Going West: True Crime - Yuba County Five // 334

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

In February of 1978, a group of five men went missing in the lush wilderness of Northern California while on their way home from a college basketball game. After the snow melted in June, four of their bodies were recovered, scattered miles from their abandoned car. As for the fifth member of their group, he mysteriously vanished altogether. As their causes of death were revealed, police wondered what had driven the men into the forest in the first place, and why things unfolded the way they did. These are the stories of Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, and Jackie Huett, and Gary Mathias, also known, as the Yuba County Five. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Historic Mysteries: https://www.historicmysteries.com/yuba-county-five/ 2. Strange Outdoors: https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/tag/Ted+weiher+death 3. The Sacramento Bee: https://www.newspapers.com/image/620944080/?terms=yuba%20county%20five&match=1 4. All That's Interesting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/yuba-county-five 5. Autobiography: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B09PR565KY/ref=atv_dp_sign_suc_3P 6. Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/07/06/5-boys-who-never-come-back/f8b30b11-baeb-4351-89f3-26456a76a4fb/ 7. Jack's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74257245/jack-antone-madruga 8. Ted's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170496384/theodore-earl-weiher 9. Jackie's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154899123/jackie-c-huett 10. Oroville Mercury Register: https://www.newspapers.com/image/681872430/?terms=ted%20weiher%20obituary&match=1 11. Without A Trace: https://without-a-trace.com/2020/07/31/strange-stories-the-bizarre-case-of-the-yuba-city-five/2/ 12. The Human Exception: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/the-yuba-county-5-revisited/ 13. The Human Exception: https://www.thehumanexception.com/l/the-yuba-county-5/ 14. The Charley Project: https://charleyproject.org/case/gary-dale-mathias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going Less. Hello everybody. Today's case was recommended by CJ, Cassie, Judy, Kaylee, and Sarah. Thank you all. We also discussed this one briefly in episode 316 on the California Missing 5.

We got a lot of feedback from you guys that you wanted us to cover the whole story. And for good reason, because this story is just so perplexing. Yeah, it's definitely one of those cases that kind of almost has like a mystery to it. Oh, there's a huge mystery. A huge mystery, yeah, I should say that, but I've been wanting to cover this case for so long, so I'm so glad that you guys want to hear it

and that you guys recommended it. So let's do it. All right, guys, this is episode 334 of Going West, so let's get into it! In February of 1978, a group of five men went missing in the lush wilderness of Northern California while on their way home from a college basketball game. After the snow melted in June, four of their bodies were recovered, scattered miles from their abandoned car. As for the fifth member of their group, he mysteriously vanished altogether. As their causes of deaths were revealed, police wondered what had driven the men into the forest in the first place and why things

unfolded the way they did. These are the stories of Ted Weir, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Hewittet and Gary Matthias, also known as the Yuba County Five. On the evening of Friday, February 24, 1978, five friends were en route to a basketball game excited for what should have been a routine night out. All five men resided in Ubicity and Mary'sville in Northern California just north of Sacramento. They were headed up to Chico, California, which is about an hour away for a basketball game between Chico State University and the University of California Davis, the latter of which they were rooting for. Four of the men had slight developmental disabilities and the fifth was navigating a mental

health condition, but none of them let that deter them from living fulfilling lives. But sadly, the public didn't see it that way, like the way that they were presented in the media could definitely be considered quite derogatory, and although their conditions do have some bearing on the story, I mean,'re human beings and reportedly wonderful human beings who had some incredibly bizarre and tragic things happen to them as we're going to get into. The five friends originally met at a local vocational rehabilitation center called the Gateway Projects and all of them were passionate about sports, particularly basketball and played

together on the Gateway Projects basketball team called the Gateway Gators. and all of them were passionate about sports, particularly basketball, and played together on the Gateway Project's basketball team called the Gateway Gators. And they had become quite skilled as a team, and they took their competition very seriously. The group was affectionately referred to by their families as the boys, and so we're gonna call them the boys

even though they were young men, but they all had varying degrees of capability to care for themselves, but at the time, all five of them lived at home with their families. So let's talk about these fine gentlemen. So Theodore Weir, who went by Ted, is remembered for his kindness and openness with everyone whose path he crossed. One report called him, quote, friendly and a trusting child's way and said that he, quote, waved at strangers and brooded for hours if they did not wave back.

