THE CHAMELEON KILLER 'Bear Brook Murders' Starcasm Staff September 5, 2021 The Chameleon Killer, True Crime For 30 years the killer of bodies found in barrels near Bear Brook State Park,. [38], Marlyse had previously married Marie's father in June 1971 and divorced by 1974. 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. Police believe Honeychurch fled to New Hampshire with Rasmussen, who at that point had begun using the name "Bob Evans." "[15], On May 9, 2000, the remains of two young girls were found near the first discovery site. I closed the blinds back up. [2] The three girls were thought to also have some Native American heritage; they had light or European-American complexions. After his release, he assumed the name "Larry Vanner" and began living with chemist Eunsoon Jun in 2001. A search leads authorities to his basement. [5] Throughout 1980, he was arrested in Manchester three times for writing a bad check, theft, and diverting electric current. World Book Day comes a day early ahead of teachers strikes on March 2 Additionally, Huber said the womans remains bore the hallmarks of Rasmussens other victims. Do groundbreaking techniques come at the cost of genetic privacy? It can conquer death." +4. [1] [2] The podcast is hosted by Jason Moon and was released through New Hampshire Public Radio. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesRebekah Becky Heath, the researcher and libararian who obsessively worked to discover Rasmussens victims identities. [2] He grew up in Arizona and attended North High School in Phoenix until dropping out during his sophomore year in 1960. Her age at the time of death was estimated to be 23 to 33. Never contacted nobody. Jun disappeared from Richmond, California, in June 2002, approximately two years after Vanner met her family and friends. New methods of inquiry are used to crack other cold cases. [3][4] Rasmussen enlisted in the United States Navy in 1961 and served until he was discharged in 1967. She had an overbite, which was probably noticeable. [1] The use of genetic genealogy to identify Rasmussen represented new possibilities in forensic investigations. [13] Additionally, they announced that DNA confirmed that he was the father of the middle child found in Allenstown but that Evans was a pseudonym and his legal identity was not known. Bear Brook murders: An amateur sleuth helped authorities confirm - CNN I would go to work and Id come home and I would just research and research and research.. The only evidence against him? When Lisa was taken into protective custody in 1986, police asked her if she had any siblings. 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. Bear Brook murders: An amateur sleuth helped authorities confirm the Similar posts also aided in the identifications of the victims. Clockwise from left: Denise Beaudin, Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch, Sarah L. McWaters, Marie E. Vaughn, "the Middle Child," Eunsoon Jun. She married Sarah's father in September 1974, and the two were separated by the time she was known to be dating Rasmussen. 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. The first barrel was discovered in 1985, the second in 2000. He was 62 years old when he passed away in prison. Beaudin's body has never been found and she is currently presumed dead, according to The Concord Monitor. [4][14] The two were buried in an Allenstown 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. He later abandoned that child, whom he had pretended to father and called Lisa, in a trailer park. More than 30 years later, is it possible to get to the truth - and who gets to tell it? After Years of Investigation, New Hampshire Police Officially Identify For any tips concerning Terry Rasmussen and any unknown victims, please contact please contact Deputy Peter Headley with San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department at pheadley@sbcsd.org or the New Hampshire State Police Cold Case Unit (603)223-3648, ColdCaseUnit@dos.nh.gov, 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Their slain bodies were found on November 10th, 1985, in Bear Brook State Park. Jenson said after those two weeks, the Deckers could arrange for their daughter to adopt Lisa, police said. Heath submitted her tip to authorities in October 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. [4], In November 1985, the bodies of Honeychurch and Vaughn were found in a barrel in Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. We have a few unidentified remains that we are trying to identify in different parts of the country that we think have all of his earmarks, Jensen told Gomulka. Rasmussen killed at least six people in a series of crimes that spanned decades and stretched across the continental United States. As of June2019[update], the third child remains unidentified, but authorities were able to confirm that Rasmussen was her biological father. When somebody's story keeps changing, it means that they [have] either made something up, can't remember what they told you the first time or that they're lying to you, she added. His wife left him between 1973 and 1974 and his family last saw him around Christmas 1974. For more than two decades, the Bear Brook murders remained a complete mystery. I don't remember exactly what happened, Paula Hodges, Honeychurchs other sister, told 20/20. I just heard that they had an argument, Marlyse and my mom., My mom might've said something to her as, He's too old for you. He died in prison in 2010 after being convicted of her 2002 murder. [9][17], The adult, later identified as Honeychurch, was determined to be Caucasian with possible Native American ancestry. [8], Honeychurch and Vaughn's funeral was held in November 2019 in Allenstown, during which they were given a new headstone bearing their names. A family tree begins to take shape. This linked him to New Hampshire in the same timeframe as the Bear Brook murders, when he was known as Robert Evans. 