David Meirhofer & Wayne Nance – Montana Serial Killers

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David Meirhofer's Arrest - File photo / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
David Meirhofer’s Arrest – File photo / CC BY-SA

In 1974 when Wayne Nance was committing his first of six murders another serial killer, David Meirhofer was ending his run of four murders.  Listen to the fascinating story of how one killer met his end at the hands of his victims and the other was brought down by a determined mother of one of his victims.

Montana
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Wayne Nance:  The Missoula Mauler

Missoula, Montana is located in the northern Rocky Mountains. It’s known for its blue-ribbon trout fishing. Missoula is the second-largest city in Montana behind Billings. It was founded in 1860 as the Hellgate Trading Post until it was renamed in 1866 to Missoula (place of frozen water). This is a reference to the Clarks Fork River which the city was built beside.

Missoula boasts over 400 acres of parkland, 22 miles of trails, and 5000 acres of conserved open spaces (per Wikipedia).

September 3, 1986

Doug and Kris Wells were returning to their home located at 100 Parker Court around midnight when Doug noticed a shadowy figure in the yard. Kris went inside while Doug checked the area and that is when he came across Wayne Nance hiding in the bushes. When he confronted him Nance said that he had been driving by when he noticed someone looking into the Welles windows so he decided to stop and see what was going on.

Nance worked with Kris Wells. She was a manager of a Conlin Furniture Store in Missoula and Nance was a delivery driver. Nance asked for a flashlight and followed Doug into the garage. Nance attacked Doug when they entered the garage, hitting him in the back of the head. The fight leads into the house with Nance subduing Doug Wells.

Nance pulled a gun on Kris and ordered her to tie up her husband when she came to investigate what was going on. He proceeded to tie Kris up and take her to the couple’s bedroom on the second floor. He left her tied to the bed and returned downstairs to Doug. Nance proceeded to drag Doug to the basement of the home and tied him to a support post. He then beat him with a pipe and stabbed him in the chest with an 8-inch knife from the couples’ kitchen. Thinking Doug was dead or at least near dead he returned to the couple’s bedroom.

Surprise! Doug’s Not Dead!

Doug wasn’t dead and was able to get out of his bindings. He located a model 99 Savage 250-3000 rifle with a single bullet on his workbench. Doug was a gunsmith by trade. Doug then made his way to the master bedroom and banged on the stairway wall to get Nance’s attention. When Nance entered the hallway, Doug fired hitting Nance in the side. Nance crawled back into the bedroom while Doug used the stock of the rifle to continually hit Nance. Nance was able to retrieve his 22 revolver and fired off three rounds with one hitting Doug in the leg.

Both Doug and Kris, who was able to free herself somewhat, continued to hit Nance. At some point, either Doug got Nance’s gun or Nance himself fired a shot into Nance’s head which effectively ended the situation. The Welles called 911 and all three were rushed to the hospital. Doug Wells made a full recovery from the stab wound to his chest, a bullet wound to his leg, and multiple chest and head contusions. Wayne Nance was pronounced dead at St. Patrick’s Hospital emergency room on September  4, 1986.

Not the End of the Story

When police started to investigate the reason why Nance would attack the Welles it became clear that Nance had developed an obsession with Kris Wells. Investigators also felt that the bind and slash technique Nance used was similar to another unsolved murder case from 1985. Police obtained a search warrant for Nance’s residence after his death. They found items that confirmed their suspicions of his involvement in a double homicide in 1985.

Mike & Teresa Shook

Mike and Teresa Shook lived in Hamilton Montana. On December 12, 1985 authorities were notified by neighbors that the Shook residence was on fire. The couple’s four small children were able to escape the burning home with help from nearby neighbors. Police discovered that while the family was sitting down to dinner they were disrupted by a pounding on their front door. When Mike answered the door he was immediately attacked and stabbed to death. After binding Mike the intruder took Teresa to the couple’s bedroom, tied her up, and raped her. Afterward, she was also stabbed to death.

There is no information on how the intruder subdued the children. Police determined that there were items missing from the home that included a ceramic elk and a knife. Both items were found in Nance’s home. There was also a photograph of George Nance receiving the ceramic elk as a Christmas gift. The photo was dated January 1986.

Who was Wayne Nance?

