Clipped From The Los Angeles Times

Mystery of 5 Men Lost in Sierra Deepens How and Why of Retarded Victims' Disappearance Seem Inexplicable los angflta inta Mod., June 19, 1978 -Parti -Parti 3 BY CATHLEEN DECKER Tlmti Stiff Wrlttr OROVILLE-Four OROVILLE-Four OROVILLE-Four months ago, five slightly mentally retarded young men, inexplicably miles off the familiar familiar route to their homes from a college basketball game, vanished into the snowy wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Nevada. The intense and prolonged search for the five friends by sheriff's investigators investigators and relatives proved fruitless; It was only the late spring thaw that led to the discovery of the bodies of four of the five men two weeks ago. Still, the mystery surrounding their disappearance has deepened, and the questions that have plagued the anguished anguished families and baffled law enforcement enforcement officers, since that February February night persist. Chico if fc . . Orovlll. I (( Bullarda I Res. a'"7 Yuba 1 Marysvllle CHy I U Si RETRACING STEPS Map shows The five men, clad only in lightweight lightweight clothing, abandoned the relative relative safety of their car and struck out in the deep snowdrifts and silent, terrifying terrifying darkness-only darkness-only darkness-only to die. One of them almost made it, living for perhaps as long as 13 weeks in a Forest Service trailer within 50 feet of all the necessities of life which for some reason he spurned. The .sparse evidence so far uncovered indicates indicates that at least one other of the missing men had also sought safety in the shelter then left it. Families and friends of the men, and sheriff's investigators, find themselves themselves grasping at the few hard facts in the case, constructing theories that sometimes collapse with the surfacing of new clues. And what gnaws most desperately, path of five men who vanished. Times nup by Dsn Clement they say, is that virtually none of the . theories makes sense. Well over 100 days after the disappearance, they continue to ask the same question that has dogged them from the beginning: beginning: Why? Why would five men who lived their lives by habit, never indulging in whims, voluntarily drive into the mountains the night beforetheir Special Special Olympics basketball tournament which they were looking forward to with anticipation-without anticipation-without anticipation-without warm 'clothing and carrying no food or supplies? supplies? Why would they park their car on a mountain road and struggle miles uphill in 5- 5- to 10-foot 10-foot 10-foot drifts instead of taking the easier downhill route or waiting for help in the vehicle? More perpleidngly, why would one of the men make no attempt to, use the warm clothing and heating materials only a few feet away from him? Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Gary, Mathias, Bill Sterling and Jack Huett were "just nice friendly boys who went to games together and went home," the mother of one said recently. recently. Weiher, 32, Madruga, 30, and Sterling, Sterling, 29, were classified as "slow learners," learners," investigators said, while Huett, the youngest at 24, was somewhat more retarded. Mathias, 25, who sheriff's sheriff's deputies said b?.d trouble with drugs while in the Army, was under, medication for schizophrenia. 'r -lunula. -lunula. FINAL NOTE Last entry in Ted Weiher's diary tells of plans for Special Olympics games. Several of the men held full-time full-time full-time jobs gained through the Gateway Project, an organization for the handicapped, handicapped, but the rest of their time was spent in athletics-either athletics-either athletics-either playing sports or watching sports, their families families said. On Feb. 24, they traveled from their homes in the Marysville-Yuba-City Marysville-Yuba-City Marysville-Yuba-City Marysville-Yuba-City Marysville-Yuba-City area fifty miles north to Chico, to watch their favorite basketball team, UC Davis, compete against Chico State. .. . Before leaving home, several laid out uniforms and shoes for the next day's Special Olympic basketball tournament, in which their team, the "Gateway Gators," was scheduled to play. The gamefamilies and friends said, had been the topic of excited conversation for weeks. After the Chico game that Friday flight, the five stopped briefly at a small neighborhood market in Chico, annoying a clerk there by buying "junk foods" just before the 10 p.m. closing time, Dep. Lance Ayers of Yuba County said. It was the last time any of them was seen alive. Several days later, their car was found on a snowy mountain road in the Sierra northeast of Oroville, far from the route which would have taken them from Chico to their homes. No trace of the men was found, Relatives and law enforcement officers officers began searching the area shortly, shortly, but a severe blizzard blanketed the area with several feet of snow, hampering search efforts and covering covering possible tracks. Despite a flurry of reported sightings, sightings, shortly after the disappearance, nothing substantial was unearthed until just two weeks ago, when a motorcyclist motorcyclist who entered the area as snows thawed looked into a broken window of a Forest Service trailer 19 miles from where the car was found. Inside was the body of Ted Weiher, wrapped in a bed sheet shroud. Search and rescue teams, including relatives of the men, combed the area and in the following week found the partial remains of Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling and Jack Huett Only Gary Mathias remains missing. Yet even the discovery of the bodies failed to shed much new light SEARCH Deputies check mine on the case. The best anyone can do is What the few hard facts in the case suggest on the surface is that the men somehow found themselves on a mountain road, left the car for no apparent apparent reason and began walking up a little-used, little-used, little-used, snow-covered snow-covered snow-covered road. . Based on the heavy growth of beard, a Plumas County pathologist determined that Weiher lived between between eight and 13 weeks after the disappearance at the least, just two weeks short of rescue. The body of Jack Huett, which like Sterling's and Madruga's had been ravaged by animals, was found two miles from the trailer under a scrawny manzanita bush. in area where bodies were found. Tlme photos by Len Lnhman "Thing's aren't right," said Melba Madruga, Jack's mother. "They (the investigators) want to say they (the men) got stuck, walked out like a bunch of idiots and froze to death. "Why would they leave the car to go die?" she asked. "There's no sense to that theory. But we can't figure anything that works out right. There's no rhyme or reason to any of it." Immediately after the disappearance, disappearance, the families and investigators suspected foul play as the only explanation explanation for the drive into the wilderness. wilderness. None of the men had ever expressed expressed any interest in snow or the Please Turn to Page 16, Col. 1