There were four victims: Sue Sharp, her son John, her daughter Tina, and John's friend Dana. Keddie, California.Sue Sharp, her teenage son John, and his friend Dana Wingate are found brutally murdered in the Sharp family's cabin at Keddie Resort in the Sierra Nevada. Then in April 2018, Gamberg matched the DNA from the murder scene to a known living suspect. Some neighbors near Cabin 28 reported that muffled screams or groans woke them up between 1:00 am and 2:00 am. The former Sharp home was condemned and demolished in 2004. It would not have been accidentally misplaced." Justin also claimed that Tina came out shortly after, and one of the men abducted her out the back door. A fourth victim, a 12-year-old daughter, vanished in the night-her remains found years later and miles away. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. Several new leads were announced in the 21st century, including the discovery of a hammer in a pond in 2016, as well as announcements regarding the discovery of new DNA evidence. Three of them were murdered that night, and one of the children remained missing until years later. He had been manually strangled. Moreover, it appears that Marty had actually confessed to the murders to two different people. Copyright 2016-2022 True Crime Magazine, A Look Inside Ted Bundys Isolation Cell at Dade County Jail, Meet the 13-Year-Old Boy Who Caught Richard Ramirez, A GRAPHIC Look Back At the Hillside Strangler Murders, Revisiting Ted Bundys Issaquah Dump Site, A GRAPHIC Look Back at Zodiac Killers Reign of Terror, A GRAPHIC Look Back At Richard Chases Reign of Terror, A GRAPHIC Look Back At Ted Bundys Execution, NSFW: The Blood-Soaked Trail of the Times Square Killer. As she opened the door, she screamed as she discovered the bodies of her mother, Glenna "Sue" Sharp, older brother John Sharp . Various weapons were found at the scene, including a table knife, a butcher knife, and a bloody hammer. They had died . Circleville, Ohio - The Unsolved Mystery of the Circleville Letters by Every . KEDDIE (CBS13) - The stretch of I-70 in the Feather River Canyon appears to be one of the most peaceful settings in Plumas County, but three decades ago, a monster invaded the town of Keddie.. Some have speculated that Martin may have killed Sue for revenge, in the mistaken belief that she was responsible for breaking up his marriage. John and his 17-year-old friend Dana had hitchhiked to a nearby town of Quincy for a party and returned sometime later that evening. Jamie ushered them out of the house through the bedroom window to protect them from the horrifying crime scene. The police never admitted this letter as evidence. Surely, no one expected it to be one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in history. Unfortunately, the town's attempt to reinvent itself fell short. In one of the bedrooms, authorities found Rick, Greg, and their friend Justin Eason Smartt, unharmed. On the morning of April 12, 1981 Sheila Sharp awoke from a neighbors sleep over and went next door to her house to drop off her blankets. The town tried to reinvent itself by becoming a recreational camping and hiking resort area. Trampling through dead leaves, they stepped inside the perimeter of where the cabin once sat. Marilyn and Marty happened to be taking the same typewriting class that Sue was enrolled in. He is the author of a series of published mystery novels and holds a degree in criminal psychology. It's debated whether it was the murders themselves that led to less interest in renting in the once-busy area, or if it was the allegedly poor management of the cabins themselves that led to fewer people being willing to live there. Along with the three murders, the younger Sharp daughter, Tina (12) was . About the Cabin 28 Keddie Murders Case: The morning of April 12, 1981, Glenna Sue Sharp and her kids, Tina and John, and John's friend, Dana Wingate, were brutally murdered inside house #28 in Keddie, California. [6][16] Initial reports stated that the three young boys had slept through the incident, though this was later contradicted. The three had been bound by medical and electrical tape and had either been viciously stabbed, strangled, or bludgeoned. Further, it came to light that Marilyn Smartt, Martys wife and mother of Justin, had left her husband on the day of the murder discovery. On the other hand, his reason for killing Tina was that she had seen everything. Although the counselor initially reported Martys statements to the police not long after the killings, the police did not log the information as evidence or follow up with this information. Marilyn moved out of Cabin 26 the day after the murders. The date was April 11, 1981, when Cabin 28 saw the horrors that crowd it and to this day, the case remains cold. When the DOJ was alerted to this confession in 1981, they dismissed it as hearsay.. In September 1980, Sharp found a larger home in the former resort town of Keddie, California. All rights reserved. In 2013, the Plumas County Sheriff, Greg Hagwood, hired Mike Gamberg as a Special Investigator. To this day, the murders remain unsolved. Findings confirmed that the weapons used on the victims heads were two different hammers and a BB gun in Sues case. Sue and John had suffered similar types of wounds. You May Also Like: Brutal Murders on Germanys Hinterkaifeck Farm. The oldest boy, John, got the ground-floor basement all to himself. She remarried and is still alive. [3][4] She decided to relocate to northern California, where her brother Don was residing at the time. At Keddie Cabin, two victims were found tied to each other. 