Mystery of parents who vanished alongside daughters in 1958 finally ‘solved’ thanks to grim discovery in Columbia River

A break in a decades-long cold case has finally come after an independent diver discovered remains in a car submerged in the Columbia River.

On December 7, 1958, the Martin family, parents Kenneth and Barbara, hopped in the car with their three daughters to go Christmas shopping, but never returned. 

The bodies of the two youngest daughters, Virginia, 13, and Sue, 11, were found floating in the river the following year, but the oldest daughter, Barbara, 14, and the girls’ parents were never found. 

The mystery gripped the nation for years, and crime junkies have spawned theories ever since as to what led to the Martin family’s tragic fate. 

Some believe they drowned after the car backed into the river accidentally. But there is also evidence that at least one of them was shot dead.  

Archer Mayo, an independent diver, took his fascination with the case to the next level and set out to find answers as to what happened with the family. 

Last year, Mayo found the family’s station wagon in a deep section of the river that serves as the state line between Oregon and Washington, then reported the discovery to authorities. 

Local law enforcement launched a recovery effort for the car, but later suspended it after the vehicle’s frame detached and debris made it difficult to pull it out of the river. 

This summer, Mayo returned to the river to slowly suction debris from the car, he revealed to Oregon Live. 

The car had split when authorities attempted to remove it from the river, creating a gap for Mayo to fish out evidence. 

He recovered human remains this month, including remains contained inside a nylon stocking. 

Mayo reported the findings to the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, who have yet to confirm that the remains belonged to the Martin family. 

Authorities have said the case remains an open investigation. Daily Mail reached out to the sheriff’s department for an update. 

The update provides some hope for closure for the Martin family, but also for Mayo, who has spent the last seven years on the case. 

Mayo previously told Columbia Gorge News that he used predictive modeling to locate the vehicle in what’s known as the ‘pit’ of the river. 

He worked with historians and secured permits to launch a dive mission. Mayo located the vehicle last November and snatched the registration tags on the license plate.  

He told the outlet that he completed ‘hundreds’ of dives in the river, adding, ‘I can move around with zero visibility in this giant pit, because I’ve spent so much of my lifetime trying to solve this mystery’.

What happened to the Martins? 

The mystery of the Martin family captivated Americans for years, as the family of five seemed to vanish out of thin air on December 7, 1958. 

They were reported missing when the parents failed to show up for work two days later. Authorities believed their car had accidentally backed into the river at the time. 

It wasn’t until a month later that a gun was found near where they vanished. The sheriff’s office didn’t collect it as evidence, but decades later, the gun owner’s widow told local news that it had dried blood on it. 

In May 1959, the bodies of the two youngest daughters were recovered, and their deaths were ruled as a drowning. 

However, an autopsy report cited a potential gunshot wound to the head. The Medical Examiner had disputed the wound as a result of decomposition. 

The family’s oldest son, Donald Martin, was 28 at the time and living in New York. He told detectives that he couldn’t see how his parents’ and sisters’ deaths were an accident. 

Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff Walter Graven was also skeptical about the family’s deaths at the time and spent years investigating the case. 

Despite the swirling theories about the family, the police never named any suspects or pursued a murder investigation.