Every Town - Idaho's UNEXPLAINED Vanishing of Terrence Woods Jr.

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

On the afternoon of October 5, 2018, 26-year-old Terrence Woods Jr. was working on a documentary shoot in the remote Idaho wilderness when he suddenly dropped his radio and sprinted off into the dense forest. He was never seen again. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://youtu.be/R7owpgNnKyY 👁 Check out our movie AN ANGRY BOY for FREE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvtlOlODQ8g&t=5238s https://tubitv.com/movies/100029672/an-angry-boy International & Other Ways To Watch: https://www.anangryboy.com/ 💀 MERCH: https://scary-mysteries.teemill.com/ 💀 Free 7 Day Trail on Exclusive Episodes, Podcasts & Perks! https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries   🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1 👁Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1   🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. Well, it's been four years since TV production assistant Terrence Woods Jr. seemingly vanished from set. That's right. Mario's former colleagues claim they saw him run down a steep cliff that led to a forest.

Since then, he's never been seen or heard from again. On the afternoon of October 5th, 2018, 26-year-old Terence Woods Jr. was working on a documentary shoot in the remote Idaho wilderness. when he suddenly dropped his radio and just sprinted off into the dense forest, and he was never seen again. There was no clear motive as to why, but now there's a whole lot of theories as to what actually might have happened. Each one seems like it could make sense, but in the same breath feels unlikely, and yet one of them has to be the answer. Hey guys, it's Andrew, and welcome to another episode of Everytown where today,

we dive head first into the strange and unsettling discipline. appearance of Terrence Woods Jr. It's a story that has people divided on what actually went down. And so for this one, we'll present all the details, but it's up to you to decide on what you think the truth is, and who perhaps isn't telling all of it. So let's head on over to Elk City, Idaho, and check out the mysterious vanishing of Terrence Woods Jr. Born October 24th of 1991, Terrence grew up in a close-knit family alongside his

sister and two brothers in the great state of Maryland. A very capable and ambitious young man. He went on to study at the University of Maryland where he graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2013. He was always interested in the world of television. He ultimately aspired to be a journalist one day, telling all those real stories that make a difference in our world. After college, you wanted to go do this out in London, and so that's exactly what he did. And for a couple of years there, he bounced around to different production jobs. He worked, for example, as a production assistant on the Voice UK for a bit, and plenty of other shows that had him traveling around Europe, seeing different places, all while getting his foot in the door with different companies.

And as expected, by anybody that knew him, everyone who got the chance to work with them only had positive things to say. And one of these people was a producer named Joanna Bai, whose job was was to put together crews for all types of shoots. She sent Terrence out onto many sets and continued to do so because all she got was glowing reviews about the young man. Everybody liked working with him. He never complained, took his responsibility seriously, and was reliable, all very important things on a film and video shoot. In 2018, Terrence, who was now 26 years old, returned to the United States after getting the experience he wanted out of the UK. Always close with his family, he then moved back home to Maryland, eager to continue his career in new ways.

He wasn't even back for a month when he got the call to be a part of another production, created by raw TV productions, a British company known for its work on reality TV. His connections got him hooked up with this opportunity. He had worked with some of the people on the crew before, and this opportunity is going to be pretty cool and different. would be traveling to the rugged landscapes of Montana and Idaho to film for the Discovery Channel series Gold Rush Whitewater. Terrence Woods Jr. graduated from college with a journalism degree and was off to a great start in

his career when he landed his dream job working in production on Discovery's Gold Rush in 2018. It was a six-week shoot, and so he packed up his suitcase once again, said goodbye to his folks, and on Monday, September 30th, his plane touched. down in Missoula, Montana. Now, depending on what type of person you are, you might see this as a whole lot of moving and shaking. London to Maryland to Montana all in a few months. Might be hard to get your bearings.

