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Hi listeners, it's Carter Roy. Before we get into today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bhatt. Every Monday, Dr. Bhatt goes where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery. This his crime house. When something terrible happens in a small town, people talk. They gossip, they point fingers. But in Keddie, California, something different happened. People went quiet. On the night of April 11, 1981, someone entered Cabin 28 at a remote mountain resort and murdered three people. A 36 year old single mother, her 15 year old son and his 17 year old friend. Then when it was all over, the killers took 12 year old girl and disappeared into the night. Three children were asleep in the next room. All of them survived. None of them could explain how in the wake of the attacks, there were confessions, there was physical evidence, there were whispers about COVID ups reaching all the way to the federal government. And yet, more than 40 years later, no one has ever been charged. Sometimes a case goes cold because there aren't enough answers. This one went cold because there were too many people who didn't want them to be found. This is the story of the Keddie Cabin Murders. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Thank you for being part of the Crime House community. Please rate, review and follow the show and for ad free access to every episode. Subscribe to Crime House on Apple Podcasts. Welcome back to another episode of Murder Mystery Fridays where I'm covering cases with questions that I can't get out of my head. The ones where the evidence points in multiple directions and every theory feels like a possibility. Remember, these episodes are also on YouTube with full video. Just search for Murder True Crime Stories and be sure to like and subscribe. Today, I'm talking about a case that has haunted me ever since I first heard the details on the night of April 11, 1981, someone entered cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort in Northern California and murdered a mother and two teenagers. They also kidnapped her 12 year old daughter, whose REM remains wouldn't be found for another three years. The investigation was botched from the start. The crime scene was contaminated before police even arrived. The local sheriff's department had almost no experience with homicide cases, and the most likely suspects? They all had connections to people in power. Forty years later, we're still wondering, was this a random attack by strangers passing through? A targeted killing by someone the family knew? Or something even darker, buried under layers of small town politics and possible government corruption? All that and more coming up. You know that moment in spring when you open your closet and you think, do I really need all this? I do. Lately I've been trying to keep fewer pieces, but ones that actually feel special and wear well every day. And and that is why I keep coming back to Quints. Their linen pants and shirts are lightweight, breathable and comfortable. 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The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. If you drove through Keddie resort in early 1981, you might not have thought much of it. A handful of cabins tucked into the mountains of Northern California. Tall evergreen trees. A river running nearby. One narrow road in and out. The kind of place that used to draw vacationers looking for a quiet weekend in the woods. But by the early 80s, the resort wasn't really a resort anymore. The cabins were worn down, paint peeling, roofs patched up. The tourists had stopped coming a long time ago. Instead, the place had become a small community of full time renters, low income families, students from nearby schools, people just trying to get by. Everyone pretty much knew everyone. The kids bounced between cabins like they were all one big house. Neighbors watched out for each other's children. Doors weren't always locked. If you needed to borrow some sugar or someone's phone, you just walked over and knocked. Even though the resort was really just a cluster of cabins in the middle of the woods, there was something almost small town about it. The nearest real town, Quincy, was a short drive away. But out at Keddie, you could go hours without seeing anyone who didn't live there. It was isolated, but that isolation felt more like privacy than danger. It was the kind of place where you felt safe. And for 36 year old Sue Sharp, that feeling of safety meant everything. Sue was born Glenna Susan Davis in Massachusetts on March 29, 1945. She grew up on the east coast, where she eventually met a man named James Sharp from Connecticut. They got married, started a family and had five kids together. John, Sheila, Tina, Rick and Greg. From the outside, it probably looked like a typical military family. James was in the Navy and traveled a lot for work. But behind closed doors, things were far from okay. Sue's oldest