Spring showers replenished the waterways near the Feather River, giving life to the picturesque landscape in Plumas County, about 140 miles northeast of Sacramento. Why was Marty Smartt, the main suspect, the drug-running local sheriff's close friend? But she doesn't get to the great-grandkids, she doesn't have that. Blood spatters were found on the floor and ceiling suggesting the kind of forced used. In 2004 the now infamous Cabin 28 was condemned and demolished. Yes, this case was intentionally made to grow cold. They looked through every box in connection with the case and found a recording of a man believed to be one of the killers, or at the very least an accomplice. rice farms in northern california. The Keddie Cabin Murders took place on April 12, 1981; Sue Sharp, two of her children, and her son's friend lost their lives. Both left the area. While the crime was being reported, Jamie Seabolt, Sheila Sharp and possibly Zonita Seabolt helped the three young boys out a side bedroom window of the cabin. Leads werent followed and evidence wasnt checked. People Magazine Investigates' episode on the Keddie cabin murders airs Monday (10 p.m. It has been 40 years since the most horrific crime in Plumas County history, the Keddie Murders.Subscribe at: https://goo.gl/vai8EuFind ABC10 online: https://www.abc10.com/Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.abc10.com/email Stream ABC10 on Roku: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/63398/abc10Stream ABC10 on Amazon Fire: https://www.amazon.com/Gannett-Broadcasting-ABC-10-Fire/dp/B01E0H2KZQStream ABC10 on AppleTV: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc10-news-weather-traffic/id469397853?mt=8Like ABC10 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABC10tv/ Like ABC10 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abc10tvFollow ABC10 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ABC10App download Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gannett.local.library.news.kxtv\u0026hl=en_USApp download iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/abc10-news-weather-traffic/id469397853 Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). Police was on the scene for a short while before they . What has made this case particularly hard to organize is that the original case history log who did what and on what date is gone. Updated 2/11/2020 - Sue Sharp, her son John and his friend Dana were found in the Sharp family cabin beaten and strangled to death in the family room. Subscribe now to PEOPLE for more on this case. Didnt he admit to covering Glenna Sue? Text is available under . His Case Was Reopened When Investigators Looked into Murdaugh Murders, 'People Magazine Investigates' : Inside Decades-Old Disappearances of 5 People Along the Snake River, An Ohio High School Forensics Class Joins the Hunt for a Young Mother's Killer. The hammer, similar to one reported missing by Smartt, was dug up near the crime scene just last month. Although dmac and Gamberg have some differences of opinion of just what happened in Cabin 28, Gamberg has come to respect dmacs work. There were faint but heavy footsteps walking in the dirt. The morning of April 12, 1981, Glenna Sue Sharp and her kids, Tina and John, and John's friend, Dana Wingate, were brutally murdered inside house #28 in Keddie, California. With nothing in those first weeks that tied them to the crime, Thomas said, neither were charged. He became a deputy in his hometown in 1988. Both had personal connections to victims of the case. Gamberg further tracked down a therapist in Reno, Nev., to whom Marty allegedly confessed after the killings and who told Gamberg he was shocked to learn that investigators at the time didn't use that confession to solve the crimes. The bottoms of Sues bare feet and the soles of one of the boys shoes were also covered in blood suggesting they were mobile and stepped in it at some point. Wonderful-Variation 2 yr. ago Six people coming together to commit a murder is an extraordinarily unusual situation. Moving forward, DNA might still be retrievable from evidence collected at Keddie Cabin 28 if it hasnt been compromised and DNA testing facilities are notoriously backlogged. Fragments of her skull and other bones were discovered in Camp Eighteen, CA. ", "It's obviously a worthwhile pursuit," he says. "The fascinating aspect of that discovery is that the envelope had never been opened," Hagwood said. "I stayed in the cabin probably a dozen times," he said. A bent steak knife lay on the floor, and a butcher knife and claw hammer, both also bloodied, were side-by-side on a small wooden table near the entry into the kitchen. 2021. This includes the living room carpet, wallboard and other items marked with blood and other potential evidence. She was dutiful in her attention to each of us, and while we lived in relative poverty, we also lived in a home of love. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. Another person of interest also lived in Butte County. Keddie Cabin Murders Solved? While two of the lead suspects Martin Smartt and his friend John Boubede are now dead, others are alive and have been identified, said Hagwood recently. Keddie will never be the same because of those murders, and after visiting where it happened, I dont think I will be either, Kendall whispered. Everybody was suspicious of everybody and afraid of everybody else, he said. Sharps oldest daughter, Sheila, had been at a sleepover when she returned to the family home, Cabin 28, to find her murdered family. Marty Smartt's letter was an early re-discovery. Investigators: People Can Confirm the Killers' Identities, Chris Watts Is Sending 'Racy' Letters to Multiple Women from His Prison Cell: Sources, JonBent Ramsey's Murder to Be Investigated by Cold Case Team in New Probe Into Unsolved Killing, Serial Killers' Kids who Turned in Their Parents or Spoke Out About Growing Up with Them, 2 People Arrested After the Search for a Missing Child Leads to Discovery of Human Remains, Pride of Her Family': Aspiring Radiology