WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Theresa Bier 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.000 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:29.481 --> 0:01:33.161 On Jeane First, nineteen eighty seven, Teresa Anne Beer was 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.880 about to go on an adventure. She was headed into 0:01:35.881 --> 0:01:39.840 the woods to look for Bigfoot. Teresa was sixteen years 0:01:39.881 --> 0:01:42.601 old and she was wrapping up her freshman year at 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.801 Fresno High in Fresno, California. 0:01:45.321 --> 0:01:47.280 She was one year behind a lot of her. 0:01:47.161 --> 0:01:51.641 Classmates, which wasn't surprising because Teresa was living in a 0:01:51.761 --> 0:01:55.601 very abusive environment with her uncle, John Richmond, his two 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.800 young sons, and his seventeen year old girlfriend. John also 0:01:59.921 --> 0:02:02.520 had a wife, but I haven't been able to confirm 0:02:02.601 --> 0:02:05.320 whether or not they were estranged at that time, or 0:02:05.641 --> 0:02:08.441 whether John's wife was actually living at home during that 0:02:08.561 --> 0:02:13.001 time with the girlfriend. As you'll see, John's family setup was, 0:02:13.081 --> 0:02:16.801 to say the least, a bit unusual. Teresa's plan was 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.561 to skip school on June first and drive into the 0:02:19.561 --> 0:02:22.001 Sierra Nevada Mountains for the day with a forty three 0:02:22.081 --> 0:02:25.441 year old friend of her uncle's named Russell Skip Welch. 0:02:26.041 --> 0:02:27.201 But Teresa never. 0:02:27.041 --> 0:02:30.400 Came home, and soon the man who took her into 0:02:30.441 --> 0:02:34.641 the woods was rambling about Teresa being kidnapped by a monster. 0:02:36.001 --> 0:02:37.800 The case made local news. 0:02:38.441 --> 0:02:42.721 Teresa's missing poster was released, along with her description height 0:02:42.921 --> 0:02:45.881 five foot five, of weight one hundred and ten pounds, 0:02:45.921 --> 0:02:48.801 with brown hair and hazel eyes, and a surgical scar 0:02:48.881 --> 0:02:52.401 on her lower right leg. The poster also stated that 0:02:52.441 --> 0:02:56.441 she went by a nickname Sam. According to a book 0:02:56.441 --> 0:02:59.321 that was written about the case, Skip told the authorities 0:02:59.481 --> 0:03:02.881 that this was his nickname for Teresa because he said 0:03:02.921 --> 0:03:05.041 she reminded him of a runaway girl that he saw 0:03:05.041 --> 0:03:09.281 in a movie. On Friday, June nineteenth, nineteen eighty seven, 0:03:09.761 --> 0:03:13.201 the Fresno Bee published the first newspaper article about this 0:03:13.281 --> 0:03:17.161 case with the headline man blames Bigfoot for missing girl. 0:03:17.921 --> 0:03:21.561 But this was much more than a tabloid story. This 0:03:21.761 --> 0:03:26.400 case would involve allegations of sex, slavery, serial killers, drug use, 0:03:26.761 --> 0:03:30.161 Bigfoot colonies, and at the heart of this story, it 0:03:30.201 --> 0:03:33.721 would reveal a system that completely failed a young woman 0:03:33.801 --> 0:03:37.681 on every single level, a system that allowed a sixteen 0:03:37.761 --> 0:03:42.641 year old to vanish without a trace. I'm Catherine Townsend. 0:03:43.161 --> 0:03:46.001 Over the past seven years of making my true crime podcast, 0:03:46.041 --> 0:03:48.961 Helen Gone, I've learned that there's no such thing as 0:03:48.961 --> 0:03:53.361 a small town where murder never happens. I've received hundreds 0:03:53.361 --> 0:03:55.961 of messages from people all around the country asking for 0:03:56.001 --> 0:03:59.001 help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, 0:03:59.161 --> 0:04:01.801 and their communities. If you have a case you'd like 0:04:01.841 --> 0:04:04.001 me and my team to look into, you can reach 0:04:04.041 --> 0:04:06.201 out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at 0:04:06.241 --> 0:04:09.401 six seven eight seven four four six one four five. 0:04:09.881 --> 0:04:13.681 That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five, 0:04:14.441 --> 0:04:17.601 or you can send us a message on Instagram. 