Yuba County Five

[ColyH]

I haven't seen a thread for this but it's a very strange case. To summarize a man in was in his car that was broken down and witnessed a car being followed by a pickup truck. After awhile the man realized no help was coming and began walking back to a store he had passed and came up to the car he had seen earlier. The car was completely abandoned so he kept on walking. Months later four of the five bodies were found but no one has ever figured out why they left their car and what caused them to wander so far away. There is more to the story at the link I have posted below.

'Bizarre as Hell': The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five

 

[Lilibet]

Bizarre indeed! Here are a couple more links. It sounds possible that their disabilities caused an inability to make reasonable decisions. But it doesn’t explain what Mr Shones saw that night.

Disappearance of Gary Mathias - Wikipedia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...351-89f3-26456a76a4fb/?utm_term=.5c2e92356637

 

[ColyH]

I read that the brother of one of the guys found dead say that he had no common sense and one time had to carry him out of a burning house. His brother's reason for not leaving the burning house is that he had to work the next day and needed his rest. It sounds likely that the person found in the house with supplies and propane available would probably not understand what to do.

I wonder if the flashlights that Joe Shones saw in the woods were the five guys and when he called out they got scared and turned off their flashlights.

 

[Lilibet]

I read that the brother of one of the guys found dead say that he had no common sense and one time had to carry him out of a burning house. His brother's reason for not leaving the burning house is that he had to work the next day and needed his rest. It sounds likely that the person found in the house with supplies and propane available would probably not understand what to do.

I wonder if the flashlights that Joe Shones saw in the woods were the five guys and when he called out they got scared and turned off their flashlights.

Yes, I think that account about the burning house is in one of the links I posted. So it wouldn’t surprise me if they heard Shones’ voice and thought they were in trouble and shut off their flashlights. Sad story.

 

[teedie2]

This is such a sad story, and creepy as can be. So many "whys," and the families will never know the answers. Makes you think ..

Thanks to all for posting about these five men.

 

[ColyH]

Was reading a blog called The Charley Project and one of the messages left on the blog stated that a theory was Joseph Shones had actually talked to the missing men and had sent them walking in the wrong direction to get help. After hearing about the men's disappearance Shones makes up stories about seeing flashlights in the woods and a group of men walking with a woman and baby hoping he won't be a suspect.

 

[Lilibet]

Was reading a blog called The Charley Project and one of the messages left on the blog stated that a theory was Joseph Shones had actually talked to the missing men and had sent them walking in the wrong direction to get help. After hearing about the men's disappearance Shones makes up stories about seeing flashlights in the woods and a group of men walking with a woman and baby hoping he won't be a suspect.

I kind of doubt that. He knew the area because he had a cabin up there, so I can’t imagine he would have sent them in the wrong direction. One of the articles said that Shones actually did have a heart attack. I’m more inclined to think he was delirious from pain. But I guess we’ll never know.

 

[Angleterre]

CA - CA - Gary Mathias, 25, Oroville, 24 Feb 1978
Mathias is believed to have Murdered the other 4 vulnerable young men who had some mild to moderate learning difficulties. It is named ‘The American Dylatov Pass’. There are many MSM links but this is the original WS link

 

[ColyH]

I know that Gary Mathias had some behavioral issues in the past but that was when he was off medication and he had been good in the last couple of years taking his medication. It could be possible he didn't take his medication, started acting up and scared the other four which caused them to leave the car. When the other four were out of the car that's when everything went wrong.

 

[mrz]

Great look into this case..
crimejunkiepodcast.com › mysterious-death-yuba-coun...
21 hours ago - My name is Ashley Flowers and I'm a Junkie, too. I've been crime-obsessed since birth and the only thing I love more than true crime is my dog, ...

 

[AlexanderNunn]

Thanks for the cases. I needed it for my practice.

 

[ColyH]

What do people here thing of the phone calls that Debby Lynn Reese received from a man claiming he knew where the five guys were?

