BTK Returns [7]

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On June thirteenth, two thousand and four, a man was walking to work in a secluded part of Whichital. As he reached the intersection of First in Kansas, he noticed something odd, a plastic bag taped to the back of a stop sign. He opened it and found a letter inside with a label that read BTK Field Ground. It was a three page story written by BTK in the third person. Here is what it said.

If a person happens to be out on one of these cold mornings in a certain part of Wichitah, that is the northeast part, on a particular morning in January, he might have noticed a man park his car in a store parking lot, pause briefly, then walk across the street and disappear among the houses and commercial buildings. If they had followed him, they would have noticed his head

Kill, killed four members of a family.

Had you vanished from her home, suddenly last weekend, her phone lines had been cut, her door left open.

You see the victim playing there with plastic bags over their heads, strangled.

You could tell it was a plan scenario.

Well, police have said no more about the contents of the letter. It does contain some sort of threat and implies the killer may strike again.

He's going to play with these victims.

He'd get him to the point of death and then bring them.

Back and then brings them back to the point of death.

From My Heart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV, I'm Susan Peters and this is Monster BTK. It was June of two thousand and four and BTK was back. Starting in March of that year, BTK had begun to send letters to news outlets and police with haunting and threatening messages. At KKE TV, this was a massive by far the biggest story since btk's first murders in the nineteen seventies.

And Good Evening we have exclusive details a new communication that could be from the serial killer BTK. On June thirteenth, Whichita police recovered the letter which you heard about at the top of the episode. It was discovered by a man who was walking to work taped to the back of a stop sign. It was btk's third correspondent since his return and his longest letter to date. Previous letters had been short, vague packages sent to local news outlets, but this was different.

It was a lengthy and detailed recounting of his first murder, the nineteen seventy four killing of the Otero family. He gave a detailed, first hand account of the event from thirty years earlier.

About twenty minutes before nine, the door unlocked and the boy stepped outside. In just a flash, he ordered him back inside, confronting the family, armed with a pistol and knife, he told them that this was a stick up and not to be alarmed.

This letter was handed over to Wichita PD. Police detective Kenny Landwaer quickly noticed that the letter was actually a photocopy, most likely of a journal entry about the murder written by BTK right after the killing in nineteen seventy four.

The family was preparing to leave. The kids were packing their lunches and they had to gather their coats by the table. The mother, Judy, asked what was going on and said they had no money or anything of value. The boy was by his folk's side looking scared, and the girl Josephine was beginning to cry. All of them gathered in the hall. He told them their orders. He was wanted and needed the car money in food. Joe noticed his gun hand shake and told the family to settle down and all would be okay.

The letter also included a graphic hand drawing titled the sexual Thrill is My Bill. It depicted a naked and tied up woman hanging by the neck from a rope. Why this letter, why recount the Otero story once again? And why did he leave it in a remote location? Raider would answer some of these questions years later in the book Confession of a Serial Killer.

I left the package at first in Kansas. This symbolic meaning was important to me. We live in a symbolic world. I didn't pick the spot just because it was handy. There was a purpose. The stop sign was stop and look people of Kansas. The poll was the male symbol. I picked the number three type date attached the package on June twelfth. The package was wrapped in plastic and duct tape, a symbol of bondage and staple items in

As we mentioned at the beginning of the episode, BTK labeled the letter as a quote field gram. Raider would later explain what this meant.

The BTK field gram is like a telegram. It short has important news coding from Morse code in the cat and Mouse game. I envisioned the chapter of the first BTK hit, chapter one, being the oteros.

So this was chapter one of the BTK autobiography that he had promised in a previous letter. If you remember from the last episode, one of btk's earlier packages included an outline for a thirteen chapter book about his deeds. Rader intended to share each chapter of his story one at a time, and this was just the beginning. Rader wanted to keep the momentum going, and so the pace of his letter started to pick up. The next one

This is the strongest warning yet police have issued for widgetans to watch out and take extra precautions. After a letter was found at the Wichitaw Public Library early Saturday morning.

This new package was discovered by a Wichita library employee on the morning of July seventeenth, two thousand and four.

