The Martin Family Disappearance

In December 1958, The Martin family left their home in Portland, Oregon to gather some greenery for Christmas crafts. They would never return home. It has now been over 65 years since the Martin family's mysterious disappearance from the Columbia River Gorge, marking it as one of Oregon's most perplexing unsolved cases.

Takeaways

• The disappearance of the Martin family remains an unsolved mystery.
• The Columbia River Gorge in Oregon is a challenging location for search and rescue operations.
• Conflicting reports and autopsy findings make it difficult to determine what happened to the Martin family.
• The discovery of the bodies of two of the Martin children raises more questions about their fate. The condition of the bodies and the presence of aluminium in their autopsy findings suggest they were in or around the river for a significant amount of time.
• The threatening phone calls received by Dr. Waterman and the unclaimed urns of Virginia and Susan raise suspicions of foul play.
• Donald Martin's suspicious behavior, including failing to attend memorial services and inheriting the entire Martin estate, makes him a prime suspect.
• The possible involvement of ex-convicts and the connection to Wayne, a close friend of Donald, further complicates the case.
• The opposition from law enforcement agencies and the mishandling of evidence hindered the investigation. The story of the helicopter heist involving Santa and Rudolph is a fascinating mystery.
• Santa's escape to Lapland and his possible involvement in the theft adds intrigue to the story.
• The motive behind the theft and the whereabouts of the stolen helicopter remain unknown.
• The podcast 'Santa May Be a Criminal' is recommended for those interested in satirical true crime stories.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/crimepedia--5894684/support.

Episode Transcript

(00:38):
Welcome to crime Pedia. I amyour host this week. My name is
Morgan. I hope you are havinga wonderful day and with me as always
is my True Crime BFF is thehost. Every other week, it's a
lovely Cherry. Hello Cherry, howare you? I am fine, Thank
you, And this week I wouldlike to be known as jingle Bells.
Jingle Bells, Hello, jingle Bells. It is Christmas Week and it's our

(01:02):
last episode of the year, Sothank you before we start, thank you
all so much for supporting us thisyear and for listening to our little podcast.
We do really enjoy making it foryou and it's brought us to some
cases that we have been really fortunateto help with. So thank you very
very much. And just in casewe forget to wish you a merry Christmas,

(01:23):
later, merry Christmas and a happynew Year to you all. No,
absolutely, yeah, so once again, just thank you for listening and
joining us every week. It's beenan amazing time. I can't believe it's
been another year. And yeah,we're heading into twenty twenty four here shortly,
so it should be another exciting yearfor us. You should. There's

(01:46):
a lot, a lot going onand bringing you more cases, sadly more
cases that are unsolved. So hopefullywe can continue to keep doing the work
and hopefully we can get some ofthose cases solved. So sure, I
got something a little special for you. So I know that you you enjoy
a good older case. So Iam going to be giving you a case

(02:07):
this week from nineteen fifty eight.Oh okay, And this involves the disappearance
of a family while they're out.Hold on a second, Well, they're
at wall. Did you not hearMaddie? Yeah? I heard her.
It's like, so you're out,and she went, what I could do?

(02:28):
What she said? What? Ah? Bless her. It's a It
is a case of a family whowent missing while out doing some I guess
some pre Christmas activities. So thisis the disappearance of the Martin family.
In December nineteen fifty eight, theMartin family left their home in poor Than,

(02:51):
Oregon to gather some granary for Christmascrafts. They would never return home.
It has now been over sixty fiveyears since the Martin family has mysterious
disappearance from the Columbia River Gorge,marking it as one of Oregon's most perplexing
unsolved cases. This is Crimepedia,and this is the Martin family disappearance,

(03:21):
all right. Cherry Kenneth Ken Martinand Barbara Aileen Cable were married on November
twenty eighth, nineteen twenty nine.Their family expanded over the years, and
by nineteen fifty eight they were proudparents of four children, Donald, Barbara
also known as Barbie, Virginia,and Susan. At that time, the

(03:42):
children were aged twenty eight, fourteen, thirteen, and eleven. Ooh,
so, quite a big difference betweenthe old and youngest there, Yeah,
twenty eight and even the oldest tothe next one's quite a big difference in
here. Yeah, fourteen years betweenthe oldest Donald in the second which would
be Barbara. So no or Barbie. Yeah. Now. The Martin family

(04:02):
resided in a charming, two storyTudor style residence in the heart of Portland,
Oregon. They were well liked bythe neighbors and were active participants in
various community activities. During the Christmasseason, the street on which the Martins
lived earned the affectionate nickname of CandyLane, reflecting the family's deep love for
the holidays. In their commitment tospreading Christmas joy among their neighbors. Now,

(04:26):
Ken Martin took on the role ofSanta Claus each year, delighting the
neighborhood children with his cheerful presence anddistributing handcrafted candy cane decorations to them.
Now known for their outgoing nature,the Martins regularly organized summer talent contests,
set up refreshing coolie stands, andorchestrated lively parades that brought a sense of

(04:46):
togetherness to their community. Now innineteen fifty eight, their oldest child,
Donald, was serving in the Navyand stationed in New York. On December
December seventh, nineteen fifty eight,Ken politely declined an invitation from their relatives
to Evans family to join them fordinner that evening. He mentioned that they
had already had existing plans for theday and needed to honor those commitments.

(05:12):
Supposedly, their initial plan was toembark on a day trip to the Columbia
River Gorge in their nineteen fifty fourcream and red Ford Country Squire station wagon.
During this outing, they intended tocollect greenery for crafting Christmas wreaths and
other decorations. However, subsequent relevationshinted at a far more serious motive behind
this excursion. Now, reports differregarding the precise time the Martins departed from

(05:36):
their home on the afternoon of Decemberseventh. Ali Chin, a neighbor down
the street, recalled seeing them leavearound two pm, while Frank Womack,
who was washing his car across thestreet, insisted that it was closer to
one thirty pm when the family left. Clara Yorke, a waitress at the
Paradise Snack Bar and Hood River,she recalled serving the family between four and

(06:01):
four thirty pm, although she wouldlater adjust her account, indicating that they
had arrived around two pm. Sothese times already are kind of all over
their place. So yeah, yeah, there's no way that they would have
left at one thirty or two andbeen at this restaurant around two pm.
At two pm, I mean betweenfour four thirty makes more sense. I

(06:26):
mean, that's it's it's I mean, it is a it is a you
know, a decent drive from thePortland area to get out to this to
Hood River. But that would indicateif they showed up at the restaurant between
four and four thirty, that wouldindicate to me that they had already made
some stops beforehand and had some foodor yeah maybe Hereah, So her original

(06:57):
narrative does make more sense and thetimeline seen more credible since she remembered switching
on the floodlights in the parking lotjust after their departure, which was as
dusk was descending. Right, soso we know, you know, between
four if it's four four thirty,if after they eat, yeah, it's
gonna be around dusk two pm.Doesn't make sense and within that timeline.