He held odd jobs on and off as a janitor and an attendant at a snack bar and some believed that he would now be considered to be on the autism spectrum. While he was friendly and sociable, his family worried that he lacked common sense that came naturally to others at his age. And he was also reportedly not skilled at managing his money, so his parents preferred for him to stay home with them instead of working. Though he was gregarious and inquisitive, his family remembers that he couldn't understand why cars needed to stop at a stop sign, and required an explanation beyond that it was just for the safety of others on the road.

And because of this, he was not permitted to drive. At the time of his disappearance, he was 32 years old, making him the oldest person in this group. Now, he was friends with all four of the other guys, but especially close to 24 year old Jackie Hewitt. Now Jackie was described by his family simply as slow and had unspecified physical and mental disabilities and he was believed to have an IQ of about 40. Now for reference, the average IQ score

in the United States is around 100. Jackie also apparently had severe anxiety around making phone calls, but luckily his good buddy Ted was there to step in and do the talking for him much of the time. And it was sweet because he was described as Ted's loving shadow. Jackie was shy and a homebody, but he loved to spend time with his tight circle of friends.

Again, especially Ted. 30-year-old Jack Madruga was the only one of the five who had never been formally diagnosed with a disability, but was described by his mom as bashful and a slow learner. After graduating from high school, Jack enlisted in the army, and upon his return to Ubasidii, he started working for the Sunsweet Growers Farm, which was based there. At the time of his disappearance, he had just been laid off, but more than anything, Jack was very passionate about cars, and his prized possession was a 1969 turquoise and white mercury Montego, which he had actually been driving the night that the men disappeared.

And he was reportedly so proud of his car that he wouldn't allow anyone else to drive it. Jack was especially close with William Sterling, who went by Bill. Now, 29-year-old Bill was deeply religious and loved to volunteer at the local hospital, mostly reading religious texts to patients. Bill struggled with a learning disability and was described as intellectually disabled, but he was remembered as being incredibly friendly and warm, but a bit of a hermit and he just loves staying close to home.

He was holding down a job as a dishwasher before he went missing, but according to his mom, this is going to piss all of us off. He was kind of like being taken advantage of by his co-workers and they would steal his money while he was, you know, like tending to his work duties, which is just beyond awful. So to keep him safe, his mom just asked him to resign from his position there because she just didn't want people to continue to mess with him and be as cruel as they were. That's just so messed up. I literally wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time and slap those co-workers

in the face. Yeah, like, God, I hate bullies. Like, why would somebody do that? Yeah, and especially to somebody that has learning disabilities, like, that's just, I mean, it's never okay, but it's especially not okay in this case. Absolutely. So 25-year-old Gary Matthias, who is the final member of the five, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

After graduating from high school, he, like Jack, enlisted in the army. And while stationed in Germany and struggling with his mental health, Gary started experimenting with drugs and drinking heavily. Now this addiction landed him in a psychiatric discharge and he was sent back to the United States where he was evaluated and then diagnosed with schizophrenia. So for the next three years, Gary spent time at intermittent inpatient psychiatric facilities

and according to Gary's stepfather, his brain quote went haywire during this time. In one case during a stint at a facility in Oregon, so not too far from his home in Northern California, Gary is said to have escaped and walked 500 miles, or 800 kilometers, back home to Ubasidii. Although this has never been confirmed, this story is always discussed in conjunction with Gary Matthias. Under the weight of his new diagnosis, he struggled with angry outbursts and was twice charged with assault.

That said, and the two years before he disappeared, he seemed like he was on a better path while under a doctor's care, and started taking stelazine and cogentin. So after regulating his symptoms with medication, he was able to live without incident, and Gary was regarded as the most responsible of his group of friends, and therefore he became like basically the de facto leader here. On the evening of February 24th 1978, the men headed north to Chico State University, which was a journey that would take just about an hour, like Daphne said. Ted's grandma remember telling him that she thought that he should bring a coat, but Ted respectfully declined telling her that he wouldn't need it because even though it

was winter, it was California, and it wasn't going to get too cold where they were going. So around 6.30 pm, the five of them set out in Jack's Mercury Montego, as Jack always was the driver of the group. Now hours later, they left Chico State University around 10 pm, and they were in very good spirits after a win for their team. They then drove to a nearby grocery store called Bears Market, situated just three blocks away. And reportedly, I guess this cashier was annoyed as he was trying to close up the shop for the night and didn't really want to help any more customers.

