WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.759 In nineteen eighty five, a hunter in Bearbrook State Park 2 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.439 stumbled across a rusted fifty five gallon drum laying out 3 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:19.160 in the woods, and inside there were the decomposed bodies 4 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:22.519 of a woman and child. They were beaten to death 5 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:28.039 and left without names. Years later, a second barrel was 6 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.399 discovered just the same holding the remains of two more 7 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:37.000 young girls. What followed was a decades long investigation, one 8 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.280 that would expose a serial killer who lived under multiple identities, 9 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:44.280 pioneer the use of genetic genealogy in criminal cases, and 10 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:48.240 never stop trying to give names and identities back to 11 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:52.679 the unknown victims he tried to erase. This is the 12 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:58.240 story of the Barbrook murders. My name's Ben, I'm. 13 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:01.240 Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true 14 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:04.200 crime podcasting. 15 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:13.000 The following podcast and material intended more mature audience. Listener discription. 16 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:36.319 So I just want to start off today by saying 17 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:39.680 one of the worst mass shootings occurred in Canadian history 18 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:43.799 not far from where we live. Recently, eight victims were 19 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.560 shot and killed at tumblr Ridge Secondary School in tumblr Ridge, BC. 20 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.000 In addition, about twenty seven people were injured, with at 21 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:53.760 least one still fighting for their life in hospital right 22 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.879 now as I speak. The suspect of the incident was 23 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.000 also found dead from a self inflicted injury at the school, 24 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.719 bringing the death total to nine. And we just want 25 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:07.439 to say that despite political stance, religion, ideology, race, gender 26 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:11.360 and everything else, monsters are the ones who commit these acts. 27 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:14.360 This world will try and divide us from one another, 28 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:17.319 painting others in a certain light, whether it's this horrible 29 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:21.639 incident or the next. Don't let them do that. Our 30 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.360 hearts go out to the victims and those who were affected. 31 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:28.479 Tumblr Ridge is an amazing community and we've visited many times. 32 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:33.800 This horrible act it will not define this beautiful. 33 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:36.520 Place, No, it really won't. 34 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:38.800 Yeah, it's a heartbreaking incident. 35 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:42.000 It's been a heavy week. Yeah because just as a 36 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.879 little side note to tumbler Ridge, it's a community of 37 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.759 less than twenty five hundred people, Like, it's small, So 38 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:51.199 for an insidant like that to happen and that many 39 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:54.800 people die, it's I don't know, it's almost unmanageable what 40 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:56.639 it would feel like there right now. 41 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:00.000 Yeah, And they're pretty isolated too. There's not many community 42 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:02.520 around like close to them to go to the next one, 43 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:04.560 Like it's it's a decent drive to go find the 44 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:07.319 next town over. It's not like neighbors in the next 45 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:09.400 town or you can see them from a distance. It's 46 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:13.479 it's a ways. They're pretty isolated. And it's a devastating 47 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.479 thing that happened, and it's it's it's heartbreaking. 48 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:19.439 Yeah, I feel like it's consumed me a little bit 49 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:22.240 this week. I just I've been watching all like the 50 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:26.520 news releases and reading so much about it and gosh, 51 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:28.639 wishing that you could do something to help, you know. 52 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:33.240 But I actually went hiking over in Monkman Provincial Park 53 00:03:33.319 --> 00:03:36.120 just outside of tumbler Ridge before with Ripley. Ripley and 54 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:38.759 I went on an adventure with some friends. There's dinosaur 55 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.360 footprints along a river there. You can go, like see 56 00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:45.360 dino footprints along this gorgeous river. There's mountains and wildlife. 57 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:49.039 It's such a beautiful place. And for tragedy to mark 58 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.280 this place like that, it's it hurts. Yeah, Rip was 59 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:54.360 just a puppy when you did that. Well, not a puppy, 60 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:56.800 but she was young, she was one or two something 61 00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:59.080 like that, young little dog. Maybe I should post something 62 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:00.520 like that in our story if you want to go 63 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.879 over to Instagram, maybe you can see a photo of 64 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:05.520 us back in the day hiking that area. It is 65 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:06.919 really beautiful, it is. 66 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:08.400 Yeah. 67 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:11.719 Anyways, we're not going to eventually cover this on this case. 68 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:13.240 We do have a rule