5 People Vanished Along the Snake River Beginning in 1979: Will Police Finally Catch a Serial Killer? It would take the police hours to realize that a fourth victim, Tina, was missing. Dana had multiple head injuries and had been manually strangled to death. His head was badly damaged as though bashed in with a blunt object and lay partially on a pillow. Despite the multitude of evidence and a few suspects, no arrests took place. Sheilas 12-year-old sister Tina was missing, while her two younger brothers, Rick and Greg, and their friend Justin were left unharmed during the violent ordeal. Two months later, a forensic analysis of the teeth confirmed that they were indeed Tinas remains. Listen Now For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode HERE. Keddie is a tiny settlement in Plumas County on the outskirts of Quincy, California. All victims had suffered blunt-force trauma by hammer or hammers. The survivor was noticed cowering in the back of an SUV parked in EQ (East Quincy) outside the apartment where the killers were staying. Neighbors said that for the most part, she kept to herself but the family was integrating well. until 2013 when the case was reopened with new investigators Plumas Sheriff Greg Hagwood and Special Investigator Mike Gamberg. Go to PEOPLE.com/PEN, or download the PEN app on Apple TV, Roku Players, Amazon Fire TV, Xumo, Chromecast, iOS and Android devices. Investigators discovered two bloody knives, a hammer, and a plastic piece from a BB gun. April 12, 1981, the bodies of 36-year-old Sue Sharp, her 15-year-old son John and his 17-year-old friend Dana Wingate were found in Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort, north of Quincy. Her fate remained unknown until her skeletal remains turned up in the woods three years later, as recounted Monday night in an episode of PEOPLEs new true-crime series on Investigation Discovery, People Magazine Investigates. What else do you want? Although the room was covered in blood, it was all traced back to the victims, as reported by Historic Mysteries. Oddly, John and Dana did not have any defensive wounds or blood under their bindings. Sues ex-husband was in the military when they divorced, and the Navy gave her $250 a month to start her new life. Many people believe that the police were either incompetent or corrupt and covered up the crime for some reason. Unsolved 1981 American quadruple homicide in Keddie, California, Victims, clockwise: Sue Sharp, John Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Tina Sharp, The house's front door and living room interior, Several news sources use the name "John Boubede", though Robert Scott claims in his book, "Keddie murders revisited part 2: Following the clues", "Inside the Search for the Keddie Cabin Killers 35 Years After a Family Was Slaughtered", "A Daughter's 35-Year Fight For Justice: Sheila Sharp Longs to Know Who Murdered Her Family in Their Cabin", "5 Things to Know about the Keddie Cabin Murders and the New Hunt for the Killers", "Plumas County Sheriff seeks pair in Keddie tripple slaying", "13-year-old Keddie murders still plague sheriff", "Investigator closer to solving Keddie murders", "Plumas County's Keddie murders revisited Part III", "Keddie murders revisited part 1: New evidence discovered links living suspect to grisly scene", "Plumas triple murder investigation continues", "The Keddie Murders: 20 years have passed since four lives were taken in a brutal slaying", "Sheriff seeks pair for questioning in Keddie murder investigation", "New evidence revives Plumas County quadruple murder case", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keddie_murders&oldid=1134819132, Deaths by strangulation in the United States, Unsolved mass murders in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Tina Sharp (remains recovered April 1984), This page was last edited on 20 January 2023, at 21:19. Since then, no arrests have been made, and the names have never been released to the public. As reported by Historic Mysteries, Justin was placed under hypnosis and questioned about the content of his dreams. The Keddie Murders is an unsolved 1981 American quadruple murder that took place in Keddie, a former resort town in the foothills of Northern California's Sierra Nevada mountains. He admitted that he had a problem with his temper, and Marilyn had claimed that he tried to run her and her son over. But Sheila credits the memory of her mothers compassion as a guide she has tried to follow. [17], The murders of Sue, John, and Dana were notably vicious:[13] two bloodied knives and one hammer were found at the scene,[15][18] and one of the knives (a steak knife later determined to have been used in the murders) had been bent at roughly 30 degrees. Silveria Jr. is believed to have killed between 9 and 14 people while living a transient lifestyle on freight-trains throughout the United States. It would also explain