Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / The Mysterious Disappearance of Yuba County 5 - Part IV

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The Mysterious Disappearance of Yuba County 5 - Part IV · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Additionally, heavy forestry clothing, which could have provided warmth, remained
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  untouched in its storage location, while a dozen sea ration
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  cans from an external storage shed had been opened and
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  their contents consumed. A locker within the same shed, containing
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  a far greater variety of dehydrated foods sufficient to sustain
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  all five men for an entire year if needed, had
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  not been disturbed. Furthermore, another nearby shed contained a butane
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  tank with a valve that, if opened, could have supplied
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  fuel to the trailer's heating system. Why has relatives indicated
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  that his mental disability resulted in a lack of common sense.
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  For instance, he frequently questioned the necessity of stopping at
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  a stop sign. On one occasion, during a house fire,
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  he had to be forcibly removed from his bed while
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  the ceiling of his bedroom was ablaze, as he feared
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  that getting up would cause him to miss word. Additionally,
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  it became evident that Via was not alone in the trailer.
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  Matthias and possibly Hewett were also present. Matthias's tennis shoes
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  were found inside the trailer, and the sea rations had
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  been opened using a P. Thirty eight can opener, an
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  item familiar only to Matthias or Madruga from their military experience.
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  It is plausible that Matthias, whose feet may have been
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  swollen from frostbite, opted to wear VIA's shoes if he
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  had gone outside. The sheets covering VIA's body further indicated
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  that someone else had been with him, as his gangrenous
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  feet would have caused him too much pain to manage
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  the sheets on his own. Despite the knowledge that four
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  of the five men had perished in the Sierra, investigators
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  remained unable to fully elucidate the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
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  There was still no clear understanding of why the men
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  had been in that location. However, it was discovered that
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  Matthias had acquaintances in the small town of Forbestown, leading
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  police to speculate that the men might have taken a
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  wrong turn near Oraville while attempting to visit these friends
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  on their way home. Regardless of the reasons, the men
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  abandoned the Montego. Instead of retracing their route past the
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  lodge that Shons later returned to, they continued along the
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  road in the direction they had initially been traveling the
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  day prior to the disappearance of the men. A snow
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  cat operated by the United States Forest Service had traversed
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  the road in that direction to remove snow from the
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  trailer's roof, preventing its potential collapse. Authorities speculated that the
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  group might have chosen to follow the tracks left by
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  the snow cat, navigating through snow drifts measuring between four
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  to six feet, in the hope that they would lead
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  to nearby shelter. It is likely that Madruger and Sterling
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  succumbed to hypothermia approximately midway through their arduous journey to
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  the trailer, with Hewitt following shortly thereafter. It is believed
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  that upon locating the trailer, the other two individuals broke
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  a window to gain entry. As the trailer was locked,
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  they may have perceived it as private property and feared
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  legal repercussions for theft if they utilized any items found inside.
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  After Vaya's death or after Matthias assumed he had passed away,
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  he might have resolved to seek a return to civilization
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  through alternative routes, such as traversing overland. Although these five
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  men ranged in age from twenty four to thirty two,
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  their families, neighbors, and friends affectionately referred to them as boys.
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  Each of them had mild intellectual disabilities, yet they were
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  otherwise in good health. The group shared a common passion
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  for basketball, which brought them together at the Uber City
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  Vocational Rehabilitation Center, where they played for the Gateway Gators.
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  Theodore Weyer, known as Ted, was the eldest at thirty
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  two years old. He was sociable and enjoyed greeting passers by.
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  In February nineteen seventy eight, Ted was without a job,
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  although he had previously worked as a janitor. His family
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  noted that Ted sometimes struggled to grasp the gravity of
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  certain circumstances. For example, he once told his brother to
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  allow him to sleep while their home was engulfed in flames.
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  Jackie Hewitt, age twenty four, was Ted's closest friend. Due
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  to his inability to read, write, or use a phone,
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  Jackie depended heavily on his parents. Fortunately, Ted was always
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  available to assist him with these tasks when Jackie was
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  outside the home. Jack Madruger, at thirty, was the only
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  member of the group who owned a car and possessed
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  a driver's license. He was relatively self sufficient and demonstrated
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  a fair degree of Independence. Jack had completed high school
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  and served two years in the army. In addition to basketball,
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  he had a strong enthusiasm for cars and cherished his
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  Mercury Montego. Bill Stirling, aged twenty nine, was the closest
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  companion of Jack. He possessed a cheerful disposition and occasionally
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  exhibited excessive trust. For example, Jack's mother compelled him to
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  resign from his position as a dishwasher due to the
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  fact that his colleagues were pilfering money from him. Garry Matthias.
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  He is still missing and no clues as to what happened.