Family vanished on 1958 Christmas outing. Their car may have been found, Oregon cops say
An Oregon family vanished during a Christmas outing 67 years ago, authorities and news outlets reported.
A new break in the case may solve the decades-long disappearance.
A vehicle believed to belong to the missing Martin family was discovered in the Columbia River near Cascade Locks, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 6 Facebook post.
Authorities said they are working to recover it.
Ken Martin, his wife, Barbara, and their three children went missing in December 1958, after going to find Christmas greenery in the Columbia River Gorge, an overview for author J.B. Fisher’s book on the family’s disappearance states.
At the time, authorities discovered tire tracks and believed the family may have backed into the river on accident, KOIN reported.
The bodies of two of the daughters, Sue and Virginia, were discovered in May 1959 in the Columbia River, the news outlet reported. The third daughter, Barbara, wasn’t found.
“The Martins’ disappearance spurred the largest missing persons search in Oregon history and the mystery has remained perplexingly unsolved to this day,” the overview for the book “Echo of Distant Water: The 1958 Disappearance of Portland’s Martin Family” states.
The diver who found the vehicle, Archer Mayo, has been trying to solve the family’s case for seven years, he wrote in a Facebook post earlier this year.
Mayo said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted him a nationwide permit to dredge the Columbia River.
His spokesperson, Ian Costello, told The Oregonian he found a vehicle last fall buried in the riverbed, about 60 feet from the shoreline.
He told the news outlet the station wagon is about 90% buried.
Deputies said the investigation is ongoing and more details will be released “at a later time.”
Cascade Locks is about a 45-mile drive northeast from Portland.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Family vanished on 1958 Christmas outing. Their car may have been found, Oregon cops say."