daughter, Sheila, later accused James of sexually assaulting her. She called him a monster. That accusation was never investigated by law enforcement, and it's not clear if sue knew the full extent of what was happening either way. In 1979, sue made a decision that took real courage. She packed up her life, took her kids and moved all the way across the country to be near her brother in Quincy, California. It's a small, quiet town in the mountains of the northern part of the state. A place where she could make a fresh start. And she threw herself into that fresh start. Sue took typing classes, hoping to land a secretarial job. In the meantime, she worked part time and relied on government assistance to get by. It wasn't easy, but sue was going to do whatever it took to provide for her five kids on her own. But life kept throwing curveballs around. This time, her 13 year old daughter Sheila got pregnant. In a small conservative town like Quincy, that was the kind of thing that could follow a girl around. For years. Sue worried about the bullying Sheila would face. So together they decided to send Sheila to stay with an aunt in Oregon until the baby was born. After the birth, Sheila placed The baby up for adoption and came back to her family. While Sheila was away, sue found a new place for the rest of the family. She moved them from their mobile home in Quincy to a cabin at the Keddie Resort. Cabin 28. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom and an unfinished basement. It wasn't fancy, but it was way better than the trailer they'd been sharing. Sue and 12 year old Tina shared one bedroom. 10 year old Rick and 5 year old Greg got the other. 15 year old John claimed the basement as his own space. When 14 year old Sheila came back from Oregon, she joined sue and Tina in their room. The family even hung a little wooden sign out front that read Sharps. And they quickly became part of the Keddie community. Next door in cabin 27 were the Sebolts. Mom Zenita, dad James, daughters Alyssa and Paula, and their son James junior. Tina became fast friends with the Seabolt girls, and Sheila loved going to church with the family on Sunday mornings. Two doors down in cabin 26, sue befriended a couple she'd met through her typing classes. Marilyn and Martin Smart. They lived there with Marilyn's two sons from a previous relationship, 12 year old Justin and his younger brother Casey. They also had a roommate, a friend of Martin's named Severin John Boubaday, who everyone called Bo. For a while, things felt good. Sue had a support system. The kids had friends. They had a home. After everything she'd been through, sue was finally building the kind of life she wanted for her family. But there was something off about the neighbors in cabin 26. And before long, Sue Sharp found herself right in the middle of it all. Marilyn Smart had started confiding in sue about her marriage to Martin. She said he was jealous, controlling and possibly violent. After their worst fights, Martin would swing the other direction and write these long emotional love letters to Marilyn, telling her how much he'd sacrificed for her. It was a classic cycle of abuse, and sue understood that pattern all too well. She'd lived it with her own ex husband, and according to some reports, she was encouraging Marilyn to leave Martin. There's also some speculation that Martin had feelings for sue herself. Some investigators believe he asked sue out on a date at some point and she turned him down. However you cut it, a few things seem clear. Martin's marriage was falling apart, and it's possible that he felt rejected by one woman and betrayed by another. All of those factors could make a volatile man like Martin very, very angry. And then there was his buddy, Bo Boobiday, who lives right there in the same cabin with Martin and Marilyn. Bo was a mysterious figure. He had a shadowy past that would later attract the attention of federal investigators. He and Martin were incredibly close. Some might say they were partners in crime. And unfortunately, the Sharp family was about to learn just how dangerous that partnership could be. Folks knew the Colonel approved of his new Honey, Chili Crisp and Jalapeno Ranch
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Saturday, April 11, 1981 started like any other day for the Sharp family. 