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on Netflix. Welcome

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to this edition of Time Suck

0:42

Short Sucks. I'm Dan Cummins, and

0:44

today we are exploring the Keddie

0:46

Cabin Murders. Do you

0:48

live in a quiet little town? Does it

0:50

have a dark, enduring mystery? A

0:53

terrible crime that left the entire community in shock.

0:55

A crime that wasn't supposed to happen in a place

0:57

like this. A dark, brutal

1:00

crime that has never been solved. A

1:02

crime that completely changed the future of your

1:05

community. One that left a terrible stain cast

1:07

a dark shadow that remains to this day.

1:10

The small, unincorporated Northern California

1:12

community of Keddie had

1:14

just such a crime occur over 40 years ago.

1:17

The Keddie Cabin Murders. One

1:19

horrible night that to

1:21

this day is still by far what

1:23

the little community is unfortunately most

1:26

known for. Prior

1:42

to April 11th, 1981, the

1:45

worst Saturday night in the community's history, life

1:48

was simple in the small resort community

1:50

of Keddie. Not even a

1:52

town, Keddie was and still is a

1:54

census designated place in the truly beautiful

1:57

picturesque Plumas County, California. Plumas

1:59

County named for the Spanish Rio de Las

2:01

Pumas, the Feather River which flows through it,

2:04

is located just northwest of Lake Tahoe,

2:06

in between Reno, Nevada and Reading, California,

2:09

at the northern tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain

2:11

range. Prior to gold strikes

2:13

in 1848, bringing in European Americans, small

2:16

decentralized tribes of mountain Maidu people

2:18

lived in the area for centuries,

2:21

subsisting on everything from roots, acorns,

2:23

grasses and seeds, to fish

2:25

and big game like deer and elk. The

2:27

mountain is heavily forested, rugged area has

2:29

always been sparsely populated. As of

2:32

the last census count in 2020, despite

2:34

having over 2500 square miles of land, less

2:36

than 20,000 people live in

2:39

Plumas County. The largest community

2:41

in the entire county is East Quincy, which

2:43

is roughly 2500 people. Keddie

2:46

now only has around 60 people, down

2:49

from close to 100 at the time of the murders.

2:52

A substantial population drop for a place whose

2:54

population has never been very substantial.