(07:21):
Now, the Marnes also made astop for gasoline at the Cascade Locks service
station, though there were conflicting reportsregarding their arrival time and the attendant who's
in the attendants who served them?Okay, Now, under the Bridge of
the Gods, which is also locatedin Cascade Locks, Chelsea Endorse Knutson reported

(07:45):
seeing what appeared to be the Martinstation wagon parked there around dusk. They
did notice two men conversing with passengerpassengers inside the vehicle. Now, tragically,
the Martin family would vanish without traceat day leaven behind and enduring and
unsolved mystery regarding their fate. Howdoes the whole family just disappear? No

(08:07):
idea. I mean, without anyoneknowing what happened to them. It's it's
it would seem to be something thatwould be It would be very difficult for
a whole family just to disappear likethat, unless they meant to disappear.
Yeah, obviously, Yeah, ifsomeone will, Yeah, if someone wants
to disappear, If a family wantsto disappear, they can definitely disappear.

(08:28):
But this, it's it's it's quitestrange. I mean, the other option
is that they didn't mean to disappear, and there some sort of accident occur.
Accident, yeah, because I meanI think to as a perpetrator to
make a whole family disappear is quitea mean feat really, I mean,
you get it that. It's like, I don't know one person or two

(08:50):
people from a family, like youknow, mother and child or something,
but you kind of don't think thewhole family. Trying to keep a whole
family under control is quite difficult,isn't it. So Yeah, I wonder
I wonder if it's something you know, I don't know, some somebody's played
some kind of part in their disappearance, but not necessarily meant it. Maybe
it was an accident. Absolutely,No, definitely. Now, the following

(09:13):
day, when kit Ken failed toreport for work at Eccles Electric Home service
Company and all three girls were notedas absent from school, all their friends
and relatives grew increasedly worried. Ofcourse, yeah, of course. Now,
ultimately with Ken's employer who raised thealarm about the missing family that evening,
the prompting and immediate search effort.At the time, I don't know

(09:35):
if it's just if it stands forthe day, but at the time it
was considered the largest, the largestsearch in rescue operation that had occurred in
the state of Oregon. So thiswas a massive operation that occurred when they
were reported as being missing. Becauseso unusual, isn't it. It is
unusual for a whole family to justdisappear. It's quite unheard. It's not

(09:56):
something that we see or we comeacross very often. So I can imagine
it was a huge scale thing totry and find them, because you'd kind
of think you'd find them quick.Yeah. Yeah. Now, the one
thing is is like, this isa very remote part of the state.
I mean, yeah, yeah,Oregon is a really remote, mountainous very
mountainous Okay, it is, right. Okay, so where they were they

(10:20):
were really close to They really closeto Mount Hood, So it's very mountainous,
it is very rugged. It isheavily forested well, but not enough
for MENI enough for a person togo missing, but not a vehicle.
No, no, yeah, definitelynot a vehicle. So I can understand,
like, if they've gone off hikingor something and they've all disappeared,

(10:43):
you kind of think, oh,maybe something's happened to them, and you
know, or mum and dad havehad an accident and the kids are loft
on their own and then they can'tget out because they don't know what they're
doing because they're kids. But thenwhen you put into the mix that the
vehicle's gone too, that's quite interesting. Here's a thing to think about it
because we mentioned it. Okay,maybe this accident, this just goes along

(11:03):
the Columbia River, of course,very famous river in the United States.
Once again, it's not it's farfrom being a calm river. It's quite
fast flowing is it's quite wide too. It is it is Let's say,
hypothetically, hypothetically, let's say thatthey there was an accident and the car

(11:26):
ends up in the river, right, you would think that the chances are
at least, you know, therecould be a survivor. The chance that
one chance, that's that all sixof them were to perish in an accident,
unless it was a horrific accident,would be very slim. It is.

(11:46):
The width of the Columbia River issix miles that part. According according
to the document River Bases in theUnited States the Columbia by the US Department
of Hereal Geological Survey, the widthof the Columbia River is six miles near
the mouth. This point is thatthe widest point of the river and lies

(12:07):
near the Pacific Ocean near Astoria.So that's six miles. That's a massive
river. That's huge. It isa it is a huge river now a
six mile wide. Yeah. Yeah. So where they were, so they
were more inland, just doing quicklittle mass. We're looking at about a

(12:31):
half mile wide roughly at parks,so you're talking where they were is between
half mile and mile across. That'sthat's still substantial. Yeah. I mean
I'm looking on Google Maps and it'sabout an inch wide. So I'm looking
at thinking it's it's not that big. And then when I actually looked to
see. I think, actually that'sa whole town, and that's the river
is massive. Is actually quite abig river. It is it is a

(12:56):
big, big river. It isa big, big river. Now,
the Monomah County and the Hood RiverCounty police authorities would take the lead in
the investigation. In the subsequent daysand weeks, investigarios diligently collected all the
eye winded accounts mentioned just previously andconducted thorough searches in the surrounding areas encompassing

(13:18):
both the land and the nearby ColumbiaRiver. Now, despite the absence of
concrete evidence regarding their whereabouts, manypeople began to entertain the theory that they
may have ineverly driven into the river. As we said now, an amateur
sluice by the name of Donald D. Bain made a pivotal breakthrough in the

(13:41):
case when he stumbled upon tire tracksleading to a cliff in the Dolls,
which is a city to the tothe east of Hood River, Oregon,
Okay. Now below, he discovereda cream cream colored paint chips which were
consistent with the Martin Station wagons color. Oh Now, the location of the

(14:07):
tracks raised doubts about the possibility ofan accidental mishap as it was not situated
near the road. Okay, okay, so they thought, okay, maybe
maybe he they had driven into theriver. But then this amateurs loose found
these chips that led to a cliff. But where the chip, the paint

