“SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY A SASQUATCH, I SWEAR!”
(From the Weird Darkness episode, “She Was Kidnapped By Bigfoot?”:https://weirddarkness.com/shewaskidnappedbybigfoot/)
On June 1, 1987, 16-year-old Theresa Ann Bier skipped school and went on a Bigfoot hunt in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. She never came home. According to the 43-year-old Bigfoot enthusiast that she went into the woods with, she was kidnapped by Bigfoot, who carried her off into the wilderness, never to be seen again.
To this day, Theresa has never been found – and no one has ever been prosecuted for her disappearance.
Theresa had a rough childhood. She grew up in a turbulent Fresno, California, home with her siblings and her abusive parents, Shirley and David Bier. Once, when Theresa was three, she had to be taken to the hospital after her mother wrapped one of her legs around one of the slats in her crib and twisted it until it broke. It’s not surprising that social services removed Theresa and her siblings from their parents’ care and put them in foster homes.
A few years later, Theresa’s father decided that he wanted custody of his daughter back. He had divorced Shirley and remarried Margie Richmond, who had previously been married to Shirley’s half-brother, John Richmond. She had two daughters who lived with her and David. David was granted custody and the family moved to Southern California, where Margie was reportedly abusive to both Theresa and her own daughters. Theresa fled to her great-grandmother’s house in Fresno and although David initially tried to get her to come home, she refused, and he soon lost interest.
Not long after she returned to Fresno, Theresa’s uncle, John Richmond, showed interest in raising his teenage niece and was granted custody.
John, who was known by the nickname “Blind Johnny,” was 42 years old and claimed that he had lost his eyesight while playing Russian Roulette, but most people believed that he was not completely blind. His daughters lived with his ex-wife, Margie, but he had two sons from another woman. He also had a 17-year-old girlfriend, Tamara Newman, who lived with him.
Theresa’s home life was no better here. Johnny often made her miss school so she could babysit and most disturbingly – but not surprisingly – Johnny and his friends abused her sexually. As a result, Theresa did poorly in school. She was described by teachers as a “slow learner” and immature.”
Just after Memorial Day weekend in 1987, Theresa told her friends Peggy and Janice that she was going into the mountains with a guy she recently met and that she’d likely miss a day of school.
The guy she’d met was Russell Shelton Welch, better known as “Skip.” He was 43 years old and a house painter who mostly lived off disability checks. His wife, Shannon, had died a few years before from a drug overdose and his own addiction to meth was worsened by his grief. Skip was known for his talkative personality and colorful stories – and for his obsession with Bigfoot, the creature also known as Sasquatch, which was believed to inhabit the forest of the northwest. Skip claimed that he had seen Bigfoot many times.
On the morning of June 1, Skip stopped by Johnny’s house – the two were acquaintances – and while there, noticed Theresa getting ready for school. He offered to give her a ride. In hindsight, we know this was a ruse for her uncle’s sake. Theresa had already told friends that she planned to skip school and spend the day with Skip in the mountains.
Later that morning, Johnny received a call from Central High School, asking about Theresa’s absence. Not wanting to deal with the situation, he just said she was sick. But he later claimed he was bothered by the fact that she was missing and started calling around to find her. He spoke to several acquaintances and while none of them knew where she was, most warned him that Skip was not a trustworthy person.
Finally, that evening, Johnny reported Theresa missing to the Fresno police. They began an immediate search, speaking to some of Skip’s friends, one of whom was Michelle Ryan. The 17-year-old had been lured to the Sierra Nevadas by Skip the previous summer. She was also fascinated with Bigfoot and loved his stories. Skip’s own daughter, Chandra, had advised against Michelle going with him. She knew her father had a habit of taking girls into the mountains, offering them drugs, and having sex with them. Michelle took two friends with her, and she made it home safe.
Police also spoke to Chandra and Skip’s son, Terry. Both said they had seen their father and Theresa on the day of the girl’s disappearance. Regardless, Skip and Theresa were nowhere to be found.
Four days after they left for the mountains, a police officer spotted Skip’s brown 1976 Monte Carlo by a trailer park near North Fork, a town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, near Shuteye Peak. It was later explained that Skip had come down from the mountain to visit a friend, Dorothy Davis. He was very upset, she later reported, and told her about a young girl that had been taken by a Satanic group and was being held captive in the mountains. Dorothy said that he was high at the time and assumed he was delusional.
Skip wasn’t found until June 11, when he was picked up at his mother’s house in Fresno on a previous drunk-driving violation. During questioning, he spoke very seriously about Bigfoot and claimed that there was a large community of them living in the mountains. They stayed hidden because of their superhuman intelligence, and they lived in underground caves. Despite the secrecy, Skip claimed that he’d had contact with them many times.
His story about Theresa was just as convoluted and it changed several times, At first, he claimed to have dropped her off at school, as he’d promised her uncle he would do. But then he admitted that, yes, they had gone to the Sierra Nevadas. He also claimed that she had run off into the woods with another young woman and then changed that to a group of other campers. In another version, he said that Theresa had gotten overly excited when they spotted a Bigfoot and had run off to find the creature again. He searched for her everywhere but couldn’t find her, he said. He was convinced the Bigfoot had taken her away to live with them.
Skip insisted that Theresa would not be returning because she’d be happier with the community of Sasquatches in the mountains rather than at her troubled home.
And one more thing, Skip added without being asked, if they did find Theresa, they wouldn’t find any signs of sexual abuse – not from him. He claimed that although Theresa had been willing to have a sexual relationship with him, he would have never done that with a young girl. He didn’t do things like that, he said.
A search near Shuteye Peak revealed the place where Skip and Theresa had camped. They also found what was believed to be Theresa’s purse and some of her clothing. Infrared helicopter searches took place and dogs were brought in to hunt for the missing girl. They managed to pick up Theresa’s scent one time, but no other clues were found.
Most believe that Skip killed Theresa and disposed of her body. Others, including Skip’s family, believed she was abducted and possibly killed by someone else. Even though Chandra admitted that her father was a predator at the time of Theresa’s disappearance, she now claims that her father’s only crime was practicing bad judgment by taking a young girl into the mountains.
No one believed that she was kidnapped by Bigfoot.
Skip was charged with child endangerment and child abduction. He was arraigned and released on bail. Three days before his trial, the prosecution dropped the charges, promising that Skip would face a murder prosecution if Theresa was ever found.
But Skip will never face those charges. He died in 1998 at the age of 54 from severe coronary artery disease.
Theresa Ann Bier has never been seen again.
(“She Was Kidnapped By Bigfoot” by Troy Taylor – used with permission: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mr27zb43)
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