[34] Two months later, Robert Evans was confirmed as Terry Peder Rasmussen, through Y-DNA testing from a DNA sample contributed by one of his sons from what is believed to be his first marriage. There Were Two Barrels And Four Bodies In 1985, a hunter came across a steel drum containing the bodies of a woman between the ages of 23 and 33 and a girl between the ages of 5 and 11. The Bear Brook murders (also referred to as the Allenstown Four) are female American murder victims, two discovered in 1985 and two in 2000, at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire, United States. On an online message board, she connected with a woman who was looking for her missing family members: a woman and her two daughters whose ages and locations matched that of Honeychurch, Sarah and Marie. ET on ABC. There is one girl who we don't know who she is. Born in 1943, Rasmussen was a native of Denver, Colorado. And Denise only had one daughter, whom she had named Dawn. Timelines come together. [8] Authorities believe that Rasmussen killed Beaudin somewhere in California, although her body has never been found. Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Known by a lengthy list of aliases, Terry Peder Rasmussen has been dubbed "The Chameleon Killer" for assuming so many different identities as he infiltrated families and destroyed lives in New Hampshire and California. He was 62 years old when he passed away in prison. Police believe her answer indicates they may have been killed by Rasmussen, too. Rasmussen is the suspected perpetrator of the Bear Brook murders. Ron Montplaisir, Jr., a former Allenstown, New Hampshire, police officer spoke to 20/20 about the hunter who found the first barrel in 1985. A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Austin Harvey has also had work published with Discover Magazine, Giddy, and Lucid covering topics on mental health, sexual health, history, and sociology. Maricopa County Sheriffs Department, Arizona.A mugshot of Terry Rasmussen from 1973. Rasmussen's identity was confirmed via DNA from a son from his first marriage. The podcast had reignited interest in the case, and captured the attention of a 34-year-old librarian from Connecticut named Becky Heath. [3] He married in 1969, had four children and lived with his family in Phoenix and Redwood City, California. Her teeth showed significant dental work, including multiple fillings and three extractions. February 27, 2023 We begin with the story police told about Sharon Johnson's murder. February 13, 2019 A son remembers his father, and searches for clues in his military paperwork. She went with Terry. Three of the victims would be identified, however, two years later, thanks to the obsessive amateur sleuthing of Rebekah Heath and Barbara Rae-Venter. His true identity, Terry Rasmussen, was not revealed by authorities until 2017. But, I think until we know her identity, we're not going to solve the case.. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In the early days of the investigation, authorities publicized the case in the United States and some parts of Canada. Their hard work, along with that of a dogged researcher, ultimately unraveled a long trail of missing and murdered women and children all leading back, police say, to a serial killer. "So our suspect started in 1984 as 'Curtis Kimball.' Then we had 'Gordon Jenson.' A second search was conducted in May 2018. Replies were filled with other people who also believed they were related to Sarah one member of a family of three who had gone missing sometime in the late 1970s. One of the hunters looked inside the open barrel and saw a skull. [12][6], Rasmussen died, aged 67, while imprisoned at High Desert State Prison[5] on December 28, 2010. In 2000, 15 years after the first barrel was discovered, Sarahs body was found inside a separate barrel at Bear Brook State Park along with the body of an unknown child. In November 2002, he was arrested for Juns murder and in 2003, he was sentenced to prison for 15 years to life after he pled guilty to the crime. [6] He was paroled in 1990 and subsequently absconded. 1971) and Sarah Lynn McWaters (b. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images. I remember seeing an ax leaned up there.. MANCHESTER, N.H. The search for the name of the remaining unidentified murder victim found in a barrel in Allenstown is leading authorities to Mississippi. October 31, 2018 A child is abandoned. It had previously been thought impossible to recover autosomal DNA from hair strands that were no longer attached to the root, but a forensic lab in California had been working on a new method to reassemble the broken autosomal DNA found in rootless hair. I do, my sister does, and my brother does., I do know that my mother tells me All that I can get from her is that he was the great love of her life, she said. Two brothers were hunting in Bear Brook State Park on the 10th of November 1985. And the last story, the one that would tie them all together: the disappearance of a woman named Denise Beaudin from Manchester, New Hampshire. Despite