Special documentary 50 years after Martin family's disappearance

wake up Portland it's a wonderful day today it was another time more innocent place Portland Oregon December 1958 [Music] Christmas was in the air with holiday songs on local radio and inside their Northeast Portland house the Martin family made plans to collect Christmas boughs and greenery they got into their 1954 Ford station wagon and left for a Sunday afternoon trip up the gorge they were never seen or heard from again [Music] it took a few days for anyone to realize the Martins had vanished Kennon Barbara Martin had three beautiful daughters Barbara 14 Virginia 12 and Sue 10 each Christmas Ken dressed as Santa to the delight of the neighborhood children worried relatives soon alerted authorities and the search began with posters offering a reward the Martin story captivated the city the front pages of The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal were filled with news about the family what could have happened where were they how was the search going but as days turned into weeks there was frustration among searchers five different police agencies no one really in charge no coordinated effort few clues Christmas and the new year came and went the Martins were still missing this is the fifties and this kind of thing just really didn't happen dan portwood is a retired detective who worked for the dalles police the Martin mystery is very personal to Dan he grew up in Portland and was a schoolmate of sue Martin's at Rose City Park Elementary sue was in the same grade as I was Virginia was in the same school and a couple of years older one weekend she goes home and never see her again fifty years after the Martins vanished my investigation takes me to the Dallas Police Department the Dow's was one of the agencies involved in the original investigation fifty years later they're still on the case it's an open case of the disappearance of a family of five yes dan portwood and photojournalist Tom senior have come with volumes of notes and information on the case much of it never made public and a lot of the information they have comes from this man Alma County detective named Walter Draven he felt that it was a homicide he felt that it was solvable this might be a good place to stop for a moment okay since this is still a cold case I will not reveal some of the information they shared but what you're about to see in here is sensitive it comes from detective grave ins confidential reports and his personal notebook on the Martin case once the Martins went missing what moment County Sheriff detective Walter graven was on the case we know the Martins stopped for gas at Cascade Locks detectives had found a gas receipt dated December 7th 1958 mailed back to the Martin home and a waitress said the Martins has stopped for lunch at a cafe in Hood River but there was one Martin not missing 28-year old Donald Don was in the Navy and had recently moved to New York and according to detective grave ins case file Donald Martin didn't get along well with his parents there was something else grave and uncovered Ravens report states a few years earlier Don Martin had been fired from his job at Myron Frank when he was caught taking merchandise the thefts were over $2,000 he admitted to the thefts grave and now considered Donald Martin a possible suspect in his family's disappearance but why more on that in a moment meanwhile with little to go on other investigators had a new theory about the Martin case my investigation takes me to cascade locks we know the Martin stop for gas here the day they disappeared but did they vanish here one theory surrounds the locks themselves and the possibility Ken Martin accidentally drove into the river as I walk along the locks it's hard to imagine Ken Martin could accidentally drive into the locks but this area has changed in 50 years in 1958 the river bank went right up to the edge of the locks it had now been two months since the Martins vanished but detective graven was about to get his first big clue this person who saw the tracks he did he see tracks literally leading right off the water that's what it says in the reports and paint scrapings on Iraq right by the water we are standing on a rocky Bluff in The Dalles above the Columbia River in February 1959 two months after the Martins vanished tire tracks leading into the river were found in this exact same spot and on a rock near the edge of the cliff paint scrapings matching the Martins 1954 Ford station wagon detective graven inspected the scene writing in his report there were no return march to show that this particular vehicle returned and apparently was either pushed or driven off this cliff detective graven was now sure this wasn't an accident if it did go off here I think it reinforces the original Etherea that the family was killed for some reason and the car pushed off to get rid of the evidence but if the Martins were the victims of foul play who did it and why detective Bravin was now focusing on two ex-cons the first a man named Roy Lite was known in the dalles he had recently been living near the aluminum plant not far from the cliff where the tire tracks were found because this is a cold case I won't reveal the name of the other ex-con he may still be alive according to Detective bravin's report Roy Lite and the unnamed ex-con were together the evening the Martins disappeared they disappeared from the Dells shortly after this whereabouts unknown remember on the day the Martins vanished a waitress said the family stopped to eat at a Hood River cafe well the cafe owner knew Roy light and the other ex-con when interviewed by detective graven he stated Roy Lite and the unnamed ex-con were at cafe when Martins were there they left at approximately the same time and there's more around the same time the Martins vanished the ex-cons had abandoned a stolen 1951 Chevrolet near Cascade Locks a stolen gun was later found not far from the car then it was completely coated with the dried blood from whatever they had clubbed they had clubs something to death apparently this is the gun in 1986 photojournalist tom senior interviewed bonnie cox her husband is the person who found the gun in some bushes near Cascade Locks and it