Overview of Rewind with Karen & Georgia — “97: The Hague”
This Rewind with Karen and Georgia episode revisits My Favorite Murder episode 97, originally titled “The Hague,” first released on November 30, 2017. Karen and Georgia revisit the old episode with fresh context, extra case details, and plenty of off-topic banter about Thanksgiving, junk food, gifts, book club chaos, and listener-favorite digressions. The episode also re-examines two major true-crime stories: the kidnapping and murder case that helped shape early FBI offender profiling and the escape of Randall Sato from a Hawaii psychiatric hospital.
What They Talked About
Casual opening banter
- Thanksgiving plans, family dynamics, and holiday drinking/eating.
- A long tangent about comfort food, especially:
- Stouffer’s French bread pizza
- frozen mac and cheese
- fries, ranch, and “junk food episodes” in general
- A gifted Land O’Lakes vintage tray, which led to a realization that the brand’s old packaging was problematic and culturally appropriative.
- More enthusiasm for fan gifts and art sent by listeners, including a painting of Karen’s cat Elvis.
Book club derailment: My Sweet Audrina
- They revisit the ongoing book-club conversation around V.C. Andrews’ My Sweet Audrina.
- Both acknowledge how disturbing, repetitive, and problematic the book is.
- They compare it to other bleak, sensational older YA/genre books that shaped their tastes in weird ways.
- The segment turns into a broader joke about how impossible it is to discuss the book in a “normal” book club format.
True Crime Story 1: Susie Yeager and David Meirhofer
The crime
- In 1973, the Yeager family is camping in Montana when 7-year-old Susie Yeager disappears after someone cuts into the family tent while the children are sleeping.
- The FBI becomes involved, and the case becomes one of the earliest where behavioral profiling is used in a real investigation.
The profile
- FBI agents Howard Teten and Patrick Mullany help build a profile of the suspect:
- likely a young white male
- probably local
- likely had military experience
- possibly a “collector” of trophies from victims
The suspect
- Their attention turns to David Meirhofer, a young Vietnam veteran and neighbor who seemed polite, intelligent, and helpful.
- Despite initial suspicion, he passed both a polygraph and truth serum test, which reinforced how limited investigative tools were at the time.
- The profilers ultimately believed he was a psychopath who could appear calm and convincing under questioning.
Marietta Yeager’s role
- Susie’s mother, Marietta Yeager, becomes one of the most powerful parts of the story.
- After initially feeling rage and revenge, she chooses a path of forgiveness rooted in her Catholic faith.
- She speaks to the kidnapper on the phone a year later, and her compassion causes him to break down emotionally.
- This leads to the discovery of Meirhofer’s crimes.
What was found
- Police search Meirhofer’s home and find:
- body parts of Susie and another victim, Sandra Smolligan
- remains stored in the freezer
- Meirhofer confesses not only to Susie’s murder, but also:
- the murder of Sandra Smolligan
- the killings of two boys, Bernard Pullman and Michael Rainey
- He later dies by suicide in jail.
Why the case matters
- This is described as the first case solved with offender profiling in the FBI sense.
- The episode highlights Marietta Yeager’s later advocacy work:
- co-founding Journey of Hope
- speaking publicly about healing, forgiveness, and opposing the death penalty
True Crime Story 2: Randall Sato’s escape from a Hawaii psychiatric hospital
Background
- Georgia brings up a more recent, then-breaking case involving Randall Sato.
- Sato had been committed after the 1977 murder of Sandra Yamashiro in Hawaii, where he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a state psychiatric hospital.
The escape
- In November 2017, Sato simply walks off the grounds of the psychiatric hospital.
- He:
- gets a cab
- transfers islands
- uses cash and a fake ID
- charters a plane
- flies from Hawaii to California
- Hospital staff do not realize he is missing for hours.
Why the story matters
- The escape exposes serious flaws in hospital security and oversight.
- Several employees are placed on leave, and the incident sparks scrutiny of the facility.
- The story also reveals that Sato had been allowed significant freedoms, including:
- relationships with staff
- conjugal visits
- weekend passes
- His escape prompts rule changes and increased security measures later on.
Legal and moral questions
- Georgia explains that the judge and mental health system had long treated him as not fully accountable because of his mental state, but the case shows how dangerous that assumption can be.
- The discussion raises questions about:
- public safety
- mental health treatment
- institutional failure
- how serial offenders can manipulate systems and people
Key Themes and Takeaways
1. Forgiveness as strength
Marietta Yeager’s story is the emotional center of the episode. Her insistence on forgiveness is framed not as excusing harm, but as refusing to let hatred consume her.
2. Early profiling changed everything
The Meirhofer case is presented as a major milestone in FBI history, showing how criminal profiling could help solve crimes when traditional methods failed.
3. Systems can fail spectacularly
The Randall Sato story highlights how dangerous it is when institutions rely too heavily on assessments of “calm” or “well-behaved” offenders.
4. Humor as release
Even while discussing brutal crimes, Karen and Georgia keep the tone grounded in their signature mix of:
- dark humor
- personal stories
- food talk
- petty tangents
- affectionate chaos
Updates and Post-Rewind Notes
- The episode references later reporting that expanded on the Meirhofer case.
- Georgia mentions Ron Franscell’s 2022 book Shadow Man: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling, which covers the case and the history around it.
- The rewind closes with a return to the show’s usual rhythm: a mix of true crime, self-aware commentary, and listener-friendly irreverence.
Bottom Line
This episode is a good example of why early My Favorite Murder resonated so strongly: it blends serious crime history with deeply personal, often funny commentary. The two stories are both about systemic failure and human resilience—one through a pioneering FBI investigation and one through a mother’s extraordinary decision to answer violence with forgiveness.