The Keddie Cabin Murders

Please read this story with care as it contains detailed, graphic discussion of crime scene evidence.

This is a case of a grisly quadruple murder that happened in April 1981 at the Keddie Resort in the tiny northern California town of Keddie, California. Many years before this horrific night, the resort was considered idyllic & included a rustic hotel, bar & restaurant nestled in the woods along the Feather River. It was founded in 1910 as a getaway where 33 cabins were available for rental & vacationers would fish for trout in the rivers or walk the beautiful trails. In its heyday, the Keddie Lodge Restaurant was packed with patrons who dined on barbecued bear ribs & sherry-basted racoon steaks.

The area was once a busy railroad terminal in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but after the railroad closed down, Keddie lost much of its population. Despite the fact that the town attempted to reinvent itself by becoming a camping & hiking resort area, by 1981, when this case took place, the resort had turned into a series of cabins & low-income rental housing. Within a year of this tragic case, the resort sat empty & the owners put it up for sale in 1984 for $1.8 million but there were no interested buyers. Over the next decade, the once tranquil vacation spot slowly rotted away & by 1995, twenty-five buildings were sealed off, including the main lodge that housed the hotel & 24-hour coffee shop.

Nothing was ever the same after the morning of April 12, 1981 when 14-year-old Sheila Sharp came back to her home at cabin 28 at the Keddie Resorts after she had been at her next-door neighbor’s house in cabin 27 which sat only about fifteen feet from her own. When she entered the modest four-room cabin, it instantly became one of the most disturbing scenes in modern American crime history known as the Keddie Cabin Murders.

That Sunday morning, as Sheila stepped through her unlocked front door of cabin 28 right around 7:45-8 am to get a change of clothes for church, she found a bloodied horror scene. She immediately noticed her older brother, John, lying face up & covered in blood on the living room floor. The battered bodies of her mother, Glenna “Sue” Sharp, her teenage brother John & his friend from high school, Dana Wingate, lay on the floor of the small living room. The three were bound with medical & electrical tape & had been either stabbed, strangled or bludgeoned to death. Sheila immediately turned & ran screaming back to the neighboring cabin where she had spent the night.

Cabin 27 (Seabolt home) sat directly to the right of Cabin 28

The Sharp family had been living in the cabin over the past year after Sue divorced her husband & relocated from Connecticut to Northern California. Sue was born & raised in Springfield, Massachusetts where she met her husband, James Sharp, a career Navy man who was stationed near Groton (graa-tn), Connecticut before their relationship fell apart.The two had five children & as the children grew, James began abusing his wife & two daughters until Sue made the decision to leave James & fled their home with the children.

The family of six moved to California in July 1979 to the Claremont Trailer Park where Sue’s brother formerly lived. In November 1980, they moved into cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort in the rural Sierra Nevada railroad town of Keddie. The Sharp family included 36-year-old Sue, 15-year-old John, also known as Johnny, 14-year-old Sheila, 12-year-old Tina, 10-year-old Rick & 5-year-old Greg. The family appreciated their new home as it was far larger than the trailer where they previously lived. Cabin 28 had two bedrooms in the main house; the two younger boys, Rick & Greg shared one bedroom & Sue & her two daughters, Sheila & Tina shared the other. Johnny moved into the room in the basement that could only be accessed from the outside. The doors of the home were almost always left unlocked to allow Johnny to enter the main house upstairs to utilize the home’s only bathroom. As they got used to their new neighborhood, clear across the country, they got to know & become friendly with their neighbors at the Keddie Resort.

On Saturday, April 11, 1981, the day before Sheila’s life changed forever, she, her mom & Greg had been visiting their friends, the Meeks family when they left at about 11:30 am to pick Rick up from baseball tryouts in nearby Quincy. Along the way, they happened upon John & his friend, Dana Wingate, who were hitchhiking from Quincy back to Keddie. They picked them up & drove them the six miles back & two hours later, at about 3:30 pm, John & Dana hitchhiked back to Quincy to visit friends & were seen in the downtown area right around this time.

