A young family embarked on a spontaneous camping trip in the Oregon wilderness during the Labor Day weekend of 1974. Having mysteriously disappeared with no signs of disturbance, authorities and relatives were understandably baffled however several months later, the harrowing truth would come to light. Tonight on Dark Curiosities, The Cowden Family Massacre.
Richard Cowden was a 28 year old logging truck driver and was married to 22 year-old Belinda, the couple parents to five year old David and five-month old Melissa, the family residing in White City, Oregon. In 1974, the Labor Day weekend was between the 30th of August and the 1st of September and Richard had planned to haul gravel for the driveway of his home and was keen to complete the job over this time. The truck he had planned to use however unexpectedly broke down, therefore he had to cancel his plans.
Instead, the Cowdens decided to take a trip to the Siskiyou Mountains in order to go camping. The campsite, which was familiar to them, was located near Carberry Creek in Copper, Oregon - the family arriving on the 30th of August along with their Basset Hound, named Dropy. Upon their arrival, Richard parked their vehicle - a 1956 Ford pickup truck - on Carberry Creek Road which lay a short distance from the campground.
During the morning of Sunday the 1st of September at approximately 9:00 a. m. Richard and David walked to the Copper General Store to buy milk and subsequently left to return to the camp.
This would be the last time any member of the Cowden family would be seen alive. Previous arrangements had been made for Richard, Belinda and their children to visit Belinda's mother on their way home to have dinner, however she grew increasingly concerned when they did not show up that evening, especially since she lived less than one mile from the camping ground. Belinda's mother decided to travel to the campsite to check and see if there were any problems.
Upon her arrival, she could not find anybody present. The truck was parked up and appeared untouched, the keys lying on a picnic table along with Belinda's purse. Clothes were still inside the vehicle, only the bathing suits were missing, the camp stove had been assembled and nearby was also a diaper bag and a plastic dish pan full of cold water.
A packet of Belinda's cigarettes lay open and Richards expensive wristwatch and wallet lay on the rugged terrain. A half-finished carton of milk was at the scene and was the same product bought by Richard and David earlier in the day. Following her search, taking approximately an hour, Belinda's mother contacted the authorities.
The local sheriff, troopers and the District Three office of Oregon state police arrived at the scene and scoured the area until darkness fell. A state trooper, officer Erickson said of the scene, "That camp was spooky. Even the milk was still on the table.
" Lieutenant Mark Kezar who led the investigation later revealed that the initial search was delayed for 'maybe a day' since the police believed that it was extremely unlikely that anything violent had happened there. In the early hours of the second of September, the family dog, Dropy, was found clawing at the door of the Copper General Store. Along with the authorities, hundreds of volunteers aided in the search for the Cowden family, as well as the Oregon National Guard, explorer scouts and the US States Forest Service who searched over 25 miles of road and trails surrounding the area using aircraft and thermal imaging however their efforts were fruitless.
The searching concluded on the 7th of September, yet family and friends were not going to give up. The entire case puzzled police, the family had no reason to vanish. They were on top of their finances and robbery seemed unlikely as wallets and their contents had been abandoned at the scene.
Kidnapping seemed unlikely as well for there were no signs of struggle. For such a long time there was no evidence to suggest that anything was awry. Authorities conducted hundreds of interviews and offered a reward of $2000 for any information leading to clues about the whereabouts of the Cowdens.
With hunting season beckoning, Richard Cowden's sister wrote to the Medford Trail Tribune, telling people to "Stay alert to anything that could be connected to a man, woman, a five-year-old child or a five month old baby. Even though we try not to let our hopes dwindle that they will be found alive, we ask that you will even check freshly turned piles of earth. We will truly appreciate any clue or help that some hunter may find.
" Despite a petition from the public asking the FBI to investigate the disappearance of the Cowdens, it was rejected, authorities sating the reason as being there was simply no evidence to suggest the family had been kidnapped or come to any harm. Already in Washington and Oregon at the time, eight women were missing and police attempted to make some sort of connection however it would actually be proven that these women were linked to the infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy. On the 12th of April 1975, seven months after they mysteriously vanished, the truth about what happened to the Cowden family was uncovered.
