0:01

What is going on true crime

0:04

fans?

0:14

I'm your

0:16

host Heath and I'm your host Daphne and

0:18

you're listening to Going Less. Hello

0:21

everybody. Today's case was recommended

0:24

by CJ, Cassie, Judy,

0:26

Kaylee and Sarah. Thank

0:29

you all. We discussed this one briefly in

0:31

episode 316 on the

0:33

California Missing Five and we got a lot

0:35

of feedback from you guys that you wanted us to cover the

0:37

whole story and for good reason

0:40

because this story is just so

0:42

perplexing.

0:43

Yeah, it's definitely one of those cases

0:46

that kind of almost

0:47

has like a mystery to it. Oh,

0:50

there's a huge mystery. Huge mystery. Yeah,

0:52

I should say that. But I've been wanting to cover this case for

0:55

so long, so I'm so glad that you guys want to hear

0:57

it and that you guys recommended it. So let's

0:59

do it. All right, guys, this is episode 334

1:01

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3:07

In February

3:07

of 1978 a

3:10

group of five men went missing in

3:12

the lush wilderness of Northern California

3:15

while on their way home from a college basketball

3:17

game.

3:20

After the snow melted in June four

3:23

of their bodies were recovered scattered

3:26

miles from their abandoned car.

3:29

As for the fifth member of their group he

3:32

mysteriously vanished altogether.

3:36

As their causes of deaths were revealed

3:38

police wondered what had driven the

3:40

men into the forest in the first

3:43

place and why things

3:45

unfolded the way they did. These

3:51

are the stories of Ted Weir,

3:54

Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling,

3:57

Jackie Hewitt and Gary Mathias.

4:01

Also known as the Yuba

4:03

County Five.

4:26

On the evening of Friday, February

4:28

24th, 1978, five friends were en route to a basketball game

4:34

excited for what should have been a routine

4:37

night out. All five

4:39

men resided in Yuba City and

4:41

Marysville in Northern California,

4:43

just north of Sacramento. They

4:46

were headed up to Chico, California, which

4:48

is about an hour away for a basketball

4:50

game between Chico State University and

4:53

the University of California Davis,

4:55

the latter of which they were rooting for. Four

4:59

of the men had slight developmental disabilities

5:01

and the fifth was navigating a mental health condition

5:04

but none of them let that deter

5:06

them from living fulfilling lives. But

5:08

sadly, the public didn't see it that way.

5:11

The way they were presented in the media could definitely

5:13

be considered quite derogatory.

5:17

Although their conditions do have some bearing

5:19

on the story, they're human beings

5:22

and reportedly wonderful human beings

5:24

who had some incredibly bizarre and tragic

5:26

things happen to them, as we're going to

5:28

get into. The five friends

5:31

originally met at a local vocational

5:34

rehabilitation center called the Gateway

5:36

Projects and all of them were passionate

5:38

about sports, particularly basketball,

5:41

and played together on the Gateway Projects

5:43

basketball team called the Gateway Gators.

5:46

And they had become quite skilled as a

5:48

team and they took their competition very

5:51

seriously.

5:52

The group was affectionately referred to

5:54

by their families as the boys. And

5:57

so we're going to call them the boys, even though they were young men.

5:59

They all had varying degrees of

6:02

capability to care for themselves, but

6:04

at the time, all five of them lived

6:06

at home with their families.

6:08

So let's talk about these fine gentlemen.

6:11

So Theodore Weir, who went by Ted,

6:14

is remembered for his kindness and openness

6:16

with everyone whose path he crossed.

6:19

One report called him, quote, friendly

6:22

and a trusting child's way, and

6:24

said that he, quote, waved at strangers and

6:26

brooded for hours if they did not wave

6:28

back. He held odd jobs

6:31

on and off as a janitor and an attendant

6:33

at a snack bar, and some believed that

6:35

he would now be considered to be on the autism

6:38

spectrum.

6:39

While he was friendly and sociable, his

6:41

family worried that he lacked common sense

6:43

that came naturally to others at his age.

6:46

And he was also reportedly not skilled

6:48

at managing his money, so his parents preferred

6:50

for him to stay home with them instead

6:52

of working. Though he was gregarious

6:55

and inquisitive, his family remembers that

6:57

he couldn't understand why cars needed to stop

6:59

at a stop sign and required an explanation

7:02

beyond that it was just for the safety of others

7:04

on the road.

7:06

And because of this, he was not permitted

7:08

to drive.

7:10

At the time of his disappearance, he

7:12

was 32 years old, making him the

7:14

oldest person in this group. Now,

7:17

he was friends with all four of the other guys,

7:19

but especially close to 24-year-old

7:22

Jackie Hewitt.

7:23

Now, Jackie was described by his family

7:26

simply as slow and had

7:28

unspecified physical and mental disabilities,

7:31

and he was believed to have an IQ of about 40.

7:34

Now, for reference, the average IQ score in

7:36

the United States is around 100. Jackie

7:39

also apparently had severe anxiety

7:42

around making phone calls, but luckily

7:44

his good buddy Ted was there to step in

7:46

and do the talking for him much of the time.

7:49

And it was sweet, because he was described as Ted's

7:51

loving shadow. Jackie

7:54

was shy and a homebody, but he

7:56

loved to spend time with his tight circle of

7:58

friends. Again, especially

8:00

Ted. 30-year-old

8:03

Jack Madruga was the only one

8:05

of the five who had never been formally

8:07

diagnosed with a disability but was described

8:09

by his mom as bashful and a slow

8:12

learner.

8:13

After graduating from high school, Jack

8:15

enlisted in the army, and upon his return

8:18

to Yuba City, he started working for the

8:20

Sunsuite Growers Farm, which was

8:22

based there.

