The Missing Woman of Shoshone National Forest

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Lock in for kickoff, because everyone and everything is on PrizePix. What you want? Download the app today and use code SPOTIFY to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. PrizePix. Run your game. Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at BJ's.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's. Home of the save. In today's episode, we're starting in Wyoming where a woman's car was found abandoned on a remote mountain road. At first, it looked like she had just vanished during a routine run, but the closer investigators looked, the more they wondered if the scene had been staged. Then we're heading to Northern California where five friends left a basketball game, then somehow ended up in the deep snowy wilderness, and then somehow walked away from a perfectly working car. Like, what is that? So listen on if you dare, and I also, dare you to hit the follow button. It really helps our standing with Spotify, and it only takes about two seconds. So please do that. And thank you so much for your support. Here we go. So I didn't think that I had to say this, but apparently I do. You should never go into the Wyoming wilderness alone. And if you need a good reason, let me tell you about when 24-year-old Amy Bechtel learned that lesson the hard way. On July 25th, 1997, at one in the morning, Amy's friends found her car abandoned on a remote mountain road in Shoshone National Forest. The doors were unlocked. Her keys, sunglasses, and handwritten notes were sitting inside the car. But Amy, well, she was nowhere to be found. And as strange as that sounds, the scene at first appeared to explain everything. Amy was an elite runner who was training for a race, and it looked like she had simply just parked and then headed into the wilderness for a run. And then. hadn't returned for some reason. But when the authorities arrived and began searching the area, they started to ask a far more disturbing question. Had Amy actually disappeared during a run, or had someone carefully arranged the scene to make it look that way? A strange vehicle had been seen nearby. Witnesses gave conflicting accounts of Amy's moments before her run. And when her husband finally reported her missing, he opened that 911 call in a very bizarre way. A way that left investigators wondering what really happened that night way out in the Wyoming wilderness. Amy was born on August 4th, 1972 in Santa Barbara, California. She was the youngest of four siblings, and she grew up in the town of Jackson, Wyoming, where she became an incredibly kind and driven person. Amy's determination showed up early in her life. For example, when she joined her high school track team, she wasn't like a naturally talented runner, but she worked harder than almost everyone else. And by the time that she graduated, she had become one of the team's best runners. And she took that same determination to the University of Wyoming, where she convinced the cross country coach to let her join the team without a scholarship. By the end of college, she would certainly have proved herself. She earned a partial scholarship, and she still holds the school's indoor 3000 meter record, which is an incredible achievement. Now, despite everything she accomplished in her athletic career during college, the most important moment of her college career came in December of 1991, because that's when Amy met someone who would go on to change her life forever. This was, of course, Steve Bechtel. Steve was a fellow student and also a pretty serious rock climber, and him and Amy quickly fell in love. They were both drawn to the outdoors, and they were always looking for their next adventure. And after graduating, they got married and settled in Lander, Wyoming, the perfect place for people who loved climbing and running, hiking, all the outdoor stuff, right? They worked part-time jobs and then spent the rest of their free time outside in the mountains. And eventually, Amy set her biggest goal yet, which was qualifying for the 2000 Olympic marathon trials, which is like super impressive. I mean, it's very obvious that Amy believed she could do just about anything, right? And then in July of 1997, Amy and Steve, Amy and Steve bought their first home, and it really seemed like the beginning of like their happily ever after, you know? But that was not to be the case, because just three days after they bought that house, their love story took a horrifying turn. On July 24th, 1997, Amy woke up ready for what she expected to be a pretty busy day. She and Steve both had the day off, but neither one of them was the type to just sit around and do nothing. I think I made that pretty clear. And so at around 9:30 in the morning, Amy told Steve that she was leaving to go teach a weightlifting class at the Wind River Fitness Center. And then after the class, she planned to run several errands. She'd originally intended to drive 185 miles north to Powell, Wyoming to pick up some furniture from her parents' house, but she'd called her mother the night before to apparently postpone that trip. And honestly, looking at everything else she had planned for this day, it's easy to see why there just wasn't enough time. Since the couple had just bought their first home, Amy needed to set up utilities, arrange phone service, and handle all of those little details that come with moving and owning a home, as many of you know. And in addition to all that stuff, if everything stayed on schedule that day, of course, Amy also planned to drive into Shoshone National Forest to train for a 10K race that she was helping organize. And so clearly this was a very ambitious itinerary for one day, but that's exactly how Amy liked to live, right? Again, Steve also had the day off from work. And so he had plans to drive roughly 70 miles north of their house where he and a friend named Sam Lightner Jr. wanted to scout a rock formation they had been hoping to climb. So they kind of had their separate plans for the day. And at approximately 2:30 PM, Amy stopped at a store called The Camera Connection in downtown Lander to drop off some photos. Add that to the list for the day. And during this stop, an employee noticed that she was acting like a little bit weird. Like she was frequently checking her watch while in the middle of their conversation. She was dressed in running clothes and she was clearly moving nonstop from one errand to another. After spending a few stressed minutes in the store, Amy quickly left out the back door, apparently. Now from the accounts that I've read, it's possible that Amy was in a hurry to work to leave the camera store so that she could finally get up into the mountains and go for her run. Again, Amy had been training for a 10K hill climb race that was going to take place along Loop Road in Shoshone National Forest. And Amy never specifically told Steve that she planned to go for a run that afternoon, but to him, there was nothing unusual about this at all. Running was simply a part of her everyday routine. And Steve said that Amy telling him that she was going to go for a run, quote, would have been like telling me she was going to brush her teeth. It was just an ordinary part of her day, so ordinary that he didn't even think it was worth mentioning. However, looking back now, I wonder if Steve wishes that maybe she had, because if she had, well, maybe things would have ended up a little different, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So Amy wasn't planning like a crazy long run that afternoon. She had been battling some painful shin splints. I know some of you know what that feels like. And so the workout was meant to be relatively quick and easy. Her plan was pretty simple. She was going to drive along Loop Road, use her car's odometer to measure the race course. Again, she was involved with the planning and the organizing of this race. And then she was going to park her car, go for the short run and then head home in time for dinner with her husband, Steve. And so she was driving along the road and eventually she reached an area near where the final stretch of the race would be called Fry Lake. And that's where she parked her car and then set off on foot, presumably. Now to go back to Steve for a second, again, he was supposed to go on this like climbing, scouting trip with Sam, but eventually they decided to abandon this trip because the approach was becoming more difficult than they were expecting. And there were even some dark storm clouds beginning to gather overhead. And so they called it a day early and headed for home. At roughly 4:30 PM, p.m., Steve pulled into the driveway and things were quiet. In fact, probably a little bit too quiet. Amy's car wasn't there where he expected it to be. It looked like she hadn't arrived home yet. And in hindsight, it would be very easy for me to play this up as an eerie moment and wave my arms around a bunch. But the truth is that Amy's absence didn't immediately raise any alarms to Steve. There had been multiple times in the past where she had simply lost track of time when she was outdoors. And so Steve had no reason to believe that anything was wrong. I mean, he fully expected her to walk through that door just about any minute. But then those minutes, well, they turned into hours. And as moonlight began to shine over the wilderness of Wyoming, Steve started to realize that something was very, very wrong. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile with your summer price forecast. Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you 100 percent. Now, over here at Mint. At Mint Mobile, we're seeing sunny skies and dropping prices every plan to just $15 a month. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Show button here. What you want? PrizePix. Run your game. Hank joined BJ's Wholesale Club the day he became a father of 30. I coach football. Now, Coach Hank saves up to 25% off grocery store prices. 30 pounds of pasta. Three cases of protein bars. 75 sports drinks. And that's just pregame. He knows teamwork. And BJ's knows savings. This is your home, Coach. Home of the Save. Open soon. Limited time offer. New members only. BJ's. Home of the Save. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. For the first time ever, Texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings. It's called Free Nights in Cool Summer. You get free nights every night. All year long. Plus, a 25% bonus toward your daytime use all summer. It's a first-of-its-kind plan created for how Texans actually use energy. Discover how much more you could save with Free Nights in Cool Summer. TXU Energy. Energy for everything. Visit TXU.com for more information. Rep number 10004. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have eczema. So I get how it can steal your time. But why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Eclis? Eclis, labrakizumab LBKZ, a 250mg per 2ml injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40kg with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Eclis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to Eclis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or old Eclis. If you have worsening eye problems, you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Eclis. Before starting Eclis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lilly. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Eclis and visit Eclis.com or call 1-800-LILLY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. He began trying to think of any explanation as to where Amy might have been. You know, maybe she decided to actually drive to her parents' house after all. I mean, sure, it was 185. miles away and she had like a zillion other things to get done that day, but I don't know. Maybe she just really wanted to pick up that furniture for their new home. And so with this, this speculation, Steve called Amy's parents, but they hadn't seen her either. And so Steve quickly reminded himself that it would have been extremely unlike Amy to make a trip like that without telling him. Of course, right. At 7:00 PM, Amy and Steve's friends, the Skinners, stopped by to invite them to a movie. And they quickly noticed that Steve was extremely worried. And so he explained that Amy had gone out earlier in the day, possibly to go run and that she simply hadn't returned. Like, what the hell is that? He was obviously very worried at this point, but maybe still in denial a little bit. That's me editorializing, but that's kind of what it seems like because the Skinners actually offered to go help look for Amy. But Steve at this point suggested that they go ahead to the movie, you know, by themselves. And he would stay back in case Amy walked through the door. But later that night, after the movie, the Skinners came back right around 10:30 PM. And when they talked to Steve, it was very clear that he was like in full panic mode by this point, Amy still hadn't come home and there was no denying it. At this point, everyone agreed that something was seriously, seriously wrong. And so the Skinners again offered to begin searching. And this time Steve took them up on that and Steve stayed behind. Just in case once again, Amy actually returned. And it was at this point that Steve finally made the phone call that he'd been dreading all evening. He picked up the phone, he dialed 911 so that he could report his wife missing like, oh man, like obviously that call would be incredibly difficult for anyone to make. But as we're soon going to find out the way that Steve reported his wife's disappearance, well, it immediately stood out to investigators. I don't know how else to say it. So Steve Bechtel picked up the phone to call 911 to report his wife missing. And when he did this, I don't know, again, I wasn't on the phone obviously, but it was very strange. Steve apparently said like right at the beginning of the call, quote, Hey, this is Steve Bechtel calling, I'm missing a person. And I'm wondering if you maybe have an extra, which like, I mean, that's actually kind of funny, but remember like his wife was missing here. He was literally calling to report her missing. Like, is that really the situation to make a joke? I mean, I don't know. I've never been in that position, but like that's weird, right? Steve's behavior on this phone call would eventually end up under the microscope. But at that moment, word was quickly spreading among law enforcement that a woman was missing in the Wyoming wilderness. And at the same time, the Skinners were driving in the pitch black darkness along Loop Road. They peered through their windshield at the dense wilderness. On the roadside, hoping to find any sign of life of their dear friend. And just when they were ready to give up in frustration, their headlights suddenly shined over the outline of a familiar shape. They kind of squinted at the mysterious shadow and let their eyes focus on exactly what they were looking at. And then their stomachs dropped and perhaps their hearts skipped a beat because they both realized that what they were looking at was a white woman. white Toyota station wagon parked in a turnout at Burnt Gulch, which is a long way of saying they had found Amy's car. The Skinners pulled over immediately, expecting and hoping to find Amy somewhere nearby, but instead they were greeted with this unsettling silence. The car was completely abandoned, essentially. I mean, the doors were unlocked, which might sound weird, but that's not incredibly unusual in this remote part of Wyoming, and everything inside the car appeared remarkably normal. Amy's $120 sunglasses were on the passenger seat next to her handwritten to-do list, and her car keys were even sitting right there, too. The only obvious item missing was her wallet, but other than that, there was no apparent sign of a struggle, no broken glass, no sign of a robbery. The scene they found at Amy's car almost seemed to be a little bit more than just a little bit of a struggle. It seemed, like, too perfect. Almost like, you know, she clearly ran into the wilderness and then clearly disappeared all by herself. But of course, as most of you know, sometimes it's the clearest crime scenes that should ultimately raise the biggest red flags. Around one in the morning, authorities called Steve to tell him that they had found Amy's car, and that's when Steve, like, really jumped into action. Steve and his friend Kirk Billings gathered lanterns, a sleeping bag, and some matches, other supplies, before heading into the mountains themselves. And by the time that they arrived, flashlights were already sweeping through the trees, their beams cutting across tree trunks, and disappearing into the dense wilderness. Searchers moved through the darkness, calling out Amy's name, and then kind of pausing after each shout in hopes of hearing a reply. Like, maybe she was injured somewhere and just couldn't walk out on her own. But. Amy never called back. They didn't hear any shouts. They didn't hear, really, anything at all. As the hours passed, more and more friends would join the effort. Well before sunrise, and well before any, like, professional search teams reached the scene, a dozen volunteers combed through the forest, convinced, again, that they were looking for just a runner who had simply encountered some bad luck. I mean, maybe she had twisted an ankle, or maybe became disoriented in the dark, or even been forced to walk. And so, as the hours passed, more and more friends would join the effort. off the trail by a bear or something like that. They also continued to search all around the vehicle, and when they did this something else caught their attention it was clear that rain had fallen earlier that day and it appeared that the rain may have washed away any trace of amy but still there was hope at this point steve's friend kirk said that he simply quote expected her to come stumbling out of the woods but the hours continued to pass and they weren't finding any sign of amy and slowly any bit of optimism that kirk or steve or anyone had well it was slowly starting to disappear and it was becoming clear that amy was not going to be easy to find whatsoever and um this early hunch well it was right by the time the sun came up the next day on july 25th authorities had launched a full-scale search operation fremont county search and rescue helped to bring out search dogs they also brought out experienced climbers you tvs even helicopters equipped with thermal imaging and they spread all across the rugged terrain surrounding loop road investigators also turned their attention to that handwritten to-do list found inside amy's car and this was a little bit significant because along with her long list of errands they found mile markers and landmarks that appeared to map the upcoming 10k course that she was out there working on and this was really