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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need
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support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for
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a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
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website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all
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listeners. >> [music] >> On Sunday, June 9, 2004, a Wichita man spotted something [music] strange on the
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southeast corner of First and Kansas streets downtown. Duct taped [music] to a stop sign was a
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clear plastic bag containing a brown envelope. The man collected the package and
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continued on his way to work. He discarded the [music] tape and bag as he walked, but kept the envelope to show
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his supervisors when he arrived. Typed on the front were the words BTK field gram.
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Inside the envelope was several photo copied pages that had been [music] reduced in size.
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One listed the 13 chapter titles for the BTK story, but chapter 8, MOID Ruse, had
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been blacked out. An accompanying sketch depicted a bound woman hanging naked from a rope along
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with the caption, "The sexual thrill is my bill." BTK's unique signature was scrolled in
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the corner. The remaining pages were marked as C1, indicating they were part of the first
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chapter of the BTK story, A Serial Killer is born. The long rambling passage read like a
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personal diary entry. Titled Death on a Cold January Morning, >> [music] >> it began,
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"If a person happened to be out one of these cold mornings in a certain part of Wichita, that [music] is the northeast
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part on a particular morning in January, he might have noticed a man park his car
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in a store parking lot, pause briefly, then walk across the street and [music] disappear among the house and commercial
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building." BTK described the man slinking through the neighborhood unnoticed, dressed in a
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heavy parka with his head lowered. His eyes darted back and forth as he scanned the windows and front door of a
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nearby house. It was a corner property with a detached garage, a fenced-in yard, and enough
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distance from neighbors to offer privacy. The man looked [music] up and down the
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street before climbing over the wooden fence into the backyard. He had spied on the family that lived at
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the residence long enough to know their routine. The man of the house left for work at
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8:00 a.m. At 8:45, [music] the mother took her five children to school in her station
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wagon. She returned home 7 minutes later, alone. >> [music] >> In BTK's words, it was, quote, "the
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perfect [music] setup. A victim all to himself. A person he could tie up, torture, [music]
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and maybe kill." What followed was a meticulous step-by-step account of the Otero family
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murders told from BTK's perspective. Within the text, he referred to himself as Rex, the Latin word for king.
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He explained that he had fantasized about torturing women since childhood. His imagination had satisfied him for a
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while, but as he got older, his fantasies intensified until he felt the urge to, quote, stake his prey.
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After noticing Julie Otero around town, BTK [music] said he chose her as his first victim.
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He planned to force her into a car, bind her, [music] and drive her into the countryside where he would rape and
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strangle her before leaving her body in a culvert. BTK watched the Otero station wagon come
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and go on the morning of Tuesday, January 15, 1974, assuming the family had followed their
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usual routine, and that Julie had returned home alone after dropping her children off at school.
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In actuality, her husband, Joe, was behind the wheel as he was off work due to an injury.
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>> [music] >> Joe had only dropped off the three oldest Otero children, while Julie
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remained home with 11-year-old Josie and 9-year-old Joey, [music] who would be driven to school later.
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BTK approached the rear of the Otero house, cut the phone line, and pulled a nylon mask over his face.
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He tried the back door only to discover it was locked. He then lay in wait until Joey Otero
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suddenly stepped outside with the family dog. Startled, BTK swiftly ordered Joey back
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inside and followed him in. The rest of the Oteros were gathered around the kitchen table preparing
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school lunches when BTK entered armed with a knife and a pistol. He announced that it was [music] a stick
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up saying that he was a wanted man in need of food, money, and a car. The frightened Otero children pressed
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against their parents who insisted they had no money. BTK instructed them to remain calm and
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that everything would be okay. Throughout this, the Otero's dog barked incessantly.
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BTK wanted the dog gone saying that things would go better if it was out of the way.
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Joe agreed to put the dog in the backyard while BTK watched on closely warning him against any funny tricks.
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Once the dog was outside, BTK herded the family into the main bedroom at gunpoint
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and ordered them to lie on the bed with their hands behind their backs. BTK stated that he trembled from
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nervousness [music] but he remained alert and in control as he bound Joe and Julie's hands and feet.
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He then turned [music] his attention to the children. Once all four family members were
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restrained, BTK collected the keys [music] to Julie's station wagon in preparation for his escape.
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>> [music] >> He then returned to the bedroom and slipped a plastic bag over Joe's head.
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Muffled screams broke out from the others who pleaded with him to stop. Julie begged BTK to leave promising
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[music] him they wouldn't tell anyone what he'd done. Instead, he moved toward her with a
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length of cord. BTK went on to graphically describe how he murdered Joe, Julie, [music] Joey,
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and finally Josie Otero. Afterwards, he collected his things, [music] took one last look at the bodies
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he had left throughout the house, and then drove away in Julie's car. It was evident from the tone of the
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writing that BTK took pleasure in reliving the terror he had inflicted on the Oteros.
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Although some of the details, like dialogue, might have been fictionalized or embellished, his account of the
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murders aligned closely with the crime scene evidence, giving it a chilling authenticity.
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Its specificity and accuracy made it feel less like a retrospective written decades later, and more like something
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composed in the direct aftermath of the attack. A date at the top, February 3, 1974,
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indicated the document was created just 19 days after the murders. BTK's compulsion to journal his crimes
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offered valuable insight into his psychology, confirming that he was a controlling, ego-driven offender.
