OR OR - Martha Evans, 33, Knappa, 10 Feb 1990

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Martha Lavonne Evans[/h]

• 
• 

Evans, circa 1978 (twelve years prior to her disappearance); Evans, circa 1990

• Missing Since 02/10/1990
• Missing From Knappa, Oregon
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Age 33 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'4, 110 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A strapless, backless maroon and black silk and lace dress, a short black leather jacket, black nylon stockings, black heels, and twisted gold hoop earrings.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Evans has an appendectomy scar and a hysterectomy scar on her abdomen. Her ears are pierced one time each in the lobe. She has a tattoo on the back of her left shoulder of seven roses and a banner saying "Daddy", a tattoo on the outside of her right ankle of a dragon with a banner saying "Penny", and a tattoo of a tiger on her abdomen. The tiger tattoo covers her appendectomy scar and its claws touch the hysterectomy scar. Evans's maiden name is Benthin.

[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Evans was last seen leaving the High Climber Room lounge in Knappa, Oregon at 9:30 p.m. on February 10, 1990. She had served as a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding that day, and after the ceremony the wedding party went to the lounge.

Evans locked her purse inside the trunk of the bride's car and spent a short time inside the lounge before she told her friends she had to make a quick trip to Warrenton, Oregon and would be back in an hour. She left without taking her purse and has never been heard from again.

Evans's vehicle, a borrowed brown 1984 Ford Ranger pickup truck with numerous dents, a 7-Up sticker in the window, and the Oregon license plate number PNB116, disappeared with her and has never been found. Her case remains unsolved.

http://charleyproject.org/case/martha-lavonne-evans


https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/9540/

 

[MYKWB]

30 year mystery: Bridesmaid in pickup vanished near Astoria
Marty Benthin Evans disappeared February 10, 1990

BROWNSMEAD, Ore. (KOIN) — Marty Benthin Evans was a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding at a Lutheran church in Knappa, Oregon on February 10, 1990. Last seen heading out on Highway 30 toward Astoria.

30 year mystery: Bridesmaid in pickup vanished near Astoria

 

[alb1on]

If the February date is correct she was 32, not 33, as her dob is 10 September 1957. She was divorced from Richard Evans in 1980 so I think he is well out of the picture. I am not sure whether she remarried between 1980 and her disappearance but assume not if she continued to use Evans.

 

[JSolt1210]

30 year mystery: Bridesmaid in pickup vanished near Astoria
Marty Benthin Evans disappeared February 10, 1990

BROWNSMEAD, Ore. (KOIN) — Marty Benthin Evans was a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding at a Lutheran church in Knappa, Oregon on February 10, 1990. Last seen heading out on Highway 30 toward Astoria.

30 year mystery: Bridesmaid in pickup vanished near Astoria

I'm so confused trying to reconcile the information from KOIN 6's article with what's posted on The Charley Project.

According to CP, Martha was with the wedding party at the High Climber Room Lounge in Knappa when she suddenly said she needed to drive to Warrenton. According to Google Maps, Warrenton is a 30-minute drive from Knappa, so how could she "be back in an hour?" Was she just going to be there for like 5 minutes? She also left without taking her purse.

But according to KOIN 6, Martha left The Logger in Knappa, stopped to buy gas (without her purse?), had car trouble at the gas station, called her brother who helped her out, drove away, and then "never showed up at the restaurant in Astoria where she eventually planned to meet up with her sister."

No mention of a sudden trip to Warrenton and back. No mention of leaving her purse. If she had plans to have dinner with her sister in Astoria, why would she say she was coming back to Knappa? And if she wasn't coming back to Knappa because of her plans, why would she leave her purse there?

Also, from the KOIN 6 article, I assume she was staying with her mom in Brownsmead, Oregon. Just from looking at the map, the back-and-forth driving Martha would have to do to make all of that happen doesn't make sense to me.

If the two articles didn't mention the same name and date, I would've sworn they were about two different people.

I agree with Martha's mom, though, that Martha probably drove into a body of water accidentally. There seem to be very many opportunities for that along the routes. It's also the simplest explanation as to why the pickup truck was never found.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Water diving cleanup crew, Adventures with a purpose, is searching Oregon rivers and lakes for her truck. They found Timothy Robinson. Hopefully they can find Marty.

 

[rob525]

Water diving cleanup crew, Adventures with a purpose, is searching Oregon rivers and lakes for her truck. They found Timothy Robinson. Hopefully they can find Marty.

They posted what seems to be the final installment to YouTube on the 28th of August but did not find anything. It would seem to rule out her going into the water along any of the routes they searched. There was some mention about an ex-boyfriend being involved and a possible land burial near a logging road. Also a theory regarding a crab boat and her car being dumped off shore but at first thought that theory would seem far fetched.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

They posted what seems to be the final installment to YouTube on the 28th of August but did not find anything. It would seem to rule out her going into the water along any of the routes they searched. There was some mention about an ex-boyfriend being involved and a possible land burial near a logging road. Also a theory regarding a crab boat and her car being dumped off shore but at first thought that theory would seem far fetched.

Yesterday I was watching one of their dive videos (searching for the Martin family in Portland) and Jerad Leisek (the diver) was saying that after a few years a car can resemble a boulder with the mud and greenery on it. I never thought about that aspect. So I suppose divers can miss a car in a river or lake even if they swim by it.

 

[rob525]

Yesterday I was watching one of their dive videos (searching for the Martin family in Portland) and Jerad Leisek (the diver) was saying that after a few years a car can resemble a boulder with the mud and greenery on it. I never thought about that aspect. So I suppose divers can miss a car in a river or lake even if they swim by it.

