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shy
Crypt Keeper
 
Australia
1969 Posts |
 Posted - 13 April 2004 : 10:59:32 PM
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Letter's route from Eagle to police
BTK's message came with the day's normal mail delivery and was given to a reporter, who took it to City Hall.
The BTK letter that was made public Thursday by The Wichita Eagle arrived in the paper's mail room on the morning of March 19, where a clerk opened it, looked at its contents, then placed it in a plastic bin headed for the newsroom.
Glenda Elliott, who reads and routes general newsroom mail, saw the contents of the envelope and passed it on to Tim Rogers, an assistant managing editor. Rogers handed the letter to reporter Hurst Laviana and asked him to make copies of the letter and give the original to the police so they could check it out.
The Eagle receives hundreds of pieces of mail a day, and letters with bizarre contents are not uncommon.
Laviana, who was leaving for a meeting at police headquarters, photocopied the letter and the envelope, then took the letter to City Hall.
After a daily 10 a.m. police briefing, he gave the letter to police spokeswoman Janet Johnson and Capt. Darrell Haynes.
After returning to the newsroom, Laviana looked closely at the page and noticed that the driver's license belonged to Vicki Wegerle, a name he recognized as a homicide victim from the 1980s.
He also noticed that the clothing in three pictures of what appeared to be a dead woman's body was arranged in a slightly different manner in each photograph. These did not appear to be crime-scene photographs.
After Monday's police meeting, Laviana asked Haynes about the letter, and Haynes realized he had left it on his desk. Haynes carried the letter upstairs and gave it to the homicide section.
Later that morning, homicide detective Kelly Otis contacted Laviana and asked a few questions about the letter. Otis also asked if the newspaper would wait for results of the police investigation before writing a story.
After checking with their supervisors, Otis and Laviana agreed that The Eagle would wait if police would answer questions about the letter Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, Lt. Ken Landwehr, who has been investigating the BTK case for 20 years, confirmed that the letter was from BTK.
All Eagle employees who touched the letter agreed to a request from police to provide finger and palm prints. Police said they recovered at least one print from the letter that they expected to rule out as BTK's.
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 15 April 2004 : 11:07:32 AM
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Security-device sales go 'kaboom'
Penny Green wishes she could afford a security system.
But she can't, so she's doing what she can to protect herself after reading that police think BTK, a serial killer who panicked Wichitans in the 1970s, has resurfaced.
"I'm locking my doors," Green said Thursday. That's something she didn't previously do.
"I just can't believe he's back after all this time," she said.
Some locksmiths, security system installers and gun shop owners reported an increase in calls and inquiries Thursday from people worried about their safety following news that police said a letter sent to The Wichita Eagle last Friday is from the killer. Police said they think BTK is living in Wichita.
Baysinger Police Supplies sold out of pepper spray Thursday and had a list of customers waiting for a new shipment, president Brian Carduff said.
Business was up "drastically," he said.
The store sells pepper spray, stun guns, personal alarms, motion alarms and other security devices, he said.
Baysinger did as much business Thursday as it typically does in a three-week period, he said.
"It's a direct result" of the BTK story, Carduff said. He said the same thing happened after the second quadruple homicide in December 2000, which ended with the arrest and convictions of Reginald Carr and Jonathan Carr.
Carduff said two people came in Thursday morning and each bought a dozen canisters of pepper spray. He said he thought the customers bought them for employees.
At SecureNet, an alarm company, calls were eight to nine times more than on an average day, said Chuck Hadsell, director of customer relations.
"Yesterday we had our normal day, and today it's kaboom," Hadsell said. "We're getting a combination of calls from existing customers wanting to add service and new inquiries. They're referring to the BTK situation directly."
Several existing customers had called asking about the cellular backup system, designed to kick in if a land line is cut or not operating for some reason, Hadsell said.
BTK was known for cutting telephone lines in the homes of some of his victims.
Bullseye, an indoor shooting range and gun shop, also saw increased business Thursday, owner Bill Vinduska said.
"This afternoon has just been booming," he said.
Vinduska said calls about safety and marksmanship classes were up and more people were using the range.
Some Wichitans said that the news wouldn't cause them to do anything different, and some firms said they hadn't seen a marked increase in business.
