David Meirhofer was a serial killer who committed four murders in rural Montana between 1966 and 1974. 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 caught 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.
Among his victims was seven-year-old Susan Jaeger, who was taken from her tent at night during a family camping trip. The kidnapper left no ransom request and no physical evidence. However, the psychological 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". Further, they believed that the killer may have been arrested for other crimes.
Meirhofer was 23 years old at the time and already suspected in another murder. He denied the charges. Meirhofter placed a telephone call to Marietta Jaeger, the mother of Susan Jaeger, a year after the kidnapping, and she obtained enough information to help the FBI track him down.
When police searched his house, they found body parts of victims.
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.
Meirhofer committed suicide in jail, hours after confessing to the murders.
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I saw this story on 20/20 last night... the story was about Susan Jaeger (the little girl abducted from her tent as she slept). I found it so interesting how they introduced "Offender Profiling" with this case and how it proved to work so well. The above paragraph doesn't do the detectives work any justice as they really pinpointed exactly why this guy did what he did, what kind of background he must have had to do the crime as diligently as he did it, and also predicted how he would eventually call the mother of Susan Jaeger (as a way to empower what he did and toy with the mother). Exactly one year to the day and time Susan was abducted the phone rang, and it was David. I felt so bad for this mother and she handled the whole ordeal so well... she even went to the killers grave with his parents and placed flowers I guess as a way of saying she forgave him and moving on? anyway, if you happen to catch this one or want to look it up... it's an interesting/sad story.
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Originally Posted by smooches27