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. 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 had blunt force trauma to the head, and then she was put in a container and the container was tied off and he dumped it, he said. His own taped confession. [6] Aided by genetic genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter in 2015, Beaudin's daughter discovered her mother's identity and that the man she once thought had been her father was her kidnapper. 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. We're here today to bury my sister and my nieces, Salamon said at Honeychurch and Maries funeral. Honeychurch was last seen in La Puente, California, on Thanksgiving day that year. She was previously known as San Joaquin Jane Doe and the Lady in the Fridge.[8][19]. Rebekah Becky Heath, the researcher and libararian who obsessively worked to discover Rasmussens victims identities. While living in Manchester, New Hampshire, Rasmussen lived under the alias "Robert 'Bob' Evans" and worked at the Waumbec Mill. 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. For Bear Brook listeners, a full episode preview of Jason Moon's latest reporting project, Death Resulting. In 1995, scavengers found a refrigerator containing what former San Joaquin County Assistant Sheriff John Huber believes may be another one of Rasmussens victims. Esther Elliott, eight, (left) dressed as . Authorities on Thursday revealed that they had identified three of the four victims in the chilling cold case known as the Bear Brook murders . 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. She left the home after a trivial argument with her mother and was never seen alive again. 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. Marie Vaughn was last seen with her mother and sister at a Thanksgiving gathering in 1978. [6] They last saw Rasmussen around December 1975 or 1976, when he showed up with an unidentified woman. A True Crime Story is about what happens when the official narrative is challenged. Golden State Killer's invisible victims: Men whose lives were . [6] The divorce was finalized in 1978. They werent identified until 2019; at that time, authorities believed Marie was 8 to 10 years old at the time of her death. It would take 17 years until the killer could be named and another two until his victims would be identified. David Salamon, Honeychurchs brother, remembered the lengths to which their family went to find Honeychurch and her daughters. "[14] He has been dubbed "The Chameleon Killer" due to his use of various aliases and his crime spree which stretched across the country. [2] All four of the victims were either partially or completely skeletonized; they were believed to have died between 1977 and 1981. 1954) was the mother of Marie Elizabeth Vaughn (b. Rebekah Heath, a librarian and true crime enthusiast from Connecticut, was ultimately the one who made the link between "Bob Evans," Rasmussen, and the missing women, leading to a round of DNA tests which ultimately confirmed the identityof the victims thus solving the crime. How investigators had missed it over a decade prior remains unclear, but the second barrel, like the first, contained the mutilated bodies of two young girls, stored in the same manner. The Story of the Serial Killer Behind the "Bear Brook Murders" Timeline of serial killer Terry Rasmussen's terror in New Hampshire My father's real full name is Terry Peder Rasmussen, and he was born Dec. 23 of 1943, Diane Kloepfer told 20/20.. [11], San Bernardino detective Peter Headley got Lisa's case in 2013 and genealogy website databases had grown since the case had started. 07-11-2018. Authorities fear both Beaudin and the unidentified mother of the middle child are other possible victims of Rasmussen. He had been convicted and sentenced as Evans for the 2002 murder and dismemberment of his wife at the time, Eunsoon Jun, a chemist in California. Armand Beaudins daughter Denise Beaudin is Lisas mother. He then took on the alias Gordon Jenson and abandoned the child at an RV park in Scotts Valley, California, in 1986. The Bear Brook Murders - YouTube Bear Brook murders update: Unidentified girl might have relatives in In 1985 the plastic wrapped bodies of a woman and girl were discovered in a metal drum in a forest in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Honeychurchs youngest daughter, Sarah, was laid to rest in Connecticut, near her fathers family. Like Rasmussen's confirmed victims, she had died of blunt force trauma to the head. The woman also told Heath that her missing family member had once married a man with the last name Rasmussen. He pleaded guilty to the death of his partnerEunsoon Jun, landing him a 15 year prison sentence, according to The Los Angeles Times. All the same guy., Watch the full story on "20/20" FRIDAY at 9 p.m. He was also confirmed, via DNA, to be the father of a 2-to-4-year-old girl who was one of the Bear Brook victims. [30] The daughter is keeping her name private. Police have not been able to link Rasmussen to other cases, according toStrelzin. Bear Brook is an American true crime podcast covering the Bear Brook murders. "[37], On June 6, 2019, New Hampshire investigators held a press conference regarding the case and revealed the identities of three of the victims. She went with Terry. Through the years my mother always said, You know, something's not right. [7] Based on the date they disappeared, available documents and Rasmussen's activities, the victims most likely died between 1978 and 1981. First thing we need to do is find out who she is, because without knowing who she is, it's pretty hard to track back and find out where she stayed and who her relatives were and who she associated with, he said. By 2017, Bob Evans was dead, and investigators believed he had killed Denise Beaudin after they left New Hampshire. His own taped confession. 