(14:31):
chips were, it wasn't near theactual road, so it wasn't so to
them that says it wasn't an accident. They didn't accidentally drive into the river,
so it's not like they were goingaround Curry and then they just you
would have had a purposely driven offthe road to where they found these paint

(14:54):
chips, right, Okay okay.Now, however, however, attempts to
explore this part of the river inthe Dolls yielded no results after two police
officers, Fred Pierce and Ard Prattdismissed the idea, deeming it too perilous
to send divers, so too dangerous, too dangerous to send anyone in the

(15:18):
river to check. There's like ayacht club and a marina, the Dolls
Marina and the Dolls yacht Club thereand even like at that point of the
river, it's quite wide there,but there's kind of like little islands in
the water. There. You've gotLewis Island and Clark Island And I'm just
looking and it looks like it's quitea scary piece of river there. It

(15:43):
doesn't look from where I'm looking,it doesn't look like you could just drive
straight from it, straight into thewater. There doesn't seem to be unless
you're going down by the docks oryou're going down by like right on the
riverfront, down by the marina.The main road that goes across here is
an act anywhere near the river unlessyou purposely drove yourself in. I don't

(16:03):
think you can. Looking at this, you could. It doesn't look like
you can accidentally drive in, butthat's just for I mean, this is
Google Maps twenty twenty three that I'musing, so it's obviously just been updated.
But it doesn't look like there's anylike accidental roads, you know.
It all looks like it's roads thatyou you know, paved roads that you
would there'd be no reason for themto be driving down that way. Yeah,

(16:29):
if you look the map, wesaid the marina with a doll,
that's probably the closest spot to wherethe road basically the roads touching the water
yeah, but if you're going andif you go in there, and I
don't know if the marina was thereback in nineteen fifty eight exactly, Yeah,
of course, yeah, that's thesee it was if it did go
in there. The way that themarina is set up is it's protected from

(16:55):
from the natural flow of the river. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind there's
at least there's one looks like it'sa natural jetty that was created to block
it to the east, and thenfrom the west it looks like or man
made like a wall. So thewater would be pretty still there. And

(17:17):
if they would have went into thatinto the like location accidentally, it probably
would have provided them with the opportunityto get out of the vehicle. Yeah.
Yeah, and I and I'm assumingthey would have checked that that location
out to see if if there wasanything there. Now, what I should
mention with the Columbia River, ColumbiaRiver actually flows east to west, so

(17:42):
it's flowing out, it's flowing outtowards the Pacific Ocean, right, Yeah,
So so all the water flow isand you actually see now there's actually
some there's a few dams out there, yeah, goals, and so the
water is flowing west, and itdoes get pretty The waterflow actually does increase

(18:04):
a lot right around this bend.If you'll look right where the dolls is,
right across from Dollsport, Washington,you'll see that the river actually does
kind of narrow a little bit.It does, Yeah, it does there.
Really it does go quite narrow.Yeah, if you I mean,
if you know anything about rivers,anytime a river gets significantly the width of

(18:26):
the river gets smaller like that,So it's basically a choke point. You
have a bunch of water that's goingthrough a smaller area, it's gonna pick
up speed, it's gonna be muchmore treacherous. So this is not a
place that you would want to gointo the water at all. It would
be extremely dangerous. And it's andalso it's such a huge river that there's
no way that the police could dredgethis river in its entirety, especially with

(18:51):
the fast moving current. So evenin that and obviously we're talking about nineteen
fifty eight, so they didn't havethe sides, you know, the side
sonar scanners and things like that thatwe have nowadays, So this would be
there'd be going in blind. Youknow, they don't have the machinery that
we have nowadays. They don't havethe technology we have nowadays, So that
would be it'd be very difficult forthem to be able to dread all of

(19:15):
that to try and find a vehiclethat had gone into the water. Well,
put look at Nicola, the caseof Nicolo bullies from this past year.
How difficult how long it took themto find her in that? And
that river is nothing compared to thewalk in that right Yeah, yeah,
right, you can walk in it. I mean, so if they have,
if they today, if people havedifficulty finding finding a body in a

(19:38):
small body of water, just imaginein ninety fifty eight them trying to locate
six bodies in the Columbia River.Yeah, so it's crazy. Yeah,
So, I mean if you goon the river here, I mean,
you want to get out fast andyou you know, and if you don't,

(20:00):
you don't know. Perilous, isn'tit? Yeah, it's perilous.
Yeah. Now, Detective Walter Gravendid receive information from divers, from some
divers who did insist that this areawould be ideal for diving, and they
would affirm that anyone who was skilledin diving would encounter no difficulties in the

(20:23):
location where where it looked like thecar could have gone in. So we
have conflicting information. We have.We have some police officers saying no,
no, no, can't go inthere, it's too dangerous. We have
experienced divers who said, nope,you can go in there. It's fine.
It's if anyone who was skilled atthis and who has done this for
a long time can go into thewater and have no troubles. So already

(20:47):
there's there's definitely some some issues withthis. Yeah, that's right now on
May one, nineteen fifty nine,so this is really you're looking at.
Six months later, a drilling riganchor got hooked on a heavy object near
the dolls, but it was unableto bring it to the surface after it
became dislodged. Now, the followingday, two people ellery Colby and his

(21:14):
wife when it's two bodies floating downthe river while fishing near Cascade Locks,
Okay. In the days that followed, both bodies were recovered and dental records
confirmed their indentities to be that ofthirteen year old Virginia Martin and eleven year
old Susan Martin. No, yes, they found them okay, so let's

(21:37):
let's think about this. Okay,So you have something that could have been
a body located in the dolls.Yeah, and then a day later we
find bodies floating near Cascade Locks.Okay. Yeah, so if we were

(21:59):
just to look, I mean,that is a driving distance of thirty seven
miles so fast. Yeah, that'svery fast. So is that possible that
that what was caught by the youknow, the drioling rig? Yeah?
Was it? Was it the carthing? Oh? Yeah? Oh?
Was it the car? Or wasthe girls? And if it? But
here that's you brought up a goodquestion. If it was the car,

(22:22):
how does the car go the carsbe in the dolls when the girls are
located nearly forty miles away. Well, because I wonder if you know,
if they've got into problems and gotinto the river, and then the girls
have managed to get out of thecar, but the river has overcome them,
then obviously they you know, oncethey pass away, they're just going

(22:44):
to float, aren't they. SoI wonder if maybe the car that's where
they've gone into the water, andthen they floated, they've gone because they've
been trying to get trying to getThat's really sad, isn't it. It's
sad to think that it's very sadthat they're in the river. That's horrible.
Now, autopsies were done with bodies, and the official cause of death
for both girls was determined to bedrowning. Now, a technician reported observing

(23:08):
what he thought were gunshot wounds ineach of their heads, and he would
promptly notify doctor Waterman, who wasthe medical examiner who was doing the autopsy.
Right, what did he say?Okay? Now, However, in
the official report, doctor Waterman statedthat no such injuries were discovered. Yeah.

