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.

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CASE SOURCES1. Historic Mysteries: https://www.historicmysteries.com/yuba-county-five/2. Strange Outdoors: https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/tag/Ted+weiher+death3. The Sacramento Bee: https://www.newspapers.com/image/620944080/?terms=yuba%20county%20five&match=14. All That's Interesting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/yuba-county-five5. Autobiography: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B09PR565KY/ref=atv_dp_sign_suc_3P6. 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-madruga8. Ted's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170496384/theodore-earl-weiher9. Jackie's Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154899123/jackie-c-huett10. Oroville Mercury Register: https://www.newspapers.com/image/681872430/?terms=ted%20weiher%20obituary&match=111. 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-mathiasLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices