In 1981, Glenda “Sue” Sharp was a single mother who had moved her family of six to Cabin 28 of the Keddie Resort in Keddie, California, part of Plumas County. The family had been living in relative poverty in a town of 66 people. On April 11th, Sue’s daughter, Sheila Sharp came home to find her family slain in their cabin.
Her mother Sue Sharp, brother Johnny Sharp, and his friend Dana Wingate had been bound by electrical wiring. Sharp’s little sister, Tina Sharp, was missing from the scene. The youngest Sharps, Greg Sharp and Rick Sharp, along with their friend, Martin Smartt, were found undisturbed and sleeping in the room next door.
A bent steak knife, bloody butcher knife and a claw hammer were found on a table near the bodies. Blood stains on the kitchen walls displayed the force used to kill the three.
On the third anniversary of the slaying, Plumas County police received an anonymous tip revealing the location of the missing Sharp sibling. Tina’s skull was found in an entirely different county 50 miles away from the cabin. The tipster being able to identify the skull as Tina’s raised alarm for police. Whoever this tipster was, they were involved in more than just finding the girl’s skull.
County Police have only identified two potential suspects over the last 40 years; Martin Smartt and John “Bo” Boubede. Smartt lived nearby to the Sharps and his wife had allegedly been receiving marriage counseling from Sue. He was upset by these counseling sessions, believing that Sue was trying to meddle in his marriage.
Smartt also happened to be the father of Martin Smartt, one of the boys found undisturbed in the next room in Cabin 28. This would be an explanation for why the boys weren’t hurt with Smartt not wanting to harm his son. Police believed that the murders couldn’t have been the work of one person, so they added Boubede, Smartt’s roommate, as an accomplice.
Soon after the massacre, Smartt fled to Nevada where he confessed to his therapist about killing the Sharps. The therapist raised an alert to Plumas police who strangely never took action. Smartt confessed again in a letter to his ex-wife Marilyn, the same one that Sue was giving counseling to. The letter read, “I’ve paid the price of your love & now I’ve bought it with four people’s lives.” One again Plumas police didn’t take action.