Where this was said
'Hello, David' — The Call That Ended It
At 43:45 · chapter starts 43:35
FBI surveillance briefly loses Meirhofer — and the moment they do, the phone rings at the Jaeger home. Marietta answers and goes straight to it: 'Hello, David.' He tries to deny knowing who she means; she tells him she sat across a table from him. During the call, a small girl's voice comes on the line, claiming he is 'nice.' Marietta recognizes immediately that the voice is not Susie's. The call triggers a law enforcement swarm on Manhattan, Montana, but Meirhofer has vanished. When he calmly reappears 18 hours later claiming he never went anywhere, investigators find a receipt from a Salt Lake City motel in his pocket — the location of the final call. The county prosecutor has seen enough. An arrest warrant is issued.
When agents lost track of Meirhofer and the phone rang at the Jaeger house, Marietta didn't flinch. She answered, accepted the collect call, and said 'Hello, David.' He tried to play dumb. She told him she had sat across from him. Within 18 hours of going on the run, he reappeared — with a motel receipt from Salt Lake City in his pocket.
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.