36 year old sue spent the morning running errands and shuttling the kids around. She dropped off 10 year old Rick and his friend 12 year old Justin Smart at baseball practice down the road in Quincy. Then she headed into town with sheila who was 14 or 15 years old, 5 year old Greg and 15. Sue went to visit friends while Sheila walked to a friend's house and John went to hang out with his buddy, 17 year old Dana Wingate. Dana was a teenage boy who'd had some run ins with the law, possibly for burglary, but by all accounts he was a good kid in a rough situation. He didn't have a stable home life or a family looking out for him the way John did. The Sharps were one of the few places where Dana felt welcome. Sue treated him like one of her own and she didn't mind John spending time with him. What sue didn't know was that John and Dana had hitchhiked to a party in East Quincy that day. Typical teenage stuff. Not great, but not unusual. Meanwhile, 12 year old Tina stayed back at Keddie, spending part of her day hanging out with her friend Paula Sebolt next door. Later that evening everyone made their way home. The night unfolded like this. Sometime between 9 and 10pm Tina left the Sebolt's cabin and headed back to cabin 28 to go to bed. But Sheila stayed next door for a sleepover, giggling with Alyssa Seboldt about crushes. Late into the night, around 10pm, Rick and his friend Justin went to bed in the boys room. At about 10:30, John and Dana got a ride back to the cabin from a local woman. Not wanting to wake anyone, they slipped in through the basement entrance and started to settle in for the night. Sue was stretched out on the couch in her robe, probably enjoying the first quiet moment she'd had all day. 5 year old Greg was asleep. Tina was in the adjacent bedroom. It was a quiet Saturday night at the Keddie resort. Just another evening in the woods. And then sometime between 11:30pm and 1:15am everything changed. The following is graphic. If you'd like to skip this section, I'd recommend jumping forward about a minute. At some point during that window of time, at least two assailants entered cabin 28 through the back door. They were armed with hammers, knives and a pellet rifle. Sue was the first one they went after. Her screams woke 15 year old John and 17 year old Dana in the basement and the two boys rushed upstairs to help. But before either of them could do anything, the attackers struck them in the head with hammers. The boys were bound with medical tape and electrical cords. John's throat was slashed. Dana was strangled to death. Then sue was gagged with a blue bandana and her own clothing. According to investigators, the killers forced her to walk around the room, stepping through the boy's blood. They made her look at the bodies. They tortured her and finally they stabbed her in the chest, drove a knife through her throat and and bludgeoned her with the butt of their pellet rifle. The level of violence was staggering. This wasn't just murder. It was rage. It was personal. And investigators would later note that all three bodies appear to have been moved and posed after death. Sue was found lying on her side, naked below the waist, partially covered by a blanket. That kind of staging suggests the killers weren't in a hurry. They took their time. They wanted the scene to look a certain way. Even then, they still weren't done. After killing sue, the attackers went into the bedroom where 12 year old Tina was sleeping. But they didn't kill her there. Instead, they dragged her past the bodies of her mother, her brother and his friend and took her with them out of cabin 28 and into the night. And here's what makes this even harder to process. Three other people were sleeping in that cabin. 10 year old Rick, 5 year old Greg and 12 year old Justin Smart were all in the boys room just steps away from where the murders happened and all three of them claim they slept through the entire thing. Some people have suggested the children might have been drugged. Others think the sheer terror of waking up in that situation could have caused a kind of shock where they froze and pretended to be asleep to survive. We don't know for sure, but whatever the explanation, those three boys made it through the night alive while the people in the next room didn't. The next morning, Sunday, April 12, at around 8am Sheila Sharp walked back from the Sebolt's cabin to grab her curling iron before church. But when she opened the front door of cabin 28, she walked into a nightmare. The first thing she saw was blood. It was everywhere. Then the bodies. Her brother John was beaten so badly that she could only recognize him by his hair. Dana was lying face down on the floor and behind them was her mother, lifeless. Sheila screamed. She didn't even realize she was doing it until 15 year old James Seybel Jr. Grabbed her arm. He heard the scream from next door and ran over. Junior's first thought was the younger kids. He tried his best to avoid the puddles of blood on the floor as he stepped over their bodies and checked the boys. To his relief, Rick, Greg and Justin appeared to be unharmed, still asleep. But Tina was gone. Junior assumed she just hadn't been home that night. He ran to get his father and together they removed the three boys through the bedroom window so they wouldn't have to walk through the crime scene. But nobody could undo what Sheila had already seen. That image of her mother and brother would follow her for the rest of her life. She later said the only thing that kept her going in those first days and weeks was rage. Rage at whoever did this and rage at a system that she'd soon find out was completely unprepared to give her family justice.
