Sue, John, and Tina Sharp and Dana Wingate

26:33When investigators got to the scene, they found the top of a skull and began running tests on it. However, according to reporting by Dave Muller for the Feather River Bulletin, the forensic dentist employed by the Department of Justice couldn't make an identification based on those remains. So they searched Feather Falls again. This time, they found a jawbone with teeth. And then something kind of amazing and perplexing happened. Once news broke that human remains had been found, the Butte County Sheriff's Office got a call. The voice on the other end of the line said, quote, I was watching the news and they were talking about the girl found at Feather Falls.

27:11I was just wondering if you thought of the murder up in Keddie, in Plumas County a couple years ago, where a 12-year-old girl was never found. End quote. And sure enough, dental records confirm that the remains belonged to Tina Sharp. She'd finally been found. This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios upcoming comedy, Ella McKay. From Academy Award-winning writer-director James L. Brooks, Emma Mackey plays Ella McKay, an idealistic young woman who juggles family and work in a story about the people you love and how to survive them. Featuring an all-star cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Loudon, Kumail Nanjiani, Iowa Debris, Julie Kaffner, with Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson.

27:54Ella McKay, in theaters December 12th. Get tickets now. Despite this major discovery, not much was learned through analyzing Tina's remains. They couldn't say how she died, if she'd been sexually assaulted. It seems that they basically just knew it was Tina and that she was gone. Sheila was on a church trip to Mexico with some of her cousins when she heard the news. She describes this moment in her book, saying, quote,

28:39End quote. Years passed, and Tina writes that when she'd call for updates, the Plumas County Sheriff's Office would tell her that they had nothing to report. She says they made no attempt to stay in contact with the victim's families. In the early 2000s, documentary filmmakers Josh Hancock and Amanda Glover began investigating the Keddie murders, and were able to gain access to some case files. Sheila was featured in this documentary in some of the first interviews she'd done since the 80s. It also features some of the only interviews with Marilyn, Justin, and Dana Wingate's family. In her interview, Marilyn makes a shocking statement.

29:20She says that she found a girl's jacket with blood on it underneath their house, and she says she knew this jacket belonged to Tina. But when asked, former Sheriff Doug Thomas said that he had no memory of a bloodstained jacket. Marilyn also confirms that after the murders, Cabin 26 was searched, and investigators found a cabinet containing a noose, hustler magazines, and knives. Now, Marilyn does mention that these knives would kind of make sense. Marty was a chef in both the Army and at the Keddie Resort. Just one of many odd tidbits in this case. But Marilyn also gives us more information about what happened that night.

30:04Marilyn confirms that she did go to bed early that night after the trio returned home from the bar. but she also says that she woke up at around 2am and saw Marty and Bo trying to burn something on the stove. Marilyn also told the sheriff that Bo once told her it wouldn't bother him to kill a child or a woman. Now, this documentary was released in 2005, and soon after, the producers went right back to work on a follow-up. Sheila writes in her book that when the filmmakers thought they were finishing interviews for the second documentary, they made another shocking discovery. Marty had confessed to killing Sue and Tina.

30:44Or at least that's what his former counselor from the Reno VA had reported to the Plumas County Sheriff's Office back in May of 1981, only a month after the murders. The filmmakers track down this counselor, and he interviews with them on the condition that his identity be kept secret. He says he only saw Marty for seven or eight weekly sessions that spring. In his fifth session, Marty told the counselor that he'd been questioned in relation to the Keddie murders, but that he passed a polygraph test. In his second to last session, he began to tell the counselor about a woman who he called an extreme bitch.

31:21He said she was partially responsible for his wife turning against him and wanting a divorce. The counselor said that when Marty came back the next week, he confessed, saying that he, quote, killed the woman and her daughter, but didn't have anything to do with the boys, end quote. He added that he'd killed them using a hammer. The counselor asked why he felt the need to kill Tina when he only had a problem with Sue, to which he says Marty replied that Tina saw everything, and he couldn't have a witness. The counselor says that Marty was calm when talking about Sue's murder, but became flustered when asked about Tina.

