Modern Criminology -- And Ego -- Reportedly Catch A Serial Killer
Joe Gandelman
Big news from Wichita, Kansas where police announced a decades-long search for the BTK Killer (self defined: "Bind, Torture, Kill") is over with the arrest of a suspect.
But they're not phrasing this as a 'maybe' in this latest twist on the case of Wichita's most notorious serial killer, now connected with eight unsolved homicides from 1974 to 1986 :
"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," said Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams.
I worked on the Wichita Eagle-Beacon from 1980-1981 (before being moved out to San Diego by the San Diego Union. According to the Eagle, " Dennis Rader of Park City has been arrested for first-degree murder of the eight victims known to be tied to BTK."
What's particularly fascinating in this case is that it seemed to come to a dead end — until BTK recontacted the news media...sending tidbits that modern criminology and science could apply, changing the dynamic of the case. MSNBC (see first link on this post):
Since re-establishing contact last year, authorities said the killer has sent at least eight letters to the media or police, including three packages containing jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims. One letter contained the driver's license of victim Nancy Fox.
The new letters sent chills through Wichita, but also rekindled hope that modern forensic science could find some clue that would finally lead police to a killer most thought was dead or safely locked in prison for some other crime.
Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation conducted hundreds of DNA swabs in connection with the BTK investigation.
Surveillance gave police their "first big piece" of evidence, leading authorities to a vehicle and a "person of interest", said a source who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity earlier on Saturday. On Friday, investigators searched a house in a Wichita suburb Friday, seizing computer equipment.
Police haven't released any details about who they arrested. What's interesting about this case is it's almost like the old cliche about a killer always returning to the scene of the crime (sort of like when I return to post on my own blog each Sunday night).
It's a guy named Dennis Rader, a municipal employee. His job would explain the ease with which he approached his victims. He also lived in Florida for a long time, and you can bet police there are dusting off some cold homicides around Panama City.
I will never let anyone from the government (or any other stranger) into my house without a warrant and a police officer.
You can't trust anyone anymore.