Wichita resident Chris Granman said she wasn't scared by the BTK news.
"There are so many crazies around anyway," she said. "It doesn't have to be him."
David Myers, an owner at Courtesy Key and Safe Co., said he hadn't noticed an increase but wouldn't be surprised by one. He recommends deadbolt locks with a reinforced bolt and strike plate.
If your doors are surrounded by glass, "you want to key both sides," which means that the door must be unlocked by a key on both sides.
Otherwise, someone could smash the window, reach in and turn the latch, he said.
Steve Cromwell, a salesman at Goddard Gunnery, said he hadn't noticed an effect yet. He said it's tough to say whether the news will increase business.
"It's still pretty new," Cromwell said. "We might get a few comments over the weekend."
He said whether the state passes a concealed-carry law probably will have more effect on his business than anything about BTK.
Don Loehr, the manager at Central Key and Safety, said he expects calls for deadbolt installations to increase.
"When stuff like that happens, it usually goes up for a certain amount of time," he said.
Bevan Boucher, a sales representative at Protection One, another alarm company, guessed that calls there were up 20 percent Thursday.
Some callers were "saying, 'He's still out there,' " Boucher said.
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 17 April 2004 : 12:04:39 AM
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BTK resurfaces after 25 years
A serial killer who terrorized Wichita during the 1970s by committing a series of seven murders has claimed responsibility for an eighth slaying and is probably now living in Wichita, police said Wednesday.
A letter The Wichita Eagle received Friday suggests that the BTK strangler was responsible for the Sept. 16, 1986, strangulation death of Vicki Wegerle, who was found dead in her home at 2404 W. 13th St. The crime was never solved.
The letter contained a single sheet of paper with a photocopy of Wegerle's driver's license and three pictures that apparently were taken of her body. Each picture shows the victim in a slightly different pose and with her clothing arranged in a slightly different manner.
The letter was postmarked from Wichita on March 17.
The victim's relatives said Wednesday that the driver's license was the only thing they know of that was missing from the home.
Police said there were no crime scene photographs of Wegerle's body because it was removed by EMS workers before police arrived. At that time, police said, EMS policy was to transport injured people to the hospital as quickly as possible even if there was no pulse.
"The photographs appear to be authentic," said Lt. Ken Landwehr, who has been working on the BTK case for 20 years. "I'm 100 percent sure it's BTK. There's no doubt that that's Vicki Wegerle's picture."
Landwehr said the letter contained no suggestion that the killer planned to strike again, and he asked residents to take normal safety precautions.
Landwehr said the letter is being processed for fingerprints and DNA evidence at the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center.
He said evidence from the Wegerle homicide also has been sent to the forensic center and is being processed using technology that was not available in 1986. He said detectives planned to run any evidence they find through national fingerprint and DNA databases.
Landwehr said detectives also would be studying other unsolved homicides to see whether there may be more BTK victims.
Detectives also are looking through lists of prison inmates who have recently been released to make sure that BTK's silence wasn't caused by his incarceration.
"We're going to work it as a strong cold case," he said. "This is going to be homicide's top-priority case."
The return address on the letter said it was from Bill Thomas Killman -- initials BTK -- with the address in the 1600 block of Oldmanor.
"There has never been a Bill Thomas Killman," Landwehr said.
There is no Oldmanor street in Wichita, although there is an Old Manor. An apartment at that address on Old Manor, which is in a group of brick four-plexes, is vacant, Landwehr said. He said he did not know whether the address had any significance.
Although BTK cut the phone lines of most of his victims, the lines at Wegerle's home were not damaged, Landwehr said.
Landwehr said detectives are setting up hotlines that will allow the public to relay information anonymously by telephone, through the mail or by e-mail.
"This is most challenging case I've ever worked on, and the individual would be very interesting to talk to," Landwehr said.
Norma Wegerle, who was Vicki Wegerle's sister-in-law, said her family was hopeful after hearing of the development in the case. She said relatives had often wondered whether BTK could have been involved.
But Norma Wegerle said she also was saddened by the reopening of old wounds.
"We just want it to be solved so we can get closure," she said. "There's hopefulness that somebody might actually be found. We want it to be solved."
