Posted on 02/26/2005 5:16:30 PM PST by AntiGuv
WICHITA, Kan. - A 31-year manhunt for a serial killer who taunted police with letters about his crimes ended Saturday when authorities said they finally caught up with the man who called himself BTK and linked him to at least 10 murders.
The suspect was identified as Dennis L. Rader, a 59-year-old city worker in nearby Park City, who was arrested Friday. Police did not say how they identified Rader as a suspect or whether he has said anything since his arrest.
"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said Saturday, setting off applause from a crowd that included family members of some of the victims.
BTK — a self-coined nickname that stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" — stoked fears throughout the 1970s in Wichita, a manufacturing center with 350,000 residents, about 180 miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo.
Then the killer resurfaced about a year ago after 25 years of silence. He had been linked to eight slayings between 1974 and 1986, but police said Saturday they had identified two more, from 1985 and 1991.
Rader, a Cub Scout leader who was active at his Lutheran church, lived with his wife, neighbors said. Public records indicate they have two grown children. Messages left for family members were not returned on Saturday, and no one answered the door at the home of his in-laws.
A few neighbors recalled receiving small favors from Rader, but most interviewed Saturday said the municipal codes enforcement supervisor was an unpleasant man who often went looking for reasons to cite his neighbors for violations of city codes.
"A part of me was scared when I heard, because I talked to him. It's a little creepy," said Chris Yoder, 23, who once lived nearby.
Rader has yet to be charged, but a jubilant collection of law enforcers and community leaders told the crowd in City Council chambers they were confident the long-running case could now be closed.
"Victims whose voices were brutally silenced by the evil of one man will now have their voices heard again," Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said.
Rader was being held at an undisclosed location, and it was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. In Kansas, suspects generally appear before a judge for a status hearing within 48 hours of their arrest.
Prosecutor Nola Foulston said the death penalty would not apply to any crime committed before 1994, when the death penalty was introduced in Kansas.
The BTK slayings began in 1974 with the strangulations of Joseph Otero, 38, his wife, Julie, 34, and their two children. The six victims that followed were all women, and most were strangled.
Along with his grisly crimes, the killer terrorized Wichita by sending rambling letters to the media, including one in which he named himself BTK for "Bind them, Torture them, Kill them." In another he complained, "How many do I have to kill before I get my name in the paper or some national attention?"
But he stopped communicating in 1979 and remained silent for more than two decades before re-establishing contact last March with a letter to The Wichita Eagle about an unsolved 1986 killing.
The letter included a copy of the victim's driver's license and photos of her slain body. The return address on the letter said it was from Bill Thomas Killman — initials BTK.
Since then, the killer had sent at least eight letters to the media or police, including three packages containing jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims. One letter contained the driver's license of victim Nancy Fox.
The new letters sent chills through Wichita but also rekindled hope that modern forensic science could find some clue that would finally lead police to the killer.
Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation gathered thousands of DNA swabs in connection with the BTK investigation. In the end, DNA evidence was the key to cracking the case, said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
"The way they made the link was some DNA evidence, that they had some DNA connection to the guy who they arrested," Sebelius said in an interview with The Associated Press. She did not elaborate.
The two newly identified cases were similar to the early ones with one exception, Sedgwick County Sheriff Gary Stead said: The bodies had been removed from the crime scenes. One of the victims lived on the same street as Rader.
"We as investigators keep an open mind. But only now are we able to bring them together as BTK cases," he said.
On Friday, investigators searched Rader's house and seized computer equipment.
Authorities, who generally declined to answer questions in detail after announcing the arrest, had little to say about why BTK resurfaced after years without contact.
"It is possible something in his life has changed. I think he felt the need to get his story out," said Richard LaMunyon, Wichita's police chief from 1963 to 1989.
Bidding is up to $137.50.
I guess when he wasn't serially murdering, he was just the harmless local pet nazi.
Of course, I know that technically you are right, but consider that mass killers are simply serial killers who managed to get promoted to the top of their food chain.
I'd bet that most of them did their share of individual killings to get where they could kill anyone they wanted to kill.
