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Production Assistant Suddenly "Took Off" Down Mountain in Idaho, Hasn't Been Seen Since
Production assistant Terrence Woods bolted away from a reality TV set in the fall of 2018, witnesses said. His father questions the official story.
Idaho’s mountainous wilderness forests are filled with majesty — and mysteries. Few are more unsettling than the one involving Terrence Woods.
On October 5, 2018, Woods, then 26, was part of a 12-member crew that ventured into the forest in Idaho County for a daylong shoot for a TV project.
Eleven crew members returned to their motel later that evening. Terrence, who was hired as a production assistant, did not. He hasn’t been seen in the nearly-six years since.
The case has baffled investigators and compelled Terrence’s devoted dad, Terrence Woods Sr., to consider a provocative theory about what happened to his son.
In the "Into Thin Air" episode of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast — which focuses on some of the country’s most perplexing unsolved missing persons cases — correspondent Josh Mankiewicz takes a deep dive into the case.
Who is Terrence Woods?
Terrence grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland. Adventurous and interested in what was going on in the world, he majored in broadcast journalism at the University of Maryland.
Bethany Swain — one of his professors, who became a mentor — said Terrence was a standout student. His goal, she told Dateline, was to "be working as a journalist in London.”
After getting his bachelor's degree in 2013, Terrence went to London, where he earned a master’s degree in international relations.
With help from Joanna Abeyie — who was recruiting talent for independent production companies at the time and told Dateline she was dedicated to “giving opportunities to people from underrepresented backgrounds” — Terrence launched his career in the television and film industry.
Feedback Abeyie got from his employers was glowing, she told Dateline: Missing in America. Working as a freelance production assistant, Terrence amassed credits on high-profile shows including ITV’s The Voice UK and traveled to various countries for work and leisure.
In July 2018, Terrence returned to Maryland to start a "new chapter,” his father told Mankiewicz.
A few weeks after he arrived, Raw TV, a production company he’d worked for in London, contacted him with a job opportunity on the reality series Gold Rush: Dave Turin’s Lost Mine, which was being shot in the western U.S.
On September 30, 2018, he flew off to his new gig. “He said, ‘See you later,’" Terrence Sr. told Dateline. "I said, ‘See you sooner.' And we laughed about it and I hugged him."
Terrence Woods suddenly, inexplicably vanishes
Six days later, on October 6, 2018, Terrence Sr. got a phone call from a Raw TV producer named Simon Gee, who told him that his son disappeared into Idaho’s vast wilderness the night before, he told Dateline.
Retired Idaho County sheriff Doug Giddings led the investigation. Witnesses told him and his deputies that as they wrapped the day’s shoot, Terrence suddenly “took off down the side of the mountain," Giddings told Dateline. It happened just after Terrence talked with a local woman who was handling transportation for the crew and told her he needed to use the bathroom.
Terrence Sr. told Dateline that Gee said he'd "seen my son running down the cliff like a hare."
Giddings, who knows the area, told Dateline of the terrain, “It’s brushy. There's huge trees. It’s steep. It’s rocky.”
According to Giddings, crew members tried to catch up with Terrence, but couldn’t. He disappeared into the approaching darkness. In addition to cougars, bears and other predators in the area, abandoned mine shafts also posed threats.
The search for Terrence Woods
At daybreak, search teams with dogs looked for Terrence. Authorities explored the theory that he could have arranged for a ride to pick him up, but that led to a dead end.
Three days after Terrence vanished, Raw TV flew his parents to Idaho. Terrence Sr. told Dateline that by the time they arrived, most of the other crew members had left town. Raw TV told Dateline all crew members stayed in Idaho until the official search was called off, then moved on to their next shooting location.
Giddings said he saw no reason for the crew to stick around, according to Dateline: Missing In America.
In Idaho, Terrence Sr. spoke to producer Gee again, who, according to Terrence Sr., began the conversation by criticizing his son’s job performance. Terrence Sr. said that Gee also began their conversation this way when the producer called to say his son was missing.
Giddings, who retired in 2020, didn’t recall hearing that at the time. Gee did not respond to a request for a comment from Dateline: Missing in America.
A Raw TV spokesperson told the podcast that “no criticism was made by any of the production team at any time.”
According to Terrence Sr., Gee also told him that his son had an anxiety attack in the morning on the day he vanished. Terrence had no history of such attacks, his dad told Dateline.
Terrence Sr. said of the story he was told about his son's disappearance, “It doesn’t make sense."
On October 11, 2008, the search was called off by the sheriff. He said no signs of foul play had turned up.
Family, friends perplexed by Terrence Woods' reported behavior before vanishing
The circumstances of Terrence’s disappearance baffled Swain. “None of it made sense to me,” she said, adding that Terrence was usually “methodical” and professional at work.
According to Terrence Sr., after he dropped off his son at the airport on September 30, 2018, Terrence Jr. checked in with him from Missoula, Montana, later that day. Missoula was the first stop on his itinerary for the Raw TV shoot, and he met up with the production crew there.
Days later, on October 4, Terrence Sr. got a text from his son, telling him he’d reached the hotel in Idaho. Just before midnight (in Terrence's time zone) that same day, Terrence called his dad to check in.
“That was the last physical phone call I had with him,” said Terrence Sr. About six hours later, Terrence Sr. got a text from his son stating that he’d be home on October 10, almost five weeks earlier than planned.
Terrence Sr. later learned that Terrence told the production company that he had to leave because his mother was having surgery. But that was untrue.Terrence Sr. said he suspects that his son may have made up that story to get away from the shoot.
Terrence's disappearance is always on his dad's mind. Since 2018, Terrence Sr. has come up with his own provocative theory.
“I don’t think my son ever made it to Idaho,” he told Mankiewicz. “I think whatever took place, took place before Idaho.”
“I think my son saw something or heard something and didn’t agree to it, or didn’t wanna be part of it,” he added.
Terrence Sr. questions why there are no pictures or videos of his son in Idaho.
But Giddings told Dateline he has no doubt that Terrence was in central Idaho when he vanished.
The retired sheriff noted that the woman handling transportation, who Terrence spoke with shortly before vanishing, was interviewed — and that he has known her for years and trusts her.
In addition, a motel owner and restaurant employees who were interviewed said they saw and talked to Terrence.
Terrence Sr., however, still has doubts and suspicions. As for what could ease those feelings, he told Dateline, “Videos of the places he allegedly was at." He said he would also like to hear from the other crew members who were with Terrence at the time of his disappearance.
“I still will have a void until the day I die, but that would help," Terrence Sr. added.
Terrence Woods case remains a mystery
Terrence Sr. said the sheriff’s office denied his records request. They also refused Dateline’s request, stating that Terrence’s case was “an open active investigation.”
Mankiewicz asked Giddings what he thinks happened to Terrence Jr. “My guess is he’s still on that mountain," the retired sheriff told Dateline. "Something happened to him on that mountain, and we missed him.”
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Since late 2018, Terrence Sr. has had a tattoo of his son on his right arm. He got inked with a copy of a childhood portrait weeks after Terrence went missing to mark his 27th birthday.
“That’s a picture he always liked, so that’s the one I put on me,” Terrence Sr. told Dateline. He hopes his son is alive. “And if he isn’t,” he said, “I hope he didn’t suffer.”
The case is considered an active missing persons investigation. Terrence is 5’9" with black hair and brown eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he weighed 130 pounds. Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office at 208-983-1100.
For more on this case and others like it, tune into the podcast Dateline: Missing in America.
