The murder of Kenneth Atchison
Bel Ridge, St Louis County, Missouri · 1993
Overview
Kenneth Atchison, a 57-year-old man known to friends as Doc, was killed on February 8, 1993, after he went to the Bel-Ridge, Missouri, home of Gary Muehlberg in St. Louis County to complete a car deal, carrying several thousand dollars in cash. When Atchison disappeared, a tip about belongings being hauled to a landfill led investigators to search Muehlberg's property, where they discovered Atchison's body sealed inside a homemade plywood coffin in the basement. Muehlberg fled but was located and detained in Illinois, and in September 1995 a St. Louis County jury convicted him of first-degree murder and armed criminal action; he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Decades later, while Muehlberg was incarcerated for the Atchison killing, DNA evidence linked him to a separate string of early-1990s killings of women across the St. Louis area attributed to the so-called Package Killer, and he pleaded guilty to four of those murders.
How it was solved
Unlike many cold cases, the killing of Kenneth Atchison was solved through old-fashioned police work within weeks of the crime rather than through later forensic technology. Atchison had gone missing in early February 1993 after telling people he was going to Gary Muehlberg's home in Bel-Ridge to trade cash and a vehicle for one of Muehlberg's cars. When Atchison did not return, the disappearance drew the attention of investigators. A tip from an acquaintance about items being moved from the property to a landfill helped police obtain a search warrant for Muehlberg's home. Inside the basement, officers found Atchison's body concealed in a crude, homemade plywood coffin. An autopsy showed Atchison had been bound and brutalized before he died. Muehlberg fled the area, but he was located and detained in Wayne County, Illinois, on March 27, 1993, and returned to Missouri to face charges. After initially trying to shift blame to another man, Muehlberg went to trial in St. Louis County, where a jury found him guilty in September 1995 of first-degree murder and armed criminal action; he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and sent to the Potosi Correctional Center. That conviction is what ultimately connected him to a far larger set of crimes: because Muehlberg was a known, incarcerated killer, his DNA was on file, and in 2022 a St. Charles area cold-case effort led by Detective Sergeant Jodi Weber matched crime-scene DNA to him in the unsolved early-1990s killings of four women whose bodies had been left in containers around the St. Louis region. Muehlberg confessed and later pleaded guilty to those murders, receiving additional life sentences.
Sources
- Gary Muehlberg
“Kenneth 'Doc' Atchison was 57 years old when he disappeared on February 8, 1993, at Muehlberg's home in Bel-Ridge, Missouri ... Muehlberg killed Atchison and placed his body in a crude plywood coffin in his basement ... had been asphyxiated to death, but was repeatedly tortured, stabbed and shot while still alive ... located and detained in Wayne County, Illinois on March 27, 1993 ... found guilty in September 1995 ... sentenced to life imprisonment without parole ... incarcerated at Potosi Correctional Center.”
- STATE v. MUEHLBERG, 986 S.W.2d 938
“Muehlberg appeals from the judgment entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of first degree murder and one count of armed criminal action ... Muehlberg killed victim Kenneth 'Doc' Atchison when the victim came to his house on February 8, 1993 ... to exchange it for Muehlberg's Cadillac ... sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment for first degree murder and three years imprisonment for armed criminal action.”
- How Gary Muehlberg was revealed as St. Louis 'Package Killer'
“In 1993, Gary Muehlberg killed Kenneth 'Doc' Atchison ... hid the body in a homemade coffin ... Muehlberg was sentenced to life in prison in 1995 for Atchison's slaying.”
- Missouri Detective solves five Cold Case Murders from 32 years ago
“Detective Sergeant Jodi Weber ... began her investigation in 2008 ... the killer was dubbed the 'Package Killer' and identified as Gary Randall Muehlberg ... serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder in Potosi Correctional Center.”
- Area detectives solve 30 year old cold case, as DNA links serial killer to at least 4 murders
“serving a life sentence at Potosi Correctional Center for the 1993 murder of Kenneth 'Doc' Atchison, 57. Atchison's body was discovered in Muehlberg's Bel-Ridge basement inside 'a makeshift coffin' ... Robyn Mihan, 18 ... Sandy Little, 21 ... Brenda Jean Pruitt, 27 ... Donna Reitmeyer, 40.”
- Gary Muehlberg, Missouri man dubbed the 'Package Killer,' admits to killing 2 women in 1990s
“already serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of Kenneth Atchison when DNA linked him to at least four additional murders ... Muehlberg pleaded guilty to murdering ... Brenda Pruitt ... Donna Reitmeyer ... Sandy Little ... Robyn Mihan ... received two additional life sentences ... He is serving his sentences at Potosi Correctional Center.”
- STATE v. MUEHLBERG, 986 S.W.2d 938 (1999)
“Missouri Court of Appeals case in which Gary Muehlberg appeals from the judgment entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of first degree murder and one count of armed criminal action ... heard by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Three on March 2, 1999.”
- Convicted Murderer Allegedly Confessed To Killing Five Women Around St. Louis In The Early 1990s
“convicted in 1995 for killing construction worker Kenneth Atchison, 57 ... Investigators discovered Atchison's body 'in a makeshift coffin inside Muehlberg's Bel-Ridge residence.' The victim had 'been beaten, shot, strangled and tortured.'”
- 'He just looked like a typical grandpa': Detective describes hearing confessions of alleged Cherokee Street stroll killer
“He just looked like a typical grandpa ... [Muehlberg, convicted of the 1993 killing of Kenneth Atchison and serving life, was confronted by a detective and confessed to the Package Killer murders].”