Dennis Lynn Rader

March 19, 2004:
The Wichita Eagle receives a letter with copies of the drivers license of Vicki WEGERLE and three fotos of the crime scene of her murder. First thinking about a bad joke, it soon becomes obvious, that the incredible happened: 25 years after the end of the most mysterious serial murder of the US the notorious BTK Strangler (Bind-Torture-Kill) continues his taunting game with authorities and public.

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January 15, 1974:

When Charlie OTERO comes home from school around 3 p.m. he finds his parents Joseph (38) and Julie (34) murdered. Investigators arriving at the scene discover two more bodies, Josephine (11) and Joseph jr. (9). The crime scene is chilling: All four had been strangled with a cord, the bodies of Joseph, Julie and Joseph are arranged in the sleeping room of the parents, Josephine is hanging from a pipe in the basement – dressed with sweater and socks only.

Police officers have no idea that this crime shall be the starting-point only of a reign of horror to Kansas. Within 10 years the BTK Strangler commits at least four more killings and disappears without leaving any trace – until March 2004, when the Wichita Eagle publishes an article referring to the 30th „anniversary“ of the OTERO killings.

None of the Otero victims had been sexually abused, but crime scene investigators find traces of semen. It needs five days to get the results of the forensic analysis, the killer’s blood is of group 0. Only months later it comes to the attention of the task force, that any probe of semen will change to blood group 0 after 24 hours (a fact, that had also been misleading the hunt for Andrej Chikatilo).

The killer supposedly entered the house around 8 in the morning, while Joseph OTERO brought his three older children to school. The younger ones had to be in school later, at 9 a.m.
Neighbours reportedly had seen a man, about 1.80 cm with dark hair and a dark coat around 8:45 a.m. at the house. If this was the murderer, who cut the phone line and who carried duct tape, cord and a wire-cutter with him, could not be confirmed.
Another neighbour told investigators, having seen a man with toned skin and a crumbled hat driving away with the OTERO’s car around 10:35. The car is found in the evening on a parking lot, the keys will never be found. A single fingerprint on a chair in the house could not be assigned to any of the victims.

Joseph OTERO moved to Wichita with his family just four months before. As a former Air Force officer he had found a job as mechanist and flight trainer. Julie OTERO worked at an assembly line at Coleman’s.
Despite a task force of 75 officers, 18 hours per day and the questionning of more than 1,500 citizens there is not a single hint to the killer.

February 1974

Investigators travel to Puerto Rico (were the OTEROs are buried), querying relatives and friends. The OTEROs had lived for six years in the Panama Channel Zone, when Joseph had been stationed there. The conclusion of the investigation there is, it must have been a dispute over money in Central America.

Months pass by and the excitement over the OTERO killings descent.

April 5, 1974

The public almost has forgotten the case, when 21 year old Kathryn BRIGHT meets her killer. The intruder had obviously entered her home around 2 p.m. awaiting her returning alone. She arrives – accompagned by her brother. The killer threatens both with a rifle and demands money and a car. He forces Kevin BRIGHT to bind his sister to a chair and locks him in adjacent room. Kevin fights for his life, when the killer puts a cord around his neck and starts tightening it. The Killer shoots Kevin two times in the head. However the young man succeeds to escape and to stop a car, that brings him to Wesley Medical Center.
The killer stabs Kathryn’s abdomen three times, she looses consciousness when police arrives and dies shortly after.
Kevin describes the offender as male white, around 25 years old, hiding his face under a black mask, orange shirt and orange jacket. Though both Julie OTERO and Kathryn BRIGHT had worked on the same assembly line, nobody discovers a connection between the two crimes.

October 1974

Police announces, that an arrest has been made in the OTERO case. The man allegedly confessed to the murders staying in a mental institution. Soon after this man and two others are released as their confessions are indefensibly.

The killer is obviously enraged over the lack of attention and calls the hotline of Wichita Eagle. He leads the operator to a letter, hidden in a book in the public library of Wichita. In that letter he complains, that police arrested three idiots, who were only bragging about the crimes, while he was committing them all alone. Furthermore he describes details of the crime scenes, which only the predator could know. Finally he calls himself BTK Strangler, as he enjoys binding, torturing and killing his victims. Police conceals the letter fearing mass hysteria.
A profile is created and experts recommend to place an ad in the Wichita Eagle asking the killer for further contact.
The killer does not answer the provocation at all. Even then he remains silent, when the tabloid „The Sun“ publishes the letter by an indiscretion.

March 17, 1977

When she opens her door after some knocking door around 11:45, Shirley VIAN (26) faces a man with a rifle. She had stayed at home for not feeling well and did not send her two children to school. Her 8 year old son starts crying when the killer binds him. To avoid further disturbing the murderer locks the two children to the bathing room. When the free themselves, her mother is dead.
Police officers find her nude on the bed, face down, her hands and feet tied, a plastic bag around her head and a cord around her neck. The children – physically unharmed – describe the offender as 30-40 years with dark hair.