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>> [music] >> The journals likely served as yet another gratifying trophy, allowing him
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to relive his attacks over the years while maintaining mastery over [music] his victims.
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In the month following the discovery of chapter one of the BTK [music] story, a Wichita Public Library employee was
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emptying out the book return box when he discovered a plastic bag at the bottom.
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Inside were several papers marked [music] BTK Flashgram, each bearing the killer's familiar signature. [music]
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It was the second time BTK had left information at the library. The first being the Otero murders confession
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letter back in 1974. This latest submission was meant to continue BTK's autobiography,
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specifically chapter two, Dawn. However, he admitted he had been sidetracked by an entirely different
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event and wanted to write about that instead. The name of Jakey appeared at the top of
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a two-page document. Since none of BTK's victims were known by that name, investigators feared they
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were about to learn of another they didn't know about. "I was so excited about this incident,"
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BTK wrote, [music] "that I had to tell the story." The incident in question had occurred
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less than two weeks before the flash drive was discovered at the library. In the early hours of Sunday, July 4,
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2004, 19-year-old Jake Allen was struck and killed by a freight train near his family's farm, 35 miles outside of
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Wichita. His death stunned the community and made local headlines. Jake came from a large and supportive
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Catholic family, [music] and his parents ran a successful business. Easygoing, popular, and creative, he was
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homecoming king, class valedictorian, a National Honor Society student, and a star athlete in football, basketball,
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and track. Those who knew Jake couldn't imagine him caught up in anything sinister.
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Yet, he was found naked with his sweatshirt and pants recovered a short distance away from his remains.
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Worse still, he'd been bound with baling wire and tied to the railway tracks. In his latest writings, [music] BTK
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claimed he'd become acquainted with the Jake Allen through online chats, during which they discussed sadomasochism,
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amongst other things. Posing as a detective investigating the BTK case, he allegedly lured Jake to the
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train tracks, convincing him [music] to act as bait to draw out the elusive serial killer.
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BTK said he played quote games with the Jake before leaving him bound on the tracks to die. The vibration of the
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approaching train sexually arousing him. As evidence of his claims, he included photo copies of four grainy Polaroid
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photos showing a portly older man in the woods. He was bound in bondage and partially
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naked with a hood covering his face and white tube socks on his feet. It was clear that the man was not Jake
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Allen, nor did Jake appear in any of the images. When investigators examined Jake's
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death, they confirmed the bailing wire had come from his family's farm. Additionally, [music]
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Jake's computer showed no evidence of any online conversations as BTK had claimed.
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As improbable as it seemed, [music] it was determined that Jake had taken his own life.
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It marked the first time BTK had falsely claimed credit for a death. Although this was new for him, it
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aligned with his history of attention-seeking. Even now, [music] he still craved power
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and recognition. He was also likely taking pleasure in the psychological control he exerted by
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misdirecting and diverting authorities. But it was what BTK wrote after his fictitious story about Jake Allen that
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caused genuine alarm. Writing in the present tense, he outlined his plans to kill again.
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He claimed he had his sights set on either a woman who lived alone or a child that was left unsupervised after
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school. "Just got to work out the details," he explained. "I'm much older, not feeble now, and
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have to condition myself carefully. Also, my thinking process is not as sharp as it used to be.
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Details, details, details. I think fall or winter would be just about right for the hit.
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Got to do it this year or next [music] as time is running out for me. The threat mobilized the Ghostbusters,
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[music] the specialized task force that had overseen the BTK case in the 1980s and
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reassembled following the killer's reemergence in 2004. In the wake of the flash gram, the
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23-member team was expanded to 40. As they scrambled to prevent the forewarned murder, the killer's next
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communication arrived. It surfaced late on Friday, October 22, 3 months after he falsely claimed
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responsibility for the death of a Jake Allen. A United Parcel Service delivery driver
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discovered the package in a secluded drop box outside an office building near Interstate 135.
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It was another plastic bag with an envelope marked BTK field gram. Inside were eight pieces of paper
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copied, recopied, and reduced multiple times, making their text difficult to read even when enlarged.
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One page contained an updated list of the 13 chapters of the BTK story, now with the chapter one, A Serial Killer Is
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Born, blacked out. A four-page document labeled C2, Dawn, was the anticipated second chapter of
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BTK's autobiography. The content appeared to chronicle BTK's childhood, adolescence, and early
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adulthood. He was a dull writer and story was a monotonous read. He described having an inappropriately
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close relationship with his mother from a young age, sleeping beside her at night, feeling her underclothes, and
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being allowed to rub her hair. Then, when he was between 10 and 11 years old, his mother discovered semen
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stains in his underwear. She held BTK's hands behind his back and whipped him with a belt, warning,
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"If you masturbate, God will come and kill you." Although the beating hurt, BTK admitted
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that he found it strangely arousing. He carried this fascination into his youth by reading books about
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sadomasochism. By age 18, he was peeping through windows, breaking into homes, and
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stealing women's underwear. He escalated into animal abuse, confessing that he had hanged a cat
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[music] and later a dog. He drew sketches of his violent fantasies, but destroyed them whenever
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he moved, seeking a fresh start. Yet, the urges always returned. In his early 30s, he began visiting sex
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workers and experimenting with bondage. Some refused to see him again, as BTK explained,
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"Because I was too scary." Between the ages of 32 and 34, his violent urges grew considerably to the
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point that he described them [music] as bad. During this time, he studied well-known
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serial killers, including Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy, and Richard Speck.