0:04:16.841 --> 0:04:18.121 At Helen Gone Pod. 0:04:18.801 --> 0:05:04.200 This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Teresa Anne Beer was 0:05:04.241 --> 0:05:08.121 born on April sixteenth, nineteen seventy nine, in Fresno, California, 0:05:08.761 --> 0:05:10.880 and from the very beginning her. 0:05:10.761 --> 0:05:11.801 Life was hard. 0:05:12.641 --> 0:05:15.641 Teresa grew up with her mother, Shirley, and her father, David. 0:05:16.001 --> 0:05:19.481 The couple also had two other daughters, Yolanda, who lived 0:05:19.481 --> 0:05:22.841 with David's grandmother, and Vicki, who lived at home with Teresa. 0:05:23.601 --> 0:05:25.880 But according to a book that was written by a 0:05:25.921 --> 0:05:29.880 journalist named Jay O'Connell in twenty twenty called Meth Murder 0:05:29.881 --> 0:05:34.161 and Bigfoot a California crime Saga, Shirley was physically abusive 0:05:34.241 --> 0:05:37.561 to her two young daughters. When Teresa was three years old, 0:05:38.041 --> 0:05:42.161 Shirley broke her daughter's leg. Teresa went to the hospital, 0:05:42.201 --> 0:05:45.241 and sometime after that, social so servis got involved. So 0:05:45.601 --> 0:05:48.481 David and his wife ended up getting divorced, and according 0:05:48.481 --> 0:05:51.881 to the book, for several years Teresa and her older sister, 0:05:51.961 --> 0:05:55.200 Vicki lived in foster care with a family friend from church. 0:05:56.001 --> 0:05:59.880 Now there's very little information generally about those years, but 0:06:00.001 --> 0:06:02.640 from the book at least it seemed like Teresa was 0:06:02.681 --> 0:06:05.721 actually thriving in that foster home. The book described the 0:06:05.721 --> 0:06:09.361 Foster family as loving, but several years after that, when 0:06:09.441 --> 0:06:12.841 Teresa was preteen age, her father filed to get custody 0:06:12.841 --> 0:06:16.361 of Teresa, so Teresa went to live with her father 0:06:16.521 --> 0:06:19.001 and his new wife, Margie, in the city of Compton 0:06:19.161 --> 0:06:23.440 in La County. But Teresa's older sister, Yolanda, later told 0:06:23.521 --> 0:06:27.441 Jay O'Connell that Margie was abusive. We don't know if 0:06:27.481 --> 0:06:30.721 these claims are true. This is hearsay, but according to 0:06:30.761 --> 0:06:34.801 the book, Yolanda claimed that Margie would actually lock the 0:06:34.841 --> 0:06:38.320 refrigerator so that the kids couldn't get food. Things with 0:06:38.401 --> 0:06:41.601 her dad and stepmom were not working out, so Teresa 0:06:41.641 --> 0:06:45.001 spent some time staying with a great grandmother. Then her 0:06:45.081 --> 0:06:48.921 forty two year old uncle, John Richmond, pursued custody of Teresa. 0:06:49.481 --> 0:06:53.601 But John Richmond was not a loving uncle. Not only 0:06:53.881 --> 0:06:57.161 was John using Teresa, as according to his girlfriend Tammy, 0:06:57.201 --> 0:06:59.760 a domestic slave by asking her to take care of 0:06:59.801 --> 0:07:02.521 his young sons instead of going to class, but also 0:07:03.001 --> 0:07:04.721 John and his friends. 0:07:04.401 --> 0:07:06.320 Allegedly sexually abused Teresa. 0:07:07.361 --> 0:07:10.601 Tammy said later that not only did John have sex 0:07:10.641 --> 0:07:13.201 with her, but that he would let his friends who 0:07:13.201 --> 0:07:16.321 were drug users, have sex with her. This was later 0:07:16.401 --> 0:07:18.881 confirmed by a detective, Doug Stokes, who worked the case 0:07:18.961 --> 0:07:22.441 and spoke to the author of the book, Jay O'Connell. 