The
oppressive heat eased as the elevation increased. For Teresa, who
had spent most of her life in Fresno, the mountains
must have seemed like another world. Skip would have been
talking the entire time, filling her head with stories of

(26:41):
what they might see, building anticipation and perhaps fear in
equal measure. The drive to the shut Eye Peak area
from Fresno takes about two hours under normal conditions, but
Skip wasn't in any hurry. He made stops along the way,
though the exact nature and location of these stops would
only become an important later during the investigation. What we

(27:03):
know is that by late morning they had reached the
remote area around shut Eye Peak. This wasn't a developed
campground or a popular hiking trail. Skip had taken Teresa
to a truly isolated location, miles from the nearest help,
in terrain that was difficult to navigate even for experienced hikers.
The elevation was over seven thousand feet, where the air

(27:25):
is noticeably thinner and physical exertion becomes more difficult for
those not acclimated to the altitude. According to Skip's later statements,
they set up camp somewhere in the area, though the
exact location would become a matter of dispute. The initial
camp he showed investigators would turn out to be staged,
with the real camp site being some twenty miles away

(27:46):
in an area called Ghost Canyon. But on that first day,
June first, Teresa wouldn't have known anything was wrong. She
was on an adventure looking for Bigfoot with someone who
claimed to be an expert. The last confirmed sighting of
Teresa Ann Beer alive was at approximately seven to twenty
pm on June first, nineteen eighty seven. This timing is

(28:08):
important because it means she survived at least the first
day in the mountains. What happened during those hours between
their arrival and her disappearance, Skip would later give multiple versions,
each more elaborate than the last. In his first version,
Skip claimed that Teresa had simply run off into the
woods and he couldn't find her. This is perhaps the

(28:28):
most plausible scenario if we removed the Bigfoot element. A
young girl, possibly drugged certainly overwhelmed, might have tried to
escape from a dangerous situation. The problem with this version
is that Teresa was unfamiliar with the terrain. Running off
into the wilderness at that elevation as evening approached would

(28:48):
have been extremely dangerous. In another version, Skip claimed that
Teresa had left with other campers she had met. This
seems highly unlikely given the remote location and the fact
that no other campers ever came forward to report seeing her.
The area around Shut Eye Peak, while accessible, is not
heavily trafficked, especially on a Monday in early June when

(29:10):
school is still in session. Later, Skip would claim that
he and Teresa had seen Bigfoot multiple times throughout the day,
that Teresa had become over excited by the sightings. In
this version, she ran off to find the creatures on
her own and never returned. He painted a picture of
a girl so entranced by the possibility of encountering sasquatch

(29:31):
that she lost all sense of self preservation. But it
was Skip's final version that would become the most infamous.
Teresa had been forcibly abducted by Bigfoot. When Skip Welch
returned to Fresno without Teresa, he didn't immediately report her disappearance.
This delay would become a crucial element in the investigation.
Instead of going to the authorities or even to Teresa's family,

(29:54):
Skip went about his business as if nothing had happened.
It wasn't until others began asking questions that the alarm
was raised. Stay tuned for more Backwoods big Foot stories.
We'll be back after these messages. On the morning of
June first, after Skip had picked up Teresa, Central High
School had called the Richmond household to inquire about her absence.

(30:16):
John Richmond, thinking Skip had taken her to school, told
them she was sick. This lie meant to cover for
what he thought was simple truancy would delay the realization
that something was terribly wrong. It wasn't until nine thirty
PM on June first that Teresa was officially reported missing.
By then, she had been gone for over twelve hours

(30:37):
and the trail was already growing cold. The initial report
likely treated this as a possible runaway case, given Teresa's history.
It wouldn't be until Skip's return and his bizarre stories
that authorities would realize they were dealing with something far
more sinister. On June fifth, four days after Teresa's disappearance,
a police officer spotted Skip's Monte Carlo near trailer park

(31:00):
in North Fork, a small town in the foothills. Skip
had come down from the mountains to visit a friend
named Dorothy Davis. According to Davis, Skip was distraught and
high on methamphetamine. He told her a confused story about
a young girl who had been taken by a Satanic
group and was being kept somewhere in the Sierra. This

(31:21):
mention of Satanic groups is interesting because it represents yet
another version of Skip's story, one that he would quickly abandon.
The nineteen eighties were the height of the Satanic panic
in America, when fears of devil worshiping cults, supposedly kidnapping
and murdering children, gripped the nation. Skip might have thought
this explanation would be more believable than Bigfoot, or his

(31:42):
drug addled mind might have been mixing different paranoid fantasies.
When authorities finally located Skip and brought him in for
questioning on June eleventh, ten days after Teresa's disappearance, his
stories began to evolve and contradict each other in ways
that made investigators certain they were dealing with a murder suspect,
not a witness to an abduction. During the initial interview,

(32:04):
Skip first claimed he had dropped Teresa off at school
as planned. When confronted with the fact that she never arrived,
he admitted they had gone to the mountains, but even
then his story kept changing. He insisted on calling Teresa Sam,
a nickname he had apparently given her, which investigators found disturbing.
The renaming of a victim is often a way for

(32:26):
perpetrators to dehumanize them or create psychological distance from their crimes.
Skip talked extensively about Bigfoot during these interviews, speaking with
what appeared to be complete sincerity about the creature's habits,
their communication methods, and their society. He claimed there were
hundreds of them living in underground caves throughout the Sierra Nevada.

