ABOUT THE CASE

“This case is bizarre as hell.”

— Jack Beecham, Yuba County Undersheriff (1977-1979)

On February 24, 1978, five men from the Yuba County, California-area vanished in the wilderness of Northern California. They had set out on what should’ve been a quick road trip to watch their favorite basketball team in a neighboring town. But all five friends wound up missing or dead.

The finer points of this story are more complicated, though. Three of the men—Ted Weiher, Jackie Huett, and Bill Sterling—would likely fall on the autism spectrum today. One of the men—Gary Mathias—was a person living with schizophrenia. And the last man—Jack Madruga, the person driving—was never diagnosed at all. 

Days after their disappearance, Madruga’s 1969 Mercury Montego was discovered abandoned 60 miles east of Chico, on an isolated, snow-packed mountain road deep in the Plumas National Forest. 

Months later, a group of motorcyclists happened upon the emaciated, decomposing body of Ted Weiher, tucked neatly under eight sheets, inside an empty off-season forestry trailer 12 miles north of where the car was deserted. Based on beard growth, experts estimated Weiher had survived at least two months.

In the days following, searchers found the skeletal remains of Sterling, Madruga, and Huett nearby. None of the men, officials claimed, died of foul play. The body of Gary Mathias has never been recovered.

 

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

  • May 26, 1946

    • Theodore Earl Weiher born.

  • June 18, 1947

    • Jack Antone “Doc” Madruga born. 

  • April 5, 1949

    • William Lee Sterling born. 

  • October 15, 1952

    • Gary Dale Mathias born.

  • March 29, 1953

    • Jackie Charles Huett Jr. born.

  • Mid-1970s

    • Ted Weiher, Jackie Huett, Bill Sterling, and Jack Madruga began working at Gateway Projects.

  • 1977

    • Gary Mathias began playing on the Gateway Gators with Weiher, Huett, Madruga, and Sterling.

  • Thursday, February 23, 1978

    • A forest service snow cat ran up the road to the trailer, leaving a packed path in the snow that the men might have followed.

  • Friday, February 24, 1978

    • 6:00PM 

      • Joseph Schons’ VW Beetle bottomed out at the snowline on a recreational road near Rogers Cow Camp and he suffered a heart attack trying to push it free. 

    • 6:30PM

      • The men departed for the basketball game at Chico State University.

    • 10 PM 

      • The men drove to Behr’s Market, three blocks away from the Stadium, bought snacks for the drive home, and then left the store.

  • 12 AM 

    • Schons claimed he saw a car matching the Mercury Montego on the road near Rogers Cow Camp.

  • Saturday, February 25, 1978

    • 8AM

      • Melba Madruga reports her son as missing to the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department but is told to wait 24 hours and call back.

    • 8PM

      • Melba Madruga filed an official missing persons report.

      • The search began between Marysville and Chico.

  • Tuesday, February 28, 1978

    • A forest service ranger discovered the abandoned Mercury Montego on a recreational road near Rogers Cow Camp.

    • The search for the men shifted to the Plumas National Forest.

  • Thursday, March 30, 1978

    • Official search efforts were called off until new leads developed.

  • Sunday, June 4, 1978 

    • Sixteen-year-old Roger Koch discovered the badly decomposed body of Ted Weiher, tucked neatly beneath eight sheets, in a forestry trailer near the Daniel Zink Campground.

  • Monday, June 5, 1978:

    • Yuba County officially identified Ted Weiher as the man whose body was found in the forestry trailer. There were no signs of foul play.

    • Officials note that Weiher’s shoes were missing, but Mathias’ were left behind, which led investigators to believe the two men were at the trailer together.

  • Tuesday, June 6, 1978

    • The remains of Jack Madruga and Bill Sterling were found on opposite sides of a canyon road roughly three miles north, as the crow flies, from the abandoned Montego and seven south of the service trailer.

  • Wednesday, June 7, 1978

    • Jackie Huett’s body is discovered by his father, Jack Huett Sr., less than a mile away from the trailer. The search for Gary continued.

  • Friday, June 9, 1978 

    • Two Forest Service workers claimed they told Butte County about the trailers at the Daniel Zink Campground.

  • June 20, 1978

    • Plumas, Yuba, and Butte Counties called off their search for Gary Mathias.