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On her side, the mother of five was naked from the waist down, tightly gagged with a bandana and her own underwear secured with medical tape. [24], The house in which the murders occurred was demolished in 2004. [24], Based on Justin's descriptions, composite sketches of the two unknown men were produced by Harlan Embry, a man with no artistic ability and no training in forensic sketching. All rights reserved. Immediately, the two lead suspects were Justin Smartts father and the Sharps neighbors, Martin Smartt and his houseguest, ex-convict John Bo Boudebe who was known to have connections to organized crime in the area. One of the men had a hammer. A back view of cabin 28 where the family had lived for a year. Keddie Resort Murder. It has also been suggested that he was asked leading questions during hypnosis. Unable to discern from where they were coming, they went back to bed. [24], Martin Smartt, a neighbor and main suspect, claimed that a claw hammer had inexplicably gone missing from his home. In addition to confirming Sue, John, and Dana were dead, the officers concluded they were murdered. If they suffered any injuries during the event, it wasnt serious, although they did leave some DNA on a piece of tape. Composite sketch of the Keddie murder suspects. Silveria Jr. is believed to have killed between 9 and 14 people while living a transient lifestyle on freight-trains throughout the United States. Although the Sharps cabin did not indicate forced entry, detectives were able to recover an unidentified fingerprint from a handrail that led to the cabins back door. A man discovered a human skull in the adjoining Butte County, about 30 miles from Keddie, in Plumas County. Investigators were called about an hour after Sheila had discovered her slain family. She also worked a part-time job at the Quincy Elks Lodge, and with the little money she brought in, Sue rented Keddie Cabin 28 in the fall of 1981. He lives in the West Midlands, UK with his wife and son. The weapons included a steak knife that came from Sues kitchen. On . With new significant evidence emerging thanks to the meticulous work of the local authorities, the mystery of Cabin 28 could soon be solved. A mom, son, and son's best friend were found murdered. The two had only met weeks before the killings while Boubede was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at the nearby Veterans Administration Hospital. Near her bones in the woods, detectives also discovered a pair of jeans with a missing back pocket, a blue jacket, a blanket, and an empty surgical tape dispenser. However, none of the evidence helped the investigators find the killers or determine how she died. Published October 18, 2021 Updated November 1, 2021 Between April 11 and April 12, 1981, Glenna "Sue" Sharp and three others were brutally killed in the resort town of Keddie, California. One of them was tall with blonde hair and a mustache, while the other was shorter, dark-haired, and clean-shaven. As reported by Timber Creek Talon, Marty also purportedly confessed to the murders during a therapy session. It's an unsolved murder of a mother, two of her children and her son's friend. Further, the home did not indicate forced entry, though detectives did recover an unidentified fingerprint from a handrail on the back stairs. The following fall, she moved to house #28 in the rural Sierra Nevada railroad town of Keddie. Three of Sue's children were with her, Tina, 12; Ricky, 10; and Greg, 5. He admitted that he had a problem with his temper, and Marilyn had claimed that he tried to run her and her son over. The Butte County Sheriffs Department soon received an anonymous call asking, I was wondering if they thought of the murder up in Keddie up in Plumas County a couple years ago where a 12-year-old girl was never found?. It wasnt until three years later on April 22, 1984, when Ronald Pedrini reported that he was in the woods about 90 miles southwest of Keddie when he stumbled upon something suspicious. Since his recruitment in 2013, he has made several new discoveries. [24] Investigating these sounds, he saw Sue with two men: one with a mustache and short hair, the other clean-shaven with long hair; both wore glasses. Marilyn and Marty happened to be taking the same typewriting class that Sue was enrolled in. The strangest thing is that there is no apparent motive. Martin was a known drug dealer and Bo was connected to Chicago crime syndicates with financial interests in drug distribution. Later, police learned that maybe not all the boys had actually been asleep. [11], That same evening, Tina had plans to spend the night with the Seabolt family, who lived in adjacent #27, while Sue remained at home with Rick, Greg, and the boys' young friend, Justin Smartt. Unsolved 1981 American quadruple homicide in Keddie, California, Victims, clockwise: Sue Sharp, John Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Tina Sharp, The house's front door and living room interior, Several news sources use the name "John Boubede", though Robert Scott claims in his book, "Keddie murders revisited part 2: Following the clues", "Inside the Search for the Keddie Cabin Killers 35 Years After a Family Was Slaughtered", "A Daughter's 35-Year Fight For Justice: Sheila Sharp