 

[PavlaHol]

THere are a number of videos (more like podcasts) on YouTube on the five men from Yuba county, which are very informative, but contradict each other in a few aspects. Of course it's not easy to put together a true account of a case after being cold for four decades. But I still think we should try! The case is still unsolved, plus, one of the men, Gary Matthias, has been missing ever since and some people suspect him of being responsible for the death of his 4 friends. If we could find out what happened, we could either clear his name or confirm his involvement, give answers and closure to the families and close this case once and for all.
I am surprised there isn't much talk about this case here on Websleuths, because it really is a baffling mystery involving not one, not two but five families and the community the deceased men were involved in.
And since the case is quite old, I think we can't waste any more time in trying to solve it. Not because the perp might still be alive - punishment is probably beside the point after such a long time - but because we might not be able to crack it at all if we wait another year or a decade.
So who is with me on this one? I want to gather facts, map the boys' movement minute after minute, create charts and maps using some colaborative software, discuss theories.
Remember Luke Magnotta - how the case was basically solved via internet by websleuths? I believe we can use the power of the internet again and solve this case too.
Please join me - if at least two (but I hope a lot more!!!!) people want to do this, we can setup some workspace and start the work.

 

[ColyH]

Here is a map that describes their journey that night. They were headed south from Chico when instead of staying on Rt. 99 they took the left fork on to Rt. 70 then took another left in the Oroville area where they headed up into the wilderness.

 

[samsmom]

Gray Hughes covers this case

Yuba County Five - What Happened?

Yuba County Five - What Happened?"The Yuba County Five were a group of young men from Yuba City, California, with mild intellectual disabilities or psychiatr...

www.youtube.com

 

[doggybag2355]

Butte County doesn't have many does, these are the closest matches I've found to Mathias though, which unfortunately are still very far away:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) Reasonable to think he could have fallen in the water and drifted down stream, however the PMI and age are off.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) Found near Berry Creek, however details and circumstances don't match, location is a good distance from where bodies were found.

 

[TwoLea]

I was visiting and happened to drive from Chico to Bald Rock yesterday, along much of their route. Having taken that trip makes this case even more perplexing to me. It is SUCH a winding road with little to nothing as far as towns or civilization for miles and miles, with Lake Oroville on one side for much of the way. You can't drive super fast on the road itself because it's so winding. It doesn't seem like you're getting anywhere, and wherever you're going, you are coming back the same way because there are only roads in and out, not any other options.

I will say the turn to Forbestown is VERY VERY easy to miss today until you're right upon it .

I'd read rumors of the missing man having been tossed off the Oroville Dam. That would not be at all possible, with the way the water flow is set up.


I just canNOT understand this case. How and why they got there, what they did, and how they got even further away and perished. I'm even more baffled having seen the route they took.

 

[phcrider]

Could it be someone moved the car to the snow bank to make it look like it had gotten stuck and to throw investigators off by 20 miles?? LE has said the car could have easily been pushed out of that snow bank so I don’t find it believable they were stuck there. Either there was another party involved and it happened that 2 got away to the trailer or Matthias is the perp but I don’t think so. And if there was a perp what was the motive??

 

[dotr]

Lengthy article By Brianna Morris-Grant Posted 18h ago

'They didn't come home': Five men disappeared in 1978. What happened to them has never been explained

Four bodies, a remote cabin, and a man starved to death next to a locker stacked with food — almost half a century later, investigators remain searching for answers.

www.abc.net.au

''Investigators at the time speculated the group had become lost in the snow and suffered from "around the corner syndrome" due to snow vehicle tracks in the snow from days prior.

"They may have thought, 'the tracks have to go somewhere' ... just around the corner," Officer Ayers told UPI.

Other detectives said they may have "just got tired and wanted to lay down". But the families insisted they would have either stayed in the car "to keep warm" or walked downhill, where there was a mountain lodge.

Melba Madruga said: "I'm positive he never went up there on his own.

"He was either tricked or threatened."

A Yuba County Sheriff's Department letter dated mid-October 2020 — made public via a records request in October 2023 — ruled Gary Mathias is believed to be "a victim of foul play".

"This case remains open as a missing person/homicide case," Sheriff-Coroner Wendell Anderson wrote. ''

 

[Oculus]

I recently watched this two-parter. I think it sums up the case pretty good.