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By the time police arrived at cabin 28 on the morning of April 12, 1981, the investigation was already at a disadvantage. First, the crime scene had already been contaminated. Before the authorities got there, multiple people had walked through the cabin to visit rescue the surviving children. That's completely understandable. But it meant potential evidence was lost before anyone with a badge ever set foot inside. Footprints were smudged, blood was tracked through the rooms, and the chain of custody on the scene was broken before it even began. On top of that, witness accounts from that night were all over the place. Some people at the resort claimed they heard screams coming from cabin 28. Others said they heard nothing at all. In a tight knit community where the cabins are practically on top of each other, well, you'd think people would have noticed something. But nobody called the police that night. Second, the local sheriff's department was way out of its depth. There was exactly one person in the entire county with homicide experience. The sheriff's deputy named Mike Gamberg. But Gamberg had a personal connection to the family. He was the younger boy's martial arts instructor and he knew 17 year old Dana Wingate. Because of that, he was pulled off the case. Third, forensic science in 1981 was limited. It would be another five years before DNA evidence was first used in a criminal case. So investigators were working with old school methods. Fingerprints, witness statements, crime scene photos. And in terms of fingerprints, they found none. The sheriff at the time, Doug Thomas, knew they needed backup, so he called the U.S. department of Justice. They agreed to help and send agents from their organized crime unit. Now that's a strange choice for a family murder in the woods, right? Why send organized crime investigators to a community cabin in the mountains? That might have been because of one particular person of interest. Beau Boobide, Martin Smart's friend who lived with the smarts in cabin 26. Bo reportedly had mob connections. It's possible the DOJ wanted to investigate him for other reasons and saw the Keddie case as an opportunity to get close to him. Whatever the reason, the investigation was now a patchwork of agencies, the sheriff's department, the doj, and eventually the FBI. And right away, there was disagreement about how to work the case. One of the first big questions investigators faced was why was 12 year old Tina taken? Why kill three people but kidnap a fourth? The FBI called in one of their top criminal profilers, a man named John Douglas, who later inspired the Netflix show Mindhunter. According to him, it was possible that the whole operation was about abducting Tina, that she might have been the target all along, and the others were killed because they got in the way. That theory had some backing. In July of 1980, about nine months before the murders, Tina had reported that a man in Quincy had molested her. The sheriff's office looked into it, but charges were never filed. Some investigators wondered, could that man have come back for Tina? Could he have been willing to kill several members of her family just to get her? There was even speculation that Tina might have been pregnant and that the person responsible couldn't risk her being found alive or dead because an autopsy would reveal what he'd done. Police even spoke with one of Tina's teachers during the investigation and discovered that he had photos of Tina on his desk at school and at his home. That definitely raised eyebrows, but it never led to an arrest. In the end, none of the leads connected to Tina's abduction went anywhere, which left detectives wondering if Tina wasn't the primary target, then who wanted Sue Sharp dead? Sue's ex husband, James, was an obvious place to start. He had a history of abuse and Sheila's accusations against him painted a dark picture. But James was quickly ruled out. He was on the other side of the country working for the military. On the night of the murders, there was also a man sue had been dating, referred to in police records only as Robert T. Who sang at a local bar in Quincy. But Robert was never questioned because he was killed in April 1981 while running from the police for a separate, unrelated crime. So that lead died with him. And that brings us to the suspect who, in my opinion, is the most compelling. Martin Smart. Remember, Martin lived just two cabins away. His 12 year old son Justin was sleeping over at the Sharps cabin that night. There were rumors that he was angry at sue because she'd turned down his romantic advances and had encouraged his wife to leave him. So what was Martin doing on the night of April 11, he and his buddy Bo spent the evening drinking beers before heading to the Keddie Resort bar with Marilyn. Initially, Martin said he and Bo stayed at the bar until 2am but other witnesses at the bar said they left earlier than that. So Martin changed his story and said they came home around 11pm well, here's the problem with that. Marilyn had gone home before them, and she said that when she woke up at some point during the night, Martin and Beau still weren't there. Not only that, but according to witnesses at the bar, Martin seemed tense and agitated that evening. He reportedly got angry when the DJ switched from country music to rock. Small thing maybe, but it paints a picture of a man who was already on edge. And then there's what happened after the murders. When Martin and Beau finally did come home that night, Marilyn noticed they were burning something in the wood stove. In the days that followed, Martin threw away a pair of shoes and he had to replace a hammer that had mysteriously gone missing. A hammer? The same type of weapon that was used to kill the victims. Then there's the question of young Justin Smart, Martin's 12 year old son, who was sleeping in the boys room that night. At first, Justin said he slept through everything, but then he told his mother, Marilyn that he had a dream that night about someone hurting Sue. After a polygraph test, Justin changed his story again. He said he actually woke up during