The Disappearance of Theresa Ann Bier: "Bigfoot Took Her" (1987)

Fresno, California. Spring 1987. Theresa Ann Bier was 16, a student at Central High School. Some called her Sam. She lived with her uncle and guardian, "Blind" Johnny Richmond. Her cousin Mandy Richmond later called her "an oddball" and said she could be easily manipulated.

Russell "Skip" Welch was a housepainter, 43 or 44 depending on the source. He described himself as a student of the Bigfoot legend. Detectives later said he appeared to sincerely believe in the creature. He claimed continued contact with a tribe of them.

June 1, 1987. Theresa was last seen at 7:20 p.m. She had gone into the Sierra Nevada with Welch. Central High School called her uncle about her absence that same day. He reported her missing at 9:30 p.m. Welch returned to Fresno alone a few days later. On June 5, his brown Monte Carlo was spotted, and he was arrested on an earlier drunk-driving violation.

His account would not hold still. First, he said Theresa ran away from him on June 1. He told police he had dropped her at school. That she ran off with another young woman. That she left with other campers. Then the version that made headlines. Bigfoot had forcibly taken her.

He told authorities the two of them had several sightings near their camp, close to Shuteye Peak in the Sierra National Forest. Theresa, he said, then wandered off to search on her own. He gave the date as June 2. No description of the creature survives. No size. No colour. No sound. No tracks or photographs. Welch was the only person who ever claimed to have seen it.

Searchers reached the site near Shuteye Peak, about 25 miles northeast of Bass Lake. They found Theresa's purse, an off-white bra, a T-shirt and a camera. There was a burned patch about 3.5 by 8 feet. Blankets hung in an odd arrangement. The film showed Welch playing guitar by a blanket, and photos of Theresa. Investigators concluded the site had been staged. At the spot where Welch said she was taken, there were no clothes, no prints, no blood.

The real campsite was probably somewhere else. A place called Ghost Canyon, about 20 miles away. The only item found there was Welch's blue shirt, with methamphetamine in the pocket. Detective Doug Stokes was blunt. "We also didn't find any evidence of any super-being, subhuman or any unknown creature."

Welch was charged with felony child stealing and pleaded not guilty. His public defender, Mel Rube, denied he had anything to do with the disappearance. Three days before trial, Deputy District Attorney Elvoyce Hooper offered a one-year term if Welch signed a waiver allowing a murder trial should the body be found. Rube refused. Prosecutors dropped the charge so that double jeopardy would not block a later murder case. Welch died in Fresno in 1998. He was never convicted.

Fresno historian Jay O'Connell returned to the case in his 2020 book Meth, Murder, and Bigfoot. In 2025, Discovery Channel aired Bigfoot Took Her, a three-part series hosted by Jessica Chobot and Robert Collier, a 29-year LAPD veteran. It brought darker testimony. Nephew James Welch said his uncle believed a Bigfoot would chase him off the mountain unless he brought it young girls. Michelle Ryan-Turner recalled a frightening 1986 trip to Ghost Canyon with Welch and an "evil" face. She now believes she had been drugged. Welch's daughter Chandra said he "was not a bad man at all" and suggested the Speed Freak Killers. No evidence supports that theory.

Theresa Ann Bier is still listed as an endangered missing person. Foul play is suspected. Her case remains open with the Fresno Police Department.