Keddie Cabin Murders

Case background and investigation

On the night of April 11-12, 1981, four people were killed inside Cabin 28 of the Keddie Resort, a small mountain community in Plumas County, California. The victims were Glenna Susan "Sue" Sharp, a 36-year-old single mother who had recently moved to Keddie; her 15-year-old son John Steven Sharp; and John's 17-year-old friend Dana Hall Wingate. Sue's 12-year-old daughter, Tina Louise Sharp, was missing from the cabin and would remain unaccounted for. The three bodies were discovered on the morning of April 12 by Sue's 14-year-old daughter Sheila, who had spent the night at a neighbor's home. Three younger children -- Sue's sons Rick and Greg and their friend Justin Smartt -- were found unharmed in an adjacent bedroom.

The victims had been bound with medical tape and electrical wire and killed with a combination of knives and a hammer or similar blunt instrument, an unusually violent scene that drew regional attention. The initial investigation, handled by the Plumas County Sheriff's Office with assistance from state and federal agencies, was later widely criticized for mishandled leads and evidence. Tina Sharp's fate remained unknown until April 1984, when a bottle collector found a human skull and other bones at Camp 18 near Feather Falls in Butte County, roughly 60 miles from Keddie. The remains were confirmed to be Tina's in June 1984. No one was arrested, and the case went cold for decades.

Over the years, attention focused on two men who were publicly reported as persons of interest but who were never charged: Martin "Marty" Smartt, a neighbor who lived nearby, and his houseguest and associate Severin John "Bo" Boubede. According to later reporting, Smartt had told investigators that a claw hammer went missing from his home around the time of the killings, and Boubede reportedly gave authorities false claims about his background. Both men died before any charges were considered -- Boubede in 1988 and Smartt, reportedly of cancer, in 2000. It is important to stress that neither man was ever charged or convicted, and their identification as suspects rests on investigative reporting and reopened-case statements rather than any adjudicated finding of guilt.

The Plumas County Sheriff's Office reopened the case in 2013 under Sheriff Greg Hagwood, with special investigator Mike Gamberg leading much of the renewed work. In March 2016 a hammer matching the description of the one Smartt had reported missing was recovered from a pond near the crime scene, after a relative of Boubede reportedly provided information; the hammer and a knife were slated for forensic testing. Investigators subsequently reported that DNA recovered from medical tape used at the scene matched what Gamberg described as a "known living suspect," a claim officials made publicly but which has not resulted in charges. Reports have also circulated of a claimed confession by Smartt to a Veterans Affairs counselor in Reno; this account is attributed to the counselor and remains an unproven claim that was reportedly treated as hearsay.

As of this writing the Keddie murders remain officially unsolved, with no one ever convicted in the deaths of Sue, John, Tina, and Dana. Investigators have suggested that several people may have been involved in the crimes or a subsequent cover-up, but those statements have not been tested in court. The case continues to be listed as active, and any characterization of specific individuals as responsible should be understood as unproven and never established through prosecution.