0:07:22.641 --> 0:07:24.801 One of John's friends was a forty three year old 0:07:24.801 --> 0:07:29.161 methamphetamine user and self described amateur bigfoot enthusiast named Russell 0:07:29.241 --> 0:07:32.801 Skip Welch. He was the one who took Teresa to 0:07:32.841 --> 0:07:35.961 the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Skip had been married to a 0:07:35.961 --> 0:07:39.441 woman named Shannon, but according to media reports, she passed 0:07:39.441 --> 0:07:42.281 away in nineteen eighty five and died of a drug overdose. 0:07:43.041 --> 0:07:44.801 Skip mainly did odd jobs. 0:07:45.241 --> 0:07:47.641 He painted houses to earn money, but also had an 0:07:47.641 --> 0:07:50.921 interest in camping and searching for mind minerals in the wilderness. 0:07:51.401 --> 0:07:53.921 Skip's other hobby was filing mineral claims. 0:07:54.681 --> 0:07:55.881 Let me back up for a minute. 0:07:56.001 --> 0:07:58.281 There's a law called the General Mining Law of eighteen 0:07:58.321 --> 0:08:00.361 seventy two. It goes back to the time of the 0:08:00.361 --> 0:08:03.801 California gold Rush. Basically, what this law does is that 0:08:03.841 --> 0:08:06.841 it allows people who find valuable minerals like gold or 0:08:06.881 --> 0:08:09.721 copper on a plot of land to assert rights to 0:08:09.801 --> 0:08:13.121 the mine on that land. Skip mainly searched in an 0:08:13.161 --> 0:08:16.161 area called shut Eye Peak, an area in the Sierra 0:08:16.241 --> 0:08:19.761 National Forest. Apparently it was nicknamed by the Native Americans 0:08:19.801 --> 0:08:20.601 who made camp there. 0:08:21.601 --> 0:08:23.041 Skip Pud also filed. 0:08:22.801 --> 0:08:24.881 Paperwork for other claims in the north of the state, 0:08:25.161 --> 0:08:28.521 near the southern boundary of Yosemite National Park. This is 0:08:28.561 --> 0:08:31.321 a remote area of the country there are thousands of 0:08:31.401 --> 0:08:34.680 acres of untamed wilderness. One of the areas where Skip 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.041 liked to go, according to the book, was an area 0:08:37.121 --> 0:08:40.881 called Ghost Canyon. Skip believed it was once an Indian 0:08:40.881 --> 0:08:44.641 burial ground back in the early eighties. Fresno in the 0:08:44.680 --> 0:08:46.881 area around it, like a lot of areas around the 0:08:46.961 --> 0:08:50.001 United States at that time, had a serious myth problem. 0:08:50.361 --> 0:08:54.441 The meth trade was exploding. Both John and Skip used meth, 0:08:54.721 --> 0:08:58.680 and it was around the house. On the morning she disappeared, 0:08:59.001 --> 0:09:01.321 Teresa left home as if she was going to school, 0:09:02.081 --> 0:09:05.441 but she had a secret plan. Earlier that week, she 0:09:05.560 --> 0:09:07.761 had told two of her friends that she planned to 0:09:07.761 --> 0:09:10.681 skip school to head into the mountains with Skip so 0:09:10.721 --> 0:09:13.840 they could look for Bigfoot, who she claimed Skip had 0:09:13.881 --> 0:09:18.201 seen before. Skip was a Bigfoot expert, apparently, and knew 0:09:18.201 --> 0:09:21.440 where to find him. So on June first, Skip came 0:09:21.481 --> 0:09:24.160 over to John Richmond's house. He told John that he 0:09:24.201 --> 0:09:27.001 would drive Teresa to school, but their actual plan, as 0:09:27.001 --> 0:09:29.641 she had told her friends, was to search for Bigfoot, 0:09:30.001 --> 0:09:32.721 or at least that's what Teresa thought the plan was. 0:09:33.641 --> 0:09:37.521 After that, Teresa disappeared. When she didn't show up at school, 0:09:37.721 --> 0:09:40.921 administrators called the house and talked to John. He told 0:09:40.961 --> 0:09:44.361 the person from the school that Teresa was homesick. Now, 0:09:44.481 --> 0:09:48.081 admittedly he lied there. He later told the police that 0:09:48.121 --> 0:09:50.641 he lied because he wanted to handle the matter himself. 0:09:51.201 --> 0:09:53.361 But like a lot of other parts of this case, 0:09:53.441 --> 0:09:56.521 it's still a mystery. We do know a few things 0:09:56.521 --> 0:10:00.401 about what happened that morning. After leaving Teresa's house, Skip 0:10:00.441 --> 0:10:03.081 and Teresa stopped off at his daughter Shandra's house. 