A woman reported seeing the five men in a red pickup truck on Saturday and Sunday, about an hours drive from the site of their abandoned car. Weiher was concluded to have died from a mixture of starvation and exposure, but both a heating system and food were readily available. Madruga and the four other able-bodied men should have been able to dislodge it without a lot of difficulty. Weiher seemingly walked nearly 20 miles to the trailer in frigid conditions, despite having left his coat at home. There was no obvious damage to the car, despite the bumpy unmade road, it had around a quarter tank of gas and it was not stuck in the snow. Her mother had been recently widowed and it's a fair question to ask how much one person can stand. [2], Searchers returned to Plumas, following the road between the trailer and the site of the Montego. Most of the reports were easily dismissed, but two of the sightings stood out. Soon, police found two other corpsesthose of Sterling and Madruga4.5 miles away from Weiher's remains. 1971 Press Photo Yuba City, CA Reporters at J.L. The trailers heating system was never turned on. but hadnt been diagnosed as mentally disabled and both he and Gary had served in the U.S. Army and had drivers licenses. 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. 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. 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 'Boys' Who Never Come Back. "Bizarre," says John Thompson, the special agent from the California Department of Justice who had joined the investigation. He had left his tennis shoes behind in the trailer with Weihers body and had taken the mans leather shoes. Helicopters surveyed the area from above. [2], One question was its location, 70 miles (110km) from Chico, far off any direct route to Yuba City or Marysville. They werent missing this game. Not much remained of Huett. They left after it finished and then somehow drove up a mountain into the wilderness and were never seen alive again. There was nothing left of him but bones. Following the game, the five men visited a local store and purchased snacks and drinks, shortly before 10pm. Months passed and no progress was made on the boys case. Episode Info Jackie Huett Photo Source Gary Mathias Photo Source One of the strangest things about Shones encounter was that he said a little he saw a group of five men. In the first part of this double-feature, we discuss the Dyatlov Pass incident of 1959. READ news articles about hundreds of cases. . 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 . These are questions that may never be answered. No one had even bothered to cover the broken window they had smashed in to get inside. [3] The eventual discovery of four of the five men's bodies seemed to suggest otherwise, but raised even more questions about what had happened that night, and whether at least one of them might have been rescued. Besides, who knows. Along the way, he passed a 1969 Mercury Montego, which belonged to the Yuba County 5. 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 12A 43-year-old man was detained on a warrant this week for allegedly murdering his wife who was found dead inside a residence in the 17000 block of Indiana Ranch Road, Challenge . The Russian case is as mysterious as the Mathias Group in Californias Plumas National Forest. But as he drove further into the night, snowdrifts slowed his tires. The men lived in Yuba City and nearby Marysville. Schons' reports have been quite strange over the years and somewhat varied. Mathias's body has never turned up. 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. He had a mild heart attack and was sleeping, when he woke up and saw the boys (possibly accompanied by a woman and baby), but they avoided him. Thats because they never found it. Yuba County, California. At 32, Weiher was the oldest, a former janitor who was closest to the youngest of the group, 24-year-old Huett. Besides, who knows. On Tuesday, February 28, authorities found the Mercury on the same mountain road where Shones had last seen it, and where a park ranger had reported its location after hearing the missing persons bulletin. Kilka dni pniej ich All five lived at home with their parents and were bound together by a love of sports. 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. These five friends were part of a locally sponsored team for the mentally disabled called the Gateway Gators. Later, he saw more lights from behind him, this time flashlights, that also went out when he called to them. 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. Debris recovered from the scene indicated the vehicle was a white Mercedes, and the Yuba County Sheriff's Office was able to identify the car using a license plate reader system, according to. Wyoming Police this week released photos from the July 2014 case known as the Craiglist murders. Dyatlov Pass refers to the unsolved deaths of nine hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union (now Russia) between 1 February and 2 February 1959. "They wouldn't have fled off in the wood like a bunch of quail. The photos show his wife, Molly Martens. "They might have seen it and didn't even realize they seen it.". If you come across them, do not attempt to apprehend them yourself. Winners receive a trip to Los Angeles for a week. It was later identified as Weiher's. 19 miles in heavy snow is quite a hike without proper equipment. 