WEBVTT 1 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.600 Welcome back to the Path Wind Chili. I'm Robin, I'm. 2 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:37.479 Jules, and I'm Ashley. Guys, I'm about to burst. I'm 3 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:40.000 thirty six weeks pregnant. So very soon we're going to 4 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:43.719 have our little podcast mascot Teddy with us as well. 5 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:46.640 But for now, I'm ready to dive into our case 6 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.399 and learn a little bit more about the Martin family. 7 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:56.439 December seventh, nineteen fifty eight, Portland, Oregon, fifty four year 8 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.880 old Kenneth Martin, his forty eight year old wife Barbara, 9 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:03.200 and their three daughters, fourteen year old Barbie, twelve year 10 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.519 old Virginia, and ten year old Susan, leave their home 11 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.799 and their station wagon to travel to the Columbia River Gorge. 12 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:12.879 When they failed to return, they are reported missing the 13 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:16.959 following evening. Just under five months later, the bodies of 14 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Susan and Virginia are discovered at separate locations in the 15 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:24.079 Columbia River, and some evidence suggests that the Martin station 16 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:28.599 wagon crashed into the water. However, other evidence, such as 17 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:31.760 the discovery of a blood stained gun which is traced 18 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:35.040 back to the Martin surviving son, points to the family 19 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:38.040 being victims of an elaborate murder plot, but this is 20 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:41.959 never proven and no trace of Kenneth, Barbara, and Barbie 21 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:43.040 are found. 22 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:47.319 After that the path went Chiley. So today we've got 23 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:50.640 a unique missing person's case to cover the nineteen fifty 24 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:54.200 eight disappearance of the Martin family, or should I say 25 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:56.159 it's a case in which some of the victims are 26 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:59.560 missing but others have been confirmed to be deceased. It 27 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.480 evolves a couple named Kenneth and Barbara Martin who left 28 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:04.959 on a road trip with their three daughters before the 29 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:07.959 entire family and their station wagon vanished without a trace. 30 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.000 The bodies of two of the Martin children would eventually 31 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:13.840 be found floating in the Columbia River, but the rest 32 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:15.960 of the family, as well as their vehicle, had never 33 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.039 been located. Now I know what you're probably thinking here. 34 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:22.080 The Martins obviously drove the car into the water, the 35 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.360 missing victims are still submerged underwater, and the whole thing 36 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.759 was nothing more than a tragic accident. Well, I'll admit 37 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:30.719 that when I first came across this case on the 38 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:33.960 Charlie Project website a long time ago, I thought the 39 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:37.400 exact same thing. But there's been renewed interest in the 40 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.400 case in recent years, thanks largely to the publication of 41 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:43.319 a book which came out during the summer of twenty nineteen, 42 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.039 which is titled Echo of Distant Water, the nineteen fifty 43 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:51.360 eight disappearance of Portland's Martin family. The author JB. Fisher 44 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:53.879 wanted to do a deep dive into the Martin case 45 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:56.520 and went through the original case files, where he made 46 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.360 some interesting discoveries to suggest that there's a lot more 47 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.840 of this story than a tragic accident, and that the 48 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:05.360 family may have been victims of foul play. A pair 49 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.960 of ex convicts just happened to be frequenting the area 50 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.919 where the Martins were last seen, but most intriguingly, a 51 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.439 gun would be found which was linked to the family's 52 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.919 surviving son, Donald, who was serving the Navy and station 53 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:20.120 in New York at that time. Donald apparently did not 54 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.960 have the best relationship with his family, so there has 55 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:26.159 been suspicion that he may have helped orchestrate their disappearance. 56 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.039 A number of different theories have been formed about what 57 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:31.800 ultimately happened to the Martins, and we're going to explore 58 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:33.360 all of them on today's episode. 59 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:38.840 This case is nuts because the kids are older children. 