Jimi

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WICHITA, Kansas (CNN) -- A 59-year-old Park City, Kansas, man has been arrested in Wichita's notorious "BTK" serial killings, according to Wichita police.

Family members of the victims crowded into Wichita's city hall Saturday to hear the news.

"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," announced Police Chief Norman Williams.

Lt. Ken Landwehr, commander of the task force investigating the case, said Dennis Rader was arrested during a routine traffic stop and was taken into custody Friday. He is a suspect in the killings of 10 people since 1974.

Initially, only eight killings were linked to the BTK killer, but police have since linked the victims of two unsolved murders -- Dolores Davis in January 1991 and Marine Hedge in April 1985 -- to the case. (BTK-related killings)

Both were Park City residents. CNN affiliate KAKE reported that Hedge once lived on the same block as Rader.

The BTK case -- which dates back to 1974 -- has come under renewed scrutiny in recent months, with the killer sending out letters in his continued taunting of law enforcement.

The killer calls himself BTK, "bind, torture and kill," a pattern he has followed with most of his victims.

Marine Hedge's body was found along a dirt road in Sedgwick County in May 1985, eight days after she was abducted from her home. The autopsy showed she had been strangled.

Davis was taken from her home January 19, 1991, after a brick was thrown through a sliding glass door. Her body was found beneath a bridge in Sedgwick County, her hands, feet and knees bound with pantyhose.

Park City is about 15 miles (24 km) north of Wichita.

The arrest came after authorities questioned a "person of interest" in the investigation Friday, and converged on a home in Park City, Kansas, just outside Wichita, sources told CNN.

CNN affiliate KAKE, a Wichita station that the killer has sent letters to in the past, said authorities had been awaiting results of DNA tests to see whether they could be linked to the case.

Outside the home in Park City, authorities cordoned off the street and investigators combed the area. A Wichita police bomb squad truck, SWAT trucks and dozens of police cars and other emergency vehicles lined the street.

One neighbor in Park City expressed shock about the developments.

"I don't even want to think that it could possibly be real," the neighbor, who gave his name as Greg, told KAKE. "This is a real normal block. I mean it's just normal families. It's quiet, it's peaceful. ... People walk their dogs, kids play on their bikes -- it's really normal. It's a pure piece of America."

Communicating with police
The man calling himself the BTK killer sent many notes to Wichita police and local media in the past 31 years -- and once even reported one of his own killings to police dispatchers.

The last death blamed on him was in 1986 when a 28-year-old mother, Vicki Wegerle, was killed in her home in Wichita.

From 1977 to 1979, police and news media received letters from a writer claiming to be the killer. That was followed by 25 years of silence, leading some to believe BTK had died.

In March 2004, his communications resumed when he linked himself to the eighth killing and divulged what he said was more information about himself.

Last week, the FBI confirmed that two letters found in Wichita were authentic communication from the killer. The driver's license of one of the slain women was found, as well.

In an interview with KAKE on Friday, Charlie Otero -- whose parents, brother and sister were the first victims of BTK in 1974 -- said he was anxious about the latest developments.

"My heart is leaping out of my chest," he said. "I just hope I can come out of my shell when all of this is over."

He said he longs to ask the BTK killer: "Why my family? What ties did my father have with this man? And I want to know the truth."



http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/26/bt...tion/index.html

Sometimes, the chair is justice.

OrdinaryGirl

Wow. I've never heard of those cases, but I hope they have the guy. And I hope Charlie Otero gets some answers.

Wayne Brady

This guy was a Cub Scout leader. Go figure.

Jimi

And an Animal Control officer.

TigerLand

Good news this,about time this fuck was caught

___________________________________________
All In Red...All In

autiger8l5

What a weird guy, happy that hes off the streets

Mustangsaly

I've been reading everything i can find on this since 1974, the BTK Killer was a krazy SOB !

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/ne...es/btk/history/


Mustangsaly

OrdinaryGirl

I read a different article this weekend which had testimony from the woman across the alley from him and how everytime her husband left for work (he was a trucker and gone for days at a time), this guy would take pictures and videos of the back of her house.

I'll bet she feels pretty fortunate to still be alive.