The Chameleon Killer on ID is investigating the multiple crimes of Terry Peder Rasmussen, who is suspected of killing at least five women and children in California and New Hampshire.
Rasmussen managed to evade capture for his diabolical crimes for decades. He constantly moved about and changed his name regularly, which earned the nickname the Chameleon Killer.
In June 2002, Eunsoon Jun married a man calling himself Larry Vanner in Richmond, California. A short time later, Eunsoon disappeared. Her friends became fed up with Vanner evading questions about her, so they called the police.
When the cops searched Vanner’s home, they found Eunsoon’s dismembered body covered in catnip. After arresting Vanner for murder, they took his fingerprints and found out his name was Curtis Kimball, and that he’s wanted for breaking his parole conditions.
He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life. Unbeknown to the Californian authorities, this man’s real name is actually Terry Rasmussen, and he is guilty of many more murders.
At Thanksgiving 1978, Marlyse Honeychurch introduced Rasmussen to her parents in La Puente, California. There was an argument; Marlyse’s mother told her daughter that Rasmussen was too old for her and that she shouldn’t be with him.
Marlyse took her two children, six-year-old Marie Elizabeth Vaughn and one-year-old Sarah Lynn McWaters, and left with Rasmussen. Neither Marlyse nor the two children were heard from again.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelBear Brook Murders remained a mystery until DNA linked Rasmussen
In 1985, a hunter stumbled upon a metal drum at the Bear Brook State Park near Allenstown, New Hampshire. In the drum were the badly decomposing bodies of a young woman and a young girl. The cops were unable to identify the bodies and the case remained a mystery for decades.
In 2000, an NH state trooper was reexamining the area when they uncovered a second barrel, which contained the bodies of another two young girls. It took until 2019 before three of the bodies were identified by DNA; they were Marlyse Honeychurch and her two children Marie Vaughn and Sarah McWaters.
The fourth body is still unidentified but was deemed to be the daughter of Rasmussen; it’s believed she was between 2 and 4 years old when she was killed.
At the time of the murders, there was a man living in the area with his family called Bob Evans; the cops now reckon that Evans was actually Rasmussen. He didn’t stay in the area too long. In 1981 he left with new girlfriend, Denise Beaudin, and her daughter, 6-month old Dawn.
The cops believe that at some point, Rasmussen killed Beaudin but decided to raise her daughter, who he renamed as Lisa, as his own child. However, he seems to have become fed up with Lisa because he abandoned her in 1986 in Scotts Valley, CA. He was later arrested as Curtis Kimball and spent time in jail for child abandonment.
Rasmussen died in prison in 2010 while serving time for the murder of Eunsoon Jun. He died of natural causes. It took another few years before he was linked to the Bear Brook murders.
The crimes of Rasmussen remain under investigation, and the case has been well-documented on other TV shows.
More from Investigation Discovery
Follow the links to read about more serial killers profiled on ID.
Todd Kohlhepp murdered at least seven people in South Carolina between 2003 and 2016. His mother insisted that he was not a serial killer because he had derived no pleasure from the murders because the victims had angered and upset him.
The FBI has described Samuel Little as America’s most prolific serial killer. He claims to have committed a shocking 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. The cops have confirmed 50 of them but also say that all of Little’s confessions are credible.
The first episode of Chameleon Killer airs Sunday at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.
I was stunned when I saw this. It took me on a trip down memory lane,to a camp ground in Arkansas, I was ten or so. We met this older man who stayed very drunk. He carved forms out of wood. My little brother had a mouth that constantly ran. Terry as he had introduced himself had a favorite saying for my brother ” Shut up small child or I will kill you!” He showed me how to whittle on wood and gave me a horse he carved that I had taken a shine to. He was kind to me perhaps cause I was a quiet child. It’s crazy knowing I had interaction with a serial killer.