BTK serial murderer

[i.m.cheap]

Have you been following the news of the BTK suspect that was arrested last Friday? They have DNA evidence, so they are positive they have the right guy. This creep has been responsible for at least 10 homicides since 1974 in my hometown of Wichita, KS. He has taunted the police and local media for years, sending letters and packages containing photos he took at the crime scenes, and souveniers from his victims, such as driver's licence, etc.

He was living right under our noses this whole time, married to the same woman since 1971, two grown children, A BOY SCOUT LEADER, AND A LEADER IN HIS CHURCH! He worked as a "compliance officer" for Park City, KS (suburb of Wichita). His job included animal control, enforcing city ordinances such as garage sale or building permits, unkept yards, etc.

I have a hard time understanding how he kept his "hobby" from his wife? He kept all kinds of momentoes from his victims (which included two children, a girl 11 and her brother 9 years old) his back yard shed was full of these "trophies", including underwear, jewelry and other items. He also liked to take his victims photos, both before and after they were killed. What a psycho.

[pip]

Scary stuff.

[i.m.cheap]

The "BTK" is a name he chose for himself. That is what he told the local news media in his letters that he wished to be called after the first few murders. It stands for:

Bind
Torture
Kill

All of his victims were bound with cord or nylon pantyhose. The two children that were killed, he slaughtered the parents too. They had three other children, but they were all at school (the 9 and 11 year old had been sick that day). The fifteen year old son came home from school to find the bodies.

[Dixie]

The fact that he was a supposed 'pillar of the community" type just blows me away. I don't understand how his wife couldn't have come across the personal belongings of his victims at some point in the last 30 years.

[dz_blonde_girl]

I'm glad they finally caught the creep.

[i.m.cheap]

I do feel some sympathy for his wife. He must have been very good at hiding it from her. I assume he did all the yard work, so she must not have been one to go into the shed for anything. If she did, she probably did not spend much time digging around in there. I think all of the killings took place during the daytime, and she probably thought he was at work. She has not been able to go back to her home or her job since the arrest. Everyone that knows her says she is a very sweet, soft-spoken person. His son is serving in the military in Iraq, and his daughter is married and lives out of state.

The pastor at their church is just in a state of disbelief. The suspect was elected "President" of the congregation by all of the other members. Dennis Rader also had a degree in Administration of Justice!

[Dixie]

I feel sorry for his family,too. I didn't mean to imply that his wife was an accomplice.
What a monster!
I feel bad for his fellow church members,too. They obviously trusted him.

[guest2]

We too had a serial murderer living in our area (Green River Killer) and it is scary! His wife did not know about his killing spress over the years either and his children are just in shock that their Dad could do such a horrible thing.

[kaykwilts]

I feel so bad for the family. His son is risking his life in Iraq and he has to hear this horrible news.

[i.m.cheap]

I just read another news report that said his son was actually stationed in Conneticut, attending submarine school. There have been alot of conflicting stories in the local news lately. It is really helping to sell newspapers, I guess.

[Lori Biever-Launder]

I was wondering about the pictures. I used to work in the photo business and believe me, if we saw anything that looked like "souveniers" of a horrible deed like that, we would have called the police so fast the guy wouldn't even have had time to get back for his one hour photofinishing!

It is going to be sooo hard for his family. If they are smart, they may have to move out of the area and change their names. There are some people who would make their lives a living hell because of the man's hideous "hobby".

[i.m.cheap]

As for the photos, I would think he probably used a Polariod camera. You wouldn't just be able to drop off a roll of film with those kinds of pictures on it for processing at your local drug store.

[MarshHen]

What I'm wondering though, is what made the daughter go to the police. I'm thinking that maybe she stumbled accidently on his stash of gruesome keepsakes out in the shed. Also, while some people had nothing but respect for this nut, others say he was rude and weird, and are not surprised that he could be the killer.

[i.m.cheap]

Now they are saying that the daughter did not go to the police, the police subpeoned her medical records and got their hands on a sample of her DNA from a pap test, or whatever. They were able to narrow down their list of suspects to Rader because a floppy disk he sent police was traced to a computer at his church. He was also caught on a surveilance camera at Home Depot dropping off a "package" for police and/or the local media. He made a "game" of trying to feed clues to the police through poems, letters, and puzzles, etc.