He weaves magnificent soap-opera stories from threads of shredded documents and deems these stories the truth. What else do you want? But curiously, instead of sending homicide detectives, they sent organized crime investigators to Keddie. Victims,. The discovery prompted a thorough examination of the area, revealing a jawbone and several other bones. Investigators believe he was cooperating with the Department of Justice as an informant. He is the author of a series of published mystery novels and holds a degree in criminal psychology. Keddie Murders Revisited Part 1: New Evidence Discovered Links Living Suspect to Grisly Scene, November 15, 2019.Whelan, Micheal. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Three of them were murdered that night, and one of the children remained missing until years later. 'People Magazine Investigates' Features Man's 24-Year Wrongful Prison Sentence: 'Never Thought It Could Happen', People Magazine Investigates Offers New Clues on Keddie Cabin Murders, Giving Survivor 'A Little More Hope', 'People Magazine Investigates After Show' : How Solving Keddie Murders Is 'Personal' for Investigators, Inside the Keddie Cabin Murders: Daughter Remembers Finding Mom and Brother Dead at Age 14, A Daughter's 35-Year Fight For Justice: Sheila Sharp Longs to Know Who Murdered Her Family in Their Cabin, Horror in the Woods: 'People Magazine Investigates' Looks at the Keddie Cabin Murders Cold Case, Inside the Search for the Keddie Cabin Killers 35 Years After a Family Was Slaughtered, WATCH: Heartbreak Leads to Hollywood Horror in Exclusive 'People Magazine Investigates' Clip, Behind the Murder of JonBent Ramsey, Featured on 'People Magazine Investigates'. The cabins telephone had been left off the hook and all of the lights had been shut off as well as the drapes closed. Tina was just 12 years old, John was 15, and Dana was 16. "[17], Martin Smartt died of cancer in Portland, Oregon, in June 2000. Interesting history topics are just a click away. They also all sustained multiple stab wounds. Composite sketch of the Keddie murder suspects. Over the next few months, Sue worked hard to turn their new mountain community into a permanent home for her children. The back door left ajar. In 2016, a man sweeping around with a metal detector found a hammer in a dried-up pond near Keddies entrance. Keddie Murder Victims (Clockwise): Sue Sharp, John Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Tina Sharp. It would be another three years after the Keddie murders that Tina was found. However, it was simply too small for the family of six. At least one other person was killed that night: her teenage brothers friend, whose body also was found by then 14-year-old Sheila on the living room floor of Cabin 28 in Keddie, California, on the morning of April 12, 1981. It was later confirmed that Martin was close with this Sheriff. And I know I always look around. The family had been living in relative poverty in a town of 66 people. Although the Sharps cabin did not indicate forced entry, detectives were able to recover an unidentified fingerprint from a handrail that led to the cabins back door. Amid the attack, Tina came out of her room and was carried out of the house by one of the men, who came back inside the house without her. Oddly, John and Dana did not have any defensive wounds or blood under their bindings. The living room was in complete chaos, and Sue, John, and Johns friend, Dana, were dead on the floor. I became their mother, and its hard for me to step back and be a sister, cause thats what I am Im their sister, Im not their mother, and they need to make their own choices.. The Keddie Murders: A cold case suddenly getting warm. 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. On April 12, 1981, the victims, Glenna Sharp, (known as Sue), her son John (age 15), and his friend, Dana Wingate (age 17), were discovered in cabin 28 by Sue's 14-year-old daughter, Shelia, who was coming home from a sleepover. Gamberg also stated that at that time, six potential suspects were being examined. The case involves the murders of members of the Sharp family while they were vacationing at Keddie Resort in 1981. [6][16] Initial reports stated that the three young boys had slept through the incident, though this was later contradicted. In one of the bedrooms, authorities found Rick, Greg, and their friend Justin Eason Smartt, unharmed. Sue's two younger sons, Rick and Greg, as well as their friend Justin Smartt, were also in the house but were unharmed. