Josh Guimond On Netflix’s ‘Unsolved Mysteries’: Everything We Know About The Perplexing “What Happened to Josh?” Episode

“I think Josh had secrets just like everybody else has secrets. But I don’t care what Josh was doing. We just want our friend.”

Earlier this week, three new episodes of Unsolved Mysteries Volume 3 debuted on Netflix, including the captivating installment titled “What Happened to Josh?” The sixth episode of the new season centers on Joshua Guimond, a 20-year-old who vanished after attending a party on the campus of St. John’s University in 2002. Despite a massive search effort, no trace of Josh has ever been found as law enforcement remains baffled by the college student’s mysterious disappearance.

Myriad theories exist as to what exactly happened in this perplexing case. Here’s a brief summary of “What Happened to Josh?”, followed by some additional information we found about this captivating mystery.

What We Know About The Death Of Josh Guimond:

On November 9, 2002 at around 11:30 p.m., Josh attended a poker party of about 10-12 students on campus. People at the gathering noted that he was in a good mood. Eventually, Josh got up from the table and abruptly left the party. He had been hanging out and drinking beers with friends earlier in the day, but reports regarding his level of intoxication vary.

“The Josh I knew would tell the people that he came with that he was leaving,” a friend of Josh’s notes in the episode.

It’s believed that Josh left the party around midnight, with two witnesses seeing him on a bridge between the party and his apartment at around 12:15-12:30 a.m. The next morning, Josh’s roommate, Nick, noticed that Josh still hadn’t returned and began asking mutual friends about his whereabouts. After Josh missed a mock trial meeting, Nick called Josh’s ex-girlfriend Katie, who also hadn’t seen or heard from him.

On Sunday night, Josh’s mom reported him missing. When law enforcement checked his apartment, Josh’s keys were still there, his car was still in the parking lot, his glasses and contact case were in his apartment, and there was no suicide note or signs of a struggle.

There are many theories about Josh’s disappearance. Some speculate that it could be related to the suspiciously high number of attacks/abductions of college men in the area, while others think it could have something to do with Josh’s Yahoo! Personals activity (more on that below). Drowning, an accident that was covered up, and potential links to the school’s sex scandal have also been posited as possible options.

Puzzling Details/Theories Surrounding The Case Of Josh Guimond:

• At the time of Josh’s disappearance, two other college-aged students went missing (Chris Jenkins and Michael Noll). All three cases happened within ten days of each other, near water, and within a 100-mile radius of Minneapolis. All three individuals were around the same age, vanished at night, and were drinking, which led to speculation that the cases could be linked.
• During the initial search, a K9 was brought in and the dog led the team down to the water by the bridge, which led to some people believing that Josh could have potentially fallen in the water. Despite a vigorous search effort, Josh’s body was never found in the lake.
• Unhappy with the police investigation, Josh’s family brought in a bloodhound in late December, which traced Josh’s scent from the party to Stumpf Lake to Josh’s apartment to St. John’s Abbey. At the time of Josh’s disappearance, there were numerous news stories that came out about alleged clergy sex abuse at St. John’s Abbey. Josh’s friend Nick told police that Josh was doing research into the sexual misconduct for a research paper. No files regarding the case were found on Josh’s computer.
• Later in the investigation, it was discovered that somebody used an internet washer on Josh’s computer several days after his disappearance.
• Per The Charley Project, some of the information that was erased and later recovered was about making fake ID cards.
• Police were interested in having Josh’s friend/roommate Nick take a polygraph due to Nick’s and Katie’s potential romantic relationship and a slight discrepancy in his timeline on the night of Josh’s disappearance. Nick declined. Katie said she never gave that theory much credence.
• Before his disappearance, Josh had been spending time on Yahoo! Personals, portraying himself as a female and chatting with various men on two different profiles. The examination of his computer led to speculation that Josh could have been looking for casual encounters and may have been exploring his sexuality.
• Campus security incident reports from that time period were interested in an orange Pontiac Sunfire seen around campus on two occasions. In one incident, police approached the vehicle and a college-aged male exited the car and “took off running.” The driver of the car has been identified and said he was “dropping off a student on campus.” DNA evidence from his vehicle could not be obtained because the car had been crushed.
• Per the Simply Vanished podcast (h/t RadioTimes), it was recently discovered that Josh’s computer was playing music and skipping songs between 11:52pm and 12:32am on the night he vanished — suggesting that someone was at the computer.
• Another note from Simply Vanished (h/t RadioTimes): A man was jumped the night before Josh went missing by “random men his age,” while in the same two-week period, there was a report of a young man being picked up by four men in a car and being driven to a swampy area near campus and told to perform a sexual act on the driver.
• The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office recently released images of more than two-dozen men found on Guimond’s computer, with the hopes of gaining new information relating to Josh’s disappearance.

After streaming “What Happened to Josh?”, true crime fanatics are on the hunt for any additional information about Guimond’s death. Here are a few links to help get you started:

• Unsolved Mysteries released some bonus materials related to the case, including photos, search area maps, and more.
• The Simply Vanished podcast is an excellent resource for additional information. Hosted by Twin Cities civil rights lawyer Josh Newville, the first season centers on Guimond’s disappearance.
• The Unfound Podcast Channel has an episode reexamining the case.
• Behind the Pine Curtain published a “likely profile” of Josh’s abductor.
• Reddit is always an interesting source for both information and conjecture. New threads will be created after more people watch the episode, but here are a few links regarding Josh’s case.
• More info can also be found at FindJoshua.com, Behind the Pine Curtain, and various other outlets.

The first six episodes of Unsolved Mysteries Volume 3 are now streaming on Netflix.