Later that evening, Sheila headed over to cabin 27 which sat adjacent to their own home, to have a sleepover with the Seabolt family. The family included James Sr, his wife Zonita & their children Alysa, Paula & James Jr. When Sheila left her home shortly after 8 pm to head over to the Seabolt cabin, 12-year-old Tina was already there, hanging out & watching TV. At 9:30 pm, Tina headed back home to where her mom, two younger brothers & one of the neighbor boys, Justin Eason were.

When Sheila came across the gruesome scene the next morning upon returning home, she ran straight back to her friend’s home. Her friend’s dad, Jaime Seabolt, rushed over to Sheila’s cabin & found Sheila’s two younger brothers, Rick & Greg along with their friend & neighbor, 12-year-old Justin in a bedroom. The three were completely unharmed & had apparently slept through the entire massacre that took place only a handful of feet from their beds.

Boy’s bedroom sat right off the living room

At 8:05 am, the sheriff’s dispatch received a phone call from the co-owner of the Keddie Resort, Jan Albin who reported the possibility of a homicide in cabin 28 after someone from the Seabolt family ran to the lodge to report the crime since the Seabolts didn’t have a phone.

While this was happening, Jaime Seabolt, Sheila & possibly Zonita helped the three unharmed boys crawl out of the bedroom window in order to avoid seeing the bloody massacre in the other room. Jaime later admitted to briefly entering the home through the back door in order to see if he could save anyone else that might be alive, potentially contaminating evidence in the process.

There was initially confusion about who the victims were inside & initially, the sheriff’s office believed it was Sue & two of her children. Sue’s brother Don arrived after Shelia called her uncle & was there to identify the bodies after they were removed from the home.

Deputy Hank Klement was the first to arrive at the scene & found the three bodies lying on the green carpeted living room floor as he opened the front door. Blood was everywhere, including the bottom of the soles of one of the boy’s shoes & Sue’s bare feet which indicated that they were mobile & stepped in it at some point. Blood was also on the walls, ceiling, furniture, doors & the bedding in the girl’s room, the furniture as well as the back exterior steps. The blood-spatter evidence indicated that the murders had mainly taken place in the living room.

The large extent of blood that was pooled on the living room floor & on the sofa pillow told investigators that the victims had been moved post-mortem & positioned in the way they were found. 15-year-old John was closest to the front door, he was lying on his back, his blood-soaked hands were bound with medical tape & his throat had been slit & he suffered blunt-force injury to his head. A bent & bloodied steak knife layed on the floor by John’s body. Dana was on the floor next to John & he was laying face-down. Blood surrounded the heads & necks of John & Dana, staining the carpet around them. Dana’s skull had been bludgeoned by a blunt object & his head partially rested on a pillow. He had also been manually strangled. His ankles were bound together with electrical wire which were also connected & wrapped around John’s ankles. There were no signs of defensive wounds on John or Dana’s arms which indicated that they didn’t have a chance to fight back & all of their injuries appeared to happen after they had been tied up as no blood was found under their bindings.

Sheila’s mother Sue was found partially covered by a yellow blanket though her horrific injuries were still very apparent. The mother of five was naked from the waist down & lying on her side near the sofa with her hands & feet bound by electrical wiring. Reports indicate there was no sign of sexual assault. Her mouth had been tightly gagged with a blue bandana as well as her own underwear which was secured with medical tape. She had defensive wounds as well as the imprint of the butt of an .880 pellet gun on the side of her head & just like her son, her throat had been slit. In the process, her larynx or voice box had also been slashed & her spine had been nicked & she had been stabbed in the chest.

Each victim had suffered blunt-force trauma from a hammer & had sustained multiple stab wounds. In addition to the bent steak-knife found on the floor near John’s body, a butcher knife & claw hammer, which were coated in blood, sat side-by-side on a small wooden table near the entrance to the kitchen. Whoever had done this was likely covered in blood as they left the crime scene.

Autopsies determined that Sue & John died from the knife wounds & blunt-force trauma & Dana had died by asphyxiation.

Police were so busy combing through the bloodied crime scene that it wasn’t until several hours later that they finally realized that a fourth victim, 12-year-old Tina was missing which prompted the FBI to arrive on scene.