the murders. He described seeing someone with a pocket knife cutting Sue's chest. He also said he saw Tina being dragged away by two people, one with black hair and one with brown hair. An amateur sketch artist created composite drawings based on Justin's description. And one of the sketches looked a lot like his own father, Martin Smart. Years later, when modern forensic testing was done on evidence from the crime scene, DNA found on a piece of tape used to bind the victims was a possible match for Justin. Now, does that mean a 12 year old helped commit a triple homicide? Probably not. All three people killed that night were bigger and stronger than he was. It's far more likely that Justin witnessed something horrific and his young brain processed it as a bad dream. And finding his DNA in that house isn't exactly shocking. He spent time there all the time. But it does add another layer to an already complicated picture. While investigators were chasing leads and sorting through evidence, one question hung over everything. Where was Tina Sharp? The 12 year old had vanished the night of the murders, and no matter how hard they tried, no one could find her. Leads dried up. The case went cold. Then on April 22, 1984, a little more than three years after the murders, a man was hiking in the Feather river canyon, roughly 60 miles from the Keddie resort, when he stumbled onto something in the underbrush. Bones. Human bones, including part of a skull. He reported it to police, and the discovery made the local news. What happened next is one of the strangest moments in this entire case. A man called the tip line and said, I was wondering if they thought of the murder up in Keddie, up in Plumas County a couple years ago, where a 12 year old girl was never found. At the time, the operator logged it as just another tip. But when a forensic pathologist confirmed the bones belonged to Tina Sharp, that phone call took on a whole new meaning. How did the caller know those bones would turn out to be Tina's? Was it a lucky guess? Or did he know because he put them there? You'd think that recording would be a critical piece of evidence, but instead, the tape was placed in storage. The public didn't even learn it existed until 2016, more than 30 years later, when it was finally handed over to the Department of Justice. And it's also worth asking, is it a coincidence that Tina's remains were found so close to the third anniversary of the murders in a remote canyon, that a random person just happened to wander into? That timing has always felt suspicious to me. Still, suspicion and speculation can only take you so far. At some point, you need evidence. And when it comes to the Keddie murders, the evidence that exists points most directly at one Martin Smart. Remember those emotional love letters he used to write to Marilyn after their fights? About two weeks after the murders, Marilyn had kicked him out of the house, and Martin wrote her another letter. In it, he said he'd, quote, paid the price for her love with four people's lives. Four people. The exact number of victims. And that's not all. Martin allegedly confessed to the killings to a counselor at the VA Hospital in Reno, Nevada, just weeks after the murders. According to the counselor, Martin admitted to killing sue and Tina, but he denied killing Dana or John, and he wouldn't say who did. Okay, think about that for a second. If Martin killed Sue and Tina, but says he didn't kill the two boys, that means someone else was in that cabin with him. The most likely candidate, his buddy boy, Boobadae, who was unaccounted for that same night. Martin also reportedly told his wife and several other people over the years that he was responsible for the murders. And in 2016, a rusty hammer was recovered from a pond near cabin 28. It matched the description of a Hammer Martin claimed to have lost right before the murders. If law enforcement has been able to confirm it's connected to the crime, they haven't said so publicly. So you've got a changing alibi, physical evidence that went missing, a written reference to four people's lives, a confession to a therapist, and multiple admissions to people he knew. And yet Martin Smart was never charged. Why? Well, that's where the conspiracy theories start. And honestly, I think some of them deserve a hard look. Remember Mike Gamberg, the deputy with homicide experience who got pulled off the case early on? He eventually came out of retirement decades later to work on the Keddie murders again alongside the county's current sheriff, Greg Haigwood. Gamberg believes this case was solvable back in 1981, but he thinks it was deliberately sabotaged. He points to the sheriff at the time, Doug Thomas, who reportedly had a personal friendship with Martin Smart. Could Thomas have shielded his friend from serious scrutiny? And then there's the DOJ angle. Martin's counselor said he tried to report Martin's confession to the federal agents handling the case. They brushed it off. Gambard thinks that's because they were protecting Beau Boobaday. Remember, Bo was said to have mob connections, and some investigators believe those connections ran deep, possibly into government circles. The early 1980s were a wild time for federal agencies with documented involvement in drug running and other corrupt operations. So the theory goes like this. If Beau had been charged in connection with the Keddie murders, it could have exposed something much bigger. So the case was allowed to go cold, not because the evidence wasn't there, but because the wrong people had too much to lose. Is that far fetched? Maybe. But when you look at how many times this investigation was seemingly derailed from the inside, it starts to feel less like incompetence and more like something intentional. There's also a strange detail from the day of the murders that's never been explained. Two unidentified men were spotted in the area that day. They knocked on the door of a nearby apartment and asked for someone named J.R. who the tenant didn't know. Then they left. These men matched the composite sketch Justin Smart later helped create. They were never identified. Were they casing the area? Were they connected