Hours later, Shones felt well enough to walk to get help. Miles away from help, Shones thought he could flag down help. Police became aware that Madrugas 1969 Mercury Montego was stranded on the side of a mountain road about 50 miles away from home. The two cars stopped about 20 feet from him. Valerie Lane, 12, And Her 13-Year-Old Friend, Doris Derryberry The next day, they found remains that were later identified as those of Madruga and Sterling on opposite sides of the road 11.4 miles (18.3km) from where the car had been. Search and rescue teams then began combing the area around the trailer. [2][4], None of the men were seen alive again after that point. Doctors later confirmed that he had indeed experienced a mild heart attack. Police have no idea. "They might have seen it and didn't even realize they seen it.". It was about an hour away from their homes, but it was a pretty straight shot there and back. The Yuba County Five were a group of young men from Yuba City, California, with mild intellectual disabilities or psychiatric conditions, who attended a college basketball game at California State University, Chico, on the night of February 24, 1978.Four of themBill Sterling, 29; Jack Huett, 24; Ted Weiher, 32; and Jack Madruga, 30were later found dead; the fifth, Gary Mathias, 25, has . Schons stayed in his car until it ran out of gas, then walked eight miles down to get help, passing Madrugas car on the way. Heavy forestry clothing, which could have kept the men warm, also remained where it had been stored. About five miles from Weihers remains, the remains of Sterling & Marduga were found. The Yuba County Five Mysterious Death 1978 Mysterious Death , Exposure On the evening of Feb. 24, 1978, Gary Mathias and friends Bill Sterling, Jack Huett, Ted Weiher, and Jack Madruga loaded into Madruga's white 1969 Mercury Montego to drive to Chico, Calif., to watch the University of California, Davis men's. link True Crime Videos A man called Joseph Schons contacted the police after he heard about the disappearance to say he had seen the men between 11-12 pm on the Friday that the group disappeared. Those kinds of mysteries still pervade the Yuba County Five case, as the men were known to follow patterns rather than deviate from them so drastically and right before a life-changing opportunity. In 1978, a group of five friends disappeared after attending a college basketball game. Later, he clarified to police that he could not be sure of that, since at the time he was almost delirious from the pain he was in. Weihers decaying body was found lying on a bed wrapped in eight sheets. [6] On a table next to the bed were some of Weiher's personal effects, including his wallet (with cash), a nickel ring with "Ted" engraved on it, and a gold necklace he also wore. Ted's feet were also badly frostbitten. yuba county 5 crime scene photos - smax3ddesignstudioltd.com Four days later their car was found on a Plumas National Forest access road. May 21, . In a second more mysterious version, whilst inside the car he heard whistling noises and saw what he thought were a group of men and a woman with a baby, walking in the light of another vehicles headlights. Mathias's body has never turned up. They made it to the game, but none of these "boys," as they came to be called, ever returned home. Twitter reacts. Shones staggered back in his car while he let the heart attack pass and then wondered what on Earth he would do to get himself out of the mess he was in. Madruga, who owned the Mercury, drove his four friends to a collegiate basketball game at the California State University, Chico. 1978 deaths and disappearances in California, Image of Mathias around the time of his disappearance, distributed to help find him, "Mystery of 5 Men Lost in Sierra Deepens", "Missing 5: Foul Play suspected: 5 May Have Met Foul Play", "Cold case: Why did 5 Northern California men disappear in 1978? All five either had slight intellectual disabilities or psychiatric disorders. When they opened the door, they were overcome by the odor of what turned out to be a decaying body inside. How did they walk in normal shoes without outdoor clothing so far in snow several feet thick? Chico, California. Authorities would later discover that a Snowcat vehicle had pushed snow aside to cut a path toward the trailer on February 23, which may have given the men some hope they were in an area where Forest Service employees might soon return. The trailer was 19.4 miles away from where the Mercury Montego was found. He saw a group of men, a woman, and a baby walking together, but they ignored him calling for help. What did they find Mystery True Crime und wahre Verbrechen aus Deutschland

Kalifornien, Februar 1978: Am ! And a thousand leads. Why did they abandon the trip to Yuba? Madruga and the four other able-bodied men should have been able to dislodge it without a lot of difficulty. They entertained a number of eyewitness sightings of the men, including one where they were driving the pickup Shones had mentioned, but none seemed plausible. The plan was for them to watch the game and then come back home to get a good nights rest before their own basketball game the next day. [6], With the evidence not pointing to any clear conclusion about what happened the night the five men disappeared, police and the families were not ruling out the possibility that they had met with foul play. It was about an hour away from their homes, but it was a pretty straight shot there and back. Mathias, his feet perhaps also swollen from frostbite, could have decided to put Weiher's shoes on instead if he had ventured outside. While it had been difficult at firsthe was nearly arrested for assault twice and often experienced psychotic episodes that landed him in a local Veterans Administration hospitalby 1978, Mathias was being treated on an outpatient basis with Stelazine and Cogentin and was considered by his physicians to be "one of our sterling success cases". Weiher had lost nearly half his 200 pounds (91kg); the growth of his beard suggested he had lived as long as thirteen weeks from when he had last shaved. Instead, it looked