(32:48):
He said he had been in communication with them for years,
that they trusted him, that he was one of the
few humans they would reveal themselves too. Investigators noted that
Skip's demeanor during these discussions was that of a true believer.
He didn't appear to be lying, at least not in
the conventional sense. Either he was an extraordinary actor or

(33:08):
he genuinely believed what he was saying. The possibility that
he was delusional, whether from mental illness, drug use, or both,
complicated the investigation significantly. Eventually, Skip settled on his final story.
On June first, he and Teresa had multiple sightings of
Bigfoot throughout the day. Teresa had become increasingly excited with

(33:30):
each encounter. That evening, around seven to twenty pm, she
had spotted another sasquatch and had run off into the
forest to follow it. Skip claimed he tried to stop her,
called after her, searched for her, but she had vanished
into the wilderness. When he couldn't find her after several
hours of searching, he assumed the Bigfoot had taken her.

(33:51):
He went further, claiming that Teresa wouldn't return because she
would be happier with the Bigfoot community than in her
human life. Given what we know about Teresa's background of
abuse and trauma, this detail is particularly chilling. Was Skip
projecting his own knowledge of her unhappy circumstances onto his
fabricated story. Investigators pressed Skip for details. Where exactly had

(34:14):
this happened, what did the bigfoot look like? Why didn't
he report her disappearance immediately. Skip's answers were alternatively vague
and incredibly specific. He could describe the Sasquatch in minute detail,
their hair color, their gait, their vocalizations, but he was
fuzzy on exact locations and times. Eventually, Skip agreed to

(34:36):
take investigators to the location where Teresa had supposedly been abducted.
This would prove to be one of the most frustrating
aspects of the case, as Skip's guidance would lead investigators
on a wild goose chase through the mountains. The search
for Teresa Ann Beer began in Earnest, once Skip Welch
finally revealed they had gone to the mountains. Search and

(34:56):
rescue teams, sheriff's deputies, and volunteers the area around shut
Eye Peak. They were looking for any sign of the
missing girl, clothing, footprints, or, worst case scenario, a body.
The terrain around shut Eye Peak is challenging even for
experienced search teams. The area consists of granite domes and

(35:17):
ridges interspersed with dense forest. There are numerous ravines, caves
and crevices where someone could fall or hide. The elevation
and steep slopes make thorough searching exhausting and time consuming.
In June, there would still be some snow at the
highest elevations, but most of the area would be accessible.
Skip led investigators to what he claimed was the spot

(35:38):
where Teresa had vanished. There was absolutely no evidence that
anything had happened. There no signs of a struggle, no
footprints besides those of the search team, no scraps of clothing, nothing.
The ground was examined for any disturbance that might indicate
a burial site, but nothing was found. Frustrated, investigators pressed

(35:59):
Skins for more information. He then led them to what
he said was their camp site. This location showed more promise.
There was evidence of human activity, a large burned area
about three and a half feet wide and eight feet long,
unusual enough to raise suspicions. Blankets were hung in trees
in an odd configuration. Investigators found a purse, an off

(36:22):
white bra a T shirt, and a camera. The camera
proved to be particularly interesting when developed. The film showed
pictures of Skip playing guitar by one of the hanging blankets.
There were also pictures of Teresa, alive and apparently unharmed.
These photos proved that she had indeed been in the
mountains with Skip, but they also raised questions the staging

(36:46):
of the photos. The careful positioning suggested someone who was
documenting something, but what. However, investigators soon discovered that this
campsite was staged. The real campsite was approximately twenty miles away,
in an area called Ghost Canyon. When search teams reached
the actual site, they found one of Skip's shirts with

(37:07):
methamphetamine in the pocket. This discovery confirmed what many had suspected.
Skip had been using drugs during the trip, which would
have impaired his judgment and potentially led to violent or
unpredictable behavior. The search expanded to cover hundreds of square
miles of wilderness. Helicopters scanned the terrain from above. Search

(37:27):
dogs were brought in to track Teresa's scent. Special attention
was paid to water sources, as lost hikers typically follow
water downhill, but days turned into weeks and no trace
of Teresa was found. Investigators also searched for any evidence
of Bigfoot activity, though most approached this aspect with skepticism.

