A segment of tape containing identifiable DNA was found on the floor near the body of Glenna Sue Sharp, 36, in 1981, Plumas County Sheriffs special investigator Mike Gamberg said recently. Sue's two younger sons, Rick and Greg, as well as their friend Justin Smartt, were also in the house but were unharmed. "It's very easy to say somebody's guilty when they're dead," he said. People: 5 Things to Know about the Keddie Cabin Murders and the New Hunt for the Killers. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. It was 2013. The discovery came three years after Tinas disappearance by a man out hunting bottles. Why did both DOJ and sheriff Doug Thomas skate these key suspects when LE noted they were lying, and Marty FAILED his polygraph? "Even still today I sit here and think, What would my life be like with her here?" This was Cabin 27 where the Seabolt family lived. At the time, law enforcement felt that the murders were committed by "more than one person.". Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me! He found a letter written by Marty Smartt to his wife reportedly written soon after the murders. If anyone has information concerning a cold case, please contact Victoria Metcalf at 283-0800 or [emailprotected], or contact the Plumas County Sheriffs Office at 283-6300 with tips or leads on active cases. The therapist also reportedly told Gamberg that he was surprised the investigators at the time of the murder hadn't used the confession against Marty. "This killed this community Keddie was goneeddie was absolutely finished," Gamberg said. As police continued to search for Tina, other officers brought in multiple suspects. But she doesn't get to the great-grandkids, she doesn't have that. It wasnt followed, he said. I didn't think it was fair that they would have to go through it I didn't think it would be good. Cabin 28 was condemned and torn down in 2004. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do," she says. The morning of April 12, 1981, Glenna Sue Sharp and her kids, Tina and John, and John's friend, Dana Wingate, were brutally murdered inside house #28 in Keddie, California. ", "I have a measure of confidence that we've identified some of them and we're gonna be--we're gonna be coming," he said. In Gambergs opinion, You could take someone just coming out of the academy and theyd have done a better job, of investigating the case. Some of the evidence was ignored. More to follow. says Sheila, now a 50-year-old mother of three and grandmother of two. Now, an Alleged Serial Killer Has Confessed, Police Say, Judge Orders Release of Adnan Syed as Murder Conviction of 'Serial' Subject Is Vacated. 28 of the Keddie Resort. Updated 2/11/2020 - Sue Sharp, her son John and his friend Dana were found in the Sharp family cabin beaten and strangled to death in the family room. Police was on the scene for a short while before they . "The fascinating aspect of that discovery is that the envelope had never been opened," Hagwood said. The 1981 Keddie cabin murders of three family members and a teenage friend shook the small Sierra Nevada mountain communities of Keddie and Quincy in northern California, beginning a mystery that lingers decades later. "I have always talked about the situation," Sheila says. Lone pools of blood on the living room floor and on the sofa pillow indicate the boys bodies were also moved and staged, Gamberg said. And also, as I'm growing older, what can I expect in my later years? Although she was lying on her side, naked from the waist down, theres evidence that someone rearranged her from an indecent position. And now two years after that, hes announced that theres more that links a living person or persons to the crime. An imprint matching that of the butt of an 880 rifle was also left on Sues head. Students should, County Administrative Officer Debra Lucero announced today that Plumas will be continuing its closure due to snow except for, The snow keeps falling and our readers keep finding moments to share some of levity, others of some serious, Plumas Unified School District and Plumas Charter School announced this afternoon that there will be no school on Wednesday, March. After the slayings, Sheila, Greg and Rick were sent out of state to live with an aunt. What hadn't been discovered until last month was a hammer that's believed to be one of the murder weapons. Investigators now seek any biological material including skin, hair, blood and other bodily fluids at crime scenes, according to Randy James in a 2009 feature on DNA testing for TIME. Teen Died Mysteriously in 2015. "I am not by nature a conspiracy theorist but there are facts and circumstancesthe number and the nature of whichI can't ignore anymore," he said. "Dana was at my house the day before the homicide," he said. She describes it as "more or less a self-help book, kind of how I dealt with issues that have happened in my life.". ", "To have this solved would finally give my family some closure, some answers as to why it happened and why it took so long to solve," Sheila says. Of Marty and Boubede, he said, "The only thing I knew is, they hung out together. However, Marilyn Smartt did not recall the meeting and also said the two were not friends to her knowledge. An April 11, 1981 Keddie became known all over the country for a brutal and horrific murder. DNA taken from a strip of white medical tape consistent with that used to bind the victims hands and ankles, and to cover the mouth of one victim, has revealed much as the Plumas County Sheriffs Office moves forward in its efforts to solve the quadruple murder case. Among those questioned in the killings was Sue's neighbor Marty Smartt, who lived two cabins away with his wife (and Justin Smartt's mother), Marilyn. In it, he describes a body found in connection with the Keddie murders. CALLER: And I was just 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? Strangely, Sheila's two younger brothers, Greg and Rick, and their friend, Justin, were found in the cabin asleep and safe. Listen Now For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode HERE. There have been a lot of rumors floating around and unfortunately people are considering them as the truth, instead of checking and doing the research. And as a deputy he knew what was and wasnt happening with the case. That should shut a lot of traps, and destroy many of the rumors that have floated around for 37 years. Adding to the mystery: Sheila's younger brothers Greg and Rick, ages 5 and 10 at the time, were asleep and unharmed in an adjacent bedroom of the cabin, along with a friend, Justin Smartt. The father of Dana Wingate (the friend of the Sharps who was also killed) said in 2001 the police had "stumbled over each other and