abandoned. Why? Shones said he cried for help but got no reply. They found no sign of Gary Mathias. There was no news for months as the spring snows melted on the mountains. There was a half moon that night, a winter moon in a cloudless sky. The family identified the 10-year-old as Frankie Rosiles. Besides, who knows. Updated: 4:21 PM PDT April 11, 2022. They left after it finished and then somehow drove up a mountain into the wilderness and were never seen alive again. CAUTION, CRIME SCENE PHOTOS! As for getting a real answer in the case, we may never know unless someone talks or, maybe, Mathais is found. When Shones spotted their abandoned Mercury, the car had been driven roughly 70 miles away from the Chico basketball game. "Bizarre," says John Thompson, the special agent from the California Department of Justice who had joined the investigation. Could they have been searching in the snow and been freaked out by his cars for help in this isolated area? We know good and well that somebody made them do it. 28 Serial Killer Crime Scene Photos From Famous Murderers - All That's Could be violent to some. This is a Mopac Audio podcast and is hosted by writer, producer, and podcaster Shannon McGarvey. To date, there hasnt been any evidence to contradict him. They were always referred to by their families as the boys even though they were all full-grown men from ages 24-32. Sterling and Madruga, an Army veteran, wereanother set of best friends. This week, Georgia and Karen cover the disappearance of the Yuba County Five and the tragic Is there a rational explanation for what happened to the Yuba County Five? On February 24, 1978, five men from the Yuba County, California-area vanished in the wilderness of Northern California. The case has been called the Mathias Group Incident, the Yuba City Five Case and the American Dyatlov Pass incident. Search parties were sent to investigate and more bodies were found. [2] For whatever reason, the men had left the Montego; they had, instead of going back down the road (where they had passed the lodge that Schons later returned to), continued along the road in the direction they were originally going. Four of themBill Sterling,29; Jack Huett,24; Ted Weiher,32; and Jack Madruga,30were later found dead; the fifth, Gary Mathias, 25,[1] has never been found.[2]. Crime Scene Photos - Crime Online They even seemed to be trying to conceal their presence since they momentarily shut off the flashlights they had been shining. Police began to speculate that if Matthias had gone off his medication he might have gone on a psychotic break that led him to bring his somewhat docile friends there. The families of the boys ultimately believed that they were forced or frightened into the wilderness. Some were able to work side jobs, while others couldnt. After Schons' car ran out of gas in the early morning hours, his pain subsided enough for him to walk 8 miles (13km) down the road to a lodge, where the manager drove him back home, passing the abandoned Montego at the point where he had recalled hearing the voices originate from. Why did the Yuba City men get lost that night and end up on the mountain? Were the group together and then decided to separate after Ted's death to try and find help? Like Mathias, each man lived with his parents, all of whom referred to them collectively as "the boys". Ted Weiher was employed for a while as a janitor and snack bar clerk but quit at the urging of his family, who thought Weiher's slowness was causing problems. Chico to Yuba City is a straight down Highway 70 through the Central Valley in low-lying land with no snow at this time of the year. [4], On June 4, with most of the higher-elevation snow melted, a group of motorcyclists went to a trailer maintained by the Forest Service at a campsite off the road about 19.4 miles (31.2km) from where the Montego had been found. The Yuba County Five Episode aired Jan 8, 2022 YOUR RATING Rate Documentary In 1978, a Mercury Montego was found abandoned in the Plumas National Forest, and the remains of four men found 20 miles away. He had left his tennis shoes behind in the trailer with Weihers body and had taken the mans leather shoes. For months and months, they searched for signs of Matthias. Hours later, Shones felt well enough to walk to get help. William Lee Sterling, who was Madruga's special friend and deeply religious, would spend hours at the library reading literature to help bring Jesus to patients in mental hospitals. The suspect . Jackie Charles Huett, who had a slight droop to the head, was sometimes slow to respond and a loving shadow to Weiher, who looked after Huett in a protective sort of way and would dial the phone for him when Hyett had to make a call. Ortega, 55, is charged . Several days after their initial disappearance, the group's car, a Mercury Montego, was found abandoned in a remote area of Plumas National Forest, California, on a high mountain dirt road that was far out of their way back to Yuba City. However, in 2017 David Bruckner directed a movie that seems to be largely based on the Yuba County Five. Thats the question people who learn about the Yuba County Five ask themselves when they hear this bizarre true crime story. They were often lovingly referred to as boys, despite being from 24 to 32 years of age. The next day, a deputy sheriff found a skull downhill from the bush, 300 feet (91m) away, confirmed by dental records later to have been Huett's. Two days later, Huetts own father found his sons backbone under a manzanita bush while with a search party in the mountains. It was a man named Joe Shones who alerted them about it. CAUTION, CRIME SCENE PHOTOS Archives - Morbid N' Macabre After the UC Davis team won their game, the five men went to pick up snacks & drinks for the drive home. It was possible, police believed, that the group had decided to follow the tracks it left, through snowdrifts 46 feet (1.21.8m) high, to wherever they led, in the belief that shelter was not too far away. [6], The day before the men went missing, a Forest Service Snowcat had gone along the road in that direction to clear snow off the trailer roof so it would not