Investigators have been trying to determine what happened to the Martin family since they vanished near Cascade Locks, Oregon, on December 7, 1958 — but their car and skeletal remains have now been discovered in the Columbia River.
Othram, Inc.Kenneth, Barbara, Barbie, Virginia, and Sue Martin shortly before their 1958 disappearance.
On December 7, 1958, Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their three young daughters set out from their home in Portland, Oregon to gather greenery for Christmas decorations in the Columbia River Gorge. But they never returned.
Two days later, concerned friends reported the family missing when both Kenneth and Barbara failed to show up for work. The local sheriff’s office launched a massive manhunt, but they couldn’t locate the Martin family or their vehicle.
Five months later, the bodies of two of the children emerged from the Columbia River, but these discoveries only raised more questions. Over the decades, theories about the Martin family’s disappearance have ranged from a tragic accident to cold-blooded murder. But now, thanks to the work of a recovery diver and DNA technology, the Martin family has finally been found.
What Happened To The Martin Family On December 7, 1958?
Two weeks before Christmas in 1958, Kenneth and Barbara Martin loaded their daughters Barbie, Virginia, and Sue into their red and white Ford station wagon for a Sunday drive. They headed east from their home in Portland to Cascade Locks, where they planned to collect greenery to use as festive decor.
They safely made it to Cascade Locks, where they stopped for gas and may have eaten at a local restaurant, but they never returned home. After the family was reported missing, investigators discovered paint chips on a rock near a bluff overlooking the Columbia River, leading them to assume that the Martin family had accidentally plunged into the water.
Cascade Locks Historical MuseumAuthorities believe the Martin family may have accidentally driven into the water in this area of Cascade Locks.
The recovery of the bodies of 13-year-old Virginia and 11-year-old Sue from the river in May 1959 seemed to support this theory. But despite numerous dives, the authorities were never able to find the family’s car or the remains of Kenneth, Barbara, and Barbie.
What’s more, the discovery of a bloody gun that was allegedly linked to the Martins’ oldest son, Donald — who was living in New York at the time of the disappearance — sparked rumors of a vicious murder. The gun’s serial number matched it to a store where Donald had worked, and from which he’d allegedly stolen various merchandise, two years prior.
Still, the case went cold and stayed that way for decades.
Then, in 2024, a diver named Archer Mayo found a rusty vehicle at the bottom of the Columbia River.
The Discovery Of The Martins’ Car In The Columbia River
Mayo had been searching for the Martin family for seven years, he told Portland news station KATU 2. In November 2024, he was diving in an area of the river near Cascade Locks known as “the pit” when he spotted something strange.
“There was a big collapse in front of me,” Mayo said. “And when the water cleared slightly, I saw a tire, and I knew.”
Archer MayoArcher Mayo first spotted the tire of the Martin family’s car during a dive in 2024.
Mayo alerted the authorities about his discovery, and in March 2025, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office hired a crane to pull the vehicle from the water. However, it was so deteriorated that the undercarriage broke off, leaving the rest of the car in the river.
Still, investigators believed they had enough evidence to identify the vehicle as the Martins’ Ford station wagon. But that wasn’t enough for Mayo. He returned to the scene in August 2025 — and this time, he found human remains.
Solving The Mystery Of The Missing Martin Family
The local medical examiner’s office turned to Othram, a company that specializes in solving cold cases via DNA analysis. The skeletons recovered near the car were sent to Othram’s lab in Texas. Scientists were only able to salvage DNA from one of the three sets of remains — but it was enough.
According to a statement from the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, “Through this process, Kenneth Martin was positively identified 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.”
At last, after more than 67 years, the mystery of what happened to the Martin family had been largely solved.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s OfficeA missing poster from December 1958 offering a $1,000 reward for information regarding the Martin family.
Authorities noted that there were no signs of foul play and determined that the deaths of Kenneth, Barbara, Barbie, Virginia, and Sue were part of a terrible accident. Mayo’s theory about the tragedy closely matches that of the investigators.
“I think that they turned around in such a way that they kind of got stuck against a curb, put the car in reverse and it wouldn’t move,” the diver told KATU 2. “And then all of a sudden jolted and it went backwards in an uncontrollable way into the water… [T]here’s a parking area there at the Cascade Locks that was completely unprotected from that happening back in the ’50s.”
The sheriff’s office thanked Mayo and Othram for their assistance in solving this decades-old cold case, writing, “This identification reflects a sustained coordinated effort, scientific partnership, and continued advancements in forensic genetic genealogy.”
After learning how the mystery of the Martin family’s mysterious disappearance was finally solved, read about seven more cold cases that remain unsolved. Then, discover how Unsolved Mysteries helped uncover answers in 11 baffling cases.