8:23

At the time of his disappearance, he

8:26

had just been laid off, but

8:28

more than anything, Jack was very

8:30

passionate about cars, and his

8:33

prized possession was a 1969 turquoise and white

8:36

mercury Montego, which he

8:38

had actually been driving the night that the men

8:41

disappeared. And he was

8:43

reportedly so proud of his car that

8:45

he wouldn't allow anyone else to

8:47

drive it.

8:48

Jack was especially

8:50

close with William Sterling, who went by

8:53

Bill.

8:54

Now, 29-year-old Bill was deeply

8:56

religious and loved to volunteer at the local

8:58

hospital, mostly reading religious texts

9:01

to patients. Bill struggled

9:03

with a learning disability and was described

9:05

as intellectually disabled, but

9:08

he was remembered as being incredibly

9:10

friendly and warm, but a bit of a hermit,

9:13

and he just loved staying close to home.

9:15

He was holding down a job as a dishwasher

9:17

before he went missing, but according

9:20

to his mom, this is going to piss all of us off.

9:23

He was kind of being taken advantage of

9:26

by his coworkers, and they would steal his

9:28

money while he was tending

9:30

to his work duties,

9:31

which is just beyond awful. So

9:34

to keep him safe, his mom just asked him to

9:36

resign from his position there because she just

9:38

didn't want people to continue to mess with him and

9:40

be as cruel as they were.

9:42

That's just so messed up. I literally

9:44

wish I had a time machine so I could go back in

9:46

time and slap those coworkers in the face.

9:48

God, I hate bullies.

9:50

Why would somebody do that? Yeah, and especially

9:52

to somebody that has learning disabilities,

9:55

that's just...

9:56

It's never okay, but it's especially

9:58

not okay in this case.

9:59

So 25 year old

10:02

Gary Mathias, who is the

10:04

final member of the five, had

10:07

been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

10:10

After graduating from high school, he, like

10:12

Jack, enlisted in the army. And

10:14

while stationed in Germany and struggling with

10:16

his mental health, Gary started experimenting

10:19

with drugs and drinking heavily.

10:22

Now, this addiction landed him in a psychiatric

10:25

discharge and he was sent back to the United

10:27

States where he was evaluated and

10:29

then diagnosed with schizophrenia.

10:32

So for the next three years, Gary spent

10:34

time at intermittent inpatient psychiatric

10:37

facilities. And according to Gary's stepfather,

10:40

his brain, quote, went haywire during

10:42

this time.

10:43

In one case during a stint at a facility

10:46

in Oregon, so not too far from his home

10:48

in Northern California, Gary is said

10:50

to have escaped and walked 500 miles or 800

10:53

kilometers back home to

10:56

Yuba city. Although

10:58

this has never been confirmed, this story

11:00

is always discussed in conjunction with

11:02

Gary Mathias.

11:03

Under

11:06

the weight of his new diagnosis, he struggled

11:08

with angry outbursts and was twice

11:11

charged with assault.

11:13

That said, in the two years before he disappeared,

11:15

he seemed like he was on a better path

11:17

while under a doctor's care

11:19

and started taking stelazine and cogentin.

11:23

So after regulating his symptoms with medication,

11:26

he was able to live without incident and

11:28

Gary was regarded as the most responsible

11:30

of his group of friends and therefore he

11:32

became like basically the de facto leader

11:34

here.

11:36

On the evening of February 24th, 1978, the men headed north

11:38

to Chico State University,

11:40

which

11:42

was a journey that would take just about an hour

11:45

like Daphne said.

11:47

Ted's grandma remember telling him that she thought

11:49

that he should bring a coat, but

11:51

Ted respectfully declined telling her that

11:53

he wouldn't need it because even though it was winter,

11:56

it was California and it wasn't going to get too cold

11:58

where they were going.

11:59

So around 6.30pm, the

12:02

five of them set out in Jack's Mercury, Montigo,

12:05

as Jack always was the driver of the group.

12:07

Now, hours later, they left

12:10

Chico State University around 10pm,

12:12

and they were in very good spirits after a win for

12:14

their team.

12:16

They then drove to a nearby grocery store

12:18

called Bear's Market, situated

12:20

just three blocks away.

12:22

And reportedly, I guess this cashier

12:25

was annoyed as he was trying to close up the

12:27

shop for the night and didn't really want to help any more

12:29

customers.

12:30

But still, the men purchased a Hostess

12:32

brand cherry pie, a

12:33

Langendorf brand lemon pie,

12:36

one Snickers bar, one marathon

12:39

bar, two bottles of Pepsi,

12:41

and a quart

12:41

and a half of milk. It's a good time if

12:43

you ask me. Sounds like a great time. So,

12:46

they were just ready to enjoy some yummy late

12:48

night treats on the drive home to celebrate. And

12:51

that is where the mystery begins.

12:55

Inexplicably, the boys

12:57

drove about 60 miles, or 90

13:00

kilometers, into the woods,

13:03

passing their turn off for their homes in Yuba

13:05

City and Marysville, and landing

13:07

them in Plumas National Forest,

13:10

which is in the mountains near the border of Nevada.

13:13

This journey would have taken them at least an hour

13:16

and 15 minutes, so just over

13:18

what it would have taken to get home. But

13:20

they were nowhere near home.

13:23

And it's weird because to get home to Yuba

13:25

City from Chico, even in 1978, they

13:28

would have needed to take major highways

13:30

home. But to get to this national forest,

13:32

almost half of their drive would have been

13:35

on a forested highway. So, a very

13:37

different landscape and visible difference

13:39

from the road that they had taken up to Chico

13:42

on the way there. And in a totally

13:44

different direction. And I'm going to put a map on

13:46

our socials if anybody wants a visual

13:48

of that.

