Things Aren't Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five

Join Tony Wright as he talks to us about his true crime book "Things Aren't Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five".

This event explores the bizarre and tragic 1978 disappearance of Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Huett, and Gary Mathias in the Plumas National Forest in Northern California. Four of these men had intellectual disabilities while one was diagnosed with schizophrenia. On Friday February 24, 1978, they left the Yuba County, California area in Madruga's 1969 Mercury Montego to attend a basketball game in Chico, California. Four days later the car they were traveling in was found abandoned on a snow-covered road in the mountains of the Plumas National Forest, some 75 miles in the wrong direction from home. Forty years later, their case was brought back to life by the true crime community.

Once described as ‘bizarre as hell’, the case of the Yuba County Five has baffled law enforcement and the families of the missing men for over 45 years. Tony has meticulously researched this case, earning himself the reputation of being one of the foremost authorities on the subject, and his conclusions are likely as close as anyone will come to making sense of this tragedy.

He will discuss how he discovered the case and worked with the families to tell the stories of the five men. He will also discuss his personal research for developing an ethical true crime book. Finally, he will explore the theories behind their disappearance and how the case returned to the spotlight after 40 years.