2:57

Ever since the murders, Keddie has been slowly slipping

2:59

off the map. Back in

3:02

1981, before the murders, Keddie was a

3:04

popular vacation locale not far from the

3:06

famed Feather River Canyon. Highway 70

3:08

cuts through the bottom of Feather River Canyon,

3:10

which was designated as a scenic byway for

3:13

good reason. The north fork of

3:15

the Feather River dramatically cuts through the Sierra

3:17

Crest, with nearly a mild deep canyon spanning

3:19

from Bald Eagle Peak, at an elevation of

3:21

7,183 feet, to

3:24

the tiny community of Tobin, population

3:27

of only 12 at

3:29

the last census, at 1,992

3:31

feet. Is your community

3:33

even a community when the entire

3:35

population could be comprised of just

3:37

one very large family? The

3:40

beautiful crystal clear Feather River is full

3:42

of huge granite boulders and waterfalls cascading

3:44

around seemingly every corner. It really is

3:46

a beautiful country. The whole area

3:49

seems to cater to people looking for peace and quiet. People

3:52

coming to go camping and fishing, maybe

3:54

zip around on some dirt roads and

3:56

their side-by-sides. People coming to relax in

3:58

the great outdoors, numerous beautiful people. beautiful campgrounds,

4:00

RV parks, and lodges where I bet you

4:02

can find a mean stack of pancakes and

4:04

biscuits and gravy made from scratch, pepper

4:07

the landscape. Mountain lakes full

4:09

of kayaks and stand-up paddle boards abound. There

4:11

are a hundred miles of hiking trails, hundreds

4:13

of miles, excuse me, the overwhelming majority of

4:16

the country or county is protected

4:18

forest land and you're bound to

4:20

run into mountain bikers or picnicers if you show up on

4:22

a sunny day. You'll also likely see a lot

4:24

of wild game. Deer, beavers, maybe some

4:26

black bear, more. Little

4:28

towns once known for mining and logging are

4:31

now known more for art galleries and tourism in

4:33

the county. This is

4:35

a place I would visually associate with

4:37

Columbia and Patagonia jackets, Tiva sandals, fishing

4:39

poles, and yoga mats much

4:41

more than I would ever associate with murder. Teddy

4:44

was once one of the county's many

4:46

popular vacation destinations. Teddy

4:49

had a hotel complete with a bar and

4:51

restaurant, general store, a post office, and a

4:53

boarding house where some Feather River Community College

4:55

students lived, a tiny college catering

4:57

to local rural students. The only college in

4:59

the county is located in a little

5:01

1600 person-ish town of

5:04

Quincy just six miles away from Teddy where

5:06

many from Teddy work, where their kids go to

5:08

school, and playing baseball leagues, and so forth. People

5:12

used to come to Teddy to go horseback riding,

5:14

to pan gold, to stay in a rustic lodge

5:16

or cabin for a weekend with their family. People

5:18

came to relax to get away from their troubles,

5:20

for many troubles. They came to get

5:23

away from the stress of the city, stressors like violent

5:25

crime. Sue Sharp came to

5:27

the area to start a new life. Full

5:30

name, Glenna Susan Sharp, she went

5:32

by Sue. The 34

5:34

year old homemaker moved to the county in July

5:37

of 1979 after separating

5:39

from her husband, a Navy man

5:41

who was allegedly physically abusive, James

5:43

Sharp. They'd been living

5:45

back in North Carolina, although some

5:47

sources say they left Connecticut. Sue's

5:50

brother Don lived in the area and originally she

5:52

moved into a small rented trailer that Don had

5:54

lived in at the Claremont trailer village

5:56

in Quincy. She brought her five kids with her, 15

5:59

year old, and a couple of her friends. old John, went by Johnny,

6:01

14 year old Sheila, 12 year

6:03

old Tina, 10 year old Ricky, and

6:06

5 year old Greg. James

6:08

came out to visit his estranged wife and kids in

6:10

Quincy, sometimes shortly after they arrived, and some

6:12

attempt at a reconciliation, but he only showed

6:14

up once. He left and never returned

6:16

after that one visit. I'm

6:19

sure there's a big story there and it

6:21

probably revolves around James being an asshole and

6:23

a deadbeat dad. In October

6:25

of 1980, Sue and her kids moved into

6:27

cabin number 28 at what

6:29

was called the Keddie Resort. The

6:32

Keddie Resort, long closed now, the

6:34

murders were not good for business at all. It

6:37

was never much of a resort. You

6:39

weren't going to get a mani-pedi there,

6:41

deep tissue massage, you weren't going to

6:44

enjoy crafted cocktails, you know, whipped up

6:46

by some fancy mixologist by the infinity

6:48

pool. This was frequently

6:50

described as being rustic, which I

6:52

find is often a nice way of calling a place a

6:55

shithole. It was a

6:57

bare bones hotel, bar, and restaurant way out in

6:59

the woods with a number of standalone cabins in

7:01

addition to the hotel rooms for either short term

7:03

or long term rental. Most

7:06

people living in the cabin seemed to be local staying there for

7:08

months, not for a few nights. The

7:10

Keddie Resort was charming, but a

7:12

backwoods place, you know, a place you'd take your family

7:14

for a real cheap camping trip if you didn't live

7:16

there, or a place to meet some friends, get drunk

7:18

and camp without having to actually pitch a tent or

7:20

make your own meals. The

7:22

cabin the Sharpe family moved into was

7:24

much larger than their previous trailer and

7:27

had become available when Plumas County

7:29

Sheriff Sylvester Douglas Thomas had

7:31

vacated the property. Remember

7:33

Sheriff Doug's name. That dumb

7:35

shit is a big player in today's story. Despite

7:38

being bigger than the trailer they lived in, cabin

7:40

28 was still small for a family of six.

7:42

It only had two bedrooms for Sue and her

7:45

five kids. So 15 year old

7:47

Johnny Sharpe moved into part of the basement that

7:49

could only be accessed from outside.

7:52

This detail is important because Sue now kept her

7:54

doors unlocked around the clock so

7:56

that Johnny could access the upstairs, which included the

7:58

only bathroom whenever he needed it. The

8:01

way the cabin was set up, Johnny would have to go

8:03

outside of the basement, then back inside the cabin on the

8:05

next floor up. When he left the basement,

8:07

he used the bathroom and vice versa. The

8:09

two younger, sharp boys shared one bedroom upstairs

8:12

and Sue and her daughters, Sheila and Tina,

8:14

all shared the other bedroom. Living

8:17

conditions were cramped, but the

8:19

house was cheap and Sue didn't have much money. She

8:22

just left her husband. She was not getting

8:24

child support. She was the homemaker, was raising

8:26

the kids. She got $250 a month from

8:28

the Navy, food stamps, some extra

8:30

cash from a part-time job of some sort

8:32

at the Quincy Elks Lodge, as

8:35

well as a small stipend from a

8:37

California Education Training Act program. Sue

8:39

participated in a typing class at Feather

8:41

River College as part of said education

8:43

program. Also attending

8:46

that class were Marilyn Smart, who

8:48

went by Loon, that's a

8:50

fun nickname, and Martin

8:53

Smart, who went by Marty. Marty

8:55

and Loon, remember their names,

8:57

the Smart's big players in

8:59

this story. Smart's were the

9:01

Sharp's neighbors who lived in two cabins down, cabin 26, less

9:03

than 100 feet away.

9:06

Marilyn and Marty lived in a cabin with

9:08

Marilyn's sons, Justin and Casey. Though

9:11

things were certainly tight financially, the Sharp kids apparently

9:13

loved living in this little cabin community, running

9:15

around with neighbor kids like the Smart's, having

9:17

sleepover just a couple feet away from their

9:19

own cabin and their mother. It

9:21

was a lot of fun to be had. Johnny

9:23

the oldest child had a friend, Dana Wingate, who was two

9:26

years older than he was, 17 years old. Dana

9:29

lived down the road in Quincy. Dana was off and over

9:32

at the Sharp household. The two

9:34

boys would frequently hitchhike the seven miles to nearby

9:36

Quincy, six, seven miles where they both went to

9:38

school to see what fun could be had in

9:41

the bigger census designated area. And

9:43

that was precisely what they did, several times

9:46

on the day of the murders, Saturday, April

9:48

11th, 1981. The

9:51

Saturday morning of the 11th began like any other, hanging

9:54

out, visiting friends, enjoying time with

9:56

family. Around 1130 a.m.

9:58

Sue Sharp. 14-year-old daughter Sheila

10:00

and 5-year-old son Greg drove from their

10:03

friends, the Meeks House. The

10:05

Meeks will not factor into the story, so don't

10:07

worry about keeping track of the Meeks. You know

10:09

what? Fuck the Meeks. Forget I even

10:11

brought up those no-name dipshits. They

10:14

drove to go pick up Sue's 10-year-old

10:16

Ricky, who was attending baseball tryouts in

10:18

Quincy. And now I'm—there's so

10:20

many kids in this episode. Okay. I was making

10:22

sure I didn't give Ricky's age wrong. I had

10:24

him confused with Greg in my mind for a

10:27

second there. Along the way back, they ran into

10:29

Sue's oldest son, Johnny and his friend Dana, hitchhiking

10:31

at the mouth of the canyon from Quincy to

10:33

Kettie. So Sue picked him up, drove

10:36

everyone back to her house. Two hours

10:38

later, at around 3.30 p.m., Johnny

10:40

and Dana hitchhiked back into Quincy—they did this

10:42

all the time—where they planned to go to

10:44

a party. A woman

10:46

named Donna Williams, also a

10:49

nobody in the story, fucked the Meeks and

10:51

fucked Donna Williams, picked the boys up, gave

10:53

them a ride to the home in Quincy where the party was at. Meanwhile,

10:56

the rest of the Sharpe family was having a lazy afternoon at home.