(37:49):
They looked for the large footprints Skip described, for hair
samples caught on branches, for any physical evidence that might
support his claims. They found nothing that couldn't be attribute
to known wildlife. The absence of evidence became evidence itself.
If Teresa had simply gotten lost, statistically, she should have
been found within the first few days. Lost hikers typically

(38:13):
travel downhill, follow water sources, and stay relatively close to
their last known location. The complete absence of any trace
suggested either that she had been removed from the area
or that her body had been deliberately hidden. Meanwhile, the
investigation into Skip Welch's background was revealing disturbing patterns. Investigators

(38:33):
interviewed his daughter, Chandra, who provided crucial information. She revealed
that her father had a history of taking young girls
to the mountains, that she had warned others about him,
that she knew he used the promise of adventure to
lure vulnerable victims. They also interviewed seventeen year old Michelle Ryan,
who had gone to the mountains with Skip the previous summer.

(38:54):
Her testimony was chilling. She described being drugged, feeling disoriented
and fed, and being grateful that she had brought two
male friends along. She believed their presence was the only
thing that saved her from whatever Skip had planned. Dorothy Davis,
whom Skip had visited after coming down from the mountains,
provided important testimony about his mental state. She described him

(39:18):
as agitated, high on meth, rambling about satanic cults and
kidnapped girls. This suggested that Skip's story was evolving, even
in those first days after Teresa's disappearance, that he was
trying out different explanations to see what might be believed.
Other witnesses came forward with pieces of the puzzle. Some
had seen Skip and Teresa together in the days before

(39:40):
the trip. Others reported Skip's increasingly erratic behavior and his
obsessive talk about Bigfoot. A pattern emerged of a man
whose grip on reality was tenuous at best, whose drug
use and possible mental illness created a dangerous volatility. One
particularly disturbing element came to light when in investigators learned

(40:00):
about threatening phone calls made to John Richmond, Teresa's uncle.
A young female caller had warned him that Skip was
armed and dangerous, that he should stop cooperating with police,
that even his children could get hurt. The caller told
him to tell police that Skip had taken Teresa to
school and that an unknown blonde girl had picked her up.

(40:22):
This suggested that Skip had accomplices, or at least people
willing to help him cover up his crime. The young
female voice raised the possibility that Skip had other victims,
other young women under his control who might be too
frightened to come forward. In late June nineteen eighty seven,
Russell Skip Welch was arrested and charged with child stealing,

(40:43):
a crime similar to kidnapping, along with child endangerment. The
charges were serious enough to potentially result in significant prison time,
but they fell short of murder charges because there was
no body and no direct evidence that Teresa was dead. Initially,
Ski was released on his own recognisance, a decision that
would later be reversed when prosecutors realized the severity of

(41:06):
the case and the risk he posed. He was re
arrested with a higher bail, which he couldn't make, keeping
him in custody. As the case moved toward trial, the
prosecution faced a difficult challenge. Without a body, without physical
evidence of murder, without witnesses to the actual crime, they
had to build a circumstantial case. They had Skips changing stories,

(41:29):
his history of taking young girls to the mountains, the
testimony of previous victims like Michelle Ryan, and the suspicious
circumstances of Teresa's disappearance. But was it enough. The defense, meanwhile,
had an unusual strategy available to them. While most defense
attorneys would avoid the Bigfoot story as obviously fabricated, Skip's

(41:50):
apparent genuine belief in his claims raised the possibility of
an insanity defense. If Skip truly believed that Bigfoot had
taken Teresa, his mental state was so compromised by drugs
and delusion that he couldn't distinguish reality from fantasy, could
he be held criminally responsible. The prosecution worked to establish

(42:10):
a timeline and a motive. They argued that Skip had
taken Teresa to the mountains with the intent to sexually
assault her, that something had gone wrong, possibly Teresa resisting
or trying to escape, and that Skip had killed her,
either intentionally or during a struggle. The Bigfoot story was
simply an elaborate cover up, made more believable by Skip's

(42:32):
known obsession with the creatures. They pointed to the staged
camp site as evidence of consciousness of guilt. An innocent
man wouldn't need to create false evidence or mislead investigators.
The delay in reporting Teresa's disappearance, the multiple changing stories,
the threatening phone calls to her uncle all pointed to

(42:52):
someone trying to cover up a crime, but the defense
could counter each point. The staged camp site might have
been the result of drug induced confusion rather than deliberate deception.
The changing stories could be explained by Skip's mental state
and his genuine belief in multiple paranormal explanations for Teresa's disappearance.