fouled up the case.". Gamberg said he was fortunate in that he was able to get his piece of DNA processed in a timely manner. WANTED: The Keddie Cabin Killer Episode Summary A family's brutal murder rocks a tiny California town and leaves behind too many unanswered questions. It sounded within two feet of me, but nobody was around. The footfalls stopped close to me for a moment, but then started up again, moving closer to where the cabin had been. The most widely accepted theory involves a love triangle between Martin, Marilyn, and Sue. Charles Montaldo. The freezer got turned off, Gamberg said. Until now, lack of fingerprints and identifiable DNA left at the scene by the perpetrators has stymied investigative efforts. / CBS Sacramento. "I know we are closer than we've ever been.". New evidence has surfaced in the infamous 37-year-old Keddie murders case. Both Hagwood and Gamberg said residents had very little trust or confidence in the sheriffs department before the murders. "We're convinced that there are a handful of people that fit those roles who are still alive. The call came just after someone discovered a skull and a few bones about 80 miles down the Feather River Canyon in a spot known as Camp 18 about 5 miles from Feather Falls. "It could have been that I blocked it out, and the shock of it all, too.". The throats of Sue and her son were cut. With nothing in those first weeks that tied them to the crime, Thomas said, neither were charged. For Sheila, it's a mystery she's never been able to escape and a loss that defined her. Text is available under . Updated 2/11/2020 Sue Sharp, her son John and his friend Dana were found in the Sharp family cabin beaten and strangled to death in the family room. The two say they've zeroed in on longtime suspects, and they believe they've discovered new evidence and re-discovered old evidence that was either forgotten or overlooked that could point to a resolution. Decades after a teenage girl came home to find her family brutally slain in their resort cabin, police said the cold case was heating up. But that rain can't wash away the horror of what happened in the now-empty lot in the tiny resort town of Keddie. S.C. My kids don't know who my mom is. Hes had the DNA for several years, but it wasnt until recently that he obtained needed samples and found the match. The DNA matched that of a then-living suspect. Defensive injuries would be discovered on her arms. Why was Marty's then-wife, Marilyn Musgrove, a key conspirator and fellow murderer, not arrested? ", "I would like my kids and grandkids to know that she was a very caring and kind person," Sheila says of Sue. Detectives say they are closer than ever to solving the Keddie Murders case | Unsolved California 28,296 views Apr 30, 2021 It has been 40 years since the most horrific crime in Plumas County. Justin Smartt Eason, 12, one of three boys left alive in a second bedroom, was allowed to spend the night. The only way this decision by DOJ makes sense is in considering the background of one of the suspects. Identifiable footprints were not recovered inside. The California Department of Justice was immediately given the case and then didnt follow through, said Gamberg. He would have been in his 50s during the murders. From 1974 until his retirement in 1994, he worked all but one of Plumas Countys cases. Unsolved murders have a way of weighing on a community, the place forever haunted and the neighbors always left wondering. On April 11, 1981, Sue's 14-year-old daughter, Sheila, spent the night at a friend's cabin, returning home to her own cabin the now infamous cabin number 28to discover her mom, one of her brothers (Johnny, 15) and his friend Dana Wingate (17) brutally murdered. Even his leads in the case were ignored. It's a believe long-shared by the victims' family. Dead were Sheila's mother, brother and a family friend. Outside of organized crime, that basically never happens, and even within the world of organized crime it is probably quite rare to have so many people in on a hit. That family included James Sr.; his wife, Zonita; daughters Alysa and Paula; and son, James Jamie Jr. At 8:05 a.m., Sunday, April 12, the sheriffs dispatch received a call from Jan Albin, co-owner of the Keddie Resort. They just kind of kept it hidden. What occurred next shocked the country: Four people were killed, three of which were found in Cabin 28. Dana suffered multiple head injuries and was manually strangled. What else do you want?". Special investigator Mike Gamberg took us back to where that hammer was found near the crime scene and just a stone's throw away from the cabin where investigators strongly believe the killers were staying at the time of the murders. I taught Dana Wingate that year at the highschool. Man Who 'Targeted Young Women' Convicted of Decades-Old Murders with Help of Investigative Genetic Genealogy, She Saw Her Family Murdered by a Hammer-Wielding Stranger When She Was 3. Sheila's sister was missing her remains were found in the woods three years later. In the rural town of Keddie, California, a mother and three children were attacked on Saturday, April 11, 1981. Another piece of perhaps vital evidence that Gamberg discovered was in an envelope that was never opened. The onetime mountain tourist stop's forests, pond and river made it appear idyllic to kids, but it had fallen on hard times. It contained a tape recording of an anonymous caller to Butte County dispatch. Episode Info My reasons are simple: there is no evidence tying either of these men to the murders. As word spread through Keddie and the rest of Plumas County of the murders, its clearly a crime that not only affected Shelia Sharp and her remaining brothers and the boy who was spending the night, it deeply affected some members of the sheriffs office and the community, Gamberg said. It haunted people. * Watch our new true crime show, People Magazine Investigates, which continues with an episode on the Keddie cabin murders on Monday at 10 p.m. That said, he understands that some of the individuals who had the experience to work the crime scene and follow the leads werent allowed to do their jobs in 1981. The three were killed using knives and a hammer. Sue Sharp was the mother of five beautiful children. What has made this case particularly hard to organize is that the original case history log who did what and on what date is gone. This case is as screwed up as a soup sandwich, Gamberg said recently. Why did LE agencies conspire to cover up this case? Dana Wingate was at his house just the day before he died. Although two of the main suspects, Smartt and Boubede are dead, they were alive at the time of Tina Sharps discovery. 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