Stuff You Should Know - Selects: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five

Episode Date: May 21, 2022

In 1978, five friends set out for home from a basketball game. The next day, their car was discovered in a lonely mountain road. The next spring, their bodies began to turn up. What happened that night remains a mystery to this day. Explore what we know with Josh and Chuck in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Munga Chauticular and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want to

believe. You can find in Major League Baseball, International Banks, K-pop groups, even the White House. But just when I thought I had a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas are about to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi everyone, it's me Josh and for this week's select, I chose our 2018 episode on the mystery of the Yuba County Five. I was actually inspired to choose this one because I was recently a guest on another podcast called Yuba County Five hosted by Shannon McGarvey and it's actually a really

fascinating deep dive into this long-standing mystery and it expands on and actually does a lot of updating on what we talk about in this episode. So if this one strikes your fancy, go check out the Yuba County Five podcast from Mopac Audio and in the meantime, I hope you enjoy your episode on it. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and there's Jerry over there. So this is Stuff You Should Know. Yes, how you doing Chuck? Do I look tired? You seem a little low-key. I'm tired man. What's going on with you? I've just been waking up like too early for no reason. Going to bed too

late though because if you go to bed early and wake up early, you're fine. Well, going to bed late sometimes, not getting enough sleep, then going trying to go to bed super early to make up for it. But I don't know about this making up for a sleep deficit. I don't buy all that. I feel like we talked about it before that there's that that doesn't actually work. Yeah, I'm just tired. That's all I can say. Sorry man. It's all right. I'll live. All right, I'm glad we killed some time before we got into this very mysterious sad story. It's a good one though, isn't it? It is extraordinarily sad. Probably the saddest true, I don't know, it's up there as far as true life, true crime, disappearances go. Yeah. And it's the one about Gary Matthias.

Well, that's what they call it. They call it the Gary Matthias disappearance, but that really doesn't do it much justice or it doesn't serve it well because it was a lot more than Gary Matthias involved. Yeah, I've seen it more so called the Yuba County 5, but you know, I guess just depends on where you're looking. I had not run across that. Oh yeah? Oh God, that makes me wonder what all stuff I missed. Well, you know, there were five guys. What? So no, there actually were five guys. There were five friends. Gary Matthias was one of them and there were four others. There was Ted Weir, who was the oldest. He was 32. Correct. There was Jackie Hewitt. He was the youngest. He was 24.

Mm-hmm. There was Jack Madruga. Yeah. I'm not sure what age he was, but he was definitely between 24 and 32. I'll tell you that. Yeah, that narrows it down. Bill Sterling. And then again, Gary Matthias. And those five guys were a set of friends and they met at the Yuba City Vocational Rehabilitation Center for what you would call today the cognitively impaired or cognitively challenged. Yeah, because three of these guys, of course, this one article you have from 1978 doesn't use appropriate terms anymore, but three of these guys were intellectually disabled or developmentally disabled. Not an exact, like it's kind of hard to get an exact diagnosis from these 1978 terms. But Madruga was undiagnosed, but according to his mom, he was generally thought of,

as she said, as quote, slow, end quote. And then Matthias was the only one not diagnosed with a developmental disability, but he was under drug treatment for schizophrenia. Right. So all five of these guys had some sort of challenge going on in their life. Right, exactly. So there's a lot of details you can kind of glean because you're absolutely right. Like reading the really great Washington Post article, which is basically the comprehensive document on the case from 1978, you can kind of glean an idea, a picture of these guys. So they're just five friends, thickest thieves. Even within this, this tight little group of friends, there's subgroups of even tighter friends like Ted Weir and Jackie Hewitt were particularly close

and Bill Sterling and Jack Madruga were particularly close. They had like, they were just these five guys known as the boys, right? They all lived at home with their parents. They were always going to live at home with their parents. That was just what the plan was. I think Ted Weir had a job as a janitor and then later on as a snack bar clerk. Y'all love basketball. Yeah, that was another one. And they actually all played together on the basketball team for the vocational rehab center, basically like their hangout, the place where they hung out. They played basketball on that team. But Jack Madruga, it's worth saying, had a driver's license, whereas three of the other ones didn't, although Gary Mathias did as well. So these guys, they were friends. They had a tight

kinship together. They had very normal, reliable lives that were basically home-centric. And when they were out doing stuff, you could expect them home for dinner kind of thing. It was just a given. Yeah, I think that's super worth pointing out here early on. As I saw them more than one place, they said they referred to their lives as very predictable and scheduled, which is why this interesting, the events that occurred on February 24th, 1978, were very, very unusual. Right. So on February 24th, 1978, the boys, that's what their families all called them, because apparently all their families were at least in touch, if not friendly with one another. Yeah, I think they kind of supported one another, it sounds like, as much as anyone did in 1978.