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Where is the Body of the Legendary King Gorm of Denmark. The most widely accepted theory involves a love triangle between Martin, Marilyn, and Sue. Was it possible that he either witnessed the murders or awoke at some point during the night but had blocked it out? True Crime April 12, 1981. Gary Mollath, who owned one of the failed resorts, turned his cabins into long-term rental units for low-income families. [6] Sheila departed house #28 shortly after 8:00 pm to sleep over at the Seabolts, which she had never before done. [26], Tina's disappearance was initially investigated by the FBI as a possible abduction,[19] though it was reported on April 29, 1981, that the FBI had "backed off" the search as the California State Department of Justice was doing an "adequate job" and "made the FBI's presence unnecessary. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. ET) on Investigation Discovery. Plumas County Sheriffs DepartmentA back view of cabin 28 where the family had lived for a year. "[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. [19] John and Dana suffered blunt-force trauma to their heads caused by a hammer or hammers. [10] Around this time, the two were seen in the city's downtown area. (Metcalf: 2018). . [24] According to Justin, John and Dana then entered the home and began heatedly arguing with the men. Relatives of the victims and the public anxiously await the day when investigators bring justice to the killings of Sue, John, Tina, and Dana. Like her son, her throat had been cut. 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 murders took place in house No. Were convinced that there are a handful of people that fit those roles who are still alive.. I think there was something about Tina that could not be left there to be discovered. [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. Additionally, it gives context to Martins handwritten note that Marilyn gave to the Plumas Sheriffs Dept. In addition to confirming Sue, John, and Dana were dead, the officers concluded they were murdered. It was evident that Sue had put up a fight during the attack, as she had defensive wounds on her arms. The town tried to reinvent itself by becoming a recreational camping and hiking resort area. The date was April 11, 1981, when Cabin 28 saw the horrors that crowd it and to this day, the case remains cold. Smartt moved to Reno, Nevada, shortly after the conclusion of his police interview and was also never arrested or charged in the Keddie cabin murders. With new significant evidence emerging thanks to the meticulous work of the local authorities, the mystery of Cabin 28 could soon be solved. [24], The house in which the murders occurred was demolished in 2004. 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 [8], On April 11, 1981, around 11:30 am, Sue, Sheila, and Greg drove from the residence of their friends, the Meeks family, to pick up Rick, who was attending baseball tryouts at Gansner Field in Quincy. "I've paid the price of your love & now I've bought it with four people's lives," ABC10 reports the letter said. One of the men was holding a small knife and a hammer. The strangest thing is that there is no apparent motive. Historic Memories reports Keddie was once a bustling town with a busy railroad terminal. Immediately, the two lead suspects were Justin Smartts father and the Sharps neighbors, Martin Smartt and his houseguest, ex-convict John Bo Boudebe who was known to have connections to organized crime in the area. In 1980, the Sharp family 36-year-old Glenna "Sue", her 15-year-old son John, 14-year-old daughter Sheila, 12-year-old daughter Tina, and 10-year-old Rick and five-year-old Greg moved from. Given the extent of the brutality of the Keddie cabin murders, there was plenty of evidence left behind. Marty had a friend, John Boubede, who had been living at Martys house. Additionally, he said that Marilyn was his niece, which was also false. It's an unsolved murder of a mother, two of her children and her son's friend. Keddie Case Cabin 28. keddie28.com.Little, Jane Braxton. Everyone called her Sue. Unfortunately, many hours passed since her disappearance, and the chance of anyone finding her nearby was slim. Keddie28 reported Sharp immediately fled the cabin and ran to the neighbors for help. The Keddie Murders Unresolved. The murders took place in cabin 28, during the late evening of April 11, 1981 and/or early morning of the 12th. How could murder with so much evidence remain unsolved? Sues ex-husband was in the military when they divorced, and the Navy gave her $250 a month to start her new life. Im not as I guess Im more cautious of my surroundings., That night Sheila, now 50, a married mother of three and grandmother of two, lost her mom Sue, 36; brother Johnny, 15; and sister Tina, 12, along with Johnnys friend Dana Wingate, 17. The six of them: 36-year-old Sue, her 15-year-old son John, 14-year-old daughter Sheila, 12-year-old daughter Tina, and 10-year-old Rick and 5-year-old Greg, were friendly with their nearby neighbors at the Keddie resort. 