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. Candy wrappers, milk cartons and basketball programs were in the car but maps were left in the glove compartment. As of late, his condition had greatly improved though, and he was able to work in his stepfathers gardening business. 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. Mathias, his feet perhaps also swollen from frostbite, could have decided to put Weiher's shoes on instead if he had ventured outside. 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. The men consumed 36 of the meals but left the majority of them untouched. They made it to the game, but none of these "boys," as they came to be called, ever returned home. Your favorite mother-daughter podcast explains the freaky similarities of 1959's Russian Dyatlov Robin and Adam proudly present Episode 141 of Scary(ish)! Heavy forestry clothing, which could have kept the men warm, also remained where it had been stored. Their clothes had been laid out the evening of the 24th, before they left for Chico with "Gateway Gators" on them, from the Yuba City vocational rehabilitation center for the handicapped where they all played basketball. The junk food had been consumed, save for one half of a candy bar. 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. It still remains one of the, From Zero to Hero: Write Your Short in 30 days, Did the Island Boys break up? Public Corruption. These five men were great friends. Is Hailey Bieber obsessed with Justin Biebers ex Selena Gomez? But they did. While scientists today believe that it was likely an avalanche that killed the hikers, others are not quite sure. When authorities lifted the veil, they found Weiher, his shoes missing and his feet badly frostbitten. [2] The sheets all over Weiher's body also suggested that one of the others had been there with him, as his gangrenous feet would have been in too much pain for him to pull them over his body himself. They found no sign of Gary Mathias. This is a Mopac Audio podcast and is hosted by writer, producer, and podcaster Shannon McGarvey. The case has been called the Mathias Group Incident, the Yuba City Five Case and the American Dyatlov Pass incident. To add to the mystery, a man was stopped nearby, his car was stuck in the snow. When Weiher and Sterling didnt come home, their mothers began calling the parents of the others, and soon the police were involved. After the UC Davis team won their game, the five men went to pick up snacks & drinks for the drive home. Weihers decaying body was found lying on a bed wrapped in eight sheets. About Us. They were all homebodies for the most part, but one thing they strongly bonded over was sports. He had lost almost half his body weight and his feet were badly frostbitten. [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. Is Ice Spices new boyfriend Pete Davidson? The Yuba County Five Case (Mathias Group) Background On February 24, 1978, a group of friends from Yuba City in California; Gary Dale Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jackie Huett, Theodore (Ted) Weiher, and William Sterling; set out on a trip to watch a basketball game. He called to them for help, but they stopped talking and turned their headlights out. Janney plays Sue Buttons . Almost certainly, he had taken Weihers leather shoes, though police had no real idea why. It was February 24, 1978, and Shones was miles from help. 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. His feet were badly frostbitten,[2] almost gangrenous. A propane tank connected to the trailer, which could have provided a ready source of heat and cooking fuel, was untouched. More baffling, Weiher was emaciated. Why not start a fire for warmth? 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? Rating: R (Sexual Content|Language|Some Nudity|Violence . Weiher had asked his mother to wash his new white high-topped sneakers for the tournament saying "We got a big game Saturday. There are so many strange things about this true crime case which is sometimes called Americas Dyatlov Pass, that its hard to compact into one article. None of the men thought to walk downhill, from where they came, and instead faced the treacherous and unfamiliar path ahead. A woman takes advantage of her growing celebrity status when the police and the public think her dead husband is just missing. 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. [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. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. This week we cover the bizarre case of the Yuba County Five.  "Oh, Grandma, I won't need a coat," Ted said. 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. . berkshire pigs for sale in georgia; southern oregon wind direction map; texas judicial candidates 2022; three dog night tour dates 1973; are rubber bullets legal in canada . To date, there hasnt been any evidence to contradict him. "Went haywire," is how Bob, his stepfather, put it. An anthology of True Crime headlined by the strange disappearance of the Yuba County Five.When Joe Shones left his house on February 24, 1978, he seemed to be in good health. 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. Is Netflix's 'The Imposter' its most terrifying true-crime story yet?