Yuba Country Five - Theory
This case is about five men [collectively referred to as 'the boys' by their families] between the ages of 24 and 32 who went missing on the 24th February 1978.
The boys were as follows: Jack Huett 24, Gary Mathias 25, Bill Sterling 29, Jack Madruga 30 and Ted Weiher, 32. All except Mathias had disabilities [Sounds like a mix of learning disabilities and autism, referred to back then as 'retarded'] but Mathias was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Mathias and Madruga had also served in the army.
So, the disappearence. We'll start with when they went missing, as per wikipedia.
On February 25, the Gators were due to play their first game in a weeklong tournament sponsored by the Special Olympics for which the winners would get a free week in Los Angeles. The five men had prepared the night before, some even laying out their uniforms and asking their parents to wake them up on time. They decided to drive to Chico that same night to cheer on the UC Davis basketball team in an away game against Chico State.[6] Madruga, the only member of the group besides Mathias who had a driver's license, drove the group 50 miles (80 km) north to the Chico State campus in his turquoise and white 1969 Mercury Montego coupe. The men wore only light coats against the cool temperatures in the upper Sacramento Valley at night that time of year.[3]
After the Davis team won the game, the group returned to Madruga's car and drove a short distance from Chico State to Behr's Market in downtown Chico, where they bought snacks, sodas and cartons of milk. It was shortly before the store's 10 p.m. closing time; the clerk later remembered the men because she was annoyed that such a large group had come in and delayed her from beginning the process of closing the store for the night.
So you've got five men who have watched their game, got snacks and food on the way home and were -presumably - on the way back. Through Reddit and Netflix I've come to the conclusion that Madruga would drive the car, as it was his pride and joy. So next question, why did they turn from the road they were on?
[The below theory is long and was come up with by thinking about what I - as an autistic adult - would do in their situation.]
Warning: Mentions of death, hypothermia, starvation and this situation has four of the five men die and one who has never been found.
My first thought is always the simple solution to a road being closed or unavailable - roadworks or an accident. [Though you would have thought the police might have picked that in a search?] This diverted them from their route and so Madruga turned because he HAD to, was struggling because he'd been taken of his route, but refused to let one of the others take over [Gary would have been the main option as he had a driving licence] so they just kept driving until they became lost. [No satnavs in those days or mobile phones]
Apparently there were maps in the glovebox, but the only one noted to be good with directions was Sterling, but that's assuming he could get hold of a map to read. If he wasn't in the front of the car and Madruga and whoever was in the passenger seat refused to pass him a map, there's not much he can do. [Maybe they thought they could follow road signs home] Another theory is the map he was reading was out of date, but there's no evidence of that.
Of course this all hangs on Sterling [and the others] being able to keep calm now they were lost and away from their routine.
We'll leave that for now and think of another way this could happen. After all the only real thing we know about the car is that it must have been driven. Despite evidence and statements saying Madruga wouldn't let anyone else drive his car, that wouldn't work if he was, say, injured or unwell? After a night of high excitement followed by junk food they brought at a shop, maybe he felt ill [this is pure speculation, I must add] and someone else took over?
In this case I'm thinking it was Gary because he was the only one with a drivers licence. [Even if they could drive in theory, I doubt the others would want to break the law] So it's him driving. Maybe with Sterling directing while the others are in the back with Madruga trying to keep him calm. [This may explain the milk they brought. Milk sometimes helps with nausea]
Another option is he feels so ill he can't drive and so - with extreme reluctance - let's Gary drive on the condition that Madruga directs him. But he's not feeling well and gets confused and he's not able to concentrate as well as he usually can, so they end up going completely the wrong way.
Maybe at some point either Gary [who had friends near where they ended up] or Sterling recognised the area. [He'd been there once with his dad for a fishing trip.] Depending on how his memory worked - I'm autistic and have a good memory for layouts - maybe he thought he could direct them to where he remembered being. However it was snowy, with low visibility and so they hit a snow bank.
Now I myself skidded on snow once. That was in daylight and I lost control of the car for a little while and ended up gently bumping a kerb. I was shaken and had to phone family for advice as I was panicking from the shock.
They were in [presumed] darkness and had just hit a snow bank. I imagine they [at least one of them] would get out the car to see what they'd hit and how bad it was.
Now this is where things change a bit. There was already a guy on that road. Joseph Schons. He was in his own car, having gone to clear snow, and was currently suffering a heart attack. He saw lights and - not unreasonably - called out for help.
If I was in that situation - worried because I was late home, lost and had just hit a snow bank and had no phone to call anyone for help - and THEN I heard a vague: "Help!" [or just random moans, who knows how it sounded to them?] coming out the darkness, my first thought would not be: 'Oh, I'd better go see what that is' It would be 'Oh my god, there's something out there!' or something similar.