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. Police believe Terry Rasmussen, a man one expert deemed the worst serial killer, murdered the four women and children found stuffed into barrels in a New Hampshire state park decades ago. He had an unofficial backyard marriage ceremony to Eunsoon Jun in Richmond that same year, though no marriage certificates were ever filed. [29] Beaudin was not reported missing until 2016, when her daughter resurfaced alive and well in California after there was more publicity about the murders and Beaudin's disappearance. [12] On January 26, 2017, authorities publicly announced that Evans was a suspect in the disappearance of Denise Beaudin and the Bear Brook murders. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in jail. The victims were officially named in June 2019. Since 2017, he has been named as a suspect in several other crimes. Their slain bodies were found on November 10th, 1985, in Bear Brook State Park. The refrigerator had been dumped in a canal in San Joaquin County, California. Let's talk about the Bear Brook murders. Huber says the investigation is stalled because she is still unidentified. October 31, 2018 This is part two of episode 5. Sarah L. McWaters was 11 months old when she was last seen with her mother and sister around Thanksgiving of 1978. The podcast had reignited interest in the case, and captured the attention of a 34-year-old librarian from Connecticut named Becky Heath. 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. An estranged cousin goes missing. In June 2013, new versions of the victims' facial reconstructions were created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. bodies found. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. [7], By 1978, Rasmussen was dating Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch. At the time, Morgan and his friends didnt know there were remains inside the barrel. [35] He married in 1969, had four children, and lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and Redwood City, California. Allenstown Four: The Decades-Long Mystery of the Bear Brook Murders The bodies could not be identified at the time, leading the case to go cold. 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. [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. 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. June 7, 2019 A clue is found buried on an internet message board. Investigators said genealogy research. But as it turned out, that person had been several different people throughout his life. [6], Rasmussen lived in a number of states including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Oregon, Hawaii and California. Curiously, against the advice of his attorneys, Vanner pleaded guilty to the murder during his trial. He settled in New Hampshire sometime in the late 1970s. New Hampshire State Attorney's Office, Sarah Lynn McWaters, Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch and Marie Elizabeth Vaughn. When people ask me who was the worst serial killer out there I point to him and the reason is this: he not only would kill a woman but he would take their children, molest their children, and not only that but use their children as a lure to get his next victim and I cant think of anything more horrible than that.. Under a plea deal, an additional charge of child abuse was dropped. The abandonment of five-year-old Lisa in Scotts Valley, California. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. In 2016, this child was determined to be Rasmussens biological daughter. 3, 2023 at 9:04 AM PST | Updated: 20 minutes ago. May their souls find peace in Gods loving care.. But what if that story was based on a lie? [3] He married in 1969, had four children and lived with his family in Phoenix and Redwood City, California. Rasmussen was convicted and sentenced for the murder in 2002 of his then-wife, Eunsoon Jun; he died in prison in 2010. Honeychurch had an argument with her mother and left the residence, never contacting her relatives again. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.. It was just a situation where, every time we searched, [we] came to a dead end. Click here to donate $20. Due to his use of many aliases, most notably "Bob Evans", Rasmussen is known as "The Chameleon Killer". The Bear Brook murders, and Allenstown Barrel murders refer to four dismembered female murder victims found in barrels, two discovered in 1985 and two in 2000, at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. For more than 30 years, that story has profoundly shaped the lives of many people. Four Bodies Are Discovered In Bear Brook State Park 15 Years Apart On Nov. 10, 1985, a hunter trekking through Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire came across a large, industrial steel drum. It just made me angry and curious.. The four victims were estimated to have died between 1977 and 1981. Killer: Terry Rasmussen - The Chameleon Killer, Bear Brook murders The Bear Brook Murders And Grisly Crimes Of Terry Rasmussen The middle child, identified as Rasmussen's daughter, currently remains unidentified. In 2003, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department opened a case to find Lisa's biological family.