The BTK killer investigation
The inquiry lasted over 30 years, but the police never got close to Dennis Rader. The only time they get near his methods, if not the man, is during a break in his killings in the early 1980s. The killings are deemed cold cases, yet all evidence is computerised. This was still a novelty at the time. It does not identify a killer, but it discloses comfort kill zones, indicating that BTK planned his killings primarily in geographical areas with which he was acquainted. The key to locating BTK was his urge to communicate.
He frequently contacted the local media and police, mailing letters, calling, and dropping items. Rader’s goal with these messages is to terrorise the community in which he resides and ensure that his most splendid successes are attributed to him. His influence is negative. When Wichita women enter their houses, they look for a dial tone on their phones. Vicki Wegerle’s unsolved murder is attributed to him due to one of these contacts. This dispelled Bill’s husband’s nearly 20-year fear that he had murdered his wife.
Rader sends images of Vicki and a copy of her driver’s licence to the local newspaper. The alleged sender’s initials are ‘Bill Thomas Killman’ (‘B.T.K’). A thorough search of recently released prison convicts is conducted in the hope that incarceration may explain the killer’s near-decade absence. Search, like prior theories, yields no results.
However, the cops are patient. No matter how much false information Rader provides them, for example, by sending them a bogus autobiography, the police never publicly criticise him in the hope that he would make a mistake. In 2003, a local lawyer declared his intention to publish a biography of BTK. This prompts Rader to create more connections to ensure his tale is correctly written.
And he’s seen driving a black Jeep Cherokee as he exits his latest conversation. The film’s quality is insufficient for face or licence plate identification, but it’s a start. Then, in correspondence, Rader asks if a computer disc can be erased of all past data. The cops tell lies. Rader’s next computer disc is forensically inspected, and he discloses his church and identity. A check finds that he has the identical vehicle depicted in the movie.
A DNA test received from Rader’s daughter links him to the sperm he left at the crime locations, ending more than 30 years of conjecture about the identity of the BTK murderer. It still irritates some officers that Rader had ceased killing three years before Kansas reinstated the death penalty. This means the state will never be able to execute its most notorious murderer.
