Metropolis Reality Forums - Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested'

Sponsored by: The Fans!

Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
Nov 25^th, 2024, 1:26pm

Upcoming Premiere Dates:
Survivor 23, Season premiere
Thursday, September 14 (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT) on CBS

Metropolis Reality Forums Ť Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested' ť

   Metropolis Reality Forums
   Off-Topic Forums
   In the News (Moderators: lakelady, yesteach, MediaScribe, Bumper, Isle_be_back)
   Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested'

Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic

Author

Topic: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested' (Read 221 times)

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested'
« on: Feb 26^th, 2005, 11:00am »

Quote

Modify

Suspect accused of torturing, killing eight
Saturday, February 26, 2005 Posted: 11:39 AM EST (1639 GMT)

WICHITA, Kansas (CNN) -- A Park City, Kansas, man has been arrested in Wichita's notorious "BTK" serial killings, according to the Wichita police chief.

Family members of the victims crowded into Wichita's city hall Saturday to hear the news.

"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," announced Police Chief Norman Williams.

The BTK case -- which dates back to 1974 with at least eight victims -- has come under renewed scrutiny in recent months, with the killer sending out letters in his continued taunting of law enforcement.

The killer calls himself BTK, "bind, torture and kill," a pattern he has followed with most of his victims.

Park City is about 15 miles north of Wichita.

The arrest came after authorities questioned a "person of interest" in the investigation Friday, and converged on a home in Park City, Kansas, just outside Wichita, sources told CNN.

CNN affiliate KAKE, a Wichita station that the killer has sent letters to in the past, said authorities had been awaiting results of DNA tests to see whether they could be linked to the case.

Outside the home in Park City, authorities cordoned off the street and investigators combed the area. A Wichita police bomb squad truck, SWAT trucks and dozens of police cars and other emergency vehicles lined the street.

One neighbor in Park City expressed shock about the developments.

"I don't even want to think that it could possibly be real," the neighbor, who gave his name as Greg, told KAKE. "This is a real normal block. I mean it's just normal families. It's quiet, it's peaceful. ... People walk their dogs, kids play on their bikes -- it's really normal. It's a pure piece of America."

Unsolved killings in town
The victims of two unsolved killings -- Dolores Davis and Marine Hedge -- were Park City residents. KAKE reported that Hedge once lived on the same block as the person of interest.

Hedge's body was found along a dirt road in Sedgwick County in May 1985, eight days after she was abducted from her home. The autopsy showed she had been strangled.

Davis was taken from her home January 19, 1991, after a brick was thrown through a sliding glass door. Her body was found beneath a bridge in Sedgwick County, her hands, feet and knees bound with pantyhose.

Those deaths have never been linked to the BTK case, though authorities said there were many similarities.

In January, KAKE received a postcard believed to be from BTK that led to a cereal box near where the two bodies were found. The cereal box contained jewelry and a brick.

Lamunyon told KAKE on Friday that the similarities in those killings "gave us pause to believe there was some connection" to BTK, though authorities could never definitely pinpoint a link.

Communicating with police
The man who calls himself the BTK killer has sent many notes to Wichita police and local media in the past 31 years -- and once even reported one of his own killings to police dispatchers.

The last death blamed on him was in 1986 when a 28-year-old mother, Vicki Wegerle, was killed in her home in Wichita.

From 1977 to 1979, police and news media received letters from a writer claiming to be the killer. That was followed by 25 years of silence, leading some to believe BTK had died.

In March 2004, his communications resumed when he linked himself to the eighth killing and divulged what he said was more information about himself.

Last week, the FBI confirmed that two letters found in Wichita were authentic communication from the killer. The driver's license of one of the slain women was found, as well.

In an interview with KAKE on Friday, Charlie Otero -- whose parents, brother and sister were the first victims of BTK in 1974 -- said he was anxious about the latest developments.

"My heart is leaping out of my chest," he said. "I just hope I can come out of my shell when all of this is over."

He said he longs to ask the BTK killer: "Why my family? What ties did my father have with this man? And I want to know the truth."

IP Logged

Colleen
Moderator
ForumsNet Member

Proud to be Canadian!

Gender:

Posts: 3624

Re: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested
« Reply #1 on: Feb 26^th, 2005, 5:40pm »

Quote

Modify

Wow after such a long time they have finally found the guy. Creepy isnt it that this man could go unarrested for so many years.

IP Logged

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Re: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested
« Reply #2 on: Feb 26^th, 2005, 11:01pm »

Quote

Modify

He obviously doesn't watch CSI. Wink

I think he didn't understand modern DNA testing and clearly thought he could continue to play the same cat and mouse games with no repercussions.

IP Logged

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Re: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested
« Reply #3 on: Feb 27^th, 2005, 9:49am »

Quote

Modify

Report: Daughter of BTK suspect alerted police
59-year-old Kansan accused of killing 10
Sunday, February 27, 2005 Posted: 4:26 AM EST (0926 GMT)

WICHITA, Kansas (CNN) -- The daughter of the man Wichita authorities arrested as a suspect in the notorious BTK serial killings helped police capture her father by approaching them with her suspicions and voluntarily giving them a blood sample, according to a report Saturday by Wichita television station KAKE-TV.

KAKE quoted sources as saying the blood of 26-year-old Kerri Rader, whose father, Dennis, was arrested Friday, came back as a 90-percent match to the BTK killer, although they did not elaborate.

The sources told KAKE that police immediately began surveillance on Dennis Rader after the results were determined, leading to his arrest.

CNN could not immediately confirm the source's information.

Police said Saturday they plan to file 10 counts against Rader, 59, in connection with killings between 1974 and 1991 -- eight counts of first-degree murder and two other homicide charges.

