Montana Serial Killer: The Most Infamous Criminal In State History

True Crime is a big deal. Whether you're listening to one of the thousands of podcasts or watching Dateline NBC, more and more people are becoming fascinated with the criminal mind.

Over the years, Montana has seen its share of criminals, the most famous being Ted Kaczynski. While the man the world would know as the Unabomber wasn't a native of Montana, he lived here for decades and was taken into custody at his remote cabin just outside of Lincoln, Montana back in 1996.

However, according to one source Kaczynski isn't Montana's most infamous criminal.

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The website All That Decades decided to search the country and come up with the most infamous crime in each state. In doing so, they came up with several names known to the public. Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy to name a few.

But what about Montana? Who is considered the most infamous criminal in The Treasure State?

Before we reveal the name of the most infamous criminal in Montana, lets look at the most dangerous towns in Big Sky Country.

Montana's most infamous criminal.

While the name David Meirhofer might not have the recognition that other serial killers have, Meirhofer holds a special place in history as he was the first serial killer to be investigated by using psychological profiling.

READ More: Where does Montana rank when it comes to serial killers

David Meirhofer was born in Bozeman in the summer of 1949. He grew up in Manhattan and would return to the small Montana town after being honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps in 1973. Meirhofer had spent time in Vietnam where he received multiple medals for his service.

Meirhofer would confess to the killing of four individuals, three of them children. The killing of the children seemed to have been random, however, the death of Sanda Dykeman Smallegen seemed to be more personal. Meirhofer would confess that he tried to establish a personal relationship with the Manhatten teen, but she wasn't interested.

Meihofer was later arrested, however, he would never see his day in court. Just hours after his confessions he was found dead in his jail cell.  He had hanged himself.