Courtesy photo
Gary Muehlberg being interviewed in prison.
Family members of the victims of alleged serial killer Gary Muehlberg are saying that Muehlberg should have to face them in court — and in person.
"I think meeting all of us face to face is the least he should have to do," says Saundra Mihan, whose 18-year-old daughter, Robyn, was abducted by Muehlberg in March 1990 and left dead on the side of a county highway four days later. "No cop-out for him," she adds.
The RFT sought comment from Mihan and other family members of Muehlberg's victims after a hearing this morning in St. Louis County Circuit Court, during which the question of whether Muehlberg would have to appear in person in the same courtroom as victims' families arose. Muehlberg's public defender Stephen Reynolds conferenced with Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joanna Brueggemann and Judge Brian May on the matter.
Police say that last year Muelhberg confessed to five murders committed between 1990 and 1991. In addition to Mihan, police say Muehlberg has confessed to killing Brenda Pruitt, 27; Sandy Little, 21; Donna Reitmeyer, 40; and a fifth victim who remains unidentified. In all five cases, Muehlberg picked up the women near the Southside Stroll, the city's then red light district, brought them back to his house in north county and killed them. He then left their bodies in conspicuous containers throughout the metro area, including between a pair of mattresses in Silex, in a homemade box in O'Fallon and in plastic trash bins in St. Louis City and in Maryland Heights. The M.O. earned him the moniker The Package Killer.
Courtesy Korky Sanders, Antinelle Pruitt, Barb Studt
Three of Muehlberg's victims: Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt, Sandy Little. All three had young children when they were killed
Muehlberg's confession is thanks to O'Fallon Police Department Sergeant Jodi Weber, who started looking into the cold case in 2008. After almost a decade and half of detective work, Weber finally matched material found with the victims' bodies to Muehlberg's DNA last year.
Muehlberg previously said in an interview with the RFT that he wants to plead guilty to the murders and have the case adjudicated as quickly as possible. "If you can arraign me, let me enter my plea and sentence me at the same time — I'm all for it," he said in November. He is currently serving a life sentence in Potosi Correctional Center for a murder he committed in 1993.
At this morning's conference, the judge, prosecutor, and public defender discussed what Muelberg's guilty plea will look like.
"He's pretty infirm," Reynolds says of the 73-year-old Muehlberg, saying that prosecutors in St. Charles and Lincoln County believe that a video plea is "the way to do this."
However, Judge May says he wants to hear from the victims' families before he decides if Muehlberg will have to show up to court in person or not.
"In terms of the families of those individuals, what are their thoughts about in terms of if they want to make statements?" May asks. He points out that they had been waiting 30 years for closure and that while he is a big proponent of conducting some court business via Webex video conferencing, he understands the families may have opinions on the matter.
"I would like to hear from these victims' families, what their position is," May says.
Little's stepsister Barb Studt, who Little lived with for a time prior to her killing, tells the RFT about Muehlberg, "I feel that he should have to face us all."
Courtesy Juanita Zills
Photograph of Donna Reitmeyer, killed at the age of 40.
Little's half-sister Geneva Talbott agrees.
"I want to look him dead in the eyes. Deep into his shit soul," she says.
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