Disappearance of ‘Gold Rush’ producer continues to be shrouded in mystery

'Gold Rush' producer Terrence Woods went missing in 2018

Aug 15, 2020

Terrence Woods Gold Rush producer thegrio.com — Terrence Woods (Credit: social media)

Terrence Woods, a TV producer for Discovery’s popular show franchise Gold Rush, went missing while shooting in Idaho on October 5, 2018. Despite an initial investigation and search, there is still no trace of him after nearly two years.

Deadline reports that his parents still want answers and that they are suspicious of the series’ production company, Raw TV.

Woods, 27 at the time of this disappearance, is a Maryland native. He was hired by Raw TV to work as a production assistant on Gold Rush: Dave Turin’s Lost Mine, a spin-off of the well-known Gold Rush series produced by its parent company Discovery.

Filming took place in the Penman mines in Idaho County, an abandoned gold mine on rugged cliffs and terrains. According to witnesses, including associate producer Simon Gee, Woods was last seen throwing down his headset, running down the cliff near the mines and into the forest.

Idaho County Sheriff’s Office conducted a week long search for Woods in the surrounding area, concluding that he had reached the road at the base of the cliff. It was there where search dogs lost his scent.

Prior to working with Raw, Wood built his career in the United Kingdom. He worked on shows for the BBC such as One’s Saving Africa’s Elephants: Hugh and the Ivory War and ITV’s The Voice UK.

Valerie and Terrence Woods Sr. were flown in from Maryland to Idaho, but they were skeptical of the circumstances surrounding their son’s disappearance.

“You say my 97-pound son ran down the cliff without tripping, falling, hurting himself,” Woods Sr. said. “You don’t have a trace of his blood or piece of his clothing, and he ran like a hare and ran so fast, nobody could catch him.”

The producer had texted his father the morning of October 5 to tell him he was leaving the production early, cutting his time short by a few weeks, but didn’t give a reason why.

According to the 911 call log, his mental status was called into question. “Terrence has been having a really hard time emotionally and had a mental breakdown earlier today,” the log read.

Woods Sr. recalled that there was an exchange between his son and Gee, with implications that Terrence Jr. “didn’t live up to my expectations” during the production.

“It doesn’t make sense when I hear people say that he struggled with his mental health or that he didn’t live up to expectations,” Woods Sr. stated, explaining that his son had “no mental problem, no health problem, no communication problem.”

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