Documents violence · sexual violence · crimes against children · torture · domestic violence — written to inform, not to shock.
Illustrative
Between 1974 and 1991, at least ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, were killed by a man who later identified himself as "BTK" (bind, torture, kill). The killings began on January 15, 1974, with the murders of four members of the Otero family — Joseph Sr., Julia, Joseph II, and Josephine Otero — who were bound and killed inside their home. On April 4, 1974, Kathryn Bright was killed and her brother Kevin was shot and survived. On March 17, 1977, Shirley Vian Relford was killed after her son was approached on the street and led the perpetrator back to their home; her three children were locked in a bathroom but not harmed. On December 8, 1977, Nancy Jo Fox was killed in her home. The perpetrator sent multiple taunting letters and communications to police, media, and a would-be victim between 1974 and 1979, describing crime details not publicly known and demanding media attention, before going silent for over a decade.
The killings resumed in the mid-to-late 1980s and were only later confirmed as the work of the same person. Marine Hedge was killed on April 27, 1985, near her Park City home; her body was found in a ditch on May 5, 1985. Vicki Wegerle was killed in her home on September 16, 1986, a case in which her husband was long suspected by some in the community before the true perpetrator was identified. Dolores Davis was killed on January 18, 1991, and her body was found under a bridge on February 1, 1991.
The case went cold until March 2004, when a letter was sent to the Wichita Eagle claiming responsibility for the Wegerle killing, along with crime-scene photographs and a photocopy of Wegerle's stolen driver's license — information that had not previously linked her death to the earlier series. Additional communications followed over the following months, including packages and postcards sent to media outlets and left in public locations. In February 2005, a floppy disk sent to a Wichita television station was found to contain deleted computer metadata referencing "Christ Lutheran Church" and identifying the document's author as "Dennis." Investigators traced this to Dennis Rader, president of that church's council. A court-ordered DNA test comparing a sample obtained from Rader's daughter to DNA recovered from under Vicki Wegerle's fingernails showed a familial match, providing grounds for Rader's arrest.
Rader was arrested on February 25, 2005, near his Park City home and was charged on February 28, 2005, in Sedgwick County District Court with ten counts of first-degree murder. On June 27, 2005, he changed his plea to guilty and described the killings in detail to the court. On August 18, 2005, he was sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences with a minimum of 175 years, Kansas not having enforced the death penalty at the time of the murders. He was subsequently incarcerated at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas, where he remains held in solitary confinement.
Dolores Davis, Vicki Wegerle, Kathryn Bright, Joseph Otero Sr., Julia Otero, Joseph Otero II, Josephine Otero, Nancy Jo Fox, Marine Hedge, Shirley Vian Relford
Date
1970s
Location
Wichita and Park City, Kansas
Case status
solved
Case timeline
1974-01-15
Joseph Sr., Julia, Joseph II, and Josephine Otero are murdered in their Wichita home.
1974-04-04
Kathryn Bright is killed and her brother Kevin is shot and survives an attack at their home.
1974-10
A letter signed 'BTK' is sent to The Wichita Eagle claiming responsibility for the Otero murders.
1977-03-17
Shirley Vian Relford is murdered in her home in Wichita.
1977-12-08
Nancy Jo Fox is murdered in her home in Wichita.
1978-02-10
A letter is sent to Wichita TV station KAKE claiming responsibility for the Otero, Bright, Relford, and Fox murders.
1979-06-15
A letter is left outside the residence of Anna Williams, who had evaded a murder attempt earlier that year.
1985-04-27
Marine Hedge is murdered near her Park City home.
1985-05-05
Marine Hedge's body is recovered from a ditch.
1986-09-16
Vicki Wegerle is murdered in her Wichita home.
1991-01-18
Dolores Davis is murdered in her home.
1991-02-01
Dolores Davis's body is discovered under a bridge.
2004-03-19
The Wichita Eagle receives a letter claiming responsibility for the Wegerle murder, including stolen crime-scene material.
2005-02-16
A floppy disk containing deleted metadata is sent to Wichita station KSAS-TV, later traced to Dennis Rader.
2005-02-25
Dennis Rader is arrested near his Park City home.
2005-02-28
Rader is charged with ten counts of first-degree murder in Sedgwick County District Court.
2005-06-27
Rader changes his plea to guilty and describes the murders in court.
2005-08-18
Rader is sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences with a minimum of 175 years.
2005-08-19
Rader is moved to the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
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Bind, Torture, K*ll: Who was the BTK Killer?
People
Dolores Davis
VICTIM
Killed in her home on January 18, 1991.
citation on file
Vicki Wegerle
VICTIM
Killed in her Wichita home on September 16, 1986.
citation on file
Kathryn Bright
VICTIM
Killed on April 4, 1974, following a home invasion.
citation on file
Joseph Otero Sr.
VICTIM
Killed in his home on January 15, 1974.
citation on file
Dennis Rader
CONVICTED
Pleaded guilty on June 27, 2005, to ten counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences.
Dennis Rader, a Wichita-area man who worked as an ADT security installer and later a Park City compliance officer, murdered at least ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991, taunting police and media with letters as "BTK." He was identified through DNA and computer metadata and arrested in February 2005, later pleading guilty to ten counts of first-degree murder.
Where did the murders happen?
Wichita and Park City, Kansas.
Who was convicted?
Dennis Rader (Pleaded guilty on June 27, 2005, to ten counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences.).
