A young family embarked on a spontaneous
camping trip in the Oregon wilderness during the Labor Day weekend of 1974.
Having mysteriously disappeared with no signs of disturbance, authorities and
relatives were understandably baffled however several months later, the
harrowing truth would come to light. Tonight on Dark Curiosities, The Cowden
Family Massacre. Richard Cowden was a 28 year old logging truck driver and was
married to 22 year-old Belinda, the couple parents to five year old David
and five-month old Melissa, the family residing in White City, Oregon.
In 1974, the Labor Day weekend was between the 30th of August and the 1st
of September and Richard had planned to haul gravel for the driveway of his home
and was keen to complete the job over this time. The truck he had planned to
use however unexpectedly broke down, therefore he had to cancel his plans.
Instead, the Cowdens decided to take a trip to the Siskiyou Mountains in order
to go camping. The campsite, which was familiar to them, was located near
Carberry Creek in Copper, Oregon - the family arriving on the 30th of August
along with their Basset Hound, named Droopy. Upon their arrival, Richard parked their
vehicle - a 1956 Ford pickup truck - on Carberry Creek Road which lay a short
distance from the campground. During the morning of Sunday the 1st of September
at approximately 9:00 a.m. Richard and David walked to the Copper General Store
to buy milk and subsequently left to return to the camp. This would be the
last time any member of the Cowden family would be seen alive. Previous
arrangements had been made for Richard, Belinda and their children to visit
Belinda's mother on their way home to have dinner,
however she grew increasingly concerned when they did not show up that evening,
especially since she lived less than one mile from the camping ground.
Belinda's mother decided to travel to the campsite to check and see if there
were any problems. Upon her arrival, she could not find anybody present. The truck
was parked up and appeared untouched, the keys lying on a picnic table along with
Belinda's purse. Clothes were still inside the vehicle, only the bathing
suits were missing, the camp stove had been assembled and nearby was also a
diaper bag and a plastic dish pan full of cold water.
A packet of Belinda's cigarettes lay open and Richards expensive wristwatch and
wallet lay on the rugged terrain. A half-finished
carton of milk was at the scene and was the same product bought by Richard and
David earlier in the day. Following her search, taking approximately an hour,
Belinda's mother contacted the authorities. The local sheriff, troopers
and the District Three office of Oregon state police arrived at the scene and
scoured the area until darkness fell. A state trooper, officer Erickson said of
the scene, "That camp was spooky. Even the milk was still on the table."
Lieutenant Mark Kezar who led the investigation later revealed that the
initial search was delayed for 'maybe a day' since the police believed that it
was extremely unlikely that anything violent had happened there. In the early
hours of the second of September, the family dog, Droopy, was found clawing at
the door of the Copper General Store. Along with the authorities, hundreds of
volunteers aided in the search for the Cowden family, as well as the Oregon
National Guard, explorer scouts and the US States Forest Service who searched
over 25 miles of road and trails surrounding the area using aircraft and
thermal imaging however their efforts were fruitless. The searching concluded
on the 7th of September, yet family and friends were not going to give up. The
entire case puzzled police, the family had no reason to vanish. They were on top
of their finances and robbery seemed unlikely as wallets and their contents
had been abandoned at the scene. Kidnapping seemed unlikely as well for
there were no signs of struggle. For such a long time there was no evidence to
suggest that anything was awry. Authorities conducted hundreds of
interviews and offered a reward of $2000 for any information leading to clues
about the whereabouts of the Cowdens. With hunting season beckoning, Richard Cowden's sister wrote to the Medford Trail Tribune, telling people to "Stay alert to
anything that could be connected to a man, woman, a five-year-old child or a
five month old baby. Even though we try not to let our hopes dwindle that they
will be found alive, we ask that you will even check freshly turned piles of earth.
We will truly appreciate any clue or help that some hunter may find." Despite a
petition from the public asking the FBI to investigate the disappearance of the
Cowdens, it was rejected, authorities sating the reason as being there was
simply no evidence to suggest the family had been kidnapped or come to any harm.
Already in Washington and Oregon at the time, eight women were missing and police
attempted to make some sort of connection however it would actually be
proven that these women were linked to the infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy.