31:59He also asked why Tina didn't scream or run away, and Marty said it was because he incapacitated her. He asked about the polygraph test, and Marty told him that, quote, those things are easy to beat. I lied and they let me go. End quote. When asked if he would confess to the sheriff, Marty said that he would think about it, then left. Now, this counselor did what he was supposed to do. He contacted the sheriff's office with this information right away. He says he was told that investigators would be in contact with him. But then, about three days later, Marty showed up at his office without an appointment.

32:38The counselor had some free time and offered to talk with him. But Marty said that there was no need. He was just stopping in to say goodbye. He said he'd gotten a job with a carnival in Northern California. The counselor asked if he'd confessed, and Marty said no. When the counselor told him that he should confess, Marty apparently just smiled. According to investigator Mike Gamberg, agents on the case did reach out to the counselor, but his claims were ultimately brushed off as a he-said-she-said scenario. Now, the filmmakers reached out to Justin again when making this second documentary, but he declined to do another interview, and said the truth would come out soon enough, because he was writing a book about the murders.

33:23But to date, no book has been released. The second documentary also makes note of several case documents. One report states that either on April 4th or April 11th, 1981, Marty told a friend that if he, quote, didn't get things straightened out soon, he might kill someone, end quote. Another report claims that on April 27th, Marty told a friend that he'd start killing Marilyn's boyfriends and people close to her if she did not return to him. There are also apparently three statements that exist in which someone alleges Marty Smart had gotten Tina pregnant, which was his true motive for the killings.

34:04Now, it is important to note that these statements are just things people reported to the sheriff by word of mouth and were not officially confirmed or denied by any means In this documentary, the man who lived in cabin 13 at the time of the killings describes a man with dark, frizzy hair and a white Chevy blazer He claims he saw this man arguing with Sue frequently And they dug deep, they found this man's ex-wife and she also backed up his story In Sheila's book, she says that she believes that Marty is the man that they're talking about. However, her book doesn't mention, and no other sources confirm or deny if Marty drove a white Chevy Blazer.

34:44In the early 2010s, Plumas County got a new sheriff, Greg Hagwood, and the Keddie case was personal to him. He'd gone to school with John and Dana, and even worked with them on a painting crew in the summer of 1980. Hagwood's mom was also one of Tina's teachers at Quincy Elementary. Hagwood says he actually spent many nights in Cabin 28 while he was growing up. One of his friends had lived there before the Sharps moved in. He was determined to solve this case and called in some help. Mike Gamberg was a Plumas County deputy before the murders, but says Sheriff Thomas fired him shortly before the murders took place.

35:22He was then reinstated shortly after but never allowed to work on the Keddie case. He says he worked on every case in the county from 1974 to 1999, but the Keddie case. Again, another odd tidbit. By 2013, Gamberg was working as a private investigator. Hagwood reached out to him and asked if he'd like to help give the case a fresh look over 30 years later. Gamberg also knew John and Dana. He coached them in martial arts and other community activities. He says Dana even came by his house the day before he was killed. They had the passion, they had the emotional investment, but this case was a mess.

36:03Gamberg told reporter Victoria Metcalf that he was met with a great task when he was asked to go through the ketty room filled with evidence. He describes it as a disorganized mess, and says the original investigation log stating what officer took what action on which day was nowhere to be found. He adds that physical evidence from the crime scene, like pieces of the wallpaper and carpet, were really disorganized. But worst of all, he made the discovery that a freezer full of evidence had at some point been unplugged, basically making all that DNA either one contaminated or completely unusable.