important it almost felt like another clue that was was too useful because not many missing people leave behind a map that could potentially lead you right to them right and so search crews followed amy's planned route through the forest nearby drainages and even expanded the search area until they had covered nearly 30 square miles of wilderness and yet despite all of this they still found nothing no clothing no no signs of a struggle it turns out that amy hadn't really left behind a map after all and they were able to find a way to find it this was simply just another dead end five more grueling days passed since the day that amy had first disappeared and based on the complete lack of evidence investigators were starting to come to terms that this was not going to be a standard wilderness rescue case not even close they started to think that someone or something may have seriously hurt amy but by the time investigators started treating the area near loop road as like a crime scene things had already become contaminated i mean hundreds of volunteers had searched the area amy's car had been moved at this point and again the rain had washed over the scene any footprints or tracks or other valuable evidence were likely gone for five whole days everyone treated this as a rescue but now investigators realized that they might have destroyed their own crime scene the one they originally thought told a story that was maybe a little too obvious to be true as the search grew and investigators began to suspect amy hadn't simply gotten lost in the wilderness the fremont county sheriff's office brought in the fbi to provide additional manpower investigative expertise and specialized resources now i've covered a lot of stories and i gotta say that the fbi's involvement in this case is a little bit unusual in all my research i couldn't find if there was one single discovery that like prompted the fbi to join the search i don't know they just kind of jumped in pretty suddenly a few weeks after amy first disappeared sending over 20 different agents to lander and like i'm not an expert on this stuff but i've only seen the fbi step in if they like really believe that there was foul play of some kind you know not just on a normal like wilderness disappearance do you hear that that sound right that means that summer's officially here it means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon but this summer mint mobile has a better treat every plan including unlimited is fifteen dollars a month and unlike ice cream it won't uh drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture does anyone have any cash give it a try at mintmobile.com switch upfront payment of forty five dollars for three months ninety dollars for six months or one hundred eighty dollars for 12 month plan required fifteen dollars per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms show button here football is finally back and prize picks is going crazy with the deals to start the season giving out promos every day in september in september on prize picks you can make all the picks you want all in the same app and now prize picks is available nationwide so what are you waiting for lock in for kickoff because everyone and everything is on prize picks what you want download the app today and use code spotify to get 150 instantly in lineups if you win your first five dollar lineup prize picks run your game tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college that's why she shops at bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 percent off grocery store prices bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 percent off grocery store prices beef jerky microwave meals laundry pods even they can't screw up have you met my kids and with bj's gas she gets there for less they call me the road warrior this is your home road warrior mom home of the save join for just twenty dollars at bjs.com mesquite and save ten cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save this episode is brought to you by txu energy for the first time ever texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings it's called free nights and cool summer you get free nights every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use all summer it's a first of its kind plan created for how texans actually use energy discover how much more you could save with free nights and cool summer txu energy energy for everything visit txu.com for more information rep number one zero zero zero four hey it's kelly rowland you may not know this but i have eczema so i get how it can steal your time but why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about ebgliss ebgliss labrakizumab lbkz a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies ebgliss can be used with or without topical corticosteroids don't use if you are allergic to ebgliss allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebgliss before starting ebgliss tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection paid partnership with lily respect your time ask your doctor about ebgliss and visit ebgliss.com or call 1-800-lily-rx or 1-800-545-5979 but whatever their reasoning for coming all the way out to wyoming was their initial job was to reconstruct amy's final day minute by minute like who had she spoken to where had she gone leading up to the trail did anyone see anything unusual and at the same time amy's family refused to let the case fade from public attention yellow ribbons appeared all over town in her honor and missing person posters covered businesses and storefronts volunteers continued searching through the mountains in the hopes that an adventure loving person like amy was capable of surviving out there on her own and praying that she wouldn't simply disappear without leaving some kind of trace behind investigators retraced amy's final day by interviewing witnesses and of course by reviewing her to-do list and they were actually able to account for most of her day you know from teaching a fitness class to running errands and contacting the utility companies for her new home and they also confirmed that around 2 pm amy stopped at the camera connection right remember that it's an important part of her timeline but that's also where her timeline becomes just a little bit unclear now some reports say that amy seemed rushed and kept checking her watch and then others say that she appeared completely normal hell one account i read also said that she actually went upstairs from the camera store to another business called gallery 331 where the owner greg wagner specifically remembered her looking hurried and stressed out and it's possible that all these like slight variations of the same story are simply the results of years of online retellings and one big game of telephone kind of but they also leave a very important question and i am going out on a bit of a limb here but bear with me the question is was amy just in a hurry because she had so many things to get done on this day or was something or maybe even someone making her nervous and while we may not know for sure what happened in the camera store we do know where she was headed next once again amy had been mapping the course for that upcoming 10k on loop road and her notes supported that investigators originally believed that she parked her car and then went for a run and then vanished of course but once detected detectives started to suspect foul play more seriously they had to explore other possible theories like for instance was it actually amy who even parked the car there or maybe had someone else driven it to that spot in burnt gulch i mean the scene almost felt too perfect like the placement of the vehicle the clear notes and the to-do list left in plain sight and not to mention the location itself well all of those things painted the picture of like a very routine training i'm speculating here but if someone wanted investigators to believe that amy had just simply vanished into the wilderness it all might be exactly the kind of story that they'd want to create but that theory would be put to the test once witnesses started to tell investigators about what they saw that day on Loop Road. You see, as news of Amy's disappearance began to spread, witnesses started coming forward with reports that they had in fact seen a woman jogging along Loop Road that afternoon. And while investigators received numerous tips, one particular account stood out from all of the rest. This witness recalled seeing a lone female runner traveling along Loop Road between Sinks Canyon and South Pass, which is very near Burnt Gulch, where they found her car. This woman was reportedly wearing a yellow tank top, black shorts, a running watch, and Adidas shoes. And like, that's obviously a very normal running outfit. But this witness also remembered seeing another strange vehicle up that very same road. After the witness drove past this runner, who was presumably Amy, a powerful thunderstorm rolled into the mountains with like, remarkable speed. I'm talking heavy rain, lightning, and rapidly deteriorating visibility, which kind of transformed the landscape very fast. I'm talking within a matter of minutes. The conditions became so severe that the witness briefly considered like, pulling over to offer the runner a ride, but apparently he decided to just keep driving. And as he left the Loop Road area, he also recalled passing a greenish-gray van that was parked along the roadside. And