Final Bear Brook victim identified as Rea Rasmussen, closing a 40-year-old case but leaving questions about her mother.
After more than four decades, authorities in New Hampshire have identified the final victim in the Bear Brook murders, bringing an end to one of the state’s longest-running mysteries.
New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella and Colonel Mark B. Hall of the New Hampshire State Police announced on Sunday that the last unidentified victim has been confirmed as Rea Rasmussen, the biological daughter of convicted murderer Terry Peder Rasmussen and a woman named Pepper Reed, who has been missing since the late 1970s.
„This case has weighed on New Hampshire and the nation for decades“, Formella said in a statement. With Rea Rasmussen’s identification, all four victims now have their names back.“Why It Matters
The identification of Rasmussen highlights the role of forensic genealogy in solving cold cases and underscores law enforcement’s persistence in seeking justice long after a perpetrator’s death.
While the finding closes one chapter in New Hampshire’s most infamous homicide investigation, unanswered questions remain about Rasmussen’s missing mother and the full scope of killer Terry Rasmussen’s crimes.What To Know
The case, known as the Bear Brook murders, began in 1985 when hunters discovered a barrel containing the remains of an adult woman and a young girl in Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. A second barrel with the remains of two more children was found nearby in 2000.
