The Yuba County 5 – A Californian Winter – Pt. 1

Picture this, it’s 1978, in the middle of a cold north California winter, 5 young men have just left a basketball game and they are on their way home. But they are never seen again. This is what happened to a group of men called the Yuba County Five. Their names were Gary Dale Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jackie Huett, Ted Weiher, and William Sterling.
The trip was supposed to be just another trip to watch a college basketball game up in Chico, California, which is about 45 miles from their hometown of Yuba City. They were aged 24-32 years old and each of them had some sort of mild developmental disorder or psychiatric disorder, with Huett having a developmental disorder and being illiterate while still being a very friendly and outgoing man. Huett’s best friend Weiher, had a mild mental handicap and was very protective of Huett, often keeping him out of harm. Madruga had symptoms of ADHD and was the only one in the group who had a car of his own, a 1969 Mercury Montego. Sterling was often described as very social and loud, the opposite of his best friend Madruga, and described as “intelligent yet lazy”. Mathias had just joined the group about a year prior to the disappearance, and while he wasn’t described as having a “handicap” he was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia and spent time in the military, which affected him greatly and had him have many run-ins with the law after his discharge. These 5 men were often called ‘The Boys’ by their families and other people in their hometown, as they were very active in the church, and even were a part of the local Special Olympics basketball team. Overall they were the type of people that would stay on the path and never do anything without reason. That’s where their disappearance comes in.
it was the night of February 24th, and they wanted to go to Chico to watch a college basketball game the night before their own basketball game on the 26th. All was well before the game, they had gotten into Madruga’s Montego and had arrived at the game without issue. What happens after the game is what is relevant. The game had ended late at night, or at least when it was dark, and they were on their way home when for some reason, they went off the main road and headed into the Plumas National Forest, which is nearly 2 hours in the opposite direction of Yuba City, where they were supposed to be going. When the Boys didn’t come home that night, their parents were understandably worried, as they had never done anything like this before, they were always at home when they were supposed to be, and they had never even gotten into any trouble before this. It wasn’t until February 27th that Madruga’s Montego was found in a snowdrift on a remote road in the Plumas National Forest with a quarter tank of gas left. Why was there still a quarter tank of gas left? Why would The Boys leave their only car on the side of the road if there was still gas left?