Wichita lawyer Robert Beattie, who is working on a book about the BTK killings, said most people he has talked with thought the killings stopped because BTK was dead or in prison.
"The vast majority of police officers thought he was dead," he said. "I thought he was probably dead.
"But now you have to allow for the possibility that he's been walking around Wichita, getting his hair cut and acting like a normal person."
Beattie and Landwehr said they had no idea why the killer would contact the paper after remaining silent for nearly 25 years.
"Maybe he wants more publicity than the guy who's writing the book," Beattie said.
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 19 April 2004 : 10:37:13 PM
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Wichita police discuss BTK serial slayings
Wichita Police said Thursday morning that they have received more than 30 tips to their BTK hot line since Wednesday night. In addition to the hot line (263-0138), police have established an e-mail address for an additional information the public wishes to offer. Comments should be sent to coldcase@wichita.gov.
Police are asking citizens to remain aware of their surroundings.
"We're encouraging citizens to practice normal safety steps -- keep their doors locked, keep their lights on," Lt. Ken Landwehr said.
Here is a partial transcript of a question-and-answer session police conducted with local media Thursday morning. All answers are made by Lt. Ken Landwehr, who has been working on the BTK case for 20 years.
Landwehr: "We do believe that BTK is in Wichita. The letter did originate from the Wichita area, but I don't have any idea where in the city."
Media: "You don't know where the letter was mailed? Through which post office?
Landwehr: "It was locally mailed, but we won't go into that, specifically, which post office it was mailed from."
Media: "What is your message to BTK this morning?"
Landwehr: "I have no message for BTK."
Media: "Other than the forensic evidence, what are the detectives doing physically today to try and solve this?"
Landwehr: "Just like the forensic evidence, we're also looking at leads and tips. We've had approximately 32, 33 leads that have come in overnight. Those will be prioritized, and we'll be going over those. As in any cold case, we'll be re-interviewing certain key witnesses, possibly family members, for any new information.... Plus, now looking at another case, we'll see if there's any link between the cases prior to this and the new case tied to BTK."
Media: "How unusual is it for a case like this to go so long, for a serial killer to go so long, without contacting you... with little contact, and what do you think, why do you think he waited so long?"
Landwehr: "I have no idea why they would wait so long. It is the most unusual case that we've ever had in Wichita. I wouldn't ever want to comment on any other cases around the nation, but it is without a doubt the most unusual case we've ever had in Wichita."
Media: "Will detectives be looking at any cases since 1986 to see if there might be a BTK connection?"
Landwehr: "We've always looked at any of our unsolved homicides as being possibly linked together. Of course, we will again address some of those cases to see if there's any evidence that can link those cases together, any similarities."
Media: "We were told there was a suspect way back when that the police were focusing on and following for more than a year. Will you be looking back at some of those other suspects and seeing their whereabouts and what they've been up to?"
Landwehr: "Any time we have a cold case, we will look at the criteria for why a suspect was eliminated at the time. If that was a valid reason to eliminate the suspect, that will probably not be further researched. But if there is new evidence that could possibly totally eliminate a suspect or include a suspect that we talked to back then, then we will explore those possibilities."
Media: "There's been a lot of 'coffee shop' speculation that perhaps the reason why we haven't heard from BTK in so long is perhaps this individual may have been incarcerated for a period of time... Can you comment on how strong a possibility that is?"
Landwehr: "We explore those possibilities on any homicide. We have that data available to us to see new releases from KDOC and other prison systems, and that is always going to be included in any homicide investigation."
Media: "If memory serves, there was some biological evidence at one of the crime scenes prior... when BTK was in his prime, if you will... Are you going to be pursuing that, with whether it's DNA testing or... is there a way you can make connections that would help you find..."
Landwehr: "If there is scientific testing that can link possible cases together, that scientific testing does take some time usually to do. In any case, we will look at all those to see if there's any evidence that links those cases together, possibly forensically.
Media: "Do you deny the 1988 letter to Mary Fager was from BTK?"
Landwehr: "No sir, I do not deny that."
Media: "How was Vicky (Wegerle) killed? Was she home alone at that time? Do any of the other (cases) you'll look at fit that same profile? Do you already know that there's something else that looks like this, smells like this?"