10:59

Early that evening, Sue made dinner and then did the dishes

11:01

around 8. About a

11:03

half hour later, 14-year-old Sheila, 12-year-old Tina,

11:06

left to watch TV at the Seabolt family's cabin,

11:08

cabin 27, directly next door. The

11:12

Seabolts, also not really big players in

11:14

the story, but they did see something,

11:17

and, you know, some of—one of

11:19

the Sharps kids stayed there. We're

11:23

not going to say fuck them. Parents Paula and

11:25

Pearl Seabolt looked out a front window

11:27

that evening, noticed a green van parked outside

11:29

of cabin 28 at around 9 p.m. They

11:32

would later tell investigators that they didn't recognize this

11:34

green van, which was odd because

11:36

their sexy cabins were all being lived in

11:38

by long-term tenants. Everyone seemed to know

11:40

everyone. Around 9.30, Tina Sharpe

11:42

asked what time it was and, realizing it

11:45

was getting late, went home to find

11:47

her mom lying on the couch in her bathroom

11:49

watching TV. The younger

11:51

boys, Ricky and Greg, were already in their

11:53

room while they were having a—where they

11:55

were having a sleepover with their friend and neighbor,

11:57

12-year-old Justin Smart. Sheila asked her

11:59

mom, so she could spend the night with a C balls

12:01

and she said yes. So. Many sleep

12:03

overs. I. Would make that's right

12:06

Saturday night. Rally. Junior High High School.

12:08

As a are you made more sleep overs on

12:10

Saturday nights? are you know? had them. At

12:12

other people's houses. probably more than I was home on

12:14

Saturday next. Round ten Pm.

12:17

A local man listen and source is only as timothy. Odd

12:20

do have were by his name either optimism

12:22

or left the backdoor bar and Teddy and

12:24

on his way home saw dark coloured boxy

12:27

then. To. Be that Green Bay. Park.

12:29

Cross the bridge by ponder the cabins. Like

12:32

to see bolts he didn't recognize it. Not

12:34

only was this mysterious green van observed in tell you

12:36

that that a small brown car perhaps the dots it.

12:39

Was. Also partner cabin number twenty eight. Like.

12:41

The van numerous witnesses also didn't recognize this

12:43

people. Make in the second mysterious

12:46

vehicle more noticeable was it had a tire the

12:48

like a was on flat. In.

12:50

Our enough about mystery vehicles Almost enough.

12:52

They didn't come up one more time.

12:55

ah but still fuck mystery vehicles but

12:57

the man that see as dotson entire

12:59

me family Donna Williams timothy much shit

13:01

had most of all other further vehicles.

13:04

What really factor the stores further other

13:06

than they seem to distract investigators from

13:08

who clearly clearly should have been the

13:10

primary suspects. At

13:13

before we get into the rest of stories building

13:15

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I'm back. It's late at night, Saturday,

17:18

April 11th, 1981, night of the

17:20

Keddie cabin murders at

17:23

the Seabolt's in cabin 27. Sheila

17:26

Sharp goes to sleep around 11

17:28

p.m. Her sister had gone back

17:30

home, just her having a sleepover. Right

17:32

around that same time, a man named Donald Davies,

17:35

also don't care about his name, but drives

17:37

by cabin 28 notices that the front porch

17:39

light was not on, which was unusual because

17:41

Sue typically always kept her front porch light

17:44

on at night when her son Johnny was

17:46

still out and about what she was. Closer

17:49

to midnight. Two people who left

17:51

a little back door bar at the Keddie

17:53

resort Noticed a stranger's car coming

17:55

across the narrow Keddie bridge into the cabin area.

17:57

a resident of the area Carl Sprang, We

18:00

did a small light colored car past slowly

18:02

by number Twenty eight. Around. The same

18:04

time and now we're truly done with the mystery vehicles.

18:07

And at the back door bar that night.

18:10

Loon smart just as mother. Would.

18:12

Later say as she heard a

18:14

overheard something that very strange. To

18:17

the two men were talking and one of them

18:19

said yo both was go. The.

18:21

Other man replied just a minute or so,

18:23

mad. With. Were feel like to kill

18:25

somebody? She. Never said who these

18:28

men were. Which. Is really fucking weird

18:30

because she clearly I just heard

18:32

her husband Marty Smart was also

18:34

at this bar. tiny little bar

18:36

or instead of spaghetti resorts and

18:39

his friend John Bead or bogeyed

18:41

scuse me school by Bow who

18:43

was staying at their place like

18:45

her place that night. Mary.

18:47

Will later say when questioned separately that

18:49

he or Marty season of later say

18:51

were questioned separately. The He Bo first

18:54

met a few weeks earlier at the

18:56

Veterans Administration or hospital with were both

18:58

receiving treatment for Ptsd. Post. Traumatic

19:00

Stress Disorder. Sovereign. Real. Smart

19:03

lame to suffer from Ptsd. It's as a of

19:05

his times us been fought in Vietnam. And

19:08

he said earlier the even of April eleventh

19:10

he his wife loon, and bow all decided

19:12

to go to the back door bar for

19:14

few drinks. He. Did not say

19:16

that she was leaving him which will come up later.

19:19

Marty. Smart also said he worked as a

19:21

chef at the back door book bar. ah

19:23

but was a night off. However,

19:25

he may have gotten fired that night or maven

19:27

fire just before That night is also come up

19:29

with. Like. Conflicting reports or he said.

19:32

On the way to the bar that night the group

19:34

stopped in. en su sharp. As her she

19:36

wanted to join them for drinks. she said no. And

19:38

a lot for the bar. At the bar,

19:40

Marty was in a foul mood and complaint angrily

19:42

to the manager about the music they play. He.

19:45

In Bow. or perhaps he and both loon

19:47

left shortly afterwards. Stories don't light up. maybe

19:49

all three. That maybe none of them to

19:51

be to them. One of them. I'll back

19:53

to Smart Cabin. Where. Loon would say she

19:55

watched some Tv they went to bed. marty

19:58

apparently still angry about the music say

20:00

at one point he called the manager from

20:02

home and complained again and that maybe he

20:04

and Bo went back to the bar for

20:06

some more drinks or maybe he stayed home

20:08

or maybe they killed their neighbors. So

20:11

many conflicting stories. Moving

20:13

away from the smarts now at around 1 30 a.m. fellow

20:16

Keddie resort residence resident Michael

20:18

Plier was awakened by his

20:20

girlfriend Barbara Meyer in

20:23

their cabin which was then just 10 feet

20:25

of the sharp cabin according to several sources.

