Meirhofer agreed to confess to killing Susie Jaeger and Sandy Dykeman — and offered two additional confessions in exchange for no death penalty. His victims spanned from 1967 (teenager Bernie Pullman) to 1973, and included the 1968 Boy Scout stabbing that had been cold for six years.
Where this was said
At 49:25 · chapter starts 47:40
Investigators return to Meirhofer's property for a second, deeper search. In the freezer, tucked among deer meat and frozen dinners, is a package wrapped in butcher paper labeled 'SMDS.' Inside: Sandy Dykeman's severed hand. Meirhofer has no answer for this. He tells his lawyer he will confess to killing Sandy and Susie — and in exchange for the state dropping the death penalty, he will reveal two more murders. On September 29, 1974, he sits down with Agent Dunbar and the county attorney. He admits to abducting Susie from her tent, strangling her when she fought back during assault, dismembering her, and burning her remains — leaving only her head in an outhouse they had never searched. He confesses to Sandy's murder in similar terms. Then he adds the Boy Scout stabbing from 1968 and the 1967 death of teenage Bernie Pullman, previously ruled an accidental shooting.
Hidden among ordinary freezer items — deer, elk, frozen dinners — was a butcher-paper package labeled 'SMDS.' Inside: Sandy Dykeman's severed hand, fingers still wearing nail polish. There was no talking out of this one.
Investigators discovered Sandy Dykeman's severed hand — fingers still bearing nail polish — wrapped in butcher paper labeled with initials in Meirhofer's freezer.
David Meirhofer confessed to four murders: Susie Jaeger (age 7), Sandy Dykeman (age 19), Michael Raney (Boy Scout, age 12), and Bernie Pullman (a teenager, 1967).
A man used ChatGPT as a de facto lawyer, sharing self-incriminating details in his chats. When the transcripts were subpoenaed, the judge ruled no attorney-client privilege applied and admitted the chats as evidence against him. AI first passes are useful — treating AI as your counsel is dangerous.
CIA operative Edwin Wilson armed Muammar Gaddafi with 10,000 machine guns and 20 tons of C4 hidden in barrels of mud and flew them to Libya himself. He was sentenced to 52 years and served 12 in solitary. He was also a founder of the same arms network Oliver North contracted for the Contras.
Kim Dotcom's legal nightmare had nothing to do with copyright infringement. He donated to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange — and the US government charged him under RICO statutes, seeking 186 years in prison as payback.
More than a decade after his indictment, the US is still trying to extradite Kim Dotcom from New Zealand — even after he suffered a stroke. He cannot be convinced the authorities are on his side; only the legal process, run by his lawyers, keeps him free.
The illegal wildlife trade and the drug trade aren't just parallel industries — they actively overlap. Smugglers force-fed cocaine to boa constrictors to evade customs, packed drugs beneath layers of live animals in crates with spitting cobras on top, and exploited the chronic under-resourcing of US Fish and Wildlife inspection teams.
Mario Tabraue was sentenced to over 100 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking. He served 12. Nobody — not even the DEA agent who put him there — knows why he got out. That agent, Larry Lovelace, now lives in rural West Virginia with a gun within reach every night, still expecting retaliation.
Anson Wong from Malaysia was the Pablo Escobar of the global reptile trade, supplying rare animals — including Komodo dragons — to buyers across the world. He was caught in a sting, extradited to the US, and served the longest wildlife crime sentence at the time. The animals seized from him went on to stock some of America's biggest zoos.
Zelig Williams landed a role in Hamilton at just 19 while still in college — a rare achievement in a world where most Broadway dreams die young. By 28 he was a veteran ready to mentor the next generation, until he disappeared without a trace on October 3, 2024.
Season 5 of Dateline: Missing in America brings six new unsolved mysteries. The show is explicitly asking listeners to engage — because a detail someone remembers might be the break investigators need.
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