Appalachian Murder, Mystery And Legend · Larry Bentley

The Murder Of Theresa Ann Woods

·22 min·1 clip

A human skull, clothing fragments, jewelry, and a strand of bright red hair were found near Laurel Creek.

1. Appalachian Murder, Mystery And Legend tells the story of Teresa Ann Woods, a 13-year-old from Oak Hill, West Virginia, whose disappearance and death still drive the episode. 2. Host Larry Bentley frames the case as one a family should never have to face and introduces himself as someone born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains. 3. The episode asks what happened to Teresa after February 20, 1986, and why her case was first treated as a possible runaway rather than a disappearance. 4. Teresa Ann Woods was born on April 6, 1972, in Montgomery, West Virginia, to Betty and Donald Woods. 5. After her parents divorced, Teresa lived with Betty and stepfather Rick Holcomb and moved to Oak Hill in 1985. 6. Bentley says Teresa was quiet and shy unless people knew her well, and he describes her as close to her family in Powhatan and the surrounding area. 7. In September 1985, Teresa started at Collins Middle School while Betty and Rick worked for B&B Convalescence, an ambulance service. 8. The family lived in a trailer on Butler Street owned by Robert and Billy Skaggs, and Teresa became friends with the Skaggs daughter, Angel. 9. On the morning of February 20, Teresa told her mother she did not want to go to school, then dressed in a purple top, blue jeans, a blue jean jacket, jiggly earrings, and styled red hair. 10. Betty drove Teresa to school, and Teresa hugged and kissed her mother before leaving, which Betty later said she regretted. 11. Teresa usually walked after school to meet Angel at the 7-Eleven near Collins Middle School and then walked home together. 12. On that day, Angel had gone to B&B with books for her sick brother Alan, so Teresa waited alone at the 7-Eleven on Jones Avenue. 13. Around 3:00 p.m., witnesses saw Teresa standing by a telephone pole at the 7-Eleven for the last time. 14. When Teresa did not arrive after school, Betty and Rick realized something was wrong because Teresa feared the dark and disliked being alone at night. 15. Betty contacted police and Teresa’s father Donald, who closed his grocery store and drove to Oak Hill to join the search. 16. Police initially leaned toward a runaway theory, but Collins Middle School confirmed Teresa had been in class all day and she left none of her belongings behind. 17. Betty said Teresa was looking forward to her April 6 birthday and a new color TV, and Hank later said Teresa seemed upset about something for about three weeks before she vanished. 18. Teresa’s boyfriend worked part time at an IGA across from the 7-Eleven, but he said he had not seen her after school, and a call from a girl to his house that day was never firmly identified. 19. After eight weeks, the search continued through posters, local media, and appeals to national missing-children agencies, while Rick questioned why the FBI had not been brought in. 20. The case resurfaced in 2011 and 2021 with West Virginia State Police reexamining it, and Bentley closes by asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 304-255-7867.

As heard by us

A missing-girl case told with family urgency, Appalachian plain talk, and slow-burn unease.

Theresa Ann Woods's disappearance is handled as a warning signs story, and that is where the piece has its strongest pull. Her fear of the dark, her dislike of being alone at night, Donald's rush to close the grocery store and search, and the early runaway theory all sharpen the…

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Why you'd press play

A missing-girl case where the family knows something is wrong before police do.

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