hundreds of leads, the bodies were not identified. Other forensic information showed that the woman and children lived together in the Northeastern United States between two weeks and three months before their deaths. [30] The daughter is keeping her name private. We were playing a game of hide and seek, Morgan told 20/20. I was approached by one of the kids in the group that he had come upon a barrel out in the middle of the woods, which was off the trail. From the creators of the hit podcast Bear Brook comes A True Crime Story. As Heath was calling in the tip to authorities, investigative genetic genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter was also uncovering the three victims identities through a new technique that involves extracting DNA from the shaft of a strand of hair. Under a plea deal, an additional charge of child abuse was dropped. A family tree begins to take shape. [2] The three girls were thought to also have some Native American heritage; they had light or European-American complexions. [11][17], The girl found with the adult female, later identified as Vaughn, was between 5 and 11 years old. When I got up in the morning, I pulled my shades back, there was clouds and a beautiful blue sky, and there was seagulls circling in the sky, they were beautiful. The identities of Honeychurch and her two children were not known until they were confirmed by DNA profiling in 2019. [7] Based on the date they disappeared, available documents and Rasmussen's activities, the victims most likely died between 1978 and 1981. Rasmussen is believed to be responsible for several other murders, including that of Denise Beaudin, his known girlfriend,[5] who disappeared in 1981. One of the brothers just pushed the barrel over. After months of trial and error, Rae-Venter was able to use this method to identify the victims. In her free time, Heath began scouring the internet for any clues she could find. After countless hours of research, genetic genealogist Rae-Venter found Armand Beaudin, Lisas maternal grandfather. According to investigators, the reason that it took so long for the second drum to be recovered is that it was located outside the proximity of the initial crime scene. Bear Brook killings: An old photo raises more questions David Salamon and Paula Hodges are Honeychurch's siblings. A year later, Juns body was found dismembered and buried in her basement. Authorities on Thursday revealed that they had identified three of the four victims in the chilling cold case known as the Bear Brook murders . Gruenheid said she later determined a man matching Vanners description had bought 10 bags of cat litter from a nearby pet store. With the confirmation, police believe theycan officially implicate serial killerTerry Peder Rasmussen, who had passed away while in prison in 2010, in their deaths. The only evidence against him? [12], New Hampshire investigators announced that the identities of Honeychurch, Vaughn and McWaters were confirmed through DNA testing in June 2019. This is somebody who forms relationships and clearly is having social attachments. Host Jason Moon documents how those involved grapple with the idea that the prevailing story about who killed Sharon Johnson could be a lie. New Hampshire murders: Authorities identify three of the four - CNN Jensen told Gomulka at CrimeCon that Rasmussen put Jun's body in a 75-pound pile of kitty litter before he was able to dispose of her. In 1981, Denise Beaudin went missing shortly after Thanksgiving with her 6-month-old daughter and her boyfriend, Rasmussen, whom she had known as Robert T. Evans, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Terry Peder Rasmussen (December 23, 1943 December 28, 2010) was an American serial killer. The Bear Brook murders (also referred to as the Allenstown Four) are female American murder victims, two discovered in 1985 and two in 2000, at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire, United States. Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin explained the discovery at a press conference on June 6. This is the twisted story of the Bear Brook Murders. Lisa sent a sample of her DNA to an ancestry website and learned her mothers name: Denise Beaudin. The New Hampshire Attorney General's office revealed that three of the victims in what became widely known as the "Bear Brook Murders" are Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch and her two daughters,. This linked him to New Hampshire in the same timeframe as the Bear Brook murders, when he was known as Robert Evans. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. [8] DNA evidence eventually found that he was not Lisa's father and the case spent years without any significant developments. bodies found. MORE: Suspected Potomac River Rapist, who 'terrorized' women in '90s, caught with genetic genealogy July 2017 In 2016, this child was determined to be Rasmussens biological daughter. Let's talk about the Bear Brook murders. Huber said the body of a woman was found in a state of advanced decomposition and police couldnt discern the womans facial features. The remains of Marie and her mother, Honeychurch, were found in the first of two barrels that were discovered at Bear Brook State Park in November 1985. