'America's Most Wanted': Behind the most tragic true-crime story ever. 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. What had led them there? They still had found no explanation for why the men were there, although they learned that Mathias had friends in the small town of Forbestown, and police believed it was possible that, in an attempt to visit them on the way back home, the men may have taken a wrong turn near Oroville that put them on the mountain road. No trace of the men was found other than the car. The real mystery is that Mathias was never found. With so much food close by why wasn't he eating. The disappearance at Dyatlov Pass is perhaps one of the most famous snowy mysteries the world over. Madruga, who owned the Mercury, drove his four friends to a collegiate basketball game at the California State University, Chico. A propane tank connected to the trailer, which could have provided a ready source of heat and cooking fuel, was untouched. The fifth, however, remains missing to this day. 'Yuba County Five' uncovers more answers and even more questions about the 5 California men who went missing in 1978 True Crime April 11, 2022 Listen to 'Yuba County Five' Listen On a winter night in 1978, five young men from Yuba County, California attended a nearby college basketball game. All were fervent basketball fans, and even had a game of their own scheduled for the following day, playing on a team representing the rehabilitation center they all frequented. This week on Five men attend a basketball game together, only to never be seen again. Police backtracked and started searching along a road that led from the Montego to the trailer and found the scattered remains of Madruga and Sterling. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. As mentioned before, they were homebodies. It appeared that Ted had lived 8-13 weeks after his disappearance based on the length of his beard and around 100-pound weight loss. 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. Premium Powerups . They came across a strong stench emanating from some trailers maintained by the Forest Service. At that time, no trace of the men was found. 2019. Almost certainly, he had taken Weihers leather shoes, though police had no real idea why. Police began searching the route the Yuba County Five would have taken back from Chico, and there were no signs of the boys. Listen Now For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode HERE. yuba county five crime scene photos. They soon started to discover some very strange facts. They were lost and caught in a snowstorm without adequate clothing. Two days later, just off the same road but much closer to the trailer, Jackie Huett's father found his son's backbone along with a pair of Levis and ripple-soled "Get Theres" shoes. Today in our daily look back at odd occurrences in history takes us to California taking a quick l. Uncategorized. Similarly, another shed nearby held a butane tank with a valve that, had it been opened, would have fed the trailer's heating system. The Otomi: Mesoamericas Forgotten Civilization? There was no sign of Mathias, aside from his tennis shoes, which had been left in the trailer. In this episode, Zack tells us about a very creepy one that is available on Netflix. It still remains one of the, From Zero to Hero: Write Your Short in 30 days, Heres How To Watch Suzume no Tojimari Online Free: Is Suzume (2023) Streaming On Crunchyroll, Netflix Or HBO Max, Heres Where To Watch The Black Demon (2023) Online Free Streaming At Home, Heres How To Watch Ill Be Watching Online Free: Is Ill Be Watching (2023) Streaming On Crunchyroll, Netflix Or HBO Max, Heres How To Watch Creed III Online Free: Is Creed III (2023) Streaming On Prime Video, HBO Max Or Netflix, Heres How To Watch Creed III Online Free: Is Creed III (2023) Streaming On Peacock, HBO Max, Netflix Or At Home, True crime: This is the terrifying story of the Yuba County Five, Oakland County Child Killer: This unsolved case will give you chills, Los Angeles County is going back to work: Everything you need to know. What puzzled them most was how Weiher was found emaciated, despite the fact that the trailer been stocked with plenty of canned and dried food and a can opener. Weihers body was wrapped up in sheets on a bed, and his feet were frostbitten and gangrenous. [2] Only bones were left of the three bodies in the woods, a result of scavenging animals; but the one in the trailer, Ted Weiher, had apparently lived for as long as three months after the men were last seen, starving to death despite an ample supply of food and heating materials nearby. skiddaw from latrigg car park 0. The game ended around 10 p.m. The driver had either used astonishing care and precision, the investigators figured, or else he knew the road well enough to anticipate every rut. They left after it finished and then somehow drove up a mountain into the wilderness and were never seen alive again. Weiher was missing his shoes, and investigators found Mathias' own shoes in the nearby woods, suggesting Mathias also survived for some time beyond the last night they were seen alive. The Investigations Unit is dedicated to making continued advancements in the area of crime scene investigation while expanding to include expertise in gang suppression and narcotics enforcement. Gary Matthias was one of the five who didnt have a mental disability. Their favorite? Two of the men, whom she identified as Huett and Sterling, were in a telephone booth outside the store, while the other two went inside. If youre