Shivangi Sinha
Marlyse Honeychurch and her two daughters, Marie Vaughn and Sarah McWatters, were last seen by family members around Thanksgiving in 1978, after Marlyse left following an argument and never contacted them again. Years later, in 1985 and again in 2000, human remains were discovered along a trail in Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire, but the victims could not be identified at the time. After decades of investigative work by law enforcement and genetic genealogists, the remains were confirmed to belong to Marlyse and her two daughters, along with a fourth, previously unidentified young girl. ABC’s ‘20/20: The Chameleon’ and ’20/20: Badass Detective’ chronicles the long investigation and the breakthroughs that finally brought answers.
Marlyse Honeychurch, Marie Vaughn, and Sarah McWaters’ Remains Were Identified Decades After Their Disappearance
Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch was born on January 28, 1954, in Stamford, Connecticut, to Paul and Angelina Honeychurch. She grew up in a large family with four other siblings, Paula, Roxanne, Michelle, and David, and was the second oldest among them. Intelligent and driven, Marlyse was determined to build a meaningful life for herself. She attended Stamford High School, and after her parents divorced, she moved to California with her mother, where she later enrolled at Artesia High School in Lakewood. At just 17 years old, she married Michael Steven Vaughn, and that same year, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Marie Elizabeth Vaughn.
Marlyse and Michael were both very young, and a few years later, they decided it was best to divorce. She eventually found love again and married Ralph Elroy McWaters in 1974. Wanting to grow her family, she welcomed her second daughter, Sarah Lynn McWaters, in 1977. By 1978, Marlyse was no longer with Ralph and was living with her two daughters. Around that time, she had a minor argument with her mother while visiting her family home. She left the house and was never heard from again. In 1985, two hunters discovered a barrel containing human remains near a trailer park in Allenstown, within Bear Brook State Park, New Hampshire.
Police were notified, but due to the advanced state of decomposition, a positive identification could not be made at the time. The remains were collected and preserved in police records. Investigators determined that the first barrel contained the remains of a woman in her 20s to 30s and a young girl estimated to be between 6 and 11 years old. In 2000, another barrel was discovered nearby, close to the original 1985 site, also containing human remains. These were identified as belonging to two young girls. One was believed to be around three to four years old, and another about a year old. For years, the victims remained unidentified until June 6, 2019, when police announced that three of the remains belonged to Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughters, Marie and Sarah.
Marlyse Honeychurch, Marie Vaughn, and Sarah McWaters’ Killer Harmed Several Other People
The investigation into the murders of Marlyse Honeychurch, Marie Vaughn, and Sarah McWaters was long and complex. Composite sketches of the four victims were widely circulated, but no solid leads emerged. Over time, investigators established that the adult woman was maternally related to the oldest and youngest children, but not to the middle child. The case eventually drew the attention of librarian and researcher Rebekah Heath, who became determined to identify the victims and locate their families. A major breakthrough came in 2017. By then, a man named Terry Rasmussen had been serving time in California for the 2002 murder of his wife, Eunsoon Jun.
At the time of that arrest, his true identity was unknown, and he had been booked under the alias Curtis Kimball. Because “Curtis” had spent time in the Bear Brook area, investigators revisited him as a potential suspect. He had also been connected to another case involving a young girl named Dawn Beaudin, whom he called “Lisa” and later abandoned at a trailer park in 1986. When his DNA was analyzed, it was compared to the remains recovered from Bear Brook State Park. The testing revealed that he was the biological father of the middle child found in the barrels. In 2017, genetic genealogist Dr. Barbara Rae-Venter assisted Dawn in tracing her biological roots after years of searching for her parents. Through that process, it was discovered that the man who had abandoned her was actually Rasmussen.
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Marlyse Honeychurch’s Siblings Confirmed She Had Been With the Killer Years Before She Passed Away
Further investigation showed that Terry Rasmussen had lived under numerous aliases over the years and was linked to multiple cases involving the disappearance and deaths of women and children. Once his true identity was uncovered, and with the continued work of Rebekah Heath, investigators were able to locate Marlyse’s siblings. They confirmed that Marlyse had vanished in 1978 along with her two daughters. According to the family, she had visited their home with a man named Rasmussen and later left with him. After that, all communication abruptly stopped.
Over the years, the family came to believe she had chosen to walk away from her life. While they had lingering doubts, they had no clear direction for a meaningful search and did not know where to begin. In June 2019, police formally announced the identities of the victims. By that time, Rasmussen was believed to be responsible for their deaths. He had died in 2010, leaving his motive unknown, but his last known association with Marlyse and his extensive criminal history strongly point to his involvement.
