By Canadian Press

Mystery solved? A submerged car from the 1950s may belong to a missing Oregon family

Mar 7, 2025 | 5:01 PM

After two days of dredging, a crane on Friday pulled a Ford station wagon from the Columbia River that officials believe belonged to an Oregon family who disappeared while on a trip 66 years ago to collect Christmas greenery.

The vehicle belonging to Ken and Barbara Martin was found last fall by Archer Mayo, a diver who had been looking for it for seven years, said Mayo’s representative, Ian Costello. Mayo pinpointed the likely location and dove several times before finding the car upside-down about 50 feet (15 meters) deep, covered in mud, salmon guts, silt and mussel shells, Costello said.

The Martins took their three daughters on a ride to the mountains on Dec. 7, 1958, according to AP stories from the time. They never returned. Officials narrowed their search for the family after learning that Ken Martin had used a credit card to buy gas at a station near Cascade Locks, a small Columbia River community about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Portland.

After Mayo provided part of the license plate number and other vehicle identifiers, the sheriff’s office and the Columbia Gorge major crimes team, along with the Oregon State Crime Lab, arranged to have the car pulled out, said Pete Hughes, a Hood River County sheriff’s deputy.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

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A crane resumed dredging on the Columbia River on Friday as it tried to clear a way to pull out a station wagon that is believed to have belonged to an Oregon family of five who disappeared nearly 70 years ago while they were out searching for Christmas greenery.

The search for the Martin family was a national news story at the time and led some to speculate about the possibility of foul play, with a $1,000 reward offered for information. “Where do you search if you’ve already searched every place logic and fragmentary clues would suggest?” an Associated Press article wondered in 1959, months after the disappearance.

Two of the family’s children were found in the river later that year, though the remaining members never turned up.

Salvage efforts were called off just before dark on Thursday and resumed early Friday. Officials hoped they would be able to pull the vehicle out by the afternoon, but efforts were slowed by the mud that buried much of the car.

The station wagon thought to belong to Ken and Barbara Martin was found last fall by Archer Mayo, a diver who had been looking for it for seven years, said Mayo’s representative, Ian Costello. Mayo pinpointed the likely location and dove several times before finding the car upside-down about 50 feet (15 meters) deep, covered in mud, salmon guts, silt and mussel shells, Costello said.

“This is a very big development in a case that’s been on the back of Portland’s mind for 66 years,” Costello told The Associated Press.

Mayo found other cars nearby, which will need to come out before the station wagon can be pulled from the river, Costello said. Pete Hughes, a Hood River County sheriff’s deputy, said one car had been previously identified and the second was an unknown Volkswagen.

“We don’t know what we will find,” Hughes said when asked if officials thought bodies were inside the cars.

The Martins took their daughters — Barbara, 14; Virginia, 13; and Sue, 11 — on a ride to the mountains on Dec. 7, 1958, to collect Christmas greenery, according to AP stories from the time. The children left the Sunday newspaper comics scattered about. Dishes remained in the sink and a load of laundry in the washing machine.

They never returned. Officials narrowed their search for the family after learning that Ken Martin had used a credit card to buy gas at a station near Cascade Locks, a small Columbia River community about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Portland.

“Police have speculated that Martin’s red and white station wagon might have plunged into an isolated canyon or river,” the AP reported. “The credit card purchase was the only thing to pin-point the family’s movements.”

A waitress reported seeing a family that could have been the Martins at the Paradise Snack Bar, east of Cascade Locks, just before sunset. The family had been out looking for a Christmas tree. They ordered hamburgers, fries, milk and dessert. It came to $4.15.

Five months after their disappearance, the body of the youngest daughter was found “bobbing in a Columbia River slough,” according to the AP. “The body of Susan apparently floated free of the wreckage in the spring current and was washed to a back water slough near Camas, Washington,” the AP wrote.

Virginia Martin’s body was found the next day about 25 miles (40 kilometers) upstream from where her sister’s was located. The other family members were never found, but the search continued.

The Martins had a 28-year-old son, Don, who was a Marine veteran and graduate student at Columbia University in New York at the time and told the AP he believed his family was dead.

“It’s been a high public interest case,” Hughes told the AP on Thursday. After Mayo provided part of the license plate number and other vehicle identifiers, the sheriff’s office and the Columbia Gorge major crimes team, along with the Oregon State Crime Lab, arranged to have the car pulled out, he said.

“We’re not 100% sure it’s the car,” Hughes said. “It’s mostly encased in mud and debris, so we don’t know what to expect when we pull it out of the water today.”

Mayo runs a business that finds things that were lost in the river, like watches and rings, but also helps with the recovery of drowning victims, Costello said. He had been looking for a research vessel that sank in 2017 when he learned about the Martin family, Costello said.

Mayo began digging up material on the family and used modeling to pinpoint the possible location, he said.

Martha Bellisle, The Associated Press

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