Overview

• Officials said the child long known as the “middle child” is Rea Rasmussen, completing the identifications of all four victims in the Bear Brook case.
• Rasmussen was born in 1976 in Orange County, California, was 2 to 4 years old when she died, and was the biological daughter of Terry Peder Rasmussen and Pepper Reed.
• Remains were found in two 55-gallon barrels near Bear Brook State Park in 1985 and 2000; the other victims were identified in 2019 as Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughters, Marie Vaughn and Sarah McWaters.
• The DNA Doe Project built a family tree of roughly 25,000 names traced to 18th‑century ancestors, leading to Pepper Reed and a 1976 birth record that confirmed Rea’s identity.
• Authorities are seeking tips on the whereabouts of Reed and Denise Beaudin and on Terry Rasmussen’s movements in the 1974–1985 period across several states, noting additional victims are possible.