The date is June 4th 1978 a group of motorcyclists including 16-year-old Roger Koch, were riding their motorcycles through Puma Forest National Park. They’re out riding through Trails and enjoying the summer weather. When something catches their eye slightly off one of the trails they can see a forest service trailer. These are trailers owned and maintained by Forest Services that usually have food rations and heat sources. However, this one notably to the group looks abandoned it has a general sense of unkemptness to it and that is especially by the fact that one of the windows is broken. So Roger and the group decide, why not go and investigate it, after all it’s not very big. By Then they just open the door and poke their head in to see if there’s anything cool. However, it is in doing so that Roger and his friends would stumble upon a key piece of evidence in one of the strangest Unsolved mysteries in American history.

This is the story of the Yuba County Five. There’s just something about them being unsolved that makes you wonder it always keeps your mind coming back wondering what could have happened, why it happened, who got away with it and so on. So forth however I can say confidently that there has never been an unsolved mystery that has stuck with me more than that of the Yuba County 5.

Background

Five young men who disappeared and were later found under mysterious circumstances these five men were Ted Weiher, Gary Mathias, Bill Sterling, Jack Madruga and Jack Huett. All of these men were young adults ranging from early 20s to early 30s however each and everyone of them had some sort of either developmental or psychiatric disability. Because of these issues, they all lived at home with their parents all five of these men were said to be very high-functioning. These five men were known to their family and friends as The Boys. All the five were best friends, They were inseparable from one another. They often spent their free time talking about sports as that was what they were primarily into notably basketball. In fact, all they met through something called the Gateway Foundation which was at the Yuba City Vocational Rehabilitation Center.

The boys all played on a basketball team that was supported by the Gateway Foundation called the Gateway Gators. To understand partially why their disappearance is so bizarre I think it’s first important to understand the boys themselves and why it’s baffling that they would end up in such circumstances going from youngest to oldest.

Jack Huett

We start with Jackie Hewlett who’s 24 at the time of his disappearance. Jackie was born March 29, 1953. Jackie was probably the shyest of the group and is because of this he struggled to kind of get along in day-to-day life with conversations. This is because he had a speech impediment and he was also Illiterate. Unable to read and write, these kind of things put him in a hindrance on his willingness to communicate with others who weren’t friends or family. Jackie’s best friend however was Ted Weiher who was in the front group of the boys.

Ted was much more outgoing and kind of took Jack under his wing when it came to stuff such as communicating with others. Jack hated phone calls in particular so in the occasion that he had to make one and wasn’t feeling up to it, Ted was more than willing to help his friend out and make the phone call on his behalf Jack. He also didn’t like being away from home for extended periods of time. It means that he would rarely stay overnight anywhere if at all. Jack Huett’s father has come out and said that “Jack, out of all the five boys was likely the Lowest function and because of that it was good that he had friends that looked out for him and made sure he was okay.”

Gary Mathias

Gary Mathias who is 25 years old at the time of his disappearance, was born on October 15, 1952. Mathias was a U.S. army brat though it is believed that in his time in the service, he abused many drugs however his issues would only get worse when he was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia leading him to be psychiatrically discharged from the Army. After this point, he lived with his grandmother in Oregon for a short time. However, for a particular reason, he wanted to head back to California and live with his mom and stepfather. So Mathias hitchhiked all the way from Oregon to Yuba County, California.

The distance he travelled was about a seven to eight-hour drive in car and while he likely Hitchhiked most the way it is said that he did travel on foot extensive distances. To stay fed and hydrated he stole milk cartons off people’s porch and ate canned dog food. Regardless he made it back to his mom and stepfathers all wasn’t well upon his return home. However, there would be several instances of him having outbursts on occasion these Albers would lead to law enforcement getting involved.

After one such run-in with Law Enforcement, after one of these outbursts, Mathias would be placed into a veterans hospital to treat schizophrenia while there would be a lot of trial and error in getting the correct dosage to treat his schizophrenia. The doctors did eventually find it and even noted that Mathias was a stellar patient throughout the whole process. So once they found the correct dosage Mathias was able to go back and live with his mother and stepfather. At this point he began holding down a job helping out his stepfather’s garden business. It’s worth noting too that Mathias was one of two individuals of the Yuba County five who was actually able to drive and had a license. Mathias was also the last member to join the boys. They had all been friends for years but Mathias had only joined a few months prior to their disappearance. It is said by some of the other boy’s parents that this often led to Mathias kind of being perceived as the odd man out at times. However, it is worth noting that Mathias even though he was the last man in by a good distance was still very close with the rest of the boys and was best friends with them.

