The Unidentified Middle Child – TRUE CRIME REPORT - Beyond the Crime Scene with Bee Astronaut

The Unidentified Middle Child is the name given to a young murder victim who was apart of the Allenstown 4, a group of murder victims found in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Though the 3 other victims have since been identified as a young mother and her 2 daughters, as well as the discovery that the perpetrator was the victim’s own father, the young child remains unidentified.

On November 10, 1985, a hunter found a 55-gallon drum near an old burned down building in at Bear Brooke State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Inside of the drum were 2 decomposing bodies wrapped in plastic. Autopsy revealed that the bodies were that of a young woman and child. The woman was thought to be between 23-33 and the child was thought to be between 8-10; both victims died by blunt force trauma.

Nearly 15 years later, on May 9, 2000, another drum was found near the original discovery site. Inside the second drum were 2 more decaying bodies. The next autopsy determined that the remains were that of a young girl between the ages of 2-4 and an infant female child; their causes of death were also blunt force trauma. Despite the second drum being found years later, investigators determined that the murders occurred at the same time. The reason that the second drum wasn’t found sooner was because it was outside the proximity of the first drum.

The case of the 4 murder victims was highly publicized throughout the United States and some parts of Canada. Many identities were ruled out, and for a while, the victims’ case began to go old.

In June 2013, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released updated versions of facial reconstructions of the 4 victims. Another updated version of the facial reconstructions were again released in November 2015. In 2014, DNA testing revealed that the oldest victim, second victim, and youngest victim were all maternally related. In 2015, it was found that the oldest victim was the mother of the 2 girls, and they were primarily from the NorthEastern United States.

The oldest victim, second victim, and youngest victim

The middle child was not related to the other victims, but it was found that she was primarily from the NorthEast or Upper Midwest United States. However, further testing in 2019 revealed that the child could also possibly be from Arizona, Texas, California, or Oregon.

In 2017, a break in the case came when Denise Beaudin was connected to the murders. Denise Beaudin was a woman from Manchester, New Hampshire, who went missing along with her daughter in 1981 after leaving with her boyfriend Bob Evans. Denise eventually went missing and Bob Evans later abandoned the young girl nicknamed “Lisa” at a campsite, and she never saw Bob or her mother again. Beaudin was not reported missing until 2016 when her daughter resurfaced in 2016 and was found to be alive and well living in California. Beaudin, however, remains missing.

Investigators soon found that Bob Evans’s real identity was Terry Peder Rasmussen, and he was the father of the Unidentified Middle Child of the Bear Brook Murders. Authorities then believed that Rasmussen was responsible for the Bear Brook Murders. Unfortunately, Terry Rasmussen died in prison in December 2010 after being convicted of the 2002 murder and dismemberment of his wife Eunsoon Jun, a chemist from California.

Further investigation found that Terry Rasmussen was born in 1943 in Denver, Colorado. He got married in 1979 and had 4 children. His wife left him in 1973, and his family last saw him in 1974. DNA samples provided by one of his sons confirmed his identity in June 2017. It was found the Rasmussen used up to 5, and possibly more, false identifies, leading him to be known as the Chameleon Killer.

In 1999, a young man created a post on Ancestry.com in hopes to find his half sister whom he shared a father with but never met. It was stated that the girl was born in Hawaiian Gardens, California. Nothing came of this post at first.

Nearly 20 years later, on June 6, 2019, New Hampshire investigators announced the identities of the young woman and her 2 children. It was revealed that the woman was 24 year old Marlyse Honeychurch, and her daughters 7 year old Marie Vaughn and 11 month old Sarah McWaters. They were last seen around Thanksgiving in 1978 in La Puente, California. Marlyse left her home after having an argument with her mother and never contacting her relatives again. She was dating Terry Rasmussen at this time and was believed to have used the alias Elizabeth Evans at some point while with him. It was found that it was Sarah’s younger half brother who made the Ancestry post in hopes to find her. At some point in their lives, both Marie and Sarah’s fathers had custody of them, but eventually Marlyse regained custody of them sometime before their deaths. Marlyse and her daughters were all laid to rest in funeral services sometime in 2019.

The Middle Child’s identity is the most mysterious of all the identifications in this case. DNA testing links her as the daughter of Terry Rasmussen, as well as the possible locations she grew up in. It is unknown who the child’s mother is, but it was found that her mother’s relatives were most likely from Pearl River County, Mississippi. In 2020, an updated facial reconstruction of the unidentified child was released to the media. The young girl was between 2-4 years old, she had wavy brown hair, a slightly noticeable overbite, and was between 3’3″ or 3’9″.