But this is the dream life for people like Terrans, and for many in the production world. They're not the types who want to work in an office. They get restless and bored with one setting over and over, so moving around and working together to create something like a TV show, It's much more appealing and rewarding. Especially when you're young like Terrence and eager to take the next step in your career. The first couple days out there were prep work for the shoot,

with a crew of somewhere between 10 and 12 people at any given time. He had producer Simon Gee, a couple of camera operators and their assistants, a sound recorder, some production assistants, as well as a few locals to help out. The ones who knew the remote areas well and could also organize and handle transportation in the most efficient way. And by October 5th, the crew had made their way into a remote area of Idaho to the abandoned Penman Mine.

Now, Penman Mine is an original gold mine located in the Oro Grande area, which is part of the larger Nez Perseye Clearwater National Forest. It is a mountainous, 85,000 square mile region in western Idaho. It was super rugged out there, but this was nothing new for these crew members. I mean, this is how these shows get made. And Terrence himself was used to it, knew how to handle himself. He had done this style of reality TV before and isolated parts of Turkey and Alaska. And Terrant kept in touch with his father, Terence Sr., throughout the days he was away.

Like I said, they were a close family. So this is what they did. But it's also here. that things start to get interesting. The day prior, senior, found a text from his son, letting him know he'd reached his hotel in Idaho. That came in the early morning hours,

and then later that day, he gave him a phone call. And they chatted about what was going on and everything seemed on the up and up. It was about two-something in the morning. He called me, and he was like, Dad. What you up to? I said, man, I got to go to work. He said, he was all right. I said, all right, I call you later when I get off of work.

And he said, that he said, I'm all on. And that was it. About five hours after that, still on October 4th, he received another text from Terrence. Then I received a text saying that he was coming home early. And that was the last text or anything. I don't know if it came from him or not. But that would be five weeks earlier than he had planned, so something must have happened. A senior didn't really think much of it.

He wasn't sure why and thought something was up, but saw no reason to be concerned. I mean, perhaps filming had just finished early. And he'd find out when his boy got home. According to the producer of the shoot, Simon Gee, Terrence, had approached him that day, telling him that he was unfortunately going to have to leave the shoot early. And his mom was very sick and about to have surgery, so he needed to be there for her. He planned to work with them until the 10th and help out while he was there and give them time to find a replacement. The thing about this is, it was all lie.

His mother was just fine, and there was no surgery at all. So maybe this young man who was ever so responsible and not wanting to burn any bridges just decided he wasn't up for this adventure this time. Maybe something happened between crew members or he was just tired so he made it up not wanting to look like a quitter. It really wouldn't have been something anyone ever even thought about again. And people come and go from shoots and all different types of jobs in every single sector. All for a variety of reasons. Or for Terrence would never go on to make it home.

And in fact, never be seen again after the following day's events. Filming continued on October 5th as usual, and as the day was wrapping up, Terrence told a crew member that he needed to go to the bathroom. Moments later at around 5.30 p.m., he then put his walkie down and took off running towards a steep cliff area. The crew assumed he was just looking for her place to use the bathroom. When Terence got to the cliff, a crew member saw him drop down, and panicked they took off running for the cliff, believing he must have fallen over the edge, but when they got to the edge, they saw Terrence at the bottom, seemingly unhurt, running away towards a wooded area. They commented later that he had taken off running like a

hair. Although they thought this was pretty odd, they still assumed he was going to use the bathroom and we'll be back soon. This wasn't the case. And Terrence didn't come back, and he just disappeared. At that time, darkness was falling fast, and so someone on set called 911 at 641 p.m. During it, the caller mentioned that Terrence was having a hard time emotionally and had suffered an anxiety attack earlier that morning. According to Terrence Sr., crew members claimed Terrence was having an anxiety attack and was acting strange right before he allegedly ran off. But Raw TV tells us they are not aware of any such claims. Due to the late hour and remoteness, no investigation was started until the following day.

And could the anxiety have been because for the first time in his life, Terrence was leaving a shoot and strung together a web of lies? Or was the anxiety something much deeper? And as that what caused him to run off into those woods? The next morning, the local sheriff's department arrived on scene, and the film crew was there to meet them. Some Idaho fishing game officers, as well as members of the U.S. Forest Service, arrived to help aid in the search too. And there were cliffs, heavily wooded areas, drop-offs and water, making it challenging and dangerous even for the most trained personnel. On top of that, there were old mine shafts, as well as wild animals like bears and cougars rolling around. The helicopters equipped with infrared technology discovered a hot spot during one of their flyovers, raising hopes that Terrence had finally been located.