Even now, nobody thinks about a serial killer.

December 9, 1977

Wichita Police officers receive a call from a public phone, they will find a murder victim, Nancy FOX, in 843 South Persing. In fact, they find her partly nude body in her sleeping room. A nylon stocking is tied around her nack, hands and feeds tied with more stockings. The phone line is cut and a window to the backyard is broken. Nancy FOX had come home the last evening around 9 pm after work – the killer had obviously waited for her coming home.

Though there are similarities to the OTERO case (phone line cut and traces of semen), police still sees no connection.

January/February 1978

Wichita Eagle receives an envelope with a register card and a poem written to it (produced with a children’s rubber stamp), opening with: „Shirley locks, Shirley locks, wilt though be mine...“, referring to the murder of Shirley VIAN.

The envelope is mistakingly interpreted as Valentine’s greeting and forwarded to the classified department.

February 10, 1978

As there is no reaction to his provocative letter, the BTK Strangler sends another letter to KAKE-TV, asking:
„How many people do I have to kill, until my name is worth being mentionned or can be seen in the news?“ He adds, that he is going to kill again.

On the same evening the Chief of Wichita Police, Richard LaMUNYON announces, that a serial killer is on the loose and confesses to seven murders in Wichita. „There is no help, no cure, except death or being caught and locked away„, the BTK Strangler writes. He complaints about the lack of media attention. „A short paragraph would have been sufficient…“ And he claims, to run a „normal“, unnoticeable life. „After a thing like with FOX, I come home and live like anybody else.“

April 1979

Police officers receive an emergency call for a burglary – some clothing, jewellery and petty cash is missing. The woman had come home around 11 pm after an evening out dancing and had found the mess. The burglar had entered her appartement through the basement. Only the cut phone line was unusual.

June 15, 1979

The 63 year old woman receives a letter with a poem, a drawing, clothing and some of the jewellery stolen. The author of the poem regrets, that he did not meet her that evening, as he had planned to kill her.
A similar letter is received at KAKE-TV the next day.

Police nervously starts investigations again. A recorded copy of the call after the FOX crime is sent to the same professor, who already analyzed the Watergate tapes. The recording is sent repeatedly by Wichita Radio and an anonymous hotline is installed.

I will last a quarter of a century until the BTK Strangler will resurface.

September 16, 1986

28 year old Vicki WEGERLE brings her 10 year old daughter to primary school around 9 am and returns home with her two year old daughter. When her husband, Bill, a freelance janitor, returns home for lunch, he finds his wife strangled on the floor of their sleeping room – her hands and feet tied.
The corpse is brought to the mortuary before Police can take any pictures of the crime scene. According to family members only Vicki’s drivers license is missing. The victim had not been raped.
Investigators suspect the BTK Strangler, but cannot verify their suspicion.

The task force, set up 1984, is busy again and tries literally everything to catch the monster:

The fact, that all the crimes had been committed within 3 1/2 miles, let officers create lists of all male inhabitants, who had lived around the homes of OTEROs, of Shirley VIAN and Nancy FOX. The poem written for the VIAN murder refers to a rhyme once published in a riddle-magazine. A list of all the subscribers is added to the pool of suspects. The poem referring to the killing of FOX sounds similar to a rhyme once published in a text book used in a folk class. All male students are quested. The letter in connection with the murder of FOX is sent to Rank Xerox, resulting in the only conclusion, that is was the 5th copy of an original and printed on a copier located at Wichita State University Library.

The list of suspects grows to 225 men, mainly not living here anymore. Two teams of investigators start traveling all around the country, to collect blood and saliva samples. DNA analysis rules out 218 of the men.
Today DNA analysis would be much more accurate.

The task force is disbanded 1987 without result – a dozen names remain on the list of suspects. The following years it is assumed that the BTK Strangler must have died or being arrested for other crimes.

First months of 1988

The widow of murder victim Phillip FAGER receives a letter from a man, claiming to be the BTK Strangler. He describes the killing of FAGER and his two daughters, but not claiming to be the offender.
BTK experts doubt the authenticity of the letter.

The next 1 1/2 decades the public interest for the BTK Strangler descents.

January 17, 2004

Wichita Eagle prints a story reminding on the 30th anniversary of the OTERO murders.

March 19, 2004

The letter to Wichita Eagle containing copies of three crime scene fotos seems to be authentic, as there were no pictures taken by police officers.

//Two other cases have been tied to BTK. They are Marine Hedge, 53, and Delores „Dee“ Davis, 62. Hedge’s death occurred on April 27, 1985, she was abducted from her home at 6254 Independence in Park City. Davis‘ homicide occurred on Jan. 19, 1991, the latest death now linked to BTK. She was abducted from her home a half-mile east of Park City. Both were found in remote locations.//