Car found in Columbia River could be tied to family missing since 1958

UPDATE — March 7, 2025: A crane retrieved the vehicle, which officials believe belonged to the Martin family, on the afternoon of March 7.

Original story below:

Police are working to pull a car from the Columbia River that could be tied to a family of five that went missing in 1958.

The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that an independent diver had found the vehicle near Cascade Locks. They later confirmed in an email to OPB that Archer Mayo was the diver.

Deputy Pete Hughes said the Martin family — a man, a woman, and their three children — went missing on Dec. 7, 1958.

“They had told family and friends that they were going up to the Columbia River Gorge to look for some Christmas greenery,” he said. “It’s Christmas season, obviously. And then they never returned.”

Some evidence in their disappearance turned up afterward.

“A gas receipt in Cascade Locks, and then there was a witness that said that they had seen them at a cafe in Hood River,” Hughes said. “But there’s never been any real closure or anything.”

In May 1959, the bodies of 13-year-old Virginia and 11-year-old Susan Martin were recovered from the Columbia River. Kenneth and Barbara Martin, and their 14-year-old daughter, who was also named Barbara, were never found.

Crews will begin working Thursday to pull the car from the river. But Hughes said that operation could take a long time.

He also said a lot of theories about what happened to the Martin family have popped up. But the sheriff’s office see this as an opportunity for a new investigation.

“We have an investigative team that’s kind of starting from scratch right now,” he said. “We have forensics here, working with the Oregon State Crime Lab. And we’re just hoping to try to get some closure as to what happened to this family in in 1958.”