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He noted that "They all got caught except the Ripper." He wondered whether he could avoid
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capture if he became a serial killer. In addition to chapter two, BTK [music] supplied a rambling two-page list titled
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three, one, two, [music] three, uno, dos, tres theory. The BTK world works in threes
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and is based on the eternal triangle. In it, >> [music] >> he listed examples of bizarre
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triangulations such as universe, cosmos, elements, God, Holy Spirit, [music] Son,
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women, man, sex, psycho, serial killer, BTK, BTK, victim, police, details, time, hit,
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hit, thrill, [music] kill. The list confirmed a long-standing suspicion that the number three held
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particular significance for the killer, as it had appeared in the house numbers of each of his known victims.
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The reason why remained a mystery. The final item in BTK's latest package was titled after a local phone book,
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Wichita and Vicinity. It consisted of a collage of photographs of children cut from newspaper
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advertisements. Scrolled over the children in black permanent marker were gags, ropes, and
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bindings. While BTK's latest offering provided several potential clues to his identity,
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the Ghostbusters remained wary. Although much of his previous correspondence had proven reliable, BTK
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had also shown the ability and willingness to lie, as evidenced [music] by his recent false claims about Jake
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Allen's death. Nevertheless, [music] the task force took a calculated risk and held a press conference outlining
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more than 20 claims BTK had made about himself in chapter [music] two. They included that he was born in 1939
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making him 64 [music] or 65 years old in 2004. He apparently had a cousin named Susan
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who had moved to Missouri, a grandfather who played the fiddle and died of lung disease, and a father who had perished
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in World War II. His mother had supposedly worked during the day near a railroad, which led to
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BTK's lifelong fascination with trains and his preference [music] to live close to their roots.
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As a boy, he said that he'd built and operated a ham radio and attended church and Sunday school.
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His hobbies [music] included hunting, fishing, and camping. He had a Hispanic acquaintance named
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Pedro who had a younger sister named Tina. He had repaired photocopiers for work,
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possessed a basic knowledge of photography and developing images, and had served overseas as part of the Air
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Force before being discharged in 1966. These disclosures sparked conversation, though not all of it positive.
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Many were skeptical of BTK's claims with a former FBI profiler warning, "This whole scenario could be contrived
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just to set up false leads and keep the police running." Still, he defended the decision to
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release the material publicly arguing that withholding it would be irresponsible.
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"The key could be there," he said. "There could be something that leads to this guy's apprehension."
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Critics simply wanted the press to stop reporting on BTK. One Wichita resident expressed [music]
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fatigue with the media frenzy, stating, "The only reason BTK should be in the news is if he is captured, period.
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The media should stop feeding into his ego with all the coverage." Even those who were inclined to believe
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that the information was genuine [music] cautioned against treating it as significant.
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A psychologist who consulted on the case in the 1970s noted that many of the details were hardly unusual, telling the
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Wichita Eagle, "All boys in the early '50s were playing with radio kits. Photography was a contemporary thing
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back then." What struck him as more meaningful was BTK's alleged upbringing without a
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father figure. He stated that this was not uncommon among sex offenders and sociopaths.
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As it was hard to imagine BTK could still be actively killing in his '60s, >> [music]
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>> the psychologist suggested he was more likely indulging in memories of his, [music] quote, "glory days,"
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perhaps because he sensed his time was limited. After all, he had mysteriously written
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in his latest letter that "Time is running out for me." Former Wichita Chief of Police Richard
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LaMunyon agreed, saying the tone of the communications suggested that BTK wanted
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to be identified and the case brought to a close. "I could be wrong," he acknowledged,
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>> [music] >> "but I truly believe this is an individual who doesn't want to go to his
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grave without telling us who he is." >> [music] >> BTK's reported backstory sparked a fresh
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wave of tips as investigators contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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>> [music] >> for to compile a list of mining sites where workers might have contracted a
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lung disease. They cross-checked [music] suspects against railroad employees and hobbyists
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while launching a nationwide search for sisters named Petra [music] and Tina. They identified 27 such pairs.
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One even lived in Wichita, >> [music] >> but they were of Bulgarian descent, not
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Hispanic. By December 2004, BTK had been sporadically communicating with the police and the press for almost a year.
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If he had claimed any more lives during his resurgence, he wasn't willing to reveal it yet.
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On Wednesday, December 1, 64-year-old Wichita retiree Roger Valdez felt feverish and decided to spend the day in
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bed. >> [music] >> At 7:30 p.m., he overheard people talking outside his home followed by
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loud knocking on his front door. Not wanting to entertain visitors in his condition, Roger ignored the sounds.
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>> [music] >> Suddenly, a group of about 20 plain-clothed men stormed into his home,
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prying open the dead-bolted storm door and forcing their way through the wooden door behind it.