13:49

Yeah, I mean, that's one of the strangest things,

13:51

is that it was in the complete opposite direction.

13:53

Yeah, and this is, like you said, where the mystery

13:55

begins. This is the first weird thing,

13:57

is why did they go this way?

13:59

So meanwhile, their families

14:02

waited anxiously for them to return home

14:04

after the game. But none of the boys were

14:06

known to venture off on their own at all. And

14:09

they all had a basketball game the next morning

14:11

with their adult league, again, the Gateway

14:13

Gators, that they never

14:15

would have missed. So when they didn't come home

14:18

on time, it was very confusing.

14:20

Like they had been preparing for the game for

14:22

weeks. And they were even in the running to

14:24

qualify for an all expenses paid trip

14:26

to Los Angeles if they won this tournament

14:29

that the game was part of. And as we've

14:31

made clear, they absolutely loved

14:33

basketball. And they were extremely

14:35

excited to play this game. Like one of the boys even

14:38

laid out his uniform before heading

14:40

to the Chico State game. And he told

14:42

his mom, quote, we got a big game Saturday.

14:44

Don't you let me oversleep.

14:46

That's just really sweet. And

14:48

you said that I know they were so excited. So

14:51

when,

14:52

you know, they didn't come home, their family

14:54

just knew that they would not miss their

14:56

game on purpose. So they were just

14:59

baffled and completely concerned

15:01

right away.

15:02

The following morning, so more than 12

15:05

hours after they had departed for the basketball

15:07

game in Chico, Jack's mom called

15:09

the police to report her son missing.

15:12

But because he was an adult, they encouraged

15:15

her to wait another 24 hours suggesting that he

15:18

had taken off for the evening of his own volition

15:21

and that he would be back later that day.

15:23

You guys know the drill. But their parents

15:26

knew better. Around five

15:28

o'clock that morning, Ted's mom had woken

15:30

up to check that he had gotten home okay, but

15:32

she found his bed empty. So

15:34

she called Bill's mom who said that she had been

15:36

up all night waiting for Bill to return

15:39

and that she hadn't heard a word from him.

15:42

Bill's mother had already called Jack's mom

15:45

by this time. And Ted's mom spoke

15:47

with both Jackie's mom and Gary's

15:49

stepfather. And no one

15:51

heard from their sons.

15:53

By 8 p.m. that evening, they

15:56

convinced the police to take missing persons

15:58

reports for their sons just not to be

15:59

knowing that something was very wrong

16:02

here.

16:03

But let's move back into the woods for a moment.

16:05

So a local forest ranger named Willard

16:07

Burce came upon an empty Mercury

16:10

Montego on the side of a snowy road

16:12

in the Plumas National Forest.

16:15

Assuming that it was a hiker or skier who

16:17

had left it there for the day and was coming back for

16:19

it, he didn't think twice originally. But

16:22

on February 28th, so

16:24

four days after the men disappeared and

16:27

three

16:27

days after Willard discovered the car,

16:30

he saw the report of the missing five on the news

16:32

and realized that the Mercury Montego may

16:35

be connected to this case.

16:37

Now the car was found on the side of an unpaved

16:40

road near Rogers Cow Camp, which

16:42

is a campground in a remote part of the Plumas National

16:44

Forest at an elevation of over 4,500

16:46

feet.

16:49

The campground was closed in the winter,

16:51

but was known to have visitors engaging in

16:54

cross-country skiing, hiking,

16:56

and snowshoeing, despite the harsh

16:58

weather.

16:59

However, it was not common for cars

17:01

to sit there overnight.

17:03

So Willard reported his discovery to the police

17:05

who came to check out the car immediately.

17:08

And when they did, it

17:10

was positively identified as

17:12

Jack's car. They

17:14

processed the car for fingerprints and blood,

17:17

but no evidence of foul play was found.

17:20

One of the rear windows had been left open

17:23

and the remnants of the snacks from Bear's Market

17:25

were still inside.

17:27

Everything had been consumed except for half

17:30

of the Marathon Bar, which is a now

17:32

discontinued chocolate caramel candy bar.

17:35

So inside the glove box were multiple

17:37

maps, including a map of the United States

17:40

and also a map of California, because

17:42

remember, it is 1978, so no GPS here. The

17:46

car was in a snow drift or a

17:48

large mound of snow,

17:50

but it could have been easily freed with the five

17:52

men working at it.

17:54

The keys to the car were missing, but police

17:56

were able to hotwire it to get it started. And

17:58

with this, they uncovered it. It uncovered that it worked

18:01

perfectly fine and even still

18:03

had a quarter tank of gas in it. So

18:05

why they stopped and where they went was

18:08

an immediate mystery.

18:11

Dressing for the mild temperatures of a northern

18:13

California winter,

18:14

none of the boys were equipped with any

18:16

clothing to withstand the freezing temperatures

18:19

of the mountains.

18:20

And like I had mentioned before, they didn't even bring

18:22

any coats because they were only going to be sitting

18:24

inside of a basketball game and then sitting

18:26

inside of a car for an hour drive.

18:29

Angeli police observed

18:31

that the undercarriage of the car was

18:34

in pristine condition,

18:36

which is a feat that would have been nearly impossible

18:39

to accomplish given the rocky

18:41

snowy terrain and the pothole

18:43

laden dirt road that they would have driven on to

18:46

get to the spot where the car was parked.

18:49

There were no dents, scratches or

18:51

mud even though the muffler had

18:53

been low to the ground and there were five grown

18:55

men in the car.