0:10:03.841 --> 0:10:05.800 The thing that's so disturbing. 0:10:05.321 --> 0:10:08.841 About this, among many other things, is that, according to 0:10:08.881 --> 0:10:12.281 the book, even his daughter Shandra later told police that 0:10:12.401 --> 0:10:14.481 she had a bad feeling about Skip. 0:10:15.001 --> 0:10:16.840 She said Skip had a habit. 0:10:16.641 --> 0:10:19.841 Of offering young women drugs and using that to lure 0:10:19.881 --> 0:10:23.681 them into sexual encounters. On that day, Skip was having 0:10:23.681 --> 0:10:26.680 some car problems, but after he ran some errands and 0:10:26.721 --> 0:10:30.281 went to cash's disability check, Skip started the car. He 0:10:30.361 --> 0:10:34.001 and Teresa headed into the mountains, but they didn't come back, 0:10:34.641 --> 0:10:37.921 and no one in Teresa's family ever saw her again. 0:10:47.001 --> 0:10:50.280 Teresa's uncle, John Richmond, called the Fresno police at nine 0:10:50.401 --> 0:10:54.441 thirty pm on June first, to report Teresa missing. Detectives 0:10:54.441 --> 0:10:56.481 didn't follow up on this call until the next day, 0:10:56.601 --> 0:11:00.241 June second. The case was assigned to Detective Doug Stokes. 0:11:00.761 --> 0:11:02.680 He headed out to interview John Richmond. 0:11:02.721 --> 0:11:03.081 First. 0:11:03.841 --> 0:11:06.441 John told the detective that Skip was a speed freak 0:11:06.481 --> 0:11:09.001 who liked to think of himself as a survivalist, someone 0:11:09.041 --> 0:11:11.160 who could live off the land for a long period 0:11:11.201 --> 0:11:15.401 of time. John's girlfriend, Tammy, told detective Stokes about another 0:11:15.481 --> 0:11:17.841 girl who she believed had been dating or hanging out. 0:11:17.761 --> 0:11:19.801 With Skip, a young woman named Michelle. 0:11:20.641 --> 0:11:23.201 So detective Stokes went to talk to Michelle and found 0:11:23.241 --> 0:11:25.881 out that she was seventeen years old, very young like 0:11:26.001 --> 0:11:28.800 Teresa and a lot of the other women who Skip 0:11:28.881 --> 0:11:29.961 reportedly hung out with. 0:11:30.881 --> 0:11:31.680 Now according to. 0:11:31.601 --> 0:11:34.041 The book, Michelle said she wasn't dating Skip, she was 0:11:34.081 --> 0:11:37.481 just a casual acquaintance of his. But the second time 0:11:37.521 --> 0:11:41.241 police came to her house, she did tell detectives something else. 0:11:41.921 --> 0:11:45.920 She talked about a scare incident involving Skip that happened 0:11:45.961 --> 0:11:48.481 a year earlier. She said that in the summer of 0:11:48.561 --> 0:11:51.361 nineteen eighty six, Skip invited her to go on a 0:11:51.361 --> 0:11:53.881 big foot hunt in the mountains and that they headed 0:11:53.921 --> 0:11:56.001 out to camp in Sierra National Forest. 0:11:56.641 --> 0:11:58.441 She said that she invited two male. 0:11:58.241 --> 0:12:01.041 Friends who were about ten years older, a guy she 0:12:01.121 --> 0:12:03.801 was casually seeing named Sam, and another guy named Corky 0:12:03.881 --> 0:12:06.361 to go along with her. While they were out there, 0:12:06.441 --> 0:12:10.481 Skip was taking meth and said he saw a white monster. 0:12:11.601 --> 0:12:15.040 Apparently during this time, Skip started talking about how Bigfoot 0:12:15.081 --> 0:12:18.441 worshiped women, which at first seemed to be kind of 0:12:18.441 --> 0:12:21.361 a positive thing, but then Michelle said that Skip started 0:12:21.361 --> 0:12:25.241 talking about satanic sacrifices. She said that all of them 0:12:25.441 --> 0:12:29.321 were terrified. It's not clear whether the things that Michelle 0:12:29.361 --> 0:12:32.361 and the other guys saw and heard were from paranoia, 0:12:32.441 --> 0:12:35.921 possibly due to drug use, or whether they were freaked 0:12:35.921 --> 0:12:38.800 out just by the scary environment and stories, or whether 0:12:38.801 --> 0:12:42.040 they actually saw or heard something out there. According to 0:12:42.081 --> 0:12:45.361 the book, Michelle told police that later that night, she 0:12:45.441 --> 0:12:48.281 woke up screaming. She said she saw something that she 0:12:48.401 --> 0:12:51.921 described as being white, about three feet tall, with big eyes, 0:12:52.361 --> 0:12:55.201 something that she said looked like a devil. She said 0:12:55.201 --> 0:12:58.040 she started running and in her fear, almost fell off 0:12:58.041 --> 0:12:58.481 a cliff. 