The Puzzling Mystery of the Yuba County Five
Five men go to a basketball game and never return. Four are later found dead under mysterious circumstances in the wilderness.
An Enduring Mystery
On February 24th, 1978, five friends—Jack Madruga, Ted Weiher, Bill Sterling, Jack Huett and Gary Mathias—went to a game and never returned home. The men, who ranged in age from 24-32, were huge basketball fans and had gone to Chico State to watch them play.
The route from their homes to the university was a straightforward one that they’d taken before with no issues. The group—often referred to as “the boys” by those who knew them—played on a basketball team themselves. They had an important game the next day and had told their families that they’d be coming home after the Chico State match.
Yet the boys would never come home.
Madruga’s vehicle would soon be found abandoned on a mountain road, approximately 70 miles away from Chico and far off course from any direct route home. Months later, four of the five men would be discovered dead in the wilderness under mysterious circumstances and the fate of the fifth—Gary Mathias—remains unknown.
The car was examined later and found to have no discernible problems. It had simply been stuck in the snow. So why did they leave it behind instead of pushing it out and driving on? Several aspects of their behavior suggest that the men had felt distressed that night, but by what? Or whom?
What compelled them to continue on up the mountain, in the cold and darkness—and to their eventual deaths?
The Boys
It has often been reported that each of these five men were mentally impaired or deficient in some way. However, it’s important to note that the nuances of mental health were still poorly understood in the 1970s, and it’s generally agreed upon now that all of the boys were fairly high-functioning, based upon their known capabilities and descriptions from the people who knew and interacted with them.
Jack Madruga, 30, was kind, shy, and introverted. He was never diagnosed with anything, but was sometimes considered a “slow learner.” However, those closest to him said that he was actually very intelligent. The perception of him as “slow” appears to have come more from his social awkwardness than anything else. Madruga had served in the Vietnam War and was honorably discharged in 1968.
He owned a 1969 Mercury Montego, which was said to be his prized possession--something he always took great care of, never left unsecured and never allowed anyone else to drive. Additionally, Madruga was scared of the dark and didn’t like the cold. Though he lived with his mother, he worked, paid rent and was financially responsible.
Bill Sterling, 29, enjoyed bowling and was described as being a kind, religious, reliable, and outgoing individual.
“Bill was always good about telling us where he was,” remembered his mother Juanita. “He would always call or leave notes, even if he just went to the library.”
Sterling and Madruga were best friends. As with Madruga, Sterling was regarded as “slow.” However, those close to him said that he was also intelligent and was just a bit lazy. He was never diagnosed with anything either.
Jack Huett, 24, was said to be the most mentally handicapped member of the group, but not to a significant degree. He had a speech impediment and was illiterate. Huett was a good friend and a loving person. He had worked for Gateway Projects, a local program for people with mental disabilities, for years.
Ted Weiher, 32, worked at a grocery store. Described as a “gentle giant,” Weiher was friendly and enjoyed meeting new people.
"Ted was a very loving person. He loved life, and he loved people,” his mother stated.
Weiher was said to be easily confused at times and that he feared fire (following a traumatic incident in which his family’s home had burned down) and darkness. He and Huett were best friends.
Gary Mathias, 25, loved music, played an instrument and was in a rock band during high school. Mathias reportedly showed no signs of mental illness when he was a child, but later incurred a serious head injury after jumping out of a moving car and was blind for four days. He eventually recovered his eyesight to some degree, but would always need glasses after that.
Mathias was in the military and was eventually medically discharged and diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was the most controversial figure of the group, due to his violent past and history with drug usage.
Before his treatment began, Mathias allegedly frequently got into physical altercations with men in bars, sometimes after inappropriately touching their wives. He had also broken into someone’s home during one of his hallucinations.
He went on to spend time in a mental hospital and was regarded as one of their “sterling success cases.” Once on medication and following his stay in the mental hospital, his life turned around for the better and there were no more violent incidents with him in the two years leading up to his disappearance.
