Signs of a Psychopath season 10 episode 15 - Who was the Package Killer, and where is he now?

The Signs of a Psychopath, season 10, episode 15, titled The Package Killer, investigates a series of early 1990s murders in the St. Louis area. The show explains how women were found dead inside packages such as trash cans and boxes placed by the roadside, with the killer nicknamed "Package Killer." It details how DNA technology solved these cold cases from decades ago and linked them to a man already serving time for a different crime.

Experts on the show discuss signs of psychopathic tendencies, including a lack of remorse, as shown in an interrogation video. The Package Killer was Gary Muehlberg, a Missouri man who confessed to several murders after a DNA match in 2022. He targeted vulnerable victims, including pr*stitutes, and dispersed their bodies to hinder detection.

Currently, Muehlberg, age 76, is serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole at Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri. The episode Package Killer premiered on Investigation Discovery (ID) on September 29, 2025.

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The murders and victims of the Package Killer

Package killer murdered 5 women (Representative Image via Unsplash/@ RoseBox رز باکس)

During the early 1990s, several bodies were found in the St. Louis area, each left in containers. Robyn Mihan, 18, was the first victim discovered in March 1990, found between two mattresses tied with wire near Silex, Missouri. She had been strangled.

Donna Reitmeyer, 40, mother of three, was found in a trash can on a St. Louis street in June 1990, also strangled, according to CBS News. Brenda Pruitt, 27, disappeared in May 1990; her body was found in October 1991 in a plastic trash can by the side of a road in St. Louis County. Sandy Little, 21, was discovered in February 1991 in a wooden dresser left on the side of a highway in O'Fallon. Unlike the others, she was not a pr*stitute.

Kenneth Atchison, a 57-year-old man, was murdered during a car sale in 1993; his body was not packaged with the others but connected to the same perpetrator, as per Oxygen. Muehlberg also confessed to killing an unidentified woman whose body was left in a metal drum near a car wash; her body has never been found.

The victims were frequently beaten, stabbed, or r*ped before they were killed. Officials suspect there are more victims, as Muehlberg targeted society's outcasts, according to Oxygen. The cases went cold for years due to limited forensic technology at the time.

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Who was the Package Killer?

Package Killer confessed to his crimes (Representative Image via Unsplash/ @ JOSHUA COLEMAN)

Gary Randall Muehlberg was born on February 27, 1949, to William and Christina Muehlberg in St. Louis, Missouri. He was raised in a stable home with two siblings until his family moved to Salina, Kansas, in 1966, when his father took a job with Gulf Oil. After graduating from high school in 1968, Muehlberg was drafted into the U.S. Army for Vietnam but was stationed stateside, unlike his brother, who was killed in action, according to KSDK News.

He married his high school sweetheart in 1970 and had one son. His early legal troubles began in 1972 with arrests for r*pe and robbery, followed by an assault charge in 1973. In some cases, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was paroled in 1977. Muehlberg took a short course in psychology, remarried in 1980, and had two more children.

By the late 1980s, he was facing financial problems, got involved in drug selling, and was visiting pr*stitutes. Though ordinary in appearance, he led a dual life. Calmly, he discussed his actions during interrogations and occasionally expressed remorse in letters to victims' families. His transition from denial to confession was noted by detectives as evidence piled up, according to KSDK News.

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Investigation, arrest, and current status

Package killer was sentenced to several life sentences (Representative Image via Unsplash/ @ Tingey Injury Law Firm)

Muehlberg was initially arrested on March 27, 1993, in Illinois after fleeing following Kenneth Atchison's murder. Police were tipped off about a suspicious box in his basement. He was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to life without parole for that murder. The other cases remained unsolved until 2008, when DNA technology prompted a re-examination.

In March 2022, a DNA match at one scene linked to Muehlberg, who was already behind bars. O'Fallon Detective Jodi Weber revisited old files, leading to the breakthrough, according to KSDK News. That same year, Muehlberg admitted to killing four women and one unidentified victim.

Prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty if he cooperated, as he was in poor health due to kidney failure. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to the murders of Pruitt, Reitmeyer, Little, and Mihan, receiving additional life sentences to run concurrently, as reported by KSDK News.

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