Remains found in car ID’d as family who mysteriously vanished in 1958

DNA analysis determined that found in a car It belongs to an Oregon family who disappeared on the Columbia River in 1958 during a trip to find Christmas greenery, authorities said Thursday.

The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, the state medical examiner’s office, identified parents Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie from remains found in the wreckage of the car in the river. in question. The sheriff’s office said the investigation is complete and there is no evidence of foul play.

The Ford station wagon, thought to belong to the family, was found in 2024 by diver Archer Mayo, who had been searching for it for several years. Authorities pulled part of the car from the river the following year.

The family disappeared in December 1958. The bodies of the family’s two children were found months after the disappearance, but the other members were never found.

The search for the Martin family was national news at the time, leading some to speculate about the possibility of foul play, with a $1,000 reward offered for information.

“Where do you look if you’ve already searched everywhere logic and fragmented clues suggest?” An Associated Press article asked in 1959, months after her disappearance.

Only the frame and some components were recovered from the water because “the vehicle was largely covered in sediment,” the sheriff’s office said. Analysis of these parts allowed investigators to conclude that this was indeed the Martin family car.

The diver found human remains in late 2025, which were eventually turned over to the state medical examiner’s office.

Scientists developed DNA extracts from the remains to create a profile that was compared to relatives of the Martin family, allowing identifications to be made, officials said.

A DNA laboratory in Otram, Texas Forensic analysis was performed on the remainsultimately led to positive identification.

Othram’s Colby Latation he told CBS affiliate KOIN-TV More than a dozen experts worked on the case, he said, taking a bone sample and using advanced techniques to isolate and analyze DNA. DNA comparisons with a living relative positively identified Kenneth Martin.

“Working with skeletal remains that have been submerged in water for decades can be particularly challenging,” Latasyone said. he said. “Unfortunately, the skeletal remains of other individuals were too degraded and could not be studied.”

Mayo, the diver who found the car, told KOIN-TV that he was glad the case was finally solved.

“The problem is not going to be solved any more than it is now, and that feels good,” Mayo told the station. “And that really allows us to write the final chapter of the book.”

in 2020 KOIN-TV published a four-part podcast about the case.