The Bear Brook murders, also called the Allenstown Four, involve four American women who were killed. Two bodies were found in 1985, and two were found in 2000 at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire, United States. All four bodies were either mostly or completely turned into bones. It is believed they were killed between 1977 and 1981.

In 2017, investigators named Terry Peder Rasmussen (1943–2010) as the most likely person responsible for the murders. DNA testing confirmed that Rasmussen was the father of a 2- to 4-year-old girl who was one of the victims. Rasmussen is also believed to have killed others, including Denise Beaudin, his girlfriend, who disappeared in 1981. In 2002, Rasmussen was found guilty and punished for killing his then-wife, Eunsoon Jun. He died in prison in 2010.

In 2019, officials identified three women who were related by blood as the victims. They were a mother, Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch, and her two daughters, Marie Elizabeth Vaughn and Sarah Lynn McWaters. These women were last seen in November 1978. In 2025, the middle child was identified as Rea Rasmussen. Based on when they disappeared, records, and Rasmussen’s activities, the victims likely died between 1978 and 1981.

Discovery

On November 10, 1985, a hunter discovered a metal 55-gallon drum near the location of a burned-down store at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Inside the drum were the bodies of an adult female and a young girl, wrapped in plastic. Medical exams confirmed both had died from blunt trauma.

The two bodies were buried in an Allenstown cemetery. The tombstone read: "Here lies the mortal remains known only to God of a woman aged 23–33 and a girl child aged 8–10. Their slain bodies were found on November 10th, 1985, in Bear Brook State Park. May their souls find peace in God's loving care."

On May 9, 2000, the remains of two young girls were found near the first discovery site. The bodies were also in a metal 55-gallon drum. Police believe all four murders occurred at about the same time, even though the second drum was not found in 1985 for unknown reasons. Investigators explain that the second drum was outside the initial crime scene, which is why it took so long to discover. The cause of death for all the children was blunt force trauma.

Examination

The adult, later identified as Honeychurch, was determined to be Caucasian with possible Native American ancestry. Her age at the time of death was estimated to be between 23 and 33 years old. She had curly or wavy brown hair and was between 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 meters) and 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 meters) tall. Her teeth showed a lot of dental work, including several fillings and three teeth that had been removed. The three girls were believed to also have some Native American heritage; they had light or European-American skin tones.

The girl found with the adult female, later identified as Vaughn, was between 5 and 11 years old. She showed signs of pneumonia, had a crooked front tooth, a space between her top teeth, two earrings in each ear, and was between 4 feet 3 inches (1.30 meters) and 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 meters) tall. Her hair was wavy and light brown; she had no dental fillings.

The middle child, later identified as Rea Rasmussen (born in 1976 in Orange County, California), also had a gap between her front teeth and died at an age between 2 and 4 years old. She had brown hair and was about 3 feet 8 inches (1.12 meters) tall. She had an overbite, which was likely noticeable. She may have also suffered from anemia. DNA testing showed that this child was fathered by Terry Peder Rasmussen. In February 2020, DNA analysis suggested the child was primarily Caucasian, with slight Asian, African, and Native American heritage. However, updated testing in 2024 revealed she was of full European descent. Before her 2025 identification, the organization released an updated version of the child’s facial reconstruction.

The youngest girl, later identified as McWaters, was estimated to be 1 to 3 years old. She had long blond or light brown hair, was between 2 feet 1 inch (0.64 meters) and 2 feet 6 inches (0.76 meters) tall, and had a gap between her front teeth.

Investigation

In the early stages of the investigation, officials shared information about the case in the United States and parts of Canada. At least ten possible identities were ruled out. Despite many leads, the bodies were not identified.

In June 2013, new facial reconstructions of the victims were made by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). These reconstructions included details about their teeth, which helped show how their faces might look. The images were in black and white because their skin tones and eye colors could not be determined.

In November 2015, NCMEC released a third set of facial reconstructions of the four victims during a news conference at the New Hampshire State Attorney General's office.

In 2014, police used DNA testing to find that the woman and the oldest and youngest girls were related through their mothers. This meant the woman could have been the girls' mother, aunt, or older sister. In 2015, it was confirmed that the woman was the mother of the two girls.