Speculation immediately went to BTK and another possible communication from the serial killer. Police now confirming they are turning the letter as such while they wait for the FBI to confirm whether the letter is in fact from BTK.

At Cake, we didn't know the contents of this letter. Police had confiscated it before any journalists had a chance to see it, but investigators had it and they were shocked by what it said. In it, BTK claimed responsibility for a new victim. This letter was titled Jakie, and this time BTK says he met and killed a nineteen year old named Jake Allen. Just a few weeks earlier, a Jake Allen had been found dead near Wellington, Kansas, just outside of Wichita, but police hadn't determined the cause

I had to stop work on chapter two of the BTK story due to the death of j I was so excited about this incident that I had to tell the story.

BTK goes on to say that he supposedly corresponded with Jake over email. According to the letter, the two men talked about explicit sexual desires.

Jakie had fantasies about sexual masturbation in unusual ways with bondage and homosexual thrills.

The letter implies that at some point BTK convinced Jake to meet him in person, and that BTK then murdered him. Also included in this library package were photos of a hooded figure in bondage and a crew drawing of a bound up mail. The BTK Task Force looked into the supposed connection to Jake Allen, but they found no evidence that BTK was actually involved, and in fact, it was eventually determined that Jake Allen had actually come headed suicide.

I posted the Jaki letter under the cover story of Erin's on a Saturday morning. I handled the Jakie package with gloves. I saw the article about him in the Wichita Eagle. I meant no disrespect to his family. I only used him as a symbol to stir the pot. I used some male slick ads to draw off. With this letter, I let the police know that I was older, but perhaps smarter with age, even if they didn't know my age. At the age of fifty nine, I was pretty old for a serial killer to be on the prowl.

Raider was pretty happy with himself. He thought he had thrown the police for a loop. At the very least, he made them suspect that he was still dangerous, that he might be able to kill again all these years later, and in fact, Raider was considering it throughout two thousand and four. While sending these letters. He was still prowling, planning to kill again, and he had his eyes on a new target, which he discovered while working his job

My first attempt was October twenty second, two thousand and four. As I drove back and forth to the Wichita Animal shelter on North Hillside, I watched the address alone hydraulic. The houses were set back a little. The house had a female, a high school girl, and a male at one time, but he disappeared or left as the days passed. I would write in a log book the dates and times of her routines. She had a perfect pattern. She was a brunette, a bit heavy, medium height, in her

We don't know her real name, but Raider called her project board Water. After enough stalking, he finally picked a day in the fall of two thousand and four and made his move.

On Friday, October twenty second. I packed up my hit kit, bike and gear I was going to use on her at the house, so I was ready. I drove by the house all pent up. I saw a crew working at the curb near her house. The unknown always and unknown, too many people around. I waited the time ran out. I was disappointed. I wasn't going to do the hit, but I thought I would try again in the spring when I had an excuse for fishing.

It was a failed attempt. He got to buy the number of people surrounding our house, most of them apparently construction workers. But Raider wasn't done that day. He decided to do something else instead. Before going home, on October twenty second, he made a detour. He stopped off at the Omni Center in Wichita.

A UPS worker comes and goes with nothing to say, not willing to talk about his colleague who's believed to have found a suspicious package in this dropbox on Friday, October twenty second, and this FedEx worker says, the employee who usually runs by here has to be taken off this stop because of what happened Friday night. This email is all police would release concerning the package, it says. Recently, the Wichita Police Department obtained another letter that could be

It was a big day for BTK. This new letter included information about his background and upbringing. This was chapter two, titled Dawn. It included his supposed birth year and told stories from his childhood. He admitted to being a peeping tom and even gave away that he had been in the Air Force. This very likely gave Raider a confidence boost his story was getting out there. But this new

I had thought what I heard were knocks on the door, like hard knocks, and I wasn't feeling well that day. I had already turned in for the night, and the next thing I knew there were people in my house, several plain clothes policemen and some uniform There were at least five nine milimeters pointing at me.

