Dennis Rader confessed to being the BTK killer.

Wanted For:

• Murder
  Wichita , KS

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Fear Returns To Wichita

On March 19, 2004, The Wichita Eagle newspaper received a macabre letter. It contained the photocopy of a dead woman's driver's license. Vicki Wegerle had been murdered in her Wichita home in September 1986. The letter also included ghoulish images -- photocopies of homemade crime scene photos of Vicki's murder. For 18 years the murder had gone unsolved. Now police knew exactly who had killed Vicki. After nearly 25 years of silence the notorious BTK serial killer was back. Police had long before assumed that that the killer had died or disappeared.  But now the case was reopened, and BTK began a flurry of communications in which he mercilessly taunted police. But ultimately, those communications would lead right to his door.

A Monster Walking Amongst Them

It all began back in 1974 when an unsuspecting 15-year-old boy arrived home from school. 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 also apparently tortured and slowly strangled to death. It was without a doubt the worst crime Wichita police had ever seen.

For the next few months detectives followed leads and searched for clues, but came up empty handed.
 
Less than three months later, on April 4, 1974, 21-year-old Kathryn Bright was found bound and stabbed to death in her home. She had multiple wounds to her stomach and ligature marks on her neck. At first there was nothing to link it to the Otero murders.

Then in October 1974, the Wichita Eagle-Beacon newspaper received an anonymous call from a man claiming to have killed the Otero family. He told the editor he had left a letter at the Wichita Public Library in a book on mechancial engineering.

The editor found the letter, filled with numerous misspellings. In the letter the writer took responsibility for the Otero murders, but claimed he couldn't help himself, that a monster took over. He provided gruesome details about the killings that only the cops knew. It was indeed a letter from the Otero's killer. Intent on keeping his identity a secret he wrote "The code words for me will be...Bind them, Torture them, Kill them. Thus was born, the BTK killer. The letter also included a chilling threat, that when the urge struck him, he would kill again.

Two years later, the BTK killer returned.

On March 17, 1977, the killer entered the home of 26-year old Shirley Vian, locked her three children in the bathroom and then strangled her. The children were able to unlock the door and run for help, but sadly it was too late. Shirley became BTK's sixth victim. Even with this sighting, police still had no solid leads as to BTK's identity, but they were learning more about his brazen M.O.  Like the Otero family, the daylight attack appeared to have been premeditated. The killer had stopped one of Shirley's sons on the street earlier that morning, asking for directions.

All police could do was hope that BTK would slip up or go into retirement. For the next nine months it appeared that BTK may have stopped his spree. There were no anonymous calls or letters bragging of his handiwork or similar murders reported. But, police weren't so lucky.

On December 8, 1977, a man called police from a local pay phone and matter of factly reported a homicide at 843 South Pershing. When police rushed to the address they found the body of 25-year old, Nancy Fox. She had been bound and strangled with a nylon stocking.  The killer had gained entry by breaking a window to her house. Nancy Fox became BTK's seventh victim.

This time police thought they finally had a break in the case. They had BTK's voice on audio tape now because of his 911 call. Extensive testing was done, but the killer's voice was so cleverly distorted that voice analysis was unsuccessful. Police were frustrated. All they could do was hope that BTK would try to contact them again. 

He did, a year later.

On February 10, 1978, BTK sent perhaps his most chilling letter to a Wichita television station, KAKE TV.  In the letter he claims seven victims. Part of that letter was broadcast over the air to the public:How many people do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention? It's hard for me to control myself. When this monster entered my brain, I will never know. Maybe you can stop him. I can't. And then speaking about himself in the third person, BKT wrote, "He has already chosen his next
victim."

The people of Wichita were terrified, there was a monster walking amongst them. They installed alarms in their homes and checked their phone lines every night. Police received several calls a night from women who were afraid BTK was in their closet. Police took every call seriously. They didn't know where BTK would strike again.

Two years later, on the night of April 28, 1979, BTK went for his eighth victim. Detectives say he broke into a home on the 600 block of South Pinecrest and waited for the woman to return. They speculate he got tired of waiting and left, because he later sent the woman a letter letting her know that he had been there -- and how lucky she was she was still alive.

In September 1986, Vicki had been strangled in her home. The only item missing from her house was her driver's license. At the time, police did not think she was a victim of BTK. She is now identified as victim number eight.