But still, the men purchased a hostess brand Cherry Pie, a Lengendorf brand lemon pie, one Snickers bar, one marathon bar, two bottles of Pepsi, and a quarter and a half of milk. It's a good time if you ask me. Sounds like a great time. So they were just ready to enjoy some yummy late-night treats on the drive home to celebrate. And that is where the mystery begins. Inexplicably, the boys drove about 60 miles or 90 kilometers into the woods, passing their turnoff for their homes in Ubasiti and Mary'sville and landing them in Plumas National Forest, which is in the mountains near the border of Nevada. This journey would have taken them at least an hour and 15 minutes, so just over what

it would have taken to get home. But they were nowhere near home. And it's weird because to get home to Ubicity from Chico, even in 1978, they would have needed to take major highways home. But to get to this national forest, almost half of their drive would have been on a forested highway. So a very different landscape and visible difference from the road that they had taken up to Chico on the way there and in a totally different direction. And I'm going to put a map on our socials if anybody wants a visual of that.

Yeah, I mean, that's one of the strangest things that it was in the complete opposite direction. Yeah, and this is, like you said, where the mystery begins. This is the first weird thing is, why did they go this way? So meanwhile, their family is waited anxiously for them to return home after the game. But none of the boys were known to venture off on their own at all, and they all had a basketball game the next morning with their adult league, again, the Gateway Gators, that they never would have missed. So when they didn't come home on time,

it was very confusing. Like, they had been preparing for the game for weeks, and they were even in the running to qualify for an all-expenses pay trip to Los Angeles if they won this tournament that the game was part of. And as we've made clear, they absolutely loved basketball, and they were extremely excited to play this game. Like, one of the boys even laid out his uniform

before heading to the Chico State game, and he told his mom, quote to the Chico State game and he told his mom, quote, we got a big game Saturday. Don't you let me over sleep. It's just really sweet that he said that. I know. They were so excited. So when, you know, they didn't come home, their family just knew that they would not

miss their game on purpose. So they were just baffled and completely concerned right away. The following morning, so more than 12 hours after they had departed for the basketball game in Chico, Jack's mom called the police to report her son missing. But because he was an adult, they encouraged her to wait another 24 hours, suggesting that he had taken off for the evening of his own volition and that he would be back later that day. You guys know the drill, but their parents knew better. Around 5 o'clock that morning, Ted's mom had woken up to check that he had gotten home

okay, but she found his bed empty. So she called Bill's mom who said that she had been up all night waiting for Bill to return and that she hadn't heard a word from him. Bill's mother had already called Jack's mom by this time and Ted's mom spoke with both Jackie's mom and Gary's stepfather and no one heard from their sons. By 8 p.m. that evening, they convinced the police to take missing persons reports for their sons, just knowing that something was very wrong here.

But let's move back into the woods for a moment. So a local forest ranger named Willard Burse came upon an empty Mercury Montego on the side of a snowy road in the plumeous National Forest. Assuming that it was a hiker or skier who had left it there for the day and was coming back for it, he didn't think twice originally. But on February 28th, so four days after the men disappeared and three days after Willer discovered the car, he saw the report of the missing five on the news and realized that the Mercury Montego may be connected to this case.

Now the car was found on the side of an unpaved road near Rogers Cow Camp, which is a camp ground in a remote part of the Plumas National Forest at an elevation of over 4,500 feet. The camp ground was closed in the winter but was known to have visitors engaging in cross-country skiing, hiking and snowshoeing despite the harsh weather. However, it was not common for cars to sit there overnight, so Willard reported his discovery to the police, who came to check out the car immediately. And when they did, it was positively identified as Jack's car. They processed the car for fingerprints and blood, but no evidence of foul play was found.

