Post by TheWebDetective on May 16, 2016 16:48:42 GMT -5
The Bear Brook murders, also referred to as the Allenstown Four, comprise four unidentified murder victims discovered in 1985 and 2000 at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Here's a rundown:
"On November 10, 1985 - Allenstown, New Hampshire a hunter came across a tipped-over 55-gallon drum and trash near Bear Brook State Park. Inside the drum, he found the remains of an adult woman whom was around (23-33 years old) and a little girl whom was roughly (5-11 years old) wrapped in plastic.
The New Hampshire State Police immediately began to check missing people cases from the 70s and 80s but were unable to identify the bodies. In 1986 - the New Hampshire State Police believed the case would finally be solved when they suspected two missing people named Grace Reapp and her five-year-old daughter Gracie were the unidentified bodies found a year earlier, but dental records proved the unidentified remains found in the 55-gallon drum were not those of Grace or her daughter Gracie Reapp.
Over the years - New Hampshire State Police received hundreds of leads and distributed composite drawings of the victims throughout the Northeast and Quebec, Canada. Several people in the town of Allenstown said the unidentified adult woman resembled someone who had left town with several children a few years earlier - but this proved to be a dead end once again when the woman was found alive in Arizona with the children.
New Hampshire State Police received yet another lead about a mother and daughter who had vanished from a Maine Indian reservation. The descriptions and time of their disappearance seemed a perfect match, but the mother and daughter were quickly located alive in another town in Maine.
Without any solid leads, investigators started to check EVERY elementary school in the state of New Hampshire and almost every medical record of missing persons from Cape Cod, New Hampshire to California. Their efforts proved futile in the end. In 2000, the case took another turn when it was assigned to a fresh pair of eyes: a different New Hampshire state trooper. The officer returned to the area where the bodies were discovered in the 55-gallon drum and stumbled upon yet another 55-gallon drum! Two bodies were ALSO found inside that drum, and this time they were both young female children. DNA determined that the remains of the two little girls found in 2000 were linked to the adult woman found in 1985. The remains found in 2000 were that of a white female child (1-3 years old) and another white female child (2-4 years old). DNA testing indicated that the woman and at least TWO of the three children were related maternally. (Could have been the mother, aunt or an older sister to the youngest and oldest children).
(The third child may not have even been related to the others at all).
In 2013, it was reported that $30,000 was raised in order to examine the DNA from each of the bodies. The third young girl likely came from Dakotas or Nebraska, according to testing of her hair, teeth and bones.
The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit continues are still trying to identify the remains found in 1985 and 2000. There are no current suspects in this case and the identification of all the female victims is still unknown."
"In 1985 the unidentified remains of an adult female and a young female child were found in a barrel in the Bear Brook State Park of Allenstown. Fifteen years later when police revisted the scene, several hundred yards away another barrel was found containing the unidentified remains of two other young children. The adult female and the child buried in the barrel with her died from blunt trauma to the head. The two younger children found were probably also murdered and though there is not definitive evidence, they are believed to be female. DNA tests proved that the adult female is related to the child found buried with her as well as of one of the other children found in 2000. However, she is not the mother of all three children. The adult female was believed to have been between the ages of 23 and 32. She was between the 5'2 and 5'7. She was caucasian with possible Native American ancestry. She had light curly brown hair. The two children linked to her were around the ages of 5-10 and 1-3 years old. The other is not related to her and is believed to be around 3 to 4 of age. It is possible that the three children could be paternally related though but it is not proven. Isotope testing shows that all four victims were born in the United States, they believe that the woman and her two children spent substantial time near the Atlantic Coastline anywhere from Maine to Pennsylvania but that is not definitive. The Other child may have spent time as far west as Minnesota. Whoever killed these individuals has not been caught."
Thoughts? Some reports put the the time of their deaths as far as 1978, adding another difficult barrier to the case. Since it seems they're all related in some way, one has to wonder if any relatives are worried about missing members. It's one thing to have one person disappear without a trace with no worry from relatives. It's another to have a mother and three kids go missing without the family filing any reports or calls to law enforcement. Either these does are a single mother (assuming the oldest victim is the mother, another barrier) her two kids and a friend of the children or even cousin or adoptive child who had all come to contact with a serial killer or the killer is a relative or friend possibly the father. I'm leaning towards the later scenario unless the mother had children with a deadbeat father.
Admin Note #1: Based on case location, our advice for anyone with information would be to contact the Allenstown (New Hampshire) Police Department: www.allenstownnh.gov/police-department
Admin Note #2: If you have any (news-related) updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Brook_murders
oakhillresearch.blogspot.com/
doj.nh.gov/criminal/cold-case/victim-list/allenstown.htm
www.wmur.com/Police-Look-For-Answers-In-Cold-Case/11881032
www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/09/thirty-years-later-murders-woman-girls-continues-baffle/I7n4d1NKACqfFhnIwAnVVP/story.html
www.news.com.au/world/north-america/four-bodies-in-two-steel-drums-who-killed-young-woman-and-three-girls--and-who-are-they/news-story/4b24c4b94e1b75bf7c1aac9cdcba601d
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322558/Cold-case-testing-shows-4-lived-killed.html
www.cnn.com/2013/06/14/us/new-hampshire-bodies-mystery/
www.wmur.com/news/officials-to-release-new-information-on-allenstown-cold-case/36493608
www.unionleader.com/article/20130210/NEWS03/130219950&template=mobileart
www.youtube.com/watch?v=to5M6ijXIV0