Wayne Nance was born in Missoula, Montana on October 18, 1955. His mother worked as a waitress and his father was a truck driver. The family lived in a trailer outside of Milltown, which is east of Missoula. He graduated from Sentinel High School in 1974. Nance did well in school, but was known as being a weird kid and somewhat of a trouble maker.

One article that I read stated that he used to boast of worshipping the devil and had even used a hot coat hanger to brand himself in satanic symbols. Whether it was maturity or time Nance seemed to have worked through his issues and was seen by many as just an average guy. Like many serial killers, his mask of charm and being average may have been to cover up his murderous behaviors.

First Murder

Police confirmed their suspicions that Nance was involved in other murders. His first one occurred in 1974 when Nance was 18 years old. Donna Pounds had been found raped and murdered in her home in Missoula on April 11, 1974. Donna worked part-time at a local Christian bookstore. Both she and her husband, Harvey, who worked retail, were deeply religious. However, Harvey was having an affair at the time of his wife’s murder.

Nance had been a friend of Donna’s son, Kenny, and was seen in the Pound’s back yard on the day of her murder by a neighbor. Donna was the only one home that day. Her husband and their oldest daughter, Karen were at work. Donna’s youngest daughter Kathy was at school. Her son, Kenny was away in the Army.

Police believed that Nance had snuck into the home and retrieved Harvey’s .22 caliber Luger pistol prior to confronting Donna. He then tied her to her bed with a clothesline he had brought with him. After raping Donna he took her to the basement and forced her under the stairs before shooting her in the back of the head five times. Nance was questioned but denied any involvement reporting he had been sick in bed on the day of the murder. Police executed a search warrant of Nance’s residence.

They discovered a pair of underwear with bloodstains on it, but they had been recently washed. Police were able to ascertain that the blood was human but was unable to determine who the blood belonged to. Unfortunately, there was no other evidence linking Nance to the crime. Nance was a suspect and he was even brought before a grand jury, but the jury failed to indict him at the time.

1979

Railroad workers near 1-90 outside Missoula reported to police the discovery of the body of a white female 

  • The woman had on a flower print dress and had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death
  • Police searched missing person cases but were unable to identify the victim
    • The police named the victim Betty Beavertail for the location she had been found in
  • Betty’s real identity would not be discovered until 2009 when she was id as 14-year-old Devonna Nelson a runaway from Seattle, Washington

1985

In the summer of 1984, Nance had been working as a bouncer at the Cabin Bar in East Missoula. Around this time he became involved with a young woman named “Robin” and they began dating throughout the summer and into September of 1985. It was in September that the young couple was believed to have left town as they were not seen again. Three months later on December 24, 1984, a wildlife photographer stumbled upon human remains sticking out of the ground in a wooded area outside Missoula.

Police were contacted and uncovered the remains of a young female who the pathologist determined had been dead about three months. The victim died of three gunshot wounds to her head. The victim had no id so she was named:  Debbie Deer Creek for the area where she had been discovered. When police searched Nance’s residence after the Wells attack they discovered a picture of Marci Bachman. Marci had gone missing when she was 16 years old from Vancouver, Canada.

In 2006 DNA testing would confirm that the body of Debbie Deer Creek was in fact Marci Bachman. Marci used the pseudonym of “Robin” when she ran away.

Christy Crystal Creek

In 1985, skeletal remains were found scattered along a hillside south of Missoula by a hunter tracking down a bear he had shot. It was just off Crystal Creek Road when he came across the skeletal remains. Two bullet holes fired at close range were found in the skull of the female victim. There was no id on the body so she was named Christy Crystal Creek or Jane Doe 3UFMT. Police determined that the victim was likely of Asian descent as she had dental work that was unique to Asia at the time.

She could be a victim of Nance’s as he was known to frequent the area in which she was found. An abandoned vehicle that Nance liked to take people to and sit in was located in the area that the body was found in. Crystal Creek is also close in proximity to the area Marci Bachman was found. To this day her remains remain unidentified.

Murder Spree

Police do not know exactly how many murders Nance may have committed. To date, Nance is tied to six murders and two attempted murders. The majority of these have only come to light after he died. Nance is also known as Montana’s Baby Face Killer. If you are interested in more information on Wayne Nance you can check out the Montana Murder Mysteries Podcast which runs on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.