Landwehr: "Vicky Wegerle was the mother of two children. Her 2-year-old child was at home with her at the time of her death. Her husband was at work. Her other child was at elementary school at the time.
We'll of course look at victimology, reference any other linkage possibilities and any other 'M.O.' that would have been used by the perpetrator to link, again, any case, as well as forensic. Again, those are hypothetical... lookiing at that . We'll probably need something more substantial, such as forensic evidence or something like that."
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 21 April 2004 : 12:00:10 AM
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Profiler: Killer has urge to flaunt crimes
The BTK strangler thinks he has outsmarted everyone, and he sent photocopied snapshots of a victim's body -- strangled in 1986 -- to prove it, says a former FBI profiler of serial killers.
It's as if BTK is saying: "'Look at what I've done.' He can't resist doing that," said Gregg McCrary, a former FBI profiler who operates a criminology consulting business in Virginia.
For many serial killers, communicating with and taunting the media and law enforcement and frightening the public is like "playing God. It's a heady, intoxicating experience" for them, McCrary said.
"So they're not afraid to make contact with you (the media) or police -- that's all a part of the game for a guy like this.
"He's outwitted law enforcement and everybody else all these years."
During his tenure at the FBI, McCrary said, the BTK case periodically came up in conversations about old, unsolved serial murder cases.
What is unusual about the latest development in the Wichita case, he said, is the "huge gap in time" between BTK's communications. Before last Friday, the last confirmed contact with BTK was in 1979.
"I can't think of another case like that," McCrary said.
"Where has he been?"
A good guess is prison, he said. Whatever his status, something has kept him from communicating, McCrary said.
John Philpin, a retired forensic psychologist in Vermont who has written seven books about serial killers, said, "It would be kind of hard to believe that he would be sitting right there in Wichita all that time."
Philpin wonders: "What was satisfying him" -- his criminal drive -- between 1986 and 2004?
Serial killers commonly take or leave something at homicide scenes. In the 1986 killing of Vicki Wegerle, BTK took disturbing snapshots of her lying, bound, on a floor.
It would be hard to say what the pictures represent to BTK, Philpin said. But he speculated that the images "could be tokens to re-stimulate memories of the event."
Philpin felt confident of one thing: "He'll contact you again. I don't think he'll wait too long.
"I think he'll savor the next few days" because people will be afraid, people will be alert.
"He's got the pot stirred."
Philpin, who on Wednesday read newspaper articles to acquaint himself with BTK's crimes, concluded that the killer was methodical -- using "elaborate forethought."
"Everything he does has a purpose."
Philpin was struck, for example, that in the latest letter, BTK typed "Oldmanor" instead of "Old Manor" in an apparently bogus return address.
And he wondered whether it was only coincidence that one of the killings occurred on March 17 and that the latest letter was postmarked March 17.
"It's scary, but it's a very fascinating case," he said.
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 22 April 2004 : 11:09:00 PM
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Eagle receives letter thought to have come from 'BTK'
The Wichita Eagle has received a letter thought to have come from a serial killer known as the BTK strangler.
The Eagle received the letter Friday and is cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
BTK terrorized the city in the 1970s while committing a series of seven homicides.
Police said Wichita residents should take normal safety precautions and just be aware of their surroundings.
For more on this story and details on the letter, read Thursday's Wichita Eagle.
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 27 April 2004 : 7:41:39 PM
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Wichita hopes new technology will catch old killer
More than two decades have passed since a serial killer terrorized Wichita, strangling or stabbing seven victims and bragging about it to the media.
Police hadn't heard a peep from the killer in 25 years until now.
On March 19, a letter arrived at The Wichita Eagle with information on an unsolved 1986 killing, a copy of the victim's driver's license and photos of her slain body.
The letter, apparently from the killer known as the BTK Strangler, sparked increased demand around Wichita for home security systems.
But it also rekindled hope that modern forensic science can find some clue that finally will lead police to a killer who most thought was dead or safely locked in prison for some other crime.
"I don't know why he does all of this, but I hope this will be his fatal mistake by resurfacing this way," Dale Fox told the Associated Press.
Fox's daughter Nancy was bound and strangled in December 1977.
