Decades-old mystery solved: girl identified in New Hampshire serial killer case

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Decades-old mystery solved: girl identified in New Hampshire serial killer case

2025-09-09 02:55 Last Updated At：03:00

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The recent identification of a little girl found dead in a New Hampshire state park nearly 25 years ago both closed a key chapter in an investigation spanning four decades and opened a new search for another likely victim of her serial killer father, authorities said Monday.

The mystery, one of the first major cases to highlight genetic genealogy in solving crimes, began in 1985 when a hunter discovered the bodies of a woman and 9-year-old girl in a barrel at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown. In 2000, an investigator found another barrel nearby containing the body of two more girls estimated to be ages 2 and 3.

Authorities determined that all four had been killed in the late 1970s or early 1980s and placed in the park. By 2019, they had identified all but the “middle child” and concluded based on DNA analysis that the killer was her father, Terry Rasmussen, who died in prison in 2010 after being convicted of killing another woman in California. But for years, they didn’t know the name of the girl.

That changed after the New Hampshire State Police's cold case unit partnered with the DNA Doe Project, which used extensive DNA analysis and genealogical research to identify her as Rea Rasmussen.

“Today, we’re no longer frustrated,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Agati said at a news conference. “We can find ourselves, for once – just today – fulfilled, because we have that name, and it feels like a promise kept. It renews everybody up here to go on and continue to seek the truth.”

Building on the work of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the DNA Doe Project compiled a family tree with roughly 25,000 names. Investigators traced the descendants of a couple born in the 1780s to a woman who died in 2005, leaving a daughter named Pepper Reed. They also found a 1976 birth certificate for Rea Rasmussen listing her parents as Pepper Reed and Terry Rasmussen.

Reed has not been seen since the late 1970s in California, authorities said. Authorities on Monday urged the public to come forward with any information about Reed or Denise Beaudin, another likely victim.

“Our work is not done,” New Hampshire State Police Det. Sgt. Christopher Elphick said. “If you have any information, no matter how small it may seem, we urge you to come forward. After more than four decades, your piece of the puzzle could be the one that finally brings justice.”

Rasmussen had been living with Beaudin and her infant daughter in New Hampshire when they disappeared in 1981. By 1985, he was living with the girl in California, portraying himself as a grieving widow and father, a neighbor recalled. The girl was later adopted after being abandoned.

Elphick said Rasmussen appears to have targeted vulnerable women he could alienate from their families so they wouldn’t be reported missing. He used multiple aliases including Bob Evans, Curtis Kimball and Gordon Jenson and lived in multiple states, including California, New Hampshire, Texas, Arizona, Oregon and Virginia.

Rasmussen was sent to prison for the 2001 killing of his girlfriend, whose partially dismembered body was found in their California basement. But there are large gaps of time during which he is unaccounted for, investigators said.

“It’s highly unlikely that he stopped doing what he was doing,” Elphick said. “It’s certainly possible we’re going to make some more discoveries, not just about the whereabouts of Pepper Reed and Denise Beaudin, but additional victims as well.”

On Monday, a victim witness specialist read a statement from Pepper Reed’s family thanking those involved in the investigation.

“First and foremost, we want to express that Pepper is deeply loved and missed every single day,” the family said. “Though we did not have an opportunity to meet Rea, she is cherished just as much in our hearts. Our family kindly asks for privacy as we grieve.”

Box Office: ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ tops charts and ‘Obsession’ grows in second weekend

After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” made $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million globally.

It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.

The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters. The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.

“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).

The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.