Two gold prospectors from Forest Grove, Oregon, were hiking through the Woodland near Carberry Creek when they came upon a gruesome discovery. Seven miles from the Cowden's campsite, the decomposing body of a man was found tied to a tree on a steep hillside. In a cave close by, where the entrance had been crammed with rocks, the bodies of an adult female, a child and an infant were discovered.
They were all positively identified by dental records and confirmed to be Richard, Belinda, David and Melissa Cowden. More details were revealed from the autopsy reports. Belinda and young David had lost their lives from a .
22 calibre gunshot and Melissa died from severe head trauma. The authorities were unable to determine Richard's cause of death but were firm of the opinion that he had died where he was found, whereas his wife and children were likely to have been killed elsewhere. No murder weapon was ever found, dispelling the idea that Richard murdered his family and then committed suicide.
Lieutenant Kezar is quoted as saying, "The whole nature of the thing smacks of a weirdo", adding that the police had more information but were unwilling to share it at the time. What is believed, is that after purchasing the milk from the store the family went swimming in Carberry Creek and were possibly abducted at gunpoint sometime before noon. They were likely driven further up the steep hill and three of them were shot.
Conducting further interviews focusing on those who had been at the campsite on the 1st of September, a family from Los Angeles, California, were walking through the grounds when they witnessed two men and a woman parked nearby in a pickup truck. The Californian family recalled, "They acted like they were waiting for us to leave and frankly they made us nervous, so we moved on. " Lieutenant Kezar strongly believed that whoever was responsible for the crime had good knowledge of the area and was aware of the cave's location.
A resident of Grant's Pass who had volunteered in the search for the Cowdens told police that he had already searched the cave and it had been empty. To verify his story, he took police to the cave he spoke of and indeed it was the same one where the bodies of Belinda and the children were found. So far there has only ever been one suspect in the case.
Dwain Lee Little was a resident in Jackson County, Oregon and 25 years of age at the time of the murders. Three months before the Cowdens' disappearance, on the 24th of May, he had been paroled from the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. He had been charged and convicted for the rape and murder of 15 year old Orla Fay Phipps in 1964.
Authorities determined that Little had been in Copper during Labor Day weekend of 1974. Little's girlfriend told police that she had seen him with a . 22 calibre during the festive season of 1974 and in January 1975 his parole was revoked and he was returned to prison.
He gained parole once again in April 1977, however he went on to sexually assault and beat a pregnant woman - 23-year old Margie Hunter - whose car had broken down near Portland, Oregon. Hunter and her child both survived the ordeal. Dwain Lee Little was convicted of attempted homicide and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences.
He was never cooperative when it came to mental health treatment and refused to talk about the crimes he was accused of. It is speculated that the woman and two men seen in the pickup truck reported by the Californian family were Little and his parents. Their truck matched the description given to the police however the Littles deny any knowledge of the disappearances.
A miner who lived in a cabin in close proximity of the creek, claimed that Dwain and his parents stopped by on Monday the 2nd of September and signed the guestbook. Later, an inmate of the Penitentiary who had shared a cell with Little, claimed that he had confessed to the Cowden murders. Despite the plethora of circumstantial evidence, Dwain Lee Little has never been charged with the crime.
A few months after the murders, Richard Cowden's father committed suicide and whilst this may seem suspicious to some, he was cleared of ever being involved in the deaths of his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Without a doubt, foul play was involved in the massacre of the Cowden family, however what is not clear is the reasons why and whether Dwain Little was the perpetrator or was someone else responsible? The Cowden family murders has been described as being one of Oregon's most haunting and baffling mysteries, their disappearance resulting in one of the largest search efforts in the state's history.
Over 40 years have passed since an innocent family were slaughtered in the wilderness and authorities are no closer to finding answers and a conclusion to this case.
