Unsolved Mysteries of Martin and his family

Except for Martin's son Doldan, who survived, the rest of the family traveled to the Columbia River Gorge in their 1954 Ford station wagon at around 1 p.m. on Sunday, December 7th. Their goal was to gather greenery from the area's woodlands to use as Christmas decorations around their home. Three hours later, the Martin family stopped at a gas station in Cascade Locks, 40 miles from their home, where they ate at Paradise Snack Bar. At this point, they were about 60 miles from home. The waitress who served them at Paradise Snack Bar confirmed that everything appeared normal with the family, and they left the restaurant around 5 PM, which was already strange to the waitress. There were no indications of a break-in or foul play when police arrived at the Martin family's residence that same night at approximately 11 p.m. Ken's supervisor had reported him missing since he had failed to come for work, which was highly unusual for him. Wherever the Martins had gone, they clearly intended to return within days. Five different police agencies launched separate investigations to find the family, but police were only able to confirm that the family stopped at the gas station. There were dishes still in the sink, a load of laundry was still in the washer, and even a Santa Claus outfit from a Christmas party was still laid out on a bed. Due to this, Roy Light and Lester Price, two ex-offenders, were sought by police. Since the two were at the restaurant when the Martin family arrived and left shortly after the Martins, the owner of the paradise snack bar told the police that they may have been involved in The Disappearance of Martins and his family. However, because there was insufficient evidence to link them to The Disappearance, they were never questioned. It is strange that days after their disappearance, the police would still receive calls about sightings of the Martins. Though it was impossible to confirm, two witnesses claimed to have seen the Martin station wagon at dusk parked between the Bridge of the Gods and Cascade Locks with two men standing next to it and conversing with the occupants. If this was accurate, it would have been the last time anyone had seen them alive, and pretty quickly, many people came to believe that they had unintentionally driven into the Columbia River. Tire tracks leading to a cliff above the river were discovered during the investigation, and cream-colored paint ships matching the color of the Martin station wagon were discovered on the rocks below. The location of the tire tracks suggested that an accident was unlikely because the spot was not close to the road, but efforts to search this section of the river were unsuccessful because two police officers rejected the idea, claiming it was risky and that no one had ever done it before. In the early hours of May 2, 1959, a fisherman and his wife in the Columbia River Gorge in Portland, Oregon, noticed something weird floating downstream near the Bonneville Dam. Unfortunately, they were right: it seemed to be two bodies. The bodies belonged to Susan and Virginia Martin, ages 11 and 13, and were discovered the next day on the North Bank of the Columbia River. The second body was discovered the following morning. Although a technician reportedly saw what he thought were bullet wounds in each of the girls' heads and told Dr. Waterman, the medical examiner, in his report, Waterman stated that no such injuries were found as well as no police reports or newspaper articles from the time indicated that any signs of foul play were present. Both girls' deaths were officially ruled to be drowning. In line with the waitress from the Paradise snack bar's account, the examination also showed that Virginia and Susan had consumed Burgers and Fries within two hours of their deaths. There was only one surviving member of the Martin family, Donald Martin. Donald had a strained relationship with his family due to the possibility that he was gay and had been caught with a man in the house by his parent. He may have been gay as well. Dr. Waterman claimed to have received several threatening phone calls after the bodies had been discovered. Each time, the voice of what sounded like a young man warned Dr. Waterman that he would be harmed should any of the other missing Martins As the lone living relative, Donald was the only beneficiary of the Martin estate, which at the time had a value of around $36,000, but he also skipped both of his sisters' funerals, claiming to have confused the dates. Donald had been sacked from his position at the Meyer and Frank department store in Portland four years ago for stealing more than $2,000 worth of goods. A 38 automatic pistol covered in blood was discovered under a rock near Cascade Locks in January 1959; a single spent bullet was found in the chamber of the gun. Oddly enough, the weapon was never processed as evidence and was later cleaned and returned to the man who founded the theory that Donald had some involvement in The Disappearance of his family. This theory suggests that Donald had some involvement not just because of his strained relationship with his family but also because something much worse came up. When authorities tracked down the gun's serial number, they discovered that it was one of the items that Meyer and Frank had accused Donald Martin of stealing from them back in 1954. Despite this, Donald was never publicly accused of being involved in the disappearances, and Ken Barbara, Barbie Martin, and their car have never been located.