36:41It was a total mess. But it didn't take long before Gamberg and Hagwood found new leads. They found what they considered to be Marty Smart's second confession. Buried in these case files, they found a letter written on a floral yellow stationery addressed to Marilyn, sent from Oregon. This was dated April 27, 1981. It reads, quote, I've paid the price for your love, and now that I've bought it with four people's lives, you tell me we are through. Great, what else do you want? End quote. This letter does contain Marty's signature. And according to People Magazine Investigates, Marty's DNA was found on the letter's stamp.

37:23Now, Marilyn is reportedly the person who gave this letter over to the sheriff's office. When asked about it later, she said that she didn't remember that. But she did confirm that the letter was in her ex-husband's handwriting. And it just doesn't stop. Gamberg says that he found another box of unopened, unadmitted evidence that contained another piece of crucial information. It was the audio recording of that call from the person saying that the remains found may have been Tina. See, Gamberg says that he doesn't think that this was just a random call. He thinks this person may be connected to the case.

37:59And the leads just didn't stop. In 2016, the Sheriff's Office gets another tip from an unlikely source. An internet user who goes by the alias DMACC runs Keddie28.com. This is an online forum that welcomes discussion about the case and proposes theories about the killings. One user posted on this forum saying that he'd been junk hunting around Keddie when he found an old hammer in a pond. They didn't think that it was anything of value, so they threw it back. But when they read the details of the Keddie case and saw that Martin Smart claimed he was missing a hammer at the time of the murders, he thought it was worth reporting.

38:37And sure enough, in that pond, investigators found an Eastwig brand hammer with a blue rubber handle that perfectly matched the description of the hammer Martin Smart was missing. Investigators also found a 6-inch hunting knife near the old Keddie store. In 2018, they said that both of these items were being tested. But it doesn't appear that anything came of this. Now, this is an old case, which means a lot of these key players just aren't around anymore. One thing that reports vary on is exactly when Marty and Bo died. Most sources say that Bo died in 1988, but Hancock and Glover's documentary claimed that he was still alive and living in Celebration, Florida in 2005.

39:23Most sources say that Marty died in Oklahoma in 2006, but Sheila told Hancock and Glover that she received a call from the Plumas County Sheriff's Office nearly 10 years earlier in 1997, telling her Marty was dead. The same documentary claims Marty died in the spring of 2000. I know, it's confusing. But in the end, it does appear that both men are now deceased, whatever those dates may be. In 2016, Hagwood and Gamberg told People Magazine Investigates that they believe there were as many as six living persons of interest. Gamberg said, quote, I believe they, at minimum, have first-hand information, and at maximum, participated in or assisted in destroying evidence and hiding Tina's body.

40:11End quote. In a 2021 interview with ABC10's Madison Wade, Gamberg said, quote, I believe there are two individuals that are alive and accessories after the fact. End quote. Now, over the years, Gamberg has discussed testing a lot of things. He wanted to see if that audio recording matched any of the persons of interest. He also said that DNA evidence had been pulled from a piece of tape found at the crime scene, and it matched one of the living people of interest. But I couldn't find any follow-up on this information. And Gamberg's theories don't end here. Here's how he thinks the murders played out.

40:49He believes that Sue Sharp befriended Marilyn, and was giving her advice on how to leave Marty. He believes Marty wanted to get back at Sue for meddling in their relationship, so he enlisted Bo's help to kill her. He thinks John, Dana, and Tina only lost their lives because they were in the way. Gamberg also believes that there would be no reason for Marty and Bo to show up at the Keddie Bar dressed in suits and sunglasses, or to throw a fit over the music, if not to make themselves memorable and establish an alibi. Hagwin also still believes that Tina could be a motive in the killings. He told Madison Wade, quote, You kill three people in a cabin and you leave the remains there to be discovered.