Maybe one of them panicked and ran and the others simply followed him. Maybe all of them ran, but two went in different directions to the other three? [I should add Schons says he also saw a group of men and a woman holding a baby. One of the boys did have hair that could be viewed as a woman's in the dark. Either that or it's a separate sighting. He also says the flashlights approached the car then went away after he called out. If it was the boys maybe they thought he was dead and they should prioritise themselves or - more likely - Schons created a false memory because he was having a heart attack at the time!]
Anyway, depending on if Madruga was ill or not I have a few theories on what could have happened to them:
Theory one where he's not ill. Simply the yelling scared them and they ran. If one of the boys was in the car waiting with the window down [Maybe it was down for air or just simply so they could communicate better] then maybe he ran after them to without putting the window up or locking the car.
By the time the boys have calmed down they've been running for a while and realise they need to get back to the car. Trouble is none of them were paying attention when they ran and so now they're lost.
"That's fine." One of them says. "We'll split up. Sterling and Madruga go that way and the rest of us will go this way. If we find shelter or the car we'll come and find you."
So they split. [Doing the pairings that way would also give each group one army person each.]
However, as previously mentioned, it's very very cold and the boys weren't dressed for cold, they were dressed for an indoor basketball game, so Madruga and Sterling soon freeze to death. [Their bones were discovered on June 6th. It's assumed hypothermia, but not proven.]
Theory two, where Madruga is ill. If he was, it's not really that different from above. Sloane calls out, the group panics, they take Madruga from the car where they'd left the window down for fresh air because they don't want to leave him with whatever's in the woods. They leave the window down either through panic or maybe reasoning that if when they get back the door has frozen they can try and get into the car via the window.
They take Madruga and try to find shelter, a home, anything. [If they're carrying him with one arm/leg each that might account for four sets of tracks leading away from the car when their should have been five if they were all walking.] Or maybe one was carrying him on their back? [They were fit active men after all. Gary may have tried carrying him, or Ted perhaps? His family say he would help anyone in need and he looks strong enough.]
Sadly they go the wrong way or it's simply to long outside in the elements and Madruga dies. Perhaps by that point Sterling is also ill - or simply refuses to leave him - and so the others are forced to leave them behind. [This doesn't explain why Madruga was found holding his watch though. If he wasn't ill he could have been trying to navigate with it, or even just keeping track of how long they'd been out there so they could tell someone if they were found.]
There are now three. Either Huett died on route or they all made it to the trailer. Mathias broke a window to get in [Weiner wouldn't do anything 'against the law' and I'm not sure if Huett would either. The ex-army man seems more likely] and opened the cans of food using the army can opener. They now decide they've got to stay there until found.
Weiher's feet are frost bitten - turning gangrene - he can't move on his own. He was found in the trailer wrapped up in a shroud [including his head] having starved to death.
If it's Mathias on his own, that still doesn't change much because he could use the army can opener to open the cans of food and feed Weiner himself if necessary. I'm not sure if the trick of melting snow for water is a common sense thing or a trick they teach in the army. [I myself never thought of that in an emergency situation until someone pointed it out to me]. If it was common sense then apparently that was an area Weiher struggled with, so I think he would need someone to either point it our to him or do it for him. [Or at least show him what to do once. There was no fire lit though.]
Apparently Weiher was there between 8-13 weeks. [So the coroner came to the conclusion. I'm assuming the cold would help preserve him body, but the coroner should have taken that into consideration. Then again it was the seventies. Even if he was only there a month someone must have been bringing him water at least because you can't last long without that.] If he was on his own and he knew what to do he could have melted his own water, going out into the snow until his feet got to frostbitten to move. However going on what his family said about him and the fact that he was wrapped in a way that indicates someone else wrapped him up after he'd died I'm leaning towards one other person being there at least.
Eventually Mathias has an episode. Maybe he thinks people are after them. Maybe he thinks he can help his friends. Maybe he can hear them, who knows? So he leaves, but bundles Weiher in the sheets before he goes. [His head was covered as well, so maybe he'd died before and this left to the break or he was near death and Mathias thought he'd put him out his misery - starving to death can't be a fun way to die after all - or in his break Mathias simply didn't realise the implications of what he was doing. He switched shoes with Weiher to protect his own frostbitten feet.]
Mathias then wondered out into the snow and soon froze to death. Unlike his friends he was never found either because animals spread his remains further or maybe he fell through a snow bank and into a hole. [Apparently snow bank were so that you could fall straight through and fall many feet down.]