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. As she opened the door, she screamed as she discovered the bodies of her mother, Glenna "Sue" Sharp, older brother John Sharp . Sue urged them not to hitchhike, but passersby spotted John and Dana on a street corner trying to flag a ride home around 9:30-10:00 that evening. Probable murder weapons for the Keddie slaying discovered and submitted as evidence in 2016. Clipping from Reno Gazette-Journal, April 13, 2016.DMAC. [5] Upon arriving in California, she began renting a small trailer formerly occupied by her brother at the Claremont Trailer Village in Quincy. 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. Victims of the Keddie cabin murders: John Sharp, Tina Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Glenna Sharp, aka Sue. Stranger still, in an adjoining bedroom the two youngest Sharp boys, Rickey and Greg, as well as their friend and neighbor, 12-year-old Justin Smartt were found unharmed. [9][6] Two hours later, around 3:30 pm, John and Dana hitchhiked back to Quincy, where they may have had plans to visit friends. Sheriff Hagwood believes that the location couldnt have been accidental and that someone intentionally threw it in the water. Claw hammered. 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. Sue packed her children up and moved across the country from North Carolina to the Golden State. Based on Justin's description of the attackers, detectives identified Martin "Marty" Smartt as one of the primary suspects in the cabin murders. When Sheila returned home early the next morning to find her mother, brother, and his friend bloodied on the living room floor, she bolted back to her neighbors house. On the morning of April 11, 1981, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp returned from a neighbors house after a sleepover and stumbled upon the most disturbing and gruesome scene that she and the rest of Keddie, California, had ever seen. [21] Carla McMullen, a family acquaintance, later told detectives that Dana Wingate had recently stolen an unknown quantity of LSD from local drug dealers, though she was unable to provide proof of this claim. Police were called to the scene at around 8:05 that morning, having been alerted by the Seabolt family . You May Also Like: Brutal Murders on Germanys Hinterkaifeck Farm. Following his arrest in 1996, police looked at the . On . Around 1:30 pm, Sue and her oldest daughter Sheila went to pick up John and Dana in Quincy. [28] Near the remains, detectives also discovered a blue nylon jacket, a blanket, a pair of Levi Strauss jeans with a missing back pocket, and an empty medical tape dispenser. Tina was missing from the scene. What is known is that this 37-year-old crime is far from a cold case, as new evidence sheds light on what may have occurred at Cabin 28 in Keddie, California. [6][10], Around 7:00 am[6][12] on the morning of April 12, Sheila returned to #28 and discovered the dead bodies of Sue, John, and Dana in the house's living room. 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.. Please note that there is a lot of misinformation published online about the Keddie murders. 5 Topics 16 Posts Last post Portola Reporter April 12, 20 . Between them lies the forgotten tape of the anonymous phone tip left in 1984, rediscovered in 2013. As reported by ABC10, John Boubede died in 1988, and Martin Smartt died in 2006. It was Sharps mother, Sue, brother John and his friend Dana, laying in a pool of blood, bound with medical tape and appliance wire. Investigation Police arrived at around 8:00 am and began their investigation of the murders. 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. 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 bodies of Sue, John, and Dana were found on the morning of April 12 by Sue's 14-year-old daughter, Sheila, who had been sleeping at a friend's house. Some investigators who picked up the case when it reopened in 2013 tie the slayings into an even larger plot. At Keddie Cabin, two victims were found tied to each other. The oldest boy, John, got the ground-floor basement all to himself. It would take the police hours to realize that a fourth victim, Tina, was missing.