BTK killer caught, media twist

[Sturgen]

Gotta love how the liberal media throws former Cub Scout/Boy Scout Leader whenever they can on a murder/drug/assault case..

Accused BTK Killer 'Guy Next Door'

 

WICHITA, Kansas, Feb. 26, 2005

 

 

 

(CBS/AP) Dennis Rader lived in a suburb of Wichita with a wife and two children, led a Cub Scout troop and was active in his Lutheran church.

 

But police say he is also the serial killer who called himself BTK - for "Bind, Torture, Kill" - and is responsible for the deaths of ten people, mostly young women, since 1974, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

 

As an ordinance enforcement officer for the local government, Rader could be seen measuring grass in a front yard with a tape measure to see if it was too long, a neighbor said.

 

He was also in charge of animal control since about 1990, the Wichita Eagle reports, and served in Vietnam.

 

Although no charges have been filed, a jubilant collection of law enforcers and community leaders told a cheering crowd they were confident the long-running case could now be closed, ending a 31-year manhunt.

 

Authorities generally declined to answer questions in detail after announcing the arrest, but Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told The Associated Press that DNA evidence was the key to cracking the case.

 

Wichita television station KAKE, citing unnamed sources, reported that DNA from Rader's daughter, Kerri, was instrumental in his capture. On Sunday, KAKE anchor Larry Hatteberg told CNN that the source said Rader was already under surveillance when his daughter's DNA was obtained.

 

BTK stoked fears throughout the 1970s in Wichita, a manufacturing center with 350,000 residents, with his grisly crimes and taunting letters sent to police and media.

 

He even phoned in one of his killings, saying: "Yes, you will find a homicide at 943 South Pershing Street, Nancy Fox."

 

The killer stopped writing in the late 1970s but resurfaced about a year ago with a letter giving details of a 1986 slaying that had not previously linked to BTK.

 

In Park City, the suspect's neighbors said he helped elderly neighbors with yard work but described him as an unpleasant man who often went looking for reasons to cite his neighbors for violations of city codes.

 

Bill Lindsay, 38, lived behind Rader and said his wife caught Rader in their adjoining backyards filming the back of their house.

 

"He really acted really funny," said Lindsay, a truck driver. "I'd be on the road and my wife would tell me, 'Dennis has been out again, taking his pictures.'"

 

Jason Day, 28, said his brother was in Rader's Cub Scout pack at the nearby Park City Baptist Church, but their mother pulled him out because of Rader.

 

"It was his demeanor," he said. "He was so strange."

 

Messages left for Rader's family members were not returned on Saturday, and no one answered the door at the home of his in-laws.

 

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 between 1972 and 1994, when Kansas did not have the death penalty.

 

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?"

 

In several of the letters, BTK included clues to his identity. Police had long believed BTK was a graduate of Wichita State University, as Rader was. Letters sent in the past year included jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims and the driver's license of one of the victims.

 

"He obviously was getting rid of his trophies; he was leaving us a wide-open trail," said Richard LaMunyon, Wichita's police chief from 1963 to 1989. "I think the ultimate goal was of him being caught."

 

At one point, investigators made a list of white men who graduated from Wichita State in the 1970s. Officials said Rader's name likely was on that list, but he wasn't identified back then as a suspect.

 

BTK 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.

 

Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation gathered thousands of DNA swabs in connection with the 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 Steed 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," LaMunyon said.

 

MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[EagleInKY]

Gotta love the media. I don't think it's as much anti-scouting in this case as it is just the shock value. One headline I saw said something to the effect of "Cub Scout Leader Arrested for Mass Murders". Almost made it sound like he killed a bunch of Cubbies at Day Camp. I've also seen headlines describing him as a church leader and a person "involved in the community".

 

And, what is a "Cub Scout Troop" anyway?

[Hunt]

I wonder when he was a Cub Scout leader? Apparently he has grown children. In any case, apparently no background check would have turned up anything questionable about this guy.

[evmori]

I think a Cub Scout Troop is like a Boy Scout Pack~

[scoutldr]

I think I read he was a CS leader in the early 80's. Back then, the only background check was whatever the COR did to check your references and make sure you didn't check "yes" to the question "Do you use illegal drugs?"...98% of the time, nothing was done. Not that it would have mattered.

[dsteele]

Actually, the questions on the adult application did not appear until 1988. Prior to that the adult application was very similar to the youth application.

 

Sorry to interrupt the discussion, please continue.

 

Unc.

[johndaigler]

I was pretty angry when I saw that Headline, as, well. Though I don't think we can argue the headline isn't true, it seemed very unfair (unjust, immoral . . .) to besmirch Cubbing's good name because of some wacko. You can hardly describe this man or sum up his life by mentioning his old connection to our cause!

 

My wife, who works with the press on a daily basis, talked me down off the ledge by (repeatedly, and for her, rather patiently!) explaining to me that it's not about fair or right, it's about selling newspapers.

 

There's a person whose job it is to put headlines on stories, and he knows he's supposed to sell papers. So, he asks himself, what will sell papers??

 

Cub Scout Leader mass murderer...

Lutheran Church President mass murderer...

Town Ordinance Compliance Officer mass murderer...

 

Just ask yourself, what catches your eye?

 

People, rightfully, worry about their children. So, if you can put kids in the headline, you'll catch a lot of paper buyers.

 

I dislike the whole label thing, but given that making money and big business are usually identified with the opposite of "liberal", it seems to me here's a great example of the myth of the Liberal Media. I don't think anyone can argue that only "liberals" buy newspapers. I doubt headline guys are automatically liberals - they're paper sellers - most likely, good-old-fashioned, Capitalist, free marketers!

 

jd

 

 

[Fuzzy Bear]

The media, liberal or conservative, must place little ethical value on their profession if they spun this story merely to sell a few papers.

 

They had a distinguished picture of him in his Scout shirt. He was the President of his Lutheran congregation. The Pastor was shocked and almost beside himself with disbelief. He worked in a security firm for a period of time. He was some type of security guard. They had another picture of him in his security uniform. He was a graduate of the local college in the criminal justice program. He was a civil servant and appeared conservative and had a gruff demeanor. He was a Father and a husband. He killed, got away with it and it appeared he wanted to get caught.

 

This story is sad because there are so many victims and I don't mean just the ones he killed.

 

None of it makes any sense.

 

[John-in-KC]

Fuzzy...

 

That was his CITY employment photo. He was a dog catcher down there.

 

Object lesson for Scouters: G2SS matters. Knowing who we select as leaders matters. 2 deep leadership matters.

 

YIS