Five-year-old Lisa Jenson’s life began unraveling in 1986, when her father, Gordon Jenson, abandoned her at a trailer park in California. And finally finds out she was raised by the Chameleon Killer, responsible for the Bear Brook murders, one of the most famous unsolved cases in the country.
Lisa Jenson told police disturbing stories of abuse, and siblings who had died after eating “grass mushrooms.” Alarmed investigators managed to track down Gordon through a single recovered fingerprint, which revealed that he had multiple pseudonyms across the country. After serving 18 months for child abandonment, Gordon skipped parole and vanished again.
In 2002, police arrested Larry Vanner for butchering his wife and burying her remains beneath a pile of cat litter. Fingerprints revealed he was the same man who abandoned Lisa all those years ago. But a DNA test said that he was not her real father. This was a bombshell to Lisa.
If “Gordon” wasn’t her father, then where did she come from?
Together with San Bernardino police, she launched a personal quest to uncover her past. A team of investigators spent years tracing Lisa’s genetic heritage. It proved to be a difficult task; they had to go all the way back to the 1600s to assemble a family tree of about 19,000 people before they could start tracking down Lisa’s immediate relatives. They discovered that Lisa’s real name was Dawn Beaudin. She and her mother had disappeared in 1981, near Allenstown, New Hampshire.
Allenstown was the site of the Bear Brook murders, one of the most famous unsolved cases in the country. In the 1980s, police found the bodies of one woman and three young girls buried in metal drums in Bear Brook State Park. Since Dawn went missing at the same time, authorities believed she was another victim. DNA testing revealed that “Gordon” was the father of one of the Bear Brook victims. Witnesses identified him – Bob Evans – as the same person Dawn’s mother was dating when she went missing.
Evans drifted across the country, constantly changing his name and appearance, all while committing numerous murders, including that of Dawn/Lisa’s mother. Evans raised the girl for a few years for some unknown, probably horrific reason. Dubbed the Chameleon Killer, he was caught in 2002 and died in prison.
What an unique but creepy experience for everybody.