at the time, he obviously didn't think that either sighting was particularly significant, but investigators were eager to determine whether that unidentified van had any connection to Amy's disappearance. But despite extensive efforts, they were never able to identify the van's owner or establish whether it even played any role in this case whatsoever. But even though this mysterious van didn't lead authorities directly to Amy, the witness was able to identify the van's owner, and he was able to find her. The witnesses' account appeared to support the theory that Amy did in fact go for a run on Loop Road that particular day. However, as often happens in these kinds of cases, unfortunately, as the investigation gained momentum and publicity, the growing number of tips that were coming in started to kind of like, muddy up the mystery more than they were actually helping. Authorities fielded reports of possible gunshots, even more suspicious vehicles, and even more alleged sightings of Amy. Nearly every single lead demanded their attention, but they largely failed to produce any like real answers, you know? Well, actually, that is until one very specific tip came in and, well, it basically shifted the investigation forever. A different witness reported seeing a blue pickup truck speeding down a remote road with a man behind the wheel and a young blonde woman in the passenger seat, a woman who might have resembled Amy. The witness said, Amy. And more importantly, the witness's description of the other driver forced investigators to shift their attention back to a person they had been quietly scrutinizing from the very beginning of this case. That would be Amy's husband, Steve. According to Steve's story, he was never driving with Amy up on Loop Road that particular day. He said that he had spent the day nearly 70 miles away with his friend Sam scouting climbing routes. In hell, Sam even predicted that Amy produced a gas receipt that he hoped would prove where both him and Steve had been, an alibi if you will. But one problem was that Steve and Sam had apparently driven separately, meaning that the gas receipt only would establish Sam's whereabouts and not Steve's. Investigators also questioned why the two would even drive separately to begin with if they were planning on climbing together. And although none of those details obviously proved that Steve had done anything wrong, they were just strange enough to keep detectives from fully eliminating him as a suspect. And as they looked more closely at his actions that day, they couldn't help but remember that bizarre 911 call Steve made when he first reported Amy missing. In addition to the strange joke that he opened up with, some investigators felt that Steve's voice sounded surprisingly calm and controlled for someone who just had their wife vanish, right? And actually, let me back up. We really can't forget that joke. Once again, when he opened the call, he said, quote, Hey, this is Steve Bechtel calling. I'm missing a person, and I'm wondering if you maybe have an extra. And like, again, I've never been in this situation, thank goodness. And everyone copes with stress in different ways. But I don't know. I just feel like there's a few moments where you really don't want someone cracking jokes. Like, for instance, your surgeon right before surgery, or your doctor right before surgery, or your doctor right before surgery, or your skydiving instructor right before jump, and definitely not while you're on a 911 phone call reporting your wife missing. Like, I don't know. It's weird. Detectives felt like Steve's attitude on the call contrasted with how his friends described him, you know, during the disappearance, like how he was visibly panicked that evening. And this only added yet another list of suspicious circumstances that slowly started to point in Steve's direction. And so as the pressure continued to build, Steve's attitude started to point in Steve's direction. Investigators brought Steve in for additional interviews and confronted him with the witness statements, all of the questions surrounding his timeline and his behavior on the phone. However, Steve continued to deny any involvement in Amy's disappearance. But then detectives uncovered a collection of journals that were, well, extremely disturbing, we'll say. Apparently, and like, I don't know, you can't make this stuff up, dude. Apparently, Steve's journals contained some violent themes that referred to women and even possibly referenced Amy. But when these journals were brought up to Steve, he insisted that investigators were misinterpreting them. And I don't know, maybe they were. He explained that the words were simply lyrics he had written for a metal band that he was in, and that they had nothing to do with his real life or his real thoughts or Amy's disappearance, obviously. And like, that's, definitely an interesting explanation. And like, I've listened to a good amount of metal music. So like, I get it. The lyrics can be like, have you ever listened to Cannibal Corpse? Like, go listen to that and you'll know what I'm talking about here. It's an interesting explanation on Steve's part, but detectives remain skeptical and very suspicious. During one interview, they even went as far as employing a common interrogation tactic, where they falsely told Steve that they had like, hard evidence proving that he had murdered Amy. And at this point, rather than continue the interview, Steve chose to end it, to walk out, and to retain an attorney. He also declined to take a polygraph test, which only furthered public speculation, right? And investigators later acknowledged that although they never truly developed enough evidence to charge Steve with a crime, they never stopped suspecting him. However, despite all of that, I have to defend Steve for a second here, and I'm going to say something that a lot of you probably were thinking as soon as I told you about Steve, you know, asking for a lawyer and stuff like that. While I myself am no lawyer, a lot of lawyers will tell you that it's actually quite smart to quit talking to police and to refuse a polygraph test if, you know, you're being investigated like this, even if you're innocent, right? Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you, 100%. Now, over here at Mint Mobile, we're seeing sunny skies and dropping prices every plan to just $15 a month. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12-month plan required. See terms. Show button here. Football is finally back, and PrizePix is going crazy with the deals to start the season, giving out promos every day in September. So, what are you waiting for? What you want? PrizePix, run your game. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's, home of the save. It's called Free Nights and Cool Summer. You get free nights every night, all year long, plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use all summer. It's a first of its kind plan, created for how Texans actually use energy. Discover how much more you could save with Free Nights and Cool Summer. TXU Energy, energy for everything. Visit txu.com for more information, rep number 10004. You may not know this, but I have eczema, so I get how it can steal your time. So why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Epglis? Epglis, labrakizumab LBKZ, a 250 mg per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids don't use if you are allergic to ebglis allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis before starting ebglis tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection paid partnership with lily respect your time ask your doctor about ebglis and visit ebglis.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX or 1-800-545-5979 in fact polygraphs are rarely if ever accepted as real evidence at least in the u.s and i mean any lawyer would have advised steve to to walk away when he did or even earlier potentially and you in addition to all of that steve's buddy sam always backed up his alibi that they were miles away scouting out their next climbing spot when amy was out in the woods and presumably disappeared and when it comes to steve's questionable 911 call the joke that he made at the beginning of the call at the very least well i think it's pretty widely understood that people sometimes use humor as a way of coping with insane amounts of stress and again i've never been in this situation obviously but i think it's pretty widely understood that people sometimes use I don't know. It's the joke felt weird to me at first, but after thinking about it a little bit more, I feel like it doesn't raise quite as many alarm bells, at least as it does with some people in some corners of the internet. I don't know. It's weird, but I don't know. It's hard not to view the spouse as a suspect in cases like this, because frankly, quite often they are the guilty party. But let me be perfectly clear here. Steve has never been charged, let alone convicted for murdering Amy or doing anything involved with her disappearance. And from a less skeptical perspective, you can actually see that he's a victim in this case too. I mean, he lost his wife. He lost the love of his life. And the reality is that Steve wasn't the only suspect in this case, because as the investigation dragged on, it began to focus on a different and a much more dangerous suspect, a man named Dale Wayne Eaton. Dale Eaton was arrested in 2002 for the notorious Little Miss murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimball, a murder that took place all the way back in 1988. And during that investigation, authorities searched Dale's rural Wyoming property and found a disturbing collection of trophies and items that belonged to his victims, sparking deeper looks into his whereabouts back in 1997 when Amy disappeared. When authorities spoke to Dale's brother, he provided information to the Fremont County Sheriff's Office that Dale was actually camping very close to where Amy vanished and right around the same time too. This dark coincidence only became darker when authorities also uncovered that only six weeks after Amy's disappearance, Dale had attempted to kidnap a family at gunpoint in Red Desert, Wyoming, a town that's roughly two and a half hours south of Lander. The family had pulled over because they had some car trouble. Dale had been in a car accident, and he was hit in the head with a weapon. Dale told them that he'd drive them to a repair shop, but then suddenly he tried to stab the mother, Shannon Breeden. Shannon's husband, Scott, quickly jumped up and hit Dale on the head with a rifle. As the two men fought each other, Scott actually ended up stabbing Dale with his own knife. Later, when Dale was arrested, investigators suspected that he was mentally unstable. You don't say. Dale took a pre-agreement in this particular assault, but that incident sure started to escalate. Dale was arrested in a car accident, and he was arrested in a car accident. He started to paint the picture that Dale may have been on a crime spree in the area right around the same time that Amy vanished. I mean, the connections were just too crazy to ignore. It was all just so unsettling because Dale seemed fully capable of committing a crime like might have happened to Amy, and he also might have had the opportunity to do so. Fortunately, to this day, Dale Eaton is spending the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Lisa Kimmel, but unfortunately, he has refused to discuss Amy's case until his death. And besides that, the authorities never uncovered any physical evidence linking Dale to Amy's disappearance, leaving him as just another suspect surrounded by way more questions than answers. As the years passed, investigators became increasingly desperate. The FBI eventually requested satellite imagery directly from NASA to see if they had captured any kind of snapshot of the region from back on the day when Amy first disappeared, and when that imagery didn't produce anything new, they decided to use a satellite to capture the area. The FBI eventually requested additional images that were captured by Russia's Mir space station, but again, those images didn't lead to any forward progress in the case either. And I want you to think about that for a minute. The authorities were literally trying to travel back in time and space to find any possible lead, but they still came up with nothing. And that was the insane point that this case had come to. It wasn't until 2003, six years after Amy first vanished, that the first physical object potentially connected to her disappearance was found in a very unexpected place. In June of 2003, a doctor was hiking along the banks of a river roughly 14 miles from Burnt Gulch when he noticed something peeking out from the dirt next to the trail. If he hadn't been looking in that exact direction in that exact moment, he might have missed it. But by some miracle, that little black object was found. And that's when the object caught his eye. And so he stopped and he squatted down, reached out to pick it up. And as he dusted off this mysterious object, he realized that it was a weathered digital wristwatch. And it was clear that this watch could have been sitting there for, I don't know, something like six years. The doctor turned the watch over to the authorities, but there was no way for him to know that he might have just found the first and only clue to unlocking a case that had been cold for nearly a decade. The watch was, which was the same one that Amy had been wearing the day that she vanished. And so for a brief moment, authorities hoped that the mystery might finally be unraveling. Like, was this the start of the snowball getting rolling down the hill? They submitted the watch for forensic testing, and they hoped that it could give them like a new search area to prioritize, right? Or maybe even a new suspect. Who knows what kind of DNA or other evidence they were going to find on this watch? Well, just like the rest of the case, this brand new miraculous lead quickly fell flat because despite extensive examination, investigators could not determine whether the watch had actually belonged to Amy after all. It had seemed like such a promising breakthrough finally after all this time, but instead it became yet another crushing dead end. And so after this disappointing discovery, the case went right back on ice. Search teams returned to Burnt Gulch over and over and again and again through the years. Divers searched Fry Lake. Detectives continued following new leads whenever they surfaced, but every search ended the same way they always had, with zero trace of Amy, with zero new clues. And as the years passed, that uncertainty became almost unbearable for Amy's family. This is just so sad, man. Her father died after she died, never knowing what had happened to his daughter, and the questions surrounding Steve never completely faded either. Many family members struggled to understand why he had refused a polygraph examination, while others questioned his decision to petition the court in 2004 to have Amy declared legally dead. To some people, those decisions seemed suspicious, but to other people, well, they saw them as the understandable actions of a man attempting to rebuild his life, after going through seven years of heartbreak and uncertainty. Steve went on to remarry, to have two children, and he would end up living in the house that he and Amy had bought only days before her disappearance. And to this day, after decades of countless searches, so much investigation, and so many theories, no one has ever been able to explain what happened to Amy Bechtel. Investigators have no idea what happened to her after she died, but they have no idea what happened to her after she presumably set out on that doomed trail run, despite the fact that her abandoned car initially seemed to hold all the answers. And so, did she run into wildlife? Did she get caught in that storm? Was the scene completely staged from the beginning by somebody? Was she actually showing clear signs of anxiety and fear while she was running her errands earlier in the day? And if she was, why was she so afraid? Why was she so nervous? Or could she have been the victim, of a vicious murder spree from an infamous serial killer? I've been thinking about all of this for a while now, and I honestly don't know what to think. Maybe that mysterious watch could still be the key to this whole thing, but unfortunately, authorities just never found any evidence from it. They never found it useful. I really don't know. But somewhere, presumably in Shoshone National Forest, the truth about what happened on July 24th is unknown. I don't know if it's true, but I don't know if it's true. I don't know if it's 1997 is buried deep, deep down there, like it has to be. right the only question is will anyone ever find it amy's case is disturbing because her car seemed to tell one story but maybe not the true one and in california another abandoned car would raise an even stranger question why would five men walk away from safety and then disappear into the snow this is a weird one folks listen on do you hear that that sound right that means that summer's officially here it means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon but this summer mint mobile has a better treat every plan including unlimited is 15 a month and unlike ice cream it won't uh drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture does anyone have any cash give it a try at mint mobile.com switch upfront payment of 45 for three months 90 for six months or 180 for 12 month plan required 15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms show button here football is finally back and prize picks is going crazy with the deals to start the season giving out promos every day in september on prize picks you can make all the picks you want all in the same app and now prize picks is available nationwide so what are you waiting for lock in for kickoff because everyone and everything is on prize picks what you want download the app today and use code spotify to get 150 instantly in lineups if you win your first five dollar lineup prize picks run your game tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college that's why she shops at bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 off grocery store prices beef jerky microwave meals laundry pods even they can't screw up have you met my kids and with bj's gas she gets there for less they call me the road warrior this is your home road warrior mom home of the save join for just 20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save this episode is brought to you by txu energy for the first time ever texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings it's called free nights and cool summer you get free nights every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use all summer it's a first of its kind plan