Key facts
- Name: Denise Ann Daneault (née Lavoie)
- Age at disappearance: 25
- Last seen: June 8, 1980, in the early hours of a Sunday morning
- Location: Manchester, New Hampshire — she had gone out to a private social club downtown and never returned
- Home at the time: Hayward Street, Manchester; she was a divorced mother of two young children
- Description: 5’5″, 135 lbs, strawberry blond hair, brown/green eyes; last seen wearing a brown print skirt
- NamUs: MP37085
- Status: Still missing — 46 years; Manchester Police Department case open
- Investigating agency: Manchester Police Department, Detective Lucas Hobbs (603-792-5519)
The night out
On the night of June 7, 1980, Denise Ann Daneault went out socializing in Manchester. She was 25, divorced, and raising two children from her home on Hayward Street. She spent part of the night at a private social club downtown.
She was last seen in the early hours of Sunday, June 8. She never came home.
Her children grew up without her. Decades later, when the case finally broke back into public view, the news coverage ran her photograph — Denise pictured with her two sons. Everything about the 1980 investigation stayed in the files. Who she was with that night, how she got home or didn’t — the public record holds almost none of it.
The excavation
Thirty-seven years later, the case came back with excavators.
In November 2017, the FBI and the Manchester Police Department dug up a wooded area behind the public housing buildings at 541 Kimball Street — a section of Manchester known as Black Acres — after an anonymous tip led them to the location. Neighbors watched heavy equipment tear into a residential lot, looking for Denise Daneault.
They found nothing.
They came back anyway. On May 15, 2018, Manchester police and the FBI returned to the same patch of woods for a second search. Again, nothing related to Denise’s case was recovered.
The timing was not a coincidence. The 2017 search came shortly after authorities publicly identified Terry Rasmussen — who had lived in Manchester in the early 1980s — as the killer behind the Bear Brook murders. Investigators were re-examining every unsolved disappearance that fit his geography. But belief is not evidence, and two rounds of digging produced none.
The investigation
Denise’s case has always been a thin file with one loud chapter: the Kimball Street excavations. Beyond them, little about the investigation has ever been made public. No suspect has been publicly named. No arrest has been made.
The Rasmussen angle got its official answer in 2020. New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin said there was no “evidentiary connection” between Daneault and Rasmussen — while acknowledging that the attention on Rasmussen’s crimes had brought renewed focus to her disappearance. The geography had been suggestive: Rasmussen lived a mile and a half from fourteen-year-old Laureen Rahn, who disappeared from Manchester in April 1980, and Denise lived two blocks from the Rahn residence, on the same street as Rasmussen. Two months separated the two disappearances. But proximity is not proof, and the state’s investigators said so plainly.
Detective Lucas Hobbs of the Manchester Police Department remains the point of contact on the case, reachable at (603) 792-5519.
Theories: what might have happened
She is buried at or near the searched property. What supports it: investigators don’t bring excavators to a residential lot twice on a hunch — both Kimball Street digs followed an anonymous tip, with the FBI involved each time. What undercuts it: both searches found nothing, and no third search has followed.
Foul play by someone she knew. What supports it: the shape of the case — a young mother leaves a club and never comes home, then 46 years of silence. What undercuts it: no suspect has ever been publicly named and no one has been charged. Any living person is presumed innocent.
A link to Terry Rasmussen. What supports it: he lived on her Manchester street in the early 1980s; she vanished two months after Laureen Rahn disappeared nearby; the 2017 excavation followed his identification as the Bear Brook killer. What undercuts it: in 2020 the Attorney General’s office said there was no evidentiary connection between Daneault and Rasmussen — an official answer in the negative.
Voluntary departure. What undercuts it: nearly everything. A 25-year-old mother of two does not walk away for 46 years without a word, and investigators excavating a Manchester property are not treating this as a walkaway.
Have information?
Contact Manchester Police Detective Lucas Hobbs at (603) 792-5519. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- 1955 (approx.) — Denise Ann Daneault (née Lavoie) is born.
- June 7–8, 1980 — Goes out socializing in Manchester, spending part of the night at a private social club downtown. Last seen in the early hours of Sunday, June 8, at age 25. Never returns to her Hayward Street home.
- 1980–present — Case open with the Manchester Police Department.
- November 2017 — FBI and Manchester PD excavate the woods behind 541 Kimball Street (“Black Acres”) on an anonymous tip; nothing found.
- May 15, 2018 — Police and FBI return to the Kimball Street site for a second search; nothing found.
- 2020 — Senior Assistant AG Jeff Strelzin says there is no “evidentiary connection” between Daneault and Rasmussen.
- June 2030 (upcoming) — The 50th anniversary of her disappearance.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Denise Daneault still missing?
Yes — 46 years as of October 2026, with the case open at the Manchester Police Department.
Was Denise Daneault ever found?
No. Despite FBI-assisted excavations in 2017 and 2018, no trace of Denise has ever been found.
How old would Denise Daneault be today?
She was 25 in June 1980, so she would be about 71 in 2026.
Why did the FBI dig up Kimball Street?
In November 2017, the FBI and Manchester police excavated the woods behind public housing at 541 Kimball Street on an anonymous tip, returning for a second search on May 15, 2018. Neither search recovered anything related to her case.
Was the Bear Brook killer linked to Denise?
Investigators examined it: Terry Rasmussen lived on her Manchester street in the early 1980s, and the 2017 dig followed his identification as the Bear Brook murderer. But in 2020 the Attorney General’s office said there was no “evidentiary connection.”
What did Denise look like?
5’5″ and 135 lbs, strawberry blond hair, brown/green eyes — last seen wearing a brown print skirt.
How is her name spelled?
“Denise Daneault” — full name Denise Ann Daneault (née Lavoie), per CBS Boston and Charley Project. Some aggregators misspell it “Deneault.”
Who is investigating?
Manchester Police Detective Lucas Hobbs, (603) 792-5519.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Manchester Police Department, Detective Lucas Hobbs (603-792-5519); New Hampshire Attorney General’s office — Senior Assistant AG Jeff Strelzin on the Rasmussen question (2020); NamUs case MP37085.
- News: CBS Boston, coverage of the Kimball Street searches (Nov 2017; May 2018); Manchester Ink Link, “Cold Case update: Authorities to revisit Black Acres search” (May 2018).
- Reference: The Charley Project (retrieved Oct 2026); Wikipedia, “Terry Peder Rasmussen” (Manchester geography; searches; Strelzin statement).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.