Did Bigfoot Take Her?

 

 In the summer of 1987, 16-year-old Theresa Ann Bier went out into the Sierra Nevada Mountains in search of Bigfoot with her 43-year-old friend Russell “Skip” Welch, who was obsessed with the legendary creature.

 Theresa Bier did not have a normal upbringing. From an early age, she suffered physical abuse from her mother, Shirley. When Theresa was only 3 years old, Shirley broke her leg with the help of the crib and broke several of Theresa’s ribs. The child was severely injured and admitted to the hospital. That’s when Social Services stepped in and took Theresa and her siblings. She was placed in Foster Care. She was placed in the home of Sylvia Pierce.

Eventually, Theresa was placed in the care of her father, David, who had divorced Shirley after the loss of their children. He was remarried to a woman named Marge, who was once married to Theresa’s uncle Johnny. But, life at David’s house was no better as Marge was also abusive. After she locked
Theresa was locked in the fridge several times, Theresa was moved to her great-grandmother's house, and her uncle John “Blind Johnny” Richmond was granted custody. Johnny claimed he lost his eyesight playing Russian Roulette. He was 42 years old, and while his daughters lived with David and Marge, he had two sons to a prostitute and a 17-year-old girlfriend who lived with him.

Life with her uncle Blind Johnny was no better than anywhere else she lived. He would often force her to miss school to watch his boys, and there were rumours that he and his friends sexually abused her.
At 16 years old, the girl was described as a slow learner who was immature. She was 5’5 and 110 pounds.

 At some point, Theresa told her friends Peggy and Janice that she would miss some school because she was going into the mountains with a man she had just recently met. That was 43-year-old Skip Welch, who was friends with Blind Johnny. Skip was a house painter, who lived on disability checks, was hooked on meth, and obsessed with Bigfoot. In fact, he claimed that he saw Bigfoot multiple times.

On June 1st, 1987, he was at Blind Johnny’s house as Theresa was “getting ready for school.” (She already had plans to leave for the mountains with Skip) when Skip offered her a ride to school. Blind Johnny didn’t even know that Theresa wasn’t in school until Central High School called him, wondering why Theresa wasn’t there. Blind Johnny lied and said she was homesick, then spent the rest of the day searching for her.

He spoke to many friends that day, and while none of them knew where Theresa was, they all warned him that Skip couldn’t be trusted. Blind Johnny still hadn’t located her that evening, and at 9:30 PM, he filed a missing persons report.

We know that on their way to the mountains that day, Skip and Theresa visited with Skip’s daughter, Chandra Welch, and possibly his son. He was having trouble with his 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that day, and at some point, Skip and Theresa made it near the Shuteye Peak area.

That’s where the facts end and speculation begins.

The police had spoken to several people, including Skip’s children and a girl named Michelle Ryan. Michelle was enticed by Skip to accompany him in the mountains the summer before. Although her trip was traumatic, she made it back safe. Maybe because her two male friends were with her, but even with them there, Michelle was sure she had been drugged. His daughter Chandra had admitted that her father was into young girls and lured them to the mountains to have sex.

On June 5th, a police officer spotted Skip’s 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo near a trailer park in North Fork. He had come down from the mountain to visit his friend, Dorothy Davis. According to Davis, when Skip arrived, he was distraught. She says that Skip told her a young woman had been taken from a satanic group and was being held in the Sierra. She said that Skip was high and delusional.

Only a few days later, Blind Johnny received a threatening phone call from a young woman. Johnny was warned by the female that Skip had a gun and wanted her to tell him to stop making trouble for him. She reminded him that Skip could make trouble for him and his sons could get hurt. She also told him to tell the police Skip dropped Theresa off at school and that she left with a blonde woman.

Five days after that phone call, Skip Welch was arrested at his mother's home for an unrelated drunk driving violation. When they questioned Skip, he denied having involvement in her disappearance, and he insisted they call her Sam, a nickname he had given her.

At first, Skip said that he had dropped Sam off at school, as was intended. He quickly changed that story to them having gone to the mountains hunting Bigfoot. He then claimed that Sam went into the woods with a strange woman. Then he changed his story that Sam left with some other campers. Finally, he claimed that after getting excited about seeing Bigfoot a couple of times that day, Sam ran into the woods, never to be seen again.

While talking to the police, Skip claimed that Sam would never be found again because she was happier with the Bigfoot community. Without being prompted, Skip also said that if they did locate her, there would be no sign of sexual assault because that isn’t in his nature. After speaking with the police, Skip agreed to take them to the campsite.

He brought them to a campsite located in a small grove near Brown Creek. At the campsite a fire was still smoldering, and blankets had been hung in a specific order. There was a camera, a purse, a bra, and a T-shirt. As well as photographs of the countryside, Skip playing guitar, and Theresa. However, they soon learned that this campsite was staged by Skip, and the real campsite was about 20 miles away, possibly in Ghost Canyon. Despite this, they searched the meadow, campsite, and the Canyon. They found a blue shirt belonging to Skip with meth in its pocket on a hillside above the Brown Creek camp. They brought in dogs who picked up Theresa’s scent but found nothing.

Theresa was last seen at about 7:20pm, and Skip swears she was abducted by Bigfoot. He was charged with her kidnapping and disappearance, but those charges were dropped for lack of evidence. While many still believe that Skip killed Theresa and disposed of her body. His family believes that Theresa got lost in the woods and became victim to the Speed Freak Killers.

Did Skip get away with murder? Was it someone else who took and killed Theresa? Or did Bigfoot have something to do with it?

To this day, Theresa Ann Bier has not been recovered.