David Meirhofer

Gallatin County, Montana is located in the southwest corner of Montana and is the 3rd most populated area in Montana according to the 2010 census. It sits in a valley in the heart of the Rocky Mountains covering 2,500 square miles and features majestic views not only from the Gallatin National Forest but from Yellowstone National Park.

End at the Beginning

In 1974 when Wayne Nance had committed his first murder, David Meirhofer was committing his last. On June 24, 1973, seven-year-old Susan Jaeger was taken from her parent’s campsite in Headwaters State Park. The perpetrator cut a hole in the tent that Susan and her three siblings had been sleeping in while their parents slept in a camper truck parked close by. No one saw or heard anything and no evidence was left behind.

The Jaeger Family had traveled from Michigan for a month-long vacation and had plans to leave Headwaters the next morning. It was a cold night. Around 4 am 13-year-old Heidi Jaeger was awoken by a cool breeze. She immediately noticed a hole in the tent. Heidi then noticed that her younger sister, Susan was not in the tent. She ran and woke her parents hysterically telling them about the hole. Searching around the campsite they found Susan’s stuffed animals that she always slept with lying on the ground.

Bill Jaeger drove to a nearby phone booth to call the police. Police immediately knew when they saw the slit in the tent that this was not a case of a child wandering off. A police detective noticed a clear set of footprints coming and going from the tent that leads to a parking area that was empty. The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office contacted the FBI. This was due to the possibility of a kidnapping involving the perpetrator taking the victim across state lines.

Connection to the Past

A massive search begins and at the time was the largest in Montana’s history. While searching a couple of officers remembered conducting a similar search of the same campsite that occurred five years earlier. On May 5, 1968, during a boy scout outing, a scout tried to wake his 12-year-old tent mate only to discover he had been beaten and stabbed at some point during the night. He died the following day and at the time of Susan’s disappearance his murder had not been solved.

Were these two crimes connected?

Following up on tips from the public the police interviewed David Meirhofer, a local contractor from Manhattan Montana. Manhattan is 10 miles from the campsite. Nothing turned up from that interview with Meirhofer.

One week after Susan’s disappearance a Gallatin County officer’s wife received a phone call at their home from a man claiming to have kidnapped Susan. He demanded a ransom of $50,000 to be taken to a bus station in Denver. He described a fingernail deformity Susan had on her index fingers as proof that he had her. The deformity was confirmed by her parents,

A follow-up call with further directions about the ransom drop never came. The family returned to Detroit Michigan and met regularly with the FBI to be kept abreast of the investigation. They even put a recording device on the family’s phone. One day, eldest son Ron took a call from a man who claimed that he still had Susan. The man abruptly hung up without giving any details. The call was traced to a diner in Wyoming. Following up with diner employees, no one could recall anyone using the phone. Months passed with no other contact.

Another Victim?

Eight months after Susan’s kidnapping Gallatin County Sheriffs were investigating another disappearance, this time a 19-year-old from Manhattan, Montana. Sandra Smallegan was reported missing by her mother. She was last seen on February 9, 1974, by friends she had been out with that evening. Sandra’s car was missing.

On an abandoned ranch in Horseshoe Hills, a pair of women’s underwear was found near fresh tire tracks. The nearby barn was searched and Sandra’s car was found, but there no trace of Sandra. Two days later in a search of a nearby field, a 55-gallon drum was found with broken up burned skeletal remains. 1200 bone fragments in all were collected over an area of 75 yards. Teeth and jaw bone fragments were matched to Sandra.

Too Close for Comfort

Sometimes the police working the various cases would get together for lunch at a nearby diner. A local resident, David Meirhofer would often engage the officers in conversion about Susan’s case. Although they didn’t tell him anything, Meirhofer would always volunteer for any searches or anything they needed.

Knowing killers would sometimes try to insert themselves into investigation and David Meirhofer had also dated Sandra Smallegan he was asked to take a polygraph examination. He readily agreed. He denied knowing anything about Susan’s kidnapping or Sandra’s murder. The examiner noted no deception in his answers.

He was then asked if he’d be willing to answer questions under sodium amytal, a barbiturate with sedative-hypnotic properties. David Meirhofer answered all the questions calmly and with the same answers he had always given.

