Imagine walking through a peaceful forest in New Hampshire. It’s quiet, calm, and full of trees. But in 1985, something terrible was discovered in Bear Brook State Park—a mystery that would take over 30 years to solve.
The First Discovery: A Barrel in the Woods
In 1985, some hunters were exploring the park when they found a large metal barrel—about the size of a trash can. Inside were the bodies of a woman and a young girl. They had been murdered and left there. No one knew who they were or why they had been killed.
Fifteen years later, in 2000, another barrel was found nearby. This one held the bodies of two more young girls. Now there were four victims. Police called them the “Allenstown Four,” named after the nearby town.
A Family Connection, But Still No Names
Investigators learned that the woman in the first barrel was the mother of two of the girls. But the third girl—the one found in the second barrel—was not related to her. That raised even more questions: Who were these people? Why were they killed? And who did it?
For years, the case went cold. No one could figure out who the victims were or who had murdered them.
A Man with Many Names
Then, a strange clue came from California. In 1986, a man calling himself “Gordon Curtis Jensen” abandoned a five-year-old girl named Lisa Jensen at an RV park. Lisa had been abused and didn’t know who her real parents were.
Years later, DNA testing revealed that Lisa’s real name was Dawn Beaudin. Her mother was Denise Beaudin, and both had gone missing from Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1981—just a short drive from Bear Brook State Park.
The man who abandoned Lisa wasn’t really Gordon Jensen. He had used many fake names over the years, including Curtis Kimball and Gerry Mockerman. His real name was Terry Peder Rasmussen, a dangerous man with a long history of violence.
Arrest and Death
Rasmussen was finally arrested in 2003 for killing his girlfriend, Eunsoon Jun, in California. He died in prison in 2010. But police were starting to connect him to more crimes—including the Bear Brook murders.
A Breakthrough with DNA
In 2017, investigators used new DNA technology to make a huge discovery: Rasmussen was the father of the middle girl—the one who wasn’t related to the woman in the barrel. This proved that he had a direct connection to the victims.
Then, in 2019, a librarian who had been following the case made an amazing find. He saw a post on Ancestry.com from a man looking for his half-sister, Sarah McWaters. That led to finding relatives of the woman in the barrel. Her name was Marlyse Honeychurch, and the two girls who were her daughters were named Marie Vaughn and Sarah McWaters.
Now, three of the four victims finally had names. But the middle girl—the daughter of Rasmussen—still hasn’t been identified. And Denise Beaudin, Dawn’s mother, is still missing. Her body has never been found.
What This Case Teaches Us
The Bear Brook murders are one of the most shocking and mysterious cases in American history. But they also show how powerful new tools like DNA testing and genealogy websites can be. These tools helped solve a mystery that had haunted families and investigators for decades. Thanks to science, hard work, and a little help from everyday people, the victims finally got their names back—and their families got some answers.
Reference:
- The True Crime File, Kim Daly
