In 2003, when the San Bernardino Sheriffs Department opened a new case aimed at finding Lisas biological family, she was approximately 22 years old. Want to make sure that NHPR continues creating projects like Bear Brook?
Bear Brook : NPR By Eric Shorey & Gina Tron [42] In February 2020, a new rendering of the fourth victim was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and New Hampshire State Police. Rasmussen is believed to be responsible for several other murders, including that of Denise Beaudin, his known girlfriend,[5] who disappeared in 1981. Deza was identified by Othram on February 23, 2023. The murder of Eunsoon Jun in Richmond, California. Click here to donate $20. But it was a real-life murder mystery that had the 33-year-old amateur sleuth hooked a case as gruesome as it was shocking. She had symptoms of pneumonia, a crooked front tooth and a diastema (space between her top teeth), two earrings in each ear, and was between 4ft 3in (1.30m) and 4ft 6in (1.37m) tall. In 1989, Jenson, later identified as Rasmussen, was arrested for child abandonment and was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison. She was born in Hawaiian Gardens, California, when her father was in the Marines. [2] All four of the victims were either partially or completely skeletonized; they were believed to have died between 1977 and 1981. The abandonment of five-year-old Lisa in Scotts Valley, California. In the early days of the investigation, authorities publicized the case in the United States and some parts of Canada. 9 min. While searching Vanners California home, Gruenheid and a fellow detective located an enormous pile of cat litter in a crawl space. The focus from this day forward should be to find the family of that little girl, he said. Heath submitted her tip to authorities in October 2018. Rasmussen was born on December 23, 1943,[1] in Denver, Colorado. Honeychurch's body and one of the girl's bodieswerefound in November1985 in a barrel tipped on its side inBear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Armand Beaudins daughter Denise Beaudin is Lisas mother. She had been placed in the refrigerator with a pillow, sleeping bag and what appeared to be several blankets, he said. Rasmussen was convicted and sentenced for the murder in 2002 of his then-wife, Eunsoon Jun; he died in prison in 2010.
Watch The Chameleon Killer - Season 1 | Prime Video - amazon.com and I went, This can't be, Rose said of learning her friend was gone.
13 Mysterious Details About The Allenstown Four - Ranker The scavengers actually walked out in the middle [of the canal], because it was just mud cut the rope and opened it up here and that's when they saw what they thought was a human being inside, Huber told 20/20..
Bear Brook Murders - Generation Why Podcast One of his sons from this marriage provided the DNA sample that confirmed Rasmussen as Evans in June 2017. Want to make sure that NHPR continues creating projects like Bear Brook? DNA evidence then connected the man officially identified as Terry Rasmussen to the bodies found in Bear Brook.
Timeline of serial killer Terry Rasmussen's terror in New Hampshire [9] By 2020, New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin said there was no "evidentiary connection" between Daneault and Rasmussen but that the interest in his case brought renewed attention to Daneault's disappearance. In November 2019, Honeychurch and her older daughter Marie Vaughn, were laid to rest together with a new headstone bearing their names in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Investigators knew who their killer was, but they still had no clue who the victims were. [36] The senior Rasmussen, known as the Chameleon killer, is believed to have used "at least five different aliases in a decades-long run of crimes across the country, including at least five homicides, and likely more. Honeychurchs youngest daughter, Sarah, was laid to rest in Connecticut, near her fathers family. [21], The youngest girl, later identified as McWaters, was estimated to be 1 to 3 years old,[9][19] had long blond or light brown hair, was between 2ft 1in (0.64m) and 2ft 6in (0.76m) tall, and also had a gap between her front teeth.[22][23]. As with the discovery of many unidentified victims in parks and forests, the bodies were found by hunters, two brothers, who reported their findings to local authorities. The bodies were eventually buried in a nearby cemetery with a tombstone that read: Here lies the mortal remains known only to God of a woman aged 23-33 and a girl child aged 8-10.
