• Missing Since 12/07/1958
• Missing From Portland, Oregon
• Classification Lost/Injured Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 48 years old
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female.

Details of Disappearance

Barbara disappeared with her family: her husband Kenneth, and three daughters, Barbie, Susan, 13, and Virginia, 11. The Martins disappeared from their hometown of Portland, Oregon on December 7, 1958.

They set off that day in their cream and red nine-passenger 1954 Ford station wagon, en route for Columbia Gorge, where they planned to collect greenery to decorate their home for Christmas. They bought gasoline at Cascade Locks late that afternoon. They were seen leaving a restaurant in Hood River, Oregon late in the afternoon, on the way back to Portland.

The Martins never arrived home. In February 1959, a searcher discovered tire tracks matching their vehicle heading off a cliff into the Columbia River, near The Dalles, Oregon. In May of that year, a river drilling rig near the site of the tire tracks hooked something heavy and metal on its anchor. A couple of days later, Susan and Virginia's bodies were found downstream, near Bonneville Dam.

In mid-February 2025, a car matching the description of the Martin family's missing 1954 Ford was found submerged upside-down in the mud and debris at Cascade Locks. Authorities have removed pieces of the vehicle and stated they were 99% certain that it was the Martins' car. Three people's remains were also located, and they were identified as Barbara, Barbie and Kenneth's in April 2026.