They were the definition of wholesome: Santa suits, candy canes, holiday cards. But in December 1958, the Martin family disappeared without a trace. This week, Morgan and Kaelyn dive into a case full of curious clues—abandoned cars, shifting witness statements, and a station wagon that seemed to vanish into thin air. Clues is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t Miss out on all things Clues! YouTube: @CluesPod | @crimehousestudios Instagram: @cluespodcast | @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia Clues is hosted by Morgan Absher & Kaelyn Moore Instagram: @morgsyabsher | @itskaelynmoore TikTok: @twohottakes | @heartstartspounding To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What happened to the Martin family?
You have Donald, and then he happens to be connected to the two people seen in the cafe that left shortly after. And then the family was spotted, pulled over on the side of the road, talking to two people.
There's a lot of string that starts going up to Donald.
We might get lost in the yarn today. I don't know. We will see.
I agree. So on December 28th, news reports start coming out on an ex-convict's abandoned car and the potential connection to the disappearance of the Martin family. So the car is presented as, quote, the most valuable clue in the Martin case yet by Oregonian reporter Jerry Pratt, who interviewed a local sheriff.
And the sheriff didn't name the ex-con connected with the car, but he said that he'd been in Oregon State Penitentiary for forging a check. And he said that the ex-con was also a hobbyist photographer who may have seen Ken Martin's 8mm film cameras. And these details aren't super important, but they seemed like they might have been at the time.
So on the next day, December 29th, the newspaper publicly names both ex-cons and it shows the mugshot of a man named Lester Price. So the investigation turns to focus on those ex-cons, Lester Price and Roy Light, the abandoned Chevy and various theories about foul play. Did the ex-cons make the Martins disappear? Did someone hire them to kill the family?
And around this time, witnesses in Los Angeles claim they saw Lester Price in town through December 9th, so he couldn't have been in Oregon to cross paths with the Martin family on December 7th. And there's more information about what happened to Roy and Lester, but they were ultimately forgotten as suspects in this case.
But before we move on, there's one really important note that I want to make. And that's that Roy Light allegedly carjacked someone by hiding in the backseat under a blanket and surprising them. And if that was his M.O., it seems like it could have been something that happened to the Martin family as well. Hiding in the backseat and then the family comes in and you're able to carjack them.
Yeah. And I'm not sure if it was your episode or where I saw it, but I think the person that he carjacked, wasn't it like a sheriff or something?
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