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>> [music] >> One of the men pointed a handgun at Roger and ordered, "Put your hands up. You're under
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arrest." Roger realized the men were police. They said they had a warrant to collect
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his DNA, [music] but Roger didn't know why they wanted it and refused to give a sample.
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"Well, we're going to take it from you one way or the other," he was told. Two officers held him by the shoulders
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as a swab was forcibly rubbed against the inside of his mouth. >> [music] >> Roger's house underwent a dramatic
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search. Holes were put through walls and several bags and boxes of items were seized,
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including papers, photographs, and typewriters. >> [music] >> He was taken to jail for outstanding
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warrants alleging criminal trespass and housing code violations from years earlier.
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Meanwhile, news of Rogers' dramatic arrest spread quickly through Wichita's media.
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>> [music] >> Although the name was never added to Roger during his ordeal, reports [music]
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were quickly going to print that authorities had finally caught BTK. >> [music] >> A tip-off to the BTK hotline that
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morning had apparently led investigators to Rogers' door. He fit the profile somewhat in that he
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was in the right age bracket, was a lifelong Wichita resident, had served in the armed forces, and lived near a
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railroad track. Rogers' three adult children were stunned by the allegations. They knew their father as a hardworking,
00:26:01
honest, and good man, and they were baffled that anyone could consider him BTK. Though the charges laid against him were
00:26:10
for unrelated misdemeanors involving housing code and trespassing violations, Roger spent 24 sleepless hours in jail.
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It wasn't until a phone call with his daughter the next day that he learned the true pretext behind the search of
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his house. By the time of his release, his name and address had been widely broadcast as a
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BTK suspect. Roger couldn't go back home. Crowds of reporters and stunned onlookers staked out his house wanting
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to catch a glimpse of the elusive killer who had haunted the city for more than three decades.
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News reports did a little to acknowledge Roger's potential innocence. Instead, they fixated on how creepy it
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seemed that he had children's toys in his yard without mentioning the fact that he was a grandfather.
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Roger watched the chaos unfold in horrified awe as neighbors who knew him well told reporters,
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"We can't believe that BTK had been this close to here or that we'd have a murderer in our midst."
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Three days later, the results of the DNA test came in. Roger Valdez was not BTK.
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His misdemeanor charges were resolved, but his reputation had been tarnished with some in the community unwilling to
00:27:35
accept his innocence even in the face of scientific proof. In an effort to clear his name and
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restore justice for his family, Roger sued the parent companies of three media outlets, all of which invaded his
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privacy [music] by broadcasting his name and address on television, radio, and the internet in their rush to be the
00:27:55
first to report the capture of BTK. Roger ultimately won a $1.1 million judgment.
00:28:04
The defendants vowed to appeal, but Roger, who had spoken openly about how the ordeal had caused him immense pain
00:28:11
and stress, passed away a month later. To investigators, the arrest of Roger Valdez was purely procedural.
00:28:23
They had deliberately avoided accusing him of being BTK, mindful that a false accusation like that could ruin a man's
00:28:30
life. The media's response, however, underscored just how far the relationship between the police and the
00:28:37
press had deteriorated since BTK first emerged. In the early years, the two had cooperated, mutually agreeing to handle
00:28:45
the case discreetly to protect the integrity of the investigation. By the early 2000s, the atmosphere had
00:28:53
shifted. The media was swept up in scandal and sensationalism, each outlet eager to be
00:29:00
the first to announce an arrest and reap the resulting acclaim. When BTK had contacted the press in the
00:29:07
past, journalists had alerted police immediately. By 2004, however, they held on to
00:29:15
evidence, examining and documenting it before notifying authorities. They appeared unannounced at suspects'
00:29:22
homes, pursued confidential information, interfered with surveillance, and followed leads so aggressively that at
00:29:30
times officers threatened to arrest them. The relationship between police and the
00:29:36
media had eroded so severely that investigators no longer viewed the press as a potential asset, but as a
00:29:43
liability. And they knew only one person stood to benefit from that breakdown. BTK.
00:29:55
Merely days after Roger Valadez was cleared from the BTK investigation on Wednesday, December 8th, 2004, the phone
00:30:03
rang at a QuickTrip convenience store on East Harry Street, a major thoroughfare
00:30:08
in downtown Wichita. "Do not hang up," the irritated male caller demanded. "There is a bomb in your store."
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He spoke quickly to ensure that he wasn't cut off, announcing, "This is BTK." The store's assistant manager took over
00:30:28
the call, with BTK instructing him to write down the following details. "I'm calling to tell you of a package at
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9th and Minnesota on the northeast corner," he said before abruptly hanging up. Investigators raced to the location
00:30:45
provided, which was near the serene grounds of Murdock Park and adjacent to Interstate 135.
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The Interstate had appeared frequently in BTK's recent movements, leading investigators to suspect [music]
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it was the route he used when traveling around the city to drop off his packages.
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Perhaps he lived nearby, or maybe he knew that even if police attempted to monitor the roadway, it would be nearly
00:31:10
impossible to single out his vehicle among the thousands of drivers who used it every day.
00:31:18
With flashlights in hand, investigators scoured the streets, trash cans, and the
00:31:23
bushes around Murdock Park, >> [music] >> but found nothing of note. The bomb threat was ultimately deemed to
00:31:30
be a hoax after it was discovered that BTK had attempted to call through the coordinates of his latest drop to other
00:31:37
businesses as well, including the jewelry store where victim Nancy Fox had worked.
