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The Yuba County Five were young men from Yuba County, California, United States, each with mild intellectual disabilities or psychiatric conditions, who were reported missing after attending a college basketball game at California State University, Chico (also known as Chico State), on the night of February 24, 1978.

Four of them—Bill Sterling, 29; Jack Huett, 24; Ted Weiher, 32; and Jack Madruga, 30—were later found dead; the fifth, Gary Mathias, 25, has never been found. Several days after their disappearance, Madruga's car, a 1969 Mercury Montego the group drove to Chico, was found abandoned in a remote area of Plumas National Forest, on a high mountain dirt road far out of their way back to Yuba County. Investigators could not determine why the car was abandoned, as it was in good working order and could easily have been pushed out of the snowpack it was in. At that time, no trace of the men was found. In June 1978, four of the men's bodies were discovered after the snow had melted. Ted Weiher was found inside a United States Forest Service (USFS) trailer some 20 miles north of the abandoned car. Only bones were left of Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, and Jackie Huett as a result of scavenging animals; Weiher had apparently lived for as long as three months after the men were last seen, starving to death despite an ample supply of food and heating materials in and near the trailer. Weiher was missing his shoes; investigators found Mathias' own shoes in the USFS trailer, suggesting Mathias also survived for some time beyond the group's last sighting. A local man later came forward, claiming that he had spent the same night in his own car a short distance from where the Mercury was found. The witness told police that he saw and heard people around his car that night, and twice called for help, only for them to grow silent and turn off their flashlights. This, and the considerable distance from the car to where the bodies were found, has led to suspicions of foul play.

Evidence inside the car suggested the men were in it between the time they were last seen and when it was abandoned. The car's location, 70 miles (110 km) from Chico, was far from any direct route to Yuba City or Marysville. The car had become stuck in snow drifts, and there was evidence that the men tried to spin the wheels to get out of it; police noted that the snow was not very deep and that five healthy young men should have easily been able to push the car out. The car was unlocked and had a window rolled down when it was found; Madruga's family indicated it was unlike him to leave the car so unsecured. Other than the car, no trace of the men was found.

With the evidence not pointing to any clear conclusion about what happened the night the five men disappeared, police and the families were not ruling out the possibility that they had met with foul play. The eventual discovery of four of the five men's bodies seemed to suggest otherwise, but raised more questions about what happened that night, and whether at least one of them might have been rescued. On June 4, with most of the higher-elevation snow melted, a group of motorcyclists went to a trailer maintained by the USFS at a campsite off the road about 19.4 miles (31.2 km) from where the Mercury had been found. Searchers returned to Plumas, following the road between the trailer and where the Mercury was abandoned.

Dyatlov Pass incident — 1959 incident in Russia in which nine hikers died under mysterious circumstances; the case of the Yuba County Five is often referred to as the "American Dyatlov Pass"

Quick Facts

• Several days after their disappearance, Madruga's car, a 1969 Mercury Montego the group drove to Chico, was found abandoned in a remote area of Plumas National Forest, on a high mountain dirt road far out of their way back to Yuba County.
• Four of them—Bill Sterling, 29; Jack Huett, 24; Ted Weiher, 32; and Jack Madruga, 30—were later found dead; the fifth, Gary Mathias, 25, has never been found.
• Ted Weiher was found inside a United States Forest Service (USFS) trailer some 20 miles north of the abandoned car.
• At that time, no trace of the men was found.
• Weiher was missing his shoes; investigators found Mathias' own shoes in the USFS trailer, suggesting Mathias also survived for some time beyond the group's last sighting.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Yuba County Five". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.