Sure. So on this night, February 24th, there was a Friday night, 1978, the boys left their homes around Maryville and Yuba City in California. And they traveled, I think about 50 miles north to Cal State Chico, which is now called Chico State University. And they went to go see their team, the Cal State LA team, beat up on Cal State Chico, and Cal State LA actually won 86 to 84, which would have pleased the boys tremendously. Sure. So they went to the game, that much is known, and then they left the game, that much is known too, because around 10 o'clock when they left the game, they went to a convenience store called Bears Market, and they bought some stuff. Yeah, apparently, they were trying to kind of close up, and so the clerk was a little bit annoyed

that they showed up. And these are the kind of details that aren't so important, but it just shows that, you know, they really did their investigating pretty thoroughly, including, well, we'll get to sort of the lead investigator in a minute. But yeah, they bought just a few things. They bought a Hostess Cherry Pie, a Langendorf Lemon Pie, Snickers Bar, a Marathon Bar, a couple of Pepsi's, and a quart and a half of milk, which is to say, it's not like they were stocking up on food, they just got some snacks. Right, exactly. For the drive back home, 50 miles about an hour, yeah. The thing is, they would have been fully expected back home, not just because there was, you know, it wasn't like any of them to spend the night away, right, except Matthias.

He had friends, and he would stay out with friends sometimes, but the other four, like, they slept in their bed at home every night. That's just what they did. So their families fully expected them to come back. And another reason why they expected them to come back was because the next day, Saturday, they had a basketball game for their vocational rehab team, the Gateway Gators, and they apparently were all extraordinarily excited about this game. Yeah, which, again, is just another point being made that there was, these guys had every intention on coming home, super excited about the game. I think Matthias even was kind of driving his mom a little baddie saying, you know, don't let me oversleep. Got

this big game. Apparently, the guys had their clothes laid out, and they were all super excited about this basketball game. And then they don't come home. And, you know, these parents and grandparents start waking up at various points in the middle of the night, or in the morning, and start getting in touch with one another, you know, all verifying, like, your kid's not there, your kid's not there. And they start to freak out. And by eight o'clock that evening, I believe the mother of Madruga actually finally called the cops. Yeah. And the cops were kind of, I don't have the impression that they were like, well, this is, I'm sure this is fine. I think they got involved pretty early on. Yeah. But things really picked up when, I think on a Tuesday, that was, that was Saturday

night that they finally called the cops. And on Tuesday, Jack Madruga's car was discovered. And it was discovered in a very, very unusual place, right? Yeah. What was this thing? An old Mercury Montego. Yeah. A 69 Montego. A land yacht is what it was. Exactly. And they found it. And this was, by the way, this was Jack Madruga's prized possession. Like no one else drove the thing. He took pristine care of it. It was like his baby, his car was, right? Yeah. So to find it abandoned with the window, one of the windows rolled down up a mountain road, which was, I think, 70 miles away from the basketball game in a different direction away from their house, right? So the basketball game was north of their homes. This was east of, southeast of the basketball

game and up a mountain road. It was extremely bizarre. And also, I'm sure quite worrying when the families were already worried. I think finding this car like this probably really set them into panic mode. Well, yeah. And here's where, and this article is very clear to say from that point on, nothing made any kind of sense. So here's a few things about the car that definitely don't add up. You might think, all right, there was a snowstorm. So they drove up here and they got stuck. Apparently, that is not true. The car stopped at about the snow line and they said they did confirm that the wheels had spun some, but the car wasn't stuck and these five dudes could have pushed it free pretty easily, apparently. Right. So that's thing number one.

Thing number two is that it had a quarter tank of gas still, so they didn't run out of gas. Right. Right. And when the cops hot-wired the car, the keys were gone. And when the cops hot-wired the car, it started up immediately. There wasn't any engine trouble or anything like that. Yeah. The last thing they found were all these maps of California. And so it's not like they had no way of knowing where they were. And then they found all the, you know, all the wrappers from the food items. The only thing, ironically, that wasn't fully eaten was the marathon bar living up to its reputation. Right. I guess the toughest candy bar to get through. Yeah. That's how they build it. Some weird cartoon cowboy.

Yeah. So, you know, that's the deal. The underside of the car wasn't damaged, which they say was pretty interesting because on this road, apparently there were a lot of deep, deep ruts. This thing kind of hangs low anyway. It has a low hanging muffler. Has these five dudes inside, these grown men. And there was no damage under the underside of this car, which means, you know, a couple of things if you kind of are surmising, which is that either the driver kind of knew where they were going and drove through the darkness with a lot of precision, or they just maybe drove really slow. Yeah. I think it was the latter because I think Madruga was probably, would have been very unhappy that his car was on this road now.