0:12:59.241 --> 0:13:00.800 In the end, everyone made it. 0:13:00.721 --> 0:13:03.841 Out of the woods that night, but after Theresa went missing, 0:13:04.161 --> 0:13:06.201 Detective Stokes was connecting the dots. 0:13:06.521 --> 0:13:08.441 He'd figured out that Skip Welch, a known. 0:13:08.361 --> 0:13:11.241 Drug abuser and rumored's sexual predator, had taken her to 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.401 the mountains, and Skip already had warrants out on him 0:13:14.401 --> 0:13:17.721 for drunk driving and some other charges. Police were looking 0:13:17.761 --> 0:13:21.280 for Skip and his brown nineteen seventy six Monte Carlo, 0:13:21.841 --> 0:13:23.881 and it didn't take them long to find it, because 0:13:24.001 --> 0:13:27.081 on June fifth, the car was spotted at a friend 0:13:27.161 --> 0:13:31.801 of Skip's named Dorothy Davis. Dorothy told police that on 0:13:31.921 --> 0:13:35.920 June first, Skip had driven down the mountain very erratically 0:13:36.121 --> 0:13:38.321 and that when he got to her place, the car 0:13:38.401 --> 0:13:41.121 had dents on it. He told her that a satanic 0:13:41.161 --> 0:13:43.401 group had taken control of a girl he was hanging 0:13:43.401 --> 0:13:47.081 out with. He said that it had changed into quote 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.561 something white looking. Dorothy told police she believed that Skip 0:13:51.641 --> 0:13:53.481 was just high and then he needed to calm down 0:13:53.521 --> 0:13:56.801 and sleep it off. On June tenth, police picked Skip 0:13:56.921 --> 0:13:59.040 up and they brought him in for an interview. Now, 0:13:59.121 --> 0:14:01.401 during this interview, he talked about how he was a 0:14:01.401 --> 0:14:04.481 bigfoot expert. He was very open about that. He said 0:14:04.681 --> 0:14:07.521 bigfoot exists. He said there have been tons of sightings 0:14:07.521 --> 0:14:09.560 of Bigfoot in the high Sierras. 0:14:09.441 --> 0:14:12.081 And he seemed to be completely. 0:14:11.481 --> 0:14:14.121 Serious about his theory that there were bipedal eight blake 0:14:14.241 --> 0:14:17.521 creatures living up in the mountains. Skip said, not only 0:14:17.561 --> 0:14:20.801 had he seen Bigfoot, he had interacted with Bigfoot and 0:14:20.841 --> 0:14:23.361 these other creatures who lived up in the mountains. He 0:14:23.401 --> 0:14:26.041 said that he had quote not violated them, and that 0:14:26.121 --> 0:14:30.401 therefore they made themselves readily available to him end quote. 0:14:30.481 --> 0:14:34.361 He said he had taken pictures of Bigfoot on multiple occasions. Now, 0:14:34.361 --> 0:14:37.121 according to the book, Skip had even taken his alleged 0:14:37.161 --> 0:14:40.961 Bigfoot polaroids to an expert, the chair of the anthropology 0:14:40.961 --> 0:14:45.321 department at Fresno State University, and this anthropologist agreed to 0:14:45.321 --> 0:14:48.601 meet with Skip and look at his pictures. The anthropologist 0:14:48.641 --> 0:14:52.081 told Jae O'Connell. Back then, this wasn't unusual. There was 0:14:52.121 --> 0:14:54.801 a lot of interest in Bigfoot during the eighties. The 0:14:54.841 --> 0:14:58.201 movie Harry and the Hendersons, about a family finding Bigfoot, 0:14:58.241 --> 0:14:59.401 came out in nineteen eighty seven. 