Keddie murders

The Keddie murders refer to an unsolved quadruple homicide that occurred over the night of April 11–12, 1981, in the small Sierra Nevada community of Keddie, California. The victims were Glenna Susan "Sue" Sharp (born March 29, 1945), her son John Steven Sharp (born November 16, 1965), her daughter Tina Louise Sharp (born July 22, 1968), and John's friend Dana Hall Wingate (born February 8, 1964).

Sue Sharp had relocated to California from Connecticut in 1979 with her five children after separating from her husband, eventually settling into house #28 of the Keddie Resort. On the afternoon and evening of April 11, 1981, John and Dana were seen hitchhiking and later in downtown Quincy. Sue's daughter Sheila spent the night at a neighboring cabin belonging to the Seabolt family, while Sue remained home with her younger sons Rick and Greg and their friend Justin Smartt. Tina, who had been at the Seabolt residence, returned to house #28 around 9:30 p.m.

On the morning of April 12, Sheila returned to the house and discovered the bodies of Sue, John, and Dana in the living room; all three had been bound with medical tape and electrical cords. Tina was missing from the scene. The three younger children—Rick, Greg, and Justin—were found unharmed in an adjacent bedroom. Sue had been stabbed and her throat cut, with an injury pattern consistent with a BB/pellet rifle butt; John's throat was slashed; Dana had suffered blunt-force head injuries and died by strangulation. Two knives and a hammer were recovered at the scene, and blood-spatter evidence indicated the killings occurred in the living room.

Neighbor Martin Smartt, whose stepson Justin was present in the house that night, was identified as a main suspect after reporting that a claw hammer had gone missing from his home. Justin gave inconsistent accounts of the night, and composite sketches of two unidentified men were produced based on his descriptions under hypnosis, though the sketch artist lacked forensic training. Sheriff Doug Thomas publicly dismissed rumors that the killings were drug- or ritual-related, stating no drugs or paraphernalia were found in the home.

Tina Sharp remained missing until April 11, 1984, when a bottle collector found a human skull and jaw fragment at Camp 18 near Feather Falls in Butte County, roughly 62 miles from Keddie; the remains were confirmed to be Tina's in June 1984. An anonymous tip identifying the remains was later found undocumented on a tape inside an evidence box.

Subsequent developments have included a 2016 Sacramento Bee report describing a letter Martin Smartt sent his wife shortly after the murders referencing "four people's lives," reportedly overlooked during the original investigation; a counselor's allegation that Smartt admitted involvement in the killings of Sue and Tina while denying involvement in the deaths of the boys; the 2016 discovery of a hammer matching Smartt's description in a local pond; and a 2018 statement by investigator Mike Gamberg that DNA from crime-scene tape matched a living suspect. No charges have been filed, and the case remains unsolved.