How Amateur sleuth librarian who loves Agatha Christie
Aug 11, 2019 3:18:05 GMT
politicidal and CrepedCrusader like this
Post by hi224 on Aug 11, 2019 3:18:05 GMT
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7308443/Amateur-sleuth-librarian-helps-identify-three-dismembered-victims-30-year-old-serial-killer.html
A librarian turned amateur sleuth to help identify three murder victims in a serial killer cold case four decades old.
Rebekah Heath, 33, solved the mystery surrounding four dismembered bodies found near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire.
The remains of a woman and a child inside a steel barrel were discovered in 1985 along with another eerily similar scene in 2000 with the bodies of two young girls.
The cases remained a mystery until in 2017, when police announced serial killer Terry Peder Rasmussen was responsible for the deaths,
But they did not know the names or have any information about the victims, including one who was Rasmussen biological child which led to the discovery.
After hearing the news, librarian Heath, a long-time Agatha Christie fan, knew she had to find a way to identify the victims.
She became 'obsessed' in her search for answers according to People magazine, trailing through genealogy and missing person sites and lost family member forums.
Heath from Slimsbury, Connecticut, said: 'I’ve always had a soft spot for Jane Doe’s. I wanted to give a voice where there was no voice.'
Inspired by the mystery novels she had read, most notably the Miss Marple series, she persevered with her searches.
By November, she stumbled across the names of missing woman Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughter Sarah McWaters in messages for an ancestry website.
She reached out to Facebook groups looking for connections between the pair and Rasmussen but received no response.
year later, while listening to a podcast about the Bear Brook Murders, Heath remembered her posts and decided to contact the relatives on social media.
When one relative told her that Honeychurch was last seen in 1978 and had been dating a man named Rasmussen, Heath knew she was onto something.
'I remember just shaking. I knew it was something huge,' she told People.
The next day she called San Bernadino County Sheriff's Department to speak to the detective who worked on the Rasmussen case.
DNA testing would later reveal that Honeychurch, 24, was one of the unidentified victims along with her daughters Sarah, six and Marie Elizabeth Vaughn, one, according to the Washington Post
All but one of the females were identified but the answers Heath had gleaned finally gave closure to the family of Honeychurch.
At a press conference in June, her relatives thanked everyone 'who spent decades working tirelessly to identify our loved ones,' the Post reported.
A statement from them said: 'This day comes with heavy hearts... Marlyse, Marie and Sarah were so loved by our families and they are greatly missed.
'We take solace in finally having the answers we have longed for.'
Despite solving the case, Heath was not satisfied and remains determined to discover who Rasmussen's unnamed daughter was.
'I want to give her her identity. She shouldn't be associated just with him,' she told People.
A librarian turned amateur sleuth to help identify three murder victims in a serial killer cold case four decades old.
Rebekah Heath, 33, solved the mystery surrounding four dismembered bodies found near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire.
The remains of a woman and a child inside a steel barrel were discovered in 1985 along with another eerily similar scene in 2000 with the bodies of two young girls.
The cases remained a mystery until in 2017, when police announced serial killer Terry Peder Rasmussen was responsible for the deaths,
But they did not know the names or have any information about the victims, including one who was Rasmussen biological child which led to the discovery.
After hearing the news, librarian Heath, a long-time Agatha Christie fan, knew she had to find a way to identify the victims.
She became 'obsessed' in her search for answers according to People magazine, trailing through genealogy and missing person sites and lost family member forums.
Heath from Slimsbury, Connecticut, said: 'I’ve always had a soft spot for Jane Doe’s. I wanted to give a voice where there was no voice.'
Inspired by the mystery novels she had read, most notably the Miss Marple series, she persevered with her searches.
By November, she stumbled across the names of missing woman Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughter Sarah McWaters in messages for an ancestry website.
She reached out to Facebook groups looking for connections between the pair and Rasmussen but received no response.
year later, while listening to a podcast about the Bear Brook Murders, Heath remembered her posts and decided to contact the relatives on social media.
When one relative told her that Honeychurch was last seen in 1978 and had been dating a man named Rasmussen, Heath knew she was onto something.
'I remember just shaking. I knew it was something huge,' she told People.
The next day she called San Bernadino County Sheriff's Department to speak to the detective who worked on the Rasmussen case.
DNA testing would later reveal that Honeychurch, 24, was one of the unidentified victims along with her daughters Sarah, six and Marie Elizabeth Vaughn, one, according to the Washington Post
All but one of the females were identified but the answers Heath had gleaned finally gave closure to the family of Honeychurch.
At a press conference in June, her relatives thanked everyone 'who spent decades working tirelessly to identify our loved ones,' the Post reported.
A statement from them said: 'This day comes with heavy hearts... Marlyse, Marie and Sarah were so loved by our families and they are greatly missed.
'We take solace in finally having the answers we have longed for.'
Despite solving the case, Heath was not satisfied and remains determined to discover who Rasmussen's unnamed daughter was.
'I want to give her her identity. She shouldn't be associated just with him,' she told People.