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However, [music] after hearing the caller announce, "This is BTK," the others assumed it was a prank and had
00:31:50
immediately hung up. The bomb threat to QuickTrip was likely intended to ensure that police would be
00:31:57
contacted. [music] 5 days later, a local man was walking through Murdock Park when he spotted a
00:32:04
package by a tree on the south side, facing away from the corner pinpointed by BTK.
00:32:11
It was a small white trash bag with a clear plastic Ziploc bag inside that contained a doll.
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Several sheets of paper were secured to the doll with rubber bands, including an
00:32:23
index card labeled Dollgram. Once again, the papers included the list of BTK's 13 story chapters. This time
00:32:33
with chapters 1, 2, and 8 crossed out. >> [music] >> The doll's hands and ankles were bound
00:32:40
with white string, and it was naked from the waist down with pubic hair crudely drawn on in black marker.
00:32:47
The Ziploc bag had been tied in a way that made it appear as though the doll was being suffocated, and a piece of
00:32:53
pantyhose was wrapped around its neck. The string around the doll's ankles was woven through a punctured hole in the
00:33:01
corner of a driver's license. >> [music] >> It belonged to Fox who had been killed
00:33:07
by BTK in 1977. The license was in pristine condition, indicating that BTK had carefully
00:33:17
preserved it during the 27 years since Nancy's murder. Why he chose to surrender it now was
00:33:24
puzzling to investigators, given that serial killers typically hoard their trophies to maintain a lasting sense of
00:33:31
power, control, and ownership over their victims. Once again, speculation arose that BTK
00:33:39
was nearing the end of his life and was relinquishing everything before his story could end unfinished.
00:33:47
>> [music] >> The call alerting police to the doll gram was placed on the 27th anniversary
00:33:55
of Nancy Fox's murder. The package included a two-page document titled chapter nine hits and was
00:34:04
subheaded PJ Fox Tail, December 8th, 1977. >> [music] >> The date Nancy was killed.
00:34:12
Sure enough, the writing detailed the crime from BTK's perspective. I spotted Nancy one day while cruising
00:34:21
the area, he explained, adding that her age was right and that she had the look of a BTK victim.
00:34:29
He described how he stalked her, [music] explaining "Found out her name by checking her
00:34:35
mailbox and tracked her to work. I visited the store where she worked, asking for some jewelry on display, and
00:34:42
bought some cheap jewelry." [music] BTK went on to detail the murder in a conversational tone.
00:34:50
He said that he parked a few blocks away from Nancy's apartment, walked there, [music] cut the phone line, broke in,
00:34:57
and waited until she arrived home from work. He then provided a graphic account of
00:35:03
how he killed Nancy Fox. Before leaving, he took mementos from her apartment, including lingerie,
00:35:11
jewelry, and her driver's license. His written confession of Nancy's murder ended with the letters [music] SBT,
00:35:19
though it was unclear what they stood for. BTK [music] also revealed that he had
00:35:26
given a piece of Nancy's jewelry to a girlfriend, writing, "Naturally, I didn't tell her where it
00:35:33
came from." It was confirmed that a necklace belonging to Nancy was missing following
00:35:40
her murder. Police issued a public appeal for the piece, a gold chain set with two
00:35:47
vertically aligned pearls, speculating [music] that BTK might have given it to a woman in December 1977 or early 1978.
00:35:57
But no one [music] came forward claiming to have received it. On Tuesday, January 25, 2005, over a
00:36:08
month after police received a BTK's doll gram, local Wichita television station KAKE-TV received another communication
00:36:16
from the killer, adding to the long list of messages he had sent them over the years.
00:36:23
This time, it was a postcard labeled communication number eight. He gave his name as S. Killett and he
00:36:31
used the Otero's former family home on North Edgemoor Street as the return address.
00:36:38
The postcard contained a set of directions and strangely referenced the box of cereal called Post Toasties.
00:36:46
Date: Week of January 17th, 2005. Where: Between 69th and North and 77th and North on Seneca Street.
00:36:58
>> [music] >> Contents: Post Toasties box, C9, PJ, little Max and a doll, haunt of KS, acronym list, and a
00:37:08
jewelry. >> [music] >> Instead of contacting the authorities straight away, KAKE TV's news director
00:37:16
dispatched reporters and a film crew to the location. They arrived on Seneca Street, an
00:37:23
isolated rural dirt road in North Wichita. Leaning against the base of a road curve
00:37:30
sign, they found a Post Toasties box adorned with a red crepe streamer and weighed down with a brick.
00:37:38
By the time police were alerted, the scene on Seneca Street had been compromised.
00:37:44
The KAKE TV staff had driven right up to the sign and walked within a foot of the
00:37:48
cereal box, destroying any [music] tracks that BTK might have left in the dirt. However, the box itself remained
00:37:56
untouched. Inside was a note from BTK explaining the abbreviations he'd used in previous
00:38:04
correspondence. He clarified that SBT, which had ended the chapter on Nancy Fox's murder, stood
00:38:11
for Sparky Big Time. Sparky being the nickname he'd given his penis and Big Time referring to masturbation.