18:57

But Jack's parents say that he cared

18:59

so much for that car

19:01

that he had likely made great efforts

19:04

not to damage it. His

19:06

parents also maintain that he wouldn't have let

19:08

anyone else drive the car. According

19:11

to the Washington Post report of the discovery,

19:14

quote, the driver had either used

19:17

astonishing care and precision,

19:19

the investigators figured, or else he

19:21

knew the road well enough to anticipate every

19:24

rut. But his family said that

19:26

Jack hated camping and hated

19:29

being out in the cold and that he was completely

19:31

unfamiliar with that area. So he would

19:34

not have known to, you know,

19:36

anticipate every rut as they say. Sure.

19:39

According to their families, none of them knew

19:41

that region and most didn't

19:44

care to be away from home, especially in

19:46

such harsh conditions. Like there would be no

19:48

reason for it. So why did

19:50

they go up there and where did they end

19:53

up? This canvassed

19:55

the immediate vicinity expanding gradually,

19:58

but when they found no sign of

19:59

Investigators called off the search a

20:02

month later on March 30th, 1978, pending new information.

20:08

With the snow, the cold weather, and

20:10

the inaccessible wilderness, there was very

20:12

little that the police could do to continue their

20:14

efforts at that time, and they were just

20:17

so stumped that they even consulted psychics.

20:20

One claimed that the boys had been abducted and taken

20:23

to either Arizona or Nevada,

20:25

and another claimed that they were murdered in

20:27

Oroville, California, which is about an hour

20:29

southwest of where they abandoned their

20:32

car.

20:33

According to that psychic, the

20:35

boys were murdered inside a two-story

20:37

red-colored house with a gravel

20:39

driveway, but nothing ever came

20:42

of these claims, and you're going to see why. On

20:45

the day that their car was searched, the area

20:47

got 9 inches of snow, so

20:50

even with snowmobiles, police

20:52

really struggled to turn up any sign of the

20:54

missing men. And it would take

20:57

months before new information came

20:59

in, but in the late spring of 1978, another

21:03

discovery was made.

21:05

This one far more shocking

21:08

and horrifying than the last.

21:10

On Sunday, June

21:13

4th, 1978, a group of motorcyclists

21:16

out for a ride stumbled upon a Forest

21:18

Service trailer near the Daniel

21:20

Zink campground.

21:22

Noticing a shattered window, they

21:24

got closer to inspect the damage,

21:27

but inside on a bunkbed,

21:30

they found the remains of an adult

21:32

man. It was Ted

21:35

Weir.

21:52

Thanks for watching guys! Before

22:03

that quick break, Daphne was telling

22:05

us that months after the boys went missing,

22:08

in June of 1978,

22:10

some motorcyclists came across a trailer

22:13

near a campground in Plumas National Forest,

22:16

and inside was the body of

22:18

Ted Weir.

22:20

The trailer that housed Ted's body was

22:22

thick with the smell of decomposition.

22:25

He had been left on the bottom bunk of two

22:27

bunk beds, and his body had been wrapped

22:30

tightly in eight sheets, as

22:32

if he were some sort of mummy.

22:35

In an autopsy performed the next day,

22:38

the medical examiner determined that his cause of

22:40

death was starvation and

22:42

hypothermia.

22:44

But shockingly, he had been alive

22:46

for months before his

22:48

body was discovered.

22:50

In the evening that the men disappeared, Ted

22:53

had no facial hair.

22:54

But judging by the amount of outgrowth in

22:56

his beard, he had been alive for between 8

23:00

to 13 weeks after his disappearance,

23:03

meaning that he may have died just shortly before

23:05

he was discovered. That's just crazy.

23:08

Such a wild fact. And just really sad

23:10

to realize that, that he was

23:13

there while his parents and all the

23:15

other parents were searching, just

23:17

tirelessly in that area and he was right there

23:19

alive?

23:20

Well that also meant that

23:22

as investigators combed the area for any

23:24

clues, he was actually alive, waiting

23:27

to be found in a nearby trailer.

23:30

So Ted had lost about 100 pounds

23:32

since he disappeared, and he had ganged

23:34

green and his feet were badly frostbitten.

23:37

But his shoes were nowhere to be found. I

23:39

mean that's crazy too, just knowing within that

23:41

time, he's just alive and losing 100

23:45

pounds from starvation. Like that's

23:47

horrible

23:48

to think about. Exactly, and

23:50

instead of his shoes being found,

23:52

instead it was actually Gary's that

23:54

had been left in their place.

23:57

But the most curious detail found at the

23:59

trailer was that it was fully

24:01

stocked for residents. Though

24:03

Ted had clearly been freezing, there was

24:05

a broken window that he didn't attempt to fix.

24:08

And inside the trailer were matches, firewood,

24:12

butane, propane tanks for heating,

24:14

and even clothing for extreme winter. Just

24:17

so bizarre.

24:18

But despite those supplies, it appeared

24:20

that he had never lit a fire. One

24:23

investigating officer, Yuba County Lieutenant

24:26

Lance Ayers, had actually gone

24:28

to high school with Ted,

24:29

and he took a special interest in finding the boys

24:31

when they disappeared.

24:33

But the authorities were stumped as to why

24:35

none of the resources in the trailer had been used.

24:38

Lance said, quote, no one had touched

24:40

the propane tank in another shed outside either.

24:43

All they had to do was turn that gas on, and

24:45

they'd have gas to the trailer and heat. Well,

24:48

here's another really bizarre

24:51

detail. So although Ted had starved

24:53

to death, there was a pantry

24:55

fully stocked with food. In

24:58

fact, there was enough food to have kept

25:00

all five men alive for

25:02

a year.

