On Friday, February 24th, 1978, five young men left their homes to head to a basketball game at Chico State in Chico, California. This was the boys’ favorite team and they had a basketball tournament they were playing in themselves the next day. They were known as the Gateway Gators and were competing in the Special Olympics. The game ended and the boys’ favorite team won. They left the school and stopped at a nearby service station to grab snacks before the hour drive home together. Unfortunately, the young men never made it home. Months later, remains were found in the mountains of the Plumas National Forest. The young men, rather than continue south down the interstate, in a straight shot to their hometown, had veered east and continued in the wrong direction for quite some distance. Their car was found abandoned. Four of the young men were found dead. People assumed that because four of the young men were described as “slow” or mentally disabled, they’d just gotten lost, but their families knew better. They still, to this day, believe that the young men were victims of foul play. With one man still missing, there are no answers to this case, only theories and rumors. What happened to the Yuba County Five? TRIGGER WARNINGS: outdated terminology for intellectually and developmentally disabled, that can be considered offensive now (these words were used to describe the men at the time when it was more acceptable). Hang with us:

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