interested in the Dyatlov Pass that the other name for this case refers to, then you might want to check out the horror movie Devils Pass in which some students try to find out what happened to the Russian hikers who died in Dyatlov Pass. They decided to drive to Chico that night to cheer on the UC Davis basketball team in an away game against Chico State. The Yuba County Five were young men from Yuba City, California, United States, all with mild mental or psychiatric issues, who attended a college basketball game at California State University, Chico on the night of February 24, 1978. Another image, right, taken by detectives shows a wound on. He stayed in bed because he was afraid he wouldnt get to work on time if he got up. In this week's episode, we revisit two of our favorite Patreon episodes. At 32, Weiher was the oldest, a former janitor who was closest to the youngest of the group, 24-year-old Huett. 24Yuba County Sheriff's detectives are investigating an attempted homicide that occurred earlier this week in the Oregon House area. Hours later, Shones felt well enough to walk to get help. Purposeful motion like that is not consistent with the circular patterns traveled by those who genuinely believe themselves lost. We also service a large portion of incorporated Yuba City under contract. Out in the Cold: Four mentally disabled men died in woods. Police were never able to establish evidence for pursuit, but no one could shake the idea that the men seemed to be determined to move forward. 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. In the late 1960s, a serial killer hunted victims in Northern California. Around 9 a.m. on Monday, a woman suffering from a gunshot wound to the arm walked into the Yuba County Sheriff's Office to report an alleged shooting that had occurred overnight off Begonia Way and Saagennah Trail. [3], While he was stationed in West Germany as part of his United States Army service in the early 1970s, Gary Mathias, a native of Yuba City, California, developed drug problems. Bizarre as Hell: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five. Sterling's father had once taken his son to the area near where the car was found for a fishing weekend, but the younger man had not enjoyed it and remained at home when his father took later trips there. He was pretty sick. The store owner corroborated her account. He passed a 1969 Mercury Montego, but the vehicle had no occupants. The next day, their car was Five men from Yuba City, California, disappeared in 1978 after a trip to a nearby town. The Yuba County Five were five young men from Yuba City, California, who became friends while members of a local basketball team for people with mental disabilities. true crime, documentary film | 29K views, 534 likes, 15 loves, 7 comments, 40 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Androidgamerz Gunz: Snapped New Season. A ranger from the Plumas National Forest had told investigators he saw a Mercury Montego parked along one of the roads in the forest on February 25. The five men had prepared the night before, some even laying out their uniforms and asking their parents to wake them up on time. Either the driver had been extremely careful, or it was someone familiar with the road, a familiarity Madruga was not known to have; his family said that Madruga would not have let someone else drive the car. There they bought snacks along with sodas and cartons of milk to drink. "Not tonight." Several months later, in June, the body of Ted Weiher was found in a trailer with missing shoes and badly frostbitten feet. There was a whole shed full of canned food but it appeared only a dozen had been opened and eaten. To date, there hasnt been any evidence to contradict him. The trailer was located about 19 miles up the mountain from where the car was found. Unfortunately, snowstorms caused the search to be closed two days later, but the police asked the public for any information related to the missing Yuba County Five. A Net Inceptions project. Out of the five, the one man who stuck out a bit was Gary. The Yuba County 5 remains one of the most baffling puzzles within the true crime community. A Yuba City police photo, left, shows Michael Alexander's backyard during a nighttime search of his family's house on Jan. 25, 2013. Gary had been in and out of mental health institutions, but at the time of this story, he was being treated with antipsychotics and was said to have been doing well. Why? Police lights at a crime scene. How these five men came to be on an inhospitable mountain road more than 50 miles from their homes in and around Marysville and Yuba City, California, was just one of the mysteries surrounding. Heres what you need to know. This week, Carter tells the guys about the strange case of the Yuba County 5. The car was found several thousand feet up in an area above the snow line in a completely different direction. Knowing that Madruga drove a Mercury Montego, the police went to investigate and found Madrugas car. What Caused The Patomskiy Crater in Siberia? Ashley talks about a case that is still unsolved to this day-- the Yuba County Five, also February 24, 1978 Five friends drove 50 miles from their homes in Yuba City California to cheer ** Viewer discretion is advised. No one had even bothered to cover the broken window they had smashed in to get inside. The Strange Disappearance Of The Yuba County 5 - America's Dyatlov Pass Incident From the true crime case The Yuba County Five. As a result of their varying conditions, they each lived at home with their