25:04

Oh my God. But only 12

25:06

cans of food had been emptied and they were

25:09

discarded on the floor. Whereas all this

25:11

other food was just

25:12

like in the cabinets, just right

25:14

there. And again, if they had been there for weeks,

25:17

you would imagine they would have found it. You

25:19

know, it's just,

25:20

the whole thing is just so weird. Or they would have

25:22

eaten more, you know, throughout that time. So

25:24

upon the discovery of Ted's body,

25:27

investigators set off to find the rest

25:29

of the men, wondering if at one time

25:32

they'd all been in the trailer together.

25:35

Ted's frostbitten feet may

25:37

have been the result of trying to seek help or

25:39

looking for the other men, but it's also possible

25:41

that Gary had gone out to get help and

25:44

had maybe like swapped out shoes

25:46

because Ted's were bigger and Gary's

25:49

feet had swollen from frostbite.

25:51

They believe that this pointed

25:53

to the conclusion that at the very least,

25:56

Ted and Gary had both made

25:58

it to the trailer.

25:59

But if only they did,

26:01

how did they get separated from the others and why

26:04

did they exit Jack's car in the first

26:06

place? The

26:08

broken window of the trailer had also been

26:10

too small for Ted Weir to climb

26:12

through, so someone else must have let him

26:14

in.

26:15

But with no sign of the other boys,

26:18

it was really hard to figure out exactly who had

26:20

been in the trailer and what happened. So

26:22

investigators fanned out from the trailer,

26:25

which was as many as 20 miles

26:27

or 32 kilometers from

26:30

where the car had been found. Sources

26:33

vary on this, but the most we found said 20

26:35

miles. And if it was 20 miles,

26:38

that means that it would have taken them at least 10 hours

26:41

on foot

26:43

to reach this area. Yeah, that's a long

26:46

walk, especially in the snow.

26:47

Absolutely. And without the proper

26:49

clothes. So the distance between

26:52

where their car was abandoned and the

26:54

Daniel Zink campground, which is near

26:56

where the trailer was situated, is 11 miles

26:59

or 17 kilometers via the access

27:01

road. However, it's likely that they

27:04

did not walk along the road together

27:06

and took a longer way through the woods because they

27:09

probably didn't know where they were or where the road

27:11

would have been.

27:12

The day after Ted's remains

27:14

were confirmed to belong to him, the

27:17

remains of two more men

27:19

were found

27:20

on Tuesday, June 6th, 1978. The

27:24

bodies of Jack Madruga

27:26

and Bill Sterling were recovered.

27:29

Now the two were found very

27:32

near to each other on opposite sides of

27:34

a dirt canyon road, just a few

27:36

miles from where the car had been abandoned.

27:40

Jack's remains had been greatly diminished

27:42

by animals and he lay face up near

27:44

a stream of water, still clutching

27:47

his watch in his right hand. Bill

27:50

was nearby and only his bones

27:53

remained. And like the precise location

27:55

of the trailer, the distance between

27:57

the bodies and the car has been widely

27:59

disturbed.

27:59

with sources stating that Jack

28:02

and Bill had walked anywhere between 2

28:04

and 11 miles from the location

28:07

of the car to their final resting

28:09

places. So

28:10

it's hard to speculate on this because for some

28:12

reason there is so

28:15

many inconsistencies with the distance. So

28:18

they were found to have died also from hypothermia

28:21

and police believe that neither of them ever

28:23

made it to the trailer. It's

28:26

likely that one of the men laid down to

28:28

go to sleep feeling tired as a side

28:30

effect of the hypothermia. And because

28:33

Jack and Bill were so close it's

28:35

possible that the other laid down near

28:37

them just in an effort to not leave

28:39

them alone and then wound up freezing

28:42

to death as well.

28:43

On June 7th the remains

28:46

of the fourth member of their group was

28:48

found. The families

28:51

of the five men were in the area canvassing

28:53

alongside the police and while Jackie

28:55

Hewitt's father was searching the area

28:58

he came across an item of Jackie's

29:00

clothing. And

29:01

when he picked it up a piece

29:04

of Jackie's backbone fell

29:06

to the ground.

29:07

He was in the vicinity of the trailer

29:10

but not inside so he was much closer

29:12

to Ted and where Gary

29:14

would have been but Gary we're

29:17

going to talk about next. So just

29:19

northwest of the trailer searchers recovered

29:22

a rusty flashlight and three

29:24

forest service blankets but there's

29:26

no guarantee that these items were connected

29:28

to the disappearance of the men

29:30

but this was found as well. So

29:34

as Daphne mentioned we're now going to talk about Gary. So

29:37

Gary was actually still nowhere to be found

29:40

which is just one more confounding piece

29:42

of this crazy puzzle.

29:44

But with no sign of him investigators

29:47

from three counties called off searches

29:49

pending more information that they hoped would come

29:51

in with a tip. Now strangely

29:53

though there have been many tips and even potential

29:56

sightings Gary Matthias

29:57

has never. been

30:00

found. So what really

30:02

happened in the mountains that winter night?

30:05

One eyewitness believes that they were the last

30:07

person to see the men alive.

30:09

A man named Joseph Shaughns came

30:11

forward to the police to tell them that he was with

30:14

the men the night that they went missing.

30:16

So Joseph claims that on the evening

30:18

of Friday, February 24th,

30:21

the night that the boys were last seen,

30:23

he was headed up to the mountains to see how bad the snow

30:26

conditions were that night, just hoping

30:28

to bring his wife and daughter up there for the weekend.

30:31

He told the police that he owned a cabin in the

30:33

Plumas National Forest, though

30:35

that has been disputed for years. And

30:38

many people have poked holes in various parts of his

30:40

story, including his claim of property

30:42

ownership, but anyway. When

30:44

Joseph reached the snow line that evening

30:46

around the same time that the men had left for the basketball

30:49

game, his Volkswagen Beetle

30:51

became stuck.

