Further reading for Dennis Radar Aka BTK
So this very special episode started off with just one story…but it was the one of the mother of all serial killers a super heavy hitter. BTK.
January 15, 1974 For members of the Otero family living in Wichita Kansas were murderd in their home. Joseph Otero, 38; Julie Otero, 33; Joseph Otero Jr, 9 and Josephine Otero 11. It was their oldest child, 15 year old Charlie Otero who found his family and called authorities.
Joseph had died from asphyxiation, Julie and Josephine from strangulation, and Joseph Jr from strangulation and/or asphyxiation.
Between 1974 and 1991 Dennis Radar who would become known as BTK killed 10 people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas. He would send taunting letters to the police and newspapers describing his crimes. He took a 10 year hiatus from the taunts only to begin again in 2004 which subsequently lead to his arrest in 2005.
Radar was the key to his own undoing, unable to keep himself from taunting the media and police he even came up with his moniker BTK suggesting the nickname to a Wichita news station the letters standing for “bind, torture, kill.”
It was in 2004 when he began to again communicate with the news media that he sent a letter to the local paper claiming he “BTK” had murdered a woman name Vicki Wegerle in 1986, he even sent photos of the crime scene and copies of her drivers license as proof.
The taunting letters continued for months, he included pictures and dropped the letters all over the state of Wichita, it was early in 2005 that he really set the stage for his capture. Radar inquired if the police would be able to trace a floppy disc from the information kept inside. The police communicated via an ad in the newspaper that they would not be able to, and BTK believed them.
On Feb 16, 2005, BTK sent the police a purple floppy disk and in the metadata of the disk the police were able to find two key clues to his identity. The words “Christ Lutheran Church” and the name “Dennis”. After a quick internet search and a warrant that allowed them to compare DNA from the crime scenes to that of a recent pap smear Radar’s daughter had done, and the police had found their killer.
Dennis Radar plead guilty to all 10 charges of murder, and during his confession he described each murder in detail showing little to no remorse for his actions. He was sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences including a “hard 40” meaning for 40 years there was no possibility of parole.
Episode 82
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