Bill Sterling

Bill Sterling was 29 at the time of his disappearance. He was born on April 5th 1949. Compared to the other two, Bill was very outgoing. He also graduated high school and was deemed a very religious man. The boy's basketball coach actually said that Sterling was likely the most intelligent of the boys.

Jack Madruga

Jack Madruga was 30 at the time of his disappearance. He was born June 18 1947. Unlike the previously mentioned Sterling, He was shy and relatively kept to himself much like Mathias mentioned earlier. He had served in the Army as a truck driver for about two years until he was honourably discharged and sent back home. Upon his return home he got a job as a dishwasher. He and Mathias were the only two with a license but Jack was the only one with a car. It means that he was the boy’s designated driver. Now this was absolutely fine by Madruga as he loved driving the boys around because he loved his car. His prized possession was a turquoise and white 1969 Mercury Montego. He wouldn’t let anyone else drive this car, it was his baby and he adored it because of this he loved being the boy’s driver as he loved that car.

Ted Weiher

Lastly in the group, We have Ted Weir who was 32. He was born on 26,1946. As I mentioned earlier where was Jack’s Best friend? All the boys were close of course but Jack and Ted in particular had a very special bond like I said, Weiher would make phone calls on behalf of Jack and ultimately just looked out for him and kind of treated him like a little brother unlike his best friend Jack. Though Ted was super outgoing and very personable, he loved interacting and meeting new people and just getting to know one and was ultimately just the definition of a social butterfly. It is said by close friends and loved ones that for as outgoing and Charming, he lacked common Sense. For example, he has been cited such as him being physically forced to leave a burning building be because he wanted to sleep and he just didn’t quite understand stop signs like isn’t it why you had to stop at them. Ted’s reasoning skills aside he was beloved by most people that met him just because of how outgoing and friendly he was.

The Basketball Match

So now, we have an introduction and understanding of the boys we can look into their disappearance and why it’s so strange as I mentioned earlier, the five men played on a basketball team called the Gateway Gators. On Saturday, February 25th 1978 the boys were said to compete in the Sacramento Special Olympics. On their basketball team the winners would receive a week-long vacation in Los Angeles. All five of the men were super excited about this event. They lived and breathed basketball so there wasn’t a chance in the world that they wanted to miss this.

Some were even reported to set out their uniforms the night before just to make sure that they were all nice and ready and even had asked their parents to make sure that if they were not up by a certain time to come get them up so that way they didn’t oversleep and potentially even be groggy for the game. All five went in expecting to get a full 8 hours of sleep wake up go to the game and hopefully to win. However February 24th they went to see their Favourite basketball team UC Davis they were playing in Chico California which was only about 50 miles away from Yuba City like I said though before they left they set up their uniforms and told their parents to make sure that they got up early the next morning. They hit the road.

The Road Trip

Madruga drove as usual and headed to Chico to see their favourite team play UC Davis would go on to win. The game likely led the boys with a sense of excitement as their favourite team won. They were set to compete tomorrow things were going well. It wasn’t until later though after hours had passed that, their parents noted that they had not returned home. This was completely unlike any of the boys to come home late without a call or anything. So they awarded the authorities.

Investigation

In the police investigation, they were able to narrow down their last confirmed sightseeing. What they found out was, After the game was over the boys went to downtown Chico to a place called Behr’s market and ordered to stack up on some snacks for the road they purchased snacks at carton of milk and some sodas, then left. This was a very mundane interaction and the only reason the shop owner at Behr’s Market even remembers seeing the boys is because it was 10 p.m. and they were trying to close a little early and with five men coming in right before they were about to close the shop wasn’t stoked to see them so really only remembers them out of annoyance. From here one would expect the boys to get back in the car and head home after all they had their game in the morning. But that didn’t happen, the boys didn’t go home.

On February 25th the day they were supposed to compete for the game that they had been looking forward to all five men were declared missing the police logically began searching the areas between Yuba City and Chico as the boys would have headed from Chico back to Yuba City. It was said by their family that it was unlike them to venture out anywhere else so this should be the only area that they could be in in those 50 miles between the two cities.

Suspicious Car Location

Three days later, On Tuesday the 28th, Jack Madruga’s car was found. Madruga’s car wasn’t found anywhere between Chico and Yuba City though instead it was found in Puma’s National Forest this is 38 miles Northeast of Yuba City and it is the opposite direction that the boys should have taken from Chico back to Yuba City. After the examination of the car, police found snack wrappers inside which are to be expected as they came from a market where they got snacks, but they also found that the windows were rolled down the keys were nowhere to be found and the car was in Immaculate condition yet. For whatever reason it was just abandoned in the middle of this National Forest. It was in perfect working order, it wasn’t stuck. The reason it was abandoned is simply unknown. The discovery of the car shifted the search to the Puma’s National Forest. There was no logical reason as to why the boys would have been there but if the car was there surely the boys weren’t too far away.