Word of the horrific murders quickly spread through not only Keddie, but also neighboring Quincy. Residents quickly became suspicious of each other & began locking their doors at night which was something they hadn’t done before. They felt little reassurance from the sheriff’s office that they were doing everything possible to catch the killers.

Sheriff Doug Thomas & his deputy, Lt. Don Stoy, were initially unable to figure out the motive for the murders & it appeared that they were just a random, horrific act. During an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Lt Stoy made the comment that a murder without a motive is normally the toughest to solve. “If you don’t have a ‘why’ to start with, it’s difficult to determine ‘who.’”

Sue was remembered as a private person who kept to herself & tried to get by like so many other people. She was a very petite woman & those that knew her liked her very much.

In the eighteen months since Sue had relocated to California, she had dated three men, but none of the relationships were serious. Amidst raising her five children, Sue was said to receive no financial support from James Sharp. She supplemented her small income from the Navy with food stamps & a part-time job at the Quincy Elks Lodge. She also enrolled in the California Education Training Act program which provided a small stipend & as part of the program, Sue participated in a typing class at Feather River College. The Sharps were paying $175 a month for their four-room cabin & Sue was described as an excellent mother who was always sure that her children were well cared for, even if it meant that she had to sacrifice her own comfort. Sheila later said that despite the fact that they were living in relative poverty, they also lived in a home of love.

John Sharp & his friend Dana previously had a couple of run-ins with the police; they one time broke into a house to steal marijuana & Dana was out on probation at the time. Johnny was considered a typical, cocky teenager who, at times, had his share of arguments with other kids & had a leadership personality. Dana was known to be small in stature for his age & immature at times, but very likable, laid back & pleasant to be around. At the time of his murder, he was living in a group home in Quincy.

Dana was a typical high school kid who liked to socialize, go to parties & had various girlfriends. His closest friend was Johnny & they could often be found hanging out together. Other than the fact that he was living in a foster home, he had an ordinary teenage life. When police checked with Dana’s group home, they verified that Dana did have permission to visit Johnny that night.

The last time Johnny & Dana had been seen alive was on the corner of Lawrence Street & Highway 70 where they were seen hitchhiking back toward Keddie at 10:15 pm on the night of the murders. When Tina came home at about 9:30 pm, she watched TV for a little while & by the time police came to the house the next morning, she was missing & no witness ever saw her alive again.

Tina, like her mom, was also described as a private person at times. She would find secret hiding places when she wanted alone time & required a little extra attention at school which made a world of difference & helped improve her classwork. She was an average 12-year-old that had chores after school & a small group of friends.

From left: John Sharp, Tina Sharp, Dana Wingate, Sue Sharp

The blood evidence told investigators that a major struggle had ensued in cabin 28. The doors were found ajar, the furniture had been knocked over & the phone was off the hook. More than 200 pieces of evidence were removed from the home, some possibly belonging to the murderer or murderers.

Police wondered if perhaps John & Dana had hitchhiked home with someone that could have been under the influence of drugs. Based on the sheer violence of the murders, the fact that three people needed to be subdued, as well as Tina being abducted made police believe that the killer or killers were male. It’s very likely that there was more than one killer based on the fact that multiple victims were involved & multiple weapons had been used.

The home didn’t show signs of forced entry but detectives did recover an unidentifiable fingerprint from a handrail on the back stairs. All of the drapes had been closed & the lights had been turned off.

Police couldn’t understand how the boys, who were in the bedroom at the front of the cabin, right off the living room, hadn’t heard a thing & slept through the massacre despite the fact that a woman & her boyfriend living nearby in cabin 16 woke up at about 1:30 am to the sound of muffled screams. They weren’t able to figure out where they were coming from so they went back to bed & didn’t report what they heard. Sheila & the Seabolt family hadn’t heard a thing despite the fact that they lived only fifteen feet away.