was obvious it had been used for something sinister but covered with the dried blood all up and down the barrel it was dried and after they decided that it hadn't been you know it had been used to kill something the gun was turned over to the Hood River Sheriff but never processed his evidence the gun was later returned to the man who found it who repaired the damage to the weapon the ex-cons were never questioned and then something unexpected the serial number on the stolen gun was traced to myron frank it was among the sporting good items don martin was accused of stealing it seemed like a strange coincidence the gun seems to be at the center of all of it it sort of ties all these other little events together as far as the possibility of it being a homicide there are just so many coincidences that point that way foul play detective Bravin had already come to that conclusion but his personal notebook reflects frustration he wrote in his notebook even though I can get no cooperation from anyone there is no murder that cannot be solved meanwhile Don Martin didn't come back to Oregon until March 1959 three months after his family went missing he came to settle the family estate that spring the search for the Martins took another unexpected twist on May 1st 1959 almost five months after the Martins vanished a barge was dropping anchor in the Columbia River below the area where the tire tracks were found the anchor fouled on something something very heavy and when they pulled the anchor one of the deckhands had reached down with a pole and struck what he said was definitely men at about that time whatever it was cleared the anchor and they never actually saw it they didn't see it but crew members reported they hooked something the size of a car just two days after the barge took the metal object Portland residents woke to blaring headlines in the paper the body of sue Martin had been found in the camest slough identified by her dentist through dental records then the next day workers at Bonneville Dam discovered the body of Virginia Martin had the barge anchor hooked the Martin car causing the bodies to surface we examine the autopsy report on Virginia Martin it states she died of probable drowning no evidence of foul play but we also found a report by a mono McCown T identity technician Russel Bisset took fingerprints and photographed the body his report on photograph six clearly states showing head with hole in head other than one poor photocopy we were unable to find the original autopsy photographs on May 23rd 1959 there was a funeral service for Hsu and Virginia Martin brother Don missed the memorial claiming in a newspaper article there was a mixup on the funeral date but when he did arrive back to Portland Don Martin sat down face to face with detective Bravin he told him he suspected foul play I know of no one who would murder my folks or no reason for it but I don't see how it could have been an accident we couldn't find any burial records for Hsu or Virginia Martin we did discover their bodies were cremated at Portland's Riverview Abbey but their remains went unclaimed for ten years sitting on a shelf we were unable to find out any other information we do know there was a cloud of suspicion that followed Don Martin the rest of his life according to his children he told them very little about what happened gave no details about their grandparents and aunts who went missing that December day 50 years ago the island of Oahu Hawaii is 2500 miles from Portland this was Don Martin's home until a few years ago when he died Don raised four children one son who lives here wanted to talk to us and learn more about the disappearance of his grandparents and aunts fifty years ago something his father didn't share with him but after agreeing to meet me he changed his mind Don Martin's daughter later told us it's a chapter in our lives better left closed Gloria Draven goes through an old suitcase filled with her father's obsessions the detective kept his notes pictures and files on the Martin case hoping for that one clue to unlock the mystery as a little girl Gloria remembers her father talking about the case dad assumed that probably Kenneth Martin was shot in the head and the girls and mom then probably knocked out and the car shoved over into the river it's really deep where this particular spot is time ran out for Walter graven he retired his badge in 1966 without solving the Martin case a mystery that haunted him in his notebook he wrote will be solved if I live long enough for the car and bodies to be found he didn't Walter graben died in 1988 Walter Craven wasn't the only detective who worked the Martin case I arrived at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office to review their cold-case files on the Martins it's an FBI report it looks like it's from the Federal Bureau of Investigation DC based on our story and renewed interest monomyth County detectives are now taking another look at this cold case and a new attempt possibly to find the Martins car we're currently considering completing a dive mission to take a look at whether or not that vehicles and it is in the Columbia River we have some more advanced technology where we scan the area subsurface without putting divers in the water and the fact is this case really can't be solved unless the car and the bodies are found dan portwood tom senior and police chief J Waterbury are not giving up and I'm sure the original detective detective graven want well we know he wanted to finish it but you knows way beyond his time and I'm sure he went to his grave with the things that we would like to know but we never will but did Walter graven know something something he kept to himself on the last pages of his personal notebook I found this entry had to be planned by the name is X doubt no one else with motive detective graven had scribbled over the name of his suspect why only he knows it's all part of the strange coincidences and connections in this mystery the family that went for a Sunday Drive fifty years ago and never came back

Channel: KOIN 6

Views: 589,026

Rating: 4.825645 out of 5

Keywords: default

Id: j2lmHQxm80Y

Length: 14min 19sec (859 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 20 2018