So just took it slow. And took it super slow. I saw somewhere that there wasn't even a large mud spot on it. It was, they had taken it that easy. Yeah. And apparently Madruga didn't like the cold. He didn't like camping, so he wouldn't have known that road. It's not like there's a lot else to do up there but that. Right. And evidently, none of the boys were big into outdoorsy type stuff. Oh yeah. That's a really good point, Chuck. So, like none of them had any connection to that area and certainly not to that mountain. One of them, I think. Sterling. Bill Sterling had gone camping with this family there eight years before. Yeah. And he didn't like, I think they went back again and he was like, no, I don't want to go. Right. So he didn't

like the outdoors. He didn't like the cold. And then I think Ted Weir had gone deer hunting or something once with friends way west of the area. But still, I mean, enough that you could, it was a lead that the cops would have chased down. But then too, he didn't enjoy himself and he didn't like the woods either. So there was no, let's go hang out on the woods kind of thing going on here. Just everything about the fact that they found this car and where they found it and the state they found it in was really bizarre and really worrying. Should we take a break? I think we should, man. All right. You and I are going to go hang out in the woods and we'll be back right up to this. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new I Heart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass.

The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough or you're at the end of the road. Okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. This I promise you. Oh God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh man. And so my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that Michael and a different hot sexy teen crush boy band are each week to guide you through life step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general can get messy. You may be thinking this is the story of my life.

Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen. So we'll never ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikar and to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, major league

baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop. But just when I thought I had to handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world can crash down. Situation doesn't look good. There is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. So I've never swept the woods before. That was really interesting. I know, right? Spick and span out here. So they find the car and when they find the car, Chuck, I think it was the next night after they had gone missing, a storm blew into the area and it dumped

like almost a foot of snow on the mountain. This is February in the mountains in California. I would guess the Sierras is what it sounds like, right? So yeah, Chico is in the Sierra Nevada. I think it's north of Sacramento. So it would be very, very cold and the snow would be pretty tough to get through. But they still tried. They got guys on horseback, they got helicopters out. They looked for them, but they found nothing. They found not one bit of, not a single trace of these guys, just the car. And that was it. Yeah, the snow certainly didn't help anything because it would not be until June, on June 4th, after this thing, the mountain thaws out somewhat. When these Sunday motorcycle bikers, they'll go right around the

mountains, they went into an old Forest Service trailer camp at the end of a road and said, do you smell something that smells like perhaps a dead body? And sadly, it was a Ted Weir and this is where things get even stranger. Yeah. So I think the trailer caught their attention, but what caught their attention even further was that a window had been broken to get into the trailer. And then yeah, like you said, what really caught their attention was the smell in the side of Ted Weir's decomposing body. But what made it very, very weird is one, he's wrapped in sheets, tucked under his head in a way that like he couldn't have possibly tucked himself. So somebody had tucked him in like that. And he, Ted Weir had been a portly fellow. Cynthia Gourney, who

wrote the Washington Post article on this case in 1978, calls him beer belly handsome, which I've never heard those words put together in my entire life. Oh, I think that's what I am. Sure, sure. I call you beer belly foxy. Okay. So, but he was beer belly handsome. He was a thick guy. He was like five, 10, 200 pounds. He had a few extra pounds on him, right? When they found him though, he weighed about 120, 100 to 120 pounds, which means that between the time that they went missing and the time that he died, he'd lost anywhere between 80 and 100 pounds. Yeah. A couple of more interesting tidbits. His leather shoes were gone and missing completely on the little nightstand by his bed was his own ring because it had his name engraved on it.

Yeah, Ted, his gold necklace, his wallet with money, and then weirdly a watch that was not his. It was a gold, Waltham watch that had a missing crystal and all of the families said that this, none of our kids had this watch. Right. So that's one interesting tidbit. And the other is that he had a big full beard that indicated that he lived in that cabin for anywhere from eight to 13 weeks. Right. And what's really, really unnerving about the 13-week one, a 13-week number is that if he survived 13 weeks, that means that he would have died just days before his body was found. Is that right? Yes. Did you do the math? I did the math because, think about it, so they disappeared on February 24th and he was found June 4th. So you've got March, April, May.