60 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:41.240 You have a ten year old, a twelve year old, 61 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.360 and a fourteen year old. So even the event that 62 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:49.360 the station wagon drove into the water, you would think 63 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.120 out of these five family members, someone might be able 64 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.520 to escape the station wagon and swim to safety, or 65 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.800 you would have at least one survivor because they're strong 66 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:01.599 human beings. These are not three year olds or you know, 67 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.360 an infant or anything. When you talk about the gun 68 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:09.879 being linked to Donald, were either of the girls that 69 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:12.439 were found Were either of them shot? 70 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.319 We're going to talk more about that. They couldn't determine 71 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:17.639 the exact cause of death, but there is apparently one 72 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:20.800 witness who thought he saw holes in at least one 73 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.680 of the girl's skulls, but this was never actually photographed 74 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.120 or like documented, so we don't know if this is 75 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:27.600 actually true. 76 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:30.439 It's very scary to think that you do have this 77 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.519 surviving member who maybe had a strained relationship with them. 78 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:39.120 But like I said, five older victims, very very disturbing 79 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:41.959 of how all five would either disappear or be deceased 80 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:44.399 and not one of them was able to escape whatever 81 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:45.600 situation was going on. 82 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:50.839 Our story begins in Portland, Oregon, in nineteen fifty eight 83 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:54.720 and our central figures are the Martin family, who reside 84 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:58.800 in a suburban neighborhood on northeast fifty sixth Avenue. The 85 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:02.040 patriarch of the family is fifty four year old Kenneth Martin, 86 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.879 who's been married for many years to his forty eight 87 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:08.360 year old wife, Barbara. Kenneth works as a supervisor for 88 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:11.920 the repair department of the Eccles Elector Home Service Company, 89 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:16.000 and the couple have four children, including three daughters, ten 90 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:19.480 year old Susan, twelve year old Virginia, and fourteen year 91 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:23.480 old Barbara, who goes by the nickname Barbie. In addition, 92 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.639 the Martins also have a twenty eight year old son 93 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.360 named Donald who's serving in the Navy and currently stationed 94 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.160 on the other side of the country at Fort Schuyler 95 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:36.279 in New York. Sometime between one thirty and two p m. 96 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:40.399 On the afternoon of Sunday, December seventh, Kenneth, Barbara, and 97 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.480 their three daughters decided to climb into the family vehicle, 98 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:47.279 a cream in red nineteen fifty four Ford Country Squire 99 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:51.160 station wagon, to take a road trip. They were planning 100 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:54.040 to travel east to make an excursion into the Columbia 101 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:58.040 River Gorge, a canyon which stretches eighty miles throughout Oregon. 102 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:01.680 In Washington State, the trip would likely involve picking up 103 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.839 a Christmas tree and collecting some other fresh greens to 104 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:09.360 put together reefs and other holiday decorations. Before they left, 105 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:11.639 the Martins had been invited to a friend's home for 106 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:14.439 Sunday dinner, but they declined because of the trip, with 107 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:19.680 Kenneth's stating quote, we'd better do as planned. But sometime 108 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:22.360 over the course of the next several hours, the Martins 109 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:26.360 would vanish without a trace. On Monday morning, December eighth, 110 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:28.720 Kenneth failed to show up for his job at the 111 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:32.000 electric company, and all three of the Martin daughters were 112 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:35.560 absent from school that day without any notice from their parents. 113 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:38.680 Since it was very out of character for Kenneth to 114 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:42.680 miss work, he was reported missing later that evening, and 115 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.240 the police decided to check the Martin residence. Neither the 116 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:50.120 family nor their station wagon were there, and everything appeared 117 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:53.879 to be undisturbed. The dishes from their Sunday morning breakfast 118 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:56.360 were in the sink and the load of laundry was 119 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.759 in the washing machine. Kenneth was known for playing Santa 120 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.000 claus for the neighborhood children, and a Santa suit he'd 121 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.519 worn to a Christmas party on the evening of December 122 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:09.519 sixth was still laid out. An extensive search effort would 123 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.639 be launched for the Martin family, and since a considerable 124 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.240 amount of money had been left behind in their bank accounts, 125 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:18.360 it seemed very unlikely that they took off voluntarily. 126 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:22.480 What adds to the bizarreness of this is that it's 127 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:25.600 almost like The Leftovers or the Left Behind series, where 128 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:30.120 these this family just disappears and it's as if their 129 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:35.959 home was left in this very normal, eerily normal state. 130 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:36.279 Right. 