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.. Thanks for your support. They were buried together at a local Allenstown cemetery with a donated gravestone that read: Here lies the mortal remains known only to God of a woman aged 23-33 and a girl child aged 8-10. The Bear Brook Murders - Billy Jensen Honeychurchs youngest daughter, Sarah, was laid to rest in Connecticut, near her fathers family. A True Crime Story is about what happens when the official narrative is challenged. Rebekah Becky Heath, the researcher and libararian who obsessively worked to discover Rasmussens victims identities. Came to a dead end, Salamon said. We believe we have our killer, said New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Strelzin at the time. Sarah, her half-sister Marie and their mother, Honeychurch, were unknown persons until authorities announced their identities at a press conference on June 6, 2019. Investigators said they finally got a break in 2017, when a new forensic technique known as genetic genealogy pinpointed Rasmussen as the likely culprit. [2] He grew up in Arizona and attended North High School in Phoenix until dropping out during his sophomore year in 1960. She was previously known as San Joaquin Jane Doe and the Lady in the Fridge.[8][19]. Huber says the investigation is stalled because she is still unidentified. Homicide", "Four Unidentified Allenstown Homicide Victims", "Allenstown, NH murder victims identified after nearly 40 years", "New rendering released for unidentified girl found in barrel in Allenstown", Original digital reconstruction of middle child, "3 bodies hidden in barrels remained unidentified for decades. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesRebekah Becky Heath, the researcher and libararian who obsessively worked to discover Rasmussens victims identities. He abandoned her in 1986 and was subsequently imprisoned on child abandonment charges. [Its because] there's still one victim out there, former Detective Cody said. Through the years my mother always said, You know, something's not right. The second child found in the second barrel has not yet been identified although DNA evidence has confirmed thatRasmussen wasthe parent of this unknown victim and that she was not biologically related to Honeychurch or her daughters. How a Librarian Helped Solve a Decades-Old Murder Mystery Instead, they focus on complete strangers. "The Middle Child" was found on May 9, 2000 on private property next to Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, NH. Investigative reporter Billy Jensen, who wrote about Rasmussen in his upcoming book Chase Darkness With Me," told Oxygen Digital Correspondent Stephanie Gomulka at CrimeCon 2019he thinks Rasmussen is responsible for killing other people, too. [4], Criminologist Jack Levin has stated that Rasmussen is unlike any serial killer he has ever studied, stating: "What distinguishes Rasmussen from most serial killers, is that he targeted people with whom he had a relationship. This new discovery didnt offer any immediate clues as to who the killer had been, though. I wished he'd lived longer, so he would have suffered longer in prison, myself.. A dedicated detective refused to stop digging after she solved the brutal murder of a chemist in California. Jason Carroll is serving life in prison for a murder he says he didn't commit. [15] In attendance were members of Honeychurch's family and Rasmussen's daughter from his first marriage. By 2001, Rasmussen was working odd jobs in California under yet another alias, Lawrence Vanner. [43], Last edited on 28 December 2022, at 20:07, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, "True identity of serial killer who dumped bodies in barrels in NH has been determined", "How a Jane Doe child case uncovered a serial killer, identified victims and changed the use of DNA forensics", "Woman, 2 children found in barrels in state park identified, officials say", "Timeline of Terry Peder RASMUSSEN and Marlyse Elizabeth HONEYCHURCH", "Cold-case murders of 4 females brought back to life by new images, DNA tests", "Investigators release new facial images of unidentified bodies in Allenstown cold case", "Investigators say decades-old homicide puzzle 'solvable', "Woman, girl unclaimed; Police search for names to go with two bodies; Aging mystery refuses to unravel", "Serial killer Terry Rasmussen's victims, known and unknown", "Names of murdered lost over decades: Police hope to identify bodies left in barrels", "Police turn to technology in latest attempt to solve grisly murders", "Authorities hope new 3D images will help ID victims in New Hampshire cold case", "New images released in Allenstown cold case", "New Hampshire cold case could have ties to Wisconsin", "Woman's '81 disappearance linked to steel drum bodies, DA says", "Drifter Bob Evans Eyed as Serial Killer, Tied to N.H. [10] These bodies were also