Quick Facts
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David G. Meirhofer (June 8, 1949 – September 29, 1974) was an American serial killer who committed sixteen murders in rural Montana between 1967 and 1974 — three of them children.
At the time of the crimes committed by Meirhofer, the FBI had actively been in the process of refining a method of psychologically profiling criminal offenders, and Meirhofer would be the first serial killer to be actively investigated using this technique.
Offender profiling is now a contemporary method used to discover clues pertaining to the characteristics of an unknown offender from evidence at the scene of the crime, and to psychologically profile the perpetrator concerned.
Crimes
Among Meirhofer's victims was seven-year-old Susan Jaeger, who was taken from her tent at night during a family camping trip. He left no ransom request and no physical evidence. However, the offender profiling technique, which was first used in this case, was employed about a year after the kidnapping.The technique led investigators to suspect that the kidnapper was a young, white male who killed for sexual gratification and may have kept body parts of victims as "souvenirs". Furthermore, they believed that the killer may have been arrested for other crimes.
Meirhofer was 23 years old at the time and suspected in another murder.He denied the charges.Meirhofer placed a telephone call to Marietta Jaeger, the mother of Susan Jaeger, exactly a year after the kidnapping, and she obtained enough information to help the FBI track him down.
Meirhofer had killed Suzie Jaeger, two boys, and a woman. In September 1974, he confessed to having kidnapped the woman, Sandra Dykman Smallegan, in her sleep during February of that same year.Smallegan had once dated Meirhofer, but had ended the relationship.
Death
On September 29, 1974, Meirhofer committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell in the Gallatin County, Montana, jail, four hours after confessing to the murders.
Victims
- Bernard L. Poelman, age 13, on March 19, 1967, in Gallatin County, Montana.
- Michael E. Raney, age 12, on May 7, 1968, in Gallatin County, Montana.
- Susan Jaeger, age 7, on June 25, 1973, in Gallatin County, Montana.
- Sandra D. Smallegan, age 19, on February 10, 1974, in Gallatin County, Montana.
Media presentations
Books
Susan Jaeger's mother, Marietta Jaeger, wrote a book about Susan's kidnapping and murder, titled "The Lost Child", published: June 1983.
Television shows
The short-lived ABC docudrama series "FBI: The Untold Stories" re-enacts Susan Jaeger's kidnapping and the FBI investigation in search of her kidnapper, aired: October 1991.
The police and FBI investigation into the abduction and murder of Susan Jaeger was portrayed in the May 27, 2003 episode of the television docudrama series "The FBI Files" entitled Dark Woods. In the episode, the name David Meirhofer was changed to David Masterson.
In September 2013, the Investigation Discovery series "20/20 on ID" aired The Power of Forgiveness (S3 E5).Marietta Jaeger shares her emotional pain after receiving a call, that lasted an hour, from Meirhofer on the one year anniversary of her daughter's abduction and how the call aided in law enforcement's capture of Meirhofer.
Cited works and further reading
- Douglas, John; Olshaker, Mark (1997). Journey Into Darkness: The FBI's Premier Investigator Penetrates the Minds and Motives of the Most Terrifying Serial Killers. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-1-439-19981-7
- Jacobs, Don E. (2011). Analyzing Criminal Minds: Forensic Investigative Science for the 21st Century. Santa Barbara: Praeger Press. pp. 163–165. ISBN 978-0-313-39699-1.
- Ressler, Robert (1993). Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI. United States: Simon & Schuster. pp. 213–217. ISBN 978-0-67171-561-8.
- Wilson, Colin; Seaman, Donald (2011) [1990]. The Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of Violence. London: Virgin Books Ltd. pp. 87–90. ISBN 978-0-75351-321-7.