on the show that we 69 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:16.759 don't cover anything north of Kamloops, British Columbia. It's just 70 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:19.360 a little too close for home. So if you want 71 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:21.560 to find more about this case, I'm sure people will 72 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:22.959 be covering it and discussing it. There's a lot of 73 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:26.759 articles online and I do recommend you go look into 74 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:29.959 it and just remember that no matter what you read 75 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:35.160 in those articles, don't let don't let articles and news 76 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.879 sway your opinion. People are people. Yeah, there's a lot 77 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:43.959 of political stuff around this case too, and it's heartbreaking 78 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.560 as well on that side. But anyways, I think we 79 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.319 should move on to today's case. Are you ready? 80 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:51.480 Yeah, let's do it. Okay, it sounds like. 81 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:56.959 A dozy, it's definitely. It's definitely one. It's different from 82 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.120 what we've covered recently. A lot of stuff have been 83 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:00.959 like murders and all these sort of things. This one, 84 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:02.680 it's a lot more of a slow burn. 85 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.399 Oh, a slow burn, A slow burn. That's like a 86 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:07.959 romance novel term. 87 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:11.399 You know that, right, that's just a regular term what 88 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:12.319 we're talking about. 89 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:15.079 I don't know. Nowadays, I feel like that's associated with 90 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.079 like romance novel is. 91 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:19.879 It slow burn? We're getting we're not getting steamy up 92 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:21.040 in this one, I'll tell you that. 93 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:22.839 Well, that's where my head went, and I was like, 94 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:23.439 what the shit? 95 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.199 Okay, well, no, slow burn is just a typical say like, 96 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:28.240 I'm gonna okay, I'm gonna google this, right, let's see. 97 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:30.920 I mean I think maybe the urban or new age 98 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:34.680 term of it. It's definitely like romance novel term. 99 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.519 Do slow burn? Okay? Well, Google's dictionaries is a state 100 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:41.720 of slowly mounting anger or annoyance. 101 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:42.839 Ah. 102 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.720 I mean oh but then also people ask what is 103 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:48.399 a slow burn in romance? 104 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:50.879 Okay? So think I think it's a little bit of 105 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.399 a new age term in like romance novels. 106 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:56.439 Right. So maybe now I didn't realize slow burn was 107 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.439 specifically to like anger annoyance. I thought it was just 108 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.160 like a slow burn of like a story it's taken 109 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:05.160 a while, it's you know, slowly playing out. 110 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:06.600 Uh huh. 111 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:08.720 Now this I mean it does still apply to this case. 112 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:10.399 But it's just not exactly what I thought it meant. 113 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:11.800 And it ain't a romance story. 114 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:15.959 It has nothing to do with spiciness. Just because it 115 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.319 says burn does not mean it's spicy. Okay, holy, and 116 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.319 if it burns, you should probably get checked out. I 117 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:27.399 just can't say that anyways. There are certain places that 118 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.240 feel untouched in this world. Not untouched in a dramatic way, 119 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:34.040 but I mean, but just like quiet, there's ordinary and 120 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.279 it's kind of place, you know, where people go to 121 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:40.079 walk their dogs, and this place certainly was. It's a 122 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:41.839 place where people hunt deer in the fall, they go 123 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:44.759 on adventures, let their kids run ahead of trails without 124 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:47.240 worrying too much about what might be waiting around the corner. 125 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:50.279 Bear Brook State Park was just this kind of place. 126 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:52.839 If you've ever been in the woods in late autumn 127 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:55.639 in a place like New England, you know the feeling 128 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.879 the air is damp but crisp, leave stick to your boots, 129 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:02.639 walking in trees, thin out in patches where you can 130 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:05.519 see more, and then they close back in again, and 131 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:09.480 it's just so peaceful. Small towns orbit places like this. 132 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.160 Trailer parks tuck off just main roads and mills that 133 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:17.040 once employed half the towns sit there. In towns like Allenstown, 134 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.959 New Hampshire, life doesn't move quickly. People come and go, sure, 135 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.759 but it's not in ways that usually raise alarms. If 136 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:26.560 someone packs up and leaves, most assume there's a reason. 137 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.279 You know, there's maybe a new job or money troubles 138 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:32.199 and a fresh start is waiting for them somewhere warmer. 