Ear: Marty

As of Feb. 10, Martha Lavonne (Marty) Benthin Evans (pictured, inset) has been missing for 30 years. Marty, 33, left the High Climber Room Lounge in Knappa that day in 1990, driving a 1984 brown Ford truck, and vanished (bit.ly/DoeNetMarty). She left behind her children, Marina, now 41, and Andrew, now 40.

“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. She is pictured in a still shot from a KOIN News 6 video interview that was posted Jan. 31 on KOIN’s Facebook page. (KOIN’s special report about Marty aired Tuesday, bit.ly/KOINmarty).

On that last day, “… people saw her talking on the phone, she was upset about something, she was crying and upset,” Linda added.

Linda posted in the KOIN Facebook page comments that the last time Marty was seen was “around 10 p.m., my brother saw her head out to Highway 30 from D and D market … where he’d come to jump her truck. It went dead, while she ran in the store to pay for gas.”

“… Law enforcement at the time told (the) family that she had voluntarily disappeared, and refused to take a missing person report,” Linda noted. “And this was despite the fact that Marty didn’t take her purse, and the only known clothing she had with her was the bridesmaid dress she was wearing.”

Consequently, no one was questioned around the time of her disappearance. Marty wasn’t even listed as officially missing until around 2005, when Detective Matt Beeson of the Oregon State Police took the case.

At noon Monday, Marty’s family is gathering to “say a few words” at the Maritime Memorial Park, under the bridge, where Marty’s memorial plaque is on the wall, according to the “Finding Marty Benthin Evans” Facebook page.

“Anyone would like to join us, feel free,” Linda said. “Remember her, never forget her. We will never stop missing her.”

Please help this broken-hearted family get some closure. If you know anything about what happened to Marty, call Detective Beeson at 503-861-0781, ext. 34006.