(43:13):
The delay in reporting could be attributed to Skip's belief
that Teresa had chosen to leave with the Sasquatch and
would return when ready. As the September trial date approached,
both sides prepared for what would likely be a sensational case.
The media had picked up on the story, attracted by
the bizarre Bigfoot angle. Headlines across California played up the

(43:35):
sensational aspects. Man claims Bigfoot took missing teen and Sasquatch
suspect in girl's disappearance. The publicity was a double edged
sword for both sides. For the prosecution, it meant potential
jury members would likely have heard about the case and
formed opinions about Skip's credibility for the defense. It meant
they might find jurors who believed in Bigfoot, or at

(43:57):
least were open to the possibility, which could create reasonable doubt. Then,
just three days before the trial was scheduled to begin
in September nineteen eighty seven, prosecutors made a shocking decision.
They dropped all charges against Russell Skip Welch. The dismissal
was not an admission that Skip was innocent. Rather, it

(44:19):
was a strategic decision based on the legal concept of
double jeopardy. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution states that
no person shall be subject, for the same offense, to
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. In
practical terms, this means you can't be tried twice for
the same crime. Deputy District Attorney l Voice Hooper explained

(44:41):
the decision to the media. Without a body, without physical evidence,
the prosecution wasn't confident they could secure a conviction. If
they went to trial and Skip was acquitted, he could
never be tried again for Teresa's murder, even if her
body was later found, with clear evidence of his guilt.
Stay tuned for more Backwoods bl Bigfoot stories. We'll be

(45:01):
back after these messages. By dismissing the charges without prejudice,
prosecutors retained the option to charge Skip again if new
evidence emerged. They were betting on time, hoping that eventually
Teresa's remains would be found, that new witnesses would come forward,
or that Skip himself might confess. The decision was controversial.

(45:25):
Teresa's family and friends were devastated. They had hoped for
some measure of justice, some official acknowledgment of what they
believed had happened to her. Instead, Skip Welch walked free,
able to return to his life as if nothing had happened.
Law enforcement wasn't ready to give up, though they continued
to monitor Skip, hoping he might make a mistake, returned

(45:47):
to the body, or confess to someone. But Skip maintained
his story. In interviews after his release, he continued to
insist that Bigfoot had taken Teresa, that she was alive
and happy with the Sasquatch community in the mountains. After
his release, Russell Skip Welch became something of a curiosity
in certain circles. The Bigfoot research community was divided on

(46:09):
his claims. Some saw him as a liability, someone whose
outlandish story and criminal accusations damaged the credibility of serious
sasquatch research. Others wondered if there might be some truth
to his claims, if perhaps he had witnessed something that
his drug addled mind couldn't properly process or articulate. Skip

(46:30):
continued to live in the Fresno area, maintaining his story
about Teresa's disappearance, until his death on March fifteenth, nineteen
ninety eight, at the age of fifty four from severe
coronary artery disease. He never confessed to harming Teresa, never
revealed the location of her body, never wavered from his
claim that Bigfoot was responsible. In the years following Teresa's disappearance,

(46:54):
investigators continued to receive tips and leads, but none led
to her discovery. Kers occasionally reported finding bones or clothing
in the mountains, raising hopes that were inevitably dashed when
testing revealed they belonged to animals or other missing persons.
The case became a cautionary tale in law enforcement circles
about the challenges of prosecuting cases without bodies. It also

(47:18):
raised questions about how the system had failed Teresa long
before she ever met Skip. Welch. The cycle of abuse,
the inadequate foster care system, the failure of multiple adults
to protect her all had contributed to her vulnerability. Psychologists
and criminologists have analyzed the case trying to understand Skip's

(47:38):
psychology and motivations. Several theories have emerged. The pure predator
theory suggests that Skip was a calculating sexual predator who
used the Bigfoot story as both bait and cover. In
this interpretation, his entire persona as a Bigfoot researcher was
a carefully constructed trap for vulnerable victims. The drug use

(47:59):
was real, but incidental, not affecting his fundamental criminal intent.
The delusional killer theory proposes that Skip's mental illness and
drug use created a genuine break from reality. He may
have killed Teresa during a psychotic episode and then constructed
the Bigfoot narrative to explain her disappearance to himself. In

(48:19):
this scenario, he might not have been lying so much
as confabulating, creating false memories to fill in gaps caused
by blackouts or dissociation. The accident cover up theory suggests
that Teresa's death might have been accidental, perhaps an overdose
from drugs Skip provided a fall while trying to escape,

(48:40):
or exposure to the elements. The Bigfoot story then became
a panic driven attempt to avoid responsibility, which Skip eventually
came to believe himself. The most disturbing theory is the
experienced killer hypothesis. Some investigators believe Teresa wasn't Skip's first victim,
that he had refined his methods over years of predation.

(49:01):
The Bigfoot hunting trips provided perfect cover, isolated locations, vulnerable
victims who wouldn't be immediately missed, and a built in
explanation for disappearances that, while unbelievable, couldn't be definitively disproven.
There's also the question of accomplices. The threatening phone calls
to John Richmond suggested Skip wasn't acting entirely alone. Who

(49:23):
was the young woman who made those calls? Were there
other victims who were too frightened to come forward? Did
Skip have a network of fellow predators who helped him
procure victims or dispose of evidence. The Bigfoot research community
has largely distanced itself from the case, viewing it as
a tragedy that unfairly associated their field of study with