One of the rear windows had been left open, and the remnants of the snacks from Bear's Market were still inside. Everything had been consumed except for half of the marathon bar, which is a now discontinued chocolate caramel candy bar. So inside the glove box were multiple maps, including a map of the United States, and also a map of California,

because remember, it is 1978, so no GPS here. multiple maps, including a map of the United States, and also a map of California, because remember, it is 1978, so no GPS here. The car was in a snow drift, or a large mound of snow, but it could have been easily freed with the five men working at it. The keys to the car were missing, but police were able to hotwire it to get it started, and with this, they uncovered that it worked perfectly fine, and even still had a quarter-tink of gas in it. So why they stopped and where they went was an immediate mystery. Dressing for the mild temperatures of a Northern California winter, none of the boys were equipped with any clothing to withstand the freezing temperatures of the mountains. And like I had mentioned before, they didn't even bring any coats

because they were only going to be sitting inside of a basketball game and then sitting inside of a car for an hour drive. Strangely, police observed that the undercarriage of the car was in pristine condition, which is a feat that would have been nearly impossible to accomplish given the rocky snowy terrain and the Pothole-Laden dirt road that they would have driven on to get to the spot where the car

was parked. There were no dents, scratches or mud, even though the muffler had been loaded the ground and there were five grown men in the car. But Jack's parents say that he cared so much for that car, that he had likely made great efforts not to damage it. His parents also maintain that he wouldn't have let anyone else drive the car. According to the Washington Post report of the discovery, quote, astonishing care and precision the investigators figured, or else he knew the road well enough to anticipate every rut. But his family said that Jack hated camping and hated being out in the cold, and that

he was completely unfamiliar with that area. So he would not have known to, you know, anticipate every rut, as they say. Sure. According to their families, none of them knew that region, and most didn't care to be away from home, especially in such harsh conditions, like there would be no reason for it. So why did they go up there and where did they end up?

Police canvassed the immediate vicinity, expanding gradually, but when they found no sign of them, investigators called off the search a month later on March 30, 1978, pending new information. With the snow, the cold weather, and the inaccessible wilderness, there was very little that the police could do to continue their efforts at that time, and they were just so stumped that they even consulted psychics. One claim that the boys had been abducted and taken to either Arizona or Nevada, and another claim that they were murdered in Auraville, California, which is about an hour southwest of where they abandoned their car.

According to that psychic, the boys were murdered inside a two-story red-colored house with a gravel driveway, but nothing ever came of these claims and you're going to see why. On the day that their car was searched, the area got 9 inches of snow, so even with snowmobiles, please really struggle to turn up any sign of the missing men. And it would take months before new information came in. But in the late spring of 1978, another discovery was made.

This one far more shocking and horrifying than the last. On Sunday, June 4, 1978, a group of motorcyclists out for a ride stumbled upon a forest service trailer near the Daniel Zink campground. Noticing a shattered window, they got closer to inspect the damage, but inside on a bunk bed. They found the remains of an adult man. It was Ted Weir. Before that quick break, definitely was telling us that months after the boys went missing, in June of 1978. Some motorcyclists came across a trailer near a campground in Pulumus National Forest, and inside was the body of Ted Weir. The trailer that housed Ted's body was thick with the

smell of decomposition. He had been left on the bottom bunk of two bunk beds and his body had been wrapped tightly in eight sheets as if he were some sort of mummy. Now in an autopsy performed the next day, the medical examiner determined that his cause of death was starvation and hypothermia. But shockingly, he had been alive for months before his body was discovered. On the evening that the men disappeared, Ted had no facial hair. But judging by the amount of outgrowth in his beard, he had been alive for between 8 to 13 weeks after his disappearance, meaning that

he may have died just shortly before he was discovered. That's just crazy. Such a wild fact. And just really sad to realize that, that he was there while his parents and all the other parents were searching, just tirelessly in that area and he was right there alive. Well, that also meant that as investigators combed the area for any clues, he was actually alive, waiting to be found in a nearby trailer. So, Ted had lost about a hundred pounds since he disappeared,

and he had gang green and his feet were badly frostbitten, but his shoes were nowhere to be found. I mean, that's crazy too, just knowing within that time, he's just alive and losing a hundred pounds from starvation. Like, that's horrible to think about. Yeah, exactly. And instead of his shoes being found, instead it was actually Gary's that had been left in their place.

But the most curious detail found at the trailer, was that it was fully stocked for residents. Though Tetted clearly been freezing, there was a broken window that he didn't attempt to fix. And inside the trailer were matches, firewood, butane, propane tanks for heating, and even clothing for extreme winter. Just so bizarre.