(23:30):
Furthermore, no police reports or newspaperarticles from that period indicated any signs
of foul play. Yeah, sovery interesting. Now. Examination also disclosed
that Virginia and Susan had consumed hamburgersand fries within two hours of their deaths,
which would quote, which would basicallygo with what we heard from the

(23:52):
waitress, Clara Yorke, Right,Yeah, she had served them approximately around
four o'clock. Now, interesting,traces of the metal, including aluminum,
were detected on Susan's clothing. Okay, Yeah, which becomes even more interesting
when you realize that there was analuminum smelting plant located directly across the street

(24:17):
from the site where the drifting rigencountered the obstructive object in the river,
right, So were the bodies therefor a long period of time and then
they got dislodged and they floated?Possibly very possible, Yes, the way
that bodies behave in water. Youknow, we know from our friend Peter.

(24:40):
I've watched some things that he talksabout, and he'll explain the way
that bodies will sink and then they'llstay down there for a certain amount of
time, and then when the gasesand the decomposition process starts, then the
body starts to feel. But itcan be that the body is caught on
something, and so although they arefilling with gases, they are actually caught
and it's not until they dislodge.If they dislodge, that they would then

(25:03):
float to the surface. And thenobviously the river current is going to take
them wherever it may take them.So I think it's quite possible perhaps they
were in that part of the riverfor a significant amount of time. I
mean, do we know what kindof what kind of condition they were when
they came out of the river?Have they said? I mean Obviously,
they can still do stomach content,so they can't have been that decomposed because

(25:26):
they've managed to know that, they'vemanaged to identify hamburgers and fries, so
they can't be it can't be toodecomposed. So you know, we don't
now it would be in my assumption, because they were able to do a
thorough autopsy, that the buyers werein relatively you know, stable condition autops

(25:49):
or position. Yeah, yeah,so I believe I'm not mistaking the Columbia
River is a very cold river,which would make sense if the buyers there
would be because yeah, so thatwould make sense, but we don't know
specifically what the condition was. Soobviously the fact that there's aluminium within their

(26:10):
autopsy findings and the fact that there'san aluminium smelting plant that's not very I
mean, that's not coincidence, isit. So that is quite clearly that
the girls were in or around thatarea for some that's enough time for them
to absorb that, which is absolutelysee. So if we you know,
the assumption that it was their bodiesthat were dislodge, I still go back

(26:33):
to forty miles in less than aday. Yeah, it's a long way
a long way. That's a verylong way. It's unbelievable. But now
is that without you know, isthat within the realms of possibility? Yes,
so, although that's crazy, itis, it is in the It
is in the realms of possibility.No, absolutely, you're absolutely correct.

(26:59):
It's saying to magical. Yeah.Now, doctor Waterman did report receiving numerous
menacing phone calls after the bodies werediscovered. Each time, an anonymous voice
sounding like a young man issued threatsagainst doctor Waterman's safety should any of the
other missing Martins be identified. What. Yeah, so someone would call into

(27:22):
the medical examiner and threaten him,say, hey, if we'll hurt you
if you if you're able to identifyany other bodies. You know, So
that makes you think foul plays straightoff, doesn't it. That's ridiculous you
do, because I mean I understandthat that you have some really shitty people
in the world who want to,you know, they want to troll people,
and they want to like, yeah, you know, insert themselves in

(27:47):
the cases. Yeah, for abit of fun. I don't understand how
that's fun how much. I don'tknow, it's not. But that's what
they think, is they think thereis fun, but that's what they do
it for the last but it isn'ta fun thing. But with this,
why would that, Why would youdo that? Why would you say,
don't don't identify any of the othermembers of the family, were going to
hurt you. So that doesn't makevery much sense. Yeah, Now,

(28:11):
Virginia and Susan were both cremated,and for unknown reasons, there earns remained
unclaimed for nearly a decade. Finally, in sixteen their friends and family then
no one. No one came topick them up. It wasn't until nineteen
sixty nine that someone came forward toclaim to claim their remains, but there's

(28:32):
no record of who actually took possessionof them. So for ten years weird,
their remains just sat there unclaimed.But in the you know, is
it likely that somebody's going to goand claim some ashes of people they don't
know? So it must be someoneNo, I don't know. Why do
they wait so exactly? I mean, because here you have your older brother,

(28:56):
Donald right, who's out in NewYork, who's twenty eight. He
could have claimed them, you haveyou would think so that that didn't So
that brings us Yeah, and I'mglad I mentioned Donald because that kind of
brings us to Donald, because Donaldbecame one of the first suspects when it

(29:23):
came to any of this possibly beingfoul play. Okay, So, Donald
Martin, he was the last timeI remember of the Martin family. Like
I said, at the time,he resided in New York when his family
disappeared. Now, it was strangeto people when he refrained from participating in

(29:47):
the search for his parents and sisters, asserting that his aunt Charlotte had advised
him to remain in New York.However, his aunt Charlotte would contradict a
statement expressing bewilderment at donald failure tojoin the search for his family. So
he says, Okay, my auntCharlotte said, don't worry about it,
just stay in New York. Shesays, No, I didn't do that.