Yep. Wow. I really, really hope. I'd call on the saints that that not to have been the case. Like that he perhaps died a couple of days before? Yeah, that he would have expired like weeks before and that there was just no chance for him. Like if he was destined and doomed to die, I really hope it wasn't a couple of days before they found his body after starving for 13 weeks. Yeah. And to cap it off, I don't think we've mentioned yet. This cabin was almost 20 miles from their car. Oh, yeah. So in the middle of the night, and at this point, this is all we know is about Ted in our story, he walked or ran almost 20 miles in four to six foot snowdrifts to go to this trailer where he spent the next

two to three months slowly dying. Yeah. So, okay, that's pretty weird in and of itself. And they found that his feet were terribly frostbitten, right? Which is why his shoes were off, but again, his shoes were missing. What gets even weirder, and this is just where the case truly turns bizarre, is one of the Yuba County Sheriff's deputies or undersheriff called it bizarre as hell, is like the quote of this story. This, the trailer, the cabin was actually like a forest service trailer, and it was an emergency trailer from what I understand. And it was fully stocked with a year's worth of food that would have kept all five of those boys alive for a year. It was built to keep you alive. Yes, exactly. And they found it, but they didn't put it to use. Now,

let's not to say that they didn't find the food. There was, there were 12 rations, like sea rations, like army meals, opened and eaten, but that was it. The other stuff wasn't touched. There was a whole locker of other dehydrated food and like fruit cups and stuff that hadn't been touched at all. Okay. And bear in mind, this is all right here while Ted, Ted Weir is starving to death. Yeah. So all this food is there. They found out, or the investigators determined that there had not been a fire built, even though there were paperback novels, there was wood furniture, there were matches, like everything was there to build a fire. And not only that, but there was a propane tank that all they had to do, it was in another shed outside. All they had to do was open

this thing on and they would have actually had gas heat. Yes. Heat, right? They didn't, they also didn't even cover up the broken window that they used to get into the trailer. It's just weird, just bizarre decision after bizarre decision, right? Yeah. So there's one other thing in the trailer that is pretty interesting. They find Gary Matthias's tennis shoes. So Gary Matthias's tennis shoes are there and Ted Weir's shoes, leather shoes are missing. Yeah. And what they think possibly is that Gary Matthias was in the trailer with Ted. Ted had terrible frostbite. Ted would have had bigger feet than Gary. Gary probably had frostbite too. So he used Ted's shoes to put them on and go back out into the wilderness. Yeah. I mean, they pretty much

determined that probably all five of those guys were in here at one point. Okay. So I have to say I don't think that's true. Oh, really? Because that's what I saw. So what I saw was that they, so okay, we should probably tell everybody that we should continue on, Chuck, but the, like I think a day after they found Ted Weir, they started looking around the area and they started finding the other boys' remains. Yeah. And this is thanks to what I said would be sort of the lead investigator, Yuba County Lieutenant Lance Ayers, who actually had gone to high school with Weir. Didn't know him that well, but he was really consumed by this case and seemed sort of obsessed with trying to solve it to the point where

he was chasing down leads from psychics at one point. Yeah. Apparently he met with a psychic who told him that the boys were in Oroville or had been murdered in a red house, either brick or stained in Oroville with the house number either 4723 or 4753. And Lance Ayers was so consumed with this that he actually drove every street of Oroville over a two day period trying to find that house based on the tip of a psychic. That's how obsessed he became with this case. Yeah. So we've put a pin in our, were they all in the cabin debate? We're coming back to that, right? Right. All right. So now we pick up a story of a man named Joseph Shones and this is where things get even more odd. So this guy was 55 years old. He got in touch with the cops because,

you know, some strange things that had happened that night of the disappearance. He was going to go camping with his family on, you know, up that road. And so he decided to take his little Volkswagen Beetle around 530 that evening just to check out the snow line, see if it was passable and if it was going to be safe to take his family camping that weekend. He found out it was not. Yeah. He got his car stuck right above the snow line. And this was to be about 50 yards further than where that mercury would eventually be found. Right. So he has, he gets out to push his Beetle, right? And has a heart attack. He's 55 and this is 1978, which means he lived on nothing but Scotch and stake. So you can imagine that that

was the outcome, right? When you have to push your Volkswagen Beetle. And he's like in a bad spot right there. He's alone in the wilderness at the snow line of a mountain, eight miles away from help. The place that he had stopped to actually get a drink, probably of Scotch on the way up the mountain to check out the snow line had been eight miles back in the other direction. So he very wisely like leaves his car running with the heater on and just lays there and tries to collect himself and gather himself. Yeah. This is a mild heart attack we should point out. But enough that if you just have shown to you are probably freaking out. Oh yeah. And I'm not trying to diminish like his danger level, but it wasn't like he was like laying there near death.