to Martin and Bo? Or were they complete strangers who had nothing to do with any of it? We still don't know. Here's where things stand today. Martin Smart died in 2000. Obubidet died in 1988. The two people most investigators believe were responsible for the Keddie cabin murders both took whatever they knew to the grave. But Sheriff Hagwood has confirmed that there are six living persons of interest in this case who still need to be ruled out. And law enforcement knows exactly where all six of them are. Special investigator Gamberg is still actively working the case and he's asking anyone with information to come forward. You can contact the Plumas County Sheriff's office at 530-283-6360. You can call the Secret Witness program at 775-322-4900 or text them at 847-411. You can submit a tip online at www.secretwitness.com or you can email Gamber directly at gamburgcso.net all of those options accept anonymous tips and there's a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. After everything, I keep coming back to the people at the center of this. Sue Sharp, who left everything she knew on the east coast and drove across the country to build something better for her kids. She took typing classes. She worked part time jobs. She did whatever it took. John, her 15 year old son who heard his mother screaming and didn't hesitate. He ran straight into danger to try to save her. Dana Wingate, a 17 year old without a real family of his own who was only there because the Sharpes made him feel like he belonged. And Tina, who at 12 years old never got to grow up. They deserved so much better. And the people who loved them, the siblings who survived that night deserve answers. What gets me about this case is how close it feels to being solved. You've got a suspect who practically told anyone who would listen that he did it. You've got physical evidence. You've got a mysterious phone call that might belong to the killer. You've got six people still alive who might know something. And yet more than 40 years later, nobody has been held accountable. Was it Martin Smart and Bo Boubaday driven by jealousy and rage? Was there a cover up to protect people who should have been behind bars? Was Tina the real target all along and the rest of the family just got in the way? Or is the truth some combination of all of it? I don't know. But I believe someone out there has the missing piece. And I hope that person is listening because it is never too late to rewrite the ending. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next time. Time for the story of another murder and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios here at Crime House we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Tuesday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertovsky, Lori Marinelli, Cassidy Dillon and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.
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I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.
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Looking for your next listen? Check out hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhatt every Monday. Dr. Bhatt goes where history gets mysterious vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, and events that science still can't fully explain. Follow Hidden History now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Murder: True Crime Stories
Episode: "MYSTERIOUS DEATH: The Keddie Cabin Murders"
Host: Carter Roy
Release Date: May 29, 2026
In this episode, Carter Roy delves deep into the chilling, unsolved case of the Keddie Cabin Murders—a quadruple homicide and kidnapping in rural Northern California from 1981. Through detailed storytelling and analysis, Carter unpacks the personal tragedies, failed police efforts, haunted survivors, and the many theories—including official incompetence, small-town cover-ups, and possible government corruption—that leave this case unsolved 40+ years later. The episode seeks not only to present the details but to honor the victims and explore why the truth has stayed hidden for decades.
[04:18-09:57]
“After everything she’d been through, Sue was finally building the kind of life she wanted for her family.” — Carter Roy [09:49]
[13:57-17:18]
“The level of violence was staggering. This wasn’t just murder. It was rage. It was personal.” — Carter Roy [15:55]
[17:18-21:09]
“That image of her mother and brother would follow her for the rest of her life. She later said the only thing that kept her going... was rage. Rage at whoever did this and rage at a system... completely unprepared to give her family justice.” — Carter Roy [19:52]
[22:41-27:24]
“The sheriff’s department was way out of its depth. There was exactly one person in the entire county with homicide experience... he was pulled off the case.” — Carter Roy [22:48]
[27:24-33:10]
“Years later, when modern forensic testing was done... DNA found on a piece of tape... was a possible match for Justin. Now, does that mean a 12-year-old helped commit a triple homicide? Probably not.” — Carter Roy [31:15]
“How did the caller know those bones would turn out to be Tina’s? Was it a lucky guess, or did he know because he put them there?” — Carter Roy [32:05]
[33:10-38:37]
“Remember Mike Gamberg, the deputy with homicide experience who got pulled off the case... he thinks it was deliberately sabotaged.” — Carter Roy [36:10]
[38:37–41:58]
“What gets me about this case is how close it feels to being solved. You’ve got a suspect who practically told anyone who would listen that he did it. ...And yet more than 40 years later, nobody has been held accountable.” — Carter Roy [41:37]
Carter Roy’s exploration of the Keddie Cabin Murders is a deeply empathetic, meticulously researched episode that drives home both the raw horror of the crime and the many failures—in policing, community, and even governance—that have let the case go cold. The story resonates as a call for justice, for the forgotten victims, and for listeners who might hold the missing piece. The Keddie case is more than just an unsolved crime—it’s a haunting reminder of what’s lost when answers are left buried.
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