A trip into the woods to collect Christmas greenery nearly 70 years ago resulted in a family missing for decades, but the mystery of their disappearance has come to an end.
The remains of Kenneth, Barbara and Barbie Martin (14) were found in the wreckage of a car in the Columbia River in 2024, The Associated Press reported.
They, along with two other children, disappeared in December 1958. Eventually, the bodies of the two youngest daughters — Virginia, 13 and Susan, 11 — were found in the river months after they disappeared, but the three others were never found, The Oregonian and KATU reported.
Until 66 years later.
A $1,000 reward was offered shortly after they disappeared, and some suspected foul play, the AP reported.
The Ford station wagon discovered by a diver resembled the one driven by the Martin family. The diver had made it his quest to find their car after he became interested in the case in 2018, The Oregonian reported.
The next year, officials pulled part of the vehicle from the river. But only part, the frame and some attached parts, because of the “extent to which the vehicle had been encased in sediment,” the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said, but it was enough to determine it was the Martins’ car.
The car was upside down in part of the river known as “the pit” and in about 50 feet of water, KATU reported. The sediment and rock covered the vehicle after a flood came through the area, the diver said.
In 2025, the diver found human remains that were eventually given to the Oregon medical examiner’s office.
DNA testing was able to confirm the remains belonged to the missing Martins.
The diver, Archer Mayo, speculated that Kenneth Martin misjudged how much space he had in the Cascade Locks parking lot and accidentally fell into the river, The Oregonian reported.
“I think that they turned around in such a way that they kind of got stuck against a curb, put the car in reverse and it wouldn’t move, it wouldn’t move, it wouldn’t move,” Mayo said, according to KTVU. “And then all of a sudden jolted and it went backwards in an uncontrollable way into the water, and that’s what they all do.”
The sheriff determined that no crime was involved in their disappearance and the investigation is closed, the AP reported.
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