Book explores what happened to Yuba County men

CHICO — When five young men, four of whom had mild intellectual disabilities and one with schizophrenia, disappeared into Plumas National Forest in February 1978 some people dismissed the case as “five retarded men who got lost in the forest.”

Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Jackie Huett, Bill Sterling and Gary Mathias were all friends and lived in Yuba County. They attended a basketball game at Chico State to see their favorite team, the UC Davis Aggies, play in a championship game against Chico State. They left the game around 10 p.m. and never came home. What happened to them has been a mystery for 46 years. Madruga’s Mercury Montego was found abandoned on a snowy road.

Author and archivist Tony Wright wrote a book published early in 2024 called “Things Aren’t Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five.” He became interested in the case after watching a YouTube show about it and began a quest to tell the real story about who the men were.

Wright

The case has garnered national and international interest and podcasts and shows have been created. Law enforcement has been baffled about it for years. Wright talked to some of the men’s family members and conducted lots of research.

Wright said the men were friends and had taken trips such as this before without any incident.

Mathias’ body was never found and the case was never solved. No one knew why the men, who knew the area well, had ended up in the forest miles away from home in the middle of winter wearing light clothing. About four months after they vanished, four of the five men’s remains were found about 12 miles from the car and one was discovered in a United States Forest Service trailer with enough food and fuel to keep the men alive for months, according to the book.

Mathias was a patient in psychiatric hospitals during the early 1970s and Sterling was institutionalized at times during the 1960s, said Wright.

Wright is the author of four comic books and a graphic novel. This book is his first true crime book.

“The story was incredibly heartbreaking but eerie. It was a mystery that caught my attention and I wanted to know more about the five and why they vanished. The videos I watched and podcasts I listen to from 2018 until 2019 told a story but not a complete story. I knew there was more to them as people and the case,” Wright wrote in an email.

Wright reached out to a bunch of mental health professionals to get their thoughts, but no one returned his calls or emails.

“I decided to read medical journals, reports, and articles from the 1960s/1970s to the present about disabilities and mental illness, especially schizophrenia. They were excellent resources for understanding treatments at the time and how people perceived mental illness and disabilities,” Wright said.

He researched the case in many different ways.

“I also watched numerous YouTube videos created by people living on the autism spectrum and those living with schizophrenia. It was beyond helpful and gave me a glimpse into their everyday lives. I also tried reaching out to the YouTube creators, but they too did not respond to my messages,” Wright said.

His goal was to tell the story about the men and who they really were.

“I wanted people to know who the five were as individuals and as a group of friends. I wanted people to know more about them and what happened. It is important to examine the lives of the five, their disappearance, and the investigation,” Wright said in an email.

Mental illness and intellectual disabilities were not as understood and discussed in the 1970s, according to Wright’s book.

Wright wrote that Mathias had been taking medicine for the schizophrenia and “was doing a good job taking care of himself.” He said the other four men had part-time jobs and were “productive in the community.”

Wright said he thinks someone took advantage of the men because of their disabilities.

“They were sociable men who were easily manipulated,” Wright said. “People with disabilities and mental illness have a higher risk of being victims of a crime.”

Wright said Mathias had gotten into a fight with another man at a party in 1978 and there could have been some bad blood and perhaps someone had a dislike for one of the men. He said there was no solid evidence about this theory though.

Wright said mental illness and disabilities are more commonly talked about and understood today.

“I do believe we have a better understanding of mental illness and disabilities in this day and age,” he said.

Dallas Weiher Jr. was 11 years old in February 1978 when his uncle Ted Weiher and the other men disappeared. He is grateful to Wright for writing the book.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Weiher said. “Everything covered up will get uncovered. My belief is when the perpetrator comes out and tells the story, that’s how we will finally know.”

He remembers his uncle fondly.

“My uncle Ted was a teddy bear,” he said. “I think the boys were running out of fear. They may have been threatened and told their families would be hurt if they didn’t do what they were told. They were simple minded in a lot of ways.”

Weiher said his uncle was very innocent.

“He wanted to have a good time and enjoy himself. He was a man with a boy’s mind somewhat,” Weiher said. “He didn’t have logical skills. But he could function.”

Weiher has read Wright’s book and listened to some of the podcasts. He experienced “waves of emotion” and wept several times recalling what happened.

“He died in the trailer alone by himself. Someone lured them there and has not been punished yet,” Weiher said.

Weiher said he also cried when he heard his grandmother’s voice on the podcast pleading for the men’s safe return and had to pull his car over.

He hopes the book does well and he forgives whoever did this, but he said that person needs to receive punishment for their wrong doings.

Claudia Huett, who is married to Jackie Huett’s brother Tom Huett, has supported Wright from the beginning regarding the book. Wright interviewed her and her husband.

Tom Huett said people who reported the case before didn’t look at who they were and Wright did that.

“We wanted to tell the truth about who they were,” Claudia Huett said. “I’ve been an advocate for all of them. Each man was so much more than what was stated at the beginning of the book. People used the word ‘retard’ to describe them which I hate.”

Claudia Huett believes if the men were referred to as “five athletes it would have changed everything.”

Tom Huett also trusted Wright.

“People said five retards got lost in the mountains, whoop de do,” Tom Huett said. “It was discrimination. They worked their asses off. Each one had a job. People who didn’t have disabilities were jealous of them. They had communities and neighbors who supported them.”

If law enforcement had visited the trailers, he said, his “brother would be alive.”

Some people believe someone in the Yuba County area may have been responsible for the men’s disappearance.

Wright’s book is available on Amazon or can be purchased at  https://geniusbookpublishing.com/products/things-arent-right.