On the 12th of April 1975, seven months after they mysteriously vanished, the
truth about what happened to the Cowden family was uncovered. Two gold
prospectors from Forest Grove, Oregon, were hiking through the Woodland near
Carberry Creek when they came upon a gruesome discovery. Seven miles from the
Cowden's campsite, the decomposing body of a man was found tied to a tree on a
steep hillside. In a cave close by, where the entrance
had been crammed with rocks, the bodies of an adult female, a child and an infant
were discovered. They were all positively identified by dental records and
confirmed to be Richard, Belinda, David and Melissa Cowden. More details were
revealed from the autopsy reports. Belinda and young David
had lost their lives from a .22 calibre gunshot and Melissa died from
severe head trauma. The authorities were unable to determine Richard's cause of
death but were firm of the opinion that he had died where he was found,
whereas his wife and children were likely to have been killed elsewhere.
No murder weapon was ever found, dispelling the idea that Richard
murdered his family and then committed suicide.
Lieutenant Kezar is quoted as saying, "The whole nature of the thing smacks of
a weirdo", adding that the police had more
information but were unwilling to share it at the time. What is believed, is that
after purchasing the milk from the store the family went swimming in Carberry
Creek and were possibly abducted at gunpoint sometime before noon. They were
likely driven further up the steep hill and three of them were shot.
Conducting further interviews focusing on those who had been at the campsite on
the 1st of September, a family from Los Angeles, California, were walking through
the grounds when they witnessed two men and a woman parked nearby in a pickup
truck. The Californian family recalled, "They acted like they were waiting for us
to leave and frankly they made us nervous, so we moved on." Lieutenant Kezar strongly believed that whoever was responsible for the crime had good
knowledge of the area and was aware of the cave's location. A resident of Grant's
Pass who had volunteered in the search for the Cowdens told police that he had
already searched the cave and it had been empty. To verify his story, he took
police to the cave he spoke of and indeed it was the same one where the
bodies of Belinda and the children were found.
So far there has only ever been one suspect in the case. Dwain Lee Little
was a resident in Jackson County, Oregon and 25 years of age at the time of the
murders. Three months before the Cowdens'
disappearance, on the 24th of May, he had been paroled from the Oregon State
Penitentiary in Salem. He had been charged and convicted for the rape and
murder of 15 year old Orla Fay Phipps in 1964. Authorities determined that
Little had been in Copper during Labor Day weekend of 1974. Little's girlfriend
told police that she had seen him with a .22 calibre during the festive
season of 1974 and in January 1975 his parole was revoked and he was returned
to prison. He gained parole once again in April 1977, however he went on to
sexually assault and beat a pregnant woman - 23-year old Margie Hunter - whose
car had broken down near Portland, Oregon. Hunter and her child both survived the
ordeal. Dwain Lee Little was convicted of
attempted homicide and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences.
He was never cooperative when it came to mental health treatment and refused to
talk about the crimes he was accused of. It is speculated that the woman and two
men seen in the pickup truck reported by the Californian family were Little and
his parents. Their truck matched the description given to the police however
the Littles deny any knowledge of the disappearances. A miner who lived in a
cabin in close proximity of the creek, claimed that Dwain and his parents
stopped by on Monday the 2nd of September and signed the guestbook. Later,
an inmate of the Penitentiary who had shared a cell with Little, claimed that
he had confessed to the Cowden murders. Despite the plethora of circumstantial
evidence, Dwain Lee Little has never been charged
with the crime. A few months after the murders, Richard Cowden's father committed
suicide and whilst this may seem suspicious to some, he was cleared of
ever being involved in the deaths of his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
Without a doubt, foul play was involved in the massacre of the Cowden family,
however what is not clear is the reasons why and whether Dwain Little was the
perpetrator or was someone else responsible? The Cowden family murders has
been described as being one of Oregon's most haunting and baffling mysteries,
their disappearance resulting in one of the largest search efforts in the
state's history. Over 40 years have passed since an innocent family were
slaughtered in the wilderness and authorities are no closer to finding
answers and a conclusion to this case.