139 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.839 In the late nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties, that's 140 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.600 how things were. No one was looking for a mystery. 141 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:41.000 No one suspected that something had already been hiding out 142 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.959 in the woods. Because the unsettling truth about some crimes 143 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:48.199 isn't how they're discovered. It's more or less how long 144 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:52.399 they go unnoticed. Sometimes answers sit quietly in the background 145 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:55.800 of everyday life, beneath the leaves and beyond mark trails, 146 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:58.959 just close enough to stumble over if you happen to 147 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:02.040 wander a little too far, of course, and in this story, 148 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:07.000 that's exactly what happened. On November tenth, nineteen eighty five, 149 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:11.120 a hunter walking through Bearbrook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. 150 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:14.600 They noticed something that didn't exactly belong in the quiet 151 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:17.879 stretch of woods. There, lying on its side amongst the 152 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.439 trees was a rusted fifty five gallon steel drum. It 153 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.519 was long since abandoned and looked like it had been 154 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:28.079 sitting there for years. Curious, the hunter moved towards it 155 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:32.279 and he took a look inside. That's when he immediately 156 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:35.279 realized this wasn't a drum just filled with trash or anything. 157 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.679 Inside there he saw, wrapped in plastic were human remains 158 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:45.679 two bodies, one adult woman and one young girl. Police 159 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.519 were quickly called to the scene, and the bodies inside 160 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:51.639 were badly decomposed to the point where determining an exact 161 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:56.000 time of death was extremely difficult. Investigators estimated the victims 162 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.120 had been dead at least several months and possibly as 163 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.600 long as two to even three years before they were 164 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.759 ultimately discovered. Autopsies on them later determined that both the 165 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:08.799 woman and the child had died from blunt force trauma 166 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:12.360 to the head, and this immediately solidified the idea on 167 00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:15.080 the spot that this was not an accident. It was 168 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:17.559 instead clearly a homicide. 169 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:21.399 Holy shit. First of all, good for him for even 170 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.759 looking in there, because I don't think I would. I 171 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:27.279 I'm uncertain that I would because I would. I mean, 172 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:29.799 you probably should, because you want to make sure it's 173 00:09:29.799 --> 00:09:31.879 all good. But that's scary. 174 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:33.799 Well, I mean, I've been out in the bush a 175 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.120 few times. I've looked in some random weird finds, have you. 176 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:39.320 But it's not out of like, oh I wonder what 177 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:41.759 I'll find. It's just like, oh, this is a cool thing. 178 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:44.519 I'm just looking and curiosity is taken over and I'm 179 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.080 just investigating a cool thing, you. 180 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.919 Know, I guess. I mean I did tell you that 181 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:51.799 one time too. There was the random car seat that 182 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:54.240 was in the woods. Oh yeah, and I did look 183 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.919 in it. I felt I needed to look in there, 184 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.519 so maybe I would. But a car seat's a bit 185 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:01.480 different than like a rusted barrel. 186 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.320 A car seat, I think that would trigger more in 187 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:08.039 my mind. There might be something in there a barrel. 188 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:09.679 I'm like, I don't know what's in here? Is there 189 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.799 an animal hiding in there? Is there trash? Is it 190 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.080 rusted out? Could I use this for something taken home? 191 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:14.480 I don't know. 192 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:15.840 There treasures in here? 193 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:19.919 Maybe, but instead, no, there's bodies aw now. The adult 194 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.600 victim was believed to be between twenty three and thirty 195 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:26.679 three years old. She was Caucasian, possibly with Native American ancestry. 196 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:30.080 She had wavy, light brown or dark blonde hair and 197 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:32.919 stood somewhere between five foot two inches and five foot 198 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.799 seven inches tall. Her dental work was pretty extensive, including 199 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:40.519 multiple extractions and fillings. Now, the child found with her 200 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.120 was estimated to be between eight and ten years old. 201 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.279 The later evaluation suggested that she could have been as 202 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:49.879 young as five or as old as eleven. She also 203 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:52.399 had wavy, light brown or dark blonde hair and stood 204 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:56.919 approximately four foot three inches and between four foot six 205 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.279 inches tall. She had a small gap between her front teeth, 206 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:03.759 