20:28

Uh listen she whispered he

20:31

did and they both thought they heard muffled

20:33

screaming. It was hard to tell where it was

20:35

coming from after a while it stopped and Michael and Barbara went

20:37

back to sleep and now

20:39

we're on to the following morning the morning

20:41

after the murders. Around

20:43

7 a.m. April 12th 12 year

20:46

old Sheila Sharp awakes awakens

20:48

at the Seabolt's cabin you

20:51

know she's done with her sleepover she returns

20:53

home to her cabin cabin 28 and

20:55

what she would see when she walked in would haunt her for the

20:58

rest of her life. Lying on the

21:00

couch in the living room was her mother Sue who

21:03

had been bludgeoned with a claw hammer her

21:05

bloody body bloody body was

21:08

partially covered by a yellow blanket she was

21:10

still wearing her bathrobe her underwear had been

21:12

removed stuffed into her mouth also

21:15

in her mouth with some balled up medical tape and

21:17

she'd been gagged with the blue bandana as well an

21:20

electrical extension cord was wrapped around her legs

21:22

and ankles and lying on the

21:24

living room floor were the dead bodies of Sheila's

21:26

brother Johnny and his friend Dana they

21:28

too had been murdered and they'd been

21:30

bound with medical tape and electrical cords. The

21:33

whole place looked like a slaughter pen there was blood on

21:35

the walls and blood on the floor. Imagine

21:37

seeing all of that as a 12 year old it

21:40

seemed impossible Sheila had been

21:42

sleeping in the cabin next door less than 20

21:44

feet away and claimed she hadn't heard a thing

21:47

somehow neither had anyone else in the sea

21:49

bolt home in shock she

21:52

ran next door told the sea bolts what she'd seen

21:55

the deputy Hank Clement was the first

21:57

to arrive in the scene and he reported that

21:59

there was blood everywhere. on the walls, the

22:01

bottoms of the victim's shoes, Sue's bare feet,

22:03

the bedding in the girl's bedroom where 12-year-old

22:05

Tina slept, the furniture, the ceiling, the doors

22:07

on the back steps. Speaking

22:10

of Tina Sharp, she was missing.

22:13

The younger boys were not. Shockingly,

22:17

both younger Sharp boys, Ricky and Greg, and

22:19

their friend and neighbor, Justin Smart, were unharmed

22:22

and still asleep in

22:24

a back bedroom in the cabin

22:26

where the murders occurred. They'd apparently slept

22:28

through the murders, which makes no sense

22:30

at all. Lot of

22:32

hard sleepers in this short suck, like

22:35

a preposterous amount. I didn't

22:37

know the Time Suck character, Sleepy Greg, and so many

22:39

family members living in Keddie, California. In

22:42

addition to being bludgeoned with the claw hammer, Ricky

22:44

and Greg's mom, Sue, had been stabbed in the

22:46

chest and slashed across the throat. The

22:48

stab wound passed through her larynx and nicked

22:50

her spine. I say slashed, it

22:52

seemed more like a horizontal slab from what we

22:55

were able to tell. Again, just

22:57

like stabbed across her throat, kind of diagonally

22:59

into her throat, I guess. Also

23:02

on the side of her head was an imprint matching

23:04

the butt of a Daisy 880 Powerline BB pellet rifle.

23:07

How had she been beaten like that? Quietly.

23:11

Her son Johnny's throat had been slashed, and Johnny's

23:13

friend Dana had multiple head injuries from being beaten

23:15

with the claw hammer and he had been strangled

23:17

to death. Making all this

23:19

so much stranger, when you think of how many people

23:21

slept through this shit, it appeared that whoever had done

23:23

this had somewhat taken their time. The

23:26

house's telephone had been taken off the hook, the

23:28

cord cut from the outlets, the drapes had all

23:30

been closed. So what the hell happened? I mean,

23:32

the house was unlocked, so anyone could have just

23:35

walked in. Tina was,

23:37

of course, believed to have been abducted. The FBI

23:39

would oversee the investigation into where she'd been taken.

23:41

Local police initially thought the murders were connected to

23:44

drugs. Sue was a single

23:46

mom struggling to raise five kids. Did

23:48

she maybe venture into dealing out of desperation?

23:51

Or were Johnny and Dana selling drugs? That

23:53

could account for all the trips back and forth to Quincy, where

23:56

their mom and sister dragged into this mess. Deputy

23:59

coroner Douglas McAdie. Callister did not believe illegal

24:01

drugs were involved, nor did he think burglary

24:03

was a factor. But

24:05

if not drugs, if not burglary, why

24:08

were they killed? Why

24:10

the savagery of the killings? How

24:12

had the killers not been detected? Why

24:14

hadn't anyone seen anything? How

24:17

had several nearby people slept through

24:19

this entire massacre? Adding

24:21

to the mystery, when Plumas County Sheriff Sylvester

24:24

Doug Thomas, who not that long

24:26

before had lived in the exact same cabin the

24:28

murders occurred in, called the

24:30

Sacramento Department of Justice, which then sent in

24:32

two special agents from their organized crime unit,

24:36

not from homicide. Along

24:38

with special agents, Krim and Bradley, Spiro

24:40

Vasos, a fingerprint expert, and Bruce Palmer,

24:43

an evidence expert, also arrived from the

24:45

Department of Justice. And

24:47

although a lot of potential evidence was collected and catalogued,

24:50

none of it would lead anywhere. Suspicious.

24:54

These agents were soon joined by two FBI

24:56

agents, Dick Donner and Larry Ott, like

24:59

there's an agent, Dick, in this one, who were handling

25:01

the search for Tina Sharp. They had a couple

25:03

theories. The first was

25:05

that Sue, Johnny, and Dana all knew their

25:07

attackers, and possibly they thought or

25:09

had been told that it was a robbery, and

25:12

that they just stayed quiet and didn't fight being tied

25:14

up, they wouldn't get hurt. And

25:16

then once bound and gagged, they'd been executed.

25:20

Another theory was that Johnny and Dana had

25:22

walked in, seen Sue being attacked

25:24

by some unknown assailant, and were

25:26

then overpowered and killed themselves. But wouldn't that be

25:28

very noisy? At least noisy enough

25:31

to wake up Johnny's little brothers, who were just a

25:33

few feet away, same floor, nearby

25:35

room. And these cabins

25:37

didn't look like they were that well built. I'm

25:39

guessing the walls were not real soundproof.

25:43

The Plumas County Sheriff's Office sent out scent dog teams

25:45

to assist the FBI in looking for Tina Sharp,

25:47

but nothing would turn up. This

25:50

led investigators to deduce that Tina had been driven away

25:52

from the scene of the crime, rather than

25:54

dragged from the cabin down the street where

25:56

her scent would still be apparent. Cue

25:59

intense focus. on those mystery mobiles.