Like he would eventually hike eight miles out right after this heart attack. Yes. So he, but while he was laying there trying to like gather his strength again. Sure. So this happened about 530 and he said a couple hours after that some, a car, at least one, but probably two cars and one of them would have been a pickup truck came up and had their lights on and he saw the silhouettes of some men and a woman with a baby. And he said he called out to them and they ignored it and turned off the lights and he got back in his car. And he said he laid there for another few hours before he heard some whistling sounds and some flashlight beams a little further down the mountain, probably about 50 yards. And that would have been a couple hours, probably about five or

six hours after his heart attack. And they think that the second group at least was the five boys with Gary Mathias. Yeah. And I, well, I think at this point they were right outside his car window. Yeah. So again, he gets out, calls for help and the whistling sounds stop and the flashlights get turned off. And so he goes back in his car and lays back down. And he's like, two groups of people have come up this mountain. I'm having a heart attack here. And somehow calling for help is chase both of them off, both groups off. Yeah. So that Volkswagen Beetle, I can tell you from experience had like an eight gallon gas tank. So it eventually runs out of gas. It also, now that I think about it, doesn't have a very efficient heating system. Like my first Beetle

didn't even have a fan. We just call it the ankle burner. Like when you turned on the heat, it literally just opened vents in the floorboard that like came straight off the engine. Wow. That's sharp design. So you wouldn't even like, you had to be moving for there to be actually hot air running through it. Man. But I do know that I had another Beetle that had, that did have a little fan. So let's just presume that Shones had the fan. I'm not going to. I'm going to presume the opposite. Okay. I'm going to presume that this was a hellish experience for him in every way. All right. So eventually the car runs out of gas. It's still dark and he manages, after this heart attack, like I said earlier, to walk eight miles to a lodge called the

mountain house. Is that where he had gotten the drink? Yeah. All right. So he comes back and they're like, Shones. And he's like, don't Shones me. He have no idea what I've been through. It turns out it's pretty serious. And on the way out, he passes this Montego sitting empty in the middle of the road. About 50 yards further down the mountain behind his car where he stopped at the snow line. That's right. So Shones doesn't think much of this. He just is like, okay, well there's a car in the middle of the road, the snow lines here. I'm not the only one who got stuck last night. Those guys are jerks for not coming to my aid when I shouted for help. And he doesn't think much of it until all of a sudden on the news, he starts seeing these reports

of these five guys who went missing the same night that he had his heart attack on the same road in the same mountain. And he came forward and the cops figured out like that Joseph Shones was probably the last person to see those five guys alive. Well, yeah, they're silhouettes, at least. Yeah. Should we take a break? I think so, man. All right, we're going to take a break and get to some more sad discoveries right after this. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself? What advice would Lance Bass

And my favorite boy bands give me in this situation if you do you've come to the right place because I'm here to help this I promise you oh god seriously I swear and you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you Oh, man, and so my husband Michael um hey, that's me Yep, we know that Michael and a different hot sexy teen crush boy band or each week to guide you through life step by step Oh, not another one. Mm-hmm kids relationships life in general can get messy You may be thinking this is the story of my life. Just stop now if so tell everybody you everybody About my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never ever have to say bye bye bye

Listen to frosted tips with a lance bass on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts I'm Mangeh Shatikler and to be honest, I don't believe in astrology But from the moment I was born it's been a part of my life in India. It's like smoking You might not smoke, but you're gonna get second-hand astrology and lately I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention Because maybe there is magic in the stars if you're willing to look for it So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you it got weird fast Tantric curses major league baseball teams canceled marriages K-pop

But just when I thought I had a handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology My whole world came crashing down situation doesn't look good. There is risk to father And my whole view on astrology It changed Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are gonna change too Listen to skyline drive and the I heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts Okay, we're back Chuck we are you promise more sad discoveries lay it on them All right, so the next day after weir's body had been found, you know, the search is really on at this point

they found a few things they found the remains of Sterling in Madruga. They're on different sides of the road that same road that led to the trailer, but about 11 and a half miles from the car Right so presumably another what nine miles from the trailer Yes, which is why I think that they never made it to the trailer. Put a pin in that. Okay. All right All right Madruga had very gruesomely been partially eaten by animals, of course up there in the mountains Probably after he had died though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think it sounds like all of this was they succumbed to nature

And then the animals kind of took it from there, right? So they dragged his body to a stream He was laying their face up. They said with his hand curled around his watch and then Sterling was in the woods and Very gruesomely they said that his remains were or his bones. I guess were scattered over about 50 feet Yes, and then I think a day or so after that there was another search party that was launched and Jackie Hewitt's father Insisted on being a part of it and Jackie Hewitt was still missing and very sadly his dad was the one who discovered his remains He found His sons I think spine is what he came upon

