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.
The Episode
- “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