Marilyn, who later remarried, told PEOPLE at the time that she didn't recall receiving the letter. 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. Authorities arrived at the scene shortly after 8 a.m. Along with special agents Crim and Bradley, Spiro Vasos, a finger print expert, and Bruce Palmer, an evidence expert, also arrived from DOJ. KEDDIE (CBS13) Investigators believe they may have found one of the weapons used in a 35-year-old murder mystery. Hes had the DNA for several years, but it wasnt until recently that he obtained needed samples and found the match. Johnny was face-up, with hands and feet bound by electrical cord that also wrapped around Dana's feet. Why was Marty Smartt, the main suspect, the drug-running local sheriff's close friend? Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort, where the 1981 murders occurred. Backpackerverse.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Although Sheila wouldnt realize it until later, the order of the bodies was her brother, John, who was closest to the front door. It sounded like a door that rested on rusty hinges, if I had to pinpoint it, she nodded, brows furrowed. As she got older and contemplated a career in law enforcement, she became more interested in the case. As a Quincy deputy who knew many of the area residents, understood and had experience in homicide investigation, and as someone who knew at least two of the victims, he believes his input should have been taken seriously. Both Gamberg and Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood believe that possibly as many as six people were involved in one capacity or another in the murders or the cover-up. "I guess I don't want to relive that," she tells PEOPLE in this week's issue of the memory 35 years ago when, at age 14, she opened the front door of her family's northern California cabin to find their bloodied bodies on the living room floor. Police was on the scene for a short while before they realized that Sharps other daughter, Tina, was missing from the home. Reporting on what you care about. In the rural town of Keddie, California, a mother and three children were attacked on Saturday, April 11, 1981. The bottoms of Sues bare feet and the soles of one of the boys shoes were also covered in blood suggesting they were mobile and stepped in it at some point. This murder is shrouded in mystery, leaving behind a messy and compelling trail of clues. Sue had left a broken and abusive marriage and was described as a "quiet woman who loved her kids." Although two of the main suspects, Smartt and Boubede are dead, they were alive at the time of Tina Sharps discovery. While two of the lead suspects Martin Smartt and his friend John Boubede are now dead, others are alive and have been identified, said Hagwood recently. I could ask a hundred people what started this and Id probably get the same rehashed rumors from most of them. Investigators: People Can Confirm the Killers' Identities, Chris Watts Is Sending 'Racy' Letters to Multiple Women from His Prison Cell: Sources, JonBent Ramsey's Murder to Be Investigated by Cold Case Team in New Probe Into Unsolved Killing, Serial Killers' Kids who Turned in Their Parents or Spoke Out About Growing Up with Them, 2 People Arrested After the Search for a Missing Child Leads to Discovery of Human Remains, Pride of Her Family': Aspiring Radiology Technician Is Fatally Shot During Confrontation on Road, Texas Family of 4 Was Massacred at Home in 2014 and Suspect Was Just Arrested Getting Off Plane, 4 Women Were Strangled to Death in Mo. All rights reserved, Privacy Policy|Online Content Agreement, The Sacramento Bee: Mother, 2 Teen-Agers Slain in Plumas Hamlet, The San Francisco Examiner: Three brutal murders, missing girl mystify Plumas County, by Steven Capps, The Lompoc Record: 3 murders puzzle authorities, by UPI, The San Francisco Examiner: Sierra resort is rocked by nightmare murders in cabin, by Steven A. Capps, Oroville Mercury Register: Autopsies Are Scheduled in Plumas Triple Murder, by Associated Press, Oroville Mercury Register: Autopsies Show 3 Died From Blows to Head, by Associated Press, The Sacramento Bee: Motive For Triple Slaying A Puzzle, by Walt Wiley, Reno Gazette-Journal: Plumas triple murder investigation continues, Feather River Bulletin: Triple slaying in Keddie, by Marv Snow and Dave Moller, The Sacramento Bee: Triple-Slaying Probe Looks For Missing Girl, by Walt Wiley, The Chico Enterprise-Record (Chico, CA): Report on Killings Awaited, The San Francisco Examiner: Dog teams searching for girl believed slain, by Associated Press, The Sacramento Bee: Searches End For 12-Year-Old Missing After Murders Of 3 Others, Feather River Bulletin: Tina Sharp still missing, by Dave Moller, Feather River