The mysterious story of the Yuba Five (9 photos)

Some cases are so full of twists and turns that they baffle the police and the public, leaving more questions than answers. One such unsolved mystery is the Yuba County Five.





How did five men driving home from a college basketball game end up going the wrong way and getting lost in the California mountain woods? Why did they walk away from their car in the snowy woods?



Yuba County

Why were only four men found, and what happened to the fifth? Nearly 50 years after their disappearance, the story of the Yuba County Five remains as confusing as it was in the 1970s.

The Yuba County Five





The Yuba County Five, from left to right: Mathias, Hewitt, Madruga, Weyer, Sterling

The Yuba County Five are five young men from Yuba, California who became friends while playing on a local basketball team for people with mental disabilities. The oldest of the "boys," as their parents called them, were Ted Weier, 32, who was described as "showing signs of autism," and Jack Madruga, 30, who was described as "a slow learner."

Bill Sterling was 29 and mentally retarded. Jackie Hewitt was 24, with unspecified physical and mental disabilities. The final member of the Yuba County Five was 25-year-old Gary Mathias.

Gary had served in the Army and had been a drug addict while stationed in West Germany. He was discharged from the Army after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Gary had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals, but at the time of this story he was being treated with antipsychotic medication and was said to be doing well.

The men lived at home with their parents, but were independent, and some worked. Jack Madruga was also an Army veteran, had a driver's license, and a beloved turquoise-and-white 1969 Mercury Montego.

On February 25, 1978, the Yuba County Five had a basketball game they were excited to play in. The winning team would get a free week-long trip to Los Angeles, and the boys were determined to win.

February 24, 1978



A 1969 Mercury Montego similar to Jack Madruga's car

On the evening of February 24, "the boys" drove north to Chico, California, to watch a basketball game between the University of California, Davis and Chico University. Madruga left, and the five from Yuba County were never seen alive again.

When the parents discovered that their sons had not returned home, they called the police. The officers immediately realized that something was wrong. The men were so engrossed in the game that they would not have missed it had nothing happened to them.

Police began searching the route the Yuba County Five would have taken back from Chico, but found no trace of them. That's when things took a strange and mysterious turn.



A road in the Plumas Forest in late January (2018)

A ranger with the Plumas National Forest told investigators that on February 25, he saw a Mercury Montego parked along a road in the forest. The ranger wasn't concerned because people in the area parked on the road while skiing. Knowing that Madruga drove a Mercury Montego, police went looking and found his car.

No one knew why the car was there in the first place. The forest was about 110 kilometers northeast of Chico, opposite where the boys needed to turn home. The car was stuck in a snowdrift, and it was clear that the friends were trying to pull it out.

However, the police believed that five men who were in good health could easily push it out of the snowdrift. There were no keys in the car. But it was in good condition and had gas.

The Montego was inspected, there were no dents or scratches on the chassis, although the terrain was difficult. Whoever drove the car into the forest was incredibly careful or knew the area well.

The search began. Unfortunately, due to snowstorms, it was called off after two days. But the police asked the population to provide any information about the missing five.

Melted Snow



The cabin contained food and a heat source that could have saved five Yuba County residents

In June, a group of bikers discovered a Forest Service trailer at a campsite 20 miles from where the abandoned Montego was found. Inside was the decomposing body of Weyer.

The body was wrapped in sheets on a bed, and his legs were frostbitten and gangrenous. Based on the length of his beard, the coroner was able to determine that Weyer had lived for 13 weeks after his last shave.

The cause of death was hypothermia and starvation. This was puzzling, as the cabin was stocked with matches, books for kindling, a butane gas cylinder for heating, and a forest ranger's warm clothes. Twelve empty Army cans were found on the floor, but there was an untouched pantry with enough dry goods to keep all five missing men alive for a year.

Weier's family told police he lacked common sense due to his disability, citing an instance where he had to be dragged out of bed when a house fire broke out. He stayed in bed because he was afraid he wouldn't make it to work on time if he got up.



However, there is evidence that the man was not alone in the trailer the entire time. Police believe that Weier was in the trailer with Mathias and possibly Hewitt. Mathias' boots were found in the trailer, and the cans of food that were eaten appeared to have been opened with a P-38 military can opener. Only Madruga or Mathias knew how to use one.

The police turned back and continued searching along the road that led from the Montego to the trailer. Soon, the remains of Madruga and Sterling were found. Autopsies confirmed that they died from hypothermia.

Authorities believe that one of the boys laid down to rest or sleep, a side effect of late-stage hypothermia, and the other apparently stayed with his friend until he too froze to death. Two days after Madruga and Sterling's remains were found, Hewitt's body was discovered.

His father stumbled upon his son's clothes. When he picked them up, his spine fell to the ground. Four of the Yuba County Five died tragically in the woods. The real mystery is that Matthias was never found.

It is known that he was in the trailer where he left his shoes, and it is assumed that he took Weyer's shoes, which would have better suited his frostbitten feet. But his remains were never found.

Theories



What makes this cold case so intriguing is that the reason and what exactly happened to the Yuba County Five is still a mystery. No one could figure out why the men were there.

One theory was that the friends may have been traveling to visit some friends of Matthias's in a nearby town. It was assumed that Madruga had taken a wrong turn and kept driving straight instead of turning. However, police found out that Matias' friends had not seen or heard from him for over a year.

However, Matias could have continued walking after Hewitt's death and ended up in a different location. Matias was resilient and could walk long distances.



In 2017, David Bruckner made a film called "The Ritual" based on the story of the Yuba County Five

With this in mind, police sent photos of Matias to the city hospital and nearby. But no one ever saw him. The theory put forward to explain the behavior was Matias' mental state. He was a paranoid schizophrenic and did not have his medications with him. Which could have caused hallucinations that could have led him to mislead his friends.

Madruga's mother told reporters, "Some force made them go up there. They wouldn't run off into the woods like quail. We know for sure that someone made them do it." While Wier's brother's wife said, "They saw something at that game, in the parking lot. They probably saw it and didn't even realize what they saw."

Matias' stepfather believed that the only reason the men in the trailer didn't start a fire was because they were afraid of being found. The case was best summed up by the then Yuba County Sheriff, who called it "pretty darn weird."