However, after an extensive search of that area, no trace of them was found. And rescue teams called out his name, and that afternoon, Saturday, October 6th, Terrence's parents were notified of his disappearance by Simon. Strangely, at the same time, Simon decided to inform them that he was dissatisfied with Terrence's work, saying, Terrence came highly recommended to us and was our first pick. When I met your son, he didn't live up to my standards. When I asked him to do different things, he didn't know what to do. On top of all this, they were also told something about their son that only concerned them further. They were informed that Terrence had been worried about his mother's health, and that's why he was planning on leaving.

And Terence's parents knew he had been planning to come home, but his mom wasn't sick, so they knew that was a lie. From there, their minds began swirling. Here they are being told their son, who they've known to be upstanding and responsible, was not up to the job. but he had just run off into the woods and was now missing, and was telling lies about a mother's illness. They started thinking that maybe there was something more to the story. Maybe their son hadn't vanished, but something had happened to him. And this story, well, this was just a cover-up.

Raw TV flew Terrence's parents to Idaho, where they met with the producer and a couple others who had been working with their son at the sheriff's office. According to Terrence Sr., the first thing the producer had said to him was again that he had high expectations for their son and that he failed to live up to them. Sort of a strange thing to say when the kid's gone missing, don't you think? When asked for an example, Simon allegedly explained that he had asked Terrence to get him a piece of fruit, to which Terrence had responded, what kind of fruit? And Terrence had only known the producer for three days, but why wouldn't he ask for clarification?

However, this annoyed Simon, and Terrence's father tried to get in touch with the other crew members. However, a few days had passed since Terrence vanished, and when his parents got out there, and those crew members had left. They had other work to do and really didn't have any information to add. Reports indicate there were 10 to 12 crew members on site, yet the family claims they've only ever learned the identity of one. And Terrence Sr. believed his son had reason to leave, strong enough to even lie about it, and to this day he's trying to figure out what exactly that reason is. Ultimately, the search for Terrence lasted for seven days, and after that, law enforcement

called it off because they had no clues and no direction to go in. Investigators, however, never looked at Terrence's cell phone records or his laptop data. Critical steps, you could argue, in any missing person's case. There was no evidence of foul play, although Terrence's parents said they were extremely suspicious of the circumstances and details. Former colleagues of Terrence also spoke out stating that none of this behavior matched his character, and something just seemed very, very wrong. And so, what do you think really happened at Terrence Jr? Nobody knows for certain, but here are the clean theories. Without any clues to where he has gone, there's always the possibility that this move was just a decision that he made.

Might not make sense, but he did it. What his end goal was, who knows, but he could have just decided to say screw it all and take his chances. In the days leading up to his disappearance, he obviously expressed a desire to return home early. He also supposedly had that anxiety attack the morning up. He also bolted off in a way that appeared unusual, so maybe there was something more going on with him that nobody knows. His family strongly rejects this idea, insisting that Terrance had no reason to abandon his career and loved ones. And just up and running into the forest without supplies or a plan seems unlikely for someone with no prior history of mental health issues or having attempted to disappear in the past. There was also only one road in and out of that mine site, but nobody ever saw him on it.

The hotel they had been staying at where all his belongings were was 17 miles away in Elk City, nobody ever saw him there either. Then there's the idea that he had an accident. The terrain is challenging, and the elements get rough there, especially at night during that time of year. If Terrance had suffered a fall or injury, he may have been unable to call for help. But typically, in cases where someone has lost, some trace is left behind. Torn clothing, footprints, or even a body eventually found. A predator could have gotten to him as well, but with a search happening so quickly after,

you would think that there would be clothing or a personal item, even a scrap, some shred of evidence, of an attack. If there was an accident, it is likely he fell down some old. abandoned mine shaft, and that would explain why there was no trace of him. But still, why did he bolt off? Why would anyone? Which brings us to the foul play theory. A Terence's sudden departure, one that seems to make no sense on paper in the way it all supposedly happened, according to the production crew, has led some to question if their version of events ever even happened. So did something happen on set that led to his disappearance? Well, his parents believe so.