Criminal Profiling

An FBI agent who was working in the new field of criminal profiling asked for all the interviews that had been conducted to that point. To the profilers looking at Susan’s abduction, they felt the perpetrator had some sort of military training. They also profiled the kidnapper as someone who was a loner, possibly schizophrenic or have schizophrenic tendencies, and have difficulty interacting with the opposite sex. David Meirhofer was at the top of the list for the FBI profilers.

This was met with skepticism since Meirhofer passed his polygraph and truth serum examinations. But if he was schizophrenic he may have been able to beat the test by disassociating. They also profiled that the kidnapper would call Susan’s parents on the anniversary of her disappearance. Susan’s mother gave an interview prior to the anniversary asking her daughter’s kidnapper to contact her. She let him know that she was praying for him.

Man Calls Claiming He Took Susan

On June 24, 1974, at 3:30 am a man called asking for Susan’s mother. He claimed that he was the man that took her daughter one year ago to the minute. When asked if they could get her back the man hung up. He called back a short time later and told Susan’s mother that Susan was fine and that they had been traveling and having a good time. Susan’s mother kept the caller on the line for over an hour while her husband contacted the police. Unfortunately, the call was unable to be traced.

A month later a rancher in Montana reached out to police and showed them that his telephone line had been tapped into. Not only that, but his telephone bill showed a call to Michigan that he didn’t make. The number was to the Jaeger family home.

The rancher was asked if there was anyone he could think of that knew the layout of his ranch. He gave them the name of David Meirhofer.

Closing In

In looking into David Meirhofer’s background the police learned that David had been a communication specialist in the Marines. He would have the knowledge of how to tap into phone lines to cover his tracks. The FBI also used a relatively new technique of voiceprint analysis. Using the recording they matched Meirhofer’s voice. David Meirhofer claimed that he had relatives that sounded just like him. The FBI gathered up the relatives and David and had them read a statement in a call to the Jeager home.

The statement was what the caller had said that night.

Susan’s mom easily picked out David Meirhofer’s voice. The police and the FBI realized that they needed a confession. They wanted Susan’s mother to confront David Meirhofer so she came back to Montana to do so. On September 12, 1974, Susan’s mother and Meirhofer met at David’s attorney’s office. Susan’s mother told him she knew he took her daughter and she forgave him. They talked for over an hour, but Meirhofer never confessed.

David Meirhofer Put Under Surveilance

Meirhofer was put under 24-hour surveillance. On September 24, 1974, Meirhofer slipped his detail and a search began for his whereabouts. A short time later Susan’s mother received a call from a man claiming to be Mr. Travis. He indicated that he was the one responsible for Susan’s kidnapping and that he was from Salt Lake City, Utah.

Susan’s mother knew right away it was David Meirhofer and told him so. Not done, David said that he had Susan and that she was with him. He put her on the phone. Susan’s mother knew immediately it wasn’t her daughter’s voice as she always called her mama and not mommy. During the call, the man gave himself away by talking about information only David Meirhofer and she had talked about during her visit.

Meirhofer became upset and slammed down the phone. The FBI was contacted and their fear was that Meirhofer had kidnapped another child and was unraveling. David Meirhofer was arrested as soon as he came back to Manhattan.

The End

Upon his arrest, police discovered stationary taken from the motel room that David Meirhofer had rented to place the call to Susan’s mom. On the stationary was the name Travis. A search warrant executed on Meirhofer’s home.

Police were looking for any trophies that Meirhofer may have collected. In the freezer, police discovered a grizzly scene. They found packages with the initials of SS (Sandra Smallegan) and a human hand with two severed fingers clutched in its palm.

David Meirhofer soon confessed to four murders. In 1987 Meirhofer murdered a classmate’s brother who had picked a fight with him. He shot him while he was fishing with another friend. He confessed to the boy scout murder in 1968 because he wanted revenge on the group and to embarrass them for kicking him out.

Susan Jeager was his third victim and took her to the Horseshoe Hills ranch, strangled her, dismembered her, and scattered her remains. He never gave a reason why he targeted Susan.

His final confession was the murder of Sandra since she refused to go out with him again. He duct-taped her mouth, but also covered her nose asphyxiating her.

David Meirhofer was returned to jail and a few hours later he hung himself with a towel committing suicide. He and Wayne Nance would never stand trial.

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