Book examines the `Yuba County Five'

New light is being brought to a 46-year-old cold case commonly referred to as the “Yuba County Five.”

Inspired by a series of true crime podcasts, author Tony Wright has dedicated the last four years to research, interviews, and documentation, compiling his findings into his new book “Things Aren't Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five.”

“I came across the Yuba County case for the first time around 2018,” said Wright. “The story was just coming back into the news for whatever reason because of true crime and other unsolved mystery podcasting. It just seemed to catch fire and I heard all these different takes and articles and thought, `wow, I want to read the book on this,' and there wasn't a book so I decided I would have to write one.”

“Things Aren't Right” explores the bizarre disappearance of five Yuba-Sutter residents: Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Huett and Gary Mathias. This close-knit group of friends left Yuba City on Feb. 24, 1978, to attend a basketball game in Chico and somehow never returned home. Madruga's beloved 1969 Mercury Montego was instead found four days later stuck on a snowcovered road in the Plumas National Forest some 75 miles in the wrong direction.

“A witness came forward at the same time with an incredible story of seeing the men that night in the Plumas National Forest,” explained Wright. “Four jurisdictions of law enforcement would investigate and search for the missing men. Psychics were brought in, and bizarre sightings of the five were reported from numerous people. They all led to dead ends which frustrated families and law enforcement.”