The letter sent to the Eagle was the first clue that the 1986 killing of Vicki Wegerle might have been at the hands of BTK, an acronym the killer used for "bind, torture and kill."
Six of BTK's victims were strangled; one was stabbed to death. Four were members of one family two children and their parents.
Letters claiming responsibility for the slayings were sent to The Wichita Eagle and KAKE-TV.
The serial killer's first letter was found in a textbook at the public library; he went on to send poems and called police with details of Nancy Fox's slaying. In one letter, he taunted: "How about some name for me, it's time: 7 down and many more to go."
Detectives are looking through lists of inmates who have recently been released, in case the reason they had not heard from the BTK Strangler since 1979 is that he was in prison.
The latest missive arrived at the Eagle on March 19. It contained a single sheet of paper with a photocopy of Wegerle's driver's license and three pictures, each showing the victim in a slightly different pose.
Word about the letter leaked Wednesday night. The news struck so hard for Dale Fox that he broke down Thursday when film of his daughter's home was shown on television during the news.
His daughter's body was so bruised it was hard for him to identify her.
"It was such a brutal murder," said Ruth Fox, Nancy Fox's step mother. "To brutally murder someone like BTK has done to his victims, I have no mercy for him at all."
At first, the letter that arrived at The Eagle generated little interest.
"We get letters like this all the time, letters that are not news," said police reporter Hurst Laviana.
On Wednesday, police told Laviana the letter was authentic. It is being processed for fingerprints and DNA evidence, and evidence from the Wegerle homicide is being reprocessed using technology not available in 1986.
The return address on the letter said it was from Bill Thomas Killman initials BTK. The address appeared to refer to a now- vacant building.
The letter was mailed in Wichita, Landwehr said Thursday. He said it contained no suggestion that the killer planned to strike again.
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 29 April 2004 : 02:15:39 AM
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Witnesses of 30 years ago failed to capture BTK's description
Police say the eight possible eyewitness accounts of BTK from 1974 through 1979 proved unreliable.
Despite eyewitness offerings from more than a half-dozen people, Wichita police do not have what is considered a reliable description of BTK.
Even if they did, those descriptions would now be more than 25 years old.
"I don't have any idea" what BTK looks like, said Clyde Bevis, who headed the Wichita Police Department's crime lab at the time of the serial killer's first murders in 1974, "and I don't think anybody else does."
Eight people offered descriptions of BTK based on sightings between 1974 and 1979, but each of them has been discounted.
"There hasn't been anybody that's been able to offer what you'd consider a valid description," former police investigator Mike McKenna said.
That isn't as surprising, said Brian Withrow, assistant professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University.
An eyewitness description of a suspect "is notoriously inaccurate," Withrow said.
It's not that people are trying to be deceptive, he said. Instead, they are often asked to recall something that they had no reason to remember in the first place -- and their attempts to reconstruct what they saw yield poor results.
A man on his way to take his mother to a doctor's appointment on Jan. 15, 1974, stopped to let a white station wagon back out of the driveway of the Otero house. When he later heard what had happened there, he offered a description of the man he had caught a glimpse of behind the wheel.
A composite drawing based on that description was widely distributed, but later discounted after extensive police work.
"It was just a brief sighting," McKenna said.
Siblings Kevin and Kathryn Bright had returned to her home at 3217 E. 13th St. on April 4, 1974, after co-signing on a loan. According to police reports, there was a man waiting for them in the house.
Kevin Bright was taken to a separate room and tied to a chair. Twice BTK tried to strangle him. Twice he shot Bright in the head. Bright feigned death, eventually worked himself free and fled the home.
He told police the assailant was a 5-foot-10 white man with a mustache and dark brown or black hair, and he was wearing a black stocking cap. Another artist's rendering was crafted, but police also discounted it.
"Kevin, as I recall, wasn't too reliable of a witness, after his wounds and all," McKenna said.
Shirley Vian's three children were herded by a stranger into the bathroom of their apartment at 1311 S. Hydraulic on March 17, 1977. Their mother was then murdered, but the children -- ages 4, 6 and 8 -- could not provide a description of the killer that police considered reliable.