(49:44):
violence and crime. Serious researchers point out that genuine sasquatch encounters,
if they occur, don't involve abductions or violence toward humans.
The creatures, as described in most citing reports, are elusive
and avoid human contact. However, the case did spark discussions
within the cryptozoology community about the responsibility of researchers when

(50:07):
dealing with vulnerable individuals who might be attracted to the field.
The line between healthy interest and dangerous obsession, between open
minded investigation and delusional thinking, became a topic of serious consideration. Today,
more than thirty seven years after her disappearance, Teresa an
Beer remains missing. Her case is still officially open, though

(50:30):
active investigation has long since ceased. She would be fifty
three years old if still alive, though no one seriously
believes she survived that night in the mountains. The area
around Shut Eye Peak has changed significantly since nineteen eighty seven.
The Creek Fire of twenty twenty, which became the largest
single source wildfire in California history, swept through the region,

(50:53):
burning much of the forest where Teresa disappeared. If her
remains were somewhere in that wilderness, they may have been
destroyed by the inferno or buried deeper under ash and debris.
Modern technology has been applied to the case periodically. Satellite
imagery has been examined for any signs of disturbed earth
or hidden graves. GPS mapping has been used to reconstruct

(51:16):
possible routes Skip and Teresa might have taken. DNA databases
have been checked against unidentified remains found throughout California, but
technology can only do so much when there's no starting
point no evidence to analyze. The case has found new
life on the Internet, where true crime enthusiasts and Bigfoot
researchers alike have dissected every available detail online forms debate

(51:40):
the various theories, analyze SKIP statements for hidden meanings, and
propose new search areas based on topographical analysis and behavioral profiling.
Some researchers have pointed out parallels between Teresa's case and
other mysterious disappearances in national forests. Various investigators have died
documented numerous cases where people vanished in wilderness areas under

(52:03):
circumstances that defy easy explanation. While they don't explicitly blame
Bigfoot for these disappearances, they note patterns that some interpret
as evidence of an unknown predator. These patterns include victims
disappearing in areas with boulder fields or near water sources,
bodies being found in locations previously searched, victims being found

(52:25):
at higher elevations than where they disappeared, and missing clothing
or shoes even when bodies are recovered. Some of these
elements align with Teresa's case, though the involvement of skip
Welch makes direct comparison difficult. The bigfoot sighting reports from
the Sierra Nevada have continued over the decades. The BFROO
database shows ongoing encounters in the region, with witnesses describing

(52:49):
creatures matching the classic sasquatch description. In twenty twenty three,
a video emerged from Coyote Ridge, not far from where
Teresa disappeared, showing a bipedal figure moving through the forest
with inhuman speed and agility. Whether these sightings represent a
real biological entity, misidentified wildlife hoaxes, or psychological phenomena remains

(53:14):
a matter of debate. What's certain is that the wilderness
where Teresa vanished continues to generate reports of the unusual
and unexplained. For Teresa's surviving family members, the Bigfoot angle
has been a source of additional pain. Not only did
they lose Teresa, but her disappearance became a sensational story,

(53:35):
a curiosity, rather than a tragedy. The human cost of
the case, the loss of a young woman who had
already endured so much, often gets lost in discussions of
cryptozoology and criminal psychology. The case of Teresa Ann Beer
offers multiple layers of tragedy and multiple failures of the
systems meant to protect vulnerable children. Before we can even

(53:57):
address the question of what happened in those mountains, we
must confront the series of failures that put her there
in the first place. The child welfare system failed Teresa
repeatedly removed from one abusive situation, she was placed in others.
The cycle of abuse she experienced from her biological parents,
through foster care to her uncle's home created vulnerabilities that

(54:19):
predators like Skip Welch could exploit. Her story is not unique.
Thousands of children in the foster care system experienced similar
cycles of trauma and exploitation. The education system also failed
to protect her, despite clear signs of abuse and distress
manifesting in poor academic performance and social isolation. No effective

(54:41):
intervention occurred. Teachers and administrators either didn't recognize the warning
signs or didn't know how to respond appropriately. The criminal
justice system's handling of the case raises troubling questions. Was
the decision to drop charges really about preserving the possibility
of future prosecution, or was it influenced by the bizarre

(55:01):
nature of Skip's defense. Would prosecutors have been more aggressive
if the victim had come from a more stable background,
if she had been a better witness for herself. The
case also highlights the dangers of dismissing unconventional claims without
proper investigation. While the bigfoot explanation was almost certainly fabricated,

(55:21):
the focus on its absurdity might have prevented investigators from
fully exploring other angles. What if Skip's delusions were genuine?
How might that have affected the investigation's direction. For those
interested in cryptozoology and bigfoot research, the case serves as
a warning about the field's potential to attract individuals with
dangerous motivations or unstable mental states. The community's openness to

(55:46):
unusual claims and experiences. While necessary for investigating phenomena outside
mainstream science can also provide cover for predators and the delusional.
The role of drugs in the case cannot be overlooked.
Methamphetamine use in the nineteen eighties was reaching epidemic proportions
in California's Central Valley. The drug's effects on judgment, reality, perception,

(56:10):
and violence were well documented, yet treatment options were limited
and stigma prevented many users from seeking help. Skip's meth
use undoubtedly played a role in the events of June
nineteen eighty seven, whether by fueling violence, creating delusions, or
simply impairing his ability to provide coherent information about what happened.

