Sue Sharp

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Plumas County Sheriffs Office (CA)

Offense Location:

Keddie, California

Summary:

Glenna Susan "Sue" Sharp (born March 29, 1945, age 36) was the victim of an unsolved quadruple homicide that occurred over the night of April 11–12, 1981, in Keddie, California. She was found in Cabin 28 of the Keddie Resort along with her son John Sharp and his friend Dana Wingate, all brutally beaten, stabbed, and strangled. Her 12-year-old daughter Tina Sharp disappeared that night and her remains were not found until 1984.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

In July 1979, Sue Sharp left her home in Connecticut after separating from her husband, James Sharp, and relocated to northern California with her five children to be closer to her brother Don. She moved to Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort in fall 1980. On April 11, 1981, at around 11:30 a.m., Sue, her daughter Sheila, and son Greg drove from the residence of their friends, the Meeks family, to retrieve Rick, who was attending school. They happened upon John and his friend Dana Hall Wingate hitchhiking at the mouth of the canyon from Quincy to Keddie and drove them about 6 miles to Keddie. That same evening, Sheila had plans to spend the night with the Seabolt family, who lived in adjacent cabin 27, while Sue remained at home with Rick, Greg, and the boys' young friend Justin Smartt. The bodies of Wingate, Sue and John Sharp were found on the morning of April 12 by Sue's 14-year-old daughter Sheila, who had been sleeping at a friend's house. Sue's two younger sons, Rick and Greg, as well as their friend Justin Smartt, were also in the house but were unharmed. The three had been bound by medical and electrical tape and had either been viciously stabbed, strangled, or bludgeoned. Sharp's 12-year-old daughter Tina was missing. Her remains would not be found for three years, 80 miles away in Butte County.

Additional Details:

The main suspects identified were Martin Smartt (died 2000) and John Boubede (died 1988). Justin's stepfather Martin Smartt, a neighbor and main suspect, claimed that a claw hammer had inexplicably gone missing from his home. In May 1981, a VA counselor reported that Martin Smartt had confessed to killing Sue and Tina Sharp. The VA counselor's report came weeks after the murders, while Smartt was still alive and locatable. When the DOJ was alerted to this confession in 1981, they dismissed it as "hearsay." The primary suspects, Martin Smartt and his friend John "Bo" Boubede, were questioned and allowed to leave Plumas County within days of the murders. Multiple leads and suspects were examined in the intervening years, but no charges were filed. On April 11, 1984 — exactly three years to the day of the murders — a bottle collector was walking at Camp 18 near Feather Falls, roughly 62 miles from Keddie. He looked down and discovered a human cranium and part of a jawbone. In June 1984, forensic pathologists confirmed the heartbreaking truth: the remains belonged to Tina Sharp. In a twist that highlights the chaos of the investigation, an anonymous caller phoned the Butte County sheriff shortly after the discovery, identifying the remains as Tina's. A recording of this critical tip was found decades later, sitting at the bottom of an evidence box. In 2016, Plumas County special investigator Mike Gamberg, who had reopened the case with former sheriff Greg Hagwood three years earlier, addressed the quality of the original investigation directly. He said that someone just coming out of the police academy would have done a better job. In 2016 a hammer was recovered from a pond down the road from where Cabin 28 once stood. The hammer was consistent with the missing one from Smartt's home. Investigators believe it was placed there deliberately. In 2018 DNA analysis of medical tape recovered from the original crime scene, tape that had been used to bind the victims, produced a match. The DNA belonged to a known living suspect. Investigator Gamberg confirmed the match. Both Gamberg and Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood believe that possibly as many as six people were involved in one capacity or another in the murders or the cover-up. The former Sharp home was condemned and demolished in 2004.

Case Last Updated:

Nov 01, 2026