Posted on 08/20/2004 1:11:12 PM PDT by Kennesaw
Posted on Fri, Aug. 20, 2004
Police Link Class With BTK Killer
ROXANA HEGEMAN
Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. - Investigators in the BTK serial killings disclosed Friday that they have evidence from his writings that the killer was familiar with a professor at Wichita State University who died in 1991 and a folk song she had discussed in class.
Police Lt. Ken Landwehr asked the public for help in identifying anyone who had contact with the late professor P.J. Wyatt or knew someone familiar with a folk song titled "Oh Death."
In a series of letters, the BTK killer claimed responsibility for eight deaths in Wichita between 1974 and 1986. The letters "BTK" stand for "bind, torture, kill." The communications had stopped for more than two decades before resuming this year.
Police said Friday that a letter sent in May to KAKE-TV that included a table of contents titled the "BTK Story" that had a chapter titled "PJs."
Landwehr also disclosed that in a 1978 letter, the killer included a poem titled "Oh! Death to Nancy" that had striking similarities with the lyrics of the old folk song "Oh Death." One of the BTK victims was Nancy Fox.
"The FBI profilers have confirmed our belief that there is a definite connection in the reference to PJ in the letter we received last May and the folklore song 'Oh Death,'" Landwehr said.
Wyatt taught the song "Oh Death" in an English literature class at Wichita State University during the 1970s. It was a relatively unknown song at the time, though more recently it has become known from a version in the 2001 movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and its hit soundtrack.
While a professor at Wichita State, Wyatt was interviewed by police investigating the BTK killings, said Amy Geiszler-Jones, spokeswoman for Wichita State.
Wyatt worked with investigators to analyze the folk song and also reviewed her student class lists with police, Geiszler-Jones said. The spokeswoman said she had learned this information Friday from colleagues of Wyatt's.
Wyatt, who specialized in American folklore, taught in the English department at Wichita State from 1964 until she retired in 1986.
Attention has refocused on BTK since March, when The Wichita Eagle received a letter with information on an unsolved 1986 killing. The letter contained a copy of the victim's driver's license and photos of her taken after she was slain.
It was the first communication from the killer known as the BTK Strangler since the late 1970s, and police said it linked the serial killer to the eighth slaying. The other seven people were slain in the 1970s, with BTK claiming responsibility for those deaths in letters to the newspaper and a television station.
Police have received more than 4,000 tips from the public since BTK resurfaced last March.
ON THE NET
Wichita Police: http://www.wichita.gov/cityoffices/police/
And does anyone still doubt the incredible harm that can be done by the lib professors at state universities who take our tax monies to destroy young people?
Sounds like the killer died in 91, and some sicko found a record of the letters and started writing to the police.
I've heard Ralph Stanley sing this song live. It puts the creeps up your spine real bad.
Oh Death
Oh Death
Oh Death
Just look, just look, just look, see what the Lord done, done
Just look, just look, just look, what the Lord done, done
Just look, well, Lordy, just look, just look what the Lord done done
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
It was soon one morning, oh, Lordy, when death come in the room
It was soon one morning, oh, Lordy, when death come in the room
It was soon one morning, oh, Lordy, when death come in the room
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
Oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, somebody's calling me
Oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, somebody's calling me
Oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, somebody's calling me
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
It was soon one morning, oh, Lordy, when death come in the room
It was soon one morning, oh, Lordy, when death come in the room
It was soon one morning, oh, Lordy, when death come in the room
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
Oh, death, oh, death, oh, death, oh, death done stole my mother and gone
Oh, death, oh, death, oh, death, oh, death done stole my mother and gone
Oh, death, oh, death, oh, death, oh, death done stole my mother and gone
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
Oh, move my pillow, then turn my bed around
Oh, move my pillow, then turn my bed around
Oh, move my pillow, then turn my bed around
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
Oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush somebody is calling me
Oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush somebody is calling me
Oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush, oh, hush somebody is calling me
Lord, I know, Lord, I know my time ain't long
[As recorded in New York City, 1 February 1934]
Since I have a BA and MA in English literature, I'm familiar with lib professors. But looking at this article, I don't see anything that tells me this professor was especially liberal, or that her political leanings (if any) have anything to do with this killer. On the contrary, it sounds like the professor cooperated with the police in a helpful way. Did I miss something? I don't understand your comment about "destroying young people."
Some people around here just hate higher education. That's all.
Well you may be right. It's a shame. There are lots of great non-political classes like math and science. And in spite of the liberal profs I've had in my humanities classes, I've also found some great profs in those departments.
The only ones who really get me steamed are the school administrators -- acting all liberal, and treating conservative ideas like a disease.
They're one of the big reasons I left the ivory tower.
My name is death and I excel I can open the gates to heaven or hell Cast aside the flesh of the Cast aside and set you free Oh-oh death, oh-oh-oh death, Can’t you spare me over till another year I lock their jaws so they can’t talk, Stiffen their legs so they can’t walk Close their eyes so they can’t see The chill you feel, it comes from me Oh ma-ma mama come to my bed Place a cold rag on my head My eyes are aching and I cannot see I feel the sheet pulling over me
You're blaming these killings on the professor?
It's the same song ... maybe a variation. The Ralph Stanley version in "O Brother" had all those words.
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