(56:31):
Despite the overwhelming likelihood that Russell Skip Welch murdered Teresa
Ann Beer, we must acknowledge the small but persistent shadow
of doubt that hangs over this case. This isn't to
suggest that Bigfoot actually abducted Teresa, but rather to examine
why the case remains officially unsolved and what alternative explanations
might exist. First, there's the possibility that Teresa did indeed

(56:55):
run away and became lost in the wilderness. The Sierra
Nevada Mountains are vast and unforgiving. Every year experienced hikers
disappear in these mountains, sometimes never to be found. A
frightened sixteen year old girl, possibly under the influence of drugs,
unfamiliar with the terrain, could easily have become disoriented and lost.

(57:18):
If she ran at dusk, as Skip claimed, she would
have had limited light to navigate by The temperature drops
significantly at night at that elevation, even in June, Hypothermia
could have set in quickly. She might have fallen into
one of the many ravines or crevices that dot the landscape.
Her body could be mere yards from where searchers looked,

(57:38):
hidden by terrain or vegetation. There's also the possibility that
Skip was not the only person involved in Teresa's disappearance.
The threatening phone calls to her uncle suggested accomplices. What
if Skip had brought Teresa to meet other people in
the mountains. What if she was handed off to human
traffickers or other criminals. The nineteen eighties saw numerous cases

(58:01):
of organized child exploitation rings. While this seems unlikely given
the remote location and skips apparent genuine distress, it cannot
be entirely ruled out. Some researchers have proposed that Skip
might have witnessed something he couldn't understand or properly articulate.
Extreme trauma, combined with drug use and pre existing beliefs

(58:21):
about bigfoot, could have created a false narrative to explain
a real event. Perhaps Teresa was attacked by a bear
or mountain lion, and Skip's mind, unable to process the horror,
transformed the predator into a sasquatch. There have been cases
where people claimed bigfoot encounters that were later revealed to
be misidentified known animals. In low light conditions, with fear

(58:45):
and adrenaline affecting perception, a bear standing on its hind
legs could appear to be a bipedal creature. The human mind,
especially when primed by expectation and altered by drugs, can
transform ambiguous stimulus into confirmation of existing beliefs. The lack
of any physical evidence is troubling from an investigative standpoint.

(59:08):
Even when bodies are well hidden, trace evidence usually remains. Clothing, fibers, hair, blood,
disturbed soil. Something typically survives to indicate what happened. The
complete absence of such evidence in Teresa's case is unusual,
though not unprecedented. Some have speculated that if Skip did

(59:28):
kill Teresa, he might have had help disposing of the
body from someone with more knowledge of the area or
better facilities for concealment. The twenty mile discrepancy between the
staged camp site and the real one suggests Skip was
familiar enough with the area to mislead investigators. Could he
have had an established burial site prepared in advance. Teresa

(59:50):
and Beer's disappearance doesn't exist in isolation. It's part of
a larger pattern of missing persons cases in America's wilderness
areas that defy easy explanations. Stay tuned for more Backwoods
Bigfoot stories. We'll be back after these messages. While most
can be attributed to accidents, suicide, or foul play, a

(01:00:11):
small percentage remain genuinely mysterious. The Sierra Nevada Mountains have
seen numerous such disappearances over the decades. Some victims are
found years later, there remains telling a story of misadventure
or tragedy. Others are never found, leaving families in perpetual limbo.
The mountains keep their secrets well, and the vast wilderness

(01:00:33):
can swallow a person without a trace. What makes some
of these cases particularly intriguing is the presence of anomalous
elements that don't fit standard missing persons patterns. Bodies found
in areas previously searched multiple times, victims discovered at elevations
higher than where they disappeared, defying the logical tendency of

(01:00:54):
lost hikers to travel downhill missing clothing and shoes, even
when bodies are are recovered in relatively good condition. These
patterns have led some researchers to propose that an unknown
factor is at play in at least some wilderness disappearances.
Whether that factor is an undiscovered predator, unusual geological or

(01:01:15):
electromagnetic phenomena, or something else entirely remains a matter of speculation.
In the context of these broader mysteries, the Terresa beer
case stands out for having a clear human suspect with
a documented history of predatory behavior. Yet, even with skip
Welch as the obvious culprit, the case retains elements of
the genuinely inexplicable. The complete absence of physical evidence, the

(01:01:40):
suspects apparent genuine belief in his own impossible story, the
fact that extensive searches found nothing. This intersection of human
crime and wilderness mystery makes the case particularly fascinating to
both true crime researchers and cryptozoology enthusiasts. It exists in
the liminal space between the known and un between conventional

(01:02:01):
crime and unconventional phenomena. As we reach the end of
this investigation into the Teresa and Beer case, we're left
with more questions than answers. The facts are clear. A
vulnerable sixteen year old girl went into the mountains with
a dangerous man and never returned. The man claimed supernatural
forces were responsible. The justice system failed to hold anyone accountable.