Yeah, and same road a lot closer to the trailer though, but he right like just a quarter mile or something, right? Yeah, I think that's about right something very very close to it and they also found His his clothes they knew it was him because he was his Levi's and his shirt were also found nearby and so were He was wearing very stylish Platform shoes called get theirs, which I had to look up and they were actually pretty fresh Yeah, not the kind of shoes that you want to be hiking around the snowy woods in no definitely not. I mean again platform shoes They're like, um, you know that that That rubbery sold thing that like you find on like Clark's like Clark wallabies. Yeah, the thick rubbery. So I think it's called crepe

Sold they were like those but platform shoes and in like a ripply bottom. Yeah Oh, look at these things. Yeah, they're probably the worst the worst hiking shoes you could ever imagine What these would be good for actually Catching ladies probably. All right, I guess. I mean, they're pretty they're pretty cool That that wavy soul though looks so strange. Well, I look that up It's it's to keep your center of balance when you're way up there. Oh, okay. Yeah, well that makes more sense then Yeah, they were there was a lot of thought put into those shoes And then finally the next day

There was a skull discovered About a hundred yards downhill and that was the the final remains from Jackie Hewitt. Yeah So they found everybody Everybody that is except for Gary Matthias. He was still missing. Yeah, and he's he still is actually if you go on the Yuba County Sheriff's Website on their missing persons page. He's still listed there Yeah, his shoes were inside again and that trailer. Yep Which you know, that's they can't say anything for sure though But it suggests that he was in there at one point and they surmise that he may have like you said taken them off to where the leather shoes

Guess presumably because they were warmer Or his feet were frostbitten and had swollen. So he needed the bigger shoes Gotcha to strike out back outside like he was he was like I can't go out there barefoot and I can't get my tennis shoes on any longer Yeah, and so the deal with Matthias, like we said, he was under treatment for schizophrenia. He was in the army in Germany and apparently Had occasions post-war where he had become violent. He was charged with assault a couple of times But all accounts say that for the at least the last two years He had really been on his meds. He had been working in his stepdad's business

He was they called him one of the our sterling success cases as doctor did yeah, and they were really you know He was really coming around and hadn't had any what is his dad? He said he called them haywire episodes Yeah, hadn't had one of those in in a couple of years and The stepfather said that he had he had been taking his meds the week he disappeared right and his stepfather would know because his stepfather owned a gardening business and Gary Matthias had been working with him side-by-side for a couple of years by that time Yeah, so he he also didn't seem like one to really mince words or BS right So I take him for his word that his his son was fully medicated and his schizophrenia was under control. It sounds like yeah

So the problem is is he hadn't taken his pills with him So if he did survive He did he had he had gone without him He left him at home and the reason why he left him at home is because he fully expected to get back home a couple hours after He left for the basketball game Yeah, now that more evidence that like it's just really bizarre that they went anywhere but home and that raised a lot of questions for the families Back in the day. Yeah, I think Madruga's mom

Mabel was very vocal about her belief that Somebody had either tricked or threatened her son and the other boys into going up that mountain or Somebody else was was responsible for for this series of decisions Yeah, so they learned a few things afterward that are Sort of clues but never ended up solving anything One is that a a snowcat a Forest Service snowcat had been up that road. I think what the just the day before Yeah, yeah, I think so and packed in a path of snow So it was walkable. So they you know it led up to that trailer and they

Surmised that the boys may have this might have been the only walkable path forward, right? So they might have followed that path to the trailer they hired a water witcher at one point and He was in Paradise, California, and he said that he he fixed his little Is it divining or divining? Divining divining rod to pick up human minerals and traces of humans that led them to another cabin where they found a disposable lighter And this was about three-quarter for a mile from the the trailer where they found

the body and all the parents said no like they didn't have a lighter like this the guys didn't carry a lighter Right, so there were a lot of dead ends like that and then like for example that watch that had been found with Ted Weir that it was missing its crystal and know that all the family said that wasn't any of our boys watch, right? I mean it could be totally meaningless. It could have been a forest ranger Who had left the watch behind because it had broken or something like that? But that's most of the evidence in this case are just those just little dead ends Yeah, that Gary Matthias apparently knew some people and they're really just sort of reaching at this point new people in Forbes town, which is about halfway between Chico and Yuba City and

Apparently the turn is easy to miss and there was some speculation like maybe he was taking his buddies to go see this people He apparently knew got lost but apparently those friends were like we hadn't seen him in years and it would be really like Unlikely that he just would have randomly come to visit Yeah I could also see the other boys not wanting to go along with that too because they had that basketball game in the morning that they all Wanted to be fresh as a daisy for you too. Yeah, and in like Gary Matthias had been badgering his mom I think like you said to make sure he didn't oversleep the next morning because he was excited about that basketball game too Yeah, so the thing is though Chuck is even if let's say that is the case

Let's say that they all got a wild hair and they decided to go see Gary Matthias's friend and they Started up this mountain because they got lost they missed the turnoff and ended up on a mountain road at the snow line Thought the car was stuck What why why would all of them all of them collectively and individually say well? Let's go up rather than back down Let's go up into the snow supposedly the snowdrift for six eight feet Even if it was packed down with a snowcat, it doesn't make sense to go forward. No unless they thought Well, the last side of civilization behind us was too far, right?

