Gary Randall Muehlberg

Serial Killer

Gary Randall Muehlberg: The St. Louis "Package Killer"

Overview

Gary Randall Muehlberg is an American serial killer whose crimes remained partly concealed for approximately three decades. Known as the "Package Killer," he murdered four identified women in the St. Louis, Missouri, region during 1990 and later killed a man inside his home in 1993. Muehlberg also confessed to murdering a fifth, unidentified woman whose remains have never been conclusively recovered. The disturbing nickname given to Muehlberg came from the manner in which the women's bodies were discarded. Instead of leaving his victims openly exposed, he placed their remains inside or between objects such as mattresses, trash containers and a wooden dresser. These makeshift packages were abandoned beside roads or on public streets in different jurisdictions around the St. Louis metropolitan area. The unusual disposal methods led investigators to suspect that several apparently separate murders had been committed by the same person. Muehlberg was not publicly identified as the Package Killer until 2022. By that time, he had already spent decades in prison for the 1993 murder of Kenneth "Doc" Atchison. Advances in DNA testing eventually allowed investigators to connect physical evidence from the earlier murders to Muehlberg. When questioned, he confessed to killing the four identified women and described another victim who remains unidentified.

The Known Victims

• Robyn J. Mihan, age 18 disappeared March 22, 1990; body found March 26, 1990, near Silex, Lincoln County, Missouri: Mihan disappeared from the Cherokee Street area of south St. Louis. Her body was discovered four days later along a rural road near Silex, approximately 50 miles northwest of St. Louis. Her remains had been placed between two mattresses that were fastened together with wire. Because evidence indicates that she remained alive for part of the four-day period after her disappearance, her exact date of death has not been publicly established. Muehlberg later admitted abducting and killing her.
• Brenda Jean Pruitt, age 27 last seen in early May 1990; reported missing May 9, 1990; body found October 4, 1990, in Maryland Heights, Missouri: Pruitt disappeared from St. Louis and remained missing for several months. Municipal workers discovered her body inside a 32-gallon plastic trash container near 12400 Basston Drive in Maryland Heights. Her remains were wrapped in plastic and bound with electrical cable. Investigators concluded that she had been strangled or smothered. Because her body was not located until months after she vanished, the exact date of her murder could not be determined.
• Donna Reitmeyer, age 40 body found June 11, 1990, in St. Louis, Missouri: Reitmeyer's body was found inside a rubber trash container on a sidewalk along Gasconade Street near South Broadway. Her remains had been wrapped in plastic garbage bags. Decomposition prevented the medical examiner from determining a precise cause or date of death, although authorities classified the case as a homicide. Reitmeyer was a mother of three daughters. Muehlberg ultimately admitted responsibility for her murder.
• Sandra "Sandy" Little, age 21 disappeared September 4, 1990; body found February 17, 1991, near O'Fallon, St. Charles County, Missouri: Little vanished in September 1990 and remained missing for more than five months. Her skeletal remains were discovered inside a wooden dresser or dresser-like box abandoned near Interstate 70 outside O'Fallon. The condition of her remains made it impossible to establish an exact date or cause of death. Muehlberg pleaded guilty to killing her and received a life sentence for the crime.
• Unidentified woman killed sometime in 1990 or 1991, reportedly in Bel-Ridge, Missouri: Muehlberg confessed to murdering an additional woman whom he said he picked up in south St. Louis. He claimed that he killed her at his residence and initially kept her body in a large cardboard box in his basement. When the box began deteriorating, he allegedly transferred the remains into a steel barrel. He said he later abandoned the barrel near a self-service car wash in the Berkeley or Pagedale area. Investigators found evidence that a barrel may have been discovered near a car wash years earlier, but its contents and present location could not be confirmed. The woman has never been identified, and her exact date of death remains unknown.
• Kenneth Murle "Doc" Atchison, age 57 murdered February 8, 1993, in Bel-Ridge, Missouri: Atchison went to Muehlberg's home to complete a vehicle transaction involving a Cadillac, his Chrysler LeBaron and several thousand dollars in cash. He never returned. Weeks later, police found his body inside a homemade plywood coffin in Muehlberg's basement. His hands had been restrained, and medical evidence showed that he had suffered multiple injuries before dying from asphyxiation. Muehlberg was convicted of Atchison's murder in 1995.

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Confirmed Victims: (5)

Robyn J. Mihan Age: (19), Date of Death: March 22, 1990

Suspected Victims:

Sandra Cain Age: (37)

Gary Muehlberg - Wikipedia