On the morning of Dec. 8, 1977, a man called police from a pay phone at Central and St. Francis to report that there had been a homicide involving Nancy Fox. The call lasted only seconds.
A fireman who stopped to use the same pay phone saw that it was in use, went inside a store to get change, and saw the phone dangling by its cord when he came back out. He told authorities the man who was using the phone when he pulled up was a 6-foot-tall, blonde-haired man dressed in a gray industrial uniform and a hat with ear flaps.
Police were given an artist's rendering based on the description, but it was never made public.
"I wouldn't put two cents into what he said," said Bernie Drowatzky, who spent 20 years with the Wichita Police Department and is now the police chief in Kaw City, Okla.
"He pulled up, was going to use the telephone, comes back from the store, the phone's dangling and he just glances down the street to see who it was?
"I just never could feel comfortable putting any stock into his description."
A few weeks later, a woman told police she was driving home after a New Year's Eve party when she stopped to pick up a hitchhiker. That man told her he was BTK, she said, and she stopped and fled the car.
The man she described had long hair and a beard. But Wichita lawyer Robert Beattie, who is writing a book about BTK, said police consider her story too strange to be credible.
A postal clerk opening the downtown post office near Central and Main on June 16, 1979, found a man waiting for her at the front door at 4 a.m. He asked her to put an envelope into KAKE's mail box. Later that day, KAKE and an elderly woman both received letters from BTK.
The clerk later described the man as clean-shaven, white, about 5-foot-9 and about 30 years old. He was dressed in a jean jacket, jeans and gloves. His hair was cropped short above the ears, and he had a gap between his front teeth.
Withrow puts little stock in that description because there was little reason for the postal clerk to pay attention to the man. Without a special reason to remember what we're doing at a particular moment, such as 9/11 or the Kennedy assassination, Withrow said, accurate details are usually elusive.
If Drowatzky was still on the case, the first thing he said he would do is find Kevin Bright. The two men talked more than once after they both moved to Oklahoma, and Drowatzky said he was lucid and engaging.
"To me, he's the best witness," he said.
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Helen Bach
Corpse
 
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 02 May 2004 : 3:21:03 PM
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hello everyone. im new here. i hope to see new friends. thanks for the info on btk, shy. |
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 03 May 2004 : 10:21:55 AM
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Chat rooms awash in BTK theories
As news of BTK's return continues to spread, thousands of people have turned to the Internet to learn and chat about BTK.
Internet users can post messages anonymously. And they have, by the dozens.
One string, titled "BTK Strangler" at www.ezboard.com, has attracted more than 500 postings and 20,000 viewings.
The Web site touts itself as the world's largest message board network with more than 14 million registered users.
It's unclear whether Wichita police are monitoring this site or others. Police spokeswoman Janet Johnson would not comment Tuesday about whether it's part of theinvestigation.
Some users have wondered whether BTK himself is monitoring the site or has left messages.
"I'm sure he's watching," one person wrote.
Some users wrote that they have reported some postings deemed suspicious to Wichita police. Johnson wouldn't say whether such tips are among the hundreds police are continuing to comb through this week.
It's likely they will, though, said Brian Withrow, an assistant professor of criminal justice and director of the Midwest Criminal Justice Center at Wichita State University.
"Eventually, most investigators -- if they're doing what they're supposed to do -- will investigate every lead possible," he said.
The Internet offers BTK and others a chance to get information out quickly and without filters that are found with other media, Withrow said.
"He's going to use whatever means he has available to get his story out," he said.
Among other things, the Internet activity is an example of people's natural desire to seek out things people find horrific, alarming or shocking, said Brian Donovan, University of Kansas assistant professor of sociology.
Collecting bits of a puzzle can calm people because it makes them feel that they know the whole story, he said.
"If they can unlock a little mystery of that or a part of that, it's soothing," said Donovan, who teaches criminology.
The Eagle's discussion board at www.kansas.com also has attracted dozens of postings about BTK, some which contain theories on why he resurfaced.
"Maybe the 25-year absence is because he was in another city(s) or state(s) doing the same thing. Now he is back here because he was close to getting caught there," one reader wrote.
Similarly, BTK-related postings at ezboard.com, which date back to Oct. 17, 2003, contain theories about him and the case.