created for how texans actually use energy discover how much more you could save with free nights and cool summer txu energy energy for everything visit txu.com for more information rep number one zero zero zero four hey it's kelly roland you may not know this but i have eczema so i get how it can steal your time but why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about ebglis ebglis labrakizumab lbkz a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies ebglis can be used to treat with or without topical corticosteroids don't use if you are allergic to ebglis allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis before starting ebglis tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection paid partnership with lily respect your time ask your doctor about ebglis and visit ebglis.com or call 1-800-lily-rx or 1-800-545-5979 in february of 1978 a man named ebglis was diagnosed with ebglis and he was diagnosed with ebglis and he was a man got his car stuck in the snow deep inside plumas national forest and as soon as he got out to try and push he suffered a brutal heart attack he desperately began climbing back into his car and when he did this he saw a group of shadowy figures just up the road he was obviously in trouble he needed help and so he got back out of the car to go yell for help but when he did this those shadows those presumably people disappeared that man would end up surviving and making it out of the wilderness on his own but those shadows that he saw well they would soon become the center of one of the most haunting outdoor mysteries in all of u.s history this is a case that's baffled investigators and many many families for almost 50 years it's the heartbreaking story of five best friends who attended a basketball game together in northern california they cheered their favorite team on to victory but after the game well they would find out what it truly meant to them to lose now in order to tell you this story we're going to have to take a trip a virtual trip to yuba county california a rural part of of norcal just north of sacramento kind of near the sierra nevada mountain range so i need to introduce you to a group of young men from yuba city california all with mild intellectual disabilities or psychiatric conditions and these are the men that attended that basketball game i just told you about a second ago it was a game at california state university chico on the night of february 24th 1978 the first introduction i'm going to make is gary matthias now gary was a high school football star who graduated and ended up enlisting in the u.s army and served in the vietnam war and of course like many vietnam vets he returned home and he struggled immensely with ptsd which i guess was made worse from some of his previous use of lsd but i don't really know too much about that gary's behavior would soon become unpredictable and he was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia at one point his family tried to help him by placing him in a psychiatric hospital in oregon but gary was still very determined and resourceful and he managed to leave the hospital hop on a train and just return home completely by himself that's kind of a side story it doesn't really pertain to the mystery i'm going to tell you about today but i don't know it might just give you an idea of how independent gary still was despite his struggles with his family his doctors and regular medication gary would begin to recover and then he got involved with the gateway gators who were a special olympics basketball team composed of men with developmental or psychological challenges that was formed through a group called the gateway center this basketball team gave gary structure friendship and ultimately a renewed sense of purpose right i now need to introduce you to the second man we're going to be talking about today and that would be ted weir he was a big fun-loving guy he had already won gold and silver medals in basketball and track at the special olympics before joining the gateway gators and so his athletic achievements to this point were very well documented but of course ted wasn't without his own mental health battles from all accounts and i'm not an expert on this but it sounds like people would probably describe him as being on the autism spectrum today his family would say that he was high functioning but he couldn't do anything about it and so he was able to do everything he could also be quite impulsive his passions also included bowling listening to the radio and drinking pepsi i mean who could blame the guy right i mean if i ranked my basic needs i'd have those three things on it as well although i'd probably replace pepsi with coke but hey i don't want to start a war in the comments that's just me now let's meet jackie who actually happened to be one of ted's best friends his full name was jack hewitt but we're gonna call him jackie and he also played on the gateway gators and worked for the gateway gators and he also played on the gateway with ted at the local power company which was a job that they both got through the gateway project his brother described him as autistic and went on to say that quote jackie liked everyone and everyone liked jackie jackie also suffered from asthma but his family moved to the yuba county area and the climate there actually helped him improve his health so much so that along with the basketball team he also loved to ride his motorcycle around town which sounds super fun and then we have bill sterling and by all accounts he was the the quiet leader of the group you could say now over the years his family hasn't really been interested in speaking about the events we're about to get into and so we don't have a ton of personal information about him and his life we do know however that he was the best bowler on his bowling team and that at a young age he was apparently admitted to a hospital for quote hyper activity we also know that at one point in time he worked at a restaurant but his mom ended up making him quit because she said that the men there were quote getting bill drunk and stealing his money and lastly we have jack madruga who was bill sterling's best friend now jack was drafted into the u.s army and was honorably discharged after serving in vietnam and although he he was never like formally diagnosed with a developmental disability like some of his close friends jack was a very quiet and introverted person that found like genuine community and friendship through the gateway center just like all of the other men i've described he loved sports he was responsible he was one of the only members of the team to have a driver's license actually and own his own vehicle which was a 1969 mercury montego remember that because uh it's going to be coming up very soon this car was his prized possession and he loved to be able to drive around with his friends but on one cold fateful february night the group of all five of these men would go on a drive that was frankly anything but fun and so now we've met the group of men that would eventually go on to be named the yuba county five we got gary ted jackie bill and jack it's important to know however that the name yuba county five had not been given to them by this point in the story in fact they actually had a completely different name at the time. Around town, they were collectively known quote the boys and that takes us to february 24th when the five of them piled into jack's mercury montego and they drove 50 miles north to chico california to watch a college basketball game between chico state and their favorite team the uc davis aggies so the boys would watch their favorite team uc davis go on to win that basketball game and that victory was actually meant to motivate them for their own special olympics basketball game the very next day now some people might say that they should have just gone home and gotten a good night's sleep before their big game uh but i can actually personally relate to these five guys pretty heavily i mean whenever i get ready to work out i'll fire up the uh the ipod and listen to a pump-up song ipod what is this 2004 you know what i mean spotify whatever or maybe i'll watch a motivational david goggins youtube edit and you know just to give me all the energy i need plus goggins himself would probably just say something like sleep is for the week or whatever he says unfortunately things would not be very restful for the boys the night before their big game and so as they were riding high from their favorite team's big win on their way back home they were spotted at a convenience store called bear's market in downtown chico right around 10 p.m and this is a fact right like the clerk at the store distinctly remembers the boys because number one they came in a little late and so you know the store employees were a little bit annoyed they were trying to close down and because number two the boys apparently stocked up on massive amounts of snacks and junk food which honestly kind of makes me smile right because i mean these guys were having a great night and um you know even if chips and candy aren't the best uh pre-game fuel we'll say i can't blame them one bit for wanting some celebratory snacks for the car ride home you know oh and yes before you ask they did get some pepsi they all climbed back into the mercury montego snacks in hand and they left the market seemingly heading for home i mean none of them wanted to miss their very first