00:38:21
PJ [music] stood for projects. SFX meant sexual fantasy. DBS death by strangulation and
00:38:29
DTPG >> [music] >> death to pretty girl. There were many others. To investigators, his excessive [music]
00:38:39
use of cryptic acronyms showcased his desire to be perceived as intelligent or cunning, kind of like a spy.
00:38:47
But they weren't impressed. >> [music] >> The Post Toasties box contained another
00:38:52
doll, also naked from the waist down with marker drawn pubic hair. This one had its wrists, waist, knees,
00:39:00
and ankles bound with a thin white cord and a gag across the mouth. A piece of rough rope extended from the
00:39:08
doll's neck to a short piece of white plastic PVC [music] pipe. It was a grotesque representation of the
00:39:16
murder of 11-year-old Josie Otero. The Otero murders were once again the focus of an accompanying document, which
00:39:25
was part of the ninth chapter [music] of BTK's story hits. This time, he asserted that Josie, not
00:39:33
Julie Otero, had been his intended target all along. Interestingly, the Post Toasties [music]
00:39:41
box was left in an area where BTK had never been known to operate. >> [music] >> It was within walking distance of Park
00:39:49
City, a growing suburb north of Wichita. Home to around 7,000 people, Park City functioned as its own independent city
00:39:58
within the wider metropolitan area. This got investigators [music] thinking. Almost two decades earlier, in the early
00:40:14
hours of Saturday, April 27, 1985, 53-year-old widow and grandmother Marine Hedge had disappeared from her home on
00:40:22
North Independence Street in Park City. Marine, who lived alone, had hosted a friend that evening.
00:40:31
The pair stayed up talking until the friend left around 1:00 a.m. Hours later, Marine failed to show up
00:40:39
for her shift at the coffee shop where she had worked for 13 years, which was highly uncharacteristic of her.
00:40:47
Park City police were called, and although Marine's home appeared normal, her phone line had been cut and her car
00:40:54
was missing. It was found 2 days later abandoned at a shopping center a short drive southeast.
00:41:03
It was locked and the keys were missing. The driver's side windshield was partially broken, and it was unusually
00:41:10
muddy, though it had been wiped clean around the trunk and sides. Inside [music] the trunk, police found
00:41:18
two bed covers, a purple bedspread, a tan curtain, and a pink electric blanket, all belonging to Marine.
00:41:27
Pine needles from an evergreen tree were also scattered throughout the vehicle, adding to the mystery.
00:41:33
The following day, Marine's purse was spotted alongside a rural road on the eastern outskirts of Wichita, stripped
00:41:40
of all forms of identification. Nine days after Marine's disappearance, [music] her naked body was discovered in a wet
00:41:49
ditch 7 miles from her home in an area known for illegal rubbish dumping. Displacing her car, purse, and body
00:41:57
would have required as little as a 20-mile round trip, or roughly a 30-minute drive on back roads in the
00:42:04
early hours. Her killer had attempted to conceal her remains with grass, twigs, and a small
00:42:11
section of an evergreen tree. A pair of knotted pantyhose lay nearby, and although Marine had been strangled
00:42:19
to death, the act had been carried out by hand. The case marked Park City's first murder
00:42:27
in 5 years, leaving the neighborhood shaken. Marine had spent her days working, playing bingo, tending to her garden,
00:42:35
and attending church. Given her quiet, trouble-free nature, locals were convinced her killer
00:42:42
couldn't have been someone she knew. "I just hope the hell they catch them," one neighbor told the Wichita Eagle.
00:42:51
Yet, as time passed, >> [music] >> Park City authorities made no arrests, and the case remained unsolved.
00:43:04
6 years later, on Saturday, January 19, 1991, Park City police responded to a report of a possible robbery at a
00:43:12
residence on North Hillside Street. A visitor had raised concerns after finding the curtains drawn with the
00:43:20
porch light left on. Their knocks on the door had gone unanswered despite the homeowner's car
00:43:26
sitting in the driveway. Inside, the doors throughout the house appeared to have been wiped clean.
00:43:34
A cinder block had been thrown through a sliding patio door and lay on the living
00:43:39
room floor amid the shattered glass. The cord to the kitchen phone had been pulled from the wall jack, a jewelry
00:43:46
display had been raided, and a lingerie drawer rifled through. A bed had been stripped of its linen,
00:43:53
and the pillows had been piled against the wall with their cases removed. The keys to the car out front had been
00:44:00
inexplicably tossed onto the roof of the garage. Inside the trunk, which also appeared to
00:44:06
have been wiped clean, was a rug. Most troubling of all, the homeowner herself, 62-year-old Dolores Davis, was
00:44:16
missing. It was a peculiar scenario. Dolores was a beloved grandmother who lived alone with her pet cats, and she
00:44:25
never [snorts] left home without her car. But something had been troubling her lately.
