By Holly Ramer, Associated Press
Concord, NH – The recent identification of a little girl who was found dead in a New Hampshire State Park, almost 25 years ago, both concluded an important chapter in a study that included four decades and opened a new search for another victim of her serial killer father, the authorities said Monday.
The mystery, one of the first great cases to emphasize genetic genealogy in solving crimes, started in 1985 when a hunter discovered the bodies of a woman and a 9-year-old girl in a barrel in Bear Brook State Park in Allstown. In 2000 a researcher found another barrel in the neighborhood with the body of two more girls estimated at the age of 2 and 3.
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Authorities have established that all four in the late 1970s or early 1980s were killed and placed in the park. By 2019, They had identified and concluded anything but the ‘middle child’ on the basis of DNA analysis that the murderer was her father, Terry Rasmussen, who died in 2010 after he was convicted of killing another woman in California. But for years they did not know the girl’s name.
That changed after the cold case unit of the New Hampshire State Police collaborated with the DNA Doe -Project, which used extensive DNA analysis and genealogical research to identify it as Real Rasmussen.
“Today we are no longer frustrated,” said senior assistant attorney -general Benjamin Agati at a press conference. “We can fulfill ourselves for once – just today – because we have that name, and it feels like a promise. It renews everyone here to continue and keep looking for the truth.”
Building on the work of the National Center for Missing and exploited Children, the DNA DOE project has compiled a pedigree with around 25,000 names. Researchers traced the offspring of a few born in the 1780s to a woman who died in 2005 and left a daughter with the name Pepper Reed behind. They also found a birth certificate from 1976 for Rea Rasmussen with her parents such as Pepper Reed and Terry Rasmussen.
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Reed has not been seen in California since the end of the 1970s, the authorities said. Authorities insisted on Monday to come up with the public with information about Reed or Denise Beaudin, another victim.
“Our work is not ready”, “New Hampshire State Police Det. Sgt. Said Christopher Elphick.” If you have information, no matter how small it seems, we recommend that you come forward. After more than four decades, your piece of the puzzle can be the one who finally brings justice. “
Rasmussen lived with Beaudin and her baby daughter in New Hampshire when they disappeared in 1981. By 1985 he lived with the girl in California and portrayed himself as a mourning widow and father, A neighbor remembered. The girl was later adopted after it was abandoned.
Elphick said Rasmussen seems to be aimed at vulnerable women he could alienate from their families so that they would not be missing. He used several aliases, including Bob Evans, Curtis Kimball and Gordon Jenson and lived in several states, including California, New Hampshire, Texas, Arizona, Oregon and Virginia.
Rasmussen was sent to prison for the murder of his girlfriend in 2001, whose partially torn apart was found in their California basement. But there are great times in which he is not responsible, researchers said.
“It is very unlikely that he stopped doing what he did,” said Elphick. “It is certainly possible that we will make some more discoveries, not only about the residence of Pepper Reed and Denise Beaudin, but also extra victims.”
On Monday, a specialist from the victim of the victim read a declaration of Pepper’s family and thanked those involved in the investigation.
“First and foremost we want to express that pepper is deeply loved and missed every day,” the family said. “Although we had no opportunity to meet Rea, she is cherished just as much in our hearts. Our family kindly asks for privacy when we mourn.”
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