Later, he saw what he believed were flashlights. We know he was in the trailer where he left his shoes, and it's assumed he took Weiher's, which would have fit his frostbitten feet a bit better, but his remains have not been found after 47 years. Selects: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five. After the UC Davis team won their game, the five men went to pick up snacks & drinks for the drive home. About Us. 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. Yuba County Five Case Analysis | Unexplained Disappearance and Deaths - YouTube This video answers the question: Can I analyze the case of "Yuba County Five?"Support Dr. Grande on. "Bizarre," says John Thompson, the special agent from the California Department of Justice who had joined the investigation. 3 While the ground search was called off, a California Highway Patrol helicopter continued to scour the area from the sky. (No, thats not a typo. This conspiracy theory will surely tug on your heart strings and have you asking, "What One freezing night in 1978, five young men mysteriously disappear. His tennis sneakers were in the trailer and the cans seemed to have been opened by the kind of military issue P-38 can opener Matthias might have been familiar with, but there was no Matthias. The boys had used Madrugas 1969 Mercury Montego to drive to the UC Davis game in Chico, California on February 24, 1978. No fire had been set in the trailer's fireplace, despite an ample supply of matches and paperback novels to use as kindling. This week on Five men attend a basketball game together, only to never be seen again. Hoping he could flag down the passerby, he exited his vehicle and began screaming for help. Is Hailey Bieber obsessed with Justin Biebers ex Selena Gomez? One of the strangest things about Shones encounter was that he said a little he saw a group of five men. En 1978, un grupo de amigos con diferentes Los 5 de Yuba CIty, El Dyatlov Americano - Parte 2. They were often lovingly referred to as boys, despite being from 24 to 32 years of age. 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. yuba county 5 crime scene photos Not until the thaw came. [2], Police in Butte and Yuba counties began searching along the route the men took to Chico. [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. The real mystery is that Mathias was never found. But there had been no apparent attempt to start a fire despite the freezing temperature on the mountain. The internet is divided on whether it was an outside force, Matthias himself, or some sort of accident that led the Yuba County 5 to their deaths & disappearance. Their names were Ted Weiher, Gary Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jack Huett, and Bill Sterling. tips for grilling chicken. The Yuba County sheriff's office said they wouldn't resume the ground search unless new evidence came forward that indicated that the five men were still in the dense forest. [2], Mathias supplemented his Army disability pay by working in his stepfather's gardening business. On Friday, February 24th, the five men drove about 50 miles north from Yuba to Chico to attend a college basketball game. 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". Heavy forestry clothing, which could have kept the men warm, also remained where it had been stored. Many people knew this group of friends around town. [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. This eventually led to him being diagnosed with schizophrenia and being psychiatrically discharged. In February 1978, five young men drove from Yuba City to Chico to watch a basketball game. His feet were badly frostbitten,[2] almost gangrenous. 1971 Press Photo Bridgeport Covered Bridge S Yuba River Nevada County CA. Investigation. On the ground, officers tried to use horses to get around on the rocky roads. Kilka dni pniej ich All five either had slight intellectual disabilities or psychiatric disorders. 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. At the time, he had not considered it significant, since many residents often drove up that road into the Sierra Nevada on winter weekends to go cross-country skiing on the extensive trail system, but after he read the missing persons bulletin, he recognized the car and led the deputies to it on February 28. [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. Joseph spent the rest of the night in his car before walking back down the mountain in the morning. Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury: Who made the most money from their fight? WASHINGTON The mother of late singer Aaron Carter is publicly calling on police to do more to investigate her son's death, accusing authorities of focusing . Every day you've got a thousand leads. They had reached 4,400 feet (1,300m) in elevation along the road, about where the snow line was at that time of year, just short of where the road was closed for the winter. These five friends were part of a locally sponsored team for the mentally disabled called the Gateway Gators. In February of 1978, a group of five men went to a basketball game and didn't come home. On February 24, 1978, five men from the Yuba County, California-area vanished in the wilderness of Northern California. We can't visualize someone getting the upper hand on those five men, but we know it must have been." A still-unsolved mystery, the Yuba County Five . All five lived at home with their parents and were bound together by a love of sports. Four days later their car was found on a Plumas National Forest access road. This was strange because it seemed none of the trailers life-saving amenities had been used. Police have no idea. 