On a cold February night in 1978, five young men from Yuba City, California, set out on a journey that would become one of the most perplexing unsolved mysteries in American history. Bound for a college basketball game in the nearby city of Chico, they would never return home. Months later, their decomposed remains were found scattered across the Sierra Nevada mountains. For decades, the case has remained unsolved, and the chilling questions persist: What drove these men off course, and what happened in the remote wilderness that led to their deaths?
The Five
The Yuba County Five, as they came to be known, were not a typical group of friends. Each man had his own set of challenges—ranging from mild intellectual disabilities to psychiatric conditions—but they shared a deep bond and a passion for basketball. They were:
- Gary Mathias, 25, an Army veteran who struggled with schizophrenia but managed his condition with medication.
- Jack Madruga, 30, who had served in the military and was known for his quiet demeanor.
- Ted Weiher, 32, the gentle giant of the group, with a learning disability that made everyday tasks a challenge.
- Jack Huett, 24, a young man whose love of sports was matched only by his attachment to his parents.
- William Sterling, 29, deeply religious and known for spending hours reading to patients at a local hospital.
Despite their limitations, the five men led active lives. On February 24th, they set out for Chico State University to watch a basketball game. They had a big day ahead—the next morning, they were scheduled to participate in their own Special Olympics basketball tournament. But they never made it to the tournament or back home.
The Discovery of the Car
The search began quickly after the men failed to return home, but the first major break didn’t come until four days later, when their car, a 1969 Mercury Montego, was found abandoned on a deserted mountain road, roughly 70 miles off their planned route. The vehicle was in good working order, and there was enough gas in the tank to continue driving. Inside, investigators found maps and empty food wrappers but no signs of foul play. There was nothing to indicate why the men had driven so far off course—or why they had left the car in the first place.
What made the situation even stranger was that none of the men had a history of hiking or camping in remote areas. Their families insisted they would not have voluntarily wandered into such a rugged and isolated part of the Sierra Nevada, especially in freezing conditions. Yet the car was found at the snow line, where the pavement ended, and a dirt road began. It was almost as if they had driven up to the wilderness, hit a barrier, and then… vanished.
A Grim Discovery in the Mountains
The mystery deepened in June, when spring thaw uncovered the first of their remains. Ted Weiher’s body was discovered inside a U.S. Forest Service trailer, roughly 20 miles from the location of the abandoned car. He was emaciated, having lost nearly half his body weight, and his feet were severely frostbitten. Despite finding clothing and food supplies in the trailer—canned rations and dehydrated meals, enough to last for weeks—Ted had died of exposure and starvation. Someone had used matches to light a fire, but it had not been maintained. The trailer also contained ample materials for kindling, which had inexplicably gone unused.
More bodies were found soon after. Jack Madruga and Bill Sterling’s remains were discovered along the road leading to the trailer, their bones scattered by scavengers. Jack Huett’s backbone turned up a little farther into the wilderness, his skull eventually located nearby. Of the five, only Gary Mathias was never found. His shoes were in the trailer, suggesting he might have ventured into the forest barefoot or wearing Ted’s heavier boots. But his body—or any other trace—remains elusive to this day.
Theories, Rumors, and Dead Ends
What caused the Yuba County Five to veer so far from their intended path remains one of the most haunting aspects of this case. Was it a simple case of getting lost? Did they panic when confronted with the harsh conditions? The situation seems too bizarre for any straightforward explanation, and over the years, theories have multiplied.
Some speculate that the men were running from something or someone, perhaps pursued by an unseen danger that led them to abandon the relative safety of their vehicle. Others suggest that Gary Mathias, known for erratic behavior when unmedicated, could have had a psychotic episode that influenced the group’s decisions. Yet, no evidence has ever surfaced to indicate a struggle, an attacker, or any other outside force.
Equally puzzling is why Ted Weiher, who was found in the trailer, had not fully utilized the supplies that were right in front of him. He had managed to open some cans with a can opener, but other readily available resources remained untouched. Was it a lack of survival knowledge, or had the men succumbed to a mental state that kept them from thinking clearly?
A witness added another strange twist to the case when he claimed to have seen the five men in a pickup truck on the same night they went missing, in the company of a mysterious man. There were also reports of a woman and a baby seen in distress near the area around the same time, but no one could connect these sightings definitively to the disappearance.
In the decades since, no new evidence has emerged to bring closure to the families or to demystify the tragedy that unfolded in the high Sierra.