131 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:38.160 You have the Santa suit laying out, You've got the 132 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:41.439 dirty dishes in the sink, everything indicating that we're living 133 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:43.560 our life. We have plans, and we're coming back to 134 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:47.560 you clean up and to get things situated. The kids 135 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:50.800 and Kenneth, they don't miss school and work, and so 136 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:54.319 everyone immediately knows something's wrong. But it just made me 137 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:57.519 so sad when you said most likely they were heading 138 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.480 out for Christmas goodies. This is December and they were 139 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.920 trying to get ready for the holidays, and then somehow 140 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:07.079 they don't make it back to this quaint little home 141 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.360 that's so loved and lived in. You can tell from 142 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.639 the description and the fact that the money is still 143 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:15.040 left behind in their bank accounts, like you said, very 144 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.879 much indicates that they were most likely not planning to 145 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:23.120 not return to their normal life. 146 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.720 Yeah, and the vast majority of these cases where a 147 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:29.040 bunch of victims disappear alongside their vehicle, I'm going to 148 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:31.759 automatically assume that they crashed into a body of water 149 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.799 because that's the most logical explanation for how so many 150 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:38.240 people and their vehicle could disappear simultaneously. But I was 151 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:40.919 going to talk about this case becomes a lot weirder 152 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:41.200 than that. 153 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.519 But also, like I said, when you have these five 154 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.399 people in the station wagon, wouldn't you think it's some 155 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.240 like there would be a higher probability that at least 156 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:51.679 one of them could get out. 157 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:54.440 I guess it depends, like if you wind up in 158 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.200 a body of water that's very deep and you can't 159 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:59.360 open the door, then it would make sense that like 160 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.879 all five of them could be trapped inside the vehicle 161 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:06.440 and drowned without being able to get out. Investigators attempted 162 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:09.399 to retrace the Martin's movements on the afternoon, they went missing. 163 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:13.200 Once their disappearance made the news, witnesses came forward who 164 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:16.000 were called seeing them on a property called Martin's Acreage, 165 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:19.360 which was known for selling Christmas trees. The property was 166 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:22.480 located just off the old Columbia River Highway on Larch 167 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:26.039 Mountain Road, over thirty miles outside of Portland. Since this 168 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.440 was in the Columbia River Gorge area, it would have 169 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:30.919 made sense for the Martins to visit that property, but 170 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:34.000 when shown photographs of the family, neither the owner nor 171 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:36.320 his wife could be one hundre percent certain they saw 172 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:39.480 them there. The next promising lead occurred two weeks later, 173 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:41.679 when a credit card bill showed up in the Martin's 174 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.879 mailbox which showed that Kenneth had purchased five gallons of 175 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:48.720 gasoline on December of the seventh. The transaction took place 176 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.240 at Dean's Chevron service station in the town of Cascade Locks, 177 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.639 and sure enough, Kenneth's signature was on the receipt. Cascade 178 00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:59.720 Locks was located in Hood River County, forty miles east 179 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:02.440 of Poor Portland, and there would be another intriguing sighting 180 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.879 which took place twenty miles east of there in the 181 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:08.759 town of Hood River. Later that same afternoon, a waitress 182 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:11.360 at a restaurant called the Paradise Snack Bar claimed that 183 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:14.639 she served the Martin's food sometime between four thirty and 184 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.440 five pm. She said it was around dusk when they 185 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:19.879 climbed in the station wagon and appeared to be heading 186 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:23.039 west as they drove away. There would also be multiple 187 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:26.080 reported sightings of the Ford station wagon between five point 188 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.600 fifteen and five thirty that same evening. All of these 189 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.200 eye windesses said they saw it parked by the highway 190 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.600 at a cape called Trotter's Point, located eight miles east 191 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:39.120 of Cascade Locks next to the Columbia River. Some of 192 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.440 them reported seeing a Christmas tree in the back of 193 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:44.799 the station wagon, and one witness recalled seeing a second 194 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.960 car park near it. One couple would also report seeing 195 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.840 the station wagon parked on an access road and said 196 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:53.039 that two young men appeared to be standing by the 197 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:57.360 vehicle and talking to the people inside. Interestingly enough, the 198 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.399 following day, motors started noticing in a bit and in 199 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:04.120 white nineteen to fifty one Chevrolet parked by the highway 200 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.519 at Trotter's Point in almost the exact location the station 201 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.360 wagon have been seen. Since it did not match the 202 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.559 description of the Martin's vehicle, the local police paid little 203 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:16.200 attention to the Chevy, and it would be ten days 204 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.559 before it was finally towed away from that spot. 205 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.600 Now does that car, that nineteen fifty one Chevrolet, does 206 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:25.279 that match the car that the one witness said they 207 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.159 saw talking to the The car was parked next to 208 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.039 the station wagon and two individuals were outside talking to 209 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:31.960 the Martin family. 