The Keddie Cabin Murders

On the night of April 11, 1981, in the small mountain resort community of Keddie, California, three adults and a teenager were found brutally murdered in cabin 28 of the Keddie resort. The victims were Sue Sharp, her son John, his friend Dana Wingate, and Sue's daughter Tina, though Tina's body was not found at the scene — her skull was discovered three years later at a campsite 50 miles away. Sue's other children, who slept in an adjacent room, survived and were the primary witnesses to the aftermath. The murders were characterized by extreme violence and bound victims.

The investigation was plagued from the outset by mishandled evidence, the transient nature of the resort community, and the limited resources of rural Plumas County. Multiple suspects were identified over the years, including a man named Martin Smartt, who had stayed at the resort and had a history of violence, and his associate John "Bo" Boubede. Both men died without being charged. A claw hammer matching the injuries was reportedly given away by Smartt's wife after the murders but was not seized as evidence.

Decades later, in 2016, a piece of skull bone was submitted for DNA analysis by Plumas County investigators and confirmed to belong to Tina Sharp — finally establishing the identity of the remains found in 1984. The DNA confirmation reinvigorated the case and prompted new investigative efforts. However, the long passage of time, the deaths of primary suspects, and the original evidence mishandling continued to frustrate the investigation.

The Keddie cabin murders remain officially unsolved. The cabin itself was demolished in 2004 after years of serving as a morbid tourist attraction. The case has attracted intense interest from true crime researchers and podcasters, and Tina Sharp's surviving siblings have continued to advocate for resolution. The failure of the original investigation is considered one of the most significant examples of rural law enforcement failure in California cold case history.