There is one girl who we don't know who she is. 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. A surprising admission leads to a new break in the case. Rose ultimately went to the Contra Costa County Sheriff, where Roxane Gruenheid was a homicide detective. It's just kind of sitting out in the woods., The brother that found the barrel went over to it and tried to lift the top of the barrel and when he did that, we were hit with a smell that was absolutely putrid. 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. [5] In 1989, he received a three-year prison sentence for child abandonment. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
New Hampshire murders: Authorities identify three of the four - CNN Bear Brook murder victims remembered. [8], San Joaquin County, California Assistant Sheriff John Huber speculated that Rasmussen may have been responsible for killing Amanda Schumann Deza, In 1995, her body was discovered by scavengers inside of a refrigerator which had been dumped in a canal. Rebekah Becky Heath, the researcher and libararian who obsessively worked to discover Rasmussens victims identities. [10], Throughout the early 1980s, Rasmussen remained in possession of Beaudin's daughter, whom he called Lisa, and posed as her father. [3] He married in 1969, had four children and lived with his family in Phoenix and Redwood City, California. [6] They last saw Rasmussen around December 1975 or 1976, when he showed up with an unidentified woman. But 15years later, a similar barrel was discovered in the same area, this time containing the remainsof two girls. [2] All four of the victims were either partially or completely skeletonized; they were believed to have died between 1977 and 1981. Where is she? Hodges remembered. I would go to work and Id come home and I would just research and research and research.. She went with Terry. His wife left him between 1973 and 1974 and his family last saw him around Christmas 1974. Now, the only question that remains is, who was the middle child, Terry Rasmussens daughter and fourth victim? "[15], On May 9, 2000, the remains of two young girls were found near the first discovery site. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.. The identity of the fourth victim still remains a mystery. In November 2015, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released a third set of reconstructions of the four victims at a news conference at the New Hampshire State Attorney General's office. A fox, a wolf and a spaceboy: Felix, Zo and Arlo Duff posed up a storm ahead of their school day in celebration of World Book Day. Police have not been able to link Rasmussen to other cases, according toStrelzin. Why are you with him? Hodges said. 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. She left the home after a trivial argument with her mother and was never seen alive again. A second search was conducted in May 2018. A year later, Juns body was found dismembered and buried in her basement. One of the hunters looked inside the open barrel and saw a skull. [9][14] Daneault had been living on the same street as Rasmussen. Click here to donate $20. Curiously, the first drum was way back in 1985 and the second wasnt discovered until 2000. They can rest in peace. May their souls find peace in Gods loving care.. At the time, Morgan and his friends didnt know there were remains inside the barrel. It's a blue 55-gallon steel drum. [2][3][4], In 2017, investigators named Terry Peder Rasmussen as the most likely suspect. [12][6], Rasmussen died, aged 67, while imprisoned at High Desert State Prison[5] on December 28, 2010. How could it be bright and sunny when Eunsoon's dead?. On November 10, 1985, a barrel was found by hunters on private property close to Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Honeychurch had an argument with her mother and left the residence, never contacting her relatives again. Four months later, Ron Montplaisir, who was an Allenstown, New Hampshire police officer at the time, got a call from dispatch to meet a hunter at the edge of the woods. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! [5][3] A woman named "Elizabeth Evans" was listed as his wife during his time in New Hampshire; this woman has never been identified. This is the twisted story of the Bear Brook Murders. Yet, they still had no clue who the victims were. 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. [5] His wife left him and took the children in 1975 after he was arrested for aggravated assault. [20], In January 2017, it was announced that Denise Beaudin, who had been missing since 1981, was connected to the murders. Bear Brook | S2 - TRAILER Trailer: Bear Brook S2: A True Crime Story 00:00 03:23 Their slain bodies were found on November 10th, 1985, in Bear Brook State Park. Big, like 4 or 5 feet around and probably 2 or 3 feet high, she said. I don't think they're ever going to find her, Denise Beaudins father Armand Beaudin said. [15], The fourth victim's identity is not yet known, but investigators stated that through advanced DNA testing they could confirm the child was Rasmussen's. [10][25] In 2015, the woman was identified as the mother of the two girls.
