Manchester Police, FBI Resume Search in 37-Year-Old Cold Case

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The FBI and Manchester Police were searching the woods behind the public housing buildings on Kimball Street for a woman who went missing more than 37 years ago.

Police were seen in the area starting on Saturday, but did not say what exactly they were looking for.

MPD and FBI evidence collection specialists were seen conducting an extensive search using heavy equipment behind the Kimball St housing project. The views from the air show a large cleared area with pieces of equipment being used to move the earth.

According to the cold case database Charley Project, Denise Ann Daneault was last seen leaving a private social club in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire at 1:30 a.m. on June 8, 1980. After she left the club, telling friends she was going to a party, she was never seen again.

Divorced with two young sons, Daneault lived with a roommate in the 300 block of Hayward Street Street in Manchester.

According to reports at the time, Laureen Rahn, a 14-year-old girl who lived on Merrimack Street just two blocks from Daneault, disappeared six weeks before Daneault did and was never found.

Daneault lived just a few doors down from suspected serial killer Terry Peder Rasmussen, who was living in the area under the name "Bob Evans", one of his many false identities, at the time. He pleaded guilty to murdering his wife in California in 2003, and died in 2010.

Authorities believe Rasmussen was responsible for at least five more deaths, including the murder of Denise Beaudin, who disappeared from Goffstown, New Hampshire in 1981 and was never found, the murders of an unidentified woman and three female children whose bodies were found in a wooded area near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire.

Investigators don't know whether Rasmussen was involved in Daneault's case, but are investigating a possible connection.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Lucas Hobbs at the Manchester Police Department at 603-792-5519.

Courtesy Photo / Jeffrey Hastings Photography