0:14:59.801 --> 0:15:00.521 I remember this. 0:15:00.881 --> 0:15:03.481 There were a lot of rumors of Bigfoot sightings in 0:15:03.481 --> 0:15:06.161 the summer of nineteen eighty six. I remember, as soon 0:15:06.201 --> 0:15:09.241 as I could read, seeing tabloid newspapers at the supermarket 0:15:09.601 --> 0:15:13.321 with people who were claiming to see Bigfoot. So back 0:15:13.321 --> 0:15:16.521 to his alleged evidence. When Skip showed the anthropologist the 0:15:16.521 --> 0:15:19.401 photos that he was so excited about, the anthropologist told 0:15:19.481 --> 0:15:22.921 Jay O'Connell years later that he vividly remembered that meeting, 0:15:23.361 --> 0:15:25.961 that he didn't see anything in those pictures except shadows, 0:15:26.241 --> 0:15:29.121 and that he talked to Skip about projection, the idea 0:15:29.161 --> 0:15:32.681 that we project images of expectation. Basically, we see what 0:15:32.721 --> 0:15:36.241 we want to see. The expert saw zero evidence of Bigfoot, 0:15:36.401 --> 0:15:39.521 but Skip was absolutely convinced that he had seen Bigfoot, 0:15:39.761 --> 0:15:41.921 and he wasn't going to let someone else tell him otherwise. 0:15:42.481 --> 0:15:45.081 In fact, a few days later, Skip left a brown 0:15:45.121 --> 0:15:47.881 paper bag full of bones at the anthropologist's office that 0:15:47.921 --> 0:15:51.081 apparently were not human in nature. I'm just guessing here, 0:15:51.121 --> 0:15:54.361 but it seems like they were much more likely to 0:15:54.441 --> 0:15:57.681 have come from roadkill or grocery store, retisserie chicken or 0:15:57.721 --> 0:16:01.121 something like that than a sasquatch. The anthropologist said that 0:16:01.161 --> 0:16:04.401 nothing he saw in Skip's evidence pointed to the existence 0:16:04.401 --> 0:16:08.161 of Bigfoot. I want to just take a minute to 0:16:08.361 --> 0:16:11.321 talk about my connection to the case. So a couple 0:16:11.361 --> 0:16:14.521 of listeners called me about this case who were from 0:16:14.641 --> 0:16:18.681 the Fresno area, and around that time, totally by coincidence, 0:16:18.721 --> 0:16:21.001 I got a call from a producer who said that 0:16:21.041 --> 0:16:24.281 they were working on a documentary about this case, and 0:16:24.561 --> 0:16:28.081 they were planning on bringing in a bigfoot expert, and 0:16:28.241 --> 0:16:30.681 I said very politely that I would be happy to 0:16:30.721 --> 0:16:33.441 be a part of the crime documentary, but if I 0:16:33.561 --> 0:16:35.201 was part of it, I would want to focus on 0:16:35.481 --> 0:16:39.361 the foster care system failures, the criminal justice system failures 0:16:39.361 --> 0:16:41.881 that allowed a young woman to go missing and be 0:16:42.001 --> 0:16:45.161 missing for more than a day before reported, and to 0:16:45.321 --> 0:16:50.281 explore any non Bigfoot related leads. I do not believe 0:16:50.361 --> 0:16:55.321 that Bigfoot exists. However, I am open minded. I understand 0:16:55.361 --> 0:16:58.041 that there are many animals that have not been found 0:16:58.081 --> 0:17:00.961 for a long time, such as the giant squid. 0:17:01.481 --> 0:17:02.161 So while I. 0:17:02.081 --> 0:17:06.241 Think it's extremely unlikely, I am not close minded in 0:17:06.281 --> 0:17:07.801 the possibility of evidence. 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:09.641 However, when it. 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:14.201 Comes to this case, there is absolutely zero evidence that 0:17:14.441 --> 0:17:17.801 Bigfoot was involved, and a lot of evidence that an 0:17:17.801 --> 0:17:20.561 alleged sexual predator who led a young woman up into 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:24.360 the mountains was involved. I believe that making this case 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:29.680 about Bigfoot is a serious disservice to Teresa the focus 0:17:29.721 --> 0:17:33.041 needs to stay on the victim, not Bigfoot. When you're 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.640 trying to find a missing person, you look at the 0:17:35.761 --> 0:17:38.360 last person to have seen them alive and start from there. 