210 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:35.320 Yes, it does, and we're gonna mention them in a 211 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.759 few moments. But there were two people seen in the 212 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:40.840 same snack bar where the Martin families have eaten. Who 213 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:44.039 could have been the two men seen outside that car. 214 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:46.799 That's really scary because you also alluded to the fact 215 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.279 that Donald was potentially a suspect in this. That's the 216 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:53.519 strange sun, right, a son that had problems with the family. 217 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:56.360 He is, yeah, like he was in New York while 218 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:59.120 others was going on. So if he was involved in 219 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:02.039 a murder plot, it's very unlikely that he personally was 220 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:04.399 responsible because I think it would have been noticed if 221 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.919 he traveled to the other side of the country in Oregon. 222 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.879 But there's been speculation that he could have gotten these 223 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.360 two other men to do something to his family. 224 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:16.519 It would have to be a pretty elaborate plot, given 225 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.360 that it was nineteen fifty eight. You couldn't just go 226 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:21.759 and like scour the internet or like, you know, the 227 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.679 dark web for hitmen, or you know, how are you 228 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:29.159 going to actually connect with these people unless you know 229 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:31.759 them from somewhere else. It would have to be like 230 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:34.080 a friend of a friend. You'd think there would be 231 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:38.559 some chain that could connect Donald to the potential suspects. 232 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.519 That's true. And if there was a tie also, how 233 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:43.519 would they know where the Martin feeling was going to 234 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:46.720 be and win? Because they're making these multiple stops and 235 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.240 to find that perfect time that they're able to in 236 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:53.720 nineteen fifty eight connect at the right time in the 237 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:56.840 right place on a road trip like this, I just 238 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.159 it seems very unlikely to be able to coordinate all 239 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:00.879 that information back in nineteen fifty eight. 240 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:03.519 And that's why there's been speculation that the whole angle 241 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:05.559 with Donald might be a red herring and that if 242 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.159 these two guys in the white car were responsible, they 243 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:11.080 could have just like targeted the Martins at random as 244 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:18.639 part of a robbery or something and decided to kill them. 245 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.720 And is it possible that the gun could have been 246 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:21.840 in the vehicle and the Martins were targeted, and for 247 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:24.840 whatever reason, one of those two men took out the 248 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:27.720 gun and potentially used it in the commission of the 249 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.240 crime and then just disposed of it. 250 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:32.759 It is possible, like this gun is like if it 251 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:35.440 wasn't for the gun, no one would suspect that Donald 252 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:37.600 was involved. But as we're going to talk about, it 253 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:39.879 would get linked to them. But it's from an incident 254 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.720 from years earlier, and it's never been indicated if maybe 255 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.240 Kenneth Martin had decided to hold on to the gun 256 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:48.600 and keep it inside his car for the next few years. 257 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.600 By the time nineteen fifty nine arrived, there was still 258 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:56.919 no sign of the Martins, but a volunteer searcher would 259 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.919 make an interesting discovery in early January. While searching a 260 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:04.279 rocky bluff near the town of the Dows, located over 261 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:07.759 twenty miles southeast of Hood River, he noticed some tire 262 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:09.960 tracks which appeared to drive off the edge of a 263 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.399 cliff into the Columbia River. It would later turn out 264 00:14:13.399 --> 00:14:15.879 that the tire tread seemed to match the tires on 265 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:20.000 the martins Ford station wagon paint ships were also found 266 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.440 on a nearby rock, and when sent to the FBI 267 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:25.919 for analysis, a match was made to that particular station 268 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:30.000 wagon's paint. By this point, the searches were conducted for 269 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:33.720 the missing vehicle in the Columbia River near Cascade Locks. 