Cascade locks, raw.– DNA analysis has identified the remains found in A Car on the Columbia River Members of an Oregon family who disappeared in 1958 during a trip to find Christmas greens, authorities said Thursday.
The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said the state Medical Examiner’s Office identified parents Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie from remains found in the river inside the car wreck. The Sheriff’s Office said it completed its investigation and found no evidence of a crime.
A Ford station wagon believed to be owned by the family was found in 2024 by a diver who had been searching for it for several years. authorities I pulled out part of the car From the river the following year.
The family disappeared in December 1958. The bodies of two of the family’s children were found months after the disappearance, but the other members never appeared.
The search for the Martin family was a national news story at the time, and led some to speculate that a crime had been committed, with a $1,000 reward offered for information.
“Where do you look if you’ve already looked everywhere logic and fragmentary evidence might suggest?” asked in an Associated Press article in 1959, months after the disappearance.
Only the frame and some attached components were recovered from the water due to “the extent of the vehicle’s coverage in sediment,” the sheriff’s office said. Analysis of those items allowed investigators to conclude that it was indeed the Martin family car.
Later in 2025, a diver found human remains that were eventually turned over to the state medical examiner’s office.
Scientists developed DNA extracts from the remains and created a profile that was compared to relatives of the Martin family, allowing their identities to be determined, authorities said.