Longs to Know Who Murdered Her Family in Their Cabin", "5 Things to Know about the Keddie Cabin Murders and the New Hunt for the Killers", "Plumas County Sheriff seeks pair in Keddie tripple slaying", "13-year-old Keddie murders still plague sheriff", "Investigator closer to solving Keddie murders", "Plumas County's Keddie murders revisited Part III", "Keddie murders revisited part 1: New evidence discovered links living suspect to grisly scene", "Plumas triple murder investigation continues", "The Keddie Murders: 20 years have passed since four lives were taken in a brutal slaying", "Sheriff seeks pair for questioning in Keddie murder investigation", "New evidence revives Plumas County quadruple murder case", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keddie_murders&oldid=1134819132, Deaths by strangulation in the United States, Unsolved mass murders in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Tina Sharp (remains recovered April 1984), This page was last edited on 20 January 2023, at 21:19. The date was April 11, 1981, when Cabin 28 saw the horrors that crowd it and to this day, the case remains cold. Her brother, who would help her and the children start a new life, lived in Quincy, California, about 150 miles north of Sacramento. Disturbingly, the motive for those murders is still unknown, as the Keddie police department never caught the real-life killer (s), and the case remains unsolved. Listen Now For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode HERE. [13][14] All three had been bound with medical tape and electrical cords. Her fate remained unknown until her skeletal remains turned up in the woods three years later, as recounted Monday night in an episode of PEOPLEs new true-crime series on Investigation Discovery, People Magazine Investigates. Sheilas mother had been covered partially with a blanket though that had done little to hide her gruesome injuries. Keddie, a once-favored railroad stop for recreational tourists traveling from the San Francisco Bay area . In 1979, Glenna "Sue" Sharp left her abusive husband and moved herself and her five children from Connecticut to Quincy, California. Several of the suspected murder weapons were found at the scene, including two knives and a hammer, which were covered in blood. Between them lies the forgotten tape of the anonymous phone tip left in 1984, rediscovered in 2013. The results of the analyses and tests are unknown. It would be another three years after the Keddie murders that Tina was found. Marilyn moved out of Cabin 26 the day after the murders. Following his arrest in 1996, police looked at the . Once a busy railroad terminal in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Keddie had lost much of its population after the railroad closed down. The Mystery Behind The Keddie Cabin Murders Explained. Circleville, Ohio - The Unsolved Mystery of the Circleville Letters by Every . [29] He later criticized the quality of the initial investigation, saying: "You could take someone just coming out of the academy and they'd have done a better job. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. It was later confirmed that Martin was close with this Sheriff. The former Sharp home was condemned and demolished in 2004. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Oct 15, 2021. "Keddie murders", Wikipedia "The Martin Smartt 'love letters'", kmik, The Great Zodiac Killer Hoax of 1986 . In his dreams, he saw two men in the front room of the cabin. I killed the woman and her daughter, but I didnt have anything to do with the [boys], he purportedly told the counselor. Her friends dad retrieved the three unharmed boys through their bedroom window so they would not have to see the scene. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. 35 Years Later, New Clues May Solve Keddie Murder Mystery. John Boubede left Keddie after the murders and returned to Chicago, where he died in 1988. Historic Mysteries reports neighbors heard "muffled screams or groans," sometime between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., but they did not realize anyone was in danger and simply went back to sleep. Sue had just divorced her husband and brought her children from Connecticut to Keddie in Northern California. Investigators theorized that someone might have interrupted the murders taking place before the culprits had a chance to kill the younger children in their bedrooms. In 2013, the Plumas County Sheriff, Greg Hagwood, hired Mike Gamberg as a Special Investigator. [29], In a 2008 documentary on the murders, Marilyn Smartt claimed that she suspected her husband Martin and his friend John "Bo" Boubede (erroneously reported as "John Boudee" by author Robert Scott)[a] were responsible for the murders. In his dream, he had tried to stop the bleeding in Sues chest with towels, and he covered her with a blanket. The back door left ajar. [24] John Boubede, who allegedly had ties to organized crime in Chicago,[29] died there in 1988. 