Yuba County Five

[Oculus]

I'm trying to figure out their route that night. Is it a correct assumption that they would have to actually drive through central Oroville in order to get to the Oroville-Quincy road?

 

[dotr]

March 2024

Amazon.ca

''Things Aren’t Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five explores the bizarre and tragic 1978 disappearance of Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Huett, and Gary Mathias in the Plumas

Four jurisdictions of law enforcement would investigate and search for the missing men. Psychics were brought in, and there were strange reports of sightings of the five from numerous people. One witness came forward with an incredible story of seeing the men disappear into the forest that night. Yet every lead came to a dead end. About four months after they vanished, four of the five men’s remains were found some 12 miles from the car, with one discovered in a US Forest Service trailer with plenty of food and fuel to keep them alive for months.

Once described as ‘Bizarre as hell’, the case of the Yuba County Five has baffled law enforcement and the families of the missing men for over 45 years. Tony Wright has meticulously researched this case, earning himself the reputation of being one of the foremost authorities on the subject, and his conclusions are likely as close as anyone will come to making sense of this tragedy.''

 

[Oculus]

March 2024

Amazon.ca

View attachment 494185

Just listening to the interview with the author on the The Missing Enigma podcast. Seems very knowledgeable.

 

[Chimera]

I haven't seen a thread for this but it's a very strange case. To summarize a man in was in his car that was broken down and witnessed a car being followed by a pickup truck. After awhile the man realized no help was coming and began walking back to a store he had passed and came up to the car he had seen earlier. The car was completely abandoned so he kept on walking. Months later four of the five bodies were found but no one has ever figured out why they left their car and what caused them to wander so far away. There is more to the story at the link I have posted below.

'Bizarre as Hell': The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five

Thanks for starting this thread, and for the map, @ColyH !
I'm familiar with it.
Not sure if there was foul play, but maybe more like the perfect storm of bad choices that night ?
There are podcasts that have covered the men's case.
I may check out the book by Tony Wright.
Omo.

 

[Oculus]

Trying to establish more precisely where the car was found.. Since there's good coverage by Google Streetview on the road in question, I found a few spots. This one for example:

Google Maps Link

Since there seems to be rocks on the right hand side of the car, I'm looking for places around the area with similar rocks on the eastern side of the road.

 

[ColyH]

The Netflix show Files of the Unexplained has an episode of this mystery that you can watch right now.

 

[ColyH]

Just finished the episode of Files of the Unexplained and a couple of things I took away from it.

• Jack Madruga's niece said that a year after the boys were found dead she was sitting at a bar and noticed Gary Mathias sitting at the other end of the bar when Gary noticed her he got up and left. The sheriff was called but he was never found.
• Joseph Shones isn't mentioned even though he may have been the last person to see them alive.
• Jack Huett's brother believes a town bully had it out for Gary Mathias and that night tracked him down and killed him and then forced the four other boys up the road.
• Jack Huett's father knew the trailers were there and asked the search party to check them but was told there is no way the four boys could have made it that far.
• Bill Sterling's family did not participate in the documentary.
• The four boys were scared of Gary Mathias and didn't want him to go to the game with them. Gary's family said he had been taken his medication and there had been no problems the past two years but the other four being scared of him may mean he wasn't taken his medication like some claim.

 

[SophieRose]

Families plead for answers in the mystery of the Yuba County Five almost 50 years later

Five men vanished without a trace after a basketball game. Four of them were later found dead and the fifth was never found. What happened to the Yuba County Five?

www.abc10.com

 

[Palisades]

Just finished the episode of Files of the Unexplained and a couple of things I took away from it.

• Jack Madruga's niece said that a year after the boys were found dead she was sitting at a bar and noticed Gary Mathias sitting at the other end of the bar when Gary noticed her he got up and left. The sheriff was called but he was never found.

I question the validity of a bar siting. Alcohol, plus how well did this neice know Gary Mathias to identify him?

• Jack Huett's brother believes a town bully had it out for Gary Mathias and that night tracked him down and killed him and then forced the four other boys up the road.

The game they attended was 50 miles from their home, the location they were found was approximate the same, but to the east of the game. So a grown adult bully tracked them all the way there?

• Jack Huett's father knew the trailers were there and asked the search party to check them but was told there is no way the four boys could have made it that far.

I could believe this - I feel like searchers can underestimate the distance missing people can travel. The snow was also high at the time, and I believe snowmobiles or snow cats got stuck or lost at a point during the early search.

• The four boys were scared of Gary Mathias and didn't want him to go to the game with them. Gary's family said he had been taken his medication and there had been no problems the past two years but the other four being scared of him may mean he wasn't taken his medication like some claim.

Weren't they all friends with shared interest in sports?