Puma National Forest and Abandoned Trail

From it, though they may have been to find the car, the luck of the authorities ran out as harsh weather conditions swept in. Due to the abundance of snow that came with it the search was postponed into weather conditions eased up which sadly wouldn’t be until spring of that year. This takes us to where we began this article June 4th,1978 about three and a half months, after the boys had gone missing. In the first place Roger Koch and his friends were riding motorcycles and came upon the forest trailer, there’s a window broken and it looked abandoned so they decided to take a look inside when they opened the door. However, they are hit with a terrible smell, the group of motorcyclists are ducking out of the door retreating away from the trailer gagging at this horrendous smell that’s hit their nose.

The Bodies

Roger gathers up the courage to go inside and see what is the source of the smell he sees lying in a cot a dead body it would ultimately he found out that this body is that of Ted Weiher. Weiner’s body was badly decomposed but authorities were able to tell that he had died from a combination of exposure and starvation. Weiher was emaciated when his body was found he had lost 80 pounds in the time that they had spent out in the woods in the time that they had been gone he had grown a whole beard as well investigators were able to determine that he had lived out in that trailer and the Puma's National Forest for about two months before it finally succumbing to the elements. But his body was found he was under a thick layer of blankets though his feet were notably exposed with no shoes looking around the trailer presented more details for one.

There were plenty of food rations for all five of the men that would last them months upon months and yet only 12 cans were opened on top of that. That there was propane to keep the place warm and this was super easy to generate. For whatever reason none of the men had thought to turn that on leading to Weiher passing away from the cold under blankets. Another important thing about the trailer was that Gary Mathias’s shoes were found inside this show. It means that Ted was not the only one in there that at the very least he and Matthias had made it to that trailer. This trailer was 19 miles away from Madruga’s car, meaning that it was a substantial walk to get there. Especially considering it had been snowing in that area well before the boys had disappeared and on the night of their disappearance so the fact that at the very least Mathias and Weiher were able to get there in the first place was rather an impressive feat for as unfortunate as it was finding that Weiher had passed away.

It did reinvigorate the search for new life but was breezed into the case so authorities were able to start looking around that trailer for two days Later on June 6th Jack Madruga and Bill Sterling’s bodies would be found as well. They were located on the side of a canyon road about seven miles south of where Weiher was found. Their remains were even more so decomposed as it seemed as though Wildlife and the elements had gotten to them as they were found outside. When examining the bodies it was seen that Madruga actually had the car keys with him at the time of his death

On Wednesday, June 7th Jack Huett’s body was found. His body too was found outside though about half a mile away from where Weiher was found. And very tragically it was Huett’s own father who found his son’s remains. While four of the five men were found the search persisted on for Gary Mathias they searched that area over and over until finally on June 20th they called the search off and Gary Matthias has never been found till today.

Why?

This case is strange enough as it seems as though they could have left at any time given. The fact that Madruga had his car keys on him and the fact that they starved and froze to death is baffling. Considering the fact that they had an ample supply of food wide in the open for them in that trailer and they could have turned the heat on and yet for whatever reason they just didn’t and just let themselves succumb to the elements. Not to mention the fact that it doesn’t make sense why they went there in the first place all this is strange enough. However, there is one key element that I’ve neglected to bring up to this point it makes the case go from something that is simply unsolved to something. That is completely and utterly bizarre, this would be the account given by Joseph Schons.

The Last Sighting of The Boys

As I mentioned the last reported sighting of the boys was at Behr’s market around 10 pm on the night of their disappearance. However, there is one more sighting of them that while it can’t be confirmed that it was them because the individual in question did not see their faces in particular. It almost was a sighting of the boys and you’ll see what I mean here in a moment, it is the night of the boy’s disappearance there has been snow coming around in the area of the Puma National Forest for a few days and Joseph Schons was out driving on one of the roads back there.

It’s around 6PM or so and Joseph Schons was driving along the roads through the paths of the forest in his Volkswagen. At around 6 PM his vehicle got troubled and stuck in the snow. Frustrated by this Joseph gets out and begins to try and push the vehicle out of the snow. However adding to his misfortune, Joseph begins to feel the early signs of a heart attack alone in the cold in the middle of nowhere miles away from the nearest person. Thankfully he is able to get back into the safety of his vehicle. But with it being stuck in a tight containment all he can do is turn it on the heater, try and combat the cold and wait for someone to come help and he just sits there fighting through the pain of the heart attack and trying to stay warm through the heat of his car.

