A Labor Day family camping trip in Southwest Oregon launches one of the largest search and rescue operations in the country after the Cowden family fails to show up for a scheduled holiday weekend dinner. Months into the investigation, police uncover a massacre hidden in a cave and a prime suspect emerges but to this day authorities are no closer to catching a suspect still at large.
Richard and Belinda Cowden
Belinda and Melissa Cowden
Cowden’s dog, Droopy
Dwain Lee Little
Orla Fay Fipps
Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest, Copper, Oregon
Applegate Lake
Episode Source Material
- “Ride On Horseback Leads Girl To Death” by the Associated Press
- “Dwayne Little Sentenced to Life Term” by the Eugene Register-Guard
- “Oregon v. Little” Find A Case September 20, 1967
- “Campers Lost Near Medford” by staff for The Capital Journal
- “No Trace of Family Is Found” by The Associated Press
- “Hunt Widens For Missing Family of 4” by staff for The Statesman Journal
- “The Family ‘Just Vanished;” by The Associated Press
- “Abandoned Gold Mines Searched For Family” by Staff for The Capital Journal
- “Police Call Off Hunt For Family of 4” by The Associated Press
- “Search Called Off For Missing Family” by The Associated Press
- “Police Still Seek Clues to Cowdens” by The Associated Press
- “Food On Table, Family Missing For 10 Days, Fear Dead” by staff for Greater Oregon
- “Man To Be Questioned About Vanished Family” by staff for The Capital Journal
- “Location of Family Remains A Mystery” by The Associated Press as published in The Statesman Journal
- “FBI Won’t Probe Vanishing Family” by The Associated Press
- “Missing Family-The Mystery Still Unsolved” by Joe Frazier for The Associated Press
- “Missing Cowden Family Becomes Case No. 655244” by Peggyann Hutchinson for The Medford Mail Tribune as published in The Capital Journal
- “Police Clear Man In Murders, Lost Family” by The Associated Press in the Albany Democrat-Herald
- “Authorities Are Still Seeking Clues To Missing Family” by Peggyann Hutchinson for the Medford Mail Tribune
- “Police Say Bodies of Medford Family Found” by The Associated Press
- “Mystery Continues To Surround S. Oregon Deaths of Family of Four” by The Associated Press
- “2 Cowdens Shot in Head, Says Examiner” by The Associated Press
- “State Police Lack Leads in 4 deaths” by The Associated Press
- “Skeletons Found Of Medford Family” by staff for Greater Oregon
- “Mourned” by The World
- “Police Seek LA Family To Aid In Murder Case” by The Associated Press
- “Gold Seekers Uncovered The Grisly Remains of Family” by Peggyann Hutchinson for the Medford Mail Tribune
- “Police Still Active on Bizarre Case of Murdered Family” by The Associated Press as published in The Corvallis-Gazette-Times
- “Hunt Goes On In Family Murder Case” by Joe Frasier for The Associated Press
- “Rape Suspect Is Also Suspect in Deaths” by The Associated Press
- “Man Accused In Recent Case Is Suspect in 1974 Deaths of Camper Family” by The Associated Press
- “Inmate Claims Dwayne Little Admitted Killing Family” by The United Press International via the Eugene Register-Guard
- “Convict Admits Hoax In Confessing Crime” by The Associated Press
- “The Cowden Family – Strange and Disturbing Murders In The U.S. Wilderness” by Strange Outdoors
- “Unsolved So. Oregon: Mystery In the Woods Pt. 1” by Amanda Rose for KOBI NBC5 News
- “Unsolved So. Oregon: Mystery In the Woods Pt. 2” by Amanda Rose for KOBI NBC5 News
- Universally Frustrating For Police Officers, Family Members and The Community Are Southern Oregon’s…Unsolved Murders by Sarah Lemon for the Mail Tribune,
- Dwaine Lee Little Inmate Profile, Oregon Department of Corrections
- Applegate Lake Carberry Creek Information
- Applegate Lake History