It has also been speculated that his past drug abuse might have been an effort to self-medicate and it’s believed that he hadn’t used drugs since he started taking his medication. At the time he vanished, he was employed as an assistant in his stepfather's gardening business and was reportedly in a relationship.
The men resided with their families in various parts of Yuba City and Marysville, California, and all five were athletic and loved basketball. They played for the Gateway Gators, which was how they met and became friends.
As one of their family members would say, they were “just nice friendly boys who went to games together and went home.”
Basketball Game
On February 24th, 1978, Chico State was playing a home game against UC Davis. The boys piled into Madruga’s Mercury Montego and headed for the campus. Before leaving, Madruga told his family that he’d come directly home after the game and had no other plans.
This makes sense, because the group had their own important basketball game to play the following day and likely would have wanted to be well-rested for it. It was going to be their first game in a week-long tournament that was being sponsored by the Special Olympics. The prize was a free trip to Los Angeles that the men were eager to win.
We do know that the boys made it to the campus, because people—including a newspaper editor—remembered seeing them there. The game ended around 10 p.m.
“They had traveled this before,” noted Brian Bernardis, of the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office. “It wasn’t the first time for him (Madruga), so he was familiar with the territory.”
From here, their trail becomes harder to pin down. What we do know definitively is where four of the five ended up—but not what led them there.
Search Efforts Hampered by Snowstorm
When there was no sign of any of the men by the following day, their families had grown very concerned, knowing that it was quite out of character for the group to stay away longer than they said they would. They were reported missing on February 25th and an effort to locate them began in earnest.
Law enforcement combed the route to Chico State, but found no sign of the missing men.
The first major development in the case came a few days later, when a Plumas National Forest ranger alerted the police about an abandoned Mercury Montego he’d seen. He’d first spotted the vehicle sitting along the mountain road on February 25th, but didn’t think much of it initially—that is, until he’d noticed the missing persons bulletin that had identified it as belonging to one of the men.
Investigators searched the vehicle, finding programs from the basketball game they’d attended, along with food and drink containers and wrappers. The Mercury was unlocked and one of the windows was rolled down.
It was stuck in the snow and the officers questioned why the men hadn’t simply pushed the car out of the snowdrift, rather than leaving it behind. Otherwise, the Mercury was in good working order, with no other problems, and still had gas.
The keys were gone from the scene as well.
Additionally, it was extremely uncharacteristic for Jack Madruga to leave his car unlocked. And why had a window been rolled down on a cold February day? Had they been speaking with someone? No one could say for sure.
A search of the area was carried out, utilizing helicopters, search dogs, four-wheel drive vehicles, and horses. Nothing else was found.
Unfortunately, a severe snowstorm soon struck, causing investigators to call off the search.
Mysterious Voices, Changing Stories
Law enforcement received a significant tip early on.
A man named Joseph Schons had been on the mountain road on the evening the boys went missing and had become stuck in the snow himself. Around 5:30 p.m., he attempted to push his vehicle out and began experiencing severe chest pains. Fearing that he was having a heart attack, he returned to the safety of his car and tried to stay warm.
Approximately six hours later, Schons, still in pain, noticed headlights behind him. There was a group of people (he’d later say that there had been anywhere from 2-12 individuals there that night), including a woman holding an infant. He heard them speaking, but didn’t know what they were saying.
He called out to them, hoping for help, but said that they immediately went quiet and turned off their headlights.
Similarly, there were people with flashlights around later on (whether or not these were the same people from before is unclear) and he called out for help once again, but they turned off their flashlights and ignored him.
He remembered seeing a red pickup truck parked behind him at some point after this. However, he would change this part of the story a couple of times—once telling investigators that he might have hallucinated the truck and then eventually confidently stating that there had, in fact, been a red truck that night.
It was confirmed that Schons was there that evening, as his vehicle would be discovered near the abandoned Mercury the next day. The forest ranger had also noticed it.
When he felt better, Schons walked eight miles to a nearby lodge and received a ride from people there. His wife went to retrieve his car later.
