Post by camfaults on Feb 2, 2022 4:38:52 GMT
This article can still be accessed online at: Campbell teachers captivated by the tragic story of ‘Cabin 28’
In case the link becomes broken, has been transcribed below.
NEWS
Campbell teachers captivated by the tragic story of ‘Cabin 28’
By CHRIS VONGSARATH | Campbell Reporter, Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Cupertino Courier, Bay Area News Group, Saratoga News, Mercury News
July 18, 2008 at 12:26 p.m.
What started as a senior project for his students has turned into a personal mission for a former Campbell school district teacher.
In 2002, English teacher Josh Hancock told his Westmont High School seniors to produce a documentary on a subject of their choosing. To ease their protests, he vowed to make one himself.
Hancock, on the advice of a friend, took on the mysterious multiple murders that have haunted the resort town of Keddie, Calif., for more than 25 years. And while Hancock still teaches full time, now at West Valley College, the documentary has consumed more of his life than he ever imagined.
“We’re not trying to solve the case or do any police work,” Hancock says. “We’re trying to get the word out.”
The case involves the murders of members of the Sharp family while they were vacationing at Keddie Resort in 1981.
On the morning of April 11, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp stepped into Cabin 28 to a horrific scene. Her mother, Sue, and her brother, Johnny, and his best friend, Dana Wingate, were bound hand and foot, stabbed and bludgeoned to death the night before, all while she slept just steps away at a neighbor’s cabin next door.
Her sister, Tina, was also missing. Her remains were later found in Oroville, about 60 miles away from Keddie.
The grisly killings sent Keddie into a downward spiral into which it has never recovered, Hancock said.
“People started locking their doors, moved out of the area and stopped going to restaurants. If you look at the town today, you would have no idea it was once this bustling, affluent community,” he added.
The documentary, completed in 2004, has taken him to Oregon, Arizona and Washington state. He initially planned to shoot for six months but ended up at close to three years.
“I had no idea it would come to what it did,” Hancock said.
He pushed on because he was felt there was more to the story.
What’s interesting, Hancock says, is that other children who survived were in Cabin 28 while the murders took place. Hancock added that one of them, Justin Eason, a friend of the Sharp kids, said while under hypnosis that he witnessed the murders, and the description he gave matched Eason’s stepfather, though nothing could be proved.
Adding further intrigue, reports that Cabin 28 was haunted prompted its demolition in 2004.
Hancock says the murders pique a local interest, as Keddie is only a four-hour drive from the Bay Area. Interest has also resurfaced on the Internet with buzz in online chat rooms and forums, and “The Strangers,” a Hollywood horror film loosely based on the killings, was recently released.
For whatever reason, Hancock is glad the case is receiving attention once again.
“It’s kind of taken a new life, which is great because more people have seen the documentary now than ever before,” he said.
He maintains that he is not looking for a profit. In fact, viewers can watch the documentary online for free.
Prospect High School teacher Dianne Sweeney aided Hancock with the documentary and is now working with him to compile a book containing never-before-seen photographs, updated interviews with the victims’ families and a look into the making of the documentary.
Inspired by the work in Keddie, Sweeney said she plans to tackle other cases in the local community that have gone unsolved or forgotten.
“There’s an interest in a lot of true crime, unsolved crime. These murders happened so close to home. The next goal is to turn our attention to things happening right in our own back yard, so to speak,” she said.
In case the link becomes broken, has been transcribed below.
NEWS
Campbell teachers captivated by the tragic story of ‘Cabin 28’
By CHRIS VONGSARATH | Campbell Reporter, Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Cupertino Courier, Bay Area News Group, Saratoga News, Mercury News
July 18, 2008 at 12:26 p.m.
What started as a senior project for his students has turned into a personal mission for a former Campbell school district teacher.
In 2002, English teacher Josh Hancock told his Westmont High School seniors to produce a documentary on a subject of their choosing. To ease their protests, he vowed to make one himself.
Hancock, on the advice of a friend, took on the mysterious multiple murders that have haunted the resort town of Keddie, Calif., for more than 25 years. And while Hancock still teaches full time, now at West Valley College, the documentary has consumed more of his life than he ever imagined.
“We’re not trying to solve the case or do any police work,” Hancock says. “We’re trying to get the word out.”
The case involves the murders of members of the Sharp family while they were vacationing at Keddie Resort in 1981.
On the morning of April 11, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp stepped into Cabin 28 to a horrific scene. Her mother, Sue, and her brother, Johnny, and his best friend, Dana Wingate, were bound hand and foot, stabbed and bludgeoned to death the night before, all while she slept just steps away at a neighbor’s cabin next door.
Her sister, Tina, was also missing. Her remains were later found in Oroville, about 60 miles away from Keddie.
The grisly killings sent Keddie into a downward spiral into which it has never recovered, Hancock said.
“People started locking their doors, moved out of the area and stopped going to restaurants. If you look at the town today, you would have no idea it was once this bustling, affluent community,” he added.
The documentary, completed in 2004, has taken him to Oregon, Arizona and Washington state. He initially planned to shoot for six months but ended up at close to three years.
“I had no idea it would come to what it did,” Hancock said.
He pushed on because he was felt there was more to the story.
What’s interesting, Hancock says, is that other children who survived were in Cabin 28 while the murders took place. Hancock added that one of them, Justin Eason, a friend of the Sharp kids, said while under hypnosis that he witnessed the murders, and the description he gave matched Eason’s stepfather, though nothing could be proved.
Adding further intrigue, reports that Cabin 28 was haunted prompted its demolition in 2004.
Hancock says the murders pique a local interest, as Keddie is only a four-hour drive from the Bay Area. Interest has also resurfaced on the Internet with buzz in online chat rooms and forums, and “The Strangers,” a Hollywood horror film loosely based on the killings, was recently released.
For whatever reason, Hancock is glad the case is receiving attention once again.
“It’s kind of taken a new life, which is great because more people have seen the documentary now than ever before,” he said.
He maintains that he is not looking for a profit. In fact, viewers can watch the documentary online for free.
Prospect High School teacher Dianne Sweeney aided Hancock with the documentary and is now working with him to compile a book containing never-before-seen photographs, updated interviews with the victims’ families and a look into the making of the documentary.
Inspired by the work in Keddie, Sweeney said she plans to tackle other cases in the local community that have gone unsolved or forgotten.
“There’s an interest in a lot of true crime, unsolved crime. These murders happened so close to home. The next goal is to turn our attention to things happening right in our own back yard, so to speak,” she said.