Bulletin: Tina Sharp feared dead, The Sacramento Bee: Investigators Frustrated In Search For Triple Killer, by Walt Wiley, Feather River Bulletin: Murder autopsies reveal no drugs, Feather River Bulletin: Sheriff seeks pair for questioning in Keddie murder investigation, The Sacramento Bee: New Sheriff Takes Problems In Stride, by Walt Wiley, Feather River Bulletin: Sheriff asks deer hunters for help in Keddie case, Feather River Bulletin: Human skull found, Feather River Bulletin: Murder probe continuing, by Dave Moller, Feather River Bulletin: Two ruled out in Keddie case, Oroville Mercury Register: Missing Girls Bones Identified, The Sacramento Bee: Bones found are those of girl linked to slayings, by Steve Gibson & Tom Guarino, The Chico Enterprise-Record: Girl, 12, apparent 4, The Sacramento Bee: Triple slaying still haunts resort after 3 years, by Ken Payton, Feather River Bulletin: Fourth victim found in slaying, by Dave Moller, Feather River Bulletin: Murder, by Curt Asher, Feather River Bulletin: Search for Keddie killers continues six years later, by Curt Asher, Feather River Bulletin: 1981 mass murder shocks county; case still unsolved, Feather River Bulletin: 13-year old Keddie murders still plague sheriff, by Cynthia Pack, Feather River Bulletin: Keddie: Many changes during past century, by Randy Walker, The Sacramento Bee: Drifter now a suspect in four Plumas slayings, by Jane Braxton Little, Westwood Pine Press: Former Plumas man admits murders, gets two life terms, by Dave Keller, Feather River Bulletin: The Keddie murders: 20 years later, investigation goes on, by Dave Keller, Westwood Pine Press: Memorial held for Tina Sharp, by Victoria Metcalf, Westwood Pine Press: Keddie Murders remembered, by Victoria Metcalf, Reno Gazette-Journal: Investigator closer to solving 1981 Keddie murders, by Marcella Corona, The Sacramento Bee: 81 Keddie murder case rekindled in Plumas, by Jane Braxton Little, KOLO8: The Keddie Murders: Potential evidence continues to surface, by Ed Pearce, People: 5 Things to Know about the Keddie Cabin Murders and the New Hunt for the Killers, by Jeff Truesdell, People: A Daughters 35-Year Fight For Justice: Sheila Sharp Longs to Know Who Murdered Her Family in Their Cabin, by Jeff Truesdell, Identification Discovery: People Investigates, Cabin 28: Horror in the woods, Yahoo News: Inside the Search for the Keddie Cabin Killers 35 Years After a Family Was Slaughtered, by Jeff Truesdell, Plumas News: Keddie murders revisited part 1: New evidence discovered links living suspect to grisly scene, by Victoria Metcalf, Plumas News: Keddie murders revisited part 2: Following the clues, by Staff, Plumas News: Keddie murders revisited part 3: Hypnosis, counselors revelations, mob connections, by Victoria Metcalf, ABC 10: Murder in Cabin 28: Why detectives say they are closer than ever to solving the Keddie Murders case | Unsolved California, by Madison Wade, YouTube: Keddie Murders: Cabin 28- The Keddie Murders, Pt I (2005), Uploaded by keddie28, YouTube Keddie Murders: Cabin 28- The Keddie Murders, Pt II, Uploaded by keddie28. Truly a case of wrong place, wrong time. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Amazingly, Sheila's two little brothers, Greg and Rick, then 5 and 10, were asleep and unharmed in an adjacent bedroom, along with a friend. And as a deputy he knew what was and wasnt happening with the case. "Clearly by looking at the hammer you can tell that it's been at that location for a very, very long time," Hagwood said. Dana was found next on his stomach with his badly damaged head resting partially on a sofa pillow. 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? For Sheila, it's a mystery she's never been able to escape and a loss that defined her. 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. Years of No Answers and a Theory of the Crime. It has been 40 years since the tragedy took place in rural Plumas County. The California Department of Justice was immediately given the case and then didnt follow through, said Gamberg. Marty was reportedly an abusive husband. 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. It was discovered on the once cheerful, ivy patterned wallpaper and on some bedding in the bedroom Sheila and her sister, Tina, shared with their mother. Now She's Speaking Out, Lone Survivor of 1984 Colorado Hammer Killer Attack Misses the Family He Stole: 'Inside I Cry Every Day', investigators were able to analyze identifiable DNA. Blood was also found on the living room ceiling and furniture. great article! 