Disappearance of Laureen Rahn

Laureen Ann Rahn (April 3, 1966–disappeared April 26 or 27, 1980)[4] is an American teenager who vanished under mysterious circumstances from her home in Manchester, New Hampshire.[5] On the night of her disappearance, Rahn was accompanied by a male and female friend at the apartment she shared with her mother, Judith, who was out on a date with her boyfriend.

Laureen Rahn
Born
Laureen Ann Rahn

(1966-04-03)April 3, 1966[1]
Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S.
DisappearedApril 26 or April 27, 1980 (aged 14)
Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S.[2]
StatusMissing for 40 years, 3 months and 14 days
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[3]

At some point during the evening, Rahn's male friend left the apartment after hearing voices in the hallway, assuming Rahn's mother was returning home. Her female friend remained at the apartment. Upon Judith's arrival home around midnight, she found that all of the lightbulbs in the apartment building's hallways had been unscrewed, leaving the halls completely dark. In the apartment, Judith saw a figure sleeping in her daughter's bed, and assumed it to be her; however, upon waking the next morning, she discovered it was in fact Rahn's female friend who had slept in the bed. Her friend claimed to have seen Rahn sleeping on the couch the night before.

In the months after her disappearance, Judith received numerous phone calls from an unidentified caller, several of which were placed from motels in Santa Ana and Santa Monica, California. Law enforcement uncovered that one of these motels had been suspected of hosting the production of child pornography, but it was never confirmed that Rahn had been at either motel. Her mother continued to receive anonymous calls in the ensuing years before eventually changing her phone number. As of 2020, Rahn's disappearance remains unsolved.

Timeline

Disappearance

On the evening of April 26, 1980,[6] Laureen Rahn was left to stay home at the residence she shared with her mother, a third-floor apartment on Merrimack Street[7] in Manchester, New Hampshire.[8] Her mother, Judith, was spending the evening attending an out-of-town tennis match with her boyfriend.[9] Rahn, who was on spring break at the time, invited one male and one female friend over, and the three drank beer and wine together.[8] At some point during the evening, Rahn's male friend heard voices in the apartment building's hallways, and exited the apartment through a back door, assuming that Rahn's mother was returning home and that he would get in trouble if he was found there.[8] The male friend stated that he heard Rahn lock the door behind him as he left.[8]

Sometime around 1:15 a.m. on April 27, Judith arrived home, and noticed that the lightbulbs on all three of the apartment building's floors had been unscrewed, leaving the hallways completely dark.[8] When she arrived at her apartment's front door, she found it unlocked.[8] Before going to bed, Judith looked in Rahn's room and saw a figure asleep in bed, assuming it to be her daughter.[8] Several hours later, around 3:45 a.m.,[10] Judith awoke and found that it had in fact not been Rahn asleep in her bed, but instead Rahn's female friend who had spent the night.[8] Rahn's friend claimed that she had last seen Rahn asleep on the couch in the living room.[8] Upon further examination of the apartment, Judith found articles of Rahn's clothing and her brand new sneakers in the living room, and the back door open.[8]

Subsequent events

Daneault disappearance

Six weeks after Rahn's disappearance, Denise Daneault, a young woman who lived two blocks from the Rahn residence, went missing from a bar in Manchester.[11] Decades later, police determined that suspected serial killer Terry Peder Rasmussen was living in the area under the pseudonym "Bob Evans."[11] Rasmussen later pleaded guilty to murdering his wife in California in 2003, and died in 2010.[11] Authorities believe Rasmussen may have been involved in as many as five more murders and/or disappearances, including that of Denise Beaudin, who vanished in Goffstown in 1981 and was never found, as well as the Bear Brook murders, which refers to four female murder victims found in the Bear Brook State Park between 1985 and 2000. One of the victims was his biological daughter.[11]

Phone calls
External image
Age progression of Rahn to age 46

On October 1, 1980, Judith found she had been charged for three phone calls placed in California; she did not have friends or relatives there, and Rahn had never had any ties to the area.[8] Two calls were placed from a motel in Santa Monica, and another from a motel in Santa Ana, the latter of which was made to a teen sexual assistance hotline.[8] Detectives spoke with the physician who maintained the hotline, and he initially denied having known anything of the call.[8] Five years later, in 1985, the physician changed his story: He claimed that numerous young women and runaways occasionally visited his wife at their home, and that one of the girls may have been Rahn.[8] He also stated that Annie Sprinkle, a sex educator and former pornographic actress who allegedly knew his wife, might have had information regarding Rahn's disappearance and those of other runaway girls.[8] However, law enforcement was unable to find any evidence linking Sprinkle to Rahn's disappearance.[8]

Throughout 1981, Judith claimed to have received numerous mysterious phone calls from an unknown individual, which she always received at approximately 3:45 a.m.[8] During these calls, Judith claimed the caller never spoke.[8] The phone calls continued for several years after Rahn's disappearance, increasing in frequency during the Christmas holiday.[8] The calls eventually stopped after she changed her phone number several years after Rahn's disappearance.[8]

Judith hired a private investigator to visit California in 1986, who located the motels from which the October 1980 phone calls had been placed.[8] Local police in Santa Monica stated that one of the motels may have been used as a filming location by a child pornographer known as "Dr. Z"; however, law enforcement was unable to link Dr. Z to the hotline.[8] The same year, a childhood friend of Rahn's named Roger Maurais received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be "Laurie" or Laureen.[8] Maurais's mother answered the phone call and stated that the woman claimed to have been her son's former girlfriend.[8]

Alleged sightings

In 1981, after the receipt of the October 1980 phone calls, a family member of Rahn's claimed to have seen her at a bus terminal in Boston, Massachusetts; this sighting remains unconfirmed.[8] Another unconfirmed sighting occurred in 1988, when a witness claimed to have seen a prostitute in Anchorage, Alaska, who matched Rahn's description.[8]

Later developments

Sometime after the mid-1980s, Judith remarried and relocated to Florida.[8] She has stated that she believes her daughter placed the phone calls from California in October 1980.[8] The unnamed male friend who was drinking alcohol with Rahn the night she disappeared committed suicide in 1985, though law enforcement never considered him a suspect in her disappearance.[8] Investigators assigned to Rahn's case have stated they believe foul play is involved.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Missing Person: Laureen Ann Rahn". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. July 2, 1989. p. B-8. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. WMUR Manchester (June 28, 2018). "9's Unsolved: Where is Laureen Rahn?". MSN. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  3. The Catering Industry Employee: Official Journal of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees' International Alliance and Bartenders' International League of America. 94–95. Alliance. 1985. p. 26.
  4. Chase, Stacy (February 3, 2008). "Return to me". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 29–33. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "204DFNH - Laureen Ann Rahn". The Doe Network. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  6. Tron, Gina (August 9, 2017). "5 Disturbing Clues in Missing Person Cases That Will Keep You Up at Night". Oxygen. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  7. Landrigan, Kevin (November 11, 2017). "FBI, police conduct search related to 37-year-old disappearance of Denise Daneault". New Hampshire Union Leader. Manchester, New Hampshire. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  8. "Laureen Ann Rahn". The Charley Project. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  9. Thornlow, Brenda (November 15, 2017). "The Disturbing Disappearance of Laureen Rahn". Medium. Archived from the original on September 12, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  10. "Laureen Rahn". New Hampshire Department of Justice. Archived from the original on September 12, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  11. Forsythe, Dana (May 15, 2018). "Manchester Police, FBI Resume Search in 37-Year-Old Cold Case". Bedford Post. Bedford, New Hampshire. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
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