The three boys initially claimed that she slept through the murders, but Rick & Greg’s friend Justin was later questioned under hypnosis & said that he woke up to sounds coming from the living room & got up to investigate. He said he saw Sue with two men in the house that night; one had a mustache & long hair while the other was clean-shaven with short hair. The men were described as being in their late 20s to early 30s, one standing at about 5’11” to 6’2” with dark blond hair & the other between 5’6” & 5’10” with black, greased hair. Both wore gold-framed sunglasses. He said that one man had a hammer. Justin told police that when John & Dana came home, they began to argue with the men which led to a violent fight. He explained that Tina was taken out from the cabin’s back door by one of the men. However, Justin’s stories had been conflicting & at one point he even said that he had dreamed the details of the murders.

As Justin provided his descriptions, composite sketches were produced of the two unknown men by a man who sometimes volunteered to help local police, with no artistic ability & no training in forensic sketching. No explanation was ever given as to why this man was chosen despite the fact that they had access to the Justice Department’s as well as the FBI’s top forensic artists.

During his hypnosis, Justin also described the evening & said that Sheila & Tina had been at the Seabolt’s house until Tina came back at 7:30 pm to wash some dishes. When she was finished she went back & then came home to cabin 28 for the night at about 9:30 pm & went to bed. Justin, Ricky & Sue were watching “The Love Boat” on TV before they went to bed at 10 pm. During another session, Justin spoke of Tina & said that she went into the living room after hearing noises & she was carrying a blanket. A man grabbed her & carried her down the back stairs. The man came back, removed a hunting knife that had been stuck into one of the walls, picked Tina’s blanket up & left again.

Despite the evidence that police recovered from the home, DNA testing wasn’t yet available, so very little information of use was found. Collection & processing at crime scenes didn’t begin until 1985. Sheriff Thomas called the Sacramento Department of Justice which then sent in two special agents from their organized crime unit instead of a homicide unit which struck many as strange.

Two immediate suspects were Martin “Marty” Smartt & his houseguest, John “Bo” Boubede. Marty was Justin Eason’s step-father who was in his early 30s & Bo, who happened to be an ex-convict known to have connections to organized crime in the area, was in his 50s.

Justin, who had spent the night at the Sharp home on the night of the murders, had been living in Keddie since November 1980 after he moved from Montana where he was living with his dad, in order to live with his mom, Marilyn & his stepdad, Marty. The family lived a short distance away in cabin 26 which also included his brother. Marty was brought to Keddie to work as a new cook for the restaurant in the local hotel the previous year, but was fired shortly before the murders. Bo started living in Cabin 26 just before the murders & was sleeping on the couch.

On the Saturday night of the murders, Marlilyn, Marty & Bo were at Keddie’s Back Door Bar. On their way to the bar, they stopped by & asked Sue if she wanted to join them but she declined. Marty became angered when the music was changed from country to rock & left to go home. Once back at the cabin Marilyn watched TV & went to bed while Marty called the bartender to complain about the music. Marty & Bo left shortly afterward to return to the bar for a last drink where they stayed until closing time at 2 am.

Witnesses said that Marty & Bo were wearing three-piece suits & sunglasses at the bar at about 10 pm. Many have questioned why they would dress this way in a very laid-back establishment unless it was to purposefully draw attention to themselves in order to establish an alibi.

Marty & Marilyn had been together since 1979 & also attended the typing class with Sue. Their cabin was situated across a narrow street from the Sharps’ cabin. When police spoke with Marilyn, she told them that she & Marty separated the day after the murders & described Marty as short-tempered, violent & abusive.

Marty Smartt told the police that he had a hammer that matched the one found at the crime scene which had gone missing shortly before the murders. Later that year, a knife was also recovered from a garbage bin outside the Keddie General Store which authorities believe was linked to the crime. After police interviewed Marty & Bo, Marty was given a polygraph test & investigators decided that they hadn’t been involved in the murders & allowed them to go. When police spoke with Marilyn at a later time, she added that Marty hated John Sharp & in the early morning hours of the murder, she saw Marty burning something in the fireplace.

Marty had his one & only interview with police one day after the discovery of the murders, on April 13 & the next day he left the area for Reno & later moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon. Bo left Keddie shortly after the murders & returned to Chicago.