why the Smartt boy and the other Sharp boys in the adjoining room were spared. After looking around and searching for survivors, he rejoined the others outside. Her brother, who would help her and the children start a new life, lived in Quincy, California, about 150 miles north of Sacramento. It's an unsolved murder of a mother, two of her children and her son's friend. The Butte County Sheriffs Department soon received an anonymous call asking, I was wondering if they thought of the murder up in Keddie up in Plumas County a couple years ago where a 12-year-old girl was never found?. Dmac does not agree on this point. When Martin discovered this, he enlisted Bo, his friend, and known mob enforcer who had lived with the Smartts a mere 10 days before the Keddie murders, to take Sue out of the picture. One of them was tall with blonde hair and a mustache, while the other was shorter, dark-haired, and clean-shaven. Dana also had severe head injuries, but he had also been strangled. In 2013, he located the recording of the anonymous 911 phone call that came in after Tinas remains surfaced. Unsolved murders have a way of weighing on a community, the place forever haunted and the neighbors always left wondering. Local authorities confirmed she was not known to law enforcement and did not have a criminal record. "[24] In addition to interviewing the Smartts, detectives interviewed numerous other locals and neighbors; several, including members of the Seabolt family, recalled seeing a green van parked at the Sharps' house around 9:00 pm. The back door left ajar. To read the full article about the Keddie Cabin Murders please log in or join Stangeoutdoors by clicking here: The shocking unsolved Keddie Cabin murders Exclusive Members Only Area $15.99 One time Exclusive content for Members Sharp's neighbors described her as a "loner," who only made one close friend in the community. [24], Martin Smartt, a neighbor and main suspect, claimed that a claw hammer had inexplicably gone missing from his home. More confounding is that the three youngest boys were not only untouched but allegedly unaware of the event, even though a woman and her boyfriend in the cabin next door awoke around 1:30 a.m. to what they described were muffled screams. [19] John's throat was slashed. Three of Sue's children were with her, Tina, 12; Ricky, 10; and Greg, 5. Former Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood said he believes Tina is "central to why" the family was killed. Somehow, this erupted into a bout of violence between them, which resulted in the murders. Then at 3:30 pm, the two teenagers headed out again. [24] Around 2:00 am on April 12, she stated she awoke to find the two burning an unknown item in the wood stove. Keddie28 reported Sharp immediately fled the cabin and ran to the neighbors for help. [29], In a 2008 documentary on the murders, Marilyn Smartt claimed that she suspected her husband Martin and his friend John "Bo" Boubede (erroneously reported as "John Boudee" by author Robert Scott)[a] were responsible for the murders. Gamberg is on a special mission to solve the 37-year-old murder case, where four people were brutally murdered, and probably all within the tiny railroad town and former resort community called Keddie. "[29] In a 2016 interview, Gamberg stated that the letter was "overlooked" in the initial investigation and never admitted as evidence. A neighborhood boy, Justin Eason, would spend the night with Sues two youngest sons that evening. Episode Info Note the sign on the front tree proclaims this was a home where a mom and her five children lived. Soon, PCSO squads would be on hand. It would be another three years after the Keddie murders that Tina was found. However, Tina was missing. The plastic piece that the police found in Cabin 28 matched up to a Daisy 880 BB gun. Published October 18, 2021 Updated November 1, 2021 Between April 11 and April 12, 1981, Glenna "Sue" Sharp and three others were brutally killed in the resort town of Keddie, California. Originally established as a stop along the railroad, the area was in the middle of a total transition when the Sharp . Based on Justin's description of the attackers, detectives identified Martin "Marty" Smartt as one of the primary suspects in the cabin murders. Forty years after the incident, the quadruple murder in the woods still baffles the nation. This happened 41 years ago in Keddie, California. Gamberg was a young deputy when the Keddie cabin murders occurred. On the night of the Keddie cabin murders, Marilyn, Boubede (or Bo as they called him), and Marty had been out together at the local bar. The East Area Rapist used electrical cords to bind victims. In his dreams, he saw two men in the front room of the cabin. Gamberg and the owner ofKeddie28.com,who goes by the name DMAC, believe that Sue Sharp and Marty Smartt were having an affair. It read: Ive paid the price of your love & now that Ive bought it with four peoples lives, you tell me we are through. During his interrogation, Marty offered to the police that his hammer with a blue handle had gone missing. Claw hammered. [24] Plumas County Sheriff Sylvester Thomas, who presided over the case, later stated that Martin had provided "endless clues" in the case that seemed to "throw the suspicion away from him. The family had been living in relative poverty in a town of 66 people. He also exaggerated about how long he had lived in Keddie. with a handwritten letter sent to her and signed by her estranged husband. Justin recalled that both men wore glasses and that the two older boys, John and Dana, came home while Sue was talking to the men. While under hypnosis, he described the killers as a tall man with blond hair and a mustache and a short man, who was clean-shaven with dark hair. [12] Tina's jacket, shoes and a toolbox containing various tools were missing from the house,[6] which showed no indication of forced entry. The only thing authorities found that may reveal the identity of the killer, or killers, was DNA collected from a piece of medical tape used to bind the victims. On the night of April 11, 1981, four people were brutally murdered in Cabin 28 of the Keddie resort in Northern California. [25] Both wore gold-framed sunglasses. The Keddie Cabin murders was a case that involved a triple-slaying as well as a missing child whose remains were later discovered. Sue Sharps surviving children left California to live with an aunt. On April 11, 1981, Sheila Sharp, then 14, discovered three bloodied bodies inside her home in Keddie, California: her mother, Glenna "Sue" Sharp, her brother John Sharp and one of his friends, Dana Wingate. Inside Cabin 28 were the bodies of her mother, Glenna Sue Sharp, her teenage brother John, and his high school friend, Dana Wingate. While the Seabolts tried to calm the distraught girl, their teenage son, Jamie Seabolt, went to Cabin 28 to see if anyone was still alive. The artist won the Doug Moran in 2011 for his portrait of Baz Luhrmann, and he has won the Archibald people's choice four times - once, in 2013, for another portrait of Keddie. 27 min listen. Remarkably, the tape of the anonymous tip regarding Tina was found sealed in case files, untouched by Plumas County Sheriffs Dept. Investigators theorized that someone might have interrupted the murders taking place before the culprits had a chance to kill the younger children in their bedrooms. Her friends dad retrieved the three unharmed boys through their bedroom window so they would not have to see the scene. One of the men was holding a small knife and a hammer. He is foul-mouthed, disrespectful, and abusive, even when speaking of the victims and immediate surviving family. August 30 1984 Paradise Rapist. In 1981, Glenda "Sue" Sharp was a single mother who had moved her family of six to Cabin 28 of the Keddie Resort in Keddie, California, part of Plumas County. There, they visited their friends and watched TV. On the floor lay her mother Glenna (Sue) Sharp36, her brother Johnny Sharp15, and Johns friend Dana Wingate17. Sue's two younger sons, Rick and Greg, as well as their friend Justin Smartt, were also in the house but were unharmed. The oldest boy, John, and his buddy, Dana, had spent the day in Quincy. I was told the suspects were told to get out of town, so to me, that means it was covered up, Sheila Sharp told CBS Sacramento in 2016. She was very caring, and thats how Ive always been.. KEDDIE, Calif. It has been 40 years since what is known as the Keddie Murders took place in rural Plumas County. However, many of the residents left, and the town fell into disrepair when the railroad terminal was closed. However, Historic Mysteries reports he was never arrested or charged in the murders. A GRAPHIC Look Back at the Keddie Murders On the morning of April 11, 1981, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp returned from a neighbor's house after a sleepover and stumbled upon the most disturbing and gruesome scene that she and the rest of Keddie, California, had ever seen. [29], In April 2018, Gamberg stated that DNA evidence recovered from a piece of tape at the crime scene matched that of a known living suspect.[19]. In addition to confirming Sue, John, and Dana were dead, the officers concluded they were murdered. Glenna Sue Sharp was a dark-haired, attractive single mother with five children. Multiple leads and suspects were examined in the intervening years, though no charges were filed. In the rural town of Keddie, California, a mother and three children were attacked on Saturday, April 11, 1981. However, the perpetrators did not leave behind any of their own blood. When they returned to the bar much later, they were wearing suits, as if they had spent the evening at a business meeting. Keddie is a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains, located roughly halfway between Redding and Reno. Marilyn later said in a 2008 documentary that she believed Marty was the perpetrator and that he had even confessed in writing to her. The most widely accepted theory involves a love triangle between Martin, Marilyn, and Sue. Sue packed her children up and moved across the country from North Carolina to the Golden State. A fight ensued,[24] after which Tina entered the room and was taken out of the cabin's back door by one of the men. The case involves the murders of members of the Sharp family while they were vacationing at Keddie Resort in 1981. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. All three returned home later, but Marty and Bo went out again. (Whelan). Keddie, CA - Unsolved Quadruple Homicide - Keddie Cabin Murders by Every Town. Were they protecting their informant? The Keddie Cabin Murders. On July 18, 1984, a lone gunman James Oliver Huberty entered a crowded McDonald's with a plan: "hunting for humans." He opened fire on the customers inside the fast-food chain, killing 21 and wounding 19 others. The three youngsters were hanging out at the house since the afternoon. Police arrived at around 8:00 am and began their investigation of the murders. The Keddie Murders On the morning of April 11th, 1981, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp was returning from a neighbor's house following a sleepover. [6] The house was much larger than the trailer, and had become available when Plumas County's then-sheriff, Sylvester Douglas Thomas, moved out. Sue was gagged deeply with a bandana and her underwear. This was a couple years ago. After she saw the gruesome scene, Sheila ran back to the next-door cabin to get help. The children were attending school in Quincy and were making friends. A person matching the description Justin gave became a primary suspect in the investigation Justins stepfather, Martin Smartt, also known as Marty. Marty, his wife Marilyn, and Marilyns two sons lived in Cabin 26 near the Sharps house just across the lane. Gary Mollath, who owned one of the failed resorts, turned his cabins into long-term rental units for low-income families. Keddie Murder Victims (Clockwise): Sue Sharp, John Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Tina Sharp. She also worked a part-time job at the Quincy Elks Lodge, and with the little money she brought in, Sue rented Keddie Cabin 28 in the fall of 1981. John, 15, was the oldest boy, while the oldest girl was Sheila, 14; Tina was 12; and the two younger boys were Rick, 10, and Greg, 5. She was naked from the waist down, but there was no sign of sexual assault. Where is the Body of the Legendary King Gorm of Denmark. Therefore, it appears they did not have a chance or chose not to fight back. 5 Topics 16 Posts Last post Portola Reporter April 12, 20 . The living room was in complete chaos, and Sue, John, and Johns friend, Dana, were dead on the floor. The three boys in the house, Rick, Greg, and their friend, Justin, were all safe in the bedroom. Plumas County Sheriffs OfficeComposite sketch of the Keddie murder suspects. Did Genene Jones Kill As Many As 60 Children As A Pediatric Nurse? In one of the bedrooms, authorities found Rick, Greg, and their friend Justin Eason Smartt, unharmed. The victims were Glenna Susan "Sue" Sharp (ne Davis; born March 29, 1945); daughter Tina Louise Sharp (born July 22, 1968); son, John Steven Sharp (born November 16, 1965); and John's friend, Dana Hall Wingate (born February 8, 1964). The Keddie Murders is an unsolved 1981 American quadruple murder that took place in Keddie, a former resort town in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada. Mysteriously, the recording was at the bottom of an unopened evidence box. Cabin 28 and others in the small Keddie community were allowed to deteriorate in the years following the Keddie murders. Allegedly, a lot of potential evidence was collected at the scene but because this was pre-DNA testing, very little helpful information was found at this time. He was placed under hypnosis in an attempt to recall any details of the night. On the morning of April 12, 1981, Sheila Sharp returned to her home at Cabin 28 in the Keddie Resorts in California from the next-door neighbors house. The discovery of Tinas remains raised even more questions than before. How could murder with so much evidence remain unsolved? Deputy Hank Klement was the first to arrive on the scene and he reported blood everywhere on the walls, the bottoms of the victims shoes, Sues bare feet, the bedding in Tinas room, the furniture, the ceiling, the doors, and on the back steps. 109 min listen. Because she was a minor, the initial search for her involved the FBI, but, for some unknown reason, they quit investigating after about a month. The sheriff at the time of the murders, Doug Thomas, and his deputy. One theory is that they really wanted people to notice them. Although the therapist alerted authorities, nothing was reportedly done. The anonymous counselor told him that in May 1981, Martin Smartt had confessed to killing Sue and Tina Sharp. However, they onlywent on a few dates, and the last time they saw each other was two days before she was killed. They also found a bloody fingerprint on the handrail leading down from the back door. [24], According to a 2016 article published by The Sacramento Bee, Martin had left Keddie and driven to Reno, Nevada, shortly after the murders; from there, he sent a letter to Marilyn ruminating on personal struggles in their marriage, which he concluded with: "I've paid the price of your love & now I've bought it with four people's lives. Nevertheless, Gamberg says that six people may have been involved. Authorities also interviewed Marty's close friend, John "Bo" Boubede, who lived with Marty and his wife, and was out with Marty on the night the murders occurred. He weaves magnificent soap-opera stories from threads of shredded documents and deems these stories the truth.