To make a donation in support of Bear Brook, click here. May their souls find peace in Gods loving care. But as it turned out, that person had been several different people throughout his life. [13], Police released a video of a police interview of Evans in June 2017 in hopes of finding his true identity. 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. He abandoned her in 1986 and was subsequently imprisoned on child abandonment charges. In 2017, using genetic genealogy techniques, investigators were finally able to name their man: Terry Rasmussen, an inmate who had died seven years earlier, in 2010, while serving a sentence for the murder of his then-girlfriend, Eunsoon Jun. [18], The middle child, currently unidentified,[9][19] also had a gap between her front teeth and died at an age between 2 and 4. 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. [8] Authorities believe that Rasmussen killed Beaudin somewhere in California, although her body has never been found. Jun was in her mid-40s when she introduced her family to her new boyfriend, Larry Vanner, whom authorities later identified as Rasmussen, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Additionally, Huber said the womans remains bore the hallmarks of Rasmussens other victims. We have his eyes. The podcast had reignited interest in the case, and captured the attention of a 34-year-old librarian from Connecticut named Becky Heath. [11] Rasmussen was arrested under another alias, Gerry Mockerman, in 1988 for driving a stolen vehicle. [31], The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children subsequently announced that an unidentified man, known by the alias "Robert Evans," was found through DNA to be the father of the middle child (who was not related to the three other victims). She said that she did but "they died eating grass mushrooms when they were out camping". "[14] He has been dubbed "The Chameleon Killer" due to his use of various aliases and his crime spree which stretched across the country. In the show's second season, host Jason Moon returns with a new, even more complex story: In 1989, New Hampshire police charged three men in the murder of a pregnant woman named Sharon Johnson. She married Sarah's father in September 1974, and the two were separated by the time she was known to be dating Rasmussen. A paternity test comparing Rasmussens blood from prison and a sample police had from 5-year-old Lisa showed Rasmussen was not her father. She had brown hair and was about 3ft 8in (1.12m) tall. Advanced forensic testing showed the 2-to-4-year-old girl (since identified as Rasmussen's daughter) probably spent most of her childhood in either the upper Northeast or upper Midwest, perhaps Wisconsin. When Lisa was taken into protective custody in 1986, police asked her if she had any siblings. Lamotte had been found in Tennessee in 1985, killed about four months after her disappearance. 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. 1977),[38] all of whom went missing from La Puente, California, around Thanksgiving 1978, while she was dating Rasmussen. Beaudin's body has never been found and she is currently presumed dead, according to The Concord Monitor. 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. He had an unofficial backyard marriage ceremony to Eunsoon Jun in Richmond that same year, though no marriage certificates were ever filed. bodies found. Then a Conn. librarian listened to a podcast", "Funeral for mother and daughter brings closure to longtime mystery", National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bear_Brook_murders&oldid=1130144089, This page was last edited on 28 December 2022, at 20:07. Starring Terry P Rasmussen Genres Unscripted Subtitles None available Three of the victims would be identified, however, two years later, thanks to the obsessive amateur sleuthing of Rebekah Heath and Barbara Rae-Venter. Testing his DNA, they also determined that the man had not, in fact, been Lisas father and an investigation began to find out who Lisa really was. Her age at the time of death was estimated to be 23 to 33. ET on ABC. In February 2020, it was announced that DNA analysis suggested the child was primarily Caucasian, with slight Asian, African, and Native American heritage. Marie E. Vaughn was first, born in 1971, then Sarah L. McWaters was born in 1977, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Jun was in her mid-40s when she introduced her family to her new boyfriend Larry Vanner, whom authorities later identified as Rasmussen, according to the New Hampshire Department of Justice. A fourth victim in the . The refrigerator had been dumped in a canal in San Joaquin County, California. Investigators believe that the mother of the child was also killed by Rasmussen. [9] Beaudin was not reported missing at the time as her family believed she left town due to financial reasons. Rebekah Heath, a research librarian who said shed become obsessed with the case, helped identify the woman and the two children through her own sleuthing. "So our suspect started in 1984 as 'Curtis Kimball.' Then we had 'Gordon Jenson.' Bear Brook is an American true crime podcast covering the Bear Brook murders. [Its because] there's still one victim out there, former Detective Cody said. Huber said the body of a woman was found in a state of advanced decomposition and police couldnt discern the womans facial features. Under a plea deal, an additional charge of child abuse was dropped. [5] Two months later, he was confirmed to be Rasmussen, through Y-DNA testing from a DNA sample contributed by one of his children from what is believed to be his first marriage. This new discovery didnt offer any immediate clues as to who the killer had been, though. Marie Vaughn was last seen with her mother and sister at a Thanksgiving gathering in 1978. For more on the case and to see a timeline of Sharon's last day, visit bearbrookpodcast.com. Ultimately, the body was identified as Jun, who police determined had died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Bear Brook killings: An old photo raises more questions Host Jason Moon documents how those involved grapple with the idea that the prevailing story about who killed Sharon Johnson could be a lie. [6] These techniques have since been used in other high-profile cases, including the Golden State Killer case, leading to the arrest of suspect Joseph James DeAngelo in April 2018. January 23, 2023 Jason Carroll is serving life in prison for a murder he says he didn't commit. Investigators have concluded the woman and two of the children lived in the area where their bodies were found. Most serial killers would never do that; it's the last thing they would do. An early morning drug deal in a hotel bathroom ends in tragedy.