Other scientific evidence showed that the woman and children lived together in the Northeastern United States for two weeks to three months before their deaths. Investigators concluded that the woman and two of the children lived in the area where their bodies were found. Advanced testing suggested the 2-to-4-year-old girl (later identified as Rasmussen's daughter) likely spent most of her childhood in the upper Northeast or upper Midwest, possibly Wisconsin. In 2019, it was stated that the unrelated child most likely came from Arizona, Texas, California, or Oregon, though other locations could not be ruled out.

In January 2017, it was announced that the disappearance of Denise Beaudin, a woman from New Hampshire who had been missing since 1981, was connected to the Bear Brook murders.

By November 27, 1981, Beaudin had disappeared from Manchester, New Hampshire, along with her young daughter and her boyfriend, Robert "Bob" Evans, after she was last seen by her family in Goffstown for Thanksgiving. Evans later left a young girl, "Lisa," at a campground in California in 1986 while living under a different name and was later sent to prison for abandoning her. In 2003, after Evans was arrested under another name for the murder of Eunsoon Jun, police tested his DNA and found that Lisa was not his daughter. However, in 2016, with help from detective Peter Headley and genetic genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter, "Lisa" was identified as Beaudin's daughter. Beaudin was reported missing again, and based on Evans' methods, it was believed she was also killed by him. "Lisa" has chosen to keep her name private.

Because Manchester, where Beaudin disappeared, is close to Allenstown, where the barrels were found, New Hampshire authorities suspected the cases were connected. DNA testing showed the adult victim at Bear Brook was not Beaudin, but Evans was found to be the father of the middle child (who was not related to the other three victims). Authorities also said "Robert Evans" was a fake name, and the man's real identity was unknown.

Evans died in prison in December 2010. He was convicted and sentenced under another name, Curtis Kimball, for the 2002 murder and dismemberment of his wife, Eunsoon Jun, a chemist in California. Authorities believed Evans was the killer of the four Bear Brook victims but did not provide more details.

In June 2017, police released a video of an interview with Evans in hopes of finding his true identity. At the same time, Rae-Venter used genetic genealogy to narrow down his identity. Two months later, Robert Evans was confirmed as Terry Peder Rasmussen through Y-DNA testing from a DNA sample provided by one of his children from his first marriage. Born in 1943, Rasmussen was from Denver, Colorado. He married in 1968, had four children between 1969 and 1972, and lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and Redwood City, California. His wife left him between 1973 and 1974, and his family last saw him around Christmas 1974. One of his children from this marriage provided the DNA sample that confirmed Rasmussen as Evans in June 2017. Rasmussen, known as the Chameleon Killer, is believed to have used at least five different names in a decades-long history of crimes across the country, including at least five murders. This was the first major case where genetic genealogy was used to identify a suspect, a method later used to solve other cold cases, such as the Golden State Killer case.

Sarah's younger half-brother, who never met her, created a post on the Ancestry.com website in 1999 to find her. She was born in Hawaiian Gardens, California, when her father was in the Marines. In October 2018, librarian and web sleuth Rebekah Heath, who was researching the Bear Brook victims, found the post. She also discovered that Sarah's mother, Marlyse Honeychurch, had an older daughter with her first husband, and their ages matched those of the three related Bear Brook victims. One of Sarah's relatives told Heath that Honeychurch had married a man with the last name Rasmussen. This made Heath almost certain they were the three related victims, and she shared her findings with detective Peter Headley.

On June 6, 2019, New Hampshire investigators held a press conference and revealed the identities of three victims. Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch (born 1954) was the mother of Marie Elizabeth Vaughn (born 1971) and Sarah Lynn McWaters (born 1977), all of whom went missing from La Puente, California, around Thanksgiving 1978 while Honeychurch was dating Rasmussen. Honeychurch had an argument with her mother and left the house, never contacting her relatives again. Honeychurch may have used the name "Elizabeth Evans" in legal documents in May 1980. It is believed all four victims were murdered before 1981, as Rasmussen was known to have left New Hampshire after this time.

Marlyse had previously married Marie's father in June 1971 and divorced by 1974. She married Sarah's father in September 1974 and was separated by the time she was dating Rasmussen. Both children

In media

In 2018, the first season of the true crime podcast Bear Brook, produced by New Hampshire Public Radio, discussed the Bear Brook murders and other discoveries made after Rasmussen's death.