Technician Is Fatally Shot During Confrontation on Road, Texas Family of 4 Was Massacred at Home in 2014 and Suspect Was Just Arrested Getting Off Plane, 4 Women Were Strangled to Death in Mo. On April 11, 1981, 36-year-old Glenna "Sue" Sharp, her 15-year-old son John, and his 17-year-old friend Dana Wingate were murdered in Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort, in Keddie, California. Among those questioned in the killings was Sue's neighbor Marty Smartt, who lived two cabins away with his wife (and Justin Smartt's mother), Marilyn. "There are things that were done--but I think most importantly there are things that were not done that are hard to explain," he said. The most widely accepted theory involves a love triangle between Martin, Marilyn, and Sue. I didn't think it was fair that they would have to go through it I didn't think it would be good. They had died. She personally believes that the murders of her family were carried out by Marty Smartt and Bo Boubede. But the unsolved murders of a woman, two teenage boys and a girl still haunted him. "It's my feeling that either he [the caller] was told or he was involved in some way," Gamberg said. She ultimately settled into the small town of Keddie nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains only five miles. When he was reinstated, Thomas kept him out of the investigation. "It could have been that I blocked it out, and the shock of it all, too.". S.C. On April 12, 1981, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp was returning from a sleepover when she discovered three dead bodies in her family's cabin at the Keddie Resort: her 36-year-old single mother, Sue; her brother Johnny, 15; and Johnny's friend Dana Wingate, 17. Tina's (the sister whose body was not found in the cabin) skull had been found due to an anonymous tip called into the police on the. It sounded like a door that rested on rusty hinges, if I had to pinpoint it, she nodded, brows furrowed. Although someone had covered the body of the mother with a blanket, it did little to relieve the horrific scene the teen and law enforcement encountered. The Gruesome Unsolved Keddie Quadruple Murders Posted on March 2, 2020 by Morbid N' Macabre Spread the love This is the crime which the movie "The Strangers" is loosely based on, though this true story is much more terrifying than any movie could ever be. All three victims at the crime scene had been bound with medical and . With copies of most case files still in existence, we've drafted the most realistic timeline of events leading up to the murders, how they took place, and the ensuing coverup by the killers and corrupt members of law enforcement. Why did both DOJ and sheriff Doug Thomas skate these key suspects when LE noted they were lying, and Marty FAILED his polygraph? What else do you want?". Sue Sharp was found lying very close to the sofa. And as a deputy he knew what was and wasnt happening with the case. My reasons are simple: there is no evidence tying either of these men to the murders. During the revived investigation in 2016, sheriff's investigator Mike Gamberg was made aware of a letter written by Marty to Marilyn shortly after the crimes. The second development was something else found in the same boxes of case files: the taped anonymous phone call that tipped off the location of Tina Sharp's remains. Gamberg said he was fortunate in that he was able to get his piece of DNA processed in a timely manner. The one he missed or more accurately wasnt allowed to cover was the Keddie murder case, he said recently. That night I dreamt of a young girl, walking around the empty site. Authorities also interviewed Marty's ex-con friend "Bo" Boubede, who had moved in with Marty. Boubede died in 1988, and Marty Smartt died in 2006. Defensive injuries would be discovered on her arms. Here are five things to know about their work. "I've paid the price of your love & now that I've bought it with four people's lives, you tell me we are through," Marty wrote. Marilyn claimed to never receive the letter. Also, a man recently discovered a steel blue claw-hammer using a metal detector that matched the description of one that Marty had told investigators he lost. This just seems like a rehash of an old article. Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me! "Clearly by looking at the hammer you can tell that it's been at that location for a very, very long time," Hagwood said. "I guess I don't want to relive that," she tells PEOPLE in this week's issue of the memory 35 years ago when, at age 14, she opened the front door of her family's northern California cabin to find their bloodied bodies on the living room floor. "She's a hard one to talk about," Sheila says. Gamberg also found in the investigation's files an apparently unopened envelope with a recording of a 911 call. But for some, Keddie is synonymous with murder and despair. Some even believed the furniture moved around by itself. DNA deoxyribonucleic acid is now considered the most reliable physical evidence. The therapist also reportedly told Gamberg that he was surprised the investigators at the time of the murder hadn't used the confession against Marty. Neither Hagwood nor Gamberg are willing to divulge specifics on whom theyre watching, but new evidence has given them solid leads. Hes also shared some important information with the Plumas County Sheriffs Office. 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. We still have to live on without our loved ones. There are people locally who know more than theyve said, and I believe weve identified some of them, and we know who they are, and we know where they are. Of Marty and Boubede, he said, "The only thing I knew is, they hung out together. There have been a lot of rumors floating around and unfortunately people are considering them as the truth, instead of checking and doing the research. The Keddie Cabin murders was a case that involved a triple-slaying as well as a missing child whose remains were later discovered. 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