41:30I think Tina was absolutely central to why this happened. I think there was something about Tina that could not be left there to be discovered. It's my strong sense that there's something about Tina that did not allow her to be left there. End quote. Gamberg and Hagwood have also been very frank in their interviews that they believe that the Sheriff's Department and the California Department of Justice mishandled this case. Gamberg even goes as far as to suggest that the Department of Justice was protecting Bo, who could have been a key witness in a larger organized crime. In all of this, People magazine tracks down Doug Thomas, the original sheriff at the time of the murders.

42:10He said, quote, there was no shortage of suspects, but suddenly now everybody 35 or so years later have all figured out what happened, and that all of the investigating officers are corrupt. It's laughable is what it is, end quote. And that's really where the case is today. Cabins 27 and 28 were torn down in the early 2000s, but as of 2018, Cabin 26 still stood. As of Madison Wade's 2021 article, Greg Hagwood was no longer the Plumas County Sheriff. Sheila Sharp and her husband released her book, How to Survive Your Visit to Earth, in 2012. In it, she says, quote, With the information that is currently available, I feel confident that Marty and Bo were indeed the killers.

42:57I believe my mother befriended Marilyn Smart, who was in an abusive relationship, and offered her counsel and support. My mother, who had also been the victim of abuse, no doubt encouraged her friend to leave her husband and seek a better life elsewhere. I believe that Marty, a man who was treated for his inability to handle stress, already fueled by a deep hatred for my mother and blaming her for Marilyn's decision to divorce him, chose to act in revenge toward my mother for what he saw as meddlesome influence. His hatred for my mother, together with a building frustration over the type of music played at the bar in Keddie, the consumption of alcohol, and perhaps encouragement from Beau, created a perfect storm of pent-up violence that descended on Cabin 28 and claimed the lives of four innocent people.

43:43Beau, a man who exhibited a history of parallel behavior to that of a sociopath, was undoubtedly an eager accomplice. I believe that a short time after Marty and Beau left the backdoor bar, they gained entry to our home with the idea of raping and or murdering my mother. I believe that while in the process of assaulting my mother and sister, my brother Johnny and his friend Dana, who had managed to hitchhike back from a day spent in nearby Quincy, California, stumbled into the horrific scene. I believe my mother and sister may have already been or were in the process of being bound with tape and electrical cord when Johnny and Dana arrived.

44:20I can only assume that my brother Johnny, who was ever diligent in his role of the family protector, thrust himself into whatever hostility he witnessed in an attempt to intervene. Perhaps Dana also attempted to aid my family, only to die for his efforts. End quote. Since the murders took place, rumors have continued to circulate around Keddie and now online that Sue was involved in selling drugs, and that that's what ultimately led to her death. I only include that to tell you that there's no evidence of this. Even in 1981, Sheriff Doug Thomas told Dave Muller of the Feather River Bulletin, quote, we've gone through the house several times with a fine-tooth comb, and there was absolutely no traces of drugs or drug paraphernalia found in that home, end quote.

45:08Sheila says that this is one of the hardest things to grapple with. The assumptions about her mom, how she died, her receiving government benefits, she says it's one of the hardest things she's had to deal with in the aftermath of all of this. She wrote, quote, My mother's character has been subject to all manner of cruel supposition, including accusations that she was a drug addict, drug dealer, prostitute, or at the very least an unfit mother. For the record, she was none of these things. She was a kind and loving mother who was doing her very best to raise five children alone. She was dutiful in her attention to each of us, and while we lived in relative poverty, we also lived in a home of love.

45:53My mother's kindness and grace also extended beyond her own family, which may have ultimately been her downfall. End quote. In the end, Sheila blames law enforcement for the case remaining unsolved. She mentions how they allowed the freezer full of evidence to be unplugged, how Sheriff Thomas only took two classes before deciding to hypnotize a key witness. She also says that the Plumas County Sheriff's Department allowed reporter Victoria Metcalf to sprinkle flour around the crime scene. She was apparently trying to determine if the killer or killers had returned. In her book, Sheila also makes a larger statement about the online community surrounding her family's case, saying, quote, while I appreciate their interest in the crime, some have developed a reason to believe that they are an authority on the matter, and often act with arrogance and a genuine lack of concern regarding the welfare of the surviving members of the victim's families.

