At around 6 PM on Friday, February 24th, 1978, my first birthday.

Five men left the Yuba County area in California to attend a college basketball game in nearby Chico.

Their favorite UC Davis team were on the ticket that night

and despite being just one day away from a big basketball

tournament of their own, they decided it was worth the 55 mile or 88 kilometer trip to catch the last game of the season.

Bill Sterling, Jack Hewitt, who went by Jackie, Ted Weir, Jack Madruga, and Gary Mathias had driven the route several times before.

But this time, they would never make it home.

45 years later, the truth of what happened that night remains a mystery. Oh, Even though the men ranged in age from 24 to 32, they referred to themselves as the boys.

The boys were members of a basketball team known as the Gateway Gators.

The team was coordinated by the Gateway Project, which was a local

organization working to support those in the community living with disabilities or mental illness.

Four of the men were considered to be intellectually disabled

while Gary had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Jack, Ted, Bill, and Jackie had been friends

for years while Gary had only recently joined their group after leaving the military.

The Gators were a successful team, so much so that they were scheduled to take part in the Special Olympic Basketball Tournament on February 25th,

just one day after they watched the UC Davis game.

If they had won the tournament, they would have gained entry to the statewide Special Olympics event in Los Angeles, a long-held dream for all five men. Despite their excitement for the upcoming tournament the next day, the group decided they could watch the game in Chico and still get enough rest once they arrived home.

So just before 6 p.m. they piled into Jack's two-door 1969 Mercury Montego and drove off into the night.

After watching the game, they got back into the car,

picked up some snacks at a nearby convenience store,

and by 10 p.m. they were on the road again.

He was around midnight when the mothers of the five friends began to worry.

...