(30:11):
I wanted him to come, buthe didn't. So obviously people were
people were going, Okay, what'sgoing on? Why is he not?
Yeah, you know, more concernedabout his family. And then now looking
back, why didn't he, youknow, collect the remains of his sisters.
Yeah, so very strange. Now, Donald also failed to attend the

(30:36):
memorial services for both his sisters.So that's a bit weird. Yeah.
Now, he would say that hehad confused dates, so he got the
dates wrong, and so that's whyhe did not you don't get the dates
well to assist his memorials to you, No, absolutely suspicious behavior. Mm
hmm. Now as a soul.So if I remember the family, Donald

(30:59):
would end up in inheriting the entireMartin estate, which included a fourteen thousand
double indemnity life insurance policy, severalother and then several other life insurance policies
amounting to six thousand dollars, andhe also had he also received thirteen thousand
dollars in savings in total the estate. The estate was valued at thirty six

(31:19):
thousand dollars, which would be equivalentto roughly three thousand or three hundred and
seventy two thousand dollars today. Sothat's a signific significant amount. Yeah.
Yes. Now, initially, DetectiveGraven Harbord's suspicion that Donald might have played
a role in his family's disappearance.These suspicions deepened after discovery Donald's shoubled past.

(31:45):
Now four years before this, hehad been dismissed from from his job
at Meyer and Frank, which wasa department store in Portland, for stealing
merchandise valued over two thousand dollars now. According to Graven's report, Doneld admitted
to the thefts, attributing attributing themto a difficult period in his life.
He claimed that his relationship with hisparents had become strained after revealing his homosexuality.

(32:10):
Allegedly, he disparaged his mother asa weighty individual and criticized his father
in similar terms. Furthermore, heexpressed apprehension that his sisters might follow in
their parents' footsteps. So that's stuff. But you know, there's a big

(32:34):
difference between like stealing some stuff andmurdering people, right exactly now. Graven
support also mentioned well, so well, his alibi was he wasn't in Oregon,
he was in York, right,Has he got on out? Has
he got somebody to verify the factthat he was in New York, not

(32:54):
that I was able to find?Oh okay, that's interesting, right,
yeah. Now. Graver's report alsomentioned allegations of theft against Donald which occurred
in New York around that same time, as well as ongoing treatment by a
psychiatrist in the city. Now.Upon returning to Oregon in May, Donald

(33:15):
informed investigators that numerous crucial financial documents, such as income tax returns and bank
ledger book, had mysteriously disappeared fromhis father's desk. So he's claiming that,
you know, all these all thisfinancial documentation is starting to speary.
Don't know where it is. Andso I mean, it is very strange.

(33:37):
It's strange, but I still don'tis it. I don't know.
It's quite far fetched, isn't it? For one guy? I mean,
what does he do arranged to meetthem and then push them all in the
water. Well, you know howhow exactly has he got them all into
the river? Right? So isit? That's a bit it's a bit
far fetched. Now. I didn'tmention this earlier, but I will mention

(34:00):
it now. Shortly after the familydid disappear, an abandoned white nineteen fifty
one Chevrolet was discovered in the HoodRiver, and it was later determined that
the vehicle had been stolen by aformer convict named Lester Kenneth Price from a
friend in Venice, California, anddriven to driven to Hood River, Okay
Okay. Now. Additionally, awoman's glove was found near this Chevrolet,

(34:24):
and it was originally thought it mayhave belonged to Barbara, but that would
later be determined to be incorrect.Right now, on the day following the
Martins disappearance, a black taxi wasobserved parked outside their residence at seven twenty
a m. And it would remainstationary for approximately one hour, one hour

(34:45):
before departing. Okay, so alot of weird things are starting that are
that are popping up around this timewith their disappearance. Right, so,
you have an abandoned car found inthe river. You have you know,
a woman's glove found near near thecar. Then you have this this this
taxi that's observed outside of their residenceand was sitting there for an hour.

(35:07):
So what was that doing there?I mean, obviously kenmar is not calling
for a taxi to pick up thefamily. I mean no, by this
point, yourr the assumption is thatthey had been killed and that they were
or you know, already in theriver, either accidentally in the river or
dumped in the river. Yeah,it's strange, isn't it, Because I
mean, that taxi could have absolutelynothing to do with it. It could

(35:30):
just be that it happened to beoutside the residence, it could be nothing
to do with them, depending onwhat type of the residence is. I
mean, if it's parked on theirdriveway, it's slightly different. But if
it's just parked on the street outsidetheir residence, that might just be coincidental.
So, although it's something you needto look into, it's a bit
unlikely that they're going to call ataxi and get everyone in the tax in
and you know, call a taxifor the family, you know, right

(35:52):
exactly now. There were several otheranomalies that kind of cause confusion and complicated
the investigtion. So I mentioned thatthey had stopped to get gas. The
gather seat that was supposedly signed byKen Marin on seventh, nineteen fifty eight
was later examining compared to several otherexamples of his writing, and it was

(36:15):
determined that it was a forgery.So whoever signed the gather seat was not
Ken Martin. It was not him. So okay, while theory then say,
the brother the son is is ourfavor, you know, our favorite
suspect for this. Could it bethat the bodies were put into the car

(36:38):
and were driven by somebody else andthen let go into the river. I
think that's a possibility, that ithas to be a possibility, and this
has to be something we need toconsider, because if he if they're thinking
that that's that's the only way he'sgoing to be able to do it,
is if they're already deceased in thevehicle and then he's like, let the

(36:59):
handbreak off somewhere and just let itgo in which that river is huge,
So there is a possibility that thereare going to be some places in that
river that you will be able tobe unseen or it's dark and it's less
likely that you're going to be seengoing into the river and less likely that
you're going to be disturbed. Youknow, it could be a part of

(37:19):
the river that there isn't trailer boatsor trawlers going up and down. So
that would be I guess the firstmy first investigation, right, absolutely well,
listening to this, okay, okay. So in addition to this potential
all this forgery of this gaptery,a thirty eight caliber automatic pistol, was

(37:43):
covered in blood and discovered under arock near Cascade Locks in January nineteen fifty
nine. A single spent bullet wasfound in the chamber of the gun right
now. Bizarrely, the weapon wasnever processed as evidence, and it was
later cleaned in returned to the manwho found it. Oh, no,
when, But listen to this.When investigators traced the gun serial number,

(38:06):
they learned that it was among theitems Donald Martin was accused of stealing from
Meyer and Frank back in nineteen fiftyfour. Oh, this is just not
looking good for Donald, is it. No, But here's the thing,
like, even if that was evidence, you've already cleaned it. You never
processed it as evidence, and yougave it back to the man who found

(38:27):
that. That doesn't so that's nope, you can't do anything with it at
this point. No, that's notvery good forensic handling. But we're talking
nineteen fifty eight. Oh, youknow, we are talking. We were
talking the fifties. The other thing, the other thing, obviously, is
the now that makes the autopsy techniciansfindings of the girls having gunshot wounds to