26:02

By the second week after the murders, the

26:04

Feather River Bulletin ran the ominous headline, Tina

26:07

Sharp feared dead. Despite

26:09

the use of Jeeps, scent dogs, and

26:11

an intensive grid search of the area, not

26:13

one trace of Tina was found. Not

26:15

one trace would be found for several years. The

26:18

FBI, who had been prepared to deal with the ransom, soon

26:20

felt there was nothing more they could do. The

26:23

trail had gone cold. Back

26:25

to the murders now. Let's talk about

26:27

12-year-old Justin Smart, Loon Sen, Marty

26:30

Stepson. The boy from two

26:32

cabins over, who had been sleeping in the

26:35

murder cabin that night, told

26:37

authorities he'd had a very

26:39

odd, very specific dream. And

26:42

he had that dream the night of the murders. Check

26:45

this out. I

26:49

am on a passenger boat. Somebody

26:52

got thrown out and there was a fight. He

26:55

had long black hair and his hair

26:57

was combed back. He

26:59

had black glasses with a gold frame

27:02

and dark lenses. He

27:04

had a mustache, jean jacket,

27:07

blue jeans, and wore cowboy boots. He

27:09

had a hammer in his left hand and it had

27:12

a wooden handle. Johnny

27:14

and Dana fought the man. Dana

27:16

was almost drunk. Johnny

27:19

was thrown overboard and then Dana. The

27:22

man ran away. The body was

27:24

lying on the bow. Sue, she

27:26

had black hair and a sheet over her. I

27:29

looked under the sheet and she was slit

27:31

in the chest. Everybody

27:33

gathered around her and wanted to

27:35

go to shore. I

27:38

was down by Sue trying to take care of her. All

27:40

the blood was coming down and I was trying to

27:42

patch her up with a blue and

27:44

white flower rag. I

27:46

threw the rag in the water. That's

27:50

a pretty strange dream. A lot

27:53

of details corresponding to the murder

27:55

that happened a few feet from this kid. Later

27:58

Justin did tell a polygraph. operator,

28:00

not surprisingly, that maybe

28:03

he didn't have a dream. Maybe he actually had

28:05

witnessed the murders. But then

28:07

that testimony differed from his dream description.

28:09

Justin said now that he had heard

28:11

a noise and woken up, which would make sense.

28:14

He said he then went to the bedroom doorway, peeked out into the

28:16

living room. Sue was lying on the

28:18

sofa. Two adult males were standing in the

28:20

middle of the room. One did

28:23

have black hair come back, dark glasses.

28:25

The other one had brown hair, were

28:27

blue jeans and army type boots. Justin

28:30

said that Johnny and Dana then came into the

28:32

front door. And those descriptions, by the way,

28:34

that he just gave will match

28:36

up with Marty and Beau. Johnny

28:40

began arguing with the two men. He said a fight broke

28:42

out. Dana tried to get away, fled to the kitchen,

28:45

but the brown haired man struck him with a

28:47

hammer and Dana fell to the floor. Then

28:49

the two men tied up Johnny and Dana. Justin

28:52

went on to say that young Tina came out of her

28:54

room, dragging a blanket and asking, what's going on? The

28:57

two men then rushed forward, grabbed Tina by the arm, dragged

28:59

her out the back door. Justin claimed

29:01

that Tina was crying out for help. And

29:04

again, how did no one hear that? How

29:06

did that not wake up her two brothers who were sleeping in the same

29:08

room as Justin? Justin told

29:10

a polygraph to the operator that the black haired man was

29:13

the one who cut Sue in the middle of her chest

29:15

with a pocket knife. And investigators

29:17

had found a pocket knife in

29:20

the living room, right, at the crime scene where the

29:22

murders happened, one with the bent blade. That blade

29:24

might have been bent if it struck bone, like

29:26

Justin was saying, and Sue was stabbed in the

29:28

chest with a knife. Based on

29:30

Justin's descriptions of the possible murders, composite

29:32

sketches of the two unknown men were

29:34

produced by Harlan Embree. This is one of

29:37

the weirdest details of the story. Harlan

29:40

was a man from Reno described

29:42

in numerous sources as having, quote, no

29:45

artistic ability and

29:48

no training in forensic sketching. Who

29:50

called this asshole? I've seen his work.

29:53

Yeah, he does not have any artistic ability. I could

29:55

have sketched out a better description than he did. It

29:58

looks so bad, it looks like it's a joke. He

30:00

might as well have drawn some stick figures. Are

30:03

these the men you saw? What

30:06

those are stick figures? And then cue him

30:08

just adding single line smiles, little dots for

30:10

eyes. He draws three strands of hair

30:12

on one stick figure's head, puts a little top hat on

30:14

the other. How about now? Plumas

30:18

County Sheriff Doug Thomas, the guy who used to

30:20

live at the side of the murders he hired,

30:22

Harlan. Sheriff Thomas was

30:24

botching this investigation. It

30:27

has never been explained why with access to

30:29

the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigations

30:31

top forensic artist, Sheriff Thomas would choose to

30:33

use an amateur, a merino,

30:35

who sometimes would volunteer to kind

30:37

of help local police. Years

30:40

later, in 2016, Plumas

30:42

County Special Investigator Mike Gamborg will

30:45

admit that the investigation was a complete shit

30:47

show. He would say, you could take

30:49

someone just coming out of the academy and they'd have done

30:51

a better job. Then

30:53

another interesting piece of evidence coming out

30:55

from another smart, Justin's mother, Marilyn, AKA,

30:57

Lune. Lune told authorities

31:00

now that her husband and Justin's stepdad, Marty

31:02

Smart, hated Johnny Sharp

31:04

with a passion. Lune

31:06

also claimed that Marty had burned some

31:08

item, she said, in their fireplace.