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. Inside the trailer, authorities found heavy clothing, matches, playing cards, books, wooden furniture, and other materials which could have easily been used to start a fire. Our groundbreaking Augmented Reality technology accurately recreates crime scenes and allows users to experience and investigate them just as detectives at the actual crime scenes did. How did a fun night out with the boys turn into a death sentence in some remote snowy mountains? One of the c-ration cans had been opened with an Army P38 can opener. yuba county five crime scene photos yuba county five crime scene photos on February 22, 2022 on February 22, 2022 fundamentals of accounting pdf grade 12; yuba county 5 crime scene photos Press question mark to learn the It was getting cold after he wasnt able to keep the cars AC heat running anymore, but to his relief he saw headlights in the distance. In 1978, in Yuba County California, five young men vanish. Sadly, these men were able to cheer on UC Davis, but they never made it to their own basketball match. 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. The Gateway Gators was a collegiate basketball team at the rehabilitation center of Yuba City, California. This week on Loose Units, Four months after the disappearance of the Yuba County Five, the thaw came. Updated: 1:41 PM MST March 2, 2023. The fifth, however, remains missing to this day. [2], Weiher's body was on a bed with eight sheets wrapped around it, including the head. Marduga still had the keys to the Mercury. 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. The five were going to see a UC Davis basketball game and come straight home. Wikipedia, Public Domain "The Boys" Go Missing $19.99 + $4.99 . This wasnt something any of them were going to miss. [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. 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. 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. Ted's feet were also badly frostbitten. The story from here is a little confusing. Up in the mountains above the Feather River, the snow-drifts sometimes rose to 15 feet. Crime Junkie. Itsweird. At 5:30p.m., about 150 feet (46m) up the road, he, too, had gotten stuck in the snow. [5], The other notable report was from a woman who worked at a store in the small town of Brownsville, 30 miles (48km) from the point where the car had been abandoned, which they would have reached had they continued down the road from where the car had been found. Mathias had been in the Army, too, but was discharged because of psychiatric problems. Episode Info Jackie Huett Photo Source Gary Mathias Photo Source Since Mathias had presumably not taken his medication, pictures of him were distributed to mental institutions all over California. Breaking News in Yuba County is a 2021 American black comedy film directed and co-produced by Tate Taylor, from a screenplay written by Amanda Idoko.The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Awkwafina, Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, Juliette Lewis, Samira Wiley, Jimmi Simpson, Clifton Collins Jr., Bridget Everett, Dominic Burgess, Keong Sim, Chris Lowell, Matthew . [5], The woman said she immediately realized that the men were not from the area because of their "big eyes and facial expressions". Listen Now For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode HERE. Shones later came forward with his story when the news broke about the disappearances, making him the last person to see the five alive. Jack had low I.Q. Were going to be covering a story Let's discuss the strange disappearance of the Yuba County Five.  Had the group been abducted and the perpetrator was preventing access to food or was Ted suffering from gangrene caused by frostbite. Posted on February 22, 2022 by . Rhoades, a long-haul trucker, converted the sleeper cab of his 18-wheel semi truck into a small, makeshift sex chamber where he would torture his victims and rape them for weeks on end. Weiher had asked his mother to wash his new white high-topped sneakers for the tournament saying "We got a big game Saturday. The atmosphere was jubilant. He felt fine, especially for 55, and he'd decided that day to venture up a lonely road through the Plumas National Forest, close to Rogers Cow Camp . 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. 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 February24, 1978. Serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades stalked the highways of Texas in his mobile torture and death chamber. They soon started to discover some very strange facts. yuba county 5 crime scene photos. NOTE: This is an update to my original report found here So while getting pictures together for the page on the Yuba County 5, I stumbled across a Reddit post that had been made 18 days ago. In February 1978, five young men headed from their home in Yuba County, California to catch a college basketball game - and never came home. The trailer was 19 miles away from the car. He called to them for help, but they stopped talking and turned their headlights out. Madruga's body had been partially consumed by scavenging animals; only bones remained of Sterling, scattered over a small area. Find us on Elle Crime and Mo Tibbs comin' in hot with another unsolved crime. [9], It also seemed that Weiher had not been alone in the trailer, and that Mathias and possibly Huett had been there with him. [2][5], After that, Schons said at first, he recalled a pickup truck parking 20 feet (6m) behind him briefly, and then continuing on down the road. 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. In February of 1978, an unsolved incident occurred to five young men from Yuba County that is On the night of February 24, 1978, a group of five young men from Yuba City, California, all Today we take a look at a Civil War sniper who took the law into his own hands! Police never ruled out foul play, nor did the families. Today, we're covering the true crime story of the Yuba County 5. Why not start a fire for warmth? 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. . Instead, immediately call the Sutter County Sheriff's Department at 530-822-7300. 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. Turns out I totally missed a book that was published last December full of exclusive new interviews with family . 