yuba county five crime scene photos yuba county five crime scene photos

On February 24th, 1978, five men from Yuba County, California, vanished into the night on their way home from a college Let's start from the beginning The five men, often referred to as the boys by their loved ones were all very good friends. 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. 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. Four decades later, the fifth man from the car has never been found. Gary Matthias was one of the five who didnt have a mental disability. His feet were badly frostbitten,[2] almost gangrenous. [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. However, in 2017 David Bruckner directed a movie that seems to be largely based on the Yuba County Five. [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. Yuba County 5. Why did Ted Weiher apparently starve to death? Several months later, in June, the body of Ted Weiher was found in a trailer with missing shoes and badly frostbitten feet. 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 . 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. They were often lovingly referred to as boys, despite being from 24 to 32 years of age. 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. 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. $19.99 + $4.99 . The suspect . The passengers then left together in one car. This week on Loose Units, Four months after the disappearance of the Yuba County Five, the thaw came. Organizing a search party in the midst of winter was no easy task, especially when it meant combing through rough terrain filled with rocky surfaces, wooded paths, and snow-covered slopes. yuba county 5 crime scene photos. Hours later, Shones felt well enough to walk to get help. They found no sign of them, but a few days later, a Plumas National Forest ranger told investigators that he had seen the Montego parked along Oroville-Quincy Road in the forest on February 25. One of them made a phone call from a nearby phone booth, and the other two stayed in the truck. The trailers heating system was never turned on. Shones eventually decided hed have to help himself and hike down the snowy road until he got help. In the first part of this double-feature, we discuss the Dyatlov Pass incident of 1959. They werent the type to stay out very late or make spontaneous plans. Why? Read more Print length 152 pages Language English Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe Publication date , and although in this horror movie things turn supernatural, the parallels between it and the Yuba County Five story are strong. A forest service Snowcat ran up the road to the trailer on February 23rd, leaving a packed path in the snow that the men might have followed. Hosted by Shannon McGarvey. We now know these men must have been the boys because of Madrugas Montego just down the road, but they werent the only people Shones reported to have seen. 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. 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. The men consumed 36 of the meals but left the majority of them untouched. I think we've finally sorted out our audio issues! Well, the last sighting of the Yuba County 5 wasdecidedly not. Most of the reports were easily dismissed, but two of the sightings stood out. It still remains one of the most baffling cases within the US. Although the mens bodies were heavily decomposed, autopsy results determined that they had likely died from exposure. A night out creeps into true crime territory The boys had used Madruga's 1969 Mercury Montego to drive to the UC Davis game in Chico, California on February 24, 1978. Ted Weiher's sister-in-law has theorized that the men may have seen something take place at the basketball game that prompted someone to chase them. (KTXL) A vigil is planned Thursday for the 10-year-old boy who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Yuba County. Eventually . [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. One of the crime scenes from the John Collins murder series. This week we cover the bizarre case of the Yuba County Five.  "Oh, Grandma, I won't need a coat," Ted said. Investigation. Gary Mathias, 25; Bill Sterling, 29; Jack Huett, 24; Ted Weiher, 32; and Jack Madruga, 30 were all friends. 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 trailer was 19 miles away from the car. Search and rescue teams then began combing the area around the trailer. 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. Schons' reports have been quite strange over the years and somewhat varied. Later, he saw more lights from behind him, this time flashlights, that also went out when he called to them. reply | flag message 3: by Fishface (new) Sep 28, 2019 10:01AM This proved to be the last time any of them were seen . 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. Why did the Yuba City men get lost that night and end up on the mountain? 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. The initial investigation by Yuba County police was frustrated by the snowfall in the region that winter. Unfortunately, as he did, he started suffering a heart attack. Your favorite mother-daughter podcast explains the freaky similarities of 1959's Russian Dyatlov Robin and Adam proudly present Episode 141 of Scary(ish)! 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. 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. Following the game, the five men visited a local store and purchased snacks and drinks, shortly before 10pm. And they traveled for a very long time. We know good and well that somebody made them do it. But that did not mean that they were unable to function in society, quite the opposite. 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. "I'm positive he never went up there on his own," she told the paper. Updated: 4:21 PM PDT April 11, 2022. There was no news for months as the spring snows melted on the mountains. Stars Tim Donahue Michael May Dominick Sherry [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. The reason that we bring it up is because there is an incident largely called the American Dyatlov Pass, which is the case of the Yuba County 5. Were the group together and then decided to separate after Ted's death to try and find help? To this day, Gary Mathais remains the only person missing. Then, in June 1978, a man riding his motorcycle through the area noticed a broken window on a forest service trailer. The disappearance at Dyatlov Pass is perhaps one of the most famous snowy mysteries the world over. Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury: Who made the most money from their fight? They played basketball together through a Gateway program and were that night . 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. No trace of the men was found other than the car. The mother of Aaron Carter shared photographs on social media from what she claims is the death scene from the pop singer's home in November. Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury: Who made the most money from their fight? When authorities lifted the veil, they found Weiher, his shoes missing and his feet badly frostbitten. Could be violent to some. The vigil is planned for 6 p.m. at Olivehurst Linda Little League field. 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. 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. February 24, 1978. Shones said he saw a woman as well, and that he also heard a babys cry. The men, panicking, may have believed their car was stuck and that they needed to get help. Rating: R (Sexual Content|Language|Some Nudity|Violence . Mar. In February 1978, five young men drove from Yuba City to Chico to watch a basketball game. About five miles from Weiher's remains, the remains of Sterling & Marduga were found. Four of them would, in the warmer months, be found dead. [2], The mystery deepened after police towed the car back to the station for a more thorough examination. Their families said that when they got together, it was usually to play a game or to watch one. While scientists today believe that it was likely an avalanche that killed the hikers, others are not quite sure. All five travelled in Madruga's car, a 1969 Mercury Montego. 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. How did the group end up around a trailer 19 miles from the car? Why was a common question for investigators and the relatives of the men, but no answers were forthcoming. In the process of trying to free it, he realized he was beginning to experience the early symptoms of a heart attack and went back in, keeping the engine running to provide heat. The last time any of these people were seen was at a college basketball game at California State University. 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. The route home wasnt a difficult one, and since the map police also found inside of the Mercury Montego was neatly folded up, they didnt seem to have been lost. 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 . [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. 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. Valerie Lane and Doris Derryberry [Photo Credit: Yuba County Sheriff's Department] Valerie Lane and Doris Derryberry were two young girls who were murdered by Larry Don Patterson and William Lloyd, and their bodies were found in a wooded area in Yuba County, California, more than 45 years ago. [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. Johnny Arismendez was arrested on suspicion of murder and Victor Arismendez for . 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. Jack Antone Madruga, a high school graduate, and Army veteran was laid off in November 1977 from his job as a busboy for Sunsweet Growers. Two days later, Huetts own father found his sons backbone under a manzanita bush while with a search party in the mountains. 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). All five lived at home with their parents and were bound together by a love of sports. [6] He was wearing a velour shirt and lightweight pants, but his shoes could not be found. Madruga's parents said he did not like the cold weather and had never been up into the mountains. It was February 24, 1978, and Shones was miles from help. The flashlight was slightly rusted and had been turned off. The atmosphere was jubilant. But then the story takes an even stranger turn. We also service a large portion of incorporated Yuba City under contract. To date, there hasnt been any evidence to contradict him. 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. ), 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. [2][4], The five men's favorite leisure activity was sports. 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. This week were going to be covering a very strange story. Thats because they never found it. Out of the five, the one man who stuck out a bit was Gary. There was no sign of the men and no indication of why they had abandoned their operable car. In 1978, in Yuba County California, five young men vanish. All the conspiracies about this financier, 'America's Most Wanted': Behind the most tragic true-crime story ever. Ortega, 55, is charged . 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. Did Prince Andrew fly on Jeffrey Epsteins plane Lolita Express? This week, Emma teaches Brian about the Yuba County Five and their mysterious deaths. 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? February 24, 1978. After the UC Davis team won their game, the five men went to pick up snacks & drinks, Joe Shones, age 55, was having car trouble. He weighed just 120 pounds at the time of his death. "They might have seen it and didn't even realize they seen it.". He had driven up there, where he had a cabin, to check the snowpack in advance of a weekend ski trip with his family. It was a straight shot on the hiway from Chico to Yuba. Madruga had been partially eaten by animals and dragged about 10 feet to a stream: he lay face up, his right hand curled around his watch. It wasnt until June when the snow in the mountainous area had mostly melted away that motorcyclists helped make a break in the case. The family identified the 10-year-old as Frankie Rosiles. This Sutter County California Most Wanted List posts the top 50-100 fugitive criminals on the run. The two cars stopped about 20 feet from him. As a result of their varying conditions, they each lived at home with their parents. "Not tonight." 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. (No, thats not a typo. Along the way, he passed a 1969 Mercury Montego, which belonged to the Yuba County 5. The story from here is a little confusing. 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. Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. The real mystery is that Mathias was never found. 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. 