5 People Vanished Along the Snake River Beginning in 1979: Will Police Finally Catch a Serial Killer? In 2016, Gamberg located a hammer believed to be one of the murder weapons in a dried-up pond in Keddie. And I know I always look around. The Keddie victims were bound with tape and electrical cords. The Keddie Cabin Murders: Inside The Grisly Quadruple Homicide That Still Haunts California. The first member of LE to arrive, shortly after 8 am, was PCSO Deputy Hank Klement, who did a quick search of the cabin, confirming the murders. [22][23], Sheila and the Seabolt family (with whom Sheila had spent the night in the neighboring home) heard no commotion during the night;[6] a couple living in nearby house #16 was awakened at 1:15 am by what sounded like muffled screaming. At least one other person was killed that night: her teenage brother's friend, whose body also was found by then 14-year-old Sheila on the living room floor of Cabin 28 in Keddie, California, on the morning of April 12, 1981. [24] Around 2:00 am on April 12, she stated she awoke to find the two burning an unknown item in the wood stove. Interesting history topics are just a click away. He is the author of a series of published mystery novels and holds a degree in criminal psychology. [17] He later admitted to having briefly entered the home through the back door to see if anyone was still alive, potentially contaminating evidence in the process. That's the hope of Sheila Sharp, who discovered the bodies of her mother, brother and a friend at her family's cabin in Keddie, California, in 1981, in a mystery re-examined this past Monday in. Forty years after the incident, the quadruple murder in the woods still baffles the nation. Although both Martin Smartt and Bo Boudebe are now deceased, new DNA evidence has pointed investigators to other suspects who may have had a hand in these murders, and who are still alive. The Keddie family about four years before the murders. Any case without an apparent motive is the toughest to solve, Stoy recalled to the Sacramento Bee in 1987. Victims of the Keddie cabin murders: John Sharp, Tina Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Glenna Sharp, aka Sue. However, though the three boys initially claimed to have slept through the massacre, Rickey and Gregs friend Justin Smartt did later say that he saw Sue with two men in the house that night. Sheila has spoken about the horrific incident in several interviews. Of the suspects who are still alive, Gamberg said: They better batten down the hatches because were coming. Investigators discovered two bloody knives, a hammer, and a plastic piece from a BB gun. [3][4] She decided to relocate to northern California, where her brother Don was residing at the time. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. A person matching the description Justin gave became a primary suspect in the investigation Justins stepfather, Martin Smartt, also known as Marty. Marty, his wife Marilyn, and Marilyns two sons lived in Cabin 26 near the Sharps house just across the lane. Four people were killed in a small California resort town, including Sue Sharp, her son John, daughter Tina, and John's friend Dana. ET) on Investigation Discovery. Sheila would spend the night at the Seabolts. True Crime April 12, 1981. I was told the suspects were told to get out of town, so to me, that means it was covered up, Sheila Sharp told CBS Sacramento in 2016. Sheila Sharp who discovered the victims of the Keddie Cabin 28 murders in 1981, when she was 14 hopes the cold case finally will be resolved By Jeff Truesdell Published on November 25, 2016. It was evident that Sue had put up a fight during the attack, as she had defensive wounds on her arms. [29], On March 24, 2016, a hammer matching the description of the hammer Martin claimed to have lost was discovered in a local pond[19] and taken into evidence by Plumas County Special Investigator Mike Gamberg. Keddie Murder Victims (Clockwise): Sue Sharp, John Sharp, Dana Wingate, and Tina Sharp. Two months later, a forensic analysis of the teeth confirmed that they were indeed Tinas remains. Gamberg also stated that at that time, six potential suspects were being examined. [27], On April 22, 1984, three years and eleven days after the murders, a bottle collector discovered the cranium portion of a human skull and part of a mandible at Camp Eighteen[17] near Feather Falls in neighboring Butte County,[28] roughly 100 miles (160km) from Keddie. Sheilas sister, 12-year-old Tina Sharp, was nowhere to be found. Missing from the cabin was Sue's twelve-year-old daughter, Tina. [26], Tina's disappearance was initially investigated by the FBI as a possible abduction,[19] though it was reported on April 29, 1981, that the FBI had "backed off" the search as the California State Department of Justice was doing an "adequate job" and "made the FBI's presence unnecessary. 