parents. Why did they walk away from their car in a snow-filled forest? A 46-mile drive, around one hour. The county sheriffs department began searching for the men. [7] On March 3, the woman, who saw fliers that had been distributed with the men's pictures and information about the $1,215 ($5,000 in 2021 dollars),[8] reward the families had put up, told deputies that four of them had stopped at the store in a red pickup truck, two days after the disappearance. Could they have been searching in the snow and been freaked out by his cars for help in this isolated area? The search teams nearly lost men themselves two days later, as their Snow-cats struggled through the drifts. Huetts bones were found not long after. The last member of the Yuba County Five was 25-year-old Gary Matthais. The men lived in Yuba City and nearby Marysville. Today, we're covering the true crime story of the Yuba County 5. He had lost almost half his body weight and his feet were badly frostbitten. She went on to earn her Masters Degree in Museum Studies in 2019 from the University of San Francisco. Besides, who knows. What did they find Mystery True Crime und wahre Verbrechen aus Deutschland
Kalifornien, Februar 1978: Am ! Check out my podcast! And they traveled for a very long time. Weihers decaying body was inside the trailer, and the scene around him was very odd. How these five men came to be on an inhospitable mountain road more than 50 miles from their homes in and around Marysville and Yuba City, California, was just one of the mysteries surrounding their disappearance. It was February 24, 1978, and Shones was miles from help. When the boys parents noticed their sons had not come home, the police were called. [2][4], The five men's favorite leisure activity was sports. But then the story takes an even stranger turn. All five either had slight intellectual disabilities or psychiatric disorders. 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. Madruga had held on to the keys to the car. Historic Mysteries is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. [2], Searchers returned to Plumas, following the road between the trailer and the site of the Montego. Its called. It was terribly snowy on that country road and his cars wheels had gotten stuck. When he got out to push his car, the exertion brought on a searing pain in his chest. Hours into his ordeal and with his car still stuck and now out of gas, Shones felt well enough to begin walking down the mountain road and toward a lodge roughly eight miles away. With that in mind, police sent pictures of Mathias to the town hospital and morgue nearby, but nobody ever saw him. Later, he saw what he believed were flashlights. It was reasonable enough that he had seen the men strike out from a car they believed to be stuck, but who was the woman and the child? . No one even covered the window they had smashed to get inside of the trailer. This was puzzling because the cabin had a lot of matches, books for kindling, a butane tank for heat, and heavy forestry clothing. Of the group, Gary Mathias had the most severe mental health He was suffering from schizophrenia and was on medication to control his symptoms. When you hear of the Yuba County 5, they tend to be collectively referred to as the boys by those that knew them. Miles away from help, Shones thought he could flag down help. But they did. [2], Mathias supplemented his Army disability pay by working in his stepfather's gardening business. The two cars stopped about 20 feet from him. Some mysteries are full of twists and turns, which leaves the police and the public confused and with more questions than answers. On the night of Feb. 24, 1978, five young men with mild intellectual disabilities or psychiatric conditions just . All rights reserved, Privacy Policy|Online Content Agreement. a mild heart attack. [5], Additional details came from the store owner, who told investigators that men whom he believed to be Weiher and Huett came in and bought burritos, chocolate milk and soft drinks. He could have survived there, but only a couple cans had been opened. Mathias took Stellazine and Cogentin, both used in the treatment of schizophrenia. Melba Madruga, Jack's mother, toldTheWashington Post that she believed "some force" had led the group astray. All five lived at home with their parents and were bound together by a love of sports. Police found no evidence of foul play at the site of the car, but the car was unlocked, one window was down and the keys were nowhere to be seen. Not much remained of Huett. And a thousand leads. Mathias's body has never turned up. Hoping he could flag down the passerby, he exited his vehicle and began screaming for help. Source: Sherrod Photography / Adobe Stock. Jackie Huett was a 24-year-old man with unspecified physical and mental disabilities. In the second part of this double-feature, we detail the infamous Yuba County Five, and compare All week, Gary Mathias told his mom "We got a big game Saturday, Don't you let me oversleep." [5] Huett's brother said Jack hated using telephones to the point that he would answer calls for Jack whenever he received any from the other men in the group. 