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. About Us. They came across a strong stench emanating from some trailers maintained by the Forest Service. True Crime Out Loud B and Jen Coast2CoastCrime Coast2CoastCrime The Women of Death Row Mariel and Amanda True Crime & Consequences Kari & Brian Current Inside Crime with Angeline Hartmann Angeline Hartmann: Journalist and Crimefighter True Crime and Coke truecrimeandcoke Unnatural: A True Crime Podcast Emily and Andy 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. But all five friends wound up missing or dead. When Shones tried to get their attention one more they continued to ignore him. [2], Searchers returned to Plumas, following the road between the trailer and the site of the Montego. Police have no idea. More baffling, Weiher was emaciated. 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. Public Corruption. Four of themBill Sterling, 29 . Find us on Elle Crime and Mo Tibbs comin' in hot with another unsolved crime. Heres what you need to know. Purposeful motion like that is not consistent with the circular patterns traveled by those who genuinely believe themselves lost. Many people knew this group of friends around town. By. All the drama surrounding the duo. When he got out to push his car, the exertion brought on a searing pain in his chest. Joseph spent the rest of the night in his car before walking back down the mountain in the morning. Related Article Donnie Wahlberg unravels The Amityville Murders in this 6-episode true crime series, 'Very Scary People' From his beard growth, they knew Weiher had been living there anywhere between eight and 13 weeks. In the early morning hours of February 25, Shones made it to the lodge and was able to get medical treatment. Huett's remains were located northeast of the trailer, like Sterling's and Madruga's. Police and the families never ruled out foul play. They soon started to discover some very strange facts. [2], Mathias supplemented his Army disability pay by working in his stepfather's gardening business. Today, Yuba City Police Department still has the investigation while the prosecution was left with the state Attorney General's office. After the investigation details had been released, Joseph Schons came forward. "They seen something at that game, at the parking lot," says Ted Weiher's sister-in-law. 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. 1971 Press Photo Yuba City, CA Reporters at J.L. The car was found several thousand feet up in an area above the snow line in a completely different direction. [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. 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. The driver had either used astonishing care and precision, the investigators figured, or else he knew the road well enough to anticipate every rut. Afterwards, they stopped at a local market for snacks and drinks. [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. When the game ended at the California State University at around 10 pm, they stopped three blocks away at Behr's Market, mildly annoying the clerk (who was trying to close up), and bought one Hostess cherry pie, one Langendorf lemon pie, one Snickers bar, one Marathon bar, two Pepsis and a quart and a half of milk. 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. Check out our sponsors! . 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 . ", "There was some force that made em go up there." As for getting a real answer in the case, we may never know unless someone talks or, maybe, Mathais is found. Melba Madruga, Jack's mother, toldTheWashington Post that she believed "some force" had led the group astray. But authorities would later realize the biggest story to emerge from that dark, desolate road wasn't his brush with death. Movie Info. One of the c-ration cans had been opened with an Army P38 can opener. The store owner corroborated her account. This could explain the strange story told by Joseph Schons where he said he saw flashlights around a car. On Friday, February 24th, the five men drove about 50 miles north from Yuba to Chico to attend a college basketball game. Madruga and the four other able-bodied men should have been able to dislodge it without a lot of difficulty. It sounds pretty normal right? In February 1978, five young men headed from their home in Yuba County, California to catch a college basketball game - and never came home. 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." 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. Despite finding evidence that Matthias was in the trailer with Weiher at some point, they never found Matthias. "Bizarre," says John Thompson, the special agent from the California Department of Justice who had joined the investigation. Her mother had been recently widowed and it's a fair question to ask how much one person can stand. 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. For months and months, they searched for signs of Matthias. They even seemed to be trying to conceal their presence since they momentarily shut off the flashlights they had been shining. 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. 10 Robert Ben Rhoades. Heavy forestry clothing, which could have kept the men warm, also remained where it had been stored. 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. The search teams nearly lost men themselves two days later, as their Snow-cats struggled through the drifts. Their names were Ted Weiher, Gary Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jack Huett, and Bill Sterling. Updated: 1:41 PM MST March 2, 2023. 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. Why didnt they attempt to move the car once it got stuck, instead of walking to nowhere in the middle of the night? "They wouldn't have fled off in the wood like a bunch of quail. All five piled back into the Mercury and took off. Johnny Arismendez, 32, and his uncle, Victor Arismendez, 57, both of Yuba City, were booked into the jail on Sunday. Also on the table was a gold watch, without its crystal, which Weiher's family said was not his,[2] and a partially melted candle. Directed by Tate Taylor and written by Amanda Idoko with Jake Gyllenhaal and Franklin Leonard among its producers, there was obviously something about Breaking News in Yuba County that snared all these great thesps - some gem on the page that became distorted in the journey to screen. In 1978, five young men disappeared after seeing a basketball game, never to be seen alive February 24, 1978. His car had gotten stuck in the snow, and pushing it out by himself brought it on. Mathias returned to his parents' home in Yuba City and began treatment at a local mental hospital. Jack had low I.Q. No one even covered the window they had smashed to get inside of the trailer. [5], Six hours later, lying in the car and experiencing severe pain, he saw headlights coming up behind him.