But despite those supplies, it appeared that he had never lit a fire. One investigating officer, Yuba County Lieutenant Lance Ayers, had actually gone to high school at Ted, and he took a special interest in finding the boys when they disappeared. But the authorities were stumped as to why none of the resources in the trailer had been used. Lance said, quote, no one had touched the propane tank in another shed outside either. All they had to do was turn that gas on and they'd have gas to the trailer

and heat. Well, here's another really bizarre detail. So although Ted had starved to death, there was a pantry fully stocked with food. In fact, there was enough food to have kept all five men alive for a year. Oh my god. But only 12 cans of food had been emptied and they were discarded on the floor, whereas all this other food was just like in in the cabinets just right there. And again, if they had been there for weeks, you would imagine they would have found it, you know, it's just the whole thing is just so weird. Or they would have eaten more, you know, it's just, the whole thing is just so weird. Or they would have eaten more, you know, throughout that time.

So upon the discovery of Ted's body, investigators set off to find the rest of the men wondering if at one time they'd all been in the trailer together. Ted's frostbitten feet may have been the result of trying to seek help or looking for the other men, but it's also possible that Gary had gone out to get help and had maybe like swapped out, choose because Ted's were bigger and Gary's feet had swollen from frostbite. They believed that this pointed to the conclusion that at the very least, Ted and Gary had both made it to the trailer, but if only they did, how did they get separated from the others and why did they exit Jack's car in the first place?

The broken window of the trailer had also been too small for Ted Weir to climb through, so someone else must have let him in. But with no sign of the other boys, it was really hard to figure out exactly who had been in the trailer and what happened. So investigators fanned out from the trailer, which was as many as 20 miles or 32 kilometers from where the car had been found. Um, sources vary on this, but the, the most we found said 20 miles. And if it was 20 miles, that means that it would have taken them at least 10 hours on foot to reach this area.

Yeah, that's a long walk, especially in the snow. Absolutely. And without the proper clothes. So the distance between where their car was abandoned and the Daniel Zink campground, which is near where the trailer was situated, is 11 miles or 17 kilometers via the access road. However, it's likely that they did not walk along the road together and took a longer way through the woods because they probably didn't know where they were or where the road would have been.

The day after Ted's remains were confirmed to belong to him. The remains of two more men were found. On Tuesday, June 6, 1978, the bodies of Jack Madruga and Bill Sterling were recovered. Now the two were found very near to each other on opposite sides of a dirt canyon road, just a few miles from where the car had been abandoned. Jack's remains had been greatly diminished by animals and he lay face up near a stream of water, still clutching his watch in his right hand. Bill was nearby and only his bones remained. And like the precise location of the trailer,

the distance between the bodies and the car has been widely disputed with sources stating that Jack and Bill had walked anywhere between two and eleven miles from the location of the car to their final resting places. So it's hard to speculate on this because for some reason there is like just are so many inconsistencies with the distance. So they were found to have died also from hypothermia and police believe that neither of them ever made it to the trailer. It's likely that one of the men laid down to go to sleep, feeling tired as a side effect of the hypothermia. And because Jack and Bill were so close, it's possible that the other laid down near them, just in an effort to not leave them alone, and then wound up freezing to death as well.

On June 7, the remains of the fourth member of their group was found. The families of the five men were in the area canvassing alongside the police, and while Jackie Hewitt's father was searching the area, he came across an item of Jackie's clothing. And when he picked it up, a piece of Jackie's backbone fell to the ground. He was in the vicinity of the trailer, but not inside, so he was much closer to Ted and where Gary would have been, but Gary were going to talk about next. So just northwest of the trailer, searchers recovered a rusty flashlight and three forest service blankets. But there's no guarantee that these items were connected to the disappearance of the men, but this was found as well.

So as Daphne mentioned, we're now going to talk about Gary. So Gary was actually still nowhere to be found, which is just one more confounding piece of this crazy puzzle. But with no sign of him, investigators from three counties called off searches, pending more information that they hoped would come in with a tip. Now strangely though there have been many tips and even potential sightings, Gary Matthias has never been found. So what really happened in the mountains that winter night?

