PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — December 1958. The typical holiday season in Portland, Oregon was full of caroling neighbors, school holiday pageants, and the hustle and bustle of gift buying.
On Dec. 7, it become something else entirely.
Ken Martin, his wife Barbara told family members and their Northeast Portland neighbors that the family was going to spend Sunday afternoon in the Columbia River Gorge collecting Christmas greenery. The two Martin parents and three young girls, Barbara, Virginia and Susan would never return.
What unfolded in the following days and weeks sent searchers scrambling and dominated news headlines.
Follow along with the KOIN Podcast Network as noted anchorman Jeff Gianola and local author J.B. Fisher take an in-depth look at the Martin Family Mystery. We’ll break down the official explanation that the family had accidentally backed into the river, a series of circumstances that don’t seem to add up and a detective who refused to stop looking for answers.
Part one comes Dec. 1, with parts two and three coming Dec. 8 and Dec. 15, respectively.