Interestingly, his version of events differed somewhat, depending on who he was speaking with. He told the people who gave him a ride that someone had been tailgating him so closely on the mountain road that they’d caused him to veer off and get stuck in the snow. He never mentioned this to law enforcement, though.
While at the lodge, he was overheard saying to himself that he “should have done this two years ago.” He should have done what? The answer to that is unknown.
He told investigators that his reason for being on the mountain was that he had wanted to see what the snowpack was like before he and his family went to their cabin that weekend. However, it was soon learned that he neither owned nor rented a cabin in the area.
Allegedly, Schons had a reputation for lying and drinking excessively, sometimes veering off the road while drunk. Is that what happened on February 24th?
Schons reportedly cried uncontrollably during his stay in the hospital, where it was confirmed that he’d had a heart attack. His reasons for being emotional remain a mystery, however.
Some believe that he witnessed something that night, while others speculate that he might have been involved in the disappearance of the boys himself in some way. But no solid evidence to support these theories has ever been found.
Joseph Schons passed away in 2004, at the age of 83.
Notable Sighting
While countless sightings of the “Yuba County Five,” as they became known, would be reported, few were considered credible.
A woman employed at a convenience store in nearby Brownsville (around 30 miles away from where the Mercury turned up) said that the missing men had stopped by in a red pickup truck on the night of February 24th. Two of them, whom she’d later identify as Sterling and Huett, were in a telephone booth outside. Huett and Weiher eventually came inside and purchased chocolate milk, burritos, and soft drinks.
Weiher’s brother thought this account sounded plausible as Weiher would “eat anything he could get his hands on.”
Yet Huett was known to hate speaking on the phone, so it didn’t necessarily make sense that he’d be in the phone booth.
She remembered them because they stopped by right before the store closed at 10 p.m. The store owner corroborated the woman’s account and the police found this story to be credible. It's unclear to whom the red truck belonged, however, or whether or not Madruga's vehicle had been parked there as well.
There were also unsubstantiated rumors that the Yuba County Five had gotten into an altercation either at the university or the store.
Four are Found
There were no further significant developments until June, after the snow had melted.
On June 4th, 1978, the skeletal remains of Madruga and Sterling were found approximately 11 miles away from where the Mercury had been discovered. Huett’s remains were found around 2 miles away from a forest service trailer in Plumas National Forest ( which was 12 miles away from the car). The official cause of death for all three men was determined to be hypothermia.
The trail along which Sterling and Madruga were found was a less direct route to the trailer and was around 20 miles long. It is believed that they might have been following snowcat tracks. The other trail was shorter at 11 miles long, but steeper. Had the men possibly split up and taken two different trails?
Inside the trailer (which had a broken window), Weiher’s body was discovered. He was lying on a bed and his body had been wrapped up in several sheets. His feet were badly frostbitten and he’d lost several toes. His shoes were missing, but Mathias’ shoes were on the floor. Weiher had lost approximately half of his body weight (he weighed 200 lbs at the time he went missing).
It has been theorized that Madruga, Sterling, and Huett succumbed to the elements during the walk to the trailer and that only Weiher and Mathias made it alive. If so, Weiher, in bad condition, was likely cared for by Mathias.
Weiher had been clean-shaven when he vanished; the length of his beard when found indicated that he had survived for as long as three months—and possibly died only weeks before being discovered. His official cause of death was listed as pulmonary congestion and hypothermia.
Weiher’s necklace, ring, and wallet were located on the table beside the bed. There was also a gold watch on the table, but it didn’t belong to any of the five men.
Had Mathias set out on his own after Weiher died? Some have speculated that he might have taken Weiher’s shoes before leaving because his feet were swollen from frostbite and his own shoes might not have fit comfortably anymore.
To this day, Gary Mathias has never been found, although it seems likely that he met a similar fate out in the wilderness.
A quarter of a mile northwest of the trailer, searchers found three Forest Service blankets and a rusted flashlight. How they got there is unknown. But perhaps they were dropped by Mathias.
