Statistically, Montana is a very safe place to live — but sadly, no place is entirely safe from devious serial killers. The Treasure State has several sinister serial killer stories, most notably Wayne Nance, the “Missoula Mauler.” But there’s another known murderer whose victims all resided in Montana, and his name was David Meirhofer.

David G. Meirhofer was born in Manhattan in 1949, and Gallatin County was where he would stay.
LightHart / Flickr
He was one of the only serial killers who is believed to have committed all of his murders in Montana.
Meirhofer had four known victims, three of which were children.
John Russell / Flickr
At the time, the FBI was testing a new method of tracking killers called offender profiling, and Meirhofer was the first serial killer to be investigated using the technique. It would eventually lead to his capture.

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Every serial killer story is horrifying, but this one was especially brutal since three of the victims were children.
Tim Evanson / Flickr
Seven-year-old Susan Jaeger was taken from her tent at night during a family camping trip. The other minor victims were Bernard L. Poelman, age 13, and Michael E. Raney, age 12. Meirhofer also killed a 19-year-old woman who had briefly dated him.
Meirhofer ended up calling 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.
Greg Gjerdingen / Flickr
He was arrested in September of 1974.
Meirhofer, who was in his early 20s at the time, confessed to all four murders as soon as he was arrested.
lpk 90901 / Flickr
Just four hours after he was arrested, he committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell.

David Meirhofer’s story is horrifying, especially since his crimes were committed in small towns where people often feel safe. Luckily, stories like this are few and far between in the Treasure State. However, we do have some rather eerie unsolved mysteries here.

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