19013292On November 10, 1985, a hunter came across a tipped-over 55-gallon drum and trash near Bear Brook State Park, Allenstown_23yearold01not far from a convenience store that burned down in the 80s. Inside the drum, he found what would become one of New Hampshire’s most haunting and bizarre crimes to date. The remains of an adult woman (23-33 years old) and a little girl (8-10 years old) were found wrapped in plastic inside the drum. The New Hampshire State Police looked at missing people from the 70s and 80s. They were unable to identify the bodies, but ruled out some of New Hampshire’s most famous missing people, including Tammy Belanger and Page Jennings.

In 1986, the New Hampshire State Police got their first major tip when they looked into the Allenstown_5yearold01disappearance of Grace Reapp and her five year old daughter Gracie from the state of Vermont. It is believed Grace and Gracie were killed by Michael Reapp, the husband and father. They were ruled out through New Hampshire dental records. Michael Reapp committed suicide while police were trying to arrest him for an armed carjacking in 1997. The remains of Grace and Gracie Reapp were never found.

Over the years New Hampshire State Police have received hundreds of leads in this case. Investigators distributed composite drawings of the victims throughout the Northeast and Quebec. Several people in the town of Allenstown said the woman resembled someone who had left town with Allenstown_4yearold01several children a few years earlier before. The woman was tracked down in two weeks and was found alive, living in Arizona with the children.

New Hampshire State Police got another lead about a mother and daughter who had vanished from a Maine Indian reservation. The descriptions and time of their disappearance seemed a perfect match, but several days later, they found the woman and child in another town in Maine. Investigators checked every elementary school in the state of New Hampshire and medical records of missing persons from Cape Cod to California with no success. One of the major roadblocks in this case is the fact the most law enforcement agencies do not provide or keep adequateAllenstown_1yearold01 information on missing persons cases.

In 2000, the case took another turn when the case was assigned to another New Hampshire state trooper. The officer returned to the area where the bodies were found, and 700 yards away found another 55-gallon drum. Inside that drum were the remains of two little girls that DNA linked to the adult woman. The new remains were that of a white female child (1-3 years old) and another white female child (4-8 years old). It was determined that this child (the 4-8 year old female) was not related to any of the other victims.

In 2010, the New Hampshire State Police and New Hampshire Attorney General’s office created the state’s first cold case unit and assigned this case to them. The Cold Case Unit has been using a new technique that links isotopes found in drinking water to different regions of the country. They are trying to use hairs from the unidentified female to find where they may have came from.
To date, no one has determined the identities of these individuals.

In 2000, New Hampshire State Police looked at serial killer John Edward Robinson in this case — his M.O. matched, but he was ruled out.

There have been theories that this crime was the work of a serial killer or an organized crime member. Some believe the killer was someone local or who knew the area well because it was not close to any main highways. One possible theory is that the victims could have been killed by a boyfriend or husband.