At midnight he saw two pairs of headlights from a car from a mirror. He saw a group of men, a woman and a baby seeking help for his dire situation. He manages to get out of the car and beg for help they’re a good distance away from him to where he can’t really see them more or their silhouettes but they should be able to hear him from how he is yelling and seemingly they do. Upon hearing Joseph's pleas the group halts their conversation and turns off their headlights seemingly not wanting to be seen or heard for whatever reason there’s no doubt that even though he was a distance away they hurt him without help. So kind of accepting defeat he gets back in his car to stay warm and waits a few hours later he sees flashlights out in the distance he once again gets out and yells for, “Whoever’s out there to please come help I’m in trouble” and get the flashlights to turn off and once again no one comes.

Sometime after this Joseph Schons's car would run out of gas leaving him without a proper source of heat realizing that he really has no other choice at this point Joseph is able to get up enough courage to get out of his car and walk all the way back to nearby town or market. It is on his way back though that he sees where those two cars had been previously the second one that had turned off their headlights and ignored him there is still one sitting there in 1969 white and turquoise Mercury Montego. Now Joseph, of course, has no idea the importance of this car especially in relation to the Yuba County 5 as at this point in time they’re not missing he doesn’t really think anything of it and just keeps going about his way luckily he is able to make it back to town and gets help to treat his heart attack. Upon hearing about the disappearance of the Yuba County 5 later he would give his account to proper authorities however Joseph’s account leads to more questions than answers. Starting with answers we can pretty well confirm that, is it was the boys that he saw, after all in that group that he saw he noted that there were about five men he didn’t exactly take a head count but five sounded about right.

When he was asked about the car that he passed the one that was parked where those two had been previously was that of Jack Madruga's that he had taken to the game that night and that was found right there sometime later by authorities in the search. So we can pretty well confirm that Joseph Schons had seen the boys that night but that leads to more questions Who were the people the boys were with? There were two cars present Madruga’s and someone else’s, on top of that there was also a woman and a baby. Who were these people? Why were they able to leave when the boys seemingly weren’t? Why did they come out there in the first place and certainly why did they bring a baby out into a forest that was snowing with storms? Coming in the whole thing just makes it so much strange on top of that the boy's families have said upon hearing this it doesn’t make sense for the boys to hear someone begging for help and not go to help them. It just wasn’t in their nature. Did it have something to do with the people that they were with or could it be the reason that they were out there that kept them from going to help this man? But if that’s the case then why were they out there? The story is strange enough as is without Joseph’s addition.

It’s bizarre that the boys would go out of their way to the force in the first place but going with other people and not helping the man doesn’t make sense. In addition to that it brings the question of who were these people that they were with and why didn’t they end up going missing either not that we’d want them to go missing. But if they were able to leave the Pumas National Forest that night why weren’t the boys? With all the information presented, we can start coming up with a few theories these theories range from anything from Foul play to Simply visiting friends but none of the theories really answer all questions.

The Possible Theories

One theory is that the boys were visiting a friend of Gary Mathias. Matthias had a friend located in Forbestown which isn’t that far from the Pumas National Forest. So it’s believed that after the game after getting snacks at Behr’s Market, Mathias was able to convince them to drive to Forbestown to meet his friend is believed from here that the boys may have gotten lost, got out of the car for one reason or another and simply went to the trailer and we know what happens next, the boys succumb to the elements and are found in that summer. However, it is said that it is extremely unlikely that the boys wanting to make sure they got enough sleep and not wanting to be away from home would have actually gone up to Forbestown to visit this friend in the first place. Ignoring the fact that they could have gotten lost not to mention this doesn’t explain what Joseph Schons saw at all as they were with other people that leads us to the next theory that it has something to do with the other people.

The boys were with like I said there were two vehicles that pulled up that night Madruga’s and someone else’s. In addition to that there was a notable sighting of a woman and a baby alongside the Yuba County five, It is believed that somewhere along the way the boys ran into these individuals and for whatever reason ended up going to the woods with them. Now this is open-ended as we have no idea who these people were. It could have anything to do with them being simply people they met and hit it off with and just for whatever reason, they decided hang out in the forest or these could be people that meant the boy’s harm in one way or another leading them up to the woods that night for whatever reason and leaving them to die.