00:44:32
Days before she went missing, she was on the phone to her son when she said that
00:44:37
she heard a rustling sound outside her window. Her cats seemed spooked by whatever was
00:44:43
out there, and one even began batting at the glass as if trying to get to it. Dolores worried that someone was
00:44:51
watching her. Two weeks later, Dolores's body was found partially covered in snow under a
00:44:58
rural bridge, [music] a 12-minute drive north of her home. She was clad in nightclothes with her
00:45:05
breasts exposed. Her legs and wrists were tied with pantyhose, [music] and another pair was
00:45:11
wrapped tightly around her neck. A bedspread lay close by, [music] as did a strange and sinister mask of a woman's
00:45:20
face. It was made from heavy plastic and was pale in color, but someone had hand-painted eyebrows, black eyelashes,
00:45:29
and red lips on it. Although the murders of Marine Hedge and Dolores Davis fell under the
00:45:40
jurisdiction of Park City authorities, >> [music] >> Wichita-based police took notice.
00:45:46
They saw hints of BTK's presence in both crime scenes, including the break-ins, cut phone lines, bondage, [music] and
00:45:53
strangulation. However, FBI specialists weren't convinced he was responsible for either
00:46:00
killing. To them, it simply wasn't his style. BTK's previous murders had been confined
00:46:09
to victims' [music] homes with no instances of him attempting to remove any bodies from the scene.
00:46:15
He had also never struck in Park City before. All of his confirmed victims lived
00:46:21
closer to downtown, Wichita, [music] specifically a small pocket in the eastern region.
00:46:28
While they varied overall, he typically targeted younger women with everyone else being collateral damage.
00:46:36
Additionally, Marine and Dolores' home addresses didn't include the number three, a digit that held particular
00:46:43
significance to BTK when selecting [music] victims. Rumors persisted that Marine and Dolores
00:46:51
were BTK victims, even though he never referenced either murder in his correspondence over the years.
00:46:59
This belief was substantiated in 2005. In the piecemeal narrative BTK was slowly releasing, he admitted that he
00:47:09
had originally intended to [music] bind, abduct, and kill Julio Tero before disposing of her body in a culvert
00:47:16
resembling what had happened to Marine [music] and Dolores. Chronologically, Marine's murder fell 7
00:47:24
years after Nancy Fox and a little over a year before Vicki Wherry, possibly making her BTK victim number eight.
00:47:33
Dolores' murder occurred 4 months after Vicki Wherry's, which would potentially make her BTK's 10th and final known
00:47:41
victim. This raised a compelling question. If BTK was responsible for these two additional murders, why hadn't he owned
00:47:52
up to them? What was it about the murders of Marine Hedge and Dolores Davis that made him
00:47:58
less inclined to boast or even hint at his involvement. Investigators wondered who Marine and
00:48:06
Dolores were to BTK. Perhaps they weren't random strangers, but people he could be traced to.
00:48:15
Or maybe the answer lay in the location of these crimes. Could BTK be found in Park City?
00:48:27
Going back [music] to the communication number eight postcard BTK had sent to KAKE TV that triggered this latest
00:48:34
discovery, >> [music] >> investigators were intrigued by a cryptic note he had included.
00:48:40
It read, "Let me know if you or police department received number seven at Home Depot drop
00:48:47
site January 8th, 2005. Thanks." It seemed that BTK had left them another package earlier that month, which had
00:48:58
gone unnoticed. Wichita's Home Depot building and gardening retail store was situated on
00:49:06
North Woodlawn Boulevard in the city's northeast. >> [music] >> Interestingly, it sat on the same road
00:49:13
as the shopping center where Marine Hedge's car had been found, adding another potential link to her unsolved
00:49:19
homicide. Police visited the location where BTK said he left the package weeks earlier
00:49:26
on Saturday, January 8th. They searched [music] the store and surrounding area thoroughly and spoke to
00:49:33
Home Depot staff and customers, but no one reported noticing anything unusual around that time.
00:49:41
It wasn't until Home Depot employee Edgar Bishop returned from vacation and saw a notice about the police inquiry in
00:49:48
the break room that he made the connection. On January 8th, Edgar discovered that
00:49:55
someone had placed a box of Special K cereal in the bed of his truck, which had been parked in Home Depot's lot.
00:50:02
Black block letters scrolled on the box read "bomb" and "BTK pre". [music] Inside was a blue beaded necklace and
00:50:13
several pages of computer-typed notes that made a little sense to Edgar. One page [music] labeled "boom"
00:50:21
described a BTK's lair, a three-story house with a bondage room and kill room that was rigged with a propane and
00:50:28
gasoline bomb [music] designed to detonate if police entered. Believing the box and its contents were
00:50:36
a prank, Edgar discarded them in the trash can at his home. Luckily, because Edgar had been on
00:50:43
vacation, he hadn't taken the trash to the curb, where its contents would have been nearly impossible to recover.
00:50:51
Investigators retrieved the Special K box. It contained more of BTK's egotistical
00:50:58
musings, including further references to himself as Rex. He also included a list titled PJ, which
00:51:06
authorities now understood [music] meant projects, essentially BTK's victims. He assigned each a code name and a brief
00:51:15
descriptor of the attack. He wrote about Josephine Otero, whom he incorrectly referred to as {quote}
00:51:23
[music] "Little Mac" despite the fact she was Puerto Rican. He referred to Nancy Fox as {quote}
00:51:32
"Foxtail". He also detailed other unnamed victims he had considered targeting but
00:51:39
ultimately did not murder for various reasons. If he had carried out those attacks, his
00:51:45
victim count would have been at least twice as high. As usual, BTK's writing lacked any real
00:51:53
[music] substance. But the special K box itself proved useful. A code on the box indicated it had been
00:52:02
sold at a grocery store in Park City. And this wasn't the only major breakthrough.