31:11

Not a piece of firewood, I'm guessing. Early

31:13

in the morning of April 12th, so just hours, you

31:15

know, within a few hours of the murders that happened

31:18

just a few feet from his place. Authorities

31:21

would also talk to Marty Smart. Confusingly,

31:23

Marty told them that some tools were stolen from

31:25

him a few weeks before, though he did not

31:27

report that at the time. Tools

31:29

like, I don't know, a claw hammer. Almost

31:32

as if he's now trying to distance himself from one of the

31:34

weapons, definitely using the murders. While

31:36

talking to police about this, Marty actually said that whoever

31:38

took his hammer, they would have been wiser

31:41

to take a hatchet. This

31:43

was especially suspicious because police had not told

31:46

anyone outside of, you know, no one outside

31:48

of investigators knew that anybody had

31:50

been beaten with a hammer. So what

31:52

the fuck? Officers, you looking

31:54

for the guy who used the hammer to

31:56

kill my neighbors, right? Yeah.

31:58

I just want to mention... Now that whatever

32:01

hammer whatever hammer was used to bash them

32:03

with you know that kind of hammer That

32:06

was the one that was stole from me a few weeks ago. Oh

32:08

one more thing. I wouldn't use the hammer I

32:10

would have taken an axe to him a Creepy

32:12

Marty's new friend bow also interviewed by police Bow

32:15

initially told investigators that he and Martin had been at the back

32:17

door bar from 930 to 10 p.m That night

32:20

they change his story that they weren't there from 930 to

32:22

10 said they were there around midnight Why

32:25

do that? Trying to make sure the cops you

32:27

know thought he was at the bar when the murders happened Also

32:30

Marty's buddy bow aka John bubied

32:33

Allegedly had strong ties to organized crime in Chicago

32:36

But for some reason police still felt there was

32:38

not enough evidence to tie Martin and or bow

32:41

to the crimes months now

32:43

passed with no answers After the

32:46

Slain's remaining sharp children Sheila Greg and

32:48

Rick are all sent out of state to live with an

32:50

aunt But because the aunt already had

32:52

several kids the sharp kids were eventually placed

32:54

in foster care first together and

32:56

sadly later apart No

32:58

idea why their dad James did not step

33:01

in to take them probably was

33:03

a piece of shit Sheila waited

33:05

and prayed for Tina to be found and reunited with her

33:07

siblings a dream. She would hold on to for three years

33:10

But then April 11th 1994 three years

33:12

to the day after the kettie cabin murders

33:14

50 miles from Katie in

33:17

the small rural Unincorporated community of feather

33:19

Falls in Butte County, California. A

33:21

man discovers a human skull Near

33:24

the remains detectives also would find a child's

33:26

blanket blue nylon jacket pair of jeans with

33:28

a missing back pocket in

33:30

an empty medical tape dispenser Medical

33:33

tape just like the tape found on the body of her

33:35

brother and mother Initially

33:37

investigators had no idea whose remains these were

33:39

but then Butte County Sheriff's Department received an

33:41

anonymous call the caller said Hello,

33:44

I was watching the news and they were talking about the skull. They

33:46

found at the feather Falls and

33:48

they asked for any help. Uh-huh I

33:51

was wondering if they thought of the murder up in

33:54

kettie up in Blumis County a couple years ago We're

33:56

a 12 year old girl never found Surely

33:59

after that tips remains would be identified as being

34:01

Tina's. This seemed significant. Remarkably,

34:03

the tape of the anonymous tip regarding

34:05

Tina was found sealed in case files

34:07

untouched by the Plumas County Sheriff's Department

34:10

until 2013. When the

34:12

case was reopened, new investigators, Plumas

34:14

Sheriff, Greg Hadwood, and special investigator

34:16

Mike Gamburg were now looking into

34:18

things. Hadwood, in his third

34:20

year of office, had many priorities to contend with

34:22

inside his department and in the county. His department

34:25

was short of funding and he

34:27

was short staffed. Despite that, the unsolved

34:29

murders of a woman, two teenage boys, and a girl

34:31

still haunted him and he wanted to do something about

34:33

it. These were boys he

34:36

went to school with. Hadwood personally knew them

34:38

as a kid. He was also familiar with

34:40

cabin 28 in Kettie. In earlier years, before the Sharps

34:43

had ever moved in, he had spent nights

34:45

there with a friend and his family. Hadwood

34:47

would graduate from California State University Sacramento with

34:50

a degree in criminal justice. He'd

34:52

become a deputy in his hometown in 1988. As

34:55

a deputy, he knew what was and what

34:57

wasn't happening with the case. Although still technically

34:59

open, it was just not a priority. The

35:02

Kettie murders as the case became known had become

35:04

infamous as one of the state's leading unsolved crimes.

35:07

That and his personal connections led Hadwood to

35:09

resurrect the case to provide the resources and

35:12

time needed to solve it, even though he

35:14

was understaffed. That's when

35:16

Hadwood asked Gamburg, a private investigator,

35:18

if he would like to take over the

35:20

investigation. Gamburg also had known the

35:22

two boys. He was their coach in martial

35:24

arts and other activities. Dana

35:27

Wingate had been at Gamburg's house the day before

35:29

he was killed. Gamburg would take

35:31

on the task of diving through boxes and boxes of

35:34

evidence, and he found a couple of strange things. The

35:37

original case history log. Who

35:39

did what and on what date was

35:41

missing? Just gone. All the

35:43

physical evidence was incredibly disorganized and

35:46

a freezer that some evidence had been placed in

35:48

for preservation had gotten turned off. Some

35:50

items were never even entered into evidence to begin with.

35:53

A crucial part of the chain of procedures needed to

35:55

prove a suspect's guilt. Meanwhile, Sheriff

35:57

Thomas, the lead investigator on the Kettie murders,

36:00

He resigned from the investigation just three months in

36:02

to take a new job at the

36:04

Sacramento Department of Justice. His handling

36:06

of the case in retrospect would

36:08

be considered disastrous, at best,

36:11

extremely corrupt, at worst.

36:14

And that investigation was carried out with the assistance

36:16

of the Department of Justice that gave him that

36:18

new job. Some, like Sheila

36:20

Sharp, started wondering if there was a cover-up. In

36:23

his re-investigation, Mike Ganberg found out

36:25

that Marilyn Lune Smart, Marty's wife,

36:28

and Justin's mother, had left her

36:30

husband on the very day

36:32

of the murder discovery. The 12th.

36:34

Kind of a very important detail. She'd

36:37

apparently been having troubles with him for a while, and Sue, her

36:39

friend, had been advising her to leave him. Marty

36:41

was rumored to have been a womanizer, quite

36:43

the ladies' man, and he was supposedly sleeping

36:45

with several women in the area, including his

36:48

neighbor, murder victim, Sue Sharp.