Don't be so rough on the police...it's now being reported that they've been surveilling Rader for several weeks and that they approached the daughter and asked for her DNA so they could eliminate a family member from suspicion.
I can't wait for the stories to come out about how he hendled animals.
/Wormwood, who had a $100.00 bid for the ticket.
Sorry, but that is an absolutely ridiculous statement. You sir, have simply no way of knowing any of the "facts" that you allege. Aside from our gregarious statement that serial killers (always) want to draw attention to themselves, you have absolutely know data to back up your claim that (paraphrasing) the rate of serial murder is substantially greater in the USA/UK than elsewhere.
Your post is hogwash.
Was your husband on fox with Rita tonight?
Exactly. Look up Bom Kon Woo, Pedro Lopez, or the many African serial killers. Do I have to mention Pretoria or Ciudad Juarez?
Victim-Joseph Otero
Age-38
Address-803 N. Edgemoor
Cause of death-Strangulation
Binding-Cord
Phone line-Cut
Semen at scene-Yes
Entry-Unknown
It was January 15, 1974. Charlie Otero, the oldest of five children, arrived at his family's house and walked into a child's worst nightmare. His father, Joseph Otero was lying bound and strangled on his bedroom floor (although it has been falsely reported that he was on the bed) and his mother, Julie was bound and strangled on the bed. Charlie ran out of the house crying for help.
When police arrived, a search of the house uncovered something even more horrifying. Charlie's 9-year-old brother Joseph was found strangled in his bedroom, a plastic bag around his head. His 11-year-old sister Josephine was found hanging from a pipe in the basement. She was partially nude.
All four family members had been tied at the ankles and wrists by cord from venetian blinds. They had not only been killed, but apparently tortured and slowly strangled to death. Surprisingly, none of the victims had any defensive wounds. The only item missing was Joseph Otero's watch.
So some were realizing that this SOB was a whack-job. Seems your husband's radar was working.
On a news clip from Kansas it said that the Police had lifted Rader's fingerprints off a CD he mailed to them.
It's true. Gotta search. I'll post tomorow.
Can't wait for the headline, "Better to have a homo for a scout leader than a serial killer". Coming soon to the New York Times. >
There've been plenty of gay serial killers (Gacy, Dahmer) so Slimes couldnt say that easily.
Rader is 59 and claimed his first victim 31 years ago when he was . . . 28.
LOL!
Good heavens NO!
My hubby has MUCH more class than that!
BUT, that is the fella my husband works with, who gave us the whole story Friday about noon.
His girlfriend swatted a fly on the policeman's chest so he went nuts, broke into the police armory, and started killing.."52 dead in 8 hours." And who would be the African serial killers you mention ?
Which part of the statement?
Currreeeepy!
From the vault of BTKRader's greatest hits:
BTK Poem: 'OH, ANNA WHY DIDN'T YOU APPEAR'
Oh, Anna Why Didn't You Appear
T' was perfect plan of deviant pleasure so bold on that Spring nite
My inner felling hot with propension of the new awakening season
Warn, wet with inner fear and rapture, my pleasure of entanglement, like new vines at night
Oh, Anna, Why Didn't You Appear
Drop of fear fresh Spring rain would roll down from your nakedness to scent to lofty fever that burns within,
In that small world of longing, fear, rapture, and desparation,the game we play, fall on devil ears
Fantasy spring forth, mounts, to storm fury, then winter clam at the end.
Oh, Anna Why Didn't You Appear
Alone, now in another time span I lay with sweet enrapture garments across most private thought
Bed of Spring moist grass, clean before the sun, enslaved with control, warm wind scenting the air, sun light sparkle tears in eyes so deep and clear.
Alone again I trod in pass memory of mirrors, and ponder why for number eight was not.
Oh, Anna Why Didn't You Appear
BTK, 1979
I didn't say that serial killers always want to draw attention to themselves. I said that a certain subset definitely does. It's quite undeniable that many don't want to draw any attention to themselves whatsoever.
Good point. Thanks.
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