On the night of April 11, 1981, the quiet community of Keddie, California, became the scene of one of the most disturbing unsolved murder cases in American history. Inside Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort, four people would lose their lives, while a 12-year-old girl would disappear without a trace. More than four decades later, the case remains officially unsolved.
The victims were 36-year-old Glenna Susan “Sue” Sharp, her 15-year-old son John Steven Sharp, John’s 17-year-old friend Dana Hall Wingate, and Sue’s 12-year-old daughter Tina Louise Sharp. What happened inside that small cabin that night—and why Tina disappeared—has remained a mystery surrounded by suspects, conflicting statements, overlooked evidence and unanswered questions.
Before the Murders
Sue Sharp had moved to Northern California with her five children after separating from her husband, James Sharp. In 1979, the family left Connecticut and eventually settled in the small community of Keddie in Plumas County.
Sue and her children—John, Sheila, Tina, Rick and Greg—lived in Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort. The cabin was considerably larger than the trailer where the family had previously been staying, and for a while it became their home.
On April 11, 1981, the day before the murders were discovered, Sue, her daughter Sheila and young son Greg went to Quincy to pick up 10-year-old Rick, who had been attending baseball tryouts at Gansner Field.
While driving back toward Keddie, they came across John Sharp and his friend Dana Wingate hitchhiking. Sue picked them up and drove them back to Keddie.
Later that afternoon, around 3:30 p.m., John and Dana returned to Quincy. They were reportedly seen around town afterward.
That evening, Sheila had plans to spend the night with the Seabolt family, who lived in the neighboring Cabin 27. She left Cabin 28 shortly after 8 p.m.
Tina had been watching television at the Seabolts’ home but returned to her own cabin later that night. Around 9:30 p.m., she had reportedly asked what time it was before going back to Cabin 28.
Sue remained at home with Rick, Greg and their young friend Justin Smartt.
At some point during the night, something went terribly wrong.
The Discovery
Around 10 a.m. on April 12, Sheila returned to Cabin 28.
What she found inside was horrifying.
Sue Sharp, John Sharp and Dana Wingate were dead in the living room. The three had been restrained with tape and electrical cords. Tina was nowhere to be found.
The three younger boys—Rick, Greg and Justin—were in another bedroom and had survived physically unharmed.
Sheila immediately ran back to the neighboring Seabolt home. Jamie Seabolt then went to the cabin and helped get the children out through a bedroom window. He later acknowledged that he briefly entered through the back door to check whether anyone inside was still alive. That action may have disturbed or contaminated parts of the crime scene.
Investigators soon realized they were dealing with a brutal multiple homicide.
Two knives and a hammer were found inside the home. Evidence suggested that the attacks had taken place in the living room.
Sue had suffered serious knife injuries and blunt-force trauma. John had suffered a fatal throat injury along with head trauma. Dana had sustained severe head injuries and died from strangulation.
But the most important mystery was not inside the living room.
It was the missing child.
Where was Tina Sharp?
A Night of Unanswered Questions
One of the strangest aspects of the case was the lack of obvious noise reported by people living nearby.
Sheila and the Seabolt family said they had not heard anything unusual during the night. However, residents of another nearby cabin later reported waking at approximately 1:15 a.m. after hearing what sounded like muffled screaming coming from the direction of Cabin 28.
Several neighbors also remembered seeing a green van near the Sharp residence at approximately 9 p.m.
Those details raised more questions than answers.
Who had been inside the cabin? Why did nobody nearby intervene? And how had the killer—or killers—managed to leave without being identified?
The Smartt Connection
One person who attracted considerable attention was Martin Smartt, the stepfather of Justin Smartt and a neighbor of the Sharp family.
Smartt told investigators that a claw hammer had disappeared from his home. Because a hammer had been found at the Sharp crime scene, the missing tool became an important detail in the investigation.
Justin Smartt also gave investigators different versions of what he believed had happened that night. At one point, he claimed he had dreamed about details of the murders.
Later, under hypnosis, Justin described seeing Sue with two men.
Based on his descriptions, composite sketches were produced. The two men were reportedly described as being in their late twenties or early thirties. One was said to be taller, with dark-blond hair, while the other was shorter and had black, slicked-back hair. Both were reportedly wearing gold-framed sunglasses.
However, questions were later raised about the reliability of those sketches because they were reportedly created by someone without formal forensic-sketch training.
That meant investigators were working with descriptions that were far from certain.
Rumors and Theories
As the investigation continued, rumors began circulating that the murders might have involved drugs, organized crime or even some kind of ritual.
Authorities rejected those theories, saying investigators had found no illegal drugs or drug-related equipment inside the home.
Still, speculation continued.