special olympics basketball game the next day which makes it even more chilling that not a single one of the yuba county five or the boys came home that night by morning they still hadn't arrived and at this point their families were starting to grow very concerned no one had heard from them uh no one had the the first clue where they might have gone and so worried sick and probably scared to death they reported their sons missing now early search efforts were absolutely frantic they they had to find these five men especially considering the fact that snowy weather was blowing in and was only going to make things worse throughout the area and of course you know logically the authorities started by focusing on the expected route between chico and yuba city where the boys actually lived flyers were distributed and police even reached out to the media hoping and praying that someone out there i mean there has to be someone that had seen the boys or seen that mercury montego so they're trying to figure out what the hell happened like how did these five boys just vanish like this and at first the authorities wondered if the group might have gone on like a spontaneous trip and you know would just end up coming back eventually and you know maybe they just didn't bother to tell anyone what was going on however their families were all very adamant that none of the men would do something like that i mean they were all very committed to their routines you know it was just very out of character and all that just made their disappearance uh that much more alarming we'll say hey it's kelly roland you may not know this but i have eczema so i get how it can steal your time but why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about ebglis ebglis labrakizumab lbkz a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids don't use if you are allergic to ebglis allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis before starting ebglis tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection paid partnership with lily respect your time ask your doctor about ebglis and visit ebglis.com or call 1-800-lily-rx or 1-800-545-5979 that snow i just told you about a few seconds ago would end up coming and it would just continue to pile up and frankly slow down the early search efforts in the area and again authorities didn't initially suspect that the group had driven into the snowy mountains since that area was not along their expected routes and it was also just extremely remote like why would they do that but then there was an absolutely bizarre i i don't know how else to say it um a bizarre break in the case a few days after the boys went missing on february 28th a forest ranger found the mercury montego abandoned on a remote snow-covered road in plumas national forest and just to give you like some more perspective this was nowhere close to where they were supposed to be for some unknown freakish reason the car had been left nearly 70 miles northeast of chico and the car had been left nearly 70 miles northeast of chico complete wrong direction from the route that the boys should have taken to get home like what the hell was it doing all the way out there so this jarring discovery left everyone the authorities included completely baffled i mean they had been so far off in their initial search but the abandoned car honestly should not have been found where they found it and i don't just mean that in like a creepy like why are they there sense although that certainly holds true when i say that it shouldn't have been found where they found it like physically it should not have been able to get there especially given the weather conditions and also like how could the men have drifted so far off their route uh nothing about this discovery made any sense at all and to make the situation even more confusing they found the car in like great condition i mean there weren't any flat tires there was no signs of damage um the keys were missing yes but the doors were unlocked which is just very strange like why would you just abandon your car like that if nothing was wrong with it looking at the scene it gave the authorities the impression that the boys had simply just like parked and then walked away into the mountains in the dead of night obviously into freezing temperatures which makes no sense at all like like what and so now that they had found jack madruga's car um the search teams were kind of able to like zero in on the plumas national forest but again the heavy snow made it nearly impossible to complete like a legit thorough search we'll say despite using helicopters snow cats horses and any other resources they could get their hands on teams were not able to find any additional sign of the boys the brutal winter weather had basically exhausted and defeated them and eventually as unfortunately happens in these cases the search stalled out demoralized and at a loss people started to wonder how did five men get lost up there in the middle of the wilderness like this in the first place i mean they were seemingly 70 miles off of their expected route in deep snow and on top of that they had abandoned a perfectly working car only to presumably walk deeper into the forest like go out on foot it just didn't make any sense but of course as always happens in these cases some theories began to develop some people believe that the boys had taken like a side trip to go visit some of his friends in a nearby town however this theory would quickly die out after police discovered that gary's friends hadn't seen or heard from him in like over a year at this point other theories obviously suspected foul play i know a bunch of you were probably thinking that already even though i haven't said it yet there apparently were reports that a town bully had confessed in church to being part of you know killing the five men now nothing ever came out of that alleged confession but if the boys did feel threatened by someone in any way then perhaps the confusion and the fear would knock them off course and make them run out of their car in a hurry or something like that but at the same time like if there was somehow foul play involved then how come the abandoned car showed zero sign of a struggle i mean if someone had tried to harm these five very athletic men by the way some of whom were vietnam war veterans as i said wouldn't there be like some kind of a chance that they would be able to get out of the car but i don't think they would be able to do that just like they would be able to do that just like any even tiny little bit of evidence of that rumors swirled around town that the boys may have been involved in a fight outside of the convenience store in chico that i told you about a few minutes ago where they got those snacks and the pepsi of course and sure you know these boys had dealt with you know trouble in their past uh but by all accounts they were some of the sweetest people that you'd ever meet none of them had a reputation for for being violent despite you know some some of their struggles with mental health and other things by all accounts that i was able to find at least none of them would have hurt so much as a fly now maybe i'm being too opinionated right now but i guess i should just say it like you could probably tell i'm not super convinced by some of those theories However, I am very curious about an account told by a man named Joseph Shones, who just so happens to be the man that I told you about at the very start of this video. On the night of February 24th, Joseph Shones claimed that he got his Volkswagen Beetle stuck in the snow after leaving a bar. Go figure. He then suffered a mild heart attack, fell asleep in his car, and then woke up a few hours later only to see several figures in the dark. You know, figures in the forest. And because he was in a desperate situation, he allegedly called out for help to whoever these people were, but he was ignored. Shones' car eventually ran out of gas after this encounter, and he would be forced to walk over seven miles to a nearby lodge. While in the hospital, he started to tell his story to the police, and of course, it caught everyone's attention when he mentioned the shadows and the snow. According to him, he says that he saw two. Two vehicles on this night. One of them was an unknown red truck, and one of them was a Mercury Montego. According to Joseph, the shadows ignored all of his cries for help and eventually just drove away. And on the surface, it does seem like this story would be a huge break in the case, right? I mean, with all this new information, the authorities could now start looking for that unknown red truck and start connecting the dots, right? Like, doesn't that seem. Doesn't that seem where this should be going? Well, unfortunately, Joseph Shones would end up telling multiple different versions of this story over time. And each time that he did so, his memory became more and more inconsistent, we'll say. In one account, he claimed that he had driven his Volkswagen Beetle up into the mountains to, quote, check the snowpack. But that story raises a few red flags immediately, since Volkswagen Beetles are pretty much the second worst car that I could ever imagine. Oh, and if you were wondering, the worst car to drive in the snow is a Toyota Prius, obviously. But I bet you already knew that. Was that a low blow? In another story, Shones claimed that he was followed and tailgated by a vehicle, and that's why he got stuck. He