In 1958, an Oregon family of five took off in their red-and-white Ford station wagon to find greenery to use as Christmas decorations. They never returned home.
More than 65 years later, thanks to a diver and DNA testing, the authorities have pieced together what happened to the family and confirmed the identities of the remains of three of them, officials said on Thursday.
The Martin family — Kenneth, 54; Barbara, 48; Barbara (Barbie), 14; Virginia, 13; and Sue, 11 — of Portland, Ore., headed out on Dec. 7, 1958, briefly stopping for gas near Cascade Locks, Ore., on the banks of the Columbia River, the authorities said.
Shortly after the family’s disappearance, the authorities speculated that their car might have gone over a cliff near Cascade Locks, which is about 43 miles east of Portland, and plunged into the Columbia River in an isolated area, The Associated Press reported at the time.
The family’s disappearance “touched off one of the greatest manhunts in Oregon’s history,” The A.P. reported in 1959.
In 1959, the bodies of Virginia and Sue were found 25 miles apart in the Columbia River, the authorities said. The family also had a son, Donald Martin, who was serving in the U.S. Navy in New York at the time of their disappearance.
The case went cold until 2024, when a diver located a vehicle in the river, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Thursday.
In 2025, the sheriff’s office hired a crane to pull the vehicle out of the water, the authorities said.
The crane was only successful in pulling the undercarriage off the rusted vehicle, leaving the passenger cabin upside down underwater, according to Othram, a company specializing in solving cold cases with DNA analysis and genealogical comparisons.
Because the car was encased in sediment, only the frame and a few other pieces were retrieved, but it was enough to lead the sheriff’s office to determine that the car belonged to the Martin family.
The diver, Archer Mayo, continued to explore the wreckage and in August 2025, he located human remains in the river, which were turned over to the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, Othram said.
The medical examiner’s office partnered with Othram, which extracted DNA from the skeletal remains and created DNA profiles, the company said.
Only one DNA profile was usable, and when it was compared to relatives of the Martin family, it was determined the remains belonged to Kenneth.
“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,” the sheriff’s office said.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories for The Times.
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