Decades after Martin family vanished, diver finds car, remains in Columbia River

A diver’s long search in the Columbia River ended with the discovery of a cream 1954 Ford 4-door station wagon, and with it the first solid answer in a case that has shadowed Oregon for more than six decades: the remains inside were identified in April 2026 as Kenneth Martin, Barbara Jean Martin, and their eldest daughter, Barbara “Barbie” Martin.

The Martin family vanished on Dec. 7, 1958, after Kenneth Martin, 54, and Barbara Martin, 48, told a neighbor they were headed to the Columbia River Gorge to gather greenery for Christmas decorations. Their three daughters, Barbie, 14, Virginia, 13, and Susan, 11, were with them. The disappearance became a national story and brought a $1,000 reward for information, but the search soon turned grim.

Virginia Martin’s and Susan Martin’s bodies were found in 1959, months after the family disappeared, roughly thirty miles apart along the Columbia River. Kenneth Martin, Barbara Martin, and Barbie Martin were never recovered, and the case grew cold. It was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System under three case numbers as the years passed with no resolution.

Private diver Archer Mayo began searching for the family in 2018, working from old photos and maps and logging hundreds of dives. He located the submerged vehicle in November 2024 near Cascade Locks, Oregon, in a large underwater pit. Authorities later said the car matched the Martins’ vehicle, a cream 1954 Ford 4-door station wagon with red trim.

In March 2025, Hood River County sheriff’s deputies tried to pull the car free with a crane, but the wreck had been encased in sediment. Only the frame and some attached components came up; the cabin remained underwater. Mayo returned to the wreckage and in August 2025 found human remains, which were turned over to authorities for testing.

The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office, working with a forensic genetics lab and Othram, later compared DNA profiles with relatives and identified the remains as Kenneth Martin, Barbara Jean Martin, and Barbie Martin. The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said its investigation found no evidence of a crime.

For the Martins, the identification delivers long-delayed closure. It also narrows the enduring mystery to the final unanswered questions of that December day: how the family’s car ended up deep in the Columbia River, and what happened in the hours before the road to the Gorge went silent.