(38:50):
this skull. That makes that alittle bit more possible. But then if
the medical examiner is being threatened,then maybe he was just no, no,
no, there was no signs ofany gunshot wounds. That was just
a technician making a mistake because he'sbeing threatened. So that makes that a
little bit more plausible, now,it does. It does. See at
first, like when I first lookat at something, O, this sounds

(39:13):
like just a accident, right,Yeah, nothing makes sense to drive into
the river. Yeah, accidental drowning, you know. But then all these
little pieces start popping up. It'slike, well, yeah, you have
to look at it because all thesethings are coming up. You can't ignore
it, can you. You'd besilly to agnoy it, just like you'd

(39:34):
be silly to wipe clean a gun. It's just exactly, yeah, exactly,
You've got to look at it.But it's it's not looking good for
Donald at the moment. I wouldsay he's probably prime suspect at the moment.
Yeah, no, exactly. NowI mentioned before so Detective Walter Graven
he was investigated to investigate the potentialcriminal aspects of the case. Yeah,

(39:58):
and based on his private journals,it's seen that he believed that the families
had been victims of foul play.Yeah. Nevertheless, he sought to substantiate
his this idea, and in doingso he did encounter significant opposition from law
law enforcement agencies. Okay, soa lot of people that he was trying

(40:22):
to work with were really hesitant toto think of this as anything more than
just an accident. Yeah, okay. Now, apart from being denied permission
to deploy divers to explore the riverbeneath the location where the tracks were discovered,

(40:43):
Sheriff Francis Lambert pro poorly. Idon't want to put this. He
basically destroyed Graven's report right in frontof him. Why he stated that this
was a night for the night.He stated to Graven that and I quote,
we both recognize it's time to ceasepursuing this case. So basically he's

(41:06):
telling Graven, you know what you'vedone enough. Just stop. Nothing else
to investigate, nothing to see here, move on Graven's Graven's instigation investigation of
North evidence suggesting possible involvement of twoformer convicts, one being that Lester Kenneth
Price and the other being a manby the name of Roy Light who would

(41:28):
later be identified as an alias forfor the man actually known as Richard Allen
Hunt. Okay, so we havetwo people that that were both former convicts
that could have been part of thisTheir disappearance. The reason for this is
because Hunt and Price were spotted atthe Paradise Shock snack Bar on December seventh,

(41:50):
which coincided with the Martins visit tothe same rest. Yeah yeah,
okay, Now, witnesses observed themleaving around the same time as a face
family. Then after the disappearance thedisappearance of the Martins, both Hunt and
Price disappeared from the Hood River areaand pro poorly spent the following three days

(42:10):
in a brothel owned by a manby the name of cliff slim Bennett who
was a Portland bootlegger. And thiswas located in Dallfport, Washington, so
right across the river from from thedolls where we had the obstruction in the
river and where it seems like thethe Martin families were went into the river

(42:34):
right right now, Historical record recordsindicate connections between the Oregon State Police as
well as Monomah County Sheriff Francis Lambertand Clifford slim Bennett, and they all
had financial interests intertwined and business ventures. Right. I was just wondering that

(42:57):
when you said about that the policelike him saying just draw this I'm wondering.
Okay, so do these people havesomething in with police? Is there
something locally? You know, becauseback in the day things were very corrupt
in some places. So is itthat these guys know something they shouldn't Are
they informants? And so they don'twant them to They didn't want to have
them anywhere near this crime. Thewhole family's gone, so who's going to

(43:21):
be fighting for it kind of thingis you know, let's just sweep it
under the rug and forget about it. Right. So, yeah, so
you have I mean, you haveconnections obviously to people that are you know,
breaking the law, right, youhave you have connection to convicts.
Yeah, you don't want to getdragged into the mud, so you're gonna
do whatever you can to make surethat that you know, you don't get

(43:44):
you don't get yourself in sever thoseconnections. No, So you definitely,
I mean I think that that's definitelya possibility right where this is. You
know, maybe it was going tobe a robbery, you don't know what,
of course, I mean, itcould have been. But obviously anytime

(44:04):
that you have you know, youhave two former convicts who were seen near
the family or in the need ofthe family and who happened to seemingly follow
the family. Yeah, you haveto question that, of course, it's
not you know, it's a veryvery suspicious coincidence that too former you know,
convicts just happened to be in thesame vicinity as a family that went

(44:27):
missing. Have they sort of seenthem in the diner and then thought let's
just take our chance because they areconvicts. And are they you know,
have they been fully reformed in prison? Probably not? Probably not. It's
not true of all, you know, it's not true of all people in
prison, because a lot of peopledo get you know, formed to prison.
But it seems very strange that thisall happens in the same place that

(44:47):
they happened to be. Right,What if I were to tell you that
these two ex convicts who have aconnection to the sheriff were mates of Donald,
Well, they have a connection toDonald. Ah, I knew it.
I knew it was gonna come up. Donald's still in there, still

(45:07):
in the run in. Donald isstill here. Okay, So we you
remember we Donald had previously admitted thestealing merchandise from the workplace back in nineteen
fifty four, which included the gunwe've mentioned that was later found. Well,
when he actually was interviewed by DetectiveGraven, he actually changed his story.

(45:29):
Okay, So he told Graven andthis is and I quote New York
Police informed me about that gun beingdiscovered. Right now, he says,
I have no knowledge of it,and he dropped a name, Wayne,
Wayne had a friend who worked insporting goods. Wayne had an affinity for
fire arms, not me. Sonow the question is is who's Wayne Wayne?