One, I witness believes that they were the last person to see the men alive. A man named Joseph Shawns came forward to the police to tell them that he was with them and the night that they went missing. So Joseph claimed that on the evening of Friday, February 24th, the night that the boys were last seen, he was headed up to the mountains to see how bad the snow conditions were that

night, just hoping to bring his wife and daughter up there for the weekend. He told the police that he owned a cabin in the Pulumis National Forest, though that has been disputed for years. And many people have poked holes in various parts of his story, including his claim of property ownership. But anyway, when Joseph reached the snowline that evening around the same time that the men had left for the basketball game, his Volkswagen Beetle became stuck. And as he tried to free himself from the snow, he suffered a mild heart attack. So alone now and on the mountain by himself and with the cold of the night

and crouching, he retired to his car to stay warm and wait for help. And as he drifted in and out of sleep, he claims that he saw flashlights and multiple men surrounding a car parked just ahead of him. He called out for help but remembered that as soon as he did, the flashlights were turned off and the men either fled the area or went back inside their car. But police have questioned this, because there was no evidence that the boys had flashlights with them that evening, let alone multiple flashlights. Joseph also claims that he saw a red truck pull up and watched as a group of men and a woman with a baby walked by, and he again called out for help but said that he saw a red truck pull up and watched as a group of men and a woman with a baby walked by.

And he again called out for help but said that he was ignored. Then when it started to get light out, he climbed out of the car, which was out of gas by then. But everyone who had been there that previous night was gone. The only sign of them being Jack's white intercoys Mercury Montego, which was parked just ahead of Joseph on the road. He proceeded to walk about 8 miles or 12 kilometers to seek help. Now doctors confirmed that he did in fact suffer a cardiac event, but police could not

confirm his account of the evening that the men disappeared. It's possible that in Joseph's heightened state, he imagined or possibly exaggerated what he saw that evening, but there's been a lot of discourse surrounding whether or not Joseph is a reliable witness. A neighbor of his claimed that he was constantly drinking, weaving tall tales, and doling out what the neighbor described as bad advice. But the question everyone had was why the boys went to the mountains in the first place. Many don't believe it's possible that this was an accident because they had driven so far

into the forest and the road where the car was eventually found on had been snow covered and unpaved. But with the car in perfect working order, why hadn't they turned around? And if they had been lost, why hadn't they consulted the maps that they had with them? The families maintained that, while the actual deaths of the men may have been accidental, the reason they went to the mountains was intentional, and it was to get away from something or some one. Gary's stepfather said, quote, I can't understand why Gary would have been that scared.

All those paperbacks and they didn't even build a lousy fire. I can't understand why they didn't do that unless they were afraid. Bill's sister echoed, quote, someone made them go up that road. Bill didn't like the snow. They knew that it was cold up there. Jack wouldn't have driven his car up there because he likes it too much. Despite their eventual fate, countless sightings and tips of the men poured in. They were supposedly spotted in Tampa, California, Ontario, California, and at a movie theater in Sacramento, California, accompanied by an older man. But as we know, they died in those woods. But three of the most credible sightings made little sense in the timeline of their debts,

but made for popular theories. So in March of 1978, shortly after the men disappeared, but before they were found, a local Yuba County woman named Debbie Lynn Reese claimed that she received multiple calls from their killer. In the first one, the killer reportedly said, quote, I know where the five missing men are. But before she could ask him more questions, the guy hung up. Later, she received a call in which the man said, quote, I need help because I hurt those guys real bad. When Debbie asks who he hurt, he said, quote, I need help because I hurt those guys real bad. When Debbie asks who we hurt, he said, quote,

don't play dumb with me. And again, hung up. He called back a third time and told her that all five men were dead. She responded, they're all dead, to which he said, they're all dead. And then hung up. Debbie reported this, but police never found out who called her and why. which he said they're all dead and then hung up. Debbie reported this, but police never found out who called her and why. And I just wonder why, like, why this random woman in the area, and just the lack of details

makes it hard to believe this guy really knew anything, like he was probably just some asshole. Like, what's the point of calling a random woman who's not connected to the five men and also is a possible that she's just making up this story for cloud because how are they supposed to check and and make sure that this is actually credible. Yeah, I think if there she is or he is because why would this guy be calling her and also if it would be different if they were all found to be murdered or if he had given more specific details before they were found, that connected to what was actually at the scene, but like, the none of this connects.