30:53

And as he tried to free himself from the snow,

30:56

he suffered a mild heart attack. So

30:59

alone now and on the mountain by himself

31:01

and with the cold of the night encroaching,

31:03

he retired to his car to stay warm and wait

31:06

for help.

31:07

And as he drifted in and out of sleep, he

31:10

claims that he saw flashlights and

31:12

multiple men surrounding a car parked

31:14

just ahead of him. He

31:17

called out for help but remembered that as soon

31:19

as he did, the flashlights were turned

31:21

off and the men either fled the area

31:24

or went back inside their car.

31:27

But police have questioned this because

31:29

there was no evidence that the boys had flashlights

31:32

with them that evening, let alone multiple

31:34

flashlights. Joseph also

31:36

claims that he saw a red truck pull up

31:39

and watched as a group of men and a woman with

31:41

a baby walked by,

31:42

and he again called out for help but said

31:45

that he was ignored.

31:46

Then when it started to get light out, he

31:48

climbed out of the car, which was out of gas by

31:51

then, but

31:51

everyone who had been there that previous

31:54

night was gone. The only sign

31:56

of them being Jack's white and turquoise,

31:58

Mercury Montego.

32:00

which was parked just ahead of Joseph on the

32:02

road.

32:03

He proceeded to walk about eight miles or 12

32:06

kilometers to seek help.

32:07

Now, doctors confirmed that he did,

32:10

in fact, suffer a cardiac event, but

32:12

police could not confirm his account of the evening

32:15

that the men disappeared.

32:17

It's possible that in Joseph's heightened

32:19

state, he imagined or possibly

32:22

exaggerated what he saw that evening,

32:24

but there's been a lot of discourse surrounding whether

32:26

or not Joseph is a reliable witness.

32:29

A neighbor of his claimed that he was constantly

32:32

drinking,

32:33

weaving tall tales and

32:35

doling out what the neighbor described as bad

32:37

advice.

32:39

But the question everyone had was why

32:41

the boys went to the mountains in the first

32:44

place. Many don't believe

32:46

it's possible that this was an accident

32:48

because they had driven so far into

32:50

the forest and the road where the car was eventually

32:53

found on had been snow covered

32:55

and unpaved. But with the car

32:57

in perfect working order,

32:59

why hadn't they turned around? And

33:01

if they had been lost, why hadn't they consulted

33:04

the maps that they had with them?

33:06

The families maintain that while the actual

33:08

deaths of the men may have been accidental, the

33:11

reason they went to the mountains was intentional

33:14

and it was to get away from something or

33:16

someone. Gary's

33:19

stepfather said, quote, I can't understand

33:21

why Gary would have been that scared. All

33:24

those paperbacks and they didn't even

33:26

build a lousy fire. I can't

33:28

understand why they didn't do that unless they

33:31

were afraid. Bill's

33:33

sister echoed, quote, someone

33:35

made them go up that road. Bill

33:37

didn't like the snow. They knew that

33:39

it was cold up there. Jack wouldn't

33:41

have driven his car up there because he likes

33:44

it too much. Despite

33:46

their eventual fate, countless sightings

33:49

and tips of the men poured in. They were supposedly

33:51

spotted in Tampa, California Ontario,

33:54

California, and at a movie theater in

33:56

Sacramento, California, accompanied

33:59

by an older man.

33:59

but as we know,

34:01

they died in those woods. But

34:03

three of the most credible sightings

34:06

made little sense in the timeline of their

34:08

deaths, but made for popular theories.

34:11

So in March of 1978, shortly after

34:14

the men disappeared, but before they were found,

34:16

a local Yuba County woman named Debbie

34:19

Lynn Reese claimed that she received

34:21

multiple calls from their killer.

34:25

In the first one, the killer reportedly

34:27

said, quote, I know where the five

34:29

missing men are. But before she

34:31

could ask him more questions, the guy

34:33

hung up. Later,

34:36

she received a call in which the man said, quote,

34:38

I need help because I hurt those guys

34:41

real bad.

34:42

When Debbie asks who he hurt, he said,

34:45

quote, don't play dumb with me. And

34:47

again, hung up.

34:48

He called back a third time

34:51

and told her that all five men were

34:53

dead. She responded, they're

34:55

all dead, to which he said, they're

34:58

all dead, and then hung

35:00

up.

35:01

Debbie reported this, but

35:03

police never found out who called her and

35:05

why. And I just wonder

35:07

why, like, why this random

35:10

woman in the area and just the lack

35:12

of details makes it hard to believe this guy really

35:14

knew anything like he was probably just

35:16

some asshole.

35:17

Like, what's the point of calling

35:19

a random woman who's not connected to the

35:21

five men?

35:22

And also, is it possible that she's just

35:25

making up this story for clout? Because how are

35:27

they supposed to check

35:28

and make sure that this is actually credible?

35:30

Yeah, I think either she is or he is because

35:33

why would this guy be calling her? And also,

35:35

if it would be different if they were all found

35:38

to be murdered, or if he had given more specific

35:40

details before they were found that

35:43

connected to what was actually at the scene, but

35:45

like,

35:46

none of this connects. Well,

35:49

another sighting of the men actually tied in with

35:51

Joseph Shawn's report of seeing a red pickup

35:53

truck. A man who worked

35:55

at a convenience store in Brownsville, which is

35:57

about an hour south of where the men disappeared, claims

36:00

that he saw them before four

36:03

of the men were recovered deceased.

36:05

They pulled up in a red pickup truck and

36:08

someone who looked like Jackie Hewitt hopped

36:10

out and made a phone call at the store's payphone.

36:14

The men then retreated to the truck and then after

36:16

this they just left.

36:18

But why would they have gone back to their trailer

36:20

and died after being so close to help and

36:22

civilization?