36:51

Remember that Sue was found naked from the waist down, her underwear

36:53

stuffed in her mouth? As far

36:55

as I know, she was never tested for any evidence

36:57

of sexual assault. Why? Did

37:00

Marty and his buddy Beau rape Sue, kill her,

37:02

and her sons who witnessed what they had done,

37:04

then abduct her daughter when she came out of

37:06

her room, and also saw them possibly also raping

37:08

and then murdering her as well? Did

37:10

all that happen because Sue told Lune

37:13

that she should leave her piece of

37:15

shit philandering her husband while also sleeping

37:17

with said husband? Did

37:19

all that happen because Marty, drunk the night of the

37:21

killings, was told by his wife that Lune, you

37:24

know, told by his wife Lune, excuse me,

37:26

that she was done with him, told that Sue Sharp

37:28

had let Lune know that Marty was cheating on her,

37:30

told that by a woman he was sleeping with, and

37:33

then his mysterious buddy Beau, Vietnam vet, reportedly

37:35

connected to organized crime in Chicago, maybe went

37:37

along for the ride, all too happy to

37:39

crack some skulls. And now the

37:41

Department of Justice covers it all up because Beau

37:43

is maybe valuable to them. And

37:45

they give Sheriff Thomas a new job to pay him back for

37:47

helping them cover up murders in Kettie. Let's

37:50

say Marty did do it. He did seem

37:52

to have been a hothead. Lune's aunt,

37:54

Joan Andrews, will remember how Marty had a

37:56

disagreement with his dad once in Phoenix, and

37:59

decided to make a bond with him. and blow his

38:01

old man up because of it. He

38:03

actually went to the store, bought the supplies, needed to

38:05

make the bomb, but then calmed down and

38:07

changed his mind, I guess. Andrews

38:09

also said that while Marty and Loon were living

38:12

with her, she allegedly saw Marty practice throwing a

38:14

hatchet quite a bit, and he kept

38:16

the hatchet in his residence and also tried

38:18

to purchase numerous guns during that time. And

38:21

Andrews also said that Marty, the hot head

38:23

womanizer with PTSD, quote, spent

38:25

a considerable amount of time reading the Bible

38:28

and was fanatical about other people's morals. This

38:31

dude sounds fantastic, a

38:33

very stable, solid piece of work. Then

38:36

Loon would say that Marty tried

38:39

to run her and Justin over once, right, Marty

38:41

her husband, and then in 1980, the

38:43

year before the murders, he had put a knife to

38:45

her throat and threatened to kill her if she left

38:48

him, a knife. He

38:50

sounded guiltier by the second. Some sources

38:53

say that Marty also lost his job as a cook at

38:55

the back door bar either right before the murders or possibly

38:57

even the night of the murders. And perhaps

38:59

the combo of losing his job and feeling like he was about

39:01

to lose his wife, you leave him the next day, you know,

39:03

cause him to crack. Perhaps his wife

39:05

left him the day after the murders because she knew he did it.

39:08

What was burning in their fireplace that morning.

39:11

Now for the most damning evidence pointing to Marty, decades

39:14

after all of this in the original case

39:16

files was a letter. This is so bad. Loon

39:19

had provided Plume's County Sheriff's Department with

39:21

the handwritten letter sent to her,

39:24

sent, you know, handwritten, it's

39:26

signed, I'm sure had his fingerprints all over it. Semba,

39:28

her now estranged husband, Marty, who had

39:30

moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon, and in it at

39:33

one point he wrote, quote, I've

39:35

paid the price of your love. And now

39:37

that I've bought it with four people's lives,

39:40

you tell me we are through great.

39:42

What else do you want? That

39:45

letter was sent less than six months after the murders. How

39:47

the fuck was he not arrested? Some

39:49

would say that Marty was referring to

39:51

his wife and three children whom he had left

39:54

for Marilyn, you know, when she was still his

39:56

girlfriend. Bullshit. Somehow

39:59

that letter was not as a confession, nor

40:01

was it ever followed up on during the original

40:03

investigation. Cover up! That

40:05

is seeming more and more likely. In

40:08

a 2008 documentary about all this, Lune straight

40:10

up said she thought her husband and his friend

40:12

Beau were responsible for the murders. But

40:15

former Sheriff Doug Thomas still held the belief

40:17

that Marty did not commit the murders. As

40:20

proof of this, he pointed out that Marty had successfully

40:22

passed a polygraph test. But come on, we

40:24

know those aren't reliable. And

40:27

Marty and Sheriff Thomas reportedly were

40:29

close friends. Marty

40:31

also, according to some, had been dealing

40:33

weed and hashish in the area, not

40:35

Sue Sharp, as investigators led by Sheriff

40:37

Thomas originally speculated. Making

40:39

Marty look even guilty, in 2016, special

40:42

investigator Mike Gamberge met with a counselor

40:44

at the Reno Veterans Administration. An

40:47

anonymous counselor told him that in May of

40:49

1981, so just a month after the killings,

40:52

Marty Smart literally straight up

40:54

confessed to killing Sue and Tina

40:56

Sharp. He supposedly said, I killed

40:59

the woman and her daughter, but I didn't have anything to

41:01

do with the boys. But

41:03

then when the Department of Justice was alerted to this confession in 1981, they

41:06

completely dismissed it. As hearsay, didn't follow up.

41:10

Cover up! This is all so fishy. Many

41:12

have speculated the Department of Justice overlooked it

41:15

because of Marty's friend, Beau's connections to organized

41:17

crime. There's been rumors that Beau

41:19

was a highly valued snitch working with the Department

41:21

of Justice. And because of his possible value to

41:23

them, you know, him taking part in some murders

41:25

was overlooked. And then Marty also got

41:28

away with the murders because you couldn't arrest and charge

41:30

Marty and then not risk having him rat on Beau.

41:32

And what about the hammer that

41:34

Marty claimed was stolen from him? Gamberge

41:37

actually recovered it from a local pond in 2016.