0:17:38.921 --> 0:17:41.960 In this case, the last person who saw Teresa alive 0:17:42.441 --> 0:17:45.001 was a man who was known for abusing drugs and 0:17:45.241 --> 0:17:48.681 luring underage teens out to the forest. When detectives talked 0:17:48.681 --> 0:17:52.360 to Skip, he told them several different stories. First, he 0:17:52.361 --> 0:17:54.840 said that he dropped Teresa off at school after they 0:17:54.921 --> 0:17:57.441 rode around for a while. He said that a blonde 0:17:57.441 --> 0:17:59.521 girl had met Teresa and they left together. 0:18:00.121 --> 0:18:01.321 What Skip didn't know. 0:18:01.601 --> 0:18:04.080 Was that detectives could already place his car at his 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.360 friend's house, so they knew he had been up in 0:18:06.401 --> 0:18:09.281 the mountains. They called him out on that bogus story, 0:18:09.601 --> 0:18:12.041 which Skip admitted had not been the truth. So then 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.481 he admitted that, yes, he did take Teresa up into 0:18:14.521 --> 0:18:16.640 the mountains. But then he went right back on this 0:18:16.681 --> 0:18:19.920 Bigfoot tangent, Only this time he said not only was 0:18:19.921 --> 0:18:23.201 Bigfoot up there, but that Bigfoot was guarding a race 0:18:23.241 --> 0:18:26.721 of super intelligent beings. He said that Bigfoot was approximately 0:18:26.761 --> 0:18:29.441 ten to eleven feet tall and hairy, but this master 0:18:29.601 --> 0:18:31.641 race of people who lived up in the mountains, looked 0:18:31.681 --> 0:18:34.561 like regular people, and he said one of those master 0:18:34.681 --> 0:18:39.400 race humanoids apparently liked Teresa. Skip said that the superintelligent 0:18:39.441 --> 0:18:41.880 being who was hanging out with Teresa actually kind of 0:18:41.881 --> 0:18:44.241 looked like Teresa, that they were the same age and 0:18:44.321 --> 0:18:47.561 both medium height, and he said they ran off together 0:18:47.721 --> 0:18:51.880 to escape our abusive household. After that, Skip told this 0:18:52.041 --> 0:18:55.121 wild story about being attacked by a devil like creature. 0:18:55.521 --> 0:18:57.201 He said he was trying to get down the mountain 0:18:57.241 --> 0:19:00.041 and drive away, but he said the creature basically picked 0:19:00.041 --> 0:19:02.801 his car up somehow and made it hover over the ground. 0:19:03.281 --> 0:19:06.201 Then he said that the entity was actually inside the 0:19:06.281 --> 0:19:08.400 vehicle with him. He said he looked in the rear 0:19:08.521 --> 0:19:10.241 view mirror and saw the face of a man in 0:19:10.281 --> 0:19:12.600 the back seat. He said he began to believe that 0:19:12.641 --> 0:19:15.080 he was actually seeing the face of the devil riding 0:19:15.121 --> 0:19:18.881 in his car, so he told Detective Stokes he decided 0:19:18.881 --> 0:19:22.361 to do battle with this devil monster. He told police 0:19:22.441 --> 0:19:24.400 he started hitting the wooden speaker that was in the 0:19:24.401 --> 0:19:27.281 back of his car, trying to fight this poultergeist, and 0:19:27.361 --> 0:19:29.920 then he showed the detective a bunch of wounds on 0:19:29.961 --> 0:19:33.001 his hands. He had scratches on his knuckles, scratches that 0:19:33.041 --> 0:19:34.721 he claimed he got while hitting. 0:19:34.561 --> 0:19:35.321 The car speakers. 0:19:36.361 --> 0:19:39.360 Skip told Detective Stokes that he managed to escape this 0:19:39.521 --> 0:19:42.281 devil spirit by calling on the power of Jesus Christ, 0:19:42.481 --> 0:19:45.161 and after he apparently extra sized it, he drove to 0:19:45.201 --> 0:19:47.600 her friend's house in the North Fork area, but he 0:19:47.641 --> 0:19:49.641 said he returned to the mountains the next day where 0:19:49.641 --> 0:19:52.001 he la saw Teresa. He said she was running through 0:19:52.041 --> 0:19:55.201 the trees with this other humanoid girl. 0:19:55.681 --> 0:19:58.321 He said when he called her name, she didn't respond. 