As police continued their investigation, there was still no sign of Tina. Her disappearance was initially investigated by the FBI as a possible abduction, but on April 29, 1981, the FBI had “backed off” the search as the California State Department of Justice was said to be doing an “adequate job” which “made the FBI’s presence unnecessary.” They used a grid-pattern search of the area, covering five miles & three years would pass without any trace of Tina.

On April 22, 1984, a little more than three years after the murders, a man named Ronald Pedrini was collecting bottles in the woods 90 miles southwest of Keddie, when he discovered a human skull & part of a jawbone at Camp 18 near Feather Falls in neighboring Butte County. Nearby, there was a child’s blanket, a blue nylon jacket, a pair of jeans with a missing back pocket & an empty surgical tape dispenser. In June 1984, a forensic pathologist determined the remains to be those of Tina Sharp which increased the murders to a quadruple homicide.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Thomas resigned from the investigation three months in & transferred to a position in Sacramento. To many, his handling of the case was considered disastrous at best & corrupt at worst.

In 2010, Greg Hagwood became sheriff & in June 2013, he brought Special Investigator Mike Gamberg back from retirement to sort through the boxes of evidence in order to revive the case. Much of the physical evidence taken from cabin 28 is still in storage & includes the living room carpet, wallboard & other items marked with blood. However, the original case history log is gone which has made the case particularly difficult to organize. Some of the evidence has been contaminated & some was placed in a freezer for preservation, but the freezer unit was turned off.

As Gamberg went through the evidence, he found a sealed envelope at the bottom of an evidence box. Inside, he found a tape with a recording. It turned out that shortly after announcing the discovery of remains, the Butte County sheriff’s office received an anonymous phone call that suggested that the remains belonged to Tina. The caller said, “I was wondering if they thought of the murder up in Keddie up in Plumas County a couple of years ago where a 12-year-old girl was never found?” Investigators hearing this evidence in 2013 believe that the call was not at all random since Tina’s body was found in an exceptionally remote area unrelated to Keddie. According to Google Maps is a 65 mile drive which would take approximately 2 hours & 15 minutes.

The tape had never been admitted into evidence despite the fact that the medical examiner had yet to confirm that the remains belonged to Tina. It was Gamberg’s belief that the caller was told what happened or had been somehow involved in the murders. The tape was then turned over for voice comparisons with audio of earlier suspects.

The murders felt personal to the team hoping to revive the case. Sheriff Hagwood was sixteen at the time of the murders & went to school with both Johnny & Dana & the summer before their murders, they’d all worked together as teenagers on a painting crew. His mother had also been Tina’s teacher. Prior to the Sharp family moving into Keddie cabin 28, Hagwood had been friends with the previous owners & stayed there a dozen times. Investigator Mike Gamberg also knew Dana & Johnny since he was their martial arts instructor. Dana had been at his house just the day before he was murdered.

In 2016, thirty-five years after the murders, a man had been in the area for a wedding & was using a metal detector to help a woman find a ring she had lost. This was when he stumbled upon a hammer that he dug up from a dried up pond near the Keddie Resort entrance. Based on the appearance of the hammer, it was clear that it had been at that location for a prolonged period of time. It was an exact match for the steel, blue-handled claw hammer which Marty told investigators he’d lost. It was tested for trace DNA & blood residue & had likely been tossed into the pond by someone leaving the murder scene.

In 2016, Sheila spoke with CBS Sacramento & said that she was told that the suspects were instructed to get out of town, which made her believe there had been a cover-up. By that time, both Martin Smartt & Bo were dead, Bo having died in 1988 & Marty in 2006. They both had criminal records & were only a stone’s throw away from Cabin 28.

In addition to Marilyn Smartt leaving Marty on the very day that the murders were discovered, she later provided Plumas County Sheriff’s Department with a handwritten letter sent to her & signed by her estranged husband Marty which read: “I’ve paid the price of your love & now that I’ve bought it with four people’s lives, you tell me we are through. Great! What else do you want?”

Investigators didn’t view the letter as a confession nor was it followed up on at the time. In a 2008 documentary, Marilyn admitted that she thought that her husband & Bo were responsible for the murders. However, Sheriff Doug Thomas contradicted this & pointed out that Marty had passed a polygraph test.