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. The mystery endures about who brutally murdered the Sharp family single mom Sue Sharp, 36; her son Johnny, 15; daughter Tina, 12; and Johnny's friend Dana Wingate, 17 in the small Sierra Nevada community of Keddie, California. But she doesn't get to the great-grandkids, she doesn't have that. Didnt he admit to covering Glenna Sue? The murders took place in house No. Just as important, Gamberg and Hagwood wonder if they've also recovered another of the murder weapons. Both Hagwood and Gamberg said residents had very little trust or confidence in the sheriffs department before the murders. Sheriff's investigators say they submitted more. 2021. It haunted people. He was also familiar with Cabin 28 in Keddie. Gamberg thinks the tape was deliberately ignored when it arrived at the Plumas County Sheriffs Office. A vital thread, Gamberg said, is who knew about Tina's remains placed in an isolated wooded area in neighboring Butte County and who may have helped to put them there. more. But both Marty Smartt and "Bo" Boubede are now dead, questioned by law enforcement after the killings but never charged. Although dmac and Gamberg have some differences of opinion of just what happened in Cabin 28, Gamberg has come to respect dmacs work. She looked at me and smiled and in my head I heard the name, Tina.. Hagwood's mother was a teacher who had Tina in class. The hope is coming from an unlikely sourceinformation from a family member of Boubede has led to a discovery investigators thought was long gone. Everybody was suspicious of everybody and afraid of everybody else, he said. Perhaps one day they will finally confirm those suspicions but for now, the devastating case remains unsolved. in 1990. 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. He was also familiar with Cabin 28 in Keddie. "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. Self care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life. The hope is the new evidence will lead to new arrests. * Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? An April 11, 1981 Keddie became known all over the country for a brutal and horrific murder. At one point, Thomas did say he gave one session of advice to the couple but it was before the murders. 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The items inside were never entered into evidence a crucial part of the chain of evidence necessary in crime investigation. In earlier years, before the Sharps moved in, he spent nights there with a friend and his family. There were weeds as tall as my thighs all around. They just kind of kept it hidden. It's a case that's gathered far more dust than clues over the years. Someone from that cabin ran to the lodge and reported the crime. She describes it as "more or less a self-help book, kind of how I dealt with issues that have happened in my life.". He had known connections with organized crime in Chicago.Boubede also had at least two known aliases as Bobby Lake and John DeSantis, according to the Keddie 28 online site administrator dmac. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. Leads werent followed and evidence wasnt checked. Every bit of evidence that can still be recovered is important to this case, according to Gamberg as he continues to search for leads and re-interviews anyone linked to the Keddie murders. Fragments of her skull and other bones were discovered in Camp Eighteen, CA. It's debated whether it was the murders themselves that led to less interest in renting in the once-busy area, or if it was the allegedly poor management of the cabins themselves that led to fewer people being willing to live there. Crim from the divisions organized crime unit not from homicide to investigate. The Keddie Cabin Murders took place on April 12, 1981; Sue Sharp, two of her children, and her son's friend lost their lives. I don't think either one of them were involved.". Moving forward, DNA might still be retrievable from evidence collected at Keddie Cabin 28 if it hasnt been compromised and DNA testing facilities are notoriously backlogged. When he opened the front door he saw the bodies on the green-carpeted floor, according to Gamberg. Tina's (the sister whose body was not found in the cabin) skull had been found due to an anonymous tip called into the police on the. Search, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place! Keddie28 reported Sharp immediately fled the cabin and ran to the neighbors for help. Hence them throwing Marty's roommate Bo (who was an ex-con) into the case as an accomplice. The discovery came three years after Tinas disappearance by a man out hunting bottles. Of Marty and Boubede, he said, "The only thing I knew is, they hung out together. "They can't defend themselves. And more developments are anticipated. About the Cabin 28 Keddie Murders Case: 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. 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