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? [2], In response to local media coverage of the case, police received several reports of some or all of the men being sighted after they had left Chico, including some reports of them being seen elsewhere in California or the country. Top Image: Police seraching for the Yuba County Five eventually found four bodies, but Gary Mathias, an army vet, has never been found. Did they somehow leave the car and lose the keys. Why did the Yuba City men get lost that night and end up on the mountain? On the evening of February 24, the boys drove 50 miles (80 km) north to Chico, California, to watch a basketball game between UC Davis and Chico State. Several months later, in June, the body of Ted Weiher was found in a trailer with missing shoes and badly frostbitten feet. 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. Have you noticed theres been no mention of Matthiass body? Was it by chance they came across the trailer, or did someone lead them there? A table by the bed held his nickel ring with "Ted" engraved on it, his gold necklace, his wallet (with cash inside), and a gold Waltham watch, its crystal missing, which the families say had not belonged to any of the five men. [6], Two days later, as part of one of the other search parties, Jack Huett's father found his son's backbone[2] under a manzanita bush[6] 2 miles (3.2km) northeast of the trailer. Police never ruled out foul play, nor did the families. The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five is a tragic story and a puzzling mystery. None of them was known to have any business on that part of the mountain. 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. $0.00. 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. The eldest of the boys, as their parents called them, were Ted Weiher, 32 years old who was described as showing signs of Autism, and Jack Madruga, 30 years old, who was described as a slow learner.. Basketball. 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. He had driven up there, where he had a cabin, to check the snowpack in advance of a weekend ski trip with his family. Many people knew this group of friends around town. The Yuba County 5 went missing 42 years ago today in 1978. This witness told police that he had seen and heard people around the car that night, and twice called for help, only for them to grow silent and turn off their flashlights. Juan Corona is seen in this Jan. 23, 1987, photo, 16 years after a mass murder case began unfolding in Sutter County. But what happened to the fifth? [5], Six hours later, lying in the car and experiencing severe pain, he saw headlights coming up behind him. 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. [5], The woman said she immediately realized that the men were not from the area because of their "big eyes and facial expressions". OR, could one of them have Sean brings us the story of five men from Yuba City, California who went missing under unusual February 24, 1978. Why did Ted Weiher apparently starve to death? In her free time, Bianca enjoys stabilizing dangling modifiers and walking her cat. yuba county five crime scene photosselma times journal shooting. But as he drove further into the night, snowdrifts slowed his tires. The five friends decided to go to a basketball game together to cheer on the UC Davis team. The cause of death for Weiher was determined to be hypothermia and starvation. 28The Yuba County Sheriff's Department said the discovery of a possible illegal marijuana cultivation site in the foothills resulted in the seizure of multiple drugs and firearms on Wednesday. How did a murder in a small town with eye witnesses go unsolved for nearly four decades? He had once walked over 500 miles after escaping the asylum he was staying at. In February of 1978, a group of five men went to a basketball game and didn't come home. [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. Hours later, Shones felt well enough to walk to get help. Kalifornien, Februar 1978: Am ! February 24, 1978 On the evening of February 24, the boys drove 50 miles (80 km) north to Chico, California, to watch a basketball game between UC Davis and Chico State. This case can be best summarized by then-Yuba County sheriff Jack Beecham who described it as bizarre as hell.. The Strange Disappearance of The Yuba County Five An article by: Emily G. Thompson 13th January 2019 5 min read In 1978, five mentally disabled men abandoned their car in the Yuba County wilderness & vanished without a trace. Organized by the Special Olympics, the winning team would receive a free weeklong trip to Los Angeles, and the boys were dead set on winning. Heavy forestry clothing, which could have kept the men warm, also remained where it had been stored. Shones later came forward with his story when the news broke about the disappearances, making him the last person to see the five alive. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. Madruga and the four other able-bodied men should have been able to dislodge it without a lot of difficulty. True crime memes: Your strange obsession in a nutshell, 'The Kalief Browder Story': Most insane true-crime show ever. How did they walk in normal shoes without outdoor clothing so far in snow several feet thick? Why? The trailers heating system was never turned on. Did Prince Andrew fly on Jeffrey Epsteins plane Lolita Express? When he went back outside to yell into the darkness, no one responded to the sound of his voice. Total. To this day, no one knows why these four young men died in snowy mountains that were so far from home. You see, Shones had been stuck in a snowdrift the night of the boys basketball outing. The Yuba County Five had a basketball game on February 25th, 1978, that they were excited to play in. the local police have yet to discover any information or evidence that can pin him to the crime . This video answers the question: Can I analyze