Information online may not be truthful, Donovan warned, including what's posted about BTK on message boards, which allow anonymity.
"There's more freedom to let loose, if you will, or spin stories without any fear of consequence," Donovan said
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 04 May 2004 : 7:34:23 PM
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Kids receive reassurance on BTK
The Wichita school district wants students to know they are safe in school, and that the police hope they will be able to catch the Wichita serial killer who recently resurfaced.
That's part of the advice the district sent to all staff Monday to help teachers deal with questions students may have about the killer known as BTK. The name stands for a description of the attacker's crimes -- bind, torture and kill -- in a series of slayings aimed mostly at women during the 1970s and '80s.
Teachers were advised to answer students' concerns without dwelling on the subject or discussing gory details, and to review with students how to handle encounters with strangers to avoid danger.
"The healthiest thing for kids is to have an environment they can count on being safe," said Paul Schulte, an assistant principal at East High.
Schulte and administrators at Southeast High School and Seltzer and Peterson elementary schools said they haven't fielded many questions in the first two days back since spring break.
Seltzer principal David Lamp said his students seem more interested in the prospect of turning him into a giant ice cream sundae next week -- their reward for completing state tests -- than in the news.
"The kids seem to be as wrapped up in what we're doing as we are," Lamp said.
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Helen Bach
Corpse
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 11 May 2004 : 11:46:43 PM
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| shy, theres been another letter and they had a news conference monday. the letter was 3 pages. |
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shy
Crypt Keeper
Australia
1969 Posts |
Posted - 18 May 2004 : 01:21:26 AM
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BTK Strangler of '70s resurfaces with letter claiming '86 murder
WICHITA - His fearsome reputation was unquestioned 25 years ago, when he took credit for seven murders, six of them committed with his signature use of strangulation by cord or stocking.
But today's generation hardly knew him - until last week.
Now Wichita's BTK Strangler is back, and he wants credit for another victim.
"It's kind of freaky," Wichita State University sophomore Laurie Fluty said as she studied in the campus library where BTK used a photocopier to prepare a note to police in 1978. "Why would he wait so long?"
He announced his return in a chilling letter to The Wichita Eagle. In it, he sent photos of the victim of an unsolved crime, a woman found strangled in 1986. The photos could have been taken only by her killer.
The letter's postmark was March 17, the same date 27 years ago he killed Shirley Vian and left her naked body bound hand and foot, with a plastic bag over her head and a cord looped around her neck. She was his sixth victim in a string that began in 1974. As with several others, Vian was left face-down on her bed.
The new letter announcing an eighth victim had a typed return address reading Bill Thomas Killman, a fake name clearly chosen for its initials. It lists a return address for an empty apartment.
Investigators had never tied the killing of 28-year-old Vicki Wegerle to BTK. They have now.
The police department's announcement last week of the killer's return has left folks shaking their heads, and many in this aircraft industry town of 345,000 are worried. It seems impossible that after so many years the killer still is on the loose.
Now folks here wonder, with a mix of fear and curiosity, how concerned they should be about a serial killer who is probably in his 60s with an M.O. as outdated as the rotary phone.
"It's one of those stories people talk about, like an urban legend," said Danelle Phillips, a young recording artist/bartender who wears a folding knife clipped in the front pocket of her low-rider jeans for protection.
The sense of surprise is palpable, as Wichitans long had thought BTK - he picked the initials because he says he likes to "bind them, torture them, kill them" - either had died, gone to prison, or was doodling away his hours in a mental ward.
For families of the victims - including five sons and three daughters ranging in age from 20 to 45 - the strangler's return is particularly terrifying.
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presumedalive
DOA
1 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 11:17:00 AM
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BTK will just say ..when BTk is ready..and \I become very tired myself...when folks...think...regular folks..will know BTK
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Helen Bach
Corpse
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 15 June 2004 : 03:54:26 AM
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shy, thank you for keeping us informed on btk. i am a regular on the ez board crime and justice, and we are all getting frustrated w/ no new information . many of us feel that the wpd could release more info to help the public catch this guy. someone somewhere knows this guy. also there is a new composite picture we have on c and j. it is not known yet the source of this composite. maybe from law enforcement, who knows? |
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BTK Killer [p]
