khoji parkMystery · Plumas National Forest · 1978
Five Friends Drove Toward the Mountains After a Basketball Game
Five young men with intellectual disabilities vanished in the Sierra Nevada mountains in February 1978.
Read in slides1. Trip to Chico State Game
On the night of February 25, 1978, five young men from Yuba County, California—Bill Sterling, Jack Huett, Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, and Gary Mathias—attended a college basketball game at California State University, Chico. Each man had mild intellectual disabilities or psychiatric conditions, and they played together on a community basketball team. After the game, they stopped at a local market to buy snacks.
The group climbed into Madruga's 1969 Mercury Montego to head home.
2. Abandoned Car Discovery
When the men failed to return home, their families notified local authorities. Several days later, a forest ranger reported seeing Madruga's car parked along a remote mountain road in Plumas National Forest. Investigators found the vehicle stuck in light snowdrifts far off the direct route to Yuba City. The car was in good working order and could easily have been pushed out.
Police found no trace of the five men near the abandoned vehicle.
3. Puzzling Evidence in Vehicle
An inspection of the Mercury revealed empty wrappers from the snacks purchased in Chico, basketball game programs, and a neatly folded road map. The car keys were missing, but when police hot-wired the vehicle, the engine started immediately and the fuel gauge indicated adequate gasoline. The undercarriage showed no dents or scrapes despite the long mountain drive.
Investigators remained puzzled as to why the men left the car.
4. Witness Testimony on the Mountain
A local man named Joseph Schons reported that he had also become stuck in the snow nearby on the same night. While experiencing early symptoms of a heart attack in his idling car, Schons saw headlights and a group of people near a vehicle, and later heard voices and flashlight beams. When he called out for help, the lights went off and the group grew silent.
Medical personnel later confirmed Schons suffered a mild heart attack.
5. Store Sighting Reports
As media coverage expanded, police received various sighting reports. A store employee in Brownsville stated that four of the men stopped at her store in a red pickup truck several days after their disappearance. Store owners described two men purchasing burritos and soft drinks. Investigators treated the store personnel as credible witnesses to post-disappearance movements.
Search efforts continued across difficult terrain hampered by winter weather.
6. Discovery of the Trailer
On June 4, 1978, as spring snow melted at higher elevations, a group of motorcyclists discovered a United States Forest Service trailer at a campsite twenty miles north of the abandoned car. The front window was broken. Upon opening the door, they found the decomposing body of Ted Weiher inside on a bed, wrapped in multiple sheets.
An autopsy determined Weiher died from a combination of starvation and hypothermia.
7. Remains Found Along Roadway
Following Weiher's discovery, searchers scoured the surrounding forest road. The next day, searchers located remains identified as Jack Madruga and Bill Sterling on opposite sides of the road miles away from the car. Animals had scavenged both locations, leaving primarily scattered bones. Two days later, Jack Huett's backbone and skull were found near a bush by his father.
Four of the five missing men were confirmed dead.
8. Unopened Supplies in Trailer
Investigators were baffled by the conditions inside the USFS trailer. Although three dozen C-ration cans had been opened and consumed, a locker containing enough dehydrated food to feed five men for a year remained untouched. A butane tank outside could have powered the heating system, and a fireplace sat unused despite an ample supply of matches and firewood.
The men had adequate shelter and provisions but did not utilize them.
9. Evidence of Survival Period
Weiher had lost nearly half his body weight, and his beard growth indicated he had lived for roughly three months after the group disappeared. His feet were severely frostbitten. Mathias's tennis sneakers were found inside the trailer, suggesting Mathias had survived there for some time before leaving. The sheets covering Weiher's body indicated another person assisted him.
Physical evidence suggested Weiher was not alone in the trailer.
10. Unresolved Search for Mathias
While four members of the group were found deceased, Gary Mathias has never been found. Police distributed his photograph to mental health institutions across California because he had likely not taken his prescribed medication. The precise reasons why the group drove up the mountain road and abandoned their car remain undetermined.
The investigation concluded without answering every circumstance of the detour.