In 1978, the Forest Industry Rangers in Plumas National Forest, California, found themselves in a quandary that continues today. On February 24, 1978, five men drove to a basketball game and never came home.
The group was composed of Gary Dale Mathias (25), Jack Huett Jr. (24), Theodore C. Weiher (33), Jack Antone Madruga (30), and William Lee “Bill” Sterling (28). Friends and family referred to the men as “The Boys.” Four of the five men had intellectual disabilities, and one had schizophrenia.
The Boys enjoyed sports and played on the Gateway Gators team, which won the privilege of playing in the Special Olympics Basketball game on February 25, 1978.
Impatient, the men donned light jackets, hopped into Madruga’s 1969 Mercury Montego, and headed to the University for a basketball game the night before the tournament. After the game, around 10:00 PM, the group stopped at Behr’s Market in Chico to buy snacks, sodas, and milk cartons.
The following day, the men didn’t arrive home. It would be several days before the Plumas National Forest Rangers found Madruga’s vehicle stuck on a snow-packed highway. Since many visitors leave their cars on the road to venture out on cross-country trails, the abandoned vehicle didn’t seem alarming—until the missing person’s report came to light.
Finding the car puzzled the men’s family because two of the men hated the snow and the mountains. Also, Madruga’s decision to leave behind his cherished and well-kept vehicle didn’t ring true either.
The authorities found the Montego was in working order, with no undercarriage dents, gouges, or scrapes. The police then theorized that someone else was driving, for it would take careful maneuvering or someone familiar with the roadways to avoid damage to the vehicle.
Because of the bad weather, the authorities postpone their investigation. However, two credible sightings came to their attention. On the night of their disappearance, Joseph Schons drove to his cabin to check the snowpack before inviting his family on a ski vacation. At 5:30 PM, Schon attempts to push his car out of the snowbank but suffers a heart attack because of the strain.
Six hours later, Schons hears a car and a pickup truck pull up near him. Schons sees a group of men with a woman and a baby. He calls them for help, but the group grows silent and shuts off their lights. In the early morning, Schons walks to the local lodge for help. As he returned to his car with the lodge manager, he passed the Montego from the night before.
On March 3, store employees in Brownsville reported seeing a red pickup truck with four men inside. Two men used the phone booth, and two entered the market to buy burritos, sodas, and cartons of chocolate milk. Huett’s brother found the story curious, as Huett hated phones and had his brother answer his calls. Yet, the men’s behavior rang true. Huett was a voracious eater, and Weiher clung close to him wherever he went. After seeing the missing persons flier, the employees identified the men as the same people who visited their business.
Yet, on June 4, a group of motorcyclists went to the United States Forest Service trailer and found a broken window. Inside, they discovered a decaying body on the bed wrapped in several blankets. The individual’s bare feet were frostbitten. From the length of his beard, the authorities surmised that the man lived three months before succumbing to starvation. On the side table, the rangers found a wallet with cash inside, a nickel ring, and a gold necklace belonging to Weiher. However, an unknown gold watch without the crystal also lay next to Weiher’s belongings. Researchers uncovered a P-38 military can opener near the outside C-ration cans, revealing its importance as only Mathias and Madruga knew how to operate it.
The Forest Rangers found open cans of rations in the sheds outside. Yet, the food supply inside, which could have sustained all five men for a significant period, was untouched. Likewise, the trailer had several paperback novels Weiher could have used as kindling to start a fire, but the fireplace remained untouched. The coroner determined the cause of death for Weiher as starvation and hypothermia.
Searchers discovered bones in various stages of decay eleven miles from the car the following day. Later, the coroner determined the bones belonged to Madruga and Sterling, who died of hypothermia.
So, what happened to Mathias? Researchers found that Mathias received a psychiatric discharge from the military due to drug usage. Before he met the others, he had two arrests for assault in Marysville.
Rumors swirled later that “The Boys” feared Mathias and thought he had bullied the group into the unplanned excursion. Years later, Madruga’s niece, Cathy Roberts, shared that she had seen a man who resembled Mathias in a bar. The both of them locked eyes, and Mathias ran out.
No one has seen or heard from Mathias since. The family states that without his schizophrenia medication, he could have acted out of fear.
So, what do you think? Did Mathias know something, and is he keeping quiet for his safety? What about the pickup and the woman with her baby? All speculation? Maybe, but if Mathias is still alive, he has a lot of explaining to do.
As the old saying goes, “Even dead men tell stories from the grave.” We’ll see about that.
Until next month,
Harper
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