two earrings in each ear, and several dental fillings, but 207 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.120 no extractions. There were also signs that she may have 208 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.919 suffered from pneumonia at some point in her life. Now, 209 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.240 there was no identification, no clothing could be traced, no 210 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:16.559 personal items that could lead back to a name. It 211 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.159 was just two bodies sealed inside a barrel and left 212 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.720 in the woods. Now Bearbrook State Park sits in a 213 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:28.159 relatively quiet area, not far from a trailer park and 214 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:30.360 an old mill property. It wasn't right off a major 215 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:33.200 highway or anything like that, so whoever left the barrel there, 216 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.200 likely knew the area well, and it wasn't just a 217 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.799 random dumping ground that someone accidentally stumbled upon. 218 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.639 Well, and that would be very difficult to move a 219 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.639 barrel full of two bodies into the woods, would it not. 220 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:48.399 It could definitely be, I mean, depending on their weight 221 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:50.720 and the size of the individual carrying them. Maybe how 222 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:53.759 he carried them, or they carried them, or maybe rolling 223 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:54.279 the barrel. 224 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.840 Who knows, Rolling it, I guess could be an option, 225 00:11:56.919 --> 00:11:58.799 but yeah, just to carry it, you think you'd need 226 00:11:58.840 --> 00:11:59.759 more than one person. 227 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.360 Now, the barrel itself was a standard industrial drum, nothing 228 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:08.440 unique enough to trace it easily either. All the investigators 229 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:09.919 had to go on at this point was that the 230 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:16.279 bodies had clearly been concealed intentionally in this place. Now, obviously, 231 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.200 they didn't know who these people were, and so without identities, 232 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:21.960 it was almost impossible to build any sort of timeline. 233 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.279 They didn't know where the victims had come from, when 234 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:26.360 they had last been seen alive, or who might have 235 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:30.440 even wanted them dead. So although the investigation had officially 236 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.759 begun on this story, it began with almost nothing to 237 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:37.759 go on. Now, the New Hampshire State Police began running missons. 238 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:40.919 Persons report through every available system they had to try 239 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:44.480 and identify any potential names. They checked local records first, 240 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:49.600 then expanded outwards towards statewide databases and national systems, and 241 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.919 even federal records in Washington, d C. If a woman 242 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:55.159 and young girl had vanished anywhere in the country during 243 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:59.159 the late nineteen seventies or early nineteen eighties, the investigators 244 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:04.240 wanted to know about it. However, nothing came back as 245 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:08.799 a match. Police also canvassed nearby areas, including the trailer 246 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.440 park not far from where the barrel had been found, 247 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.360 to see if they could find any information. They went 248 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:17.799 through the woods walking. They knocked on doors and asked 249 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:19.679 if anyone had seen a barrel dumped in the woods, 250 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:22.759 or if anyone noticed strangers in the area years earlier. 251 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.759 Maybe there were some families that even disappeared quietly without 252 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:29.639 much attention, even being paid, But no one could provide 253 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:32.679 anything useful. The barrel could have been sitting there for 254 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:37.480 years for all anyone knew. Sketch artists began working from 255 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:41.320 the remains to create facial reconstructions. Those photos they came 256 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:44.039 up with were circulated across New England and even parts 257 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:47.600 of Canada as well. Authorities released detailed descriptions of the 258 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:50.639 victims physical features and dental work, hoping that maybe a 259 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.960 dentist or a relative, a friend, anyone might recognize a 260 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.519 feature or even them themselves. Tips soon began coming in 261 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.399 as well, hundreds of them over time. In fact, each 262 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:05.360 one was followed up, but unfortunately each one also led nowhere. 263 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.799 The lack of identification of the remains it became its 264 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:10.440 own kind of cruelty. It meant that these people like 265 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:14.080 basically vanished without anyone ever reporting the missing, if they're 266 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.720 not in any database or anything like that, and if 267 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:20.519 they had been reported, no connection had been made. So 268 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:23.720 it was pretty kind of sad in its own world. 