By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The Mountain History Museum is presenting a documentary for a mature audience about Crestline’s own unsolved mass murder, The Boles Murders. The documentary was filmed several years ago by investigative reporter Davey Porter with some historical input from Russ Keller, who will introduce the film.
This award-winning documentary examines every piece of evidence about this almost forgotten event using CSI investigation techniques (before that format was made popular on TV). Porter was presented the special June Lockhart Award at the Lake Arrowhead Film Festival for Best Investigative Documentary of the Year.
The documentary will be shown on Oct. 17 at 1:30 p.m., which is the Saturday of the last weekend the Mountain History Museum will be open for the 2026 summer season. It will be shown in the Cozad Theater, inside the Mountain History Museum at 27176 Peninsula Drive in Lake Arrowhead, first come, first seated. Th showing of this documentary is free; since it has a re-creation of the murder scene, is not meant for children.
The hour-long film details the bloody facts surrounding the murder of the entire Boles family that occurred in Crestline in 1965. The making of this documentary actually led to the solving of that cold-case murder.
Over 60 years ago, on Aug. 12 or 13 of 1965, this murder took place in Crestline. The gruesome killing of the Boles family and their family dog was almost forgotten in history because the murder took place while an even bigger news story filled the airwaves in Los Angeles. On an average weekend, this horrific, bloody murder would have made the front pages of every newspaper nationwide and TV news reporters would have immediately swarmed Crestline. However, it was etched into the local minds of their remaining family members and those investigating local law enforcement agents who examined the case but could not find the evidence to identify a murder suspect.
Keller will set the scene and, after the showing of the movie, he will explain who the murderer was and their motive. The murderer’s identity was uncovered by Porter and the detectives while re-examining the evidence during the making of the documentary.
The Boles family was a normal family – just a wife and her husband with two sons. They had just purchased a home in the mountain community of Crestline in the exclusive Club San Moritz area. On Aug. 12, the whole family drove in their car up the mountain, visiting their new vacation home for the first planned protracted long vacation, away from the city.
They had dined in the beautiful log decorated dining room at the exclusive Club San Moritz and enjoyed a delicious dinner, while meeting many other club members there and planning out their weekend of events. They then went home to enjoy their new vacation retreat in the trees.
The whole family was found murdered inside their home and in their driveway on Aug. 13; even the dog was killed. Why? Who? And who benefitted from the family’s demise? That was the key to unraveling the mystery. This movie reveals a dark, but true, chapter of mountain history.
Seating is limited by the size of the Cozad Theater to 35. This free presentation by the Rim of the World Historical Society is for mature members of the mountain communities; donations will be accepted after the showing for those so inclined. For additional details, call the museum at (909) 744-8625. This is the only showing this year of this documentary.
0 Comments