in a metal 55-gallon drum, and police believe that all four murders occurred at roughly the same time, despite investigators inexplicably missing the second drum in 1985. The mother of the middle child, the unidentified girl in the second barrel found at Bear Brook in 2000, who was determined to be Rasmussens biological daughter, has also never been found nor identified. To this day, she has yet to be identified. [11], San Bernardino detective Peter Headley got Lisa's case in 2013 and genealogy website databases had grown since the case had started. Maricopa County Sheriffs Department, Arizona. All of them are still alive. It was just a situation where, every time we searched, [we] came to a dead end. November 15, 2018 This is the first in an unknown number of short updates to the story of the Bear Brook murders that we'll be producing to let listeners know about any breaking news in the case. [2] All four of the victims were either partially or completely skeletonized; they were believed to have died between 1977 and 1981. Yet, they still had no clue who the victims were. Online, she found a post from someone who mentioned the name Sarah McWaters. It was reported that he was known to travel with women and children. New Hampshire authorities have referred to her as the middle child because of how her suspected age compares to the other two children found in the barrels, but DNA tests confirmed she is not related to Sarah and Marie, nor their mother. [15], Rasmussen lived a mile and a half away from 14-year-old Laureen Rahn when she disappeared from Manchester, New Hampshire, in April 1980. While searching Vanners California home, Gruenheid and a fellow detective located an enormous pile of cat litter in a crawl space. Before that, hed been jailed in 1988 for driving a stolen vehicle under the name Gerry Mockerman, and even earlier in 1985 for drunk driving and child endangerment. Want to make sure that NHPR continues creating projects like Bear Brook? 1954) was the mother of Marie Elizabeth Vaughn (b. He was polite and soft spoken and very smart, and with his twinkly blue eyes he could get somebody to maybe trust him, Gruenheid told 20/20. All we were really trying to do was to determine where Eunsoon was and if she was okay. Click here to donate $20. That's the only reason.. She had been placed in the refrigerator with a pillow, sleeping bag and what appeared to be several blankets, he said. I was like, There is no way there is no way thats a coincidence,' Heath said, This is huge.'. The case stumped investigators for years: four bodies, found dismembered, skeletonized, wrapped in plastic bags, and stuffed in two 55-gallon steel drums in the Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Click here to donate $20. We do regrettably fear that his daughter's mother is probably another victim somewhere, Carol Schweitzer, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said. Authorities believed that Evans was the killer of the four Bear Brook victims, but did not elaborate. Bear Brook murders - Wikipedia When alternate versions are told by lawyers and podcasters as part of a mounting effort to free Jason Carroll from prison and clear his name. From the creators of the hit podcast Bear Brook comes A True Crime Story. [6] He was arrested in Cypress, California, in 1985 under the name Curtis Kimball for charges of driving under the influence and endangering the welfare of a child but failed to appear in court. Marie E. Vaughn was first, born in 1971, then Sarah L. McWaters was born in 1977, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Ultimately, the body was identified as Jun, who police determined had died of blunt force trauma to the head. Bear Brook Barrel Murders Update: Bodies Identified, Terry Rasmussen is Bear Brook murders: Terry Rasmussen victim still not identified This isn't the big news we're hoping to break - stay subscribed for another full episode of Bear Brook that we hope to bring you soon. Beaudin's body has never been found and she is currently presumed dead, according to The Concord Monitor. She had brought her two daughters and a man she identified as Rasmussen to hermothers house in La Puente, California. The Mysterious Bear Brook Murders | Dispatches From The Middle Inside The Horrifying Mystery Of The Bear Brook Murders And The Evidence That Points To The Chameleon Killer. She had curly or wavy brown hair and was between 5ft 2in (1.57m) and 5ft 7in (1.70m) in height. Decades later, investigators discovered that Denise Beaudin was the mother of the child known as Lisa, a little girl Rasmussen claimed in the 1980s was his daughter, which DNA tests later confirmed wasnt true. Thanks for your support. Rasmussen has been linked to five horrific murders and authorities fear there are more. They have so far been unable to identify who the mother of the child is and whether or not she may still be alive. It was very surreal that a mother and daughter were actually inside the barrel itself, disposed of like common trash, John Cody, a former New Hampshire State Police detective, told 20/20..