269 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.320 Super odd, especially for a child for sure. You know, 270 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:29.879 you think that would be reported unless it was just 271 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:32.600 like this mom and a child and they were kind 272 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:34.759 of on their own, I guess. But well, and there's 273 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:37.639 also the potential that they might not have even been 274 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:40.279 from the area, and that's what investigators started to think, 275 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:43.600 like the possibility that they'd been killed elsewhere, brought here 276 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.200 and you know, discarded in the bare Brook State Park 277 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:49.159 afterwards as a part of trying to hide or distance 278 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:49.519 from the. 279 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:52.360 Crime, right, it would make sense. 280 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:56.360 Now. Months passed by as the investigation continued to march on, 281 00:14:57.080 --> 00:15:00.320 and then those months turned into years. Eventually, with no 282 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:03.879 names or identity, authorities made a very difficult decision. The 283 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:07.320 women and child were buried in Allenstown Cemetery as Jane does. 284 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:10.519 On their shared headstone were the words that reflected the 285 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.960 frustration and sadness of the case, and it read, quote 286 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:18.440 here lies the mortal remains known only to God of 287 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:21.440 a woman aged twenty three to thirty three and a 288 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:25.360 girl child aged eight to ten. Their slain bodies were 289 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.279 found on November tenth, nineteen eighty five, in bear Brook 290 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:32.279 State Park. May their souls find peace in God's loving 291 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:34.080 care end quote. 292 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:39.000 Gosh, that gave me goosebumps. That's really sad. Imagine stumbling 293 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:40.360 across that in a graveyard. 294 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:41.360 That's really sad. 295 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:42.200 Wow. 296 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:45.720 Now, as time kept ticking away into the nineteen eighties, 297 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.960 the Barebrook case had become one of those mysteries that 298 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:52.200 lingered in the background. It wasn't closed, it wasn't forgotten, 299 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:56.799 but it wasn't moving forward either. Investigators continued to chase 300 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:59.399 Leeds as they came in. Every tip was checked. Every 301 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:03.080 possible man match of any missing persons was examined, Dental 302 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:06.399 records were compared, physical descriptions were cross reference, but nothing 303 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:10.120 ever stuck. There were no fingerprints to run, no identification 304 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.519 in the barrel, and the witnesses nothing. They just had 305 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:18.440 a barrel and two victims. That was about it now. 306 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:21.279 Based on the level of decomposition, the medical examiner had 307 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:25.159 estimated the murders may have happened sometime between nineteen seventy 308 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:28.240 seven and nineteen eighty five, a window of time that 309 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:33.080 was so wide it was pretty much useless. Eventually, investigators 310 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:34.919 tried thinking outside of the box for this case, and 311 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.120 no matter how they thought of it, though, the one 312 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.360 troubling possibility kept resurfacing. Maybe the victims weren't from New 313 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.120 Hampshire at all, and if that were the case, it 314 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:48.240 would make solving this that much harder. As the years passed, 315 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:52.639 the case slowly lost its momentum. Detectives retired, files were 316 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.080 put in boxes and stored away in the woods of 317 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:59.720 bar brooks Well. It remained quiet. The memorial stone and 318 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:02.519 ouns Town became the only visible reminder that two people 319 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:05.480 had been murdered and left in the forest. Locals remembered 320 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:07.559 the shock of the discovery and the fear that followed, 321 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.799 and the uneasy feeling too that someone responsible had never 322 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:15.759 been found. For fifteen years, that's where the case sat, 323 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:20.240 but by the year two thousand the files were still there, 324 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:23.400 but no one had identified the woman and child. Now 325 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.759 that same year, the case was reassigned to a new 326 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:30.440 Hampshire State Police trooper, and rather than simply reviewing the paperwork, 327 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:33.400 he decided to return to Bearbrook State Park and walk 328 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:37.200 the grounds again himself. His goal was to better understand 329 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:40.279 the original scene, you know, distances or terrain and how 330 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:44.240 the search had been conducted in nineteen eighty five. Sometimes 331 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:48.039 physically revisiting a location can reveal something that reports and 332 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.440 photographs can't. Right, maybe he could understand how he got 333 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:53.240 the barrel in there. Maybe there's a spot he could 334 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:56.119 roll it down a hill, something like that. Right, So 335 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:58.119 it was on May ninth, in the year two thousand, 336 00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:01.359 while examining the area near the original discovery site, he 337 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:05.039 expanded his search slightly beyond the perimeter that had been 