the case of "Yuba County Five?"Support Dr. Grande on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/drgrandeSubscribe to the. All five had intellectual disabilities or psychiatric issues to various degrees; all of them lived with family, who kept a close eye on them. This week were going to be covering a very strange story. Egel, B. Could be violent to some. "All they had to do was turn that gas on," says Yuba County Lt. Lance Ayers, "and they'd have had gas to the trailer, and heat.". The trailer had food and propane. The Mercury would be found last where Shones saw it with enough gas for the five to return home. The boys were so excited about their game that they would not have missed the game unless something had happened to them. Is there any crime scene photos of the Yuba County Five? The authorities and the boys parents alike wondered what on Earth they had been doing on this dirt mountain road. Four of the Yuba County Five tragically died in the forest. Weihers family told police he lacked common sense from his disability citing an incident where he had to be dragged from his bed while the ceiling was on fire. This cold case is so intriguing because the reason and what exactly happened to the Yuba County Five is still a mystery. There was never any accounting for their strange decision to turn toward unfamiliar territory. When Weiher and Sterling didnt come home, their mothers began calling the parents of the others, and soon the police were involved. These five friends were part of a locally sponsored team for the mentally disabled called the Gateway Gators. He made it home safely that night, but when the police found Madrugas Mercury Montego it only left them more confused. Forest rangers searched the area for five days and found no trace of the men, but soon after the search began,a severe blizzard moved into the area, covering any potential tracks. [6] He was wearing a velour shirt and lightweight pants, but his shoes could not be found. In addition, there was a huge supply of freeze-dried meals. His father had come across some of his sons clothes, and upon picking them up, the backbone of Jackie fell out onto the ground. On Friday, February 24th, the five men drove about 50 miles north from Yuba to Chico to attend a college basketball game. For example, he often asked why he should stop at a stop sign, and one night he had to be dragged out of bed while the ceiling of his bedroom was burning in a house fire because he was afraid he would miss his job if he got up. ), A night out creeps into true crime territory, The cabin in the woods, a mysterious fate, However, in 2017 David Bruckner directed a movie that seems to be largely based on the Yuba County Five. But that did not mean that they were unable to function in society, quite the opposite. However, no trace of him has ever been found. It's not perfect, but Dim the lights and strap in for a doozy, folks. 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]. [2], One question was its location, 70 miles (110km) from Chico, far off any direct route to Yuba City or Marysville. Madruga had never been to Plumas, and a search began. Why not start a fire for warmth? Their families said that when they got together, it was usually to play a game or to watch one. Yet only about 12 cans had been opened, and he had not bothered to turn on the propane tank, which would have provided heat for the entire trailer. By Anita Lee. Joseph spent the rest of the night in his car before walking back down the mountain in the morning. Tickets from the UC Davis game were also there so it was clear they had at least made it to the game to cheer on the team. [4] Madruga, the only member of the group besides Mathias who had a driver's license, drove the group 50 miles (80km) north to Chico in his turquoise and white 1969 Mercury Montego. She loves history, true crime, mythology, and anything strange and unusual. Some of the Yuba County Fives parents told police that there was no reason their sons would have gone that far into the mountains while it was snowing. Inside the trailer, he found the body of Ted Weiher. Northwest of the trailer, about a quarter-mile away, searchers found three wool forest service blankets and a two-cell flashlight lying by the side of the road. Madruga drove off, and the Yuba County Five were never seen alive again. Most of the reports were easily dismissed, but two of the sightings stood out. Unfortunately, as he did, he started suffering a heart attack. He was schizophrenic, a condition controlled by medication he hadnt bothered to bring along. Two days after Madruga and Sterlins remains were found, they found the remains of Jackie Huett. The wrappers and empty cartons and cans they had purchased in Chico were present, along with programs from the basketball game they had watched and a neatly folded road map of California. Mathias's tennis sneakers were in the trailer, and the C-rations had been opened with a P-38 can opener, with which only Mathias or Madruga would have been familiar from their military service. Why do that unless something more frightening was right behind them? The junk food had been consumed, save for one half of a candy bar. The Willow Glen corridor from Timothy L vanished while driving home from a basketball game. One of the strangest things about Shones encounter was that he said a little he saw a group of five men. In 1978, five friends set out for home from a basketball game. [2], Police could not figure out why the men had abandoned the car.
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