In 2016, investigator Mike Gamberg met with a counselor at the Reno Veteran’s Administration & the anonymous counselor told him that in May 1981, a month after the murders, Marty Smartt had confessed to killing Sue & Tina Sharp, “I killed the woman & her daughter, but I didn’t have anything to do with the boys.”

This confession came during Marty’s seventh appointment with his counselor & he may have been under the assumption that what he said would remain confidential. However, because the information related to murder, the law allows a counselor to divulge the information. The counselor indicated that when Marty was discussing the murder of Sue, he had an unemotional, flat affect. When he discussed Tina, he was asked why she hadn’t run away & Marty said that he incapacitated her. When asked why he had done this, Marty said that he was convinced that Sue was the reason why Marilyn wanted to divorce him & Tina just happened to be an innocent witness. The counselor told Marty that he needed to turn himself in & Marty only smiled at his advice. During his confession he referenced the polygraph & said, “I beat it. Those things are easy to beat. I was lying & they let me go!” When the counselor alerted the Department of Justice of this information, they brushed it off as hearsay & nothing was done.

In 2018, investigators were able to analyze DNA from a strip of white medical tape that had been found on the floor near Sue’s body & the DNA matches that of an unknown living suspect. Gamberg indicated that he’s had the DNA for several years, but only recently obtained needed samples & found the match. Until then, lack of fingerprints & identifiable DNA left at the scene by the killer or killers has halted investigative efforts. The perpetrators wore gloves & left none of their blood behind which indicated that they were not injured during the murders.

The killers brought one hammer which was likely what was found in the nearby pond in 2016 as well as used a hammer & knives that they found in the home. Medical tape was also brought along as well as an 880 BB or pellet rifle that was not recovered at the scene.

It has been theorized that there was a love triangle between Marty, Marilyn & Sue & that Marty & Sue were having an affair. Some believe that Sue had been urging Marilyn to leave Marty because she said he was abusive towards her & when Marty discovered this, he enlisted the help of his friend Bo, a known mob enforcer, who had begun staying with the Smartt family only ten days before the murders, in order to remove Sue from the picture.

This would explain why Marilyn left Marty on the very day of the murder discovery as well as why the three boys, which included Justin, Marty’s step-son, were unharmed. It would also explain Marty’s handwritten note that Marilyn gave to the Plumas Sheriff’s Department.

Investigator Mike Gamberg speculates that the Department of Justice & a Thomas-run Sheriff’s Department covered it up & alleges that Marty & Bo were involved in a larger drug-smuggling scheme that involved the federal government. Marty was a known drug dealer & Bo was connected to Chicago crime syndicates with financial interests in drug distribution.

It could also explain why the Sacramento DOJ sent two allegedly corrupt organized crime special agents instead of agents from the homicide department & why the two main suspects were apparently given a free pass to leave town by Sheriff Thomas. It would also explain why the case was handled so sloppily, why it remains unsolved & was seemingly not a priority to the Sacramento DOJ.

Marty & Sheriff Doug Thomas were friends & Thomas had even lived in Cabin 28 before the Sharps’ arrival. Marty had even allegedly stayed with Thomas in cabin 28 when he was having marital issues with Marilyn. Marty would also spend hours with Thomas while he was out on patrol.

The theory is that after Marty & Bo left the bar that Saturday night, they changed out of their suits & into jeans & denim jackets. They likely walked from cabin 26 to cabin 28 by Keddie Resort Road before entering the home & killing their four victims. While under hypnosis, Justin said that he saw two men wearing jeans & jean jackets. After they subdued Sue, they returned to the bar in their suits to serve as an alibi. Gamberg believes that they never changed & had never been seen wearing denim. When Dana & John arrived, the murderers were probably already with Sue. Sue was likely the last victim alive & forced to witness the murder happening around her which included two of her children. Tina’s body would have been driven away on the one road that leads to Keddie which is exceptionally dark at night.