(01:02:25):
The girl's body was never found. But beyond these facts
lies a maze of possibilities, each more troubling than the last.
Did Russell, Skip, Welch murder Teresa and Beer Almost certainly?
But that near certainty isn't the same as proof, and
proof is what the justice system requires. The Bigfoot element

(01:02:46):
of this case has insured its place in the annals
of both true crime and cryptozoology. It serves as a
cautionary tale about the vulnerability of troubled youth, the failures
of systems meant to protect children, and the dangerous intersection
of drug abuse and delusion. It also raises uncomfortable questions
about what might share our wilderness with us, and whether

(01:03:08):
some mysteries are better left unsolved or the Bigfoot research
community the case remains a dark chapter, a reminder that
their field of study can attract those with ulterior motives.
The search for hidden truths and undiscovered creatures is noble
in its way, expanding the boundaries of human knowledge and
challenging scientific orthodoxy, but it can also provide cover for

(01:03:30):
those whose interests are far from academic. Today, if you
drive up to shut Eye Peak, you'll find a landscape
transformed by fire, but still hauntingly beautiful. The fire lookout
tower still stands a sentinel watching over miles of wilderness.
The granite domes and ridges remain indifferent to human tragedy.

(01:03:51):
The forests, though scarred by recent fires, are regenerating as
they have from millennia. Somewhere in that vast wilderness, the
remains of Teresa Ann Beer likely rest. Whether she lies
in a carefully concealed grave at the bottom of a
ravine or scattered by scavengers across the mountain side, her
exact location may never be known. The mountains have claimed

(01:04:14):
her as their own. Another secret in a landscape full
of mysteries. For those who knew and loved Teresa, the
pain of not knowing has never fully healed. The absence
of closure, the lack of a grave to visit, the
unanswered questions all combine to create a wound that time
cannot fully heal. They remember not the sensational aspects of

(01:04:36):
her case, but the girl herself, troubled, yes, but deserving
of protection, of justice, of a chance at a better life.
The legal case may be cold, but it remains open. Somewhere.
There may be evidence waiting to be discovered. A hunter
might stumble upon remains, a deathbed confession might emerge. New

(01:04:58):
technology might reveal what eighteen eighties investigation techniques couldn't find.
Until then, Teresa Ann Beer remains among the missing, her
fate officially unknown, but tragically obvious. In the end, the
Teresa Ann Beer case forces us to confront uncomfortable truths
about our society, our justice system, and our wilderness. It

(01:05:21):
reminds us that monsters are real, though they rarely match
our folklore descriptions. The real monsters walk on two legs,
speak our language, and often hide their predatory nature behind
elaborate fantasies and carefully constructed personas. Whether Bigfoot exists or not,
whether the Sierra Nevada Mountains harbor an undiscovered primate species

(01:05:42):
or not, one fact remains indisputable. Human predators use our
fascination with the unknown to lure and harm the vulnerable.
They exploit our desire for adventure, our openness to possibility,
our trust that adults will protect children rather than harm them.
The story of Teresa Ann Beer serves as a warning.

(01:06:03):
It tells us to protect the vulnerable, to question the incredible,
to investigate the impossible. It reminds us that justice delayed
is often justice denied, and that some mysteries are manufactured
to hide very human crimes. As you go about your
life far from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the shadows
they harbor, remember Teresa Ann Beer. Remember her not as

(01:06:27):
a footnote in bigfoot lore or a curiosity in true
crime catalogs, but as a young woman whose life was
cut tragically short. She deserved better from everyone, from the
family that should have protected her, from the systems that
should have saved her, from the justice that should have
been served. The mountains remained silent about what happened on

(01:06:47):
that June evening in nineteen eighty seven. The truth lies
buried somewhere in that vast wilderness, waiting to be discovered
or forgotten forever. And somewhere, if the stories are true,
something walks those high ridges on two legs, leaving massive
footprints in the soft earth, watching from the shadows as
human search for answers to questions they may not want answered.

(01:07:11):
The case of Teresa Ann Beer reminds us that sometimes
the most terrifying monsters are the ones we invite into
our lives, the ones who promise us adventure and discovery
but deliver only darkness. It reminds us that the wilderness,
beautiful and alluring as it may be, can also be
a grave that never gives up its dead. And, perhaps

(01:07:32):
most importantly, it reminds us that every missing person, every
unsolved case, every victim dismissed or forgotten, deserves to have
their story told, their truth sought, their justice pursued, no
matter how strange or impossible that truth might seem. Teresa
an Beer vanished into the mountains thirty seven years ago.