Police would not comment on reports about the daughter, the station said.

However, at Saturday's new conference, Lt. Ken Landwehr, commander of the task force investigating the case, seemed to be praising the previous police chief and other investigators for their careful handling of evidence over the years, which preserved crucial DNA, according to KAKE.

"They did such a good job that we were able to use evidence before anyone had any inkling of what technology would do -- that they did the job so well then that we could do our job now," Landwehr said.

According to the Wichita Eagle newspaper, Rader had worked as a compliance supervisor for Park City, Kansas, in charge of animal control, nuisances, inoperable vehicles and general code compliance since about 1990. He was a one-time president of a Lutheran church, according to KAKE, and a father of two.

His Friday capture was undramatic -- he was detained without incident during a routine traffic stop, police said.

Rader was arrested shortly after noon Friday in Park City, just north of Wichita, where he lived, Landwehr said. No charges have been filed with Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston.

Initially only eight killings were linked to BTK, but Sedgwick County Sheriff Gary Steed said police will file homicide charges for the previously unsolved killings of two Park City women: Marine Hedge in April 1985 and Delores Davis in January 1991.

The killer coined his own nickname, BTK, "bind, torture and kill," a pattern he has followed with most of his victims.

The pending first-degree murder charges are related to these killings :

January 1974: Julie and Joseph Otero are strangled in their home along with two of their children, Joseph Jr. and Josephine.

April 1974: Kathryn Bright, 21, is stabbed to death in her home.

March 1977: Shirley Vian, 24, is tied up and strangled in her home.

December 1977: Nancy Fox, 25, is tied up and strangled in her home. BTK's voice is captured on tape when he calls a police dispatcher to report the homicide.

September 1986: Vicki Wegerle, 28, was strangled in her home.

Foulston said the death penalty will not apply in the BTK case because it was reinstated in 1994, three years after the last known killing attributed to BTK.

Victims' relatives react
For Davis' son Jeff, Rader's arrest ended a long nightmare. His mother was killed in her home, and her body dumped in rural Sedgwick County.

Davis told KAKE, "Probably the lingering emotion is revulsion."

"It's going to take awhile to reconcile the fact that my mom spent her last few minutes on this Earth at the hands of the lowest form of social sewage on the ladder of evolution," he said. "It's hard to accept that's what she last saw before she died."

Jeff Davis said he received a call from the sheriff Friday night, but didn't know about Rader until the news conference Saturday.

Asked about his mother's driver's license and a brooch that were missing from her home, Davis said police haven't revealed anything about them.

Other victims' relatives had similar reactions.

"Now, my mom can rest in peace," Steve Relford, Vian's son, told KAKE. Relford was 5 years old when his mother was slain; he and his two siblings were locked in a bathroom at the time, but he said he witnessed her death by peeking through a hole.

"Every day of my life brings back to that day," Relford said. "I would just like to thank everybody that helped catch him. I've waited 28 years for this day."

Arrest announcement
Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams announced the arrest Saturday during a news conference at City Hall.

"Today is a very historic day," he said. "The bottom line: BTK is arrested."

There was loud applause from the audience, which included members of the victims' families.

Several Wichita and Kansas authorities gave speeches, congratulating each other on the investigation leading to the arrest, which was re-ignited last year after the alleged killer re-emerged last March 17, after more than 25 years -- on the anniversary of Vian's death.

Until then, the BTK's last known alleged killing was in 1986.

KAKE-TV, which received notes and packages from the BTK killer over the years, said Rader's arrest came after police obtained a DNA match. Some of the packages sent to the media and police contained trophy photos taken at crime scenes and jewelry stolen from victims.

Police have not released details on the role DNA may have played in Rader's arrest. They swarmed his house Friday, blocking off the street.

Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans thanked the police force who "have dedicated thousands and thousands of hours investigating these senseless and horrendous series of crimes that have plagued our city."

"It has been a very long journey that has brought us to this day," Mayans said.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said the arrest is a victory for the victims.

"Due to the dedication of a community, and the commitment to duty of literally hundreds of law enforcement officers across this nation, victims whose voices were brutally silenced by the evil of one man will now have their voices heard again," he said.

Communicating with police
The BTK killer sent many notes to Wichita police and local media in the past 31 years -- and even reported Fox's killing to police dispatchers.

From 1977 to 1979, police and news media received letters from a writer claiming to be the killer. That was followed by 25 years of silence, leading some to believe BTK had died.

In March 2004, his communications resumed, when he linked himself to the eighth killing and divulged what he said was more information about himself.

Last week, the FBI confirmed that two letters found in Wichita were authentic communication from the killer. The driver's license of one of the slain women was found, as well.

IP Logged

Pocket
ForumsNet Member

Posts: 1437

Re: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested
« Reply #4 on: Feb 27^th, 2005, 10:39am »

Quote

Modify

It's amazing and sickening to think about the monsters that could live next door. I'm glad they got him. Like most, I wonder about his long period of inactivity. How horrible to learn that your father was a murderer, and how sadistic he was. Makes me wonder what kind of home life the kids had.

IP Logged

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Re: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested
« Reply #5 on: Feb 27^th, 2005, 1:12pm »

Quote

Modify

Considering the daughter turned him in, something had to be amiss enough for her to believe it could be him.

IP Logged

lakelady
ForumsNet Moderator
Moderator
ForumsNet Member

Posts: 11251

Re: Wichita police: 'BTK Serial Killer is arrested
« Reply #6 on: Mar 2^nd, 2005, 5:20pm »

Quote

Modify

Thanks for posting this Rhune. I'd been hearing bits and pieces for a week now and had not looked into it.

IP Logged

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic


Previous topic \| New Topic \| Next topic »