Clockwise from top left: Kenneth, Barbara, Barbie, Virginia, and Susan Martin
Date
December 7, 1958
Duration
Missing for 65 years, 4 months and 25 days
Location
Hood River County, Oregon, U.S.
Type
Disappearance; unexplained death
Deaths
Susan Martin[a] †
Virginia Martin[b] †
Missing
Kenneth R. Martin
Barbara Martin
Barbara 'Barbie' Martin
The Martin family of Portland, Oregon, United States, disappeared on December 7, 1958, in the Columbia River Gorge during a day trip to gather greenery for Christmas decorations. The missing included the husband, Kenneth Martin (aged 54); his wife, Barbara Martin (48); and the couple's three daughters, Barbara ("Barbie"), Virginia, and Susan (aged 14, 13, and 11, respectively). The family's eldest child, Donald, was in the United States Navy and stationed in New York at the time of the disappearance. Several months after the family vanished, the bodies of Susan and Virginia were discovered downstream on the shores of the Columbia River, roughly 30 miles (48 km) apart from each other.
Police initially speculated that the family's car may have crashed into the river, though the circumstances surrounding the event could not be fully explained. Further complicating the case was the discovery of a stolen handgun and the arrest of two ex-convicts in the area the day after the family's disappearance; investigators were unable to determine if the incidents were in any way connected.
The whereabouts of Kenneth, Barbara, and Barbie remain undetermined, and their vehicle has never been recovered. The family's disappearance has been described as one of the "most baffling" mysteries in Oregon history,[2] and it sparked the greatest manhunt the state had undertaken at the time.[3]
^ abFisher 2019, p. 181.
^Klare, Glen (August 20, 1999). "Let me say this about that". NW Labor Press. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
^"Body Found; Believed One of Martins". Asheville Citizen-Times. Asheville, North Carolina. Associated Press. May 4, 1959. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
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