41:40

His tip came by way of someone who attended a

41:42

wedding in the Keddie area. A woman lost

41:44

a ring. So the man returned with a

41:46

metal detector in an effort to recover it. What

41:48

he discovered was not the ring, but a hammer in

41:51

a dried up pond near the resort entrance. He

41:53

left the hammer, eventually contacted Gamberge. Gamberge

41:56

and the unnamed man went to the pond. By then it

41:58

was full of water, but the water was not But they did manage

42:00

to recover the hammer, and it matched the

42:02

physical description of the one Marty Smart said he had

42:04

lost. The one he almost

42:07

certainly tossed into the pond after using

42:09

it in the murders. The pond

42:11

is not far from the cabins. It would have been a natural

42:13

place to ditch a murder weapon. Someone leaving

42:15

the murder scene could have easily tossed in the murder

42:17

weapon, Gamburg thought. And yet there doesn't

42:19

appear to be any evidence that special agents or anyone

42:21

from the sheriff's office checked the pond. For

42:23

evidence, 1981. Why

42:25

not? To Gamburg, it

42:27

is crystal clear that the DOJ

42:30

and the Thomas Run Sheriff's Department did

42:32

in fact cover up the murders. Gamburg

42:35

alleges that Bowe and Marty fit into a

42:37

larger drug smuggling scheme that also involved the

42:40

federal government. He says that Marty

42:42

was in fact a known drug dealer. Bowe was

42:44

for sure connected to organized crime in Chicago with

42:46

financial interest in drug distribution. This

42:49

would explain why the Sacramento

42:51

DOJ sent two allegedly corrupt

42:53

organized crime special agents instead

42:56

of agents from the homicide department. Also

42:59

explains why Marty Smart and Bowe simply were able

43:01

to leave town right after the murders. John

43:05

Bowe, Bowe Bead, died in Chicago

43:07

in 1988 and it's hard to find out much

43:09

more about him. Marty Smart died in

43:11

2006. Neither man

43:13

ever returned to Keddie after leaving

43:15

within weeks of the murders. Will

43:18

we ever have closure on these killings? Maybe

43:21

not. But there's still a chance that more

43:23

important information will come to light after all these years. Keddie

43:26

police now say that new DNA evidence has

43:28

pointed investigators to other suspects who may have

43:30

had a hand in these murders and are

43:32

still alive. It's my

43:35

belief that there were more than two people who

43:37

were involved in the totality of the crime, the

43:39

disposal of the evidence, and the abduction of the

43:41

little girl, Pluma Sheriff Greg Hagwood

43:43

said. We're convinced that there

43:45

are a handful of people that fit those roles

43:48

who are still alive. So

43:50

was it a cover up? A conspiracy. Who

43:52

was ultimately responsible in the end? Some

43:55

people like Gary Wingate, Dana's father, don't think a

43:57

conspiracy is to blame for the events. just

44:00

too many agencies working on this and

44:02

collectively they just fouled up the investigation.

44:05

He said, nobody has the faintest idea who killed

44:08

my son. So I long ago had

44:10

to let this thing go or it would have

44:12

eaten me alive. I don't think about it. I

44:14

don't go to that ghost town. Gamburg,

44:17

however, is still hopeful that the true perpetrators of

44:19

the kitty cabin murders may come to light. Of

44:22

the living suspects, Gamburg has had this to say, they

44:25

better batten down

44:28

the hatches because we're coming. We're

44:30

continuing with the investigation and we're doing interviews

44:32

and we have several persons of interest. Whether

44:35

or not we ever get any closure on these crimes,

44:37

it's too late to repair the damage that's been done

44:40

to the community of kitty. The once-popular

44:42

resort community has never been able to

44:44

capture the relaxed, easygoing feeling it had

44:46

before the murders over 40 years ago.

44:49

People began to shun the kitty resort

44:51

soon after the killings. Within just a

44:53

year, it was completely empty.

44:56

The owners would put the property up for sale in 1974 for 1.8 million and

44:58

would not get

45:00

a single offer. Over the

45:03

next decade or so, it rotted into a

45:05

refuge for drifters and squatters. The

45:07

county ended up condemning a good portion if not the majority

45:09

of the buildings. In 2004,

45:11

the infamous Cabin 28 was finally

45:13

torn down. Now only

45:15

a depression and a few bits of boards and foundation

45:17

are left as testimonies that had ever existed. The

45:20

resort's owner, Gary Mollis, who did eventually buy the

45:22

place for pennies on the dollar, grew tired of

45:25

kids and ghost hunters breaking into it. Dubbed

45:27

the murder house, it

45:29

had gained quite the reputation for being haunted. Kids

45:32

would break into the condemned building with yellow

45:34

and white paint flaking off, its doors nailed

45:36

shut, most of its windows covered with plywood.

45:39

And then they'd flee off in a hurry,

45:41

reporting that they'd seen murky, shadowy forms, moving

45:43

chairs. Once someone said they

45:45

even saw a pitchfork and the word no carved

45:48

into the kitchen door. An hour later,

45:50

when they returned, the pitchfork was gone, so

45:52

was the carved word. And

45:54

a local 22-year-old, Forrest Jones, said he heard

45:56

moans, doors slamming, and footsteps when the house

45:59

was obviously deserted. This

46:01

cabin 28 now demolished. There isn't

46:03

even really a reason for ghost hunters or true crime

46:05

junkies to come by anymore. And if

46:07

people want to travel to and vacation in the

46:10

still just as beautiful as ever, Plumas County, Teddy

46:13

is far from the only little community in the area. But

46:16

it is the only one where the brutal

46:18

and strange murders, how did no one hear

46:20

anything that night before people

46:22

occurred, three of which were all members of the

46:24

same family? We may never

46:26

know for sure who killed Sue, Johnny,

46:29

Sheila Sharp, and Johnny's

46:31

friend Dana Wingate. Although

46:33

Marty Smart certainly has my vote, he

46:36

and John Boe, Boe bead, what

46:38

we do know for certain is that the unsolved

46:40

kettie cabin murders definitely killed

46:43

the now rundown and haunted

46:45

community of kettie, California.

46:49

And that is it for this edition of

46:51

Time Sucks Short Sucks. If you

46:53

enjoyed this story, check out the rest of the

46:55

Bad Magic catalog. Be fear not

46:57

so bite sized episodes at times like every Monday at

46:59

noon Pacific time. And new episodes

47:01

of the now long running paranormal podcast scared to

47:04

death every Tuesday at midnight. Thanks to

47:06

Sophie Evans for the initial research. Thank you

47:08

to Logan Keith recording and uploading today's episode.

47:11

Please go to badmagicproductions.com for all your

47:13

bad magic needs and have yourself a

47:16

great weekend.