0:19:59.161 --> 0:20:02.921 He then said, apparently unprompted, that detectives wouldn't find any 0:20:03.001 --> 0:20:06.201 evidence of sexual abuse if they found Teresa. Then he 0:20:06.321 --> 0:20:08.321 told detectives that he could have had sex with her 0:20:08.321 --> 0:20:10.481 if he wanted to, but that he refused to do 0:20:10.561 --> 0:20:13.641 it because, quote, that was not in his nature, which, 0:20:13.681 --> 0:20:16.521 of course, is totally contrary to what a lot of 0:20:16.561 --> 0:20:21.241 other people, including Skip's own daughter, told police. So police 0:20:21.281 --> 0:20:24.761 were clearly figuring out that Skip's story made zero sense. 0:20:25.321 --> 0:20:28.521 But could there have been other possibilities. Maybe Teresa went 0:20:28.521 --> 0:20:30.721 out to the mountains with Skip and then something happened 0:20:30.721 --> 0:20:33.521 that caused her to run away and someone else kidnapped her, 0:20:34.201 --> 0:20:36.561 or she was attacked by a wild animal, a bear 0:20:36.681 --> 0:20:39.241 or something else, or maybe she ran off and had 0:20:39.241 --> 0:20:40.360 an accident and fell. 0:20:40.921 --> 0:20:44.081 It was a huge area. There were a lot of possibilities. 0:20:43.921 --> 0:20:47.001 Bad things had happened to other young women in that area. 0:20:47.561 --> 0:20:50.521 And the sad thing is that, like Teresa, many of 0:20:50.561 --> 0:20:53.841 these young women who went missing were not immediately reported 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:58.121 missing by family. Days, sometimes weeks went by before detectives 0:20:58.121 --> 0:21:01.281 looked for them. In nineteen eighty four, a nineteen year 0:21:01.281 --> 0:21:05.041 old named Kimberly Billy disappeared from Stockton, and the next year, 0:21:05.281 --> 0:21:08.801 sixteen year old Joanne Hobson went missing from the same area. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.681 Also in nineteen eighty five, a young woman named Robin 0:21:11.761 --> 0:21:17.241 Armtrout vanished from the same area around Stockton's Delmar Park. Later, 0:21:17.361 --> 0:21:20.400 it was discovered that all three were victims of Lauren 0:21:20.481 --> 0:21:23.961 Herzog and Wesley Shermantine, who the media called the speed 0:21:24.001 --> 0:21:28.961 Freak killers. These guys were heavy metamphetamine users. So far, 0:21:29.401 --> 0:21:32.440 they had been convicted of four murders, and they're suspected 0:21:32.481 --> 0:21:35.801 in as many as sixty eight others, many involving rape 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.561 and torture. Not only were a lot of these young 0:21:39.561 --> 0:21:43.001 women not immediately reported missing, but Many of their remains 0:21:43.001 --> 0:21:46.360 stayed hidden for a long time, and some have not 0:21:46.481 --> 0:21:50.881 been found to this day. In twenty twelve, Wesley Shermantine 0:21:50.921 --> 0:21:54.281 gave the authorities information, including a map, that led them 0:21:54.281 --> 0:21:58.321 to a burial site in Lynden, California. Police dug to 0:21:58.361 --> 0:22:01.121 the bottom of a well and they found over one 0:22:01.281 --> 0:22:05.481 thousand human bone fragments. They were able to identify the 0:22:05.561 --> 0:22:09.801 remains of Kimberly Billy and Joanne Hobson, but several other victims, 0:22:09.881 --> 0:22:14.080 including at least one fetus, remain unidentified. 0:22:13.321 --> 0:22:14.801 To this day. 0:22:15.601 --> 0:22:20.081 Another huge question about Teresa Beers case is where was 0:22:20.161 --> 0:22:24.160 the actual crime scene. Police asked Kip to take them 0:22:24.201 --> 0:22:26.961 to the area where he and Teresa camped out, so 0:22:27.401 --> 0:22:30.721 he led them up into the Sierra Mountains. Detectives did 0:22:30.801 --> 0:22:33.041 find evidence of some kind of a campsite. 0:22:33.321 --> 0:22:34.041 According to the. 0:22:33.961 --> 0:22:37.281 Police report quote, there was a smoldering fire among the 0:22:37.321 --> 0:22:40.161 heavy layer of pine needles that appeared to be somewhat damp. 0:22:40.561 --> 0:22:43.241 The smoldering burnt area was approximately three and a half 0:22:43.241 --> 0:22:46.321