DNA testing has confirmed that the remains discovered inside a car in the Columbia River belong to an Oregon family that went missing in 1958 while on a trip to gather Christmas greenery, authorities said Thursday.
The state medical examiner’s office identified the remains as those of parents Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie, found within the wreckage of the car in the river, according to the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office. Officials said they have concluded the investigation and found no evidence of a crime.
A diver who had spent several years searching located the Ford station wagon believed to belong to the family in 2024. Authorities recovered part of the vehicle from the river the following year.
The family disappeared in December 1958. Months later, authorities found the bodies of two of the family’s children, but the remaining members were never located.
The search for the Martin family drew national attention at the time and led to speculation about possible foul play, with a $1,000 reward offered for information.
“Where do you search if you’ve already searched every place logic and fragmentary clues would suggest?” an Associated Press article asked in 1959, months after the disappearance.
Authorities retrieved only the frame and a few attached components from the water due to “the extent to which the vehicle had been encased in sediment,” the sheriff’s office said. Investigators used those items to confirm the vehicle belonged to the Martin family.
In 2025, the diver later found human remains, which were turned over to the state medical examiner’s office.
Scientists extracted DNA from the remains and created a profile that they compared with the Martin family’s relatives, leading to the identifications, authorities said.
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