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Almost seven decades ago, an Oregon family’s sudden disappearance left a chilling mystery when they set out in their car to gather Christmas greenery.
Today, the long-standing enigma has been unraveled. The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed the identities of the remains belonging to Kenneth Martin, Barbara Martin, and their daughter Barbie Martin, as stated in an announcement by the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities reported that the remains were located within the wreckage of the family’s vehicle submerged in the Columbia River.
“After thorough investigation, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office has completed the case,” the sheriff’s office remarked, “without uncovering any criminal activity.”
The Martin family vanished back in December 1958 when Kenneth and Barbara embarked on a drive with their daughters—Virginia, 13; Susan, 11; and Barbara “Barbie,” 14. Their eldest son, Donald, was serving in the Navy and did not join the family outing.
The family disappeared in December of 1958 after Kenneth and Barbara went for the drive with their three daughters, Virginia, 13; Susan, 11, and Barbara “Barbie”, 14. The couple’s oldest son Donald had been in the Navy and wasn’t along on the family trip.
At the time, the case became a national news story causing some to believe the family were the victims of foul play, according to The Associated Press.
Several months later, the bodies of Virginia and Susan were discovered downstream in the river, but the sheriff’s office said the fate of the other three family members remained unknown, despite extensive dives and searches in the river.
Diver Finds Martin Family Car in Columbia River Basin
Then, in 2024, a private diver believed he’d located the family’s car in a catch-basin area of the river in Casade Locks, Oregon. The next year, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office contracted a crane to try to pull the car from the river, but because it had been encased in sediment for so long, only its frame and some attached components were retrieved.
According to the the sheriff’s office, “Analysis of those items along with other items retrieved by the diver allowed investigators to conclude that this was in fact the Martin car.”
The diver—identified as Archer Mayo by KATU—returned to the area last summer and located the human remains submerged in the water.
“I really just ended up solving it with clues and theories, hypotheses, and eventually found them 10 feet under the bottom of the river, 50 feet from the surface,” Mayo told the news outlet. “So really, I came up with a theory of where they would be and started digging until I found them.”
Mayo turned the remains over to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators Partner With Forensic Lab Othram to Identify Martin Family Remains
As the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s office set out to identify the remains, they partnered with Othram Inc., a forensic genetics laboratory that specializes in advanced DNA analysis, the sheriff’s office said.
Using the identify interference method and evidence from the case, Othram’s scientists were able to generate a comprehensive single nucleotide polymorphism profile (SNP) for one of the victims. They were then able to use that profile to compare it to family reference standards obtained from known relatives of the Martin family.
“Through this process, Kenneth Martin was positively identified,” the sheriff’s office said, “and based on the totality of the circumstances in which the remains were recovered, and the anthropological assessment of the remains, Barbara Martin and Barbie Martin were also identified.”
David Mittelman, the chief executive officer for Othram, told Oxygen the case demonstrates the power of new DNA technology.
“This case shows how Othram can help law enforcement turn uncertainty into a definitive answer, even after nearly 70 years,” he said. “Time is no longer a barrier to solving cases.”