The BTK Story

By Marilyn Bardsley, Rachael Bell and David Lohr

Too Many Clues

In November, 2004, police publicly revealed for the first time information that BTK revealed about himself in a letter. The personal information was released in the hopes that someone might recognize the killer's description and come forward with even more information about his identity or whereabouts. It is likely that these "revelations" are simply disinformation provided by BTK to throw the police off his trail. Jeanene Kiesling of KAKE-TV gave out these new details on November 30, 2004:

BTK claims he was born in 1939, which would make him 64 or 65 years old.
His father died in World War II. His mother and grandparents raised him.
He has a fascination with railroads and between 1950 to 1955, his mother dated a detective with the railroad.
In the early 1950s he built and operated a ham radio. He also has knowledge of photography and can develop and print pictures.
He also likes to hunt, fish and camp.
In 1960, BTK claims he went to tech school and then joined the military for active duty and was discharged in 1966 at which time he says he moved back in with his mother.
He worked repairing copiers and business equipment.
He admits to soliciting prostitutes.

BTK is now playing to an ever increasingly devoted audience and needs to keep their interest alive. So one can expect to see many more communications from him as he discards incriminating evidence.

In the meantime, there are also old theories re-emerging that BTK might have served in the U.S. Air Force. BTK's first victim, Joseph Otero, was known to have served in the Air Force and at the time of his death worked at Rose Hill Airport. Some believe that BTK may also stand for "Born to Kill" the name and initials of several Air Force squadrons.

In mid-December, 2004, an unidentified man found a suspicious white plastic bag wrapped in rubber bands in Murdock Park. The man took the bag home and looked inside it, when to his surprise he noticed items that may have belonged to some of BTK's victims.

Investigators examined the bag's contents and found a driver's license belonging to Nancy Fox and a letter, along with other objects. The letter was similar to one found earlier in May 2004, which displayed a list of chapters taken from this Crime Library story. However, some of the chapter titles were listed differently.

In the most recent letter chapter 13 was changed from "Will There More?" to "Will There Be More?" The chapter originally had a different title. Yet, after the May letter, the title was changed to "Will there (Be) More." In BTK's latest communication it is clear that he made a concerted effort to correct his grammatical errors. It also appears that he is an avid true crime reader.

Furthermore, in the letter found in the bag, chapters one, two and eight were left blank unlike those in the May letter. In an interview with Larry Hatteberg of KAKE TV, he theorized that the empty chapters might have been directly linked to Nancy Fox's murder date in 1977. He stated that "the chapters BTK left out, if put together in a specific sequence, would mark the date Nancy Fox was killed," 12-8 or December 8^th. If this were the case, it would be a vital clue that might provide insight into BTK and the way in which he communicates.

The plastic bag was eventually handed over to the FBI. Information concerning the remainder of the bag's contents has since been withheld from the public in an effort to maintain the continuity of the ongoing investigation.