MONTANAN SERIAL KILLER: DAVID MEIRHOFER (JUNE 8, 1949 TO SEPTEMBER 29, 1974)

            Forty years ago on this date, September 29, 1974, a serial killer from Montana, David Meirhofer, committed suicide by hanging himself. I will post information about him from Wikipedia.

Photo of David Meirhofer taken at his arrest for the murders of 4 people. He confessed, then hung himself in the jail.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=50028111&PIpi=62254014]

 

David Meirhofer
Born	June 8, 1949 Manhattan, Montana
Died	September 29, 1974 (aged 25)
Cause of death	Suicide by hanging
Killings
Victims	4
Span of killings	1967–1974
Country	USA
State(s)	Montana
Date apprehended	1974

David G. Meirhofer (June 8, 1949 – September 29, 1974) was an American serial killer who committed four murders in rural Montana between 1967 and 1974 — three of them children. At the time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was developing a new method of tracking killers called offender profiling, and Meirhofer was the first serial killer to be investigated using the technique. Offender profiling is a method used to learn clues about the characteristics of an unknown killer from evidence at the scene of the crime and establish their behavioural patterns before they reach the height of their criminality.

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.