They don't even think he made it out to Idaho. That maybe those texts his father got weren't even from his son. He was in Montana, allegedly from September 30th to the fourth when they left to go to Idaho. But they have a whole story put together for Idaho. You went to dinner the first night you got to Idaho. Terrence isn't in those photos either. There's no footage of my son in anything. And Terrence wasn't performing up to the company's standards, Am wanted to leave,

so did things get so bad he felt like this was his only option? Or was this whole story just fabricated to make it seem like that was the case? This one's tough to believe in my opinion because it's one thing to fabricate a story on your own if you killed somebody and we're looking to get away with it. It's another thing entirely to convince a whole crew of 10 to 12 people to go along with it and pull it off. I mean, pleasing your boss is one thing, but this is a whole, the world. It's unclear how much the police looked into the other crew people's stories. However, they were there on the first day to help search for them, so we can assume they

spoke to authorities, and none of them seemed to think anyone was covering anything up. Now, interestingly, Terence wasn't the only person to disappear in that exact area in early October of 2018. A 76-year-old Connie Johnson worked as a camp cook for Richie Outfit. which organizes hunting trips in the Montana and Idaho area. The camp they were at is known as the Big Rock Base Camp in Idaho County. And different outlets have different reports on when she was last seen. Some list her disappearance as October 2nd, and some say October 3rd,

and others say October 5th, the very same day that Terrence disappeared. But either way, it was around that exact same time. And Big Rock Base Camp is located only 40 miles. from the Penman mine site. And Connie was no stranger to the wilderness. With 25 years of experience as a ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, she'd become an expert in survival and navigation. Those who knew her spoken of her outdoor skills.

And Connie was last seen by the hunters as they left the camp. The following day, there was some brief radio contact between the hunters and Connie, but they couldn't make out what she was saying. By the time they returned to the campsite a few days later, O'Connie and her border collie Ace had vanished without a trace. The searches were conducted in the days that followed, but by October 16th, authorities officially called it off. And then weeks later, Ace was found wandering around the Mouse Creek Ranger Station,

about 50 miles from the base camp. The dog was underway, but otherwise, fine. But Connie? Well, she never showed up. Is it a coincidence that Connie and Terrence vanished around the same time? Or maybe there was somebody out there hunting people down. Without any sign of the victims, we'll never know for sure. But it's too strange of a connection not to mention. And if you're still on the fence about that theory,

well, there's more to the story you should know. On October 7th, just two days after Terence disappeared, another report came in. And this one was for a missing 42-year-old man named Jose Mendez Morales from Tacoma, Washington. His last contact with family was on September 25th when he checked in from Grangeville. After that, though, nothing. Jose was supposed to be on his way to Elk City, Idaho, but he never arrived there. And considering how often he checked in with his family, this was completely out of character. And to this day, no one has seen.

are heard from him since. And Terrence had never had any history of anxiety or depression, but that doesn't mean something didn't happen in the moment. Investigators say that all the accounts of Terrence's behavior matched that, that there was no evidence of foul play. But the fact remained, something certainly did happen. So what do you think it was? Show me professional medical paperwork,

saying that you all got him help since he's at work. Yeah. You're watching this so-called meltdown. And finally, the iceing on a cape, he leaps off a cliff and runs like a hair, never to be found again. Into the darkness, without a trace of blood or a piece of fabric or... Nothing. Footprints. Nothing.

It's a bizarre case to say the least, and at the moment, this mystery remains unsolved. But as parents and family continue to seek the truth, leaving key details about that day have yet to be uncovered. And if you have any information about Terrence Woods as disappearance, please contact the Idaho County Sheriff's Office at 208, 983, 1100. So that's going to do it for this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it. If you like the type of work we do and you want more, I'll check out some of the links down in the description.

We have a huge library of videos and podcasts to go through, exclusive content, a feature film to watch, new merch, and more. I appreciate you very much for tuning in. Remember to come back in one week's time for another episode of Everytown that's scary strange and mysterious stories. Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.