(01:07:52):
She has never been found, she likely never will be,
but her story endoers a cautionary tale written in shadow
and speculation, a reminder that some mysteries are manufactured to
hide the most mundane and terrible of crimes. The murder
of an innocent the Sasquatch, if it exists, remains hidden

(01:08:12):
in the vast wilderness of North America, glimpsed but never captured,
leaving only footprints and questions in its wake. But the
human monsters who use such legends for their own dark
purposes are all too real, all too common, and all
too often escape the justice they deserve. But as you
consider this case, as you weigh the evidence and the testimony,

(01:08:36):
remember this, somewhere in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the truth waits.
It may wait forever, held in the silence of stone
and forest, known only to the dead, and perhaps to
creatures whose existence we can only imagine. The mountains keep
their secrets well, and some secrets perhaps are better left undiscovered,

(01:08:57):
or perhaps not. The choice and the judgment are yours.
The disappearance of Teresa Ann Beer represents a perfect storm
of societal failures, individual evil, and investigative challenges. It stands
as a testament to the vulnerability of our most at
risk youth, and the ease with which predators can operate
when they choose the right victims and the right circumstances.

(01:09:21):
The Bigfoot angle, while almost certainly a fabrication, adds a
layer of complexity that has kept this case in public
consciousness far longer than most missing persons cases from the
nineteen eighties. It speaks to our fascination with the unknown,
our willingness to consider the impossible, and sometimes our tendency
to focus on the sensational at the expense of the

(01:09:43):
human tragedy at the core. As we've explored throughout this narrative,
the Sierra Nevada region where Teresa disappeared, has a long
and documented history of sasquatch sightings. Whether these represent misidentification, hoaxes,
psychological for noomena, or genuine encounters with an unknown species,

(01:10:03):
they create a cultural context in which skip Welch's claims,
however unlikely, couldn't be dismissed entirely. This ambiguity, this crack
in the door of possibility, may have been enough to
create reasonable doubt in the minds of prosecutors in a
court of law where guilt must be proven beyond a
reasonable doubt. Even the slightest uncertainty can be enough to

(01:10:25):
secure an acquittal. The prosecutors who dropped the charges against
skip Welch may have recognized this and chosen to wait
for more concrete evidence rather than risk a not guilty
verdict that would have freed him permanently. But in waiting
for perfect evidence, justice was denied. Teresa Ann Beer's family
was denied closure, the community was denied safety from a

(01:10:47):
potential predator, and Teresa herself was denied the dignity of
having her likely killer held accountable for his crimes. The
ongoing fascination with this case, evidenced by continued online discuss
us podcasts, and articles, suggests that the public hasn't forgotten
Teresa Ann Beer. Each retelling of her story keeps the

(01:11:08):
case alive, maintains pressure on law enforcement to continue considering
new evidence, and perhaps most importantly, honors the memory of
a young woman whose life was cut tragically short. For
the Bigfoot research community, the case remains a complicated legacy.
While most serious researchers have distanced themselves from skip Welch's claims,

(01:11:29):
the association between their field of study and this tragic
crime has been difficult to shake. It serves as a
reminder that extraordinary claims, even when made in the context
of criminal defense, can have lasting impacts on legitimate research efforts.
As we wrap up this deep dive into the Teresa
Ann Beer case, we're left with a final, uncomfortable truth.

(01:11:52):
Some mysteries are never solved, some crimes never punished, some
victims never found. The wilderness, whether literal or metaphorical, can
swallow people whole, leaving only questions and grief in their wake.
But in telling these stories, in refusing to let these
victims be forgotten, we perform a kind of justice. We

(01:12:12):
say that every life matters, that every disappearance deserves investigation,
that every victim deserves to have their story told. Teresa
Ann Beer may never be found, her killer may never
be conclusively identified or punished, but her story endures as
a warning, a mystery, and a tragedy that reminds us
of our obligations to protect the vulnerable. The mountains around

(01:12:36):
Shut Eye Peak stand today much as they did in
June of nineteen eighty seven. Eternal and indifferent. They've witnessed
countless human dramas from Native American settlements through gold rush
expeditions to modern recreational adventures they'll witness countless more. But
for those who know the story of Teresa An Beer,
those peaks will always carry an additional shadow, a remind

(01:13:00):
you that sometimes people walk into the wilderness and never return,
whether taken by human evil or swallowed by the unforgiving landscape,
whether murdered or lost, whether her fate involved only the
mundane cruelty of human predation or something stranger. Teresa Ann
Beer's disappearance remains one of California's most haunting unsolved mysteries,

(01:13:22):
and in the end, perhaps that's all we can say
with certainty. A young girl went into the mountains with
a dangerous man. She never came back. Everything else, from
bigfoot to murder, from accident to abduction, remains speculation, built
on a foundation of absence, the absence of a body,
the absence of evidence, the absence of justice. The mountains

(01:13:45):
keep their secrets. Some of those secrets have names. One
of them is Teresa Ann Beer.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
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