Car being pulled from river might have belonged to family that vanished in 1958

There are reports that a vehicle possibly linked to an Oregon family that went missing in 1958 has been located. The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office is making efforts to recover the car from a river near Cascade Locks this week.

Authorities believe the car belongs to the Martin family—Ken, his wife Barbara, and their three daughters, aged 11, 13, and 14. The Martins were last seen in December 1958 when they left their Portland home to search for greenery for Christmas wreaths but never returned.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office conducted the initial investigation and determined that the family was likely in Hood River County and Wasco County prior to their disappearance. In May 1959, the bodies of two of the daughters, 13-year-old Virginia and 11-year-old Susan, were discovered in the Columbia River; one was found near Camas, Washington, and the other close to Bonneville Dam.

Over the years, investigators have theorized that the family’s vehicle may have gone into the river, leading to numerous dive operations. The recent discovery of the car is attributed to Archer Mayo, an amateur investigator who has been searching for it for seven years. He found the vehicle upside down, approximately 50 feet underwater, with about 90 percent of it buried.