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Writer's pictureHeidi Reilly

Bodies Found In 15-Gallon Drums In 1985 - Bear Brook Murders Still Unsolved

Sometime between the years of 1977-1985 in Allentown, New Hampshire, four victims' lives were taken. They were Marlyse Elizabeth Hoenychruch, Marie Vaughn, Sarah McWaters, and the unknown daughter of the alleged murderer.





Two of the victims were found in 1985 in a 55-gallon drum by two hunters. There had been a foot hanging out of the drum. Their bodies were wrapped in plastic while dismembered. The conclusion of how they died was by blunt force trauma.

Police searched the area for clues but nothing else stood out.


The case went cold.


Apparently, they had missed the second drum found fifteen years later. It had two more victims. They were found in the same area by New Hampshire State Trooper John Cody. They too were killed by blunt force.

This crime was publicized between Canada and the United States. There were a lot of odd things about this murder because there wasn't enough information to pinpoint a certain suspect.


Again, people searched the area but found no clues that led to a suspect. So, the case went cold.


How could a family have been murdered and no one knew anything about this horrendous murder?


Why couldn't this case be solved? Lots of questions.

What they did was take the DNA from some of the victims and tie it into a system where they could match it with a potential suspect. The victim who was the youngest had some DNA pulled from her and it matched a known murderer in the system.

His name was Terry Pedar Rasmussen. Rasmussen was born in 1943 in Denver, Colorado. He had four children and had lived in many states. His nickname was the Chameleon Killer because he had many different names.


A few of them were known as Curtis, Robert "Bob" Evans, and Jerry Mockerman. How can a man have been able to get through the system by changing his name so many times? He was able to travel across the states by getting jobs and using these different names and the system did not catch up to him. Was this how he was able to create opportunities to meet women and murder them?

Allegedly, he had murdered one of his ex-girlfriends and dismembered her body. He was in prison for it. The word on the street was that he was dating Marlyse at the time of the murders, yet there was no proof of that.

With the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the victims were able to have their faces reconstructed to get more information about what happened that day.


Evans died in prison in 2010 of natural causes. To this day, the Bear Brook murders are still unsolved. Four victims are dead, with the unknown of who did it.


Lots of speculation in town that the police knew who the murderer was. Hopefully, someone will come forward with the truth of this horrific murder.




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