Well, another sighting of the man actually tied in with Joseph Shaw's report of seeing a red pickup truck. A man who worked at a convenience store in Brownsville, which is about an hour south of where the men disappeared, claims that he saw them before four of the men were recovered deceased. They pulled up in a red pickup truck, and someone who looked like Jackie Hewitt hopped out and made a phone call at the store's pay phone. The men then retreated to the truck and then after this they just left. But why would they have gone back to their trailer and died after being so close to help in civilization? It just didn't make any sense.

Now another sighting came after four out of the five men had been found deceased, and this was Jack Madruga's niece Kathy, went out for dinner at a local Yuba County restaurant and swore that she spotted Gary Matthias at the bar, who at the time was the only one who hadn't been found, and still has not been found to this day. So alarmed she ran to use the restaurant's phone to call the police, but by the time they arrived this mysterious man, or this, you know, mysterious Gary, was gone. And there's been plenty of discourse and conjecture, but zero confirmed sightings of Gary. The internet is rife with theories about where Gary could have gone and what may have happened to land the boys and the mountains in the first place.

And one theory is that the boys set out with the goal of proving to their friends, their family, and their community that they could live on their own. Which just doesn't make sense to me like like they just got some dessert from the store they were excited they're ready for their game the next day like why would they pick that time to go off and do this like I don't see that happening but also the fact that they it didn't seem like they were trying to live on their own they didn't light any fires they hate any of the food that was in the pantry so I kind of think this theory is bullshit and I don't think they would have died to prove a

point well another is that they had gotten turned around making a stop on their way home because Gary had friends in Forbes town California which is in between Chico and Ubicity the road that they would have taken to visit these friends is so inconspicuous that it's possible that Gary encouraged the group to stop by to visit these friends, but then they took a wrong turn and that's how they wound up in the forest instead. And some have posited that Ted, who was kind and very gentle, felt so guilty for stealing the food from inside the trailer, that he would starve to death before he took food from the forest service. I really hope that's not the case.

Similar to the notorious cluster of missing persons cases in NorCal's Humboldt County, known as the Humboldt County Missing 5, which we did cover in episode 220, some think that the men ran into a drug smuggling operation and then they were killed to keep them quiet. But this seems also pretty unlikely given that they vanished during a snowy winter night and they were also found to have died of natural causes and not homicide, at least as far as we know. Now some people point the finger at Gary himself. Now because he was the only one who was not intellectually disabled, some feel that he

may have had more information than he was sharing with his friends. And he also relied on medication to treat his schizophrenia, and left in the wilderness without it, he may have been suffering delusions that caused him to pray on the rest of the group. But this is just what some people are, you know, just kind of throwing around since he's never been found, but for all we know, he is as much as a victim as the rest of them and doesn't deserve to be speculated on. But because of the rumor that he had walked

about 500 miles or 800 kilometers from Oregon, after he was fleeing from that psychiatric hospital there, many people believe that he did the same that winter, walking off into the forest alone and leaving his remaining friends to die. Some feel that because his father and sister did take their own lives from mental health issues later, it meant that they were concealing a secret for Gary and that the guilt had like become unbearable and that was the reason, but actually a few members of the boy's

families agree with this possibility. So apparently unsolved mysteries attempted to center an episode on the Yuba County 5, and Gary's family were the only ones who refused to participate. So obviously, the other families found this very suspicious. Ted's brother, Dallas, stated, quote, no one pulled a trigger on the boys, but something or some one killed them. He claimed that he believed that Gary set up his friends knowing that they would die out there,

although the motive for this is unclear. But they couldn't understand why the family wouldn't participate in the show if it would garner interest and possibly answers. Dallas said, quote, that's just suspicious. I'm not saying they knew, but well, you can probably guess what I think. However, again, just like he said, it is just as possible that Gary, like the others, was also a victim of the severe weather conditions that evening, and that they just haven't found him yet.

