NH NH/CA - Terry Peder Rasmussen, suspected SK, Allenstown, 1981-2000's - #2

[Gardener1850]

The firefighting crews he's referring to are fighting forest or range fires. I grew up in Montana and don't recall hearing them called anything but a crew. Usually a Forest Service crew, sometimes a BLM crew.

P.S. I'm working on a transcript...

Sent from my SM

Or a National Park Service (NPS) firefighting crew (such as the one of which I was a part) called to fight the 1988 (late summer and early fall) catastrophic fire in Yellowstone National Park engulfing parklands in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. I was not a trained firefighter, but federal personnel in many agencies, both near and far, were pressed into service, and I was one. Volunteer firefighters from communities all over the country also were part of those NPS firefighting crews. Anyone who had been trained in any branch of the U.S. military at any time was welcomed, no further questions asked. As I was typing this, it occurred to me that the word "crew" is frequently used in the U.S. Navy.....

Interesting that you would bring up that there was a big fire in 1988. In 1988 RE was pulled over in San Luis Obispo, California driving a vehicle that had been stolen in Preston, Idaho. He was using the name Gerry Mockerman. (Source: http://www.wmur.com/article/case-timeline-man-known-as-bob-evans-connected-to-6-killings/8643018 ) Now I wonder if that rambling story was his justifying stealing the car. :thinking:

 

[Springrain]

The video is not working for me! Are there other links?

Edit: Nvm, thanks for the YT link.

 

[Springrain]

Feel the same way, West Coast up to the Rocky Mtn region. Have an aunt & uncle in Tacoma WA, uncle is originally from there and I do not hear the same dialectic in Evans but who knows ..

I live right by Tacoma and, after listening to it, I'm undecided about whether or not he has that accent. I don't think his is all that distinctive, just :moo: .

I'm pretty sure he's from the West coast though. And I've heard people use the term firefighting crew here as well.

I think it's likely he was from eastern Washington or northern Idaho. Possibly Spokane?

 

[Springrain]

This is just my attempt at a transcript.

BE: Yesterday morning, I had some things to attend to, but I called you in what I thought was a reasonable time.

LE: You did?

BE: At that time, you said that you'd give me a little bit of leeway for a couple of days until my ducks lined up...or whatever term you prefer to use.

LE: And that's true.

BE: So what I was doing was making arrangements to get my ducks lined up.

LE: OK.

BE: And I've gotten up here. So here I am. Now, OK, OK. We've been through this road already. Everybody is their (?). And law enforcement people are gonna be like everybody else...like every other individual. Now, I haven't talked anymore about Eunsoon's problems, or my problems, because frankly, you're not my priest. And you're not my doctor. And both roles have their place. You know, God has a place in society sometimes. But I'm just not gonna say any more about Eunsoon, or myself, right now. Because...

LE: With the understanding that...?

BE: No, I'm not gonna cut you off. I've always tried to live by the motto that there's no defense against the truth, but sometimes, it's hard to find the truth out. You got one side, the other side, and something down the middle that people might perceive to be the truth. Now, when this other fire was roaring last month...I don't know if you've ever lived in a rural area, but most people are signed up for the firefighting crew. And I wouldn't go to (?) while I was a carpenter, only making maybe 8 or 9 dollars an hour up there. And I'm talking about a professional (?), somebody that knows what he's doing, and works for the (government?). And I guess you could compare that to a carpenter, or unless they're out of the union, I think the scale is maybe about 38 dollars an hour now. When he's got a chance to go to work with the Forest Service for 20 or 15 hours, they pay 24 hours a day plus their meals. They know it's dangerous. (??)

LE: Mhmm.

BE: They will! And I used to be driving through places like that, and if you had a pair of shoes close to the fire, you'd get...what would you call it? You'd get volunteer (not sure). Park your car, and they'll show you how to be a firefighter.

*Time lapse, BE left alone. LE comes back with another man.*

LE: Alright Larry, your (?) came back. You know your other name, right?

Guy: Curtis, or Gerald, or Gerry, or whatever name you're going by this week.

LE: Curtis Kimball.

Guy: Curtis Kimball. Are Gerald, uh, Mockerman...?

LE: Mockerman. Ring a bell?

BE: No.

*Another lapse; the room is empty. BE comes back in along with LE.*

LE: Do you need another Coke?

BE: No.

LE: You alright? Do you need a candy bar or something?

BE: No. I'll be honest with you, I gotta eat small meals about four times a day, five times a day.

LE: You need something?

BE: I'm fine.

LE: You sure? I'll run down to the candy machine.

BE: No, it's...it's fine.

*LE leaves*

LE: Maybe she hurt herself, and you're concerned about that getting out, 'cause she's hung herself.

BE: No. There's no truth to what you're thinking. If she's suicidal? Yeah, she's not. But she's not as (?) as she used to be. And what else can I say? I don't chase younger women. It's just something that happened. What can I say?

