The Keddie Cabin Murders — A Nightmare in the Woods — Paranormal History

What Happened at Keddie Cabin?

On the night of April 11, 1981, four people were brutally murdered at Cabin 28 in the small, isolated resort community of Keddie, California. The victims were bound with medical tape and wire, stabbed with a knife, and bludgeoned with a hammer. No weapon was ever recovered, and no DNA or fingerprints were found at the scene. One of the victims’ daughters, 12-year-old Tina Sharp, was discovered miles away from the cabin three days later, unable to explain what had happened. The case remains open more than 40 years later and is considered one of California’s most disturbing unsolved murders.

The Keddie Cabin murders stand out not only for their brutality but for the sheer number of unanswered questions that surround them. The crime occurred in a remote cabin in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, far from the nearest police station, and the killer or killers managed to enter and leave the cabin without being detected by neighbors or other residents of the resort. The fact that two children survived the attack—one of whom was in the cabin at the time of the murders—adds another layer of mystery to an already perplexing case.

History

Keddie: A Fading Resort Community

Keddie was once a thriving resort community in Plumas County, California, located in the scenic Feather River canyon in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The community was centered around the Keddie Resort, which had been established in the early 20th century and attracted visitors from across California who came to fish, hike, and enjoy the mountain scenery. By the early 1980s, however, the resort was in decline, and many of the cabins that had once housed vacationers were now occupied by permanent residents who lived in the area year-round.

Cabin 28 was one of these permanent residences. It was occupied by the Sharp family: Sue Sharp, a 36-year-old mother who had recently separated from her husband; her sons Johnny, 15, and Greg, 14; her daughter Tina, 12; and her boyfriend’s children, including 12-year-old Justin Smartt, who was staying at the cabin that night. The cabin was a modest, weather-beaten structure with two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen, and it was located near the main road that ran through the community.

The Night of April 11, 1981

The events of April 11, 1981, began in the early evening, when Sue Sharp and her children settled into Cabin 28 for the night. Justin Smartt was staying with the family, and the group watched television before going to bed. In the early hours of the morning—sometime between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m.—someone entered the cabin and attacked the occupants.

The first indication that something was wrong came from the neighbors in Cabin 26, who reported hearing muffled sounds that they initially interpreted as a television or radio playing loudly. Around 7:30 a.m. on April 12, Justin Smartt, who had been sleeping in the cabin during the murders, emerged from the building and ran to the neighboring cabin to raise the alarm. He was visibly shaken and told the neighbors that something terrible had happened.

When the neighbors entered Cabin 28, they discovered a scene of unimaginable horror. Sue Sharp and her son Johnny were found in the living room, bound with medical tape and wire, stabbed and bludgeoned. Sue’s boyfriend, 35-year-old Dana Wingate, was also found in the living room, similarly bound and killed. Greg Sharp, Sue’s 14-year-old son, was found in one of the bedrooms, also bound and murdered. The cabin was covered in blood, and the attack had been carried out with extreme violence.

The Discovery of Tina Sharp

The most unsettling aspect of the case was the discovery of Tina Sharp, Sue’s 12-year-old daughter. Tina was not in the cabin when the bodies were found, and her whereabouts were unknown for three days. On April 14, her body was discovered along a gravel road approximately six miles from Keddie, near the town of Chester. She had been stabbed multiple times and bludgeoned, and her body had been wrapped in a blanket and left in a clearing by the side of the road.

The discovery of Tina’s body raised more questions than it answered. How had she been transported six miles from the cabin without being detected? Who had killed her, and why had they left her body in such a conspicuous location? And what had Tina seen or experienced during the attack that might explain why she was targeted separately from the other victims?

The Survivors: Justin Smartt’s Account

Justin Smartt, the 12-year-old boy who had been sleeping in the cabin during the murders, was the only surviving witness to the attack. According to his account, he had been sleeping in one of the bedrooms when he was awakened by the sound of screaming. He described hearing multiple voices—some of which he believed belonged to men—and the sounds of a struggle. He told investigators that he had hidden under his blanket during the attack and that the killers had not discovered him.

Justin’s account was difficult to verify, and his testimony was treated with caution by investigators, who noted that the trauma of the event may have affected his memory and perception. He was placed in protective custody shortly after the murders and was eventually placed with a foster family, as his own family had been killed in the attack.

The Mystery

The Medical Tape and Wire: Sign of Premeditation

The use of medical tape and wire to bind the victims suggested that the attack was premeditated. The materials used to restrain the victims were not improvised—they were the kind of supplies that might be found in a medical kit or a workshop. This level of preparation indicated that the killers had planned the attack in advance and had brought the necessary tools with them to the cabin.

The medical tape was of a specific brand that was commonly available in pharmacies and hardware stores, and it did not provide any leads that could be used to identify the killers. The wire was similarly generic, and no fingerprints or DNA were recovered from either the tape or the wire. The lack of physical evidence suggested that the killers had taken precautions to avoid leaving traces of their identity at the scene.

The Missing Weapon

One of the most puzzling aspects of the case is the absence of a murder weapon. The victims had been stabbed with a knife and bludgeoned with a hammer, but neither weapon was found at the scene or in the surrounding area. Extensive searches of the cabin and the surrounding woods turned up no trace of the weapons, suggesting that the killers had taken them away after the attack.