46:51I would not advise a regular dialogue with people such as this any more than I would suggest that a person attempting to overcome alcoholism should frequent a tavern." End quote. There isn't a lot of information online about Dana Wingate, but through those documentaries, I learned that he was born prematurely and suffered from various medical conditions throughout his youth. He's described as a quiet, kind young man, and the fact that investigators believe he died trying to protect a family that wasn't his own speaks wonders of his character. Sheila says she tries to remember the good moments with her family.

47:30I'll leave you with what she wrote about each of them in her book. Quote, I will forever mourn the precious gift that was my sister. When I think of my brother Johnny, I try to think of the protective and precarious rascal that he was. I try to remember his smile and how much I knew he loved us. On my 36th birthday, I lit a candle for my mother who died at that age. Her death was the end of her affectionate embrace, her comforting strength, her patient love, her snorty laugh, her lemon meringue pie, the guiding words only a mother can give, and all the memories yet to come. End quote. Which brings me right to our call to action.

48:14As I told you, investigators believe there are still people alive who were involved in this crime. Sue's three living children are still out there, wondering what happened to their mother, brother, and sister. Dana Wingate's family still deserves closure. Please share this case. Also, I'd really like to encourage you to get Sheila's book. I've heard about this case for years, and our reporter Brooke has worked on this episode for a very long time, but nothing compares to Sheila's first-hand account.

48:49As a reminder, Sue, John, and Tina Sharp, and Dana Wingate lost their lives sometime between Saturday, April 11th, and Sunday, April 12th, 1981, in Keddie, California. If you have any information, please call the Plumas County Sheriff's Office at 530-283-3660. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time. Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice Media Original. This episode contains writing and research assistance by Brooke Haynes. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player.

49:34It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.

49:55Thank you.

50:29Welcome to the Secret After Show. The door is open, the dogs are running around, and emotionally supporting us. Let's get into the case. I will say that this is one of the hardest crime scenes I've ever had to discuss. Um, and there's always that fine line between adding details you think are necessary that can help solve this case and not being too graphic. My goal, of course, was to be respectful, and I hope that that came across. One part of this case that I couldn't get over was that first sheriff. Him doing the hypnosis himself, doing the marriage counseling. I mean, maybe that's just a sign of the times, right?

51:12and I hate to be that way because I do feel obviously it was inappropriate given today's standards, but small town, small town sheriff, I don't think that he had bad intentions, but maybe I'm being naive. I will say that I agree with Sheila that there were a lot of missteps in this case. Like, the evidence freezer, I wanted to crumble and melt into a thousand and pieces when I saw that. It's just, it's so sad, and there's nothing you can say to a family that will ever make that okay. Like, accidents happen, absolutely, but when that accident could mean the difference between your loved one getting justice or not, that's a hard thing to understand, give grace for, and forgive.

52:04One thing that also got me was how Marty went back to that count. I I mean, allegedly, right? They say that this is a he said, she said situation. But how Marty apparently took the time to go back to the counselor and say goodbye after confessing? And I couldn't get past that smile part. Something about that just really creeped me out. I will say that something I discovered through researching this episode as well is that this case is based off of one of my favorite horror films, and I had no idea. As I travel through true crime, I've really had this like crisis with my love of horror movies. I've talked about this before, but, you know, I grew up on horror movies, like primarily horror movies, me and Alyssa.

52:50I was watching Chucky at like four and five or whatever. It was one of my favorite movies. I just always loved horror. I grew up with it. It was primarily what I watched. and now that I dive into true crime, you know, seeing something like the movie that was inspired by this case, The Strangers, um, it makes me look at everything differently. And I really try not to be like this huge wet blanket in true crime, but it just, it makes me feel bad. I guess what it is for me is it always goes back to Alyssa. How would I feel about somebody making a horror movie based on her life. Especially something like The Strangers that appears to be extremely loosely based and that they might be just using this case to, like, say it was inspired by that.