I agree. In the case Martha though. I believe they also had a guy in a kayak, with a strong magnet, scanning the area looking for metal. The Martin family case is strange because there are tire tracks and two bodies were found down river but no car.

 

[mlhenn]

Martha Lavonne Evans – The Charley Project

Last updated February 13, 2021; picture added, distinguishing characteristics and details of disappearance updated.

• Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Evans has an appendectomy scar and a hysterectomy scar on her abdomen. Her ears are pierced one time each in the lobe. She has a tattoo on the back of her left shoulder of seven roses and a banner saying "Daddy", a tattoo on the outside of her right ankle of a dragon with a banner saying "Penny", and a tattoo of a tiger on her abdomen. The tiger tattoo covers her appendectomy scar and its claws touch the hysterectomy scar. Evans's maiden name is Benthin. Her nickname is Marty.

Details of Disappearance
Evans attended a wedding reception at High Climber Room lounge in Knappa, Oregon on February 10, 1990. She had served as a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding that day, and after the ceremony the wedding party went to the lounge.

Evans locked her purse inside the trunk of the bride's car and spent a short time inside the lounge before she told her friends she had to make a quick trip to Warrenton, Oregon to pick something up, and would be back in an hour. She left at 9:30 p.m. without taking her purse, and never returned. Later she was sighted getting gas at a station outside Astoria, Oregon. She was talking on the phone at the time, and was upset and crying.

Evans's vehicle, a borrowed brown 1984 Ford Ranger pickup truck with numerous dents, a 7-Up sticker in the window, and the Oregon license plate number PNB116, disappeared with her and has never been found. Her case remains unsolved.

 

[Al Ka]

In One Ear: Where is Marty?

Martha "Marty" Lavonne Benthin Evans has been missing for 31 years this month. According to The Doe Network (bit.ly/DoeNetMarty), Marty, 33, left the High Climber Room Lounge in Knappa on Feb. 10, 1990, driving a 1984 brown Ford truck, and vanished.

"She had left a wedding reception to run into the nearby town of Warrenton to pick up something and had clearly planned to return," her sister, Linda Benthin-Weirup, explained. "Law enforcement at the time told (our) family that she had voluntarily disappeared and refused to take a missing person report."
---
"No missing person report equals no investigation into someone's disappearance," Linda said.

Noted, so no one was even questioned at the time of Marty's disappearance. In fact, Marty wasn't listed as officially missing until around 2005, when Detective Matt Beeson of the Oregon State Police took over the case. Linda and her mother gave DNA samples so they could be matched to any unidentified remains that were found.
----
"It is also possible that Marty misjudged the road," Linda said, "and ended up in the Brownsmead Slough — which has some pockets of extremely deep water."

There are rumors of a truck being at the bottom.

Last year, a volunteer diver made three dives. Unfortunately, he "never found anything solid," Linda said.

In One Ear: Where is Marty?

 

[Al Ka]

30 year mystery: Bridesmaid in pickup vanished near Astoria
Marty Benthin Evans disappeared February 10, 1990

BROWNSMEAD, Ore. (KOIN) — Marty Benthin Evans was a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding at a Lutheran church in Knappa, Oregon on February 10, 1990. Last seen heading out on Highway 30 toward Astoria.

30 year mystery: Bridesmaid in pickup vanished near Astoria

Marty Benthin Evans was a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding at a Lutheran church in Knappa, Oregon on February 10, 1990.
The 33-year-old divorced mom of 2 was the second-oldest of 8 siblings. She was a little nervous about being in the wedding. Her sister made her bridesmaid’s dress.
Pictures from the wedding, taken shortly before she vanished, show her wearing that dress with baby’s breath in her hair.

After the wedding and reception, Marty stopped at her mother’s house, where she and her 10-year-old son Andrew were staying after moving back from Ashland. Marty’s daughter was with her ex-husband, who also lived in the area.

While she was at her mother’s house, family members said she had tearful conversations on the phone with a man she wanted to date as well as her ex-husband.
“Crying and crying on the phone,” her mom, Gloria White, told KOIN 6 News. Family members gave her a few bucks for gas and Marty, still wearing her bridesmaid dress, drove her brother’s pickup truck to The Logger in Knappa to meet up with friends. Some people said she seemed upset while she was there.
When Marty left the bar she drove to what was then a nearby market and gas station along Highway 30.

“She went up to the D&D to get gas, and she got the gas. She only had $4 because that’s all she would take from us,” her mom said.
But the truck wouldn’t start when she tried to leave the gas station. She called one of her brothers, who came there and got it going again. He watched as Marty headed out on Highway 30 toward Astoria.

“It was like she turned and he just seen her go, and that was it,” her sister, Linda Benthin-Weirup, said. “Nobody saw her again. He was the last one in our family to see her.”
====
Adding extra photos of missing Marty from above article

Last photo of the Marty as a bridesmaid at the wedding of friend and clothes she wore when she disappeared shortly after

Her family wonders if she went off this road in the pickup truck she was driving that night

Marty with her children

 

[kelsie]

I got the chills. They think they may have found her. And if not her, someone...

 

[buyerninety]

Not found.

 

[Pennysmom1]

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Feb 16, 2023

In One Ear: 'Wishing we knew why'

Martha “Marty” Lavonne Benthin Evans has been missing for 33 years. According to The Doe Network, Evans, 33, left the High Climber Room Lounge in Knappa on Feb. 10, 1990,

www.dailyastorian.com

Martha Lavonne Evans - Oregon Missing Person Directory

Details and Pictures of Martha Lavonne Evans, Missing since February 1990

www.missingin.org

Martha Lavonne Evans – CUE – Community United Effort

ncmissingpersons.org