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. A day after search parties were sent out, Madruga and Sterlings bodies were found about 11 miles from the Mercury Montego. The Russian case is as mysterious as the Mathias Group in Californias Plumas National Forest. [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. Winners receive a trip to Los Angeles for a week. vanished while driving home from a basketball game. A California Highway Patrol officer fatally shot a man in Yuba County after being dragged by a vehicle that crashed through a fence, reports state. [2], Police could not figure out why the men had abandoned the car. The group aged between 24 and 32 years of age, had developmental disabilities and were all enrolled in a day program for mentally handicapped adults. 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. The case of the Yuba County Five is one of mystery, intrigue, bewilderment, and most of all, tragedy and sadness. In this week's episode, we revisit two of our favorite Patreon episodes. VIEW and share photos of real crime scenes. It still remains one of the most baffling cases within the US. Purposeful motion like that is not consistent with the circular patterns traveled by those who genuinely believe themselves lost. After Weiher died, or after the others thought he had died, they may have decided to try to get back to civilization by different ways, such as walking overland.[6]. When he went back outside to yell into the darkness, no one responded to the sound of his voice. 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. None of the men thought to walk downhill, from where they came, and instead faced the treacherous and unfamiliar path ahead. Police became aware that Madrugas 1969 Mercury Montego was stranded on the side of a mountain road about 50 miles away from home. The game ended around 10 p.m. From his beard growth, they knew Weiher had been living there anywhere between eight and 13 weeks. May 21, . Soon, police found two other corpsesthose of Sterling and Madruga4.5 miles away from Weiher's remains. [2][4], On February 25, the Gators were due to play their first game in a weeklong tournament sponsored by the Special Olympics for which the winners would get a free week in Los Angeles. None of them was known to have any business on that part of the mountain. Since it was locked, they may have believed it was private property, and may have feared arrest for theft if they used anything else they found there. To this day, no one knows why these four young men died in snowy mountains that were so far from home. Madruga had held on to the keys to the car. In the early morning hours of February 25, Shones made it to the lodge and was able to get medical treatment. 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. The county sheriffs department began searching for the men. This dark comedy will be available on digital and in select theaters Feb. 12. Her mother had been recently widowed and it's a fair question to ask how much one person can stand. I think we've finally sorted out our audio issues! His mother and stepfather, Ida and Robert Klopf, finally reached him on the phone weeks later and pleaded with him to come back to Yuba County. "He was either tricked or threatened.". [2], Most puzzling to the investigators was how Weiher had come to his fate. It was later identified as Weiher's. In 1978, a group of five friends disappeared after attending a college basketball game. Everyone is welcome to attend. Two days later, after searchers in Snowcats nearly became lost themselves, further search efforts were called off due to continuing bad weather. Thats why when the late hours of the night turned into the wee hours of the morning, and none of the boys returned home, their parents started to get worried. It still remains one of the, From Zero to Hero: Write Your Short in 30 days, Did the Island Boys break up? 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 . Curious, they went inside. Most of the reports were easily dismissed, but two of the sightings stood out. As of late, his condition had greatly improved though, and he was able to work in his stepfathers gardening business. Most likely, Madruga and Sterling died of hypothermia about halfway through the long walk to the trailer. They put out alerts for Matthias and searched nearby psychiatric hospitals to see if maybe he had wandered away from the cabin and ended up hospitalized, but they found nothing. Also known as America's Dyatlov Pass, this missing persons case is incredibly bizarre and cr. Why didnt they attempt to move the car once it got stuck, instead of walking to nowhere in the middle of the night? In this episode, Zack tells us about a very creepy one that is available on Netflix. "You need . Allison Janney leads an all-star cast in the new film, "Breaking News in Yuba County.". They made it to the game, but none of these "boys," as they came to be called, ever returned home. Bianca Myrtil is a writer and freelance editor. "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.". Sullivan Ranch Crime Scene. 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. Miles away from help, Shones thought he could flag down help. It was possible that Madruga had missed the turn-off and gotten lost, driving deeper into darkness until the snow ground the Mercury to a halt. [6], Even knowing that four of the five men had died in the Sierra, investigators still could not completely explain what had led to their deaths. You see, Shones had been stuck in a snowdrift the night of the boys basketball outing. At 32, Weiher was the oldest, a former janitor who was closest to the youngest of the group, 24-year-old Huett. Weiher lived for, at least, eight weeks after his disappearance given his beard growth on his body. When morning came and they had not, the police were notified. 