The foothills of the Sierra Nevada, although only a four-hour drive away, are in complete contrast to San Francisco. The area was a hitchhiker’s paradise and the ultimate place to escape.
In Quincy, Sierra Nevada, there is a small place called the Keddie Resort. The resort was popular for its barbecue food and fine dining. However, during the 1980s, it fell on harder financial times, and the owner, Gary Mollath, started renting the cabins to low-income families. With these families came low-level crime, mainly the sale of cannabis.
However, no crime was as horrific as the murder and kidnapping that occurred there.
The Families of Keddie
In November 1980, the Sharp family moved in. Glenna Sharp and her five children, aged five to fifteen, settled in. The children were clearly well-loved and emotionally supported by their mother, despite some comments about their lack of discipline.
Living close to their family was chef and occasional drug dealer Martin Smartt; he lived with his wife, Marilyn, and their children. His youngest stepson was Justin, who would be in the cabin during the murders.
Murder
On 11th April 1981, in Cabin 28, three people were found murdered and one missing. The three victims were Glenna Sharp (36), her son John Sharp (15), and his friend Dana Wingate (17). Dana was a troubled kid with a bad home life, known to the police. Tina Sharp, who was twelve at the time, went missing from the scene.
Also in the house at the time were: Greg, Rick, and Justin. Sheila, the other daughter, had arranged a sleepover at her friend Seabolt’s house next door.
The murder was brutal and occurred with some other cabins only mere feet away. It defies belief that no one heard anything that happened on that fateful night.
All three victims were found bound with medical tape and electrical cords. The victims had been beaten and mutilated. There were some inconsistencies, though: Dana had been strangled and his head placed on a pillow. Glenna’s murder showed signs of remorse, as she was covered with a blanket.
Two bloodied knives and one hammer were found at the scene. One of the knives, a steak knife, had been bent to a thirty-degree angle. Blood spatter showed that all three had been murdered in the living room.
Discovery
When Sheila arrived home at 7 am, she found the bodies. Sheila woke the three boys in another bedroom and helped them climb out of the window to avoid the carnage in the lounge. Greg, Rick, and Justin went out of the window and ran to the caretaker at Cabin 25, who called the police. Tina was missing from the scene.
Justin told the police that Tina was missing, but how did he know that if he had not seen the murders? He later said she had fallen overboard, and it was found that the family had watched The Love Boat before going to sleep. Blood was also found in their room, which indicated they must have been into the lounge. Justin was just a child, and his story kept changing.
Tina’s jacket and shoes were missing, along with various tools from a toolbox. There was no sign of the missing Sharp sister. The house showed no sign of forced entry.
Tina
Initially, police believed that Tina could have been involved in the murders, as items she was attached to had also left the cabin at the same time as her. This would also explain how the perpetrators had entered the building without force if Tina had let them in.
John Douglas, the profiler, even stated that he believed the murders were not premeditated due to the equipment used. Had Tina let someone into the cabin, and the murders occurred as a result of this?
The police continued this line of enquiry until her partial remains were recovered on 22nd April 1984. The skull and mandible were found a hundred miles away in Butte County. This discovery produced even more questions.
Martin Smartt
Martin Smartt was a chef and drug dealer. To anyone who listened, he would say he suffered from PTSD due to the Vietnam War. The truth was that, as a chef, he was nowhere near the fighting; he was, however, near the drugs and became a frequent user.
His behaviour on returning to the world was erratic, violent, and unpredictable. His wife and children were terrified of him.
A month before the killings, he befriended John Boubede at a local rehab facility. He moved Boubede into the family cabin without asking, and the two became inseparable. Whether they killed together remains to be proven.
Boubede was a convicted criminal with a long charge sheet for crimes such as breaking and burglary. On the night of the murder, they had asked Marilyn to invite Glenna with them for a drink, as Boubede had taken a liking to her. Glenna refused, and Marilyn later stated this put the two men in a temper.
Police questioned the two, but they each provided alibis, leading to no further charges. Smartt claimed a claw hammer, one of the murder weapons, was stolen from his house.
Many locals believe Martin Smartt was responsible for the killings and that Justin made up the two perpetrators to protect his stepfather.
Theories
Several other theories have been suggested for the murders.
Had John and Dana brought the killer home with them? On 11th April, the boys were seen hitchhiking by Glenna and given a lift home. Two hours later, around 3:30 pm, the pair hitchhiked back to Quincy to visit friends and party. Some speculate they were hitchhiking home when they gave the killer a lift home.
Was the murder a drug deal gone wrong? Dana had also allegedly stolen a quantity of LSD from a local drug dealer.
Famous serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole were also investigated as potential suspects; they have since been ruled out.
Despite these theories, the murder remains unsolved. Criticism of the police has stated that they failed to secure the crime scene, leaving DNA evidence at the scene to be missed.
The Keddie Resort never recovered from the murders. Cabin 28 became known as “Murder House”. Teenagers would dare each other to break in and spend a night. The owners put the resort up for sale in 1984, but no one would pay the $1.8 million asked.
Vagrants started moving into it, and the resort effectively became a ghost town. Cabin 28 was destroyed in 2004. The rest of the Sharp family have tried to move on from that horrific night; however, every part of their existence is plagued by the murder.
Be sure to check out our deep dive article on Monday, where we look at the murders of Cold Mountain.
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Excellent coverage, as usual, Sam.