Four Unidentified Girls in New Hampshire



Twenty-eight years later, who are these girls?
by Robert A. Waters

Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire is known for hiking, biking, swimming, and deer hunting.  But in 1985, past Beaver Pond and Catamount Pond, past the archery range and the canoe rental facilities, two bodies turned up in a 55 gallon steel drum.  Deep in a heavily forested region of swampy bogs, on private land adjacent to the park, a deer hunter made the gruesome find.

Fifteen years later, police discovered a second drum containing two more bodies.  Incredibly, it may have been lying there for two decades.  Excuses flowed from the cops about why it took so long to find the second barrel, but the fact is that three children and one adult were murdered in the late 1970s to mid-1980s and dumped in that remote forest.

No one has ever come forward to identify the remains.

Investigators determined that each victim died of blunt force trauma to the head.  They estimated the first two victims to be between 23 and 33 years of age and 5 to 11.

In the second drum, one victim ranged from 1 to 3 years old, and the second from 2 to 4.

Police have determined through DNA testing that three of the four were related.  It’s possible that the adult was a mother who died with two of her children.  Further tests are being conducted in hopes of obtaining additional information about the victims.

Police have kicked around several theories about the four.  Were they murdered by a spouse or partner?  Were they in a commune, or some other organization that flew beneath the radar?  Were they transients?  Or from a foreign country, such as Canada?  Truth is, the police just don’t know.

New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Joe Ebert told reporters that child-killers are rare.  “It takes a very certain profile of an individual to kill a child,” he said.

The victims are buried together in an Allenstown, New Hampshire church cemetery.  The inscription on the marker reads: “May their souls find peace in God’s loving care.”

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recently released three-dimensional facial reconstructions of the victims.  If you have information concerning this case, contact the New Hampshire State Police at 603-223-3856.