270 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:37.960 The location was in close proximity to Bonneville Dam, but 271 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.600 nothing could be found and the searches were called off 272 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.320 when one of the divers nearly drowned. The investigation had 273 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:47.320 to stand still, but there would be some shocking developments 274 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:51.679 four months later. On May first, a dredging operation with 275 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:54.960 a drilling barge was taking place near the dolls, which 276 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.000 involved dropping large anchors into the river. On this particular day, 277 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.320 one of the anchors wound up getting caught on a 278 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:05.519 large object deep beneath the water. While the crew attempted 279 00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:08.080 to bring the object to the surface, one of the 280 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:11.679 deckhands stuck his pole into the water and struck something 281 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:14.879 which he believed was metal, but before they could actually 282 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:17.480 see it, the anchor came loose and the object wound 283 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:21.039 up plunging back down over one hundred feet. The crew 284 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.799 members believed they hooked onto a vehicle and would later 285 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.879 say they saw what appeared to be a bundle of 286 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:28.919 clothes surfacing in the water in the distance before it 287 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:33.159 floated downstream well. Only two days later, the crew of 288 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.679 a tugboat came across the body of a young girl 289 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:38.919 on the north bank of a waterway called the Columbia Slough. 290 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:43.480 The location was near the town of Camas, Washington, approximately 291 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:47.039 seventy miles west of the Dolls. When the body was recovered, 292 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:51.039 dental records would positively identify the victim as Susan Martin. 293 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.759 On May fourth, just one day after Susan was found, 294 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:58.240 another body of a young girl would be discovered floating 295 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:02.120 in the river roughly twenty five miles east, this time 296 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:06.159 in the Bonneville Dame Spillway. This time, dental records would 297 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.840 be used to identify the victim as Virginia Martin. An 298 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:13.960 autopsy found traces of food, including hamburgers and fries, in 299 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.840 both Susan and Virginia's stomachs. Since the waitress at the 300 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.159 Paradise Snack Bar and Hood River had recalled serving the 301 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.000 Martin family burghers and fries on the day they went missing, 302 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:28.039 this seemed to clarify that her sighting was genuine. The 303 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:30.919 digestion of the food indicated that the girls had eaten 304 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:34.399 two hours before they died, placing their approximate time of 305 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.440 death at around six thirty p m. On December seventh. 306 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.919 Since both bodies were heavily decomposed, the exact cause of 307 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.559 death was difficult to determine, though the medical examiner would 308 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:49.000 officially declare it to be drowning. However, a technician who 309 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:53.240 fingerprinted the victims in photographed Virginia's body would later claim 310 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.919 that he saw holes in both of the girl's skulls, 311 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:58.600 though no mention of this was made in the medical 312 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:00.240 examiner's report. 313 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:01.639 It's so interesting. 314 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.359 This is nineteen fifty eight, so it's possible that you know, 315 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.759 back then, just the way that they kept records and 316 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:10.519 the way that they secured information at the time just 317 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:13.440 wasn't as thorough as it needed to be. But it 318 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:17.680 would be very difficult to detail cause a death. Drowning 319 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.720 seems probable because they're in the water. But then again, 320 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:23.119 if you think about this technician who says that they 321 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:26.160 actually saw holes in both the girl's skulls, could be 322 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.119 from a multitude of things. Is it a gunshot, Is 323 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:33.519 it some injury that happened when it was you know, 324 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.680 when that tug boat was pushing down on the car. 325 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:40.079 Who knows. It does sound like though, while they're dredging 326 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:44.880 that lake, maybe the station wagon is open in some capacity, 327 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:48.119 the roof is torn off, the windshield's broken, something like that, 328 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:51.119 which allows those bodies to float to the surface and 329 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:55.480 then go elsewhere. Tell me how wild is it that 330 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:58.599 they could still tell the food contents of their stomachs 331 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.960 even though the bodies were badly composed. Science amazes me. 332 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:05.720 Oh yeah, definitely, because we can talk about how eyewitness 333 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:08.799 sightings and missing persons cases could be reliable. But finding 334 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:11.759 the burgers and fries in the two girls stomachs pretty 335 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:14.680 much clarified that was the family that the waitress sough 336 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.319 at the diner, so this was able to pinpoint the 337 00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:19.440 last time they were confirmed to be alive, and the 338 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:22.480 fact that their approximate time of death took place less 339 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:26.000 than two hours after they left the diner indicates that 340 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:28.799 they were killed a short time later, and that makes 341 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:30.920 the sighting of them next to the car with the 342 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:32.839 two men all the more interesting. 