A neighbor reported hearing a muffled scream which could have come from Tina when she was killed. Gamberg believes she was then likely stashed into a nearby car & later driven away. No roadblocks were established & no vehicles were ever searched so this could have happened at any time. Others believe that Tina was murdered inside the house, attacked in her own bed alongside her mother in the opposite bed when the killers first entered the cabin. Blood spatter was discovered in the room where Tina & Sue slept, including blood on both beds.

When Marilyn saw Marty burning unknown items in the wood stove at 2 am, it’s believed that he was burning the bloody clothing they wore that night.

There is a slight time discrepancy as Marty told investigators that he left the bar before 2 am & an unnamed person who gave John & Dana a ride that night said that they were dropped off at Cabin 28 between 10 & 11 pm. The boys went to the front door rather than around the back to the entrance of John’s bedroom. The driver said that there was no outside light on, but they could see light from inside the cabin. She left immediately.

It’s believed that Dana & John went in through the front door but ultimately went down to John’s bedroom until they heard a noise from the house. They likely ran up the back stairs to investigate, but this is only a theory since John’s room appears to never have been processed by law enforcement. Dana was diabetic & would have likely left his insulin as well as other items behind had they been in the room after their ride home from Quincy & before the murders. The boys would have walked into a nightmare & John likely rushed to defend his mother who was being brutalized by Marty. Bo then apprehended Dana who appeared to have tried to flee the room & was struck in the head from behind with a hammer or the pellet rifle. The killers were likely in cabin 28 for some time & spent much of their time torturing Sue.

Based on the blood found on the bottoms of Sue’s feet as well as a few bloody footprints in the living room, they may have forced Sue to walk around to see what she allegedly made them do to the other victims. They had likely fled cabin 28 before 4 am since Marty would have known that the railroad crew would be starting their shift.

Hagwood & Gamberg believe that as many as six people could have been involved in the entirety of the crime, including the murders, the disposal of the evidence & the abduction of Tina. They are convinced that there are a handful of people that fit those roles who are still alive. Despite the fact that Martin Smartt & Bo Boubede are deceased, new DNA evidence has guided investigators to other suspects who may have been involved & are still alive.

Every bit of evidence that remains is important to this case & Gamberg continues to search for leads & is re-interviewing anyone linked to the Keddie murders. In recent interviews, both Hagwood & Gamberg said that they felt that the sheriff’s office as well as the California Department of Justice handled the case poorly in 1981. Leads weren’t followed & evidence wasn’t properly checked or had been ignored altogether. Some individuals that had the capability of handling the crime scene & case weren’t allowed to do their jobs in 1981.

New evidence that Hagwood & Gamberg have come across have given them solid leads though they aren’t willing to divulge specifics on whom they’re watching. They believe that there are local people who know more than what they’ve said; they have been able to identify some of them & know where they are. According to Hagwood, “There is not an expiration date on homicides & to the extent that we have surviving siblings & family members, it’s our fundamental obligation to them to understand who did this & why.”

The cabins within the Keddie Resort, including Cabin 28, slowly deteriorated as the years went by after the murders & were eventually condemned. The Sharp’s home in cabin 28 was demolished in 2004 while cabin 26 where Marilyn & Marty lived, still stands. In 2017, a horror film that was inspired by the murders was released by a UK production company, called Cabin 28.

As of 2016, Sheila was a 50-year-old mother of three & grandmother of two. She has purposely pushed the horrific images of what has now been 43 years ago out of her mind & chooses to remember the happy times. After finding the horrific scene, she held out hope that she would be reunited with her missing little sister & was again devastated when Tina’s remains were discovered. Sheila, Greg & Rick were sent out of state to live with an aunt, but because she already had several kids, they were eventually placed in foster care. Initially they were together & later apart. In 2012, Sheila & her husband wrote a book, How to Survive Your Visit to Earth which is a self help book of how she has dealt with what happened. She remains hopeful that despite the time that has passed, the case will still be solved.

Anyone who has any information on the Keddie murders is asked to call the Keddie murders hotline at 530-283-6360.

References:

Crime and Coffee Couple

The Keddie Cabin Murders

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The Keddie Cabin Murders

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