ALLENSTOWN, N.H. (TCN) — Investigators recently identified the final victim in the “Bear Brook Murders” — a girl found in a barrel in 2000 — as the daughter of a suspected serial killer who is accused in her death.
According to the New Hampshire Department of Justice, the remains of an adult woman and a young girl were found in a barrel in Bear Brook State Park in 1985. Around 15 years later, authorities located the remains of two more girls in a second barrel nearby. Investigators determined the victims were killed in the late 1970s or early 1980s before their remains were placed in the park.
Authorities connected one of the children to Terry Rasmussen in 2017. Rasmussen was reportedly a known serial offender who went by different names, including “Bob Evans,” and he died in prison in 2010. Investigators later identified him as the suspect in all four slayings.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Rasmussen moved frequently across the country, and “because of his ability to reinvent himself and avoid detection, he became known as the ‘Chameleon Killer.'”
Three of the victims were identified in 2019 as Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughters, Marie Vaughn and Sarah McWaters. They were reportedly last seen in California in 1978. The Department of Justice said the fourth victim’s identity remained unknown, and she became known as the “middle child.”
In 2024, the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit worked with the DNA Doe Project to help name the final victim. In a Sept. 7 news release, the Department of Justice said that through further DNA testing and genetic genealogy, the fourth victim was identified as Rea Rasmussen, the daughter of Terry Rasmussen and Pepper Reed. She was reportedly between 2 and 4 years old at the time of her death.
According to the Department of Justice, Reed disappeared, and investigators believe she may have also been a victim of Terry Rasmussen. She was reportedly last seen by her family in Texas in 1975 and was pregnant at the time. Family members allegedly said Reed moved to California, and they never met the child or saw her again.
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