The man they arrested was sixty four year old Roger Valadez. He was born in nineteen thirty nine, the year BTK had claimed was his birth year in the last letter, and he lived near railroad tracks, something BTK had also alluded to in the letter. I remember this night well. My news director and I had to spend the night in the newsroom just in case an announcement was made, so Cake could be the first to announce btk's arrest.

They broke the storm door open, and they broke the wooden entry door to gain entry into my house, and there they were. They told me that I had given DNA. They held me down and they swabbed my cheek and they took it forciately.

After the DNA swab, they waited for the results. But a few days later KSNTV announced that BTK had been caught and that his name was Roger Valadez. They had jumped the gun because soon the DNA results did come back. Roger was innocent and cleared of suspicion, but the damage on Roger's life was already done. He was supposedly branded a killer by some people in the community and struggled to regain his trust with local He later sued the TV station for one point one million dollars and one.

My name was in My family's name was besmirched and damaged by the media in a negative way. I want this to come out and be known that there was a travesty of justice here.

This false alarm was only a temporary distraction, because a few weeks later BTK would remind everyone that he was still out there. Here's former Wichita Deputy District Attorney Kevin O'Connor.

Dennis Raider called a quick trip, told a kid that was working there that there was a package in a park, gave directions to it, but he gave the wrong directions and the police couldn't find it. There was a gentleman that was walking through the park about a week or so later that saw a package, picked it up, took it home.

This discovery took place on December thirteenth, two thousand and four in Murdoch Park.

He lived with his mother.

They opened it up and it was a doll purported to be Nancy Fox and a description of the Nancy Fox murder.

I spotted Nancy one day while cruising the area, found out her name by checking her mailbox, and tracked her to work up close. I visited the store where she worked, asking for.

Some jewelry, and they did what all good citizens would do in this situation like this. They called KKE TV. And I'm being sarcastic because they didn't call the police like they probably should have. But they called kke TV and KTV reporter went out there, Janine Keasling, who's a friend of mine. Janine was the reporter on the street.

Police have not confirmed this latest package was from the killer, but also inside was a note with what previous investigators say appears to be BTK signature. We've been asked not to show that.

What ended up happening is is that they wanted to film police opening up the things, and the police, of course we're not going to let them do it. I think that created some animosity.

I can remember about this time, tensions were rising between us in the newsroom and the police. All of us wanted to catch BTK, but there were some disagreements about what to make public and what to withhold. That would become an issue once more when BTK sent a slew of new letters toss at KTV.

It appears BTK is communicating again. KKTV receiving another mysterious message today.

This one contains both a message to Cake and police on Janine Keasling, all the exclusive details coming up in a live report.

The first of these was a letter received on January twenty fifth, two thousand and five.

It said date week of January seventeen eight, two thousand and five, where between sixty ninth Street North and seventy seventh Street North on Seneca Street contents post toasties box, PJ Little Mix and doll, punt of KS, acronym list and jewelry.

This time, the Cake news director sent reporters to the site to gather the package, which was in fact a post hosty cereal box. It contained a list of his favorite acronyms, including DBS for death by strangulation and DTPG for death to Pretty Girl. It also contained a naked barbie doll with a noose around its neck. Police thought PJ Littlemechs might be referring to the murder of twelve year old Josephinotaro, along with the other three members of

And the police weren't having that, and it created some difficulties, and I even had to get on the phone and talk to KKETV saying this is a homicide investigation and we were going to get that information one way.

Or the other.

Even KKTV anchor Larry Hattiberg thought it was a bad idea to keep the new package hostage.

We had one instance in which a news director started to withhold one of the postcards and try to trade it for an interview with the police chief. I was standing there when he said that I had encouraged him not to do that at any time. The police got very mad and he came within ten seconds of being arrested and hauled them to the jail.

The situation did create some sourdness.

So what Cake ended up doing is sending a film crew out to where the cereal box was. That created some hard feelings since they drove into a potential crime scene.

They ran over some tracks in the gravel road with their car. That's a big no no, and it was because the two were a little bit inexperienced. Police are probably not happy about that and certainly let us know.