also first stated that the people he saw in the snow never acknowledged him or spoke. And then later, he claimed that he heard screaming, and then he said he remembered strange whistling sounds. Whatever. That means he once even said that he saw the Mercury Montego drive towards him, and then he changed that story to include the red pickup truck as well. When confronted about all of his conflicting stories, Shones always just said that he was hallucinating due to the chest pain that he was feeling after this heart attack and due to the bitter cold, hypothermia. Regardless of whether he was lying or being genuine and just misremembering things and hallucinating. I think it's pretty safe to say that Shones is a wildly unreliable narrator, and honestly, yet another mysterious kind of thread in this whole case. For months, the snow held the secret of the Yuba County Five. Their families waited, hoping for some kind of miracle, or rather, five miracles. They had to just wait out the rest of winter. But then, in June, the snow started to thaw in Plumas National Forest. And when it did, it revealed some horrifying truths. On June 4th, a group of motorcyclists came upon a Forest Service trailer located at a campsite about 19 miles from where the Montego had been found. And these motorcyclists were shocked to discover that the front window of the trailer, had been broken. And when they opened the trailer door, they were overwhelmed with an extremely strong odor. I think you know where I'm going with this. Or at least, you probably partially know. When they opened this door, they were hit by the unmistakable stench of rotting, decomposing flesh. They peered inside, and when they did this, their stomachs completely dropped. I mean, nothing could have prepared them for what they found inside this trailer. These random motorcyclists, had just accidentally stumbled upon the remains of Ted Weir. The scene was a legit nightmare. But it did kind of reinvigorate the search for the rest of the Yuba County Five. In fact, the very next day, they went on to find more human remains, one body on each side of the road, approximately 11 miles away from where the car had been initially discovered. These remains were confirmed, to be those of Jack Madruga and Bill Sterling. Madruga's remains showed signs of scavenging by animals, while all they could find of Sterling were a few scattered bones. And autopsies would eventually reveal that both men had died of hypothermia. Investigators would heartbreakingly speculate that one man may have grown drowsy and then finally collapsed, while the other man maybe refused to kind of leave his, like, side and, like, stayed there with him and then ultimately perished as well. And as if that wasn't just brutal and heartbreaking enough, two days later, as part of a completely different search party, Jackie Hewitt's father searched beneath a bush about two miles northeast of where that trailer was found by the motorcyclists. And when he was doing this, he discovered a human backbone. They also found nearby jeans, shoes, and they found a skull. About 300 feet downhill from the bush, which would later be confirmed through dental records to be that of Jackie Hewitt. His cause of death was also determined to be hypothermia, unsurprisingly. And I just want to harp on this for a second. I think it's just so sad and just, like, mind-blowing, frankly, that Jackie Hewitt was found by his own father. Can you imagine that? Like, I don't even. I feel like I can't even process that. And then let's make things even more mysterious. Um, searchers would end up finding three U.S. Forest Service blankets and a rusted flashlight near the roadside only about a quarter mile northwest of that trailer. Now, it's unclear if these items were related to all of this craziness or not, and it's also unclear how long that they had been there. And actually, since I'm talking about the trailer, let's go back to that for a second. So, Weir's body was found in a bed wrapped in eight sheets, including one wrapped. And his autopsy concluded that he had died from a combination of starvation and, despite all the sheets, uh, hypothermia as well. He had lost nearly half of his 200-pound body weight, and the length of his beard suggested that he might have survived an astonishing 13 weeks between the time that he had disappeared and when his body was eventually found. His feet were severely frostbitten, and, curiously, his shoes, were nowhere to be found. And to make Weir's death even more tragic, um, investigators found a ton of available resources scattered around the trailer, and they were puzzled as to why he hadn't used those tools to survive. So, for example, there were plenty of matches and paperback books, um, but there was no sign of a fire, or even an attempt to make a fire. And there were a ton of heavy winter coats in the trailer, but Ted. wasn't wearing any of them. They did find that someone had accessed a nearby shed and consumed about a dozen cans of military rations, but they also found an unopened locker in the same shed that contained an even larger stockpile of food, uh, which would have been enough to sustain five people for, like, a year. That's what they said anyways. There was also a butane tank in another shed that, if opened, could have powered the trailer's heating system, which is just tragic, and also, uh, very, very strange. Now, Ted's family suggested that his behavior was consistent with his cognitive disabilities. He often lacked, like, basic judgments, such as questioning the needs to stop at stop signs, you know, things like that. And it's just so heartbreaking to know that there was so much potential there to survive. But in all of his distress, he would end up dying a very tragic and very painful death. And as if this story couldn't get. any weirder, even just. about the trailer specifically, still, it also appeared that Ted had not been alone in that trailer. So as they were uncovering Ted's story, Gary Mathias still hadn't been found. But investigators did find Gary's tennis shoes inside of the trailer, suggesting that he had actually been in there with Ted at some point in time. Notably, the used rations had been opened using a P-38 can opener, which was a tool that, only Mathias and Madruga would have been familiar with because of their military backgrounds. And so investigators theorized that Gary Mathias was possibly suffering from frostbite himself, and may have taken Ted Weir's shoes in order to kind of venture outside and try to find help. That would explain why his shoes were gone, and that would explain why Gary wasn't in the trailer with Ted. They also speculated that the way Ted's body had been like carefully wrapped in multiple sheets might, suggest that someone else had been there to help him like it probably would have been pretty difficult for him to like get all those sheets around him himself there was probably someone else there presumably gary that like helped wrap him up but gary was still nowhere to be found i mean they'd found everyone else at this point but where the hell was gary um and the search continued obviously and and since gary had likely not been taking his prescribed medication his family distributed his poster to mental health facilities across california hoping that someone would find him somewhere or that he would come in but unfortunately nothing ever came of that in fact nothing ever came of any search for gary matthias and the final member of the yuba county five the very last gateway gator was tragically never found to this day how was this possible i mean where could gary have gone and why were the boys able to use some of the survivals resources but not all of the ones that would have helped them live to see the snowmelt um how long did gary stay in the trailer with ted before presumably heading out on his own and whatever happened to that mysterious red pickup truck did it even exist in the first place jack bill ted jackie and gary five friends lost to the wilderness uh under very very strange circumstances obviously i mean this is a mystery that still haunts their families and a mystery that has honestly taken on a life of its own i mean a mystery that still haunts the forests of northern california somehow some way after all of these years this infamous story still leaves us with so many unanswered questions a lot of which i just listed there and so i'm really curious what you guys think especially those of you that have heard of this case before and maybe watched other videos on it do you think that any of the popular theories check out um do you think the group took a wrong turn or was it just like an innocent mistake that spiraled into tragedy what do you think about the fight outside the convenience store or the the bully theory about them being murdered maybe um and then you know joseph shown like was he a witness did he know more that he never spoke about um could he have even played a role in their deaths or was he just hallucinating i cover a lot of very very strange and mysterious stories on my channel um stories that very often leave me with a lot of questions and i think that's a really good way to end the video so i'm going to end this video with five unanswered questions but i think this one probably has left me with the most unanswered questions out of any story that i've ever covered be sure to give this a five star rating i appreciate you guys so much and i'll see all of you in the next one