(45:52):
Right? Yeah? Right? Andhow how is he connected to Martins?
Now, Wayne, whose last thinghas never been disclosed to public,
featured prominently in Graven's notes. Okay. He and Donald first crossed paths in
nineteen fifty three, when Wayne wasa student at Portland State University and Donald
was still employed at the department store. Now their friendship quickly evolved into our

(46:16):
roommate arrangement. In two thousand andeight, Wayne granted an interview in which
he initially asserted that Donald's parents wereunaware of his homosexuality. However, he
promptly contradicted his claim with this followingaccount. Now, Wayne stated, and
I quote, Don hadn't arranged hadarranged a situation with another gay individual at

(46:38):
home after Ken and Barbara had leftand his parents return discovered Don in that
situation, so to speak. Ibelieve he wanted to come out with the
story of his life and didn't knowhow to go about it right. So
he wanted to come out as beinggay, but he didn't know how to
do it. Yeah. Now,the identity of the person whom Donald was

(46:59):
a leegedly involved with had remained undisclosed. Upon learning about Donald's sexual orientation,
Ken and Barbara sent him to aChristian college in Connecticut, though he ultimately
chose to enlist in the Navy instead. Wayne, who professed intimate familiarity with
the entire family, maintained a closerelationship with the Martins. He recounted that

(47:23):
shortly after the incident. After theincident with Don and the other man,
Can and Barbara approached him questioning whyhe had never disclosed Donald's homosexuality to them.
Wayne responded that he didn't feel itwas his place to reveal such information
now. Additional details about Wayne includethe fact that his father held a respected

(47:45):
position in Portland and while working inWhile working as a physical education teacher at
Cascades Locke High School in nineteen fiftyeight. Wayne also became acquainted with two
individual rules whose names have become familiarby this point. That'd be okay,

(48:05):
Kenneth Price and Richard Allen Hunt.Isn't it a sad situation If the death
of these four people all stems fromthe fact that one person is gay,
it would be horrible. That isreally awful. And I think it's really
sad that they found out that hewas homosexual and they decided to send him

(48:25):
off to a Christian college, thinkingthat that's going to cleanse him of his
homosexuality. I think that's a reallysad It's a really sad thing because he
is obviously in the position where he'sfeeling very misunderstood, obviously very worried about
what's gonna you know, what peopleare going to say because he's homosexual.
That's the way he feels. Hecan't help that. It's just natural to

(48:47):
him. I think it's very sadthat this is all it's all twisting and
winding to be it all stems fromthat, and now we've lost a whole
family because of it. No,absolutely, it's I can't imagine that that
would be the sole reason for it. Right, Maybe I could see a

(49:14):
situation where Donald is is a strainedfrom his family, he feels ostracized from
his family. Yeah, but Ithink Donald would have been the type of
guy that probably would have gone himselfinto financial difficulties right for whatever reason.

(49:35):
So I don't think it's necessarily likeDonald's saying, I can't take it.
My parents won't accept me because I'mgay. I think it is, you
know what, my parents won't acceptthat I'm gay, But also I kind
of need the money. Yeah,I h I can see what you mean.
But I wonder if it's just likeI wonder if it's more like he's
harboring ill feelings because they don't accepthim and because they're struggling to deal with

(50:02):
it, And so that's led tosome kind of argument in which he's now
angry with his parents, and obviouslyhis sisters are collateral damage, because it
sounds like the mum and the dadare not accepting the fact that he's gay
because they've sent him off to aschool to try and fix him, you
know, So it sounds like,obviously it's an embarrassment to them because his

(50:22):
dad holds a very good job anddoesn't want a gay son and it's not
the dumb thing, but it's kindof I wonder if that's what's happened.
He's gonna you know, he's kindof thinking, Okay, they don't He's
angry with them, and this hasbecome a situation, well we can fix
that for you. Well, Ineed the money anyway, So actually that
works, and the sisters have becomecollatural damage within that. Well, I

(50:45):
mean you said that he felt likehis sister was going down the path of
his parents right where they were notgoing to. Yeah, they they wouldn't
accept him, So that would explainwhy the remains would go unclaimed. If
he had no cannnection to his familyat off, if he saw someone who
will never accept him, why wouldhe then you know, accept them and

(51:08):
take take them in because he's goingto look at them as as people who
who don't want him exactly, peoplethat don't don't, yeah, don't believe
in him. So, yeah,you're right, you can see how that
situation and obviously he's then rubbing shoulderswith people who don't, who are like

(51:28):
I, don't have very good intentionsand are in a criminal kind of environment.
That can sort of make it sounda lot easier. They're going to
be up for it because they're goingto be able to take a cut.
So that sounds it's very such asad for a family to fall apart like
that and end up in devastating consequenceslike that. That's really really sad.

(51:49):
That's horrible. I think the familymember could do that. Yeah, I
think there's there's too much that connectsDonald to this case. While he oh,
definitely definitely, even if he wasin New York. Yeah, during
this whole event, there's too muchto say. I understand that that there's
gonna be cases, are gonna besituations where you know, you're gonna have

(52:15):
connections, You're gonna have these strangeconnections, which is like, okay,
well you know, oh this personknew this person's but they weren't involved,
right. But with this one isthere's too many. If it just happened
to be the gun, right,Okay, well, people sell guns and
you don't know whose hand is goingto fall into. But the fact that
it was this gun and where itwas located and where it was found makes

(52:36):
it. Yeah, that's what doesit. That's what does it for me.
It's the gun that does it forme. It's the fact that that
that's what brings Donald to me intothis. The fact that the gun that
he was accused of stealing ends upnear where the near where his parents and
sisters met their end. That doesn'tmake sense. So that makes me think
Donald, Do I think he shotthem? No? Do I think he

(52:57):
murdered them? No? Do Ithink he knows who did? Yeh?
Yes? And I think Wayne doestoo, right, because Wayne's located right
where two x cons were, right, he knows them. Yeah, these
two men that Wayne knows, whoknows who has a relationship with Donald,
who has roommates with Donald, Theyjust happened to be all be in the
same location at the same time.I think this sounds to me like Wayne

(53:21):
has hooked up Donald with the twoconvicts, and that's what's happened. They
provided a service to him. Ithink so too. I think so too.
I don't think this is going tobe a case that's going to be
may not be ever ever solved,But I do think I don't know because
I think that if you were toget nowadays, if you were to get

(53:45):
police to look into this again,I think it's possibility it could be selved
because the people that were in lawenforcement at the time are probably no longer
in law enforcement, and so therewon't be that close knit We can't talk
about this, you're not having anythingto do. Just let's throw your let's
throw your report away because there's noone there doing that. So police that

(54:06):
would be investigating that now would haveno affinity to the police that were investigating
it back then. So I thinkactually you'd probably find quite a trail of
corruption if you were to go andresearch this again, and you probably would
be able to solve it. Yeah, I mean you could try, I
don't you. Yeah, you haveto try. I mean I think it