collapse. In 1978, five friends set out for home from a basketball game. About Us | Sutter County Sheriff, CA Mar. " Yuba County 5 or the Yuba incident that has been called the American Dyatlov pass. Has the Yuba County 5 case been solved? Learn more about the Hoping he could flag down the passerby, he exited his vehicle and began screaming for help. To add to the mystery, a man was stopped nearby, his car was stuck in the snow. None of the men's families could speculate as to why they might have driven up a long and winding dirt road[a] on a winter night deep into a high-elevation remote forest, without any extra clothing and on the night before a basketball game they had been discussing excitedly for several weeks. I think we've finally sorted out our audio issues! His shoes and jeans nearby helped identify the body. All the drama surrounding the duo. The Gateway Gators was a collegiate basketball team at the rehabilitation center of Yuba City, California. Gary had been on medication ever since to manage his condition, which his father said would make him go haywire if he was off of the medication. For most of them, their fate was to die in snow-capped mountains. [6], In an area to the northwest of the trailer, roughly a quarter-mile (400m) from it, searchers found three Forest Service blankets and a rusted flashlight by the road. Weiher lived for, at least, eight weeks after his disappearance given his beard growth on his body. While scientists today believe that it was likely an avalanche that killed the hikers, others are not quite sure. Did Prince Andrew fly on Jeffrey Epsteins plane Lolita Express? reply | flag message 3: by Fishface (new) Sep 28, 2019 10:01AM Most likely, Madruga and Sterling died of hypothermia about halfway through the long walk to the trailer. A 46-mile drive, around one hour. Most of the reports were easily dismissed, but two of the sightings stood out. The front window of the trailer had been broken. There was no reason to mention having seen the Mercury until newspapers began to blare out notices about the five men who had gone missing that Friday. The driver had either used astonishing care and precision, the investigators figured, or else he knew the road well enough to anticipate every rut. There they bought snacks along with sodas and cartons of milk to drink. These five men were great friends. The next night, Archie and his buddies went out in search of victim number one. The turquoise and white 1969 Mercury Montego was located around a 2.5-hour drive from Chico, in the opposite direction from the route they would have been expected to drive home and way up in the mountains in the Plumas National Forest. Same when it comes to that woman and baby that Shones saw with the Yuba County 5, though Shones admitted he could have hallucinated everything. But there had been no apparent attempt to start a fire despite the freezing temperature on the mountain. In 1975, with a short stint at Yuba College proving unsuccessful, Mathias abruptly left school and moved to Oregon to stay with his grandmother. [2], One question was its location, 70 miles (110km) from Chico, far off any direct route to Yuba City or Marysville. Many, if not most should be considered armed and dangerous. Crime Junkie. The Strange Disappearance of The Yuba County Five Suspects in Yuba City murder released pending investigation There was also the theory that Mathias convinced the group to head toward Forbestown, an area between Chico and the mountain road, so he could visit a friend who lived there. Four of the Yuba County Five tragically died in the forest. In February 1978, five young men headed from their home in Yuba County, California to catch a Yuba County, California. Every day you've got a thousand leads. The five were on a team for the mentally handicapped called the Gateway Gators, who were set to participate in a week-long tournament sponsored by the Special Olympics. A year after their disappearance, police were no closer to solving the mystery. As for getting a real answer in the case, we may never know unless someone talks or, maybe, Mathais is found. If authorities couldnt make any sense of how the group's day had ended on February 24, they at least had some idea of how it began. Johnny Arismendez, 32, and his uncle, Victor Arismendez, 57, both of Yuba City, were booked into the jail on Sunday. Were they forced to go up the Bucks Lane on the way to Palmetto City, did they decide themselves to take a detour or did they take a wrong turn? 12 min ago Aaron Tobias Quinn, an Oroville man who was involved in a police chase and shooting with a California Highway Patrol officer, was sentenced Friday morning in a Yuba County. Everyone is welcome to attend. Posted on December 5, 2021. "And no explanations. Despite finding evidence that Matthias was in the trailer with Weiher at some point, they never found Matthias. This week, Carter tells the guys about the strange case of the Yuba County 5. Today, Yuba City Police Department still has the investigation while the prosecution was left with the state Attorney General's office. [2], Most puzzling to the investigators was how Weiher had come to his fate. The junk food had been consumed, save for one half of a candy bar. It was the fact that Shones had likely wound up being the last person to see Ted Weiher, Gary Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jack Huett, and Bill Sterling alive. [2] The keys were not present, suggesting at first that the car had been abandoned because it might not have been functioning properly, with the intention of returning later with help; when police hot-wired the car, the engine started immediately, and the fuel gauge indicated the gasoline tank was one quarter full. Yuba City 5 - my best explanation for it : r/UnresolvedMysteries - reddit The boys stopped at a convenience store for junk food: Hostess pies, soda, candy bars. "You need . They played basketball together through a Gateway program and were that night . It had enough gas to continue on, but a snowbank had likely caused its tires to spin out. 1971 Press Photo Bridgeport Covered Bridge S Yuba River Nevada County CA.