That was a difficult time. But I also tried to take into account the pressure that the media had too, the need to be the first reporting. So it was understood, but it did create an animosity that hadn't been there before. Because I think if you go through this case, you see the media doing their best they can to help as much as they can and still be responsible journalists.

My opinion on the matter is this, it was a very tricky time for all the media in which it all. I agree with Larry as a longtime news anchor, it was a very tough balancing app This on one hand, was the biggest story any of us would ever cover in our career. While we felt the drive to do it better than our competitors, we were also aware that at this point we were literally partnering with the police department to try and catch a killer. After this event,

Today's message is aily similar to a postcard Cake received last week. Keate Janine Keysling is live outside the Cake studios in northwest Wichita, Jenny Well Larry.

For the second time in just more than a week, another possible communication from BTK arrives here at our studios. The communications are getting more frequent and a lot more personal which top police have asked us not to reveal certain information contained in the communications sent to Cake News. Investigators are concerned it could hamper the BTK investigation. To date, we have honored all of their requests.

This letter, though, contained a troubling message from BTK, thanks to.

The news team for their efforts. Sorry about Susan and Jeff's colds.

As we told you about in episode one, Cake was btk's favorite news station, and this letter revealed that he knew about our colds, which my co anchor Jeff and I had briefly mentioned on the air just a few days prior. It was a chilling realization that BTK was watching us. From that day forward, I had to be hypervigilant, never leaving the station at night alone or engaging with any strangers who approached me. Unfortunately, that letter didn't provide

It said, let me know somehow if you are Richita PD received this. Also let me know if you were PD received number seven at home depot Dropsite one eight five thanks.

After seeing the reference to home Depot in btk's previous letter, police combed every home depot in the area. They posted notes in the employee breakrooms asking if anyone knew anything about a strange package. Finally, one employee responded. He said that some weeks earlier, in January, he noticed an odd cereal box sitting in the bed of his pickup truck.

Didn't think anything of it. I don't know what rock the person was living under, but didn't really think anything of it and threw it away.

This is Kevin O'Connor again.

Well, it turns out that his roommate had not put the trash down, so they actually did recover it. Home depot was extremely cooperative and had very good cameras. We were able to see a car pull up next to this employee's car. One of the detective's detective Ralph, who knows a lot about cars, immediately identified it as a black cheap Cherokee. One of my duties then was to track down and go through or try to get a list of all the black jeep Cherokees in which Ta Kansas, and there's a lot of them.

The letter in this home Depot Cereal box also had an interesting question written on it.

Can I communicate with a floppy not be traced to a computer? Be honest?

BTK was actually asking police if he could communicate with a floppy disc without being caught. So far, he had been communicating solely with paper. Maybe he thought it was too risky and that floppy discs would be safer. The letter continued.

Under miscellaneous section four ninety four, rex it will be okay. Run it for a few days. In case I'm out of town. I will try a floppy for a test run sometime in the near future February or March.

Let me translate. BTK was instructing police to post an ad in the miscellaneous section of the newspaper. If the ad had the message rex it will be okay, that would signal BTK the police had agreed to communicate via floppy disc. Of course, investigators jumped at the opportunity. On January twenty eighth, the police ran a classified ad in the Wichita Eagle. It used that phrase so BTK would know it was for him, and it asked him to contact the police at a specific PO box address. Raider

Rader trusted the police to tell him the truth. He had already questioned an officer, Randy Stone, about the security of email and learned that it can be traced. He thought that floppies were another matter, however.

And on February sixteenth, police got their biggest break when Raider sent his final correspondence in the form of a floppy disc. It also came with postcards with instructiontions on how to keep communicating, but this time police wouldn't need them.

This still gives me goosebumps because I was in the room along with the rest of the task force and police Officer Stone puts the disc into the computer. He goes into the computer language. It's just gibberish. I can't understand it, and embedded in there. As you go through the lines of meaningless symbols and letters, you see Dennis, and then a few lines later you see christ Lutheran Church and then Parksey Library.

Buried in the disc, which had only one file and it titled this is a test. Was metadata now for anyone who doesn't know. Metadata is like an invisible record of who accesses the data on the disc. And when an unbeknownst to Raider he had left his digital tracks on the floppy.