The one thing the families can agree on, however, is that the men were threatened, scared off, or even chased by someone, and that it caused them to knowingly drive over an hour in the wrong direction, and directly into treacherous winter terrain. And it's thought that this could be because they were looked down upon by some members of their community and not honored as the individuals that they were, which is so awful and it could go along with what I mentioned earlier about Bill Sterling's mom you know wanting him to quit his dishwasher job because of his co-workers and how they were stealing money from him and really taking advantage of him.

So for all we know, they encountered someone at the market in Chico and were being followed or something. It would have been a long drive just to follow them or mess with them, but to me, it holds weight that the very people who actually knew these young men very well, their own families, feel deeply that the circumstances of their deaths do not make any sense and believe that they were being targeted or threatened by someone.

And it's also possible that maybe they had cut somebody off on the road, or maybe this was a traffic situation, and that that's how they were followed, and maybe they were thinking we just need to get away from this person as fast as we can, got turned around, went the opposite direction, and that's how they ended followed and maybe they were thinking we just need to like get away from this person as fast as we can got turned around went the you know the opposite direction and that's how they ended up there I mean I mean who really knows there's so many possibilities and you really could speculate for hours or days talking about this case yeah I mean there are some horrible people out there and again just the fact that all like everybody across

the family believe that like they know them, they know what their personalities are like, they know what they're capable of, what they're not capable of. So the fact that all these details don't make any sense to them, like it's not like they're saying, oh yeah, you know, maybe they just drove out there and they got lost. Like nobody is saying that. They're all saying, this is not right. Like they're, they know better than this. And none of this is connecting. Like somebody, somebody has to be involved like that.

That to me just again, it just holds a lot of weight. Well, and to talk a little bit more about how the boys were kind of perceived in the public. Well, in 1975, almost exactly three years before the boys vanished, Gateway projects where the five met and played basketball was vandalized, and a hateful act of arson to alert the community that the disabled were not welcome there. Have you, what do you mean?

What in the fuck? Why would some, oh my god, I just, I can't, I can't with people like this. Everything that you're about to talk about is so, ugh. Yeah, well, and then, you know, in February, the Gateway Project's building was burned to the ground by an arsonist, and everything inside was completely lost like everything burned. That same year, in a singlet, hurled a Molotov cocktail

through the window. Also, the center was issued bomb threats and cars were set ablaze. In April of that year, the Gateway Program Director was murdered after someone tossed flammable liquid on him and set him on fire. So sad. What is wrong with these people? I truly don't understand. So it's safe and very sad to say that they were not necessarily welcomed in their own community. One police sergeant announced to the media quote,

apparently someone really has it in for Gateway projects for some reason or another. Aside from that, we don't have much else. We have to assume that the attacks are all related because they were all associated with Gateway. Ah, it's just so sad. So Jack's mother said, quote, there was some force that made them go up there. They wouldn't have fled off in the woods like a bunch of quail. We know good and well that somebody made them do it. We can't visualize someone getting the upper hand on those five men, but we know it must have been.

Sadly, there have been no developments in the case of the Yuba County 5 in the 45 years since it happened, but if you have any information about the deaths of Ted Weir, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, and Jackie Hewitt, or the whereabouts of Gary Matthias, please contact the UBA County Sheriff's Department at 530-749-7777. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. I just, this case is so complicated because it doesn't make sense to me why they would go that way anyway, why they would go that way.

Anyway, why they would get out of the car in the first place? Why the car was still filled with gas? As we know, the window was down, so like why was the car window down? You know, why did they walk so far into the woods where they were running from something, where they confused us to where they were? Like, why not just stay in the car and turn around? Like, that's why I really think that somebody else is involved because it doesn't make any sense

that all of their heads put together that they wouldn't kind of team up and think about, you know, how to turn around, how to fix this situation, but that they all just ran separately, like, why? Like, why? I think that's the most interesting thing to me is the fact that they didn't stay together in a group.

Like, there were, you know, people were going off in groups in different, different ways, different directions. And then where is Gary? Like, none of it makes sense. And these poor families have no answers as to what happened to their boys and why. Like, there are so many questions in this case. So please make sure that you share

enough time is passed. Hopefully answers will come soon. But thank you guys so much for listening. Yeah, and also thank you guys for recommending this one because I know a lot of you guys have in the past and after we did that episode and you guys had suggested it that we cover the full story, we were just really excited to do it. Yeah, so, so glad. So thank you guys so much. We will see you next week. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5%

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