(54:30):
depends on like who's out there,who's really who's still invested in this?
Right? Is there anyone that reallywants to want justice for family, which
I think they should now. Donaldwould go on to get married and have
his own family, and he wouldspend the rest of his life in Hawaii.
He actually passed away in two thousandand four. Richard Allen Hunt,
you know, he actually would eventuallybe placed on the FBI's ten Most Wanted

(54:53):
List. He would be the fourteenthperson to make the list. So this
was first created nineteen fifty so hewas one of the very first people.
Yeah, this was for unrelated chargesof robbery, assault, and check forgery.
Now, he would ultimately be arrestedin Wyoming, and he waved his
right to a trial before a grandjury. He would be sentenced to life

(55:14):
in prison in nineteen fifty nine afterbeing convicted of an assault with intent to
kill charge. Wow. Now,the sense would later be vacated when it
was deemed to be too severe apunishment for the crime committed. Now he
would get a new sense of fourteenyears, but he would ultimately be released
in nineteen fifty eight. Okay,I'm not sure. I don't have any

(55:38):
intitional information on Price. I'm notexactly sure what happened to him, but
I can tell you that they havein Wayne. I'm not sure if he's
still alive or not, but bothPrice, Hunt as well as Donald have
all passed. Yeah, I thinkit would be very interested if you had,
if you had the powers as apolice officer to go back now and

(56:00):
to reinvestigate this and look at thefiles. I think it would be very
interesting to do so because I thinkobviously you'd be privy to information that normal
investigators say that you and I youwould be privy to a lot more information
than we would perhaps get. SoI think in this case, I think
it would be quite it would bequite good to I think it would be
quite good to go back and havea look at this one. It would

(56:22):
be interesting, it would Now youknow, you there's alreay connections there that
you can make. Yeah. Theone thing, the one thing, I
think you have one good investigator,right, So so Walter Grave and obviously
did a great job within his investigation. But then you have other other law
enforcement agencies that I don't know ifyou can take their reports in their investigation.

(56:49):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.Right, So if you have you
have you have a hostile investigator,one in hostile one hostile investigator, you
know, and then you have onethat's legit. Then you're going to have
so much conflicting information going back andforth. That's a shame, isn't it.
It's a shame that everybody doesn't wantthe same outcome. You know,

(57:10):
we just want to get it solved, We get this family, because you're
not gonna there isn't anybody here thatyou're going to be able to get justice
for, particularly, but it wouldbe nice for the family's story to be
correct and for the history, youknow, for things to be put right,
the fact that they were murdered,and they were murdered, they didn't
just fall into the river, youknow, it would be it would be

(57:30):
nice to find mom and dad,mom and dad's car. Right. No,
and this is a situation, Imean, yeah, this is it.
They weren't a perfect family. No, No, obviously they weren't a
perfect faily you know what they Nofamily is perfect, but they seem to
be a well off family. Theywere well respected, They did a lot

(57:52):
of good and they were going outjust to you know, in preparation for
Christmas. They wanted to celebrate Christmas. They wanted or something as a family
that want to go collect greenery.And they didn't deserve They didn't deserve that.
They did not, absolutely not.So that's our case for this week.
And unfortunately no answers to this day. It's been over what has it

(58:14):
been over fifty Yes, we'll besix ninety fifty eight, will be sixty
what sixty four years? Sixty fiveyears? Yeah, crazy sixty five?
Yeah, wow, Well thank youfor that. Merry Christmas. So yeah,
that's very sad. It's a veryvery sad today's tale. And at

(58:37):
the end of our show, weusually like to give you something to smile
about, and I've got a Christmasthemed dumb criminal for you. Hey,
criminal, use a drummy, Okay. On Friday November twenty seven, twenty
fifteen, a man in a fullSanta costume arrived at Campo di Marti Airport
in sam Polo in Brazil looking tohire a helicopter. So this the start

(59:00):
of the Christmas shopping season and itwas Brazilian Black Friday, So the helicopter
pilot asked him, why do youwant to rent a helicopter? This guy
says he wanted to create a surpriseto mark the special day. So the
pilot is like, ah, that'sthat's really lovely until Santa pauled a weapon

(59:21):
on him and instructed it all tofly to a farm far away from the
city, so obviously he does.The hijacker then gets it, goes to
where he's supposed to be in thisfarm. He then has an accomplice,
not dressed in an Elf outfit,but he has an accomplice join him,
and these two people proceeded to tieup the pilot. They then made their

(59:45):
getaway in a newly acquired helicopter.So obviously the guy that he picked up
can fly a helicopters. They've dumpedthe pilot and they've now stolen the helicopter,
right so he can fly. Hecan fly, obviously. Yeah,
the other guy that he picked upis obviously a pilot too. So it

(01:00:06):
took the poor pilot of the guythat was actually the real pilot. It
took him a several hours to gethimself free. He then informed the police
of this hijack in and the helicopteras well as Santa and Rudolph vanished into
thin air. So magic, they'veobviously gone to Lapland whoa so not so

(01:00:34):
much of a dumb criminal. Theyactually pulled it off. They actually got
away of it and it's never beenfound. So stole the helicopter and never
gave it back. Do we know? Why? Do we know anything about
them or who they were? Theyjust stole the helicopter. They don't know
who it was, they don't knowwhere they went. Nothing, just gone.
That's exactly what I was going tosay to you, Funny, that
maybe Santa's sleigh broke and he's onhis way back to lapland the only way

(01:00:59):
he could get there quickly. Hewas a chopper. I mean, he
was probably in a hurry because look, we all know Santa has a long
vacation after Christmas. He does.What's a better place than a you know,
hang out on a beach in Brazilexactly probably you know, uh banana
hammock, yeah, right out,Yeah, because because down in Brazil,

(01:01:21):
you know, no judgment, Santacan beat himself and like having a few
drinks on the beach and then Iwas like, oh ship, I gotta
get back to No Pole. Yeahthat's where's Oh my god, I know
where Santa is now. I gotRichie buck Noo, you're gonna let rich

(01:01:43):
in Brazil. He's in Brazil.If you haven't, if you haven't checked
out our good friend Jason's podcast,it's called Santa Maybe a Criminal. It's
a satire podcast which is very,very funny, and it features a few
true crime voices that you may recognize. So definitely check it out, especially

(01:02:05):
this season. Listen to it fromthe beginning. It's a brilliant, brilliant
podcast. And so for now,stay on the nice list. People,
be nice. Oh, Happy Christmas, everyone, Merry Christmas. We'll see
you in the new year.