That's assuming it was Mathias helping Weiher though. It may not have been. Mathias might have had his break earlier during the first week before they found shelter and dies that way. Or maybe all three made it to the cabin and Mathias had his break there. Up until then he's been opening the food for everyone and without him Huett didn't know how to use it or what to do. So Huett leaves to either try and find food outside [this way it wouldn't be 'stealing'] or - ideally - Mathias to bring him back. Could explain the shoes. Either Gary had his break, took his shoes off and Huett took Weiher's to go and look for him. Either to put them on his own feet or with the idea of getting Gary to wear them if his own feet were bad.
Either way at some point Weiher is alone and dies.
A third option and the one I'll end with, is that all three of them reached the cabin and it was Weiher who broke the window to get it. [Unlikely as he, according to his family, had little common sense.] Or the window was broken already. After all it's not breaking in if the window is already broken, is it?
They find a can opener and use it to open the cans. The others could have been taught by Mathias to use the can opener. [After all they'd have to pass the time somehow: "Hey, Weiher, look at this." [demonstrates can] "You can use this to open the food." "Isn't that stealing?" "Nah, not in this situation. And if anyone questions it, just blame me."
Either Mathias taught them the trick of melting snow or one of them figured it out. Read it in a book maybe, Or maybe some instinct kicked in telling them that's what to do.
If Weiher was on his own maybe that would explain both why he lasted so long and why his feet got so bad. He was going out in the snow everyday to melt water, only stopping when he physically couldn't move anymore. From there, he dies quickly. [If he did that 'tunnelling' thing people are known to do when they did, could that explain the sheets? I'm guessing not as he'd still need to wrap them around his head? And that doesn't cover his arms being placed across his chest like a mummy.]
All of the above discounts the somewhat popular theory that a third party was involved and forced them to drive to the mountains. [I wonder if that would even work? There were five of them already. Would the car seat six? If the third party followed behind in their own car what was stopping the boys driving home? To a police station? Or even the disabled centre they all met at? Anywhere that wasn't a mountain.]
In the same vein, another idea is that the boys ran into trouble with someone who had a problem with one of them and Gary got involved and stood up for his friends before being killed for his troubles. Though that is really speculation at this point. [though it would explain there being four sets of footprints and also Gary's shoes maybe being taken as a keepsake or something. In that case the third party could have taken Gary's place in the car and forced the boys to drive up the mountain. Though the perpetrator would need another car to get away, unless they fancied walking.]
I personally think it's more likely that whatever happened happened within the group. Which brings me onto the next popular theory.
Gary had a schizophrenic break and forced the rest of the boys to drive up the mountain. A few people [including the sister of one of the other boys] say they saw Gary afterwards, but would a break make him convince his friends to deviate far from their routines to go to a random mountain then get out and walk to their deaths? I doubt that. It's more likely a break would occur after several days/weeks without medicine and would involve him hearing voices or seeing hallucinations which might have made him try to go for help.
There were also a few questions that the reporter Cynthia asked during the documentary on Netflix.
Why not open the second locker of food? [The first had been opened]
My theory - It wasn't opened at first because they were using food from the first locker, which I think Mathias was opening. By the time they needed to open the second one either he'd had a break of some kind and left or Ted simply couldn't open it. Ted also -according to his family - wouldn't have done anything that could be construed as 'stealing' Maybe he convinced Mathias to leave the food from the first locker alone at first until a few days/weeks in Mathias overrules him.
Why do you not turn the heat on?
Simple - you don't know how it works. I had to have my parents explain how radiators worked when I was younger. Starving and freezing in the middle of a forest is not the best time to be figuring out new stuff. It should be noted that Ted's family say he'd never know how to work a propane heater, so it would be down to Huett if he made it or Matthias.
There were also wood and matches, but they'd already broke in maybe they were worried about being prosecuted even further? Or they just didn't want to start a fire in a trailer. After all if it did start a wider fire it's not like Ted could run out. [Or even hobble out by the end.]
Final one - Why do you lie in a bed covered in sheets as if someone was caring for you for weeks?
I think someone was caring for Ted. Either Mathias or Huett. Until they died. Or if Ted was having to fend for himself he might have though the bed was better than the floor then bundles himself up for warmth. Maybe of he wrapped himself up he could imagine he was home. Then see above about tunnelling.
As you may have guessed by the amount of 'well they could of, if they did this' ext, the only really known thing about this case is that three out of five of the boys froze to death [it can be reasonably assumed] and the other definitely starved. The main thing people are stuck on is 'why were they even up there in the first place!?' Hopefully my theory might make some sense, though i realise it comes to late for the five families, and certainly for the five young men - all under 35 - who were passionate basketball players, nice, kind-hearted young men who died way before their time.