A Serial Killer Is Reborn

Then for 25 years, nothing. Wichita breathed a sigh of relief that BTK's trail of blood had ended. But when The Wichita Eagle received a letter from BTK on March 19, 2004, the case was reopened in full force by the Wichita police and the letter was quickly authenticated as a communication from the serial killer.

The photos were identified as the actual scene of Vicki Wegerle's murder. As the police long suspected, BTK took photos of his victims, photos that almost resembled crime scene pictures, enabling him to recreate the killings in his mind and in his rambling letters.

The letter also included an interesting return address:

Bill Thomas Killman 1684 S. Oldmanor, Wichita, KS 67218.

BTK was having fun with the Wichita police. The address was traced back to a vacant home.

On May 5, 2004, the Wichita television station KAKE received a letter from BTK.  As first reported on America's Most Wanted the letter contained a word puzzle that revealed clues to some of BTK's killings.

The letter also contained photocopies of two ID cards, one for a Southwestern Bell worker and another for a former employee of the Wichita schools. Again, as police long suspected, perhaps BTK had used some kind of fake id to gain entry into his victim's homes.

Could BTK be providing new leads to his identity? Is it his way of turning himself in?

Wichita detectives are tight lipped about the third letter they received in June 2004. So far all is known about that letter is that BTK provides more grizzly details about the Otero family murders.

October 2004 brought yet another letter -- this one was left in a UPS drop box at Wichita's Omni Center. One month later, Wichita Police released a series of clues that they culled from his 2004
letters.

December 2004  a package-- this one was addressed to no one in particular and left
abandoned near a tree at Murdock Park in downtown Wichita.  The package was wrapped in a plastic bag, secured by rubber bands and included inside was what appeared to be murder victim Nancy Fox's driver's license.

On January 25, 2005, Wichita TV station, KAKE received a postcard that led police to discover an imaginative communication from serial killer, BTK. The return address was 803 N. Edgemoor in Wichita -- the address where the Otero family members were murdered on January 15, 1974. Above the return address was the name, S. Killett. The postcard contained the term, "C-9" Possibly a reference to a Communication #9 or Chapter 9 of the killer's "The BTK Story. The postcard also contained the word, "jewelry." The postcard was Communication #8and the would help lead police to a box of Post Toasties left propped against a sign post in rural Sedgwick County, Kan. The postcard also reportedly told KAKE-TV where to find Communication #7. It was written in memo form, exactly as below (spelling and typographical errors intact):

Date: Week of 1-17-2005 
Where: Between 69th N and 77th N Seneca St.
Contents : Post Tosties Box

At the time, KAKE shared images of both postcard and the cereal box that were carefully edited to
protect certain information.

February 3, 2005 seemed like an ordinary day in the hunt for BTK. At KAKE TV it was business as usual -- just a week earlier they had covered a flurry of activity in the BTK case. Surely, no one would hear from BTK for a while, right? Wrong.

KAKE received yet another postcard -- apparently from BTK. Once again, the brief postcard was written in memo form, but this time BTK seemed downright personable. He gives kudos, thanking the staff for their "quick response on  # 7 and 8" and he thanks the news team for "their efforts." Lastly, he sends condolences for anchors, Susan Peters and Jeff Herndon's colds.The postcard also contained a message for Wichita Police. It was labeled "Business Issues."

On Tuesday February 16, 2005, a package arrived at the front desk of KSAS-TV in Wichita. KSAS is a Fox station, but does not have a local newscast in the Wichita area. Reports say when the package was opened, there were some signs that it was from BTK. Police were notified and came to pick up the package. They are not commenting on the package except to say that it has been sent
to the lab for further testing.

KAKE and KSAS have reported that the package was a padded manilla envelope smaller than 8 x 10 in size. The return address on the package was typewritten on a white label -- P.J. Fox 316 N. West St. The stations also report that the package conatined at least a necklace and a computer dis. On January 5, Wichita Police asked the public's help in finding Nancy Fox's necklace. Sources say that the necklace received by KSAS is not that necklace.

These last two communications come on the heels of an important revelation about the
investigation.  On January 21st, Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams finally broke his silence on the BTK investigation and sent a letter to the Wichita Eagle.  In his note, Chief Williams acknowledged for the first time that police have taken DNA swabs as part of the serial killer investigation.  Other law enforcement sources have also stated publicly that approximately 4,000 men have been tested. Although the Wichita Police Department has never said whether or not DNA was found at any of the murder scenes, it now is apparent that there has been some biological evidence left behind at those scenes.

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