Disc, somebody got on Google and just googled Christ Lutheran Church and up there in the corner I could still see it to this day is a picture of the

You can understand why Kenny Landweer wanted to wait. Without rock solid evidence, Raider might walk free. So they turned to DNA. If you remember, they had preserved samples of BTK seamen from the crime scenes all those years ago, and they have been testing it against people all across Wichita. Oddly enough, my co anker, Larry Hadiberg, was among those swabbed for DNA.

I had two detectives who I knew, show up at the TV station and say, Larry, we need to take your DNA. Said, okay, why do you need my DNA? And they said, because we're getting hips to the BTK tip line that since you know so much about BTK, maybe you are BTK. And I said, well, I can assure you I'm not. And they said, we're pretty sure you're not. And what this is is just an elimination process.

Now in the interest of full disclosure. As you know, the Wichita Police Department has swabbed over four thousand men to eliminate them as BTK suspects. Well, in the past forty eight hours, I too have been swabbed. I now joined the list of many journalists, police officials, and businessmen.

Who have consented to the swab.

But I will tell you it gives you a very odd feeling.

I admit at the scenes I fit the age profile. Then I talk about it on TV, so people say, well, he must be BTK. I was not.

But police weren't concerned about Larry or anyone else's DNA anymore. They only wanted the DNA of Dennis Raider. If they could match him to the DNA from BTK semen, it was checkmate, and they came up with a scheme involving Raider's daughter, Carrie Rawson.

He had a daughter that had gone to school at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. With her age and being in school, the investigator said she would have had a PAP smear while in college. And although there was some thought of like a TV show where we're going to go and maybe get a cup of coffee that he's drinking, or wait until he spits on the sidewalk, which is a very CSI TV show kind of stuff where you may or may not get DNA. What we

As Kevin says, Carrie had no idea what was going on or that police had been accessing her medical files and using her DNA to get to her father.

They got a subpoena and they got a warrant without my knowledge, and they went to case date dug through all my health records and found out I had had PAF smears like in two thousand and two thousand and one, and there was the slide, and they take that to the KBI lab in Topeka, and some technicians able to extract that old DNA mine pretty brilliant from the slide.

It would take some time to get the results back, so in the meantime, police followed Raider, memorized his routines, and learned everything about him.

During that week, we found out where he worked, which was with Park City. He was an animal control officer with an office right next to the police department, like on the other side of the wall, and went about looking at how he did things. So we knew that Raider would leave the office before lunch. He would travel to his home in Park City, not far away, and so the plans were made. Search warrants were drawn in advance. We did search warrants for his home, his parents' home,

Finally, on February twenty fifth, two thousand and five, after days of waiting and decades of police work, investigators got what they were looking for. The DNA results came back.

It told us that the semen that was from the feet of Josie o'tero, the stain that was left in the bathrobe that was at Nancy Fox's head, and the fingernail from Vicky Waigerley all those three DNA samples by using reverse DNA told us that whoever left those samples was the father of Kerrie Raider, which meant Dennis Raider. And then that was the time to make an arrest.

Next time on Monster BTK.

On that day, I remember it was radio silence.

When the chief came out and said we've caught BTK. Denial was the first reaction. One thing now said, My phone started ranging and literally literally didn't quit ranging all day on.

I've gone into physical shock.

I shook for four days.

I'm spinning, literally about to pass out, and I make it over to my couch right.

Then at that moment, I'm starting to plan my revenge now that they got him, how am I going to get my hands on him?

Once he realized there was no getting out of this, he then admitted to all the murders and said, well, since you know about seven, I'll tell you event some others.

Monster BTK is a production of Tenderfoot TV and iHeart Podcasts. The show is written by Nomes Griffin, Trevor Young, and Jesse Funk. Our host is Susan Peters. Executive producers on Behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay, alongside supervising producer Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on Behalf of iHeart Podcasts include Matt Frederick and Trevor Young, alongside producers Nomes Griffin and Jesse Funk and supervising producerrima Il Kali.