The New Hampshire attorney general’s office said it has identified the final victim in the Bear Brook murders.
Rea Rasmussen, previously known only as “the middle child” and believed to be about three years old at the time of her death, was identified using advanced genetic genealogy, officials said. She was the daughter of Terry Rasmussen, the man who is believed to have killed her and three others discovered in Allenstown’s Bear Brook State Park.
The identification brings a degree of closure to the notorious cold case, but many details remain unclear.
“We never forgot Rea. We never stopped looking,” New Hampshire State Police Detective Sergeant Christopher N. Elphick said in a statement. “Naming her brings a sense of justice but also reminds us of the unanswered questions that remain.”
In 1985, individuals discovered a barrel containing the remains of an adult and a child near Bear Brook State Park. Fifteen years later, a second barrel containing the remains of two more children was discovered nearby.
The murders are believed to have occurred in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Terry Rasmussen died in prison in 2010.
In 2019, investigators identified the remains of the other three victims as Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughters, Marie Vaughn and Sarah McWaters.
Rea Rasmussen was about three years old at the time of her death. Marlyse was 24, and her daughters were about 9 and 2 years old.
Those identifications were among the first to rely on genealogical testing to solve a cold case, a technique that has now become far more widespread.
“We can’t bring them back, but we can restore some measure of dignity,” Attorney General John Formella said at a press conference Monday.
Formella was joined by members of his office, state police, Department of Justice’s Cold Case Unit and the DNA Doe Project, which partnered with law enforcement in January 2024 to make the identification.
The DNA project’s team of investigative genetic genealogists built a family tree dating back several generations in order to identify Rea, who lacked DNA matches. They ultimately amassed 25,000 people under one family tree, tracing Rea’s ancestry to a couple born during the 1780s, according to a statement.
The couple’s great-great-great-granddaughter died in 2005, and her obituary said she was survived by a daughter named Pepper Reed. Investigators unearthed additional connections that confirmed Reed’s relation to three-year-old Rea.
Rea’s birth certificate, found in Orange County, California, listed Reed and Terry Rasmussen as her parents. This solidified her identity, which the attorney general’s office confirmed on Friday.
“I think this case is particularly emotional for us given that she’s a young girl. This is the youngest Doe we’ve identified to date,” said Jennifer Randolph, executive director of case management and operations at DNA Doe Project. “Obviously, it meant a lot when we finally got there.”
Reed was a Texas woman born in 1952 and has been missing since the 1970s. Investigators now believe that Reed, who had not been previously linked to Terry Rasmussen, was a victim of his, as well. No additional information is known to investigators at this time, officials said at the conference.
Denise Beaudin was last seen with Terry Rasmussen in Manchester in 1981. She was never found and is presumed to be another of his victims.
Investigators are asking the public for information on Reed’s and Beaudin’s whereabouts before their disappearances and Terry Rasmussen’s movements between 1974 and 1985.
“Rea was just a child when she was murdered. She deserved to be known, and today we returned her name to her,” said Christopher Knowles, chief of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit. “This identification doesn’t close the book, however.”