53:39I don't know. I am conflicted about horror and, honestly, I would love to know what you guys think. I think that there's a certain type of horror that's like no harm no foul, right? Like, like child's play. Like, find me a case where a doll comes to life and kills people and do not name Annabelle, okay? I do not name Annabelle. I guess maybe there are no good examples. Maybe even the paranormal creeping into true crime is also kind of icky. I don't know. I'm telling you, I am having a crisis of conscience right now. Let me know what you think, because I am conflicted. This week, I'm not watching anything, but I am looking forward to the Fallout series.

54:20Now, my total nerd is gonna show um but this is like the combination of content that i love one i love are you okay we got a dog coughing um i think you're okay corn all right he's fine i love the combination of like apocalypse like i love apocalypse movies don't i don't know i don't know what it is you can you can call it drama or whatever i love apocalypse movies, starting over from scratch in a brand new world. It's so interesting to me. And of course, you guys know that those June's Journey ads aren't lies. I love video games. It is hands down my favorite way to decompress. I love getting lost in a game.

55:07It's just, I don't know, I grew up with a Nintendo controller in my hand with my four older brothers, and it's something that stuck with me my whole life. So if you guys don't know, Fallout is based off of the video game Fallout about the apocalypse, essentially. And they're coming out with a series, so I'm super excited to watch that. It looks really good and really cool. Not true crime associated, but that is what I'm into this week. I will also say that, and maybe this is the trauma talking again, but I had this like weird itch in my brain. I remember this book from my childhood called The Island of the Blue Dolphin.

55:45And I was like, I want to read this again. And so I grabbed it off my shelf at like 7pm, sat down and read it all in one sitting. I don't know if that was like a normal thing for people to read growing up. But you know, it reminded me because it's like what made me fall in love with the earth and caring about the earth and all that. But if you haven't read it. It's essentially about a little girl who is left behind by her tribe when white men come and take her away. And eventually, you know, they come back for her. And what's like awful is like the point of the story is like kind of the worst at the end.

56:27So it's all about her like surviving on her own and like the beauty of her culture and these traditions and the earth. And it's so cool. And then at the end, she's like so excited to like go be colonized or whatever, not to spoil it for you. But yeah, that's what I read. It had an unexpected ending that I was able to reevaluate as an adult, I guess. It's just, it's interesting to me too that that was a book I believe I read in school. And with that message, I don't know. I don't know, y 'all. But that's what I read. Again, if you have read Island of the Blue Dolphin, please tell me I am not alone.

57:10Please let me know in the comments if you read it, if you've read it recently, and what you think. On to our segment of hope. And I actually pulled it from this week's episode. I know, I'm just pulling hope out of everywhere. But I wanted to talk about the hammer being found. Really the crowdsourcing of that information, getting it to police, and then it, you know, being a part of this case. Albeit it doesn't appear to be a huge part of this case. It was evidence that was found. And I think that that's really cool. You know, I'll admit that even for me, sometimes it's hard to see the benefits of forums.

57:51You know what I mean? Especially when there are just like thousands of posts that are just mean and bashing. I guess I'm more talking about like a Reddit. I would say that something like a WebSleuths is like much better than Reddit. But I wanted to really point that out and point it out that it gave me more hope in these forums too, to be totally honest. I think it's just, it's really cool. You know, there's so much bashing of the true crime community and people being too involved in cases. And I'll admit, I do that too, because I do think that sometimes people cross a line. But this is, you know, the hope that is in those forums.

58:28Like, that's best case scenario, that all this talking about this case leads to something tangible like that hammer being found. So that is my segment of hope. but as always thank you I love you and I'll talk to you next time