The daughter of a 76-year-old Quincy College professor who was stabbed to death
in her Plymouth apartment remembered her mother on Sunday as “an
amazing human being,” as authorities continued searching for any sign of
her alleged killer.
“She was very much a strong Christian,” said
Kristine Jelstrup, the daughter of Vibeke Rasmussen. “She was a foster
mother to, over the years, at least 20 kids. She was just this person
who wanted other people to succeed and did anything that she could to
help them.”
Jelstrup, 53, of Cambridge, spoke to the Globe in a phone interview
two days after police found the body of Rasmussen, a native of Denmark
and retired chiropractor, in her apartment on Tideview Path in Plymouth.
She had suffered dozens of stab wounds to her face, neck, and
shoulders, police said.
State Police continued searching Sunday
for the suspect in the crime, Tyler Hagmaier, a 24-year-old man with a
history of mental illness who lived across the hall from Rasmussen.
His abandoned Prius was found Friday evening on the French King
Bridge, which spans the Connecticut River in Gill, in the northwestern
part of Massachusetts, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has
said.
David Procopio, a State Police spokesman, said weather conditions,
including a swift current, made it too dangerous for divers to enter the
water on Saturday and Sunday, so they searched for Hagmaier’s body from
boats with sonar tools. Nothing was found Sunday, he said, and
investigators were considering whether they would return Monday.
A
spokeswoman for Cruz said Sunday that there was still no word on a
motive. Cruz has warned people not to approach Hagmaier if they see him,
describing him as “highly dangerous.”
Bethany Hagmaier, 35, of Dalton, who is married to Hagmaier’s cousin,
said Sunday evening that she has not spoken with him in years, and that
she had no information about any mental health problems he may have
dealt with.
She said she learned about the murder investigation on Sunday.
“It’s devastating,” Hagmaier said. “It’s devastating all around. . . . Very sad to hear.”
Attempts to reach additional relatives of Hagmaier in western Massachusetts and Virginia were unsuccessful.
Rasmussen’s family said Sunday that she had never mentioned Hagmaier, and they had no reason to believe she was at risk.
“She was very trusting,” Jelstrup said. “She lived in a very nice little building. They all knew each other.”
Jelstrup also provided details about her mother’s background and how she came to live and work in the United States.
Initially,
Jelstrup said, her mother traveled to Connecticut from Denmark, as a
teenager with the American Field Service, a cultural exchange program.
“She
loved America so much” that she later packed her bags and came here to
stay, Jelstrup said, adding that her mother became a highly regarded
chiropractor who practiced for about 25 years in Indianapolis.
After
retiring, Rasmussen followed Jelstrup and her husband, John MacGibbon,
to Massachusetts, and she began teaching at Quincy College after she
inquired about studying there to obtain a certificate in phlebotomy.
The dean asked Rasmussen if she would like to teach, once the school learned she had a doctorate, Jelstrup said.
“She was an amazing teacher at Quincy College,” Jelstrup said. “They just drew so much inspiration from her.”
A
number of Rasmussen’s students have praised her for her engaging
teaching style and warmth, including Heather Lynch, 25, who told the
Globe on Saturday that Rasmussen was “very much into bringing real life
into what we were learning.”
“She was so personable. Going to class wasn’t boring,” Lynch said. “She was so vibrant.”
Indeed, Jelstrup said on Sunday that her mother lived an active lifestyle and was a devoted grandmother to two grandsons.
“She was always riding her bicycle at 76,” Jelstrup said. “She was very healthy. She had a full life ahead of her.”
Jelstrup
said her mother worshiped at a Presbyterian church in Barnstable,
obtained a real estate license at one point, and had a brief stint as a
bus driver one summer on Martha’s Vineyard, simply because it seemed
like fun.
“She just had a fabulous time,” Jelstrup said.
Plymouth
Police Chief Michael E. Botieri told reporters Saturday that Hagmaier
has a history of threatening to commit suicide, prompting calls to
police for help, and that officers once fired a bean-bag round to disarm
him of a knife that he intended to use to hurt himself.
However, local police have never arrested Hagmaier.
Little information has been released publicly about him,
though a spokeswoman for the nearby Mirbeau Inn & Spa at The
Pinehills confirmed over the weekend that he worked there for a time
before leaving last December, of his own accord.
The spa has declined to comment on his job responsibilities.
On
a Facebook page attributed to Hagmaier, he listed his occupation as
“whatever they tell me to do” at the spa, and he also said he had
attended Plymouth South High School.
Plymouth Schools
Superintendent Gary E. Maestas said in an e-mail that Hagmaier “was a
student in Plymouth and I am sorry but that is all I can comment on.”
Hagmaier
also wrote on his Facebook page that he traveled widely, including
stops in the Dominican Republic, Nova Scotia, Hawaii, Oregon, and South
Carolina. He posted several photographs of himself smiling and joking
with friends.
Authorities have said witnesses heard a splash
around the same time police found Hagmaier’s vehicle near the
Connecticut River, but they have been unable to determine whether he
jumped into the body of water, which typically has a swift current
during the springtime.
As the search for Hagmaier, and answers, continued on Mother’s Day, Jelstrup recalled her slain mother’s passion for life.
“She just had a can-do attitude — ‘what’s the next adventure?’ ” Jelstrup said. “She was amazing that way.” BostonGlobe
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