I started with state police in 1989 had been in the military previous to that
and *** national police officer obviously in my training year, you, you
jump around the state um, back then. So, um I jumped around the state and work
different cases around it when you go into the major crime unit and state
police, you're given *** cold case to work on at that time um or *** couple
of cold cases. Um and this was one of the cases that I happened to read about
and I looked into it *** little bit more and it just piqued my interest
when you opened the case file. It's like, you know, one of those books that
grab *** hold of you really quickly
yeah,
running through the, the information that was in the case file itself. Um
the different aspects to this and then just coming to the very quick
realization like this is, this is not new Hampshire, like this is not what we
normally see up here and then just the multitude of question marks as you went
through, like, you know, what does this mean, What does that mean? And then go
trying to work through the crime scene itself and then trying to work through
the people that already being interviewed. Um, so it just was like,
you know, like *** novel that just grabs you just grabbed me and I ran
with it,
not just homicides, but homicides in Alan's town were rare um where you
would have, you know, two victims or three victims or for, you know, the
multiple victim homicides were extremely rare having at that time to
victims and just *** manner in which they were um killed the blimp, blunt
trauma side of it. Um It just, yeah, it was, it was very abnormal for New
Hampshire.
I was reading through the case file and I couldn't, I'm *** very visual type
person and you come out and you try to see what's printed on paper and you're
trying to match the things up from out here and it gives you *** better grasp
on on the entire case when you're going through it. I wanted to really match
what the case file was telling me in the exact area.
Mhm.
The most frustrating part of this entire case was, it seemed like every
road that we walked down or every path we would walk down in this case, you
know, talking to someone or thinking, well this is *** possibility. It just
always came to *** dead end.
Mhm.
There is *** mystery that has gone unsolved in Alan's town since the mid
eighties. That was *** different time. You know, we didn't have cell phones
back then. You didn't have the internet back then. People weren't as connected.
And so it's possible that four people went missing and maybe, you know, local
police department was notified about it, but it didn't go any further than
I said. I'd come out, walk the area, try to get *** better grasp, write some
notes about it and then I was going to go home for the rest of the day.
It's *** beautiful state park here. But there's things out here that um, you
know, it is *** state park, it's open to the public, any possibilities. Um
it's *** safe place to go. It's *** great place for recreation. You know,
it's kind of one of the gems in new Hampshire, but you know, there's flaws
in every gem
I actually was in the canine unit for many years. So we do *** lot of canine
training out here in bear brook.
You start doing uh laying tracks for dogs and you're out in the middle of
the woods and and having the dogs trained to come out and find you, You
actually start to understand how dense these woods are and how big bear book
is itself,
but this is further out than we would normally go for canine training.
I remember it was, it was *** sunny day, um it was warm when I first came out
that day, I was trying to figure out exactly where this wasn't bear bear
brook.
I had to, you know, try to figure out exactly where it was before I even
pulled into the area.
This is where the store used to be, This was the foundation of the camp
store that was here before it closed. Um and one thing they used to have
tractor trailers that used to back in here at night, so that the drivers of
the tractor trailer would sleep here and then they'd leave in the morning.
So that was another factor. When we first started investigating the case,
wondering if that was an aspect to it or not. We couldn't really close any
possibilities. Um So you really had to think about, you know, this is ***
state park and people go through it all the time.
I had done most of the walk through that, I wanted to and looked at some
different things and got *** grasp of the area um and and wrote some notes
about it. And then I was starting to walk out back towards my car and then I
started to walk off the path *** little bit into the wooded area over in this
area. And that's when I came across, you know, finding *** barrel out in the
middle of the woods really isn't, you know, it could be just something,
especially with the store that had been here um really wasn't surprising, but
when I walked up and I saw the plastic that was inside the barrel, then it
made me think, you know, and you're trying to talk yourself out of it
because you don't think it's gonna be what you think it is, because what are
the odds, right? You're, you are engulfed in this case about *** barrel
and you find another barrel. I mean, it's, it wasn't even in the realm of
possibility in my mind at the time. *** lot of hunting out here could have
easily been an animal at the time or animal remains, but you know, we all
know it didn't turn out that way. On May nine, New Hampshire State Police
Detective John Cody found *** second barrel on the same property in islands
town. That barrel contained the remains of two more of Rasmussen's victims this
time. Two female Children based on their apparent ages and their age with
respect to the first child victim, we've referred to these two victims as
the middle child and the youngest child.
Thank you.
But when you find the second barrel, how soon after did you start thinking
we might have *** serial killer?
You know, I think that was in the realm of possibilities. I'm sure it was
originally discussed
again, this is new Hampshire, you wouldn't even think, I mean, it's
abnormal to find two bodies, you know, wrapped up in *** barrel that, you know,
had had broken open and was found by *** hunter. But yeah, it's not even
gonna be in the realm. Do you think, okay, there could be another barrel out
there
when I peel back the plastic and I saw the white. Um, you know, I think I
still was second guessing myself. I had to go back out to my car, get my
flashlight, come back in and shine it and then when I saw the bones,
everybody came out, we actually had to contact the medical examiner and they
confirmed that they did appear to be human remains.
I think the thing that was really resonating was with us that day is the
size of the bones. So you knew that these were younger victims, most likely
Children. Mhm. New Hampshire is *** wooded area. There's *** lot of secrets
buried out in woods, everywhere in New Hampshire. All options were open. You
know, was the barrel there since the beginning is just another, you know,
two other victims. Are they anyway, related the second barrel was actually
found over in this area
and you know, obviously, quite *** distance from the other barrel
Because there's so much of *** distance between the two. The chances of this
barrel even being found at that first investigation were probably slim to
none.
There was not *** lot of publicity around the second barrel when it was
found. Um you know, obviously the local police department knew about it. We
worked very closely with Alice Town Police Department at the time.
It was kept pretty quiet because we were trying to figure out, you know,
what we had here.
The one path that we hadn't walked down because it wasn't there at the time was
technology,
it wasn't technology that led you to that barrel.
It was some old fashioned investigative work, you know, old fashioned
investigative work, but *** lot of luck too. It's, you know, it's following up
on the case and going out and doing what we, you know, every investigator
in the major crime unit and every detective in New Hampshire would do
Knowing that there is one unidentified child. Do you have closure in this case?
I don't think you do. I know for me, it's still that big question mark out
there. It's still that one piece of the puzzle that needs to be put together.
You know, it may not happen in my lifetime, it's out of our control.