00:52:10
Home Depot had three security cameras covering its parking lot. [music] Investigators poured over the footage
00:52:17
from January 8th until they spotted Edgar Bishop's truck. It had been a busy day of trade as the
00:52:25
city was recovering from a recent ice storm. Hundreds of vehicles came and went that
00:52:31
[music] day as customers purchased items to repair the damage left in its wake. Just after 2:30 p.m., a dark-colored
00:52:41
Jeep Cherokee [music] SUV entered the lot, circled a few times, and then parked.
00:52:47
The male driver got out, walked over to Edgar's truck, and stood beside it for a
00:52:52
moment before placing something in the bed. He then returned to his Jeep and drove
00:52:59
away. Investigators rewound and enhanced the footage repeatedly, straining to discern
00:53:07
any details of the man and his car. Records showed that 2,500 dark-colored [music] Jeep Cherokees were registered
00:53:15
in the Wichita area, but the man remained frustratingly indistinct. [music] Yet, even his blurred figure was enough
00:53:24
to raise anticipation. It marked the first time police had ever laid eyes on BTK. [music]
00:53:38
For the first time in the exhaustive [music] three-decade-long investigation, police had narrowed down BTK's vehicle
00:53:45
type and pinpointed his potential location in Park City. And that wasn't all. "Can I communicate with floppy and not
00:53:58
be traced to a computer? Be honest." BTK had written in the special case serial box correspondence.
00:54:07
He was forthrightly asking whether he could send police further messages via a floppy disk.
00:54:13
These square, flat plastic devices were widely used for computer data storage in
00:54:18
the 1980s and 90s before higher capacity media like CDs and USB drives became standard.
00:54:26
Essentially, BTK wanted to know whether using a floppy disk as a means of communication would allow him to remain
00:54:34
untraceable. Given the painstaking effort he poured into sending his messages while avoiding
00:54:40
detection and then distributing clues about how to find them, he seemed to be looking for a way to streamline the
00:54:47
process. He requested that police run an advertisement in the local newspaper with the message, "Rex, it will be okay
00:54:57
if a floppy disk couldn't be traced." If he received this assurance, he then promised to do a test run and send them
00:55:06
a disk in the near future. The Ghostbusters were dumbfounded by the audacity of BTK's request, debating
00:55:15
whether he was even serious. Surely, he wouldn't be foolish enough to trust them either way.
00:55:23
To test him, they went ahead and ran the ad in the Wichita Eagle's classified section.
00:55:29
"Rex, [music] it will be okay." it said, followed by the address of a PO box where he could send the floppy disk.
00:55:38
13 days later, on Wednesday, February 16, 2005, a padded envelope arrived at the Wichita-based television station
00:55:47
KSAS-TV. The return address bore the name PJ Fox, the code name [music] BTK used to
00:55:55
reference victim Nancy Fox. Inside the envelope was a gold chain with a pendant and three index cards.
00:56:06
One card contained a photocopy of the front cover of the 1989 novel Rules of Prey by John Sandford.
00:56:14
The book follows the hunt for a serial killer who kills for pleasure and delights in placing elaborate obstacles
00:56:21
to keep police baffled. Notably, the killer lived by a specific set of rules. Never kill anyone you know. Never have a
00:56:31
motive. Never follow a discoverable pattern. Never carry a weapon after it has been
00:56:37
used. Isolate yourself from random discovery. Beware of leaving physical evidence.
00:56:46
A second index card listed several of BTK's recent communications, seemingly to ensure that authorities had located
00:56:54
them all. The final card explained how police could contact BTK via yet another newspaper advertisement.
00:57:04
But, most significantly, the package contained a purple floppy disk. The Ghostbusters had mixed feelings.
00:57:17
They were wary that the disk might hold nothing of value and be just another setup designed to toy with them.
00:57:24
Nevertheless, they gathered around a computer as the disk was inserted. It contained a single file named test
00:57:33
a.rtf, which opened a Microsoft Word document containing a brief message. This is a test, it read.
00:57:42
See 3 by 5 card for details on communication with me in the newspaper. In his previous communication, BTK had
00:57:52
asked whether a floppy disk could be traced. He urged the police to be honest with
00:57:57
him, seemingly because he lacked knowledge of modern computer technology. Unbeknownst to him, the officers were
00:58:06
not forthcoming. They assured him it would be safe to send the disk, while in reality, they
00:58:13
had the means to examine it for potentially valuable information. Running the disk through a premier
00:58:21
forensic computer program uncovered a second document that had been previously stored on the disk, but since deleted.
00:58:29
It was an agenda for a church council meeting. Simply clicking on the file's properties
00:58:36
revealed far more than BTK had likely anticipated. Look at that, one investigator remarked.
00:58:46
The file was titled Christ Lutheran Church, and it had been accessed on a public library computer in Park City.
00:58:55
Surely it couldn't be that easy, the investigators wondered. Oh my god, another investigator muttered
00:59:03
in disbelief [music] as they read on. There was also a name. To be continued [music]
00:59:13
next week. >> [music] >> Hey.