Maybe there's something up here, which is a thing That's a it's an economic theory called sunk cost where you're so invested in something You're so far along that you don't want to just stop and turn back or quit So it's possible that that was that aided in their decision-making, but again, okay So then let's say that they're like, okay This snowcat track is gonna lead us to safety or something when they get to the trailer like why not eat the food? Why not make a fire? I can I can even see missing the propane tank just not being you know Just with it enough from the harrowing experience that you could just totally miss a propane tank

And I'd even think that your trailer is gonna have that kind of thing But the food that you've already started to eat that you already show you have a can opener and know how to use it Like how do you just starve to death after that? Well, I mean the food the other food was in a locker They never opened apparently, but like if you're there especially for two to three months Like you're turning over everything you're lighting a fire With whatever you can get your hands on those plenty of stuff to make a fire. Yeah Uh, what's up with the supposed woman and the baby? That could be chalked up. Maybe pretty easily to uh What was his name? Snopes shoots Shones Shones

Snopes that'd be Snoop Dogg That could be chalked up to him in the state of a heart attack in the middle of the night Just sort of seeing things could have been or it could just been an entirely different party of people who had nothing to do with it Or everything to do with it, but it could have they could have been there, too I mean it was you know, it was a mountain some people lived on it. Some people apparently Like camp there, which is what Shones was scouting for, you know, how did Matthias never get found at all? I don't know. I saw and I think I think at the end of the WAPO article Cynthia Gourney thought the journalist says that

um, probably, you know, he'd he'd laid there on the snow somewhere that they just didn't find or overlooked Or he got buried in the snow and then when the thaw came he sunk down to the ground and was covered over by some some mountain vines I guess so, but it seems like after all these years a Bone or a one of those leather shoes or something. Yeah would have been found Yeah, you'd think both of those would still be intact. Yeah, I mean what I did not see was any sort of Speculation that he had had any nefarious like actions. No But we did put a pin in something I Don't remember what it was. I saw a couple of theories that they they speculate that all of these guys

went to the cabin at one point and maybe We're wasn't doing so well. So they all set out independently to go look for help and each died or maybe in pairs maybe Since the two guys were kind of found together, but I don't know. I mean, it's all just speculation You saw that they don't think they were all there Yeah, what I saw was that Jackie Hewitt and Bill Sterling and Jack Madruga hadn't had never made it to the to the trailer that so they would have split up

On the way up. No, no that they were that they had Or died during that 20 mile hike. Yes Interesting and then Ted and Gary had Continued on up and made that made it to the trailer and then what I think happened after that was Gary nurse Ted Gary had been in the army and the can opener that was there was actually a very simple thing called a p38 Yeah, but you kind of had to have been in the army to to know how to use it and Ted wouldn't have been and Gary would have been So I think Gary may have stayed Probably fed both of them and then like you said seeing Ted was not doing so well set out again with Ted's shoes and died

Going off to get help somehow That's what I think happened. Yeah, I would have think they'd get split up on the way up though Like I just don't even know like these guys Would have died that quickly on the way on this 20 mile hike. I mean six to eight foot snow drifts. That's cold Yeah, they're also on the snowpacked trail supposedly sure, but they also have like they're dressed for mild weather Like they didn't have jackets sweaters their shoes were like like like converse kind of things aside from the the platform shoes That like I just it's entirely possible that a 20 mile hike up a mountain. They succumb to the weather

Yeah, and you also like it was hard to determine what level of intellectual Impairment these boys. Mm-hmm had. Mm-hmm. So I don't know how much that plays into it if at all Like when they get to this cabin like did Matthias is because you know, he didn't have his meds after that did he start kind of breaking down with with some episodes of schizophrenia and Leave yeah, did the other guy not fully understand? I mean at that point. He's exhausted and maybe hurt or and scared