36:24

It just didn't make any sense.

36:27

Now another sighting came after four out of the five

36:29

men had been found deceased and this was

36:32

Jack Madruga's niece Kathy went

36:34

out for dinner at a local Yuba County restaurant

36:36

and swore that she spotted Gary Mathias

36:39

at the bar

36:40

who at the time was the only one

36:43

who hadn't been found and still

36:45

has not been found to this day.

36:48

So alarmed she ran to use the restaurant's

36:50

phone to call the police but by the time

36:52

they arrived this mysterious man or

36:54

this you know mysterious Gary was

36:56

gone.

36:57

And there's been plenty of discourse and conjecture

36:59

but zero confirmed sightings

37:02

of Gary.

37:03

The internet is rife with theories about

37:05

where Gary could have gone and what may have happened

37:08

to land the boys in the mountains in the first place

37:10

and one theory is that the boys set out with the

37:12

goal of proving to their friends, their family,

37:15

and their community that they could live on

37:17

their own.

37:18

Which just doesn't make sense to me like they

37:20

just got some dessert from the store

37:23

they were excited they're ready for

37:25

their game the next day like why would they

37:27

pick that time to go off

37:29

and do this like I don't see that happening.

37:31

But also the fact that they

37:34

it didn't seem like they were trying to live on their

37:36

own they didn't light any fires they hardly

37:38

ate any of the food that was in the pantry

37:40

so

37:41

I kind of think this theory is bullshit.

37:43

And I don't think they would have died to prove

37:45

a point. Well another is that

37:47

they had gotten turned around making a stop

37:49

on their way home because Gary had friends

37:52

in Forbstown California which

37:54

is in between Chico and Yuba City.

37:57

The road that they would have taken to visit these friends is

37:59

so incredible.

37:59

conspicuous that it's possible

38:02

that Gary encouraged the group to stop by

38:04

to visit these friends

38:05

but then they took a wrong turn and that's

38:08

how they wound up in the forest instead.

38:10

And some have posited that Ted, who was

38:13

kind and very gentle, felt

38:15

so guilty for stealing the food from inside

38:17

the trailer

38:18

that he would starve to death before he took

38:20

food from the forest service. Which is so

38:22

sad and I hope that's not true. I really hope

38:25

that's not the case. Similar to

38:27

the notorious cluster of missing persons

38:29

cases in NorCal's Humboldt County, known

38:32

as the Humboldt County Missing Five, which

38:34

we did cover in episode 220, some think

38:36

that the men ran into a drug

38:38

smuggling operation and then they were killed

38:41

to keep them quiet.

38:42

But this seems also pretty unlikely

38:44

given that they vanished during a snowy winter

38:47

night

38:47

and they were also found to have died of natural

38:49

causes and not homicide.

38:52

At least as far as we know. Now some

38:55

people point the finger at Gary himself.

38:57

Now because he was the only one who was not

38:59

intellectually disabled, some feel

39:02

that he may have had more information than he was

39:04

sharing with his friends. And he also

39:06

relied on medication to treat his schizophrenia

39:09

and left in the wilderness without it, he

39:12

may have been suffering delusions that caused

39:14

him to prey on the rest of the group.

39:15

But this is just what some people are throwing

39:18

around since he's never been found, but

39:21

for all we know, he is as much as

39:23

a victim as the rest of them and doesn't

39:25

deserve to be speculated on.

39:27

But because of the rumor that he had walked

39:29

about 500 miles

39:30

or 800 kilometers from Oregon, after

39:34

he was fleeing from that psychiatric hospital there,

39:37

many people believe that he did the same that winter,

39:39

walking off into the forest alone and

39:41

leaving his remaining friends to die.

39:44

Some feel that because his

39:46

father and sister did take their own lives

39:48

from mental health issues later, it

39:51

meant that they were concealing a secret

39:53

for Gary and that the guilt had become

39:56

unbearable and that was the reason. But

39:59

actually a few new members of the

40:01

boys families agree with this

40:03

possibility. So apparently

40:05

unsolved mysteries attempted to

40:07

center an episode on the Yuba County 5

40:10

and Gary's family were the only

40:13

ones who refused to participate.

40:16

So obviously the other families found

40:18

this very

40:19

suspicious. Ted's

40:21

brother Dallas stated quote, no

40:23

one pulled a trigger on the boys, but

40:26

something or someone

40:28

killed them.

40:29

He claimed that he believed that Gary

40:31

set up his friends knowing that

40:33

they would die out there, although

40:36

the motive for this is unclear, but

40:38

they couldn't understand why the family wouldn't participate

40:41

in the show if it would garner interest

40:43

and possibly answers. Dallas said quote,

40:45

that's just suspicious. I'm not saying they

40:47

knew, but well, you can probably

40:50

guess what I think. However,

40:52

again, just like he said, it

40:54

is just as possible that Gary, like

40:57

the others, was also a victim of the

40:59

severe weather conditions that evening and

41:01

that they just haven't found him yet. The

41:04

one thing the families can agree on, however,

41:07

is that the men were threatened, scared

41:10

off or even chased by someone

41:12

and that it caused them to knowingly drive

41:15

over an hour in the wrong direction

41:18

and directly into treacherous

41:20

winter terrain. And it's thought

41:22

that this could be because they were

41:24

looked down upon by some members of their community

41:27

and not honored as the individuals

41:29

that they were, which is so awful.

41:32

And it could go along with what I mentioned earlier

41:34

about Bill Sterling's mom, you

41:36

know, wanting him to quit his dishwasher job

41:38

because of his coworkers and how

41:40

they were stealing money from him and really taking

41:43

advantage of him. So for all we know, they

41:45

encountered someone at the market in Chico

41:48

and were being followed or something. Like it

41:50

would have been a long drive just to follow them or mess

41:52

with them. But to me,

41:54

it holds weight that the very people

41:56

who actually knew these young men very

41:59

well, their own...