 

[coppehead]

I don't hear any Swedish accent or intonation. If this is a learned way of speaking (and he does remind me of David Brinkley with the quick twitchy movements) then that would change when he gets tired or upset, but maybe he was neither on the video. He has a terrible posture, his shoulders are really high and his head is mostly hanging in front of his midline even when he's looking at the other guy. I wonder when he got the glasses and if he spent years squinting at stuff and that's why his posture is so bad.

Also about the picture of Denise in the party. There's something really odd about it. Her posture seems to imply that she is pregnant (she's leaning back a bit) but then her stomach shape is weird. Look at the shirt line, the slim trouser waistline changes abruptly into a distinct belly. She wouldn't be able to stuff a baby belly in those jeans.

 

[Alleykins]

I don't hear any Swedish accent or intonation. If this is a learned way of speaking (and he does remind me of David Brinkley with the quick twitchy movements) then that would change when he gets tired or upset, but maybe he was neither on the video. He has a terrible posture, his shoulders are really high and his head is mostly hanging in front of his midline even when he's looking at the other guy. I wonder when he got the glasses and if he spent years squinting at stuff and that's why his posture is so bad.

Also about the picture of Denise in the party. There's something really odd about it. Her posture seems to imply that she is pregnant (she's leaning back a bit) but then her stomach shape is weird. Look at the shirt line, the slim trouser waistline changes abruptly into a distinct belly. She wouldn't be able to stuff a baby belly in those jeans.

I think it's a postpartum belly myself, an after baby posture.

 

[Alleykins]

I live right by Tacoma and, after listening to it, I'm undecided about whether or not he has that accent. I don't think his is all that distinctive, just :moo: .

I'm pretty sure he's from the West coast though. And I've heard people use the term firefighting crew here as well.I think it's likely he was from eastern Washington or northern Idaho. Possibly Spokane?

I'm hearing Nothern KY, TN, NC, Southern MO, that region, by the way he says there, here and volunteered. He says "her" "ther" and "ter" , that's one of the nuances or hints I can actually pick up.
Fire sounds a little like fur, which is NC, with only a hint of an "i" sound.
And the way he says rural area is a big clue - it sounds like he is saying
rurl (one syllable like curl) and UR-ea not AIR-ea. That I can't place.
Definitely not from Maine, because there would be they-ah LOL

 

[Mom24]

Definitely NC or Virginia. It's a slight southern twang when he says words like "bible" or "right". Not all Mainer's say they-ah that's only on the coast, but not a north accent either which can be more french/irish sounding. NH accents are more like the Mass accents, although they're not as harsh as Mass. Not NY, but some of his word choices are definitely east coast. Both NC and Virginia have that slight southern twang on words with long-i. Bible, right, fine, etc. He's not Swede by any stretch, or Norwegian. I'd say Irish or German in his background. There's something about the way he holds his hands and his open posture that would lead me to believe he was in the service. It's just a flash of the way he moves and holds himself. He speaks well, enunciates clearly and uses very proper terminology, so he's been educated somewhere. I'm trying to figure out some of his turn of phrase, it's old sounding but it's also very east coast way of talking, again that NC/ Virginia area. The slow intonation, a bit rambling.

 

[StoneWalla]

*He sounds "rural" to me, but with no readily distinct accent.
*Regarding his "ducks in a row" malapropism, that could just be an aging (alcoholic) brain, not a regional turn of phrase.
*He could be drunk, but I imagine his rambling about firefighters and journeyman carpenter plights to be about him trying to establish a believable rapport with the detectives. Man, he does have an angry streak, though, doesn't he?
*A firefighting "crew" does not sound odd to my New England ear.

*Finally, what about Texas as a possible state of origin?

Listen to the voice of country singer James Hand (born in Waco Texas, 1952) discuss his "rural upbringing" in 2012 at the age of 60. See 0:03 - 0:13 especially:

[video=youtube;Mio11ZQ-sSA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mio11ZQ-sSA[/video]

Now listen to Robert Evans (born in _____, perhaps 1942) discuss "living in a rural area" in 2002 at perhaps the same age of 60. See 1:37 - 1:53 especially:

[video=youtube;MGMok0ahhuE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGMok0ahhuE[/video]

The country singer has a more obvious or stereotypical drawl, but the similar manner of speaking about similar topics is interesting to me.

PS - This is crazy they have video of him. Crazy to see!

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Hope the video is widely circulated, there is one positive identifier BE has a very distinctive voice and physical demeneer. One that could be recognized by someone whom he has encountered through the years. LE made a smart move in putting it out into mainstream media, a live in action visual and audio speaks volumes compared to a motionless photographs.




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[Mom24]

Just adding, there are certain ways of saying things too, "been through this road" as opposed to "been down this road" or "ducks lined up" as opposed to "ducks in a row", and "attend to" as opposed to "attending to". Now that's more common around Staten Island. May be that he spent some time in that area, but that's pretty distinct. Probably what led one of the detectives to ask him about his past and the east coast. But if you listen you can hear that slight twang. He does his best to hide it, but it's there and that's from childhood.