338 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.039 established fifteen years earlier, and as he was walking outside 339 00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:12.920 that original perimeter, roughly one hard one hundred yards away 340 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.759 from where the first barrel had been found, he came 341 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:20.720 across another object, partially concealed in the woods, another rusted 342 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:25.920 fifty five gallon metal drum. No way, the similarities to 343 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:30.799 the first discovery was very immediate and unsettling, and when 344 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:35.279 investigators opened the second barrel, their worst fears were confirmed 345 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:39.559 because inside that old metal drum they found the skeletal 346 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:45.000 remains of two more young girls. Just like the first victims, 347 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:48.519 the remains were wrapped in plastic, and the conditions of 348 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:51.400 the body suggested that they had been there for many years, 349 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.119 likely placed in the park around the same time as 350 00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:58.720 the woman and child found in nineteen eighty five. The 351 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:02.480 proximity of the barrels, the identical method of disposal, and 352 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.039 the condition of the remains all pointed to this being 353 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:08.799 a single event. What investigators have believed to be a 354 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:13.079 double homicide. Well now it was, in fact a quadruple homicide. 355 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.000 I was not expecting that to be the person who 356 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:21.319 found them. Someone investigating this like fifteen years later. 357 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:25.920 Yeah, yeah, And so, like the big detail about this, 358 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:28.640 and like the frustrating detail is that it simply fell 359 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.400 outside the original search boundary. In the original like nineteen 360 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:34.759 eighty five search of the grounds. So for fifteen years 361 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:39.000 you have two additional victims that basically just remained undiscovered, 362 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.039 sitting alone in that same stretch of woods. 363 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.720 I mean, I'm not saying any fault to the original investigators, 364 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:47.319 but because yeah, you do have to have that stopping 365 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:50.200 point right at some point. But it's just crazy. This 366 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:52.119 person's like, I'm going to just explore a little bit 367 00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:53.920 further and boom. 368 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:58.799 Yeah. Now, this discovery forced investigators to reassess everything they 369 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.519 thought they understood about the case, even if it wasn't 370 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:05.079 a lot. Now, upon examination, the two girls found in 371 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.839 May of two thousand were significantly younger than the first 372 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.720 child discovered in nineteen eighty five. One of them was 373 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:16.119 estimated to be between one and three years old, while 374 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.960 the other was believed to be between two and four. 375 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.359 Both of them had been wrapped in plastic, just like 376 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.559 the woman and the older child in the first barrel. Now, 377 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:29.079 determining an exact cause of death was unfortunately difficult for 378 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:32.880 these two. However, over time, further examination and forensic review 379 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:37.240 led investigators to conclude that these two children also likely 380 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.920 died from blunt force trauma to the head. Which was 381 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:42.599 the same cause determined for the other two found fifteen 382 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:47.599 years earlier. Investigators believed all four victims were killed with 383 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:51.160 a similar timeframe, most likely between nineteen seventy eight and 384 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:54.799 nineteen eighty one, and the realization that this barrel had 385 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:58.160 been sitting in the woods this whole time was deeply frustrating. 386 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.079 To say the least, officers had which the surrounding areas, 387 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:06.200 but because of that search zone, it just went undiscovered. Now, 388 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:09.799 Speculation ranged widely at this point on what had happened 389 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:12.839 to these four. Some wondered whether the killings could be 390 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.599 connected to organized crime, and others questioned whether this was 391 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.759 the work of a local. You know, offenders are simply 392 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:22.920 familiar with the area. There was also the possibility that 393 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:25.599 the victims had been brought from somewhere else entirely and 394 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:28.759 dumped here to hide and distance themselves from the original crime. 395 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.759 But despite the expansion of the case, though, investigators were 396 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:35.799 still facing the same central problem. They didn't know who 397 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:39.480 the victims were without names, you know, there's no clear 398 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.799 starting point. The case had grown larger and more disturbing, sure, 399 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:47.839 but it remains just as confusing up until now. Investigative 400 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:51.359 methods had failed to identify the women and three children, 401 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:55.240