41:59

families feel deeply

42:02

that the circumstances of their deaths do not

42:04

make any sense and believe that they were

42:06

being targeted or threatened by someone.

42:09

And it's also possible that maybe

42:11

they had cut somebody off on the road or

42:13

maybe this was a traffic situation

42:16

and that that's how they were followed. And

42:18

maybe they were thinking we just need to like get away from

42:20

this person as fast as we can got turned

42:22

around went the you know the opposite direction

42:25

and that's how they ended up there. I mean I mean who

42:27

really knows there's so many possibilities

42:29

and you really could speculate for hours

42:32

or days talking about this case.

42:34

Yeah I mean there are some horrible people

42:36

out there and again just the fact that all

42:39

like everybody across the families believe

42:42

that

42:43

like they know them they know what their personalities

42:45

are like they know what they're capable of what they're not

42:47

capable of. So the fact that all these

42:50

details don't make any sense to them like

42:53

it's not like they're saying oh yeah you know maybe

42:55

they just drove out there and they got

42:57

lost like nobody is saying that they're all saying

43:00

this is not right like they're they know

43:02

better than this and none

43:05

of this is connecting like somebody somebody

43:07

has to be involved like that that to me just

43:10

again it just holds a lot of weight.

43:11

Well and to talk a little bit more about how

43:14

the boys were kind of perceived

43:16

in the public

43:17

well in 1975 almost exactly three years before the

43:21

boys vanished

43:22

gateway projects where the five met

43:24

and played basketball

43:26

was vandalized and a hateful act

43:28

of arson to alert the community that

43:30

the disabled were not welcome there.

43:33

F you what do you mean? What in the fuck

43:35

why would some oh my god I just I can't

43:37

I can't with people like this.

43:38

Everything that you're about to talk about is

43:40

so yeah well

43:43

and then you know in February the gateway

43:45

project's building was burned to the ground

43:47

by an arsonist and everything

43:50

inside was completely lost

43:52

like everything burned.

43:54

That same year an assailant hurled

43:56

a Molotov cocktail

43:58

through the window.

43:59

Also, the center was issued bomb threats

44:02

and cars were set ablaze.

44:05

In April of that year, the Gateway Program

44:07

Director was murdered

44:08

after someone tossed flammable

44:10

liquid on him and set him on fire.

44:14

What is

44:14

wrong with these people? I don't understand.

44:18

So it's safe and very

44:20

sad to say that they were not necessarily

44:23

welcomed in their own community.

44:25

One police sergeant announced to the media, quote,

44:28

Apparently someone really has it in for

44:30

gateway projects for some reason or another.

44:33

Aside from that, we don't have much else.

44:35

We have to assume that the attacks are all

44:37

related because they were all associated

44:40

with Gateway.

44:41

It's just so sad. So Jack's

44:44

mother said, quote,

44:45

there was some force that made them

44:48

go up there. They wouldn't have fled off in

44:50

the woods like a bunch of quail. We

44:52

know good and well that somebody made

44:54

them do it. We can't visualize

44:57

someone getting the upper hand on those five

44:59

men, but we know it must have

45:02

been. Sadly,

45:04

there have been no developments

45:07

in the case of the Yuba County Five in

45:09

the 45 years since it happened.

45:12

But if you have any information

45:14

about the deaths of Ted Weir, Jack

45:17

Madruga, Bill Sterling, and

45:19

Jackie Hewitt or the whereabouts

45:22

of Gary Mathias, please

45:24

contact the Yuba County Sheriff's Department

45:28

at 5 3 0 7 4 9 7 7 7.

45:45

Thank you so

45:45

much, everybody, for listening to this episode

45:48

of Going West.

45:49

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this

45:51

episode. And on Tuesday, we'll have an all

45:53

new case for you guys to dive into.

45:55

I just this case is so complicated

45:58

because it doesn't make.

45:59

sense to me why they would go that

46:02

way anyway, why they would get out

46:04

of the car in the first place,

46:05

why the car was still filled with gas.

46:07

As we know, the the window was

46:10

down. So like, why was the car window

46:12

down? You know, why did they walk

46:14

so far into the woods? Were they running

46:16

from something? Were they confused as to where

46:19

they were? Like, why not just stay

46:21

in the car and turn around? Like, that's

46:23

why I really think that somebody else is involved

46:25

because it doesn't make any sense that all

46:28

of their heads put together, that

46:30

they wouldn't kind of team up and think about,

46:32

you know, how to turn around how to fix this situation, but

46:34

that they all just ran separately? Like, why?

46:37

Like, yeah,

46:37

why? I think that's the most interesting

46:39

thing to me is the fact that they

46:42

didn't stay together in a group. Like, there

46:44

were, you know, people were going off in groups

46:46

in different, different ways,

46:48

different directions. And then where is Gary?

46:50

Like, none of it makes sense. And these poor

46:53

families have no answers as

46:55

to what happened to their boys

46:57

and why. Like, there are so many

46:59

questions in this case. So please make

47:01

sure that you share enough time has passed.

47:04

Hopefully answers will come soon.

47:07

But thank you guys so much

47:07

for listening. Yeah. And also thank you guys for

47:10

recommending this one because I know a lot

47:12

of you guys have in the past and after

47:14

we did that episode and you guys had suggested

47:17

it, that we cover the full story. We

47:19

were just really excited to do it. Yeah.

47:21

So, so glad. So thank you

47:23

guys so much. We will see you next week. All

47:26

right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world,

47:28

don't be a stranger.

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