Trailer
Certain aspects of the scene in and around the trailer raised questions.
There were two sheds outside, one of which contained lockers of food. Sources vary in terms of how many cans of rations had been opened, but the police report put that number at 36.
Aside from those cans of rations, which had been consumed, a large amount of food had been left untouched for some reason. Additionally, the other shed had a butane tank that would have heated the trailer if it had been turned on, but, for unknown reasons, it was never used.
It is often reported that the fireplace inside the trailer wasn’t used either, despite the presence of paperback books and matches with which to start a fire. However, it’s unclear if there even was a fireplace. The police reports make no explicit mention of one.
There was also a deck of playing cards. Some sources state that the paperback books had affirmations written in them. This would make sense if Mathias had been there, since he was known to write affirmations as part of his therapy.
Ultimately, what drove these men up the mountain and to their untimely deaths remained a mystery.
Theories
Many theories to explain what happened to the Yuba County Five have arisen over the years, ranging from the plausible to the paranormal.
Some believe that the boys simply became lost and things took an unfortunate turn from there.
“Things aren’t right,” said Melba Madruga. “They (the investigators) want to say they got stuck, walked out like a bunch of idiots and froze to death. Why would they leave the car to go die? There’s no sense to that theory. But we can’t figure out anything that works out right. There’s no rhyme or reason to any of it.”
Perhaps the most popular theory is that Gary Mathias was in some way responsible for the fate of his friends.
“I mean, everybody… law enforcement included, really suspected that he (Mathias) was somehow responsible for their demise,” noted Bernardis. “He was the one in the group that his condition was not naturally occurring and he did have a troubled past, so if somebody was to have been responsible, he was most likely.”
Early in the investigation, they considered that Mathias might have suggested traveling to nearby Forbestown, as he reportedly had friends there. Allegedly, Forbestown and Brownsville had a persistent problem with drug activity.
However, while Mathias had used illicit drugs in the past, there was nothing to suggest that he was still taking them. In addition to this, his friends in Forbestown stated that they hadn't been in contact with him for years, so that lead went nowhere.
Mathias had been doing well on his medication and hadn’t exhibited violent behavior in years. And he was likely the person who cared for Weiher and kept him alive for weeks or months.
Had he suggested a last-minute change of plans that led them up the mountain? Possibly, but that is still unknown.
Interestingly, a 2020 internal memo from the sheriff indicated that Mathias is thought to be a victim of foul play himself:
“Gary Matthias is believed to be a victim of foul play. This case remains open as a missing person/homicide case. It is in the best interest of all involved that this letter not be forwarded to the Matthias family.”
Additionally, none of the men were outdoorsy or were known to have any interest in the mountain. Sterling had been up there once with his father and reportedly hated it and had no desire to return.
Foul play is still suspected by law enforcement. Investigators considered that someone with ill intent may have either chased them up the mountain road or somehow convinced them to drive up there.
The presence of a red truck in the accounts of both the convenience store worker and Schons seems of possible significance. Had someone, perhaps driving a red truck, harassed the Yuba County Five and chased them up the mountain?
It would explain why they drove so far out of their way and abandoned the car instead of pushing it out of the snow. Maybe they didn’t feel safe enough to stay in the area, even for the short time that it would have taken to push the Mercury out of the snow.
Additionally, it may give us some insight into why they chose to continue up the mountain, rather than merely following the road back down the way they came.
If they had been speaking to someone before they drove off, it could also explain why one of the windows had been rolled down.
It seems that the Yuba County Five felt like they were in danger—but whether that danger was real or imagined is one of many questions yet to be answered.
Current State of the Investigation
The surviving family members of the Yuba County Five remain committed to finding answers. They’re certain that there is much more to the story of what happened to Jack Madruga, Gary Mathias, Bill Sterling, Ted Weiher and Jack Huett on that fateful night so many years ago.
There have been no further developments.
The puzzling case of the Yuba County Five remains open and unsolved.
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