343 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.079 What's also really interesting here is that you have those 344 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:39.240 tire tracks and the paint and things like that that 345 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:42.440 indicate this car went off the cliff, but right before 346 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:44.720 six point thirty, which is when they're estimating the time 347 00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:47.519 of death. You also see that other car parked right 348 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:51.200 next to this station wagon. So the reality is is 349 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:54.799 that if you're looking at how they went over, it's 350 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:57.559 supposedly leaving from that same spot where as parked. Is 351 00:18:57.559 --> 00:18:59.920 that correct, like it's going to go over shortly after that? 352 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:02.640 Well, what's crazy is that the spot where they see 353 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:05.799 this was a considerable distance east, and the Martins had 354 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:08.640 been heading west when they left the diner, So it 355 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:11.160 seems like they crossed paths with these two men and 356 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.920 that something may have happened so that the car wound 357 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.200 up in the opposite direction and possibly crashed into the water. 358 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.279 And this makes you think was this an accident because 359 00:19:20.279 --> 00:19:22.480 they had no reason to be driving that direction, or 360 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.440 did someone intentionally rig it so that the station wagon 361 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:26.599 went into the water. 362 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:29.880 That's what I was thinking. If they injured the family, 363 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:33.960 and let's say they shot them or they incapacitated them somehow, 364 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.599 incapacitating five people, like we talked about earlier, ages ten 365 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:41.960 to adulthood right would be very difficult. Although there were 366 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.200 two of them, but I could see them getting the 367 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.799 car to another location and then just pushing something on 368 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:51.079 the gas pedal and having everybody go over the edge. 369 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:54.160 So it's very, very possible that it was staged and 370 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:56.519 or it is possible it was an accident. 371 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:01.559 Was there ever any talk about Kenneth and they're potentially 372 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.119 being like murder suicide type of a situation, or was 373 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:06.359 that not even entertained? 374 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:10.000 That wasn't even entertained. I mean, I guess it's possible 375 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:13.039 if he kept it concealed well enough that he decided 376 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:15.960 to murder his entire family in some sort of suicide. 377 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:18.200 But it sounds like everyone had nothing but good things 378 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:20.640 to say about him. There was no talk about dissension 379 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.319 in the family, and he seemed like a hard working 380 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:26.359 man who loved his wife and children. So if he 381 00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:29.240 decided to do that, then there were obviously no warning signs. 382 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:33.359 It turned out to the location where the drilling barge 383 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:36.079 caught the large object with the anchor just happened to 384 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:38.480 be near the Rocky bluff where the tire tracks had 385 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:42.160 been found months earlier. So investigators were now convinced that 386 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:44.599 the Martin station wagon had gone off the cliff into 387 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:46.920 the river, and when the barge attempted to raise the 388 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:49.920 vehicle to the surface, they wound up dislodging one of 389 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:53.440 the doors, causing Susan and Virginia's bodies to come loose 390 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:56.799 and float downstream to the locations where they were eventually found. 391 00:20:57.720 --> 00:20:59.920 While divers would perform a search of the area where 392 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:03.559 the station wagon was believed to be submerged, poor visibility 393 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.839 made it difficult to see anything under water. While some 394 00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:10.000 investigators believed that the Martins had driven their vehicle into 395 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:13.480 the river accidentally, others suspected that it was pushed off 396 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:17.359 the cliff deliberately. This included the lead investigator on the case, 397 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:21.480 Detective Walter Grave of the Multoma County Sheriff's Office, who 398 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:24.279 became convinced that the family were victims of foul play. 399 00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:27.000 There did seem to be any logical reason for the 400 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.359 Martins to have driven to the dolls, and it was 401 00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:31.680