Denise Ann Daneault

Daneault, circa 1980; Terry Rasmussen, circa 1985; Rasmussen, circa 2002

  • Missing Since 06/08/1980
  • Missing From Manchester, New Hampshire
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 06/14/1954 (69)
  • Age 25 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'5 - 5'6, 135 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A brown print skirt.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde/brown hair, brown/green eyes. Daneault's maiden name is Lavoie.

Details of Disappearance

Daneault was last seen leaving a private social club in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire at 1:30 a.m. on June 8, 1980. She left the club, saying she was going to a party, and has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case.

Daneault was divorced, with two young sons, at the time of her disappearance, and lived with a roommate in the 300 block of Hayward Street Street in Manchester. It's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning.

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. She and Daneault reportedly closely resembled each other in spite of the difference in their ages, but it has never been shown that their disappearances were linked.

Daneault also 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. Photos of Rasmussen as he appeared in 1985 and in 2002 are posted with this case summary. 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 a woman and three female children whose bodies were found in a wooded area near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. The bodies were all unidentified until 2019, when investigators announced they'd discovered the identity of the woman and her two daughters. The woman was Marlyse Elizabeth Honeychurch, age 24. Her daughters were Marie Elizabeth Vaughn and Sarah Lynn McWaters.

The third child, Rasmussen's daughter, is still unidentified. A sketch of the victim is posted with this case summary. She was about two to four years old, between 3'3 and 3'9 tall, with wavy brown hair and an overbite that may have been noticeable. She may have suffered from anemia. Isotope tests indicate she was probably born in a sparsely populated area of the interior western United States or one of the Plains States, and she is primarily of Caucasian ancestry but also has a small amount of Native American, African-American and Asian ancestry.

Rasmussen, and perhaps his unidentified daughter, had ties to the Navajo Nation and the area surrounding Black Mesa, Arizona. DNA evidence indicates the unidentified girl and her mother have relatives in Pearl River County, Mississippi. They may be descendants of Thomas "Deadhorse" Mitchell, born in 1836, or William Livings, born in 1826. The girl would have been the five times or six times great-grandchild of either of those men.

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

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated January 25, 2021; details of disappearance updated.