Bear Brook murders

The Bear Brook murders, also referred to as the Allenstown Four, consisted of four unidentified murder victims discovered in 1985 and 2000 at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire, United States.^[1] Currently, the case remains unsolved. The victims' faces have been reconstructed multiple times, most recently by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.^[2][3][4]

Discovery

Reconstructions of the victims in order of their age, created in 2013

The remains of a woman between twenty-three and thirty-three was found with a female child by a hunter on November 10, 1985, wrapped in plastic (perhaps a garbage bag),^[5] hidden in a 55-gallon metal drum.^[2][4][6][7] The location was relatively close to a store that had previously been destroyed by a fire.^[8] On May 9, 2000, two additional girls were found and were dated to the same time the first two victims were found, around 100 yards away.^[5] They were also concealed in the same way as the previous discovery.^{[2][7][9][10]} DNA testing indicated that the woman and at least two of the three children were related maternally.^[2][6][9] It was initially reported that they had died from trauma caused by a blunt instrument, although the cause of death for the girls found in 2000 has not been determined.^[4][11]

Victims

Reconstructions of the victims by Carl Koppelman

The adult woman was possibly a mix of Caucasian and Native American heritage, had curly or wavy brown hair, and stood between five feet two to five feet seven inches. Apparently, she had received a significant amount of dental work on her teeth, having multiple fillings and three teeth extracted.^[1][6][11] DNA evidence shows that she could have been the mother, aunt or an older sister to the youngest and oldest children.^[5][12] All of the victims were either partially or completely skeletonized when they were found and are believed to have died between 1977 and 1985.^[1][2][9] The children were all Caucasian. The girl that was found with the adult woman was between five and eleven years old, and the next two girls were between two and four and one and three, respectively.^[4][13][14] The oldest girl had a crooked front tooth, wore two earrings in each ear and was four feet three to four feet six inches tall with symptoms of pneumonia in her lungs. Her hair was wavy and light brown and, unlike the adult woman, she had no dental fillings and a gap between her front teeth.^[15] The middle child had a gap between her front teeth and was not maternally related to any of the victims, but may have been paternally related, possibly being a half-sister to the two other girls.^[3][6][11] She had brown hair and was approximately three feet eight inches tall when she died. She also had an overbite, which was likely noticeable when she was alive.^[16] The youngest girl had long blond or light brown hair, was between two feet one to two feet six inches tall and had a gap between her front teeth, like the oldest child.^{[3][11][13][17]} The three children were also reported to have possibly been of Native American heritage after their teeth were examined. They would still, however, appear Caucasian.^[18]

Investigation

At least ten have currently been ruled out as possible identities for the victims. Hundreds of leads have been followed but have not resulted in the identification of the killer or the four females. In the early days of investigation, authorities published the case in the media in the United States and some parts of Canada. Police followed several leads involving missing people, one being a mother and child who went missing in a Native American reservation, who were later found alive. It has since been ruled out that the victims were murdered by a serial killer. The first two victims were buried in the same grave after their discovery.^[9][19] In early 2013, it was reported that 30,000 dollars was raised in order to examine the DNA from each of the bodies.^[20] In June 2013, new versions of the reconstructions were created of the victims by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. These versions incorporated the dental information of the females, displaying how they could affect the external appearance of their faces.^[5] The reconstructions were created in black and white, as their skin tones and eye colors were not possible to determine.^[21]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Unidentified murder victims.

External images

Original sketches of adult

Original sketch of oldest child

Original digital reconstruction of oldest child

Original digital reconstruction of middle child

Original digital reconstruction of youngest child

Original digital reconstruction of adult

• Facebook page
• Oldest child at the NCMEC
• Oldest child at NamUs
• Middle child at NamUs
• Youngest child at NamUs
• Adult at NamUs