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. Some of them even laid out their uniforms for the team and asked their parents to make sure they woke up on time for the game. The men lived in Yuba City and nearby Marysville. Will the missing member of the Yuba County 5 ever be found? The driver had either used astonishing care and precision, the investigators figured, or else he knew the road well enough to anticipate every rut. [2] Weiher's family members said that he lacked common sense as a result of his mental disability. Posted on December 5, 2021. But then the story takes an even stranger turn. Maybe something supernatural did happen to the boys of Americas Dyatlov Pass. What had led them there? 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. But as he drove further into the night, snowdrifts slowed his tires. All five had intellectual disabilities or psychiatric issues to various degrees; all of them lived with family, who kept a close eye on them. A witness later came forward, a local man who said he had spent the same night in his own car, a short distance away from where the Montego was found. Its called. His tennis shoes were inside the forest service trailer, which suggested to investigators that he might have taken them off to put on Weiher's leather shoes - particularly since Weiher had bigger feet, and Mathias' feet might have swollen with frostbite. How did they walk in normal shoes without outdoor clothing so far in snow several feet thick? Mathias returned to his parents' home in Yuba City and began treatment at a local mental hospital. Not only were they stoked to spend a night out, they were also super excited to play in a basketball match themselves the very next day. In 1978 five friends with intellectual disabilities ended up driving into the wilderness for no apparent reason and four of their remains were later found there. All the drama surrounding the duo. This week we cover the bizarre case of the Yuba County Five.  "Oh, Grandma, I won't need a coat," Ted said. Why had they hid from Shones? Yuba County, California. The initial investigation by Yuba County police was frustrated by the snowfall in the region that winter. Photo via Pinterest. Deputies think that one of them may have given in to the need to sleep that comes with the last stages of hypothermia, while the other stayed by his side and died the same way. 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. Following the game, the five men visited a local store and purchased snacks and drinks, shortly before 10pm. We also service a large portion of incorporated Yuba City under contract. After his return from Army service in Germany, he would fail to take his drugs and lapse into a disoriented psychosis that usually landed him in a Veterans Administration hospital. More baffling, Weiher was emaciated. 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. The Montego's undercarriage had no dents, gouges, or even mud scrapes, not even on its low-hanging muffler, despite having been driven a long distance up a mountain road with many bumps and ruts. Later, he saw what he believed were flashlights. It was shortly before the store's 10 p.m. closing time; the clerk later remembered the men because she was annoyed that such a large group had come in and delayed her from beginning the process of closing the store for the night. [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. The trailers heating system was never turned on. Why do that unless something more frightening was right behind them? 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. Erin covers the Yuba We're back! These were individual canned, pre-cooked, and prepared meals issued to the U.S. military. The evening before, the five decided to make the 50 mile drive to the city of Chico to watch a college basketball game. The fireplace looked to have never been lit despite the availability of matches and kindling. The Yuba County Five were young men from Yuba City, California, all 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. 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. Looking out, he saw a car parked behind him, headlights on, with a group of people around it, one of which seemed to him to be a woman holding a baby. It had enough gas to continue on, but a snowbank had likely caused its tires to spin out. We know good and well that somebody made them do it. Ronald Charles Trapp, 34, of Marysville, died around 9:35 a.m. Tuesday after being shot while driving a Honda Accord on Dunning Avenue, south of Hammonton-Smartville Road, in Linda, a news release . 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. . Around them, police saw nothing but rugged, dense forest, hardly an appealing option for the lightly dressed young men. The Theories As for getting a real answer in the case, we may never know unless someone talks or, maybe, Mathais is found. The internet is divided on whether it was an outside force, Matthias himself, or some sort of accident that led the Yuba County 5 to their deaths & disappearance. (They changed her name to "Dale Harum" in Michigan Murders .) With so much food close by why wasn't he eating. The clerk remembers this as it was right before closing, so she was annoyed by having to get a large group checked out before closing and heading home herself. Off the job, outside of his family, he was close friends with four slightly older men who either had slight intellectual disabilities (Sterling and Huett) or were informally considered "slow learners" (Weiher and Madruga, also an Army veteran). But all five friends wound up missing or dead. They found a body tucked into a bed, draped in sheets from head to toe. His leather shoes were off and missing. When authorities lifted the veil, they found Weiher, his shoes missing and his feet badly frostbitten. The photos show his wife, Molly Martens. It was impossible to tell just how long it had been there. If police and the families of the men were expecting closure from the discovery of their bodies, they werent about to get it. Inside the trailer, he found the body of Ted Weiher. To the Los Angeles Times, she said it was impossible for her to believe Madruga would ever drive his car, which he prized, into an area where it might be damaged. Not much remained of Huett. A year after their disappearance, police were no closer to solving the mystery.