109 min listen. All victims had suffered blunt-force trauma by hammer or hammers. Victims,. First, they approached the site of Cabin 28, which at this point had been torn down. Unfortunately, they later went into foster care as their aunt already had several children and couldnt handle more. In September 1980, Sharp found a larger home in the former resort town of Keddie, California. [6] Upon discovering the scene, Sheila rushed back to the Seabolts' house, whereupon Jamie Seabolt retrieved Rick, Greg, and Justin through the bedroom window. The Keddie Cabin murders is one of the most gruesome and mysterious unsolved cases in American history. Were convinced that there are a handful of people that fit those roles who are still alive.. On the morning of April 12, 1981, Sheila Sharp returned to her home at Cabin 28 in the Keddie Resorts in California from the next-door neighbors house. [6] The house was much larger than the trailer, and had become available when Plumas County's then-sheriff, Sylvester Douglas Thomas, moved out. "[29] In a 2016 interview, Gamberg stated that the letter was "overlooked" in the initial investigation and never admitted as evidence. The most widely accepted theory involves a love triangle between Martin, Marilyn, and Sue. Also note how close the cabin is to its neighbor. The three had been bound by medical and electrical tape and had either been viciously stabbed, strangled, or bludgeoned. Im not as I guess Im more cautious of my surroundings., That night Sheila, now 50, a married mother of three and grandmother of two, lost her mom Sue, 36; brother Johnny, 15; and sister Tina, 12, along with Johnnys friend Dana Wingate, 17. keddie murders survivorscumberland police department officers. A fourth victim, Sheilas younger sister, was missing. Tina was then allegedly taken out the cabins back door by one of the men. It is unclear what evidence links Boubede to the mafia. On the after show, Dennis asks Sheila how the crime affected her surviving younger siblings, and about the role Sheila played as their protector in later years. The Keddie Murders is an unsolved 1981 American quadruple murder that took place in Keddie, a former resort town in the foothills of Northern California's Sierra Nevada mountains. While under hypnosis, he described the killers as a tall man with blond hair and a mustache and a short man, who was clean-shaven with dark hair. Its my belief that there were more than two people who were involved in the totality of the crimethe disposal of the evidence and the abduction of the little girl, Hagwood said. However, the perpetrators did not leave behind any of their own blood. Although authorities believe they were both involved in the Keddie cabin murders, they think they may have had help. When Martin discovered this, he enlisted Bo, his friend, and known mob enforcer who had lived with the Smartts a mere 10 days before the Keddie murders, to take Sue out of the picture. As reported by Keddie28, they initially rented a trailer home owned by Sharp's brother. The oldest boy, John, and his buddy, Dana, had spent the day in Quincy. ("dmac" to his enemies.) Based on Justin's description of the attackers, detectives identified Martin "Marty" Smartt as one of the primary suspects in the cabin murders. If she did turn in a jacket, the police, once again, did not acknowledge it as evidence. A GRAPHIC Look Back at the Keddie Murders On the morning of April 11, 1981, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp returned from a neighbor's house after a sleepover and stumbled upon the most disturbing and gruesome scene that she and the rest of Keddie, California, had ever seen. KEDDIE, Calif. It has been 40 years since what is known as the Keddie Murders took place in rural Plumas County. April 12, 1981, the bodies of 36-year-old Sue Sharp, her 15-year-old son John and his 17-year-old friend Dana Wingate were found in Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort, north of Quincy. All three returned home later, but Marty and Bo went out again. Like her son, her throat had been cut. Police recieved an anonymous phone call suggesting the bones found at Camp 18 belonged to Tina Sharp. [25], Rumors regarding the crimes being ritualistic or motivated by drug trafficking were dismissed by Plumas County Sheriff Doug Thomas, who stated in the week following the murders that no drug paraphernalia or illegal drugs were found in the home. This would account for Marilyn leaving her husband the day of the murder discovery. In 2013, he located the recording of the anonymous 911 phone call that came in after Tinas remains surfaced. Deputy Hank Klement was the first to arrive on the scene and he reported blood everywhere on the walls, the bottoms of the victims shoes, Sues bare feet, the bedding in Tinas room, the furniture, the ceiling, the doors, and on the back steps. [25] Both wore gold-framed sunglasses. He also told investigators that his stepson, Justin, might have seen something on the night of the murder without the killer detecting the boy. covered it up, is the way it sounds. He alleges that Bo and Martin fit into a larger drug-smuggling scheme that involved the federal government. The victims were Glenna Sharp, known as Sue, her son John (age fifteen), and his friend, Dana Wingate (aged seventeen). . Gary Mollath, who owned one of the failed resorts, turned his cabins into long-term rental units for low-income families. Sue was gagged deeply with a bandana and her underwear. Furthermore, it suggests an answer as to why this case was handled so sloppily, remains unsolved, and is seemingly not a priority to the Sacramento DOJ. Watch the People Magazine Investigates After Show, available now on the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Sheilas 12-year-old sister Tina was missing, while her two younger brothers, Rick and Greg, and their friend Justin were left unharmed during the violent ordeal. Historic Mysteries reports Marty's wife Marilyn found a bloody jacket in their basement, which she believed belonged to Tina.