Full BTK news coverage

By Roxana Hegeman

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - The personal writings, sketches and other items of BTK serial killer Dennis Rader will remain with sheriff's deputies until the court decides who should have them, a judge ruled Friday.

The ruling by Judge Timothy Lahey came after a request by the victims' families, who feared Rader was about to mail out two boxes of items to a woman planning to write a book about him.

The relatives want to keep outsiders from making money off the murders and prevent any sale of crime-scene photos, said attorney Mark Hutton, who is representing three victims' families.

Under the ruling, the families plan to make a joint recommendation to the judge about what happens to the items in the two boxes and a third that Rader had in his jail cell while awaiting trial.

It also includes his other personal property, including items held at the district attorney's office and items seized from his home and the Park City offices where Rader worked as a compliance officer before his arrest.

The order does not apply to the family home, which Rader's wife, Paula Rader, sold at auction in July for $90,000, well over its assessed value of $56,700. Attorney James Thompson, who represents victims' families in three lawsuits, has called the more than $30,000 difference between the home's value and sale price "blood money."

Rader, who is representing himself in lawsuits filed by the families, appeared at times confused as he tried to follow court proceedings Friday on the telephone line from the El Dorado prison where he is serving 10 consecutive life terms.

Rader called himself BTK for "bind, torture and kill." He was sentenced Aug. 18 to 10 consecutive life terms for 10 murders committed from 1974 to 1991.

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