Was he not even able to figure out maybe to light a fire? Light a fire or how to use that can opener or maybe he felt he couldn't get out of bed because of his feet Yeah, and he he was just stuck there after Gary Struck out to go get help that there was nothing he could do and the poor guy starved to death Yeah, but what were they doing up there to begin with that's the the basic route of this whole thing Yeah, but that's that's why they call this the American Dyatlov Pass right we got to do an episode on that one too But because there's so there's like a mystery within a mystery within a mystery. There's so many like other mysteries

Yeah, that just kind of Crescendo from the the first mystery, which is what were they doing there? Yeah, well and like you said some of the parents firmly believe like They witnessed something at this basketball game and were then Chased up this mountain. Yeah, like I don't even know what that means like like they witnessed a crime They came after him or something. That's what Ted Weir's sister-in-law always believed Hmm and speaking of Ted Weir you got anything else on this no, but except to only say if that was the case

Then why was the car seemingly driven very slowly and carefully at this road if they were being chased Oh, okay So you make a good point and I think I saw that elsewhere too that that like that Virtually proves that they weren't chased. Yeah, if anything it shows that they Um that that say something happened to them and somebody ditched their car who knew the area. I think more likely Jack Madrugo, it just would have driven it extraordinarily slowly because this is his baby car. Yeah, it's all just very sad I think it's just one of those It's probably like Occam's razor. It's probably the most simple explanation is

You know, maybe they just went on a little joy ride got a little lost Mm-hmm got turned around on the woods and succumbed to nature. Yeah So I find this I said at the beginning that this is just a very sad story to me Yeah, and one of the things that got me was in that Washington Post articles called five boys who never come back by Cynthia Gornes from 1978 you can find it online, but they the she describes Ted Weir as You ready for this that Ted got a good chuckle out of phoning Bill Sterling and reading from newspaper items or oddball names from the

telephone book Like that's what he was into that's what made him happy and I'm sure Bill Sterling thought it was hilarious too But like they were just this group of friends and came just imagine like Ted Weir like going through the phone book looking for silly names and going and picking up the phone and Calling his friend Bill Sterling and saying Bill get a load of this one. Yeah, and Bill's just laughing on the other end of the line and like that they just had like this such a pure Life like almost like an enviable life in a lot of ways and that they they died so horribly is just Just bitterly sad to me. Yeah, I mean they weren't troublemakers and even

Even the one who had gotten Convicted of assault a couple of times Gary. Yeah, Gary. It seems like all signs point to the his mental illness is playing a big Factor in that which he had gotten in check, right exactly all very sad. It is very sad Well, if you have any theories on the what you call them the Yuba City 6 5 Yuba County or Yuba City 5 Yuba City 5 Yeah We want to hear you can find all of our social media connections on our website stuff You should know calm and if you like you can also send us an email just shoot it off to Stuff podcast at how stuff works calm wait. We haven't done listener mail. Have we no

You're just gonna let me keep going. Aren't you know, all right? Well, hold on everybody hold on don't stop yet Don't stop yet Since I said some stuff. I'm not supposed to say it's time for listener mail Yes, and speaking of which this listener mail is rated rated R. Okay It's all I'll say does it use the s-word. No, but it doesn't use curse words It's just talks very frankly about sex and it's good PSA though. So we oh, I know this one. Yeah, for sure And this is from Emily not my wife. Hey guys listen to the selects episode on condoms the other day Thanks for all the great info

I appreciate you covering topics maybe slightly controversial or divisive and do so with such grace I wanted to throw a little extra PSA in there though for your listeners Most people are aware that you can and should use condoms to prevent pregnancy and or STIs when a penis is involved But there's far less awareness about protection when you've only got vaginas in the mix Although you certainly can't get pregnant it is possible to spread or contract an STI from sex between two women or Other vagina having people but you can greatly reduce your risk of this by using a dental dam It's a sheet of latex placed over the bulb or anus for oral sex

That's all and that's all there really is to it if you don't have one on hand You can safely DIY one by unrolling a regular condom cutting off the close-end and bam It's a dental dam in the case of digital sex not as in computers as in fingers Latex gloves are perfect or perfect for the job. Of course. These can also be used by absolutely anyone There's a lot more awareness of protection for heterosexual and male homosexual couples and not a lot for queer women Well, that's my stuff. You should know and now you know it Thanks for consistently great work and outstanding effort and educating and entertaining us every week and happy pride month And she wrote back. I just realized I gave an incomplete DIY instruction. You would cut off the close-end of the condom

And the ring on the open end Then cut down the middle and now it's a flat sheet Bam. So that is from Emily. Thanks a lot Emily. Happy pride month indeed Good info Yeah, it was good info and if you out there want to send us good info I already said it I said it once and I'll say it again You can find all our social stuff on stuff you should know.com and you can send us an email to stuff podcast at howstuffworks.com Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio

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