The absence of the weapons meant that investigators could not analyze them for fingerprints or DNA, and they could not determine whether the weapons were brought to the cabin by the killers or taken from the cabin during the attack. This lack of evidence significantly hampered the investigation and made it more difficult to identify the suspects.

The Cabin’s Open Door

Another disturbing detail was the fact that the cabin’s door was found open when the neighbors arrived to investigate. This suggested that the killers had either left the door open when they fled or that someone had opened it after the attack. The open door raised questions about whether the killers had entered the cabin through the door or through another point of entry, such as a window or a back entrance.

Investigators examined the cabin’s windows and found that one of them could be opened from the outside, providing a possible entry point for the killers. However, no fingerprints or other evidence were found on the window frame, and it was not possible to determine definitively whether the killers had entered through the window or through the front door.

Theories: A Crime of Passion or a Random Attack?

Theories about the motive behind the Keddie Cabin murders range from a crime of passion to a random attack by strangers. Some investigators have speculated that the murders were carried out by someone who knew the victims personally—possibly a former boyfriend or husband of Sue Sharp—and that the attack was motivated by jealousy or revenge. Others have suggested that the killers may have been strangers who targeted the cabin because of its isolation and the vulnerability of its occupants.

The theory that the murders were committed by someone known to the victims is supported by the fact that the killers appeared to have targeted specific individuals in the cabin—Sue Sharp, Johnny Sharp, and Dana Wingate—while leaving Justin Smartt unharmed. This suggests that the killers may have had a personal motive for targeting the Sharp family and that Justin’s survival was either a mistake or a deliberate choice.

Evidence and Investigations

The Original Investigation

The investigation into the Keddie Cabin murders was led by the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the California Department of Justice and the FBI. The investigation was extensive, involving interviews with hundreds of witnesses, forensic analysis of the crime scene, and a review of the victims’ personal relationships and backgrounds. However, the investigation was hampered by the remote location of the crime, the lack of physical evidence, and the passage of time.

The police conducted a thorough search of the cabin and the surrounding area, collecting evidence and interviewing neighbors and other residents of the Keddie community. They also investigated several suspects, including a man named Martin Smartt, Justin’s father, who had a history of domestic violence and who was suspected of being involved in the murders. However, Martin Smartt was never charged, and the investigation eventually went cold.

“We had very little physical evidence to work with. There were no fingerprints, no DNA, no weapon. The killers had been extremely careful, and they had left almost nothing behind.” — Plumas County Sheriff’s Investigator, 1981

The Cabin’s Demolition and the Loss of Evidence

In 2014, Cabin 28 was demolished as part of a redevelopment project in the Keddie community. The demolition was controversial, as some investigators and family members of the victims argued that the cabin should have been preserved as a potential crime scene. The demolition removed any possibility of conducting further forensic analysis of the cabin, and it effectively ended any hope of recovering new evidence from the scene.

The loss of the cabin was a significant setback for the investigation, as modern forensic techniques—such as DNA profiling, digital imaging, and advanced chemical analysis—might have been able to extract new information from the crime scene that was not available to investigators in 1981. The demolition was criticized by the families of the victims, who argued that the case remained unsolved and that the cabin should have been preserved until the killers were brought to justice.

Modern Reinvestigations

In recent years, the Keddie Cabin murders have been the subject of renewed interest from investigators and cold case researchers. In 2016, the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office announced that they were reopening the case, using modern forensic techniques to reexamine the physical evidence that had been collected in 1981. The reinvestigation has involved the use of DNA profiling, digital imaging, and other advanced techniques to analyze the evidence and identify potential suspects.

The reinvestigation has also involved a review of the original case files, including witness statements, forensic reports, and investigative notes. The review has uncovered several inconsistencies and gaps in the original investigation, which may have contributed to the failure to identify the killers. The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office has indicated that they are pursuing several new leads in the case, though they have not publicly identified any new suspects.

What Do You Think?

The Keddie Cabin murders remain one of the most disturbing and perplexing cold cases in California history. The brutality of the attack, the absence of physical evidence, and the survival of two children—one of whom was present during the murders—have fueled decades of speculation and investigation, yet the identity of the killers remains unknown.

Some believe that the murders were committed by someone known to the victims, possibly a former partner or family member with a grudge, while others argue that the crime was a random act of violence carried out by strangers who targeted the isolated cabin. The fact that the killers managed to enter and leave the cabin without being detected, and that they took the murder weapons with them, suggests a level of planning and execution that is unusual for a random crime.

Whatever the truth, the Keddie Cabin murders serve as a reminder of the violence that can occur in even the most remote and seemingly peaceful communities. The case continues to haunt the families of the victims and the residents of Keddie, and it remains one of the most compelling unsolved mysteries in American criminal history.

Summary

Four people were murdered at Cabin 28 in Keddie, California, on April 11, 1981
The victims were bound with medical tape and wire, stabbed and bludgeoned with extreme violence
No DNA, no fingerprints, and no murder weapon were ever recovered
12-year-old Tina Sharp was found dead six miles from the cabin three days later
Bottom line: The Keddie Cabin murders are one of California’s most disturbing and enduring unsolved cases, a nightmare in the woods that continues to defy explanation