The case had everything that fuels a mystery: multiple victims, a missing child, conflicting statements, suspicious individuals and evidence that seemed to raise more questions than it answered.
Tina Disappears
While the deaths of Sue, John and Dana were being investigated, Tina Sharp became the focus of a separate search.
The FBI initially treated her disappearance as a possible abduction. But within weeks, the federal agency reportedly reduced its involvement, with authorities stating that California investigators were adequately handling the case.
For three years, Tina’s whereabouts remained unknown.
Then, exactly three years after the murders, a discovery changed the case forever.
On April 11, 1984, a person collecting bottles near Camp 18 in Butte County discovered part of a human skull and other skeletal remains.
The location was near Feather Falls, roughly 60 miles from Keddie.
The remains were eventually identified as those of Tina Sharp.
She had been missing since the night her family was murdered.
But the discovery created another devastating question:
How did Tina get there?
And more importantly, who had taken her from Keddie?
The Mysterious Phone Call
After Tina’s remains were discovered, the local sheriff’s office reportedly received an anonymous telephone call identifying the remains as Tina.
At the time, the call was not properly documented.
Years later, however, investigators discovered that a recording of the call had apparently been sitting at the bottom of an evidence box.
A deputy working on the case reportedly found the recording sometime after 2013.
The fact that potentially important evidence had remained overlooked for decades became another source of criticism surrounding the original investigation.
The Cabin Was Gone
Cabin 28, the place where the murders occurred, was eventually demolished in 2004.
By then, the physical location had already become a symbol of one of California’s most notorious unsolved cases.
But even after the cabin disappeared, the questions surrounding it remained.
A Disturbing Letter
In 2016, new attention turned toward Martin Smartt.
According to reporting from that year, Smartt had left Keddie and traveled to Reno shortly after the murders. While there, he reportedly sent a letter to his wife, Marilyn, discussing problems within their marriage.
One sentence in the letter was particularly disturbing because it referred to having paid for his wife’s love with the lives of four people.
The statement attracted renewed interest because four people had been murdered at Cabin 28.
A special investigator later said the letter had been overlooked during the original investigation and had never been properly admitted into evidence.
That raised serious questions about how the case had initially been handled.
A counselor who had reportedly treated Smartt also claimed that Smartt had confessed to killing Sue and Tina, while denying responsibility for the deaths of John and Dana.
According to the counselor’s account, Smartt allegedly said Tina had to die because she had witnessed what happened.
Those allegations were never proven in court, and Smartt was never charged with the murders.
Another Suspect
Another man who attracted attention was John Boubede, who had been staying in a neighboring cabin with Smartt.
Boubede was reportedly believed to have connections to organized crime in Chicago.
He died in 1988, meaning he never faced charges in connection with the Keddie murders.
Whether his alleged connections had anything to do with the killings has never been established.
The Hammer Found in the Pond
Then, in March 2016, investigators made another unusual discovery.
A hammer was found in a local pond.
Its description reportedly matched the type of hammer Martin Smartt had previously said was missing from his home.
The hammer was taken into evidence.
Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood suggested that the location of the object made accidental loss seem unlikely, saying it appeared to have been deliberately placed there.
Investigators were reportedly examining several potential suspects at the time.
But once again, the discovery did not immediately produce an arrest.
DNA Raises New Hope
In April 2018, special investigator Mike Gamberg made another significant announcement.
According to him, DNA recovered from a piece of tape associated with the crime scene matched a known living suspect.
That development appeared to offer something the case had lacked for decades: physical evidence potentially connecting someone to the murders.
Yet even with that announcement, the case did not result in charges.
The identity of the person connected to the DNA has remained a matter of investigation and controversy rather than a proven conviction.
A Mystery That Refuses to Die
More than forty years have passed since four people were killed inside Cabin 28.
Sue Sharp, John Sharp, Dana Wingate and Tina Sharp never received the chance to return home. Tina’s remains were eventually found, but the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and death remain unresolved.
The case has produced suspects, alleged confessions, questionable investigative decisions, a missing hammer, forgotten evidence, mysterious sightings and possible DNA evidence.
Yet there has still been no courtroom verdict.
No one has been convicted for the Keddie murders.
The biggest questions remain unanswered: Who entered Cabin 28 that night? Why were Sue, John and Dana targeted? What happened to Tina after she left or was taken from the cabin? And why did so much potentially important evidence remain unexplored for so many years?
Until those questions are answered, the Keddie murders will remain one of America’s most haunting unsolved cases—a crime that happened inside a small cabin in a quiet California community, but whose mystery has lasted for generations.
The case remains unsolved, and no one has been convicted of the Keddie murders.
This story is based on publicly available information and reported facts. It has been independently written and presented for informational purposes. Images, if any, belong to their respective owners.
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