Another theory proposed by Jack Madruga’s mother suggests that someone else drove the car into the forest that night. For one thing the car was found abandoned something that she swears that Jack Madruga wouldn’t do the route. They took was covered in rocks and sticks and all sorts of debris on the ground that it is said given that Madruga’s car was very low hanging would have caused some damage minor or not to the underside of the vehicle and yet regardless of that the vehicle was totally fine as I said earlier it was an Immaculate condition. Experts have said that it is unlikely that anyone who is not familiar with that route that they took especially at night which is what they drove up there would have likely had some damage to their vehicle again minor or not there would be some sign of damage. However, there was none regardless of the fact that Madruga had never driven there before especially not at night. But what Madruga’s mother says the most damning bit of evidence for this is that the car was found with the windows down this was something that apparently Madruga would never do if his car was parked those windows were going up especially if it was snowing as snow would blow into the car.

It’s because of this that her among others believe that someone may have driven the car up there that night this could be another party completely or as some suggest Gary Mathias. Mathias was the only other person in the group besides Madruga with a license. Some think this could apply to the theory that Mathias was visiting his friend’s baby. Mathias had talked the others into visiting the friend up in ForbesTown. However due to how rough the road was, Mathias might have taken over from Madruga. Again this is basically ignoring the fact that Madruga never let anyone drive that car and maybe that is the case maybe Mathias did end up driving it up to the forest that night. But for what after all the keys were found with Madruga so that means when they got out Mathias would have given them back and then none of the five men would have thought to go down.

The next theory kind of plays off of that that maybe Mathias did drive him into the woods that night but suggest that Mathias did it on purpose acting on ill intention. This is a theory that I see online a good bit. When looking into this case but it really kind of falls apart. If you think about it if this was foul boy on Mathias’s half, Why would he choose this way to do, it means he would have either had to drive or convince the boys to go out into Puma’s National Forest on some snowy winter day right before their big game, Which would have been hard to do anyways convince them to leave the vehicle. Then wait for them to succumb to starvation and cold because again that’s how the boys died they were not murdered. There were no signs of Foul Play in that regard it means that Mathias would have had to drive them up and play the long game for nature to take its course on them. That just doesn’t seem like a very efficient way of doing things some have argued that the people that were spotted by Joseph Schons alongside.

The Yuba County five were acting alongside Matthias in this but it just doesn’t really make sense to blame Mathias for this simply because he was never found and was schizophrenic. Those seemed to be the only reasons why which neither of which are good reasons to blame Mathias. Some people said that he led to the boys deaths by just playing the long game with them out in a freezing forest and then disappearing forever is bizarre and it is unlikely that anyone would commit a crime like that especially considering the keys were found with Madruga, which means even excluding Mathias if it was foul play at all whoever led the boys up there to succumb to the elements would have had to basically drop the boys off up there, take the car and the keys, lead the boys to die, park the car put the keys with Madruga’s body and then leave.

It’s just a strange thing to consider what happened to Gary Mathias. Some think he’s still alive Mathias almost definitely took Ted’s boots presumably after he passed away in the cabin. After all it is said that the shoes that Ted had, would have been warmer than the ones that Mathias had worn up to the trailer. So perhaps to combat the cold it is likely that, he put those on to try and head out and find help a way out for town, whatever from the trailer and he likely passed away on the way. I don’t believe Mathias was involved in any foul play with this I think he was simply a victim of whatever led the boys to deciding to go there that night. With all that being said though there are just some things that leave you guessing who were the woman and the baby, what was their involvement with this and what was with the other car. Because this opens up the two hours between them leaving Behr’s market and being spotted by Joseph Schons. Like how they met with another group and then for, what reason all of them decided to go into Puma’s National Forest that night, why this could be something foul play?

Surely but the end result of how the boys were found deceased calls that into question as it’s just strange that if it was Foul Play that’s how the boys ended up. Was this other party involved in Foul Play or were they just people that the boys had run into at some undetermined time and for whatever reason went into the forest with maybe this does tie to Mathias in some way or another maybe he was going into the force to meet his friend at Forbestown and the boys simply got stuck and got lost this case has left.

Conclusion

All who looked into it with so many questions but perhaps the most prominent is why after all we know what happened to the boys with the exception of Mathias. We know how they died, and we know roughly how long they were alive out in the woods but what we don’t know is why they went there was it some bit of foul play were they trying to visit a friend in Forbestown did they get lost why did they leave their car why did this happen in the first place. The unfortunate reality is as it stands we have no idea like I said all the theories just seem to answer some questions and then leave others unanswered.

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