 

[carbuff]

The firefighting crews he's referring to are fighting forest or range fires. I grew up in Montana and don't recall hearing them called anything but a crew. Usually a Forest Service crew, sometimes a BLM crew.

P.S. I'm working on a transcript...

Sent from my SM

Or a National Park Service (NPS) firefighting crew (such as the one of which I was a part) called to fight the 1988 (late summer and early fall) catastrophic fire in Yellowstone National Park engulfing parklands in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. I was not a trained firefighter, but federal personnel in many agencies, both near and far, were pressed into service, and I was one. Volunteer firefighters from communities all over the country also were part of those NPS firefighting crews. Anyone who had been trained in any branch of the U.S. military at any time was welcomed, no further questions asked. As I was typing this, it occurred to me that the word "crew" is frequently used in the U.S. Navy.....

Do you remember if one of those fires was called Big South? Forest fires usually have names, usually of the location where they started, and he sounds like he's referring to a particular one.

Another group that was pressed into service for those fires was the jail population. I knew a guy who got credit for serving his entire 90-day sentence firefighting that summer.

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[Gardener1850]

Well I hate to disagree, but I just don't hear a Southern twang or drawl at all. But I do hear something distinct in his vowels that makes me think he was not a big-city person. Question for those who live in the Mountain West States-- Is there a difference between the accents of people from the cities, like Tacoma, and the more rural areas? In the South, people who live in bigger cities or have higher levels of education lose their accent (or don't have as strong of one to begin with) but if you visit Appalachia (the rural areas) or any small town in the South you will hear a VERY distinct Southern accent. This man doesn't have that to my ear ,but maybe he lost most of it from living in the West for so long. Or maybe he grew up in the West, but in an isolated area with an accent few people have heard. I was watching the History Channel's TV show "Mountain Men" last night and some of the men from the Western states-- Alaska, Idaho, and Montana sound similar to RE, IMO. They have one Mountain Man from Appalachia on the show and his accent isn't even close to sounding like RE. JMO.

 

[Mom24]

https://languageandlife.org/vonc/vonc25.mp4 Start at 5:38. This is the Cherokee/NC accent. It's very interesting and sounds very much like BE.

 

[carbuff]

I don't hear any Swedish accent or intonation. If this is a learned way of speaking (and he does remind me of David Brinkley with the quick twitchy movements) then that would change when he gets tired or upset, but maybe he was neither on the video. He has a terrible posture, his shoulders are really high and his head is mostly hanging in front of his midline even when he's looking at the other guy. I wonder when he got the glasses and if he spent years squinting at stuff and that's why his posture is so bad.

Also about the picture of Denise in the party. There's something really odd about it. Her posture seems to imply that she is pregnant (she's leaning back a bit) but then her stomach shape is weird. Look at the shirt line, the slim trouser waistline changes abruptly into a distinct belly. She wouldn't be able to stuff a baby belly in those jeans.

Jeans were still low cut in 1980-81. You could easily push the waistband below your belly.

Signed, Voice of experience

Interesting we both picked up the David Brinkley similarity. He was born and raised in Wilmington NC.

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[Gardener1850]

https://languageandlife.org/vonc/vonc25.mp4 Start at 5:38. This is the Cherokee/NC accent. It's very interesting and sounds very much like BE.

Interesting. There are some people speaking right before that man at 5:38. Those people's accents are what I think of when I think of NC Mountain Accents and they sound completely different from the man at 5:38. I agree that he sounds somewhat like RE.

 

[puzzleme]

My husband was born in Georgia but raised in Florida and when he would go back to Georgia his family would accuse him of not being from the south because he didn't have a drawl. Just saying

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[coppehead]

Ok, I wasn't going to bring this up, but i suppose it might be relevant. RE looks Finnish to me (I'm Finnish), and today a friend of mine posted a Facebook picture of himself in a rural setting with a plaid shirt and a beard and he looked very much like RE in his picture from 1980. And in the store I saw an old man in the store who looked very much like RE in the video. RE has no Finnish accent, though. Jensen is a Finnish last name (not very common) we even had one family with the last name of Jenson at some point. (Ulos is a Finnish word meaning 'out' as in 'go out')

The cherokees reminded me of this https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/findians__the_story_of_finns_distant_cousins/9087943 There were many Finns who moved to USA and many of those settled in the Great Lake area and had contacts with the native americans (started families, lived together or close to each other), mostly Ojibwa, it seems. I wish we had a sample of him talking this 'foreign language' that has been mentioned or a sample of the autobiography so it would be possible to analyse the language he used in the '80s.

 

[coppehead]

And here's a list of Jensens from Finland who moved to USA http://www.finnishimmigrants.org/index.php?q=jensen&p=1
I forgot to mention, we have a Swedish speaking minority, too.

 

[puzzleme]

I'm Finnish and Swedish! My family came to New Sweden Delaware in the 1600's. They then made their way South.

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