In 2002, Josh Guimond abruptly walked out of a college party. He hasn't been seen since.

The new series of Unsolved Mysteries has brought many strange cases forward, but the sixth episode of season three, What Happened to Josh? seems close to breakthrough.

University student Josh Guimond has been missing since 2002, but this week, a CBS News report has claimed that more information is expected to be released soon, after police made a recent breakthrough in the case.

Here’s what we know about Josh Guimond’s case, and the newest theory about what might have happened to him.

Who is Josh Guimond?

Josh Guimond was a 20-year-old student who disappeared from Minnesota's St John’s University campus in 2002.

A dedicated student who had been class president and voted most likely to succeed in high school, Josh was in his third year at the private men’s college, majoring in political science.

He was also involved with campus life as part as the Pre-Law Society, and planned to go on to study law and enter the public service.

The same week he vanished, he was gathering support for his application for the Truman Scholarship, a national scholarship for students hoping to work in the public service.

Listen to our True Crime Conversations episode on the disappearance of Theo Hayez. Post continues below.

What happened to Josh Guimond?

On November 9, 2002, the night he disappeared, Josh had been playing poker in a friend’s dorm. He’d walked five minutes with two of his friends to attend the party. He left at 11:55pm, and when his roommate, Nick, came back a few hours later, Josh wasn’t there.

When he didn’t turn up to a Pre-Law Society meeting the following day, his friends reported him missing to campus security, who began the search for Josh.

Ongoing searches led police to use sniffer dogs to trace Josh’s scent, which disappeared at Strumpf Lake on campus. Initial theories were he had drowned, but his remains were never found despite many searches of the lake.

In the 20 years since Josh disappeared, his friends and family have remained hopeful they can find out what happened to him.

The Simply Vanished podcast.

Podcast host Josh Newville ran his own investigation into Josh’s disappearance on Simply Vanished, with the permission of Josh’s family. The investigation found there had been a string of attacks around the same time Josh disappeared.

“There were a series of attacks, and stalkings, attempted abductions of college men in the area, not just in November of 2002, the same month that Josh went missing, but, really, in the years surrounding that as well. And so we are continuing to receive leads related to this theory,” he told MPR News.

Newville also brought up new evidence discovered earlier this year, saying it had been found that music had been playing on Josh’s computer between 11:52pm and 12:32am on the night he vanished. A few of the songs had been skipped, indicating that someone was at the computer physically playing songs.

Josh with his father, Brian. Image: Netflix.

The latest theory.

Unsolved Mysteries also floated the latest theory about the case, which is that Josh had gone to meet someone. It’s believed he was talking to men online via various chat rooms and dating forums, with police saying that they were able to access messages on his Yahoo personal account. 

Following this, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office released photos of 28 men they could not identify, asking the public to come forward if they knew the men in the photos, or could help give any further information for the investigation.

Image: Stern's County Sheriff's Office. 

While everyone involved in the case hopes to learn what happened to Josh, his parents Brian and Lisa Guimond are “desperate for answers”, according to Newville.

“You lose your only child. I can’t even imagine what it’s like. I’m so impressed with how they’ve persevered,” he told MPR.

Feature Image: Netflix.