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BTK Letters
Letters from BTK to the public by way of the media began in October, 1974. Don Granger of the Wichita Eagle newspaper received a call on October 22 from a man he believed to be 25-35 years old and who spoke with no noticeable accent. The man told Granger that in the main branch of the Wichita Public Library there was a letter from the Oteros’ killer inside a mechanical engineering text book. This letter provided details of the Otero family murders crime scenes that, presumably only the killer would have known. However, there were discrepancies in the actual crime scenes and what was in the letter. The full letter has not be released to the public, but excerpts are available here.
Excerpts from BTK Letter Number 1, October, 1974
Excerpt 1:
"I write this letter to you for the sake of the tax payer as well as your time. Those three dude you have in custody are just talking to get publicity for the Otero murders. They know nothing at all. I did it by myself and with no ones help. There has been no talk either. Let's put this straight...."
"The writer of the letter would have had to be inside the house when the crime was committed or participated in the crime," said Floyd Hannon, then chief of police.
Excerpt 2:
I'm sorry this happen to society. They are the ones who suffer the most. It hard to control myself. You probably call me 'psychotic with sexual perversion hang-up.' When this monster enter my brain I will never know. But, it here to stay. How does one cure himself? If you ask for help, that you have killed four people they will laugh or hit the panic button and call the cops.
"I can't stop it so the monster goes on, and hurt me as well as society. Society can be thankful that there are ways for people like me to relieve myself at time by day dreams of some victims being torture and being mine. It a big compicated game my friend of the monster play putting victims number down, follow them, checking up on them waiting in the dark, waiting, waiting... the pressure is great and sometimes he run the game to his liking. Maybe you can stop him. I can't. He has aready chosen his next victim or victims. I don't who they are yet. The next day after I read the paper, I will know, but it to late. Good luck hunting.
"YOURS, TRULY GUILTILY"
The letter was not signed, but there was a postscript:
"P.S. Since sex criminals do not change their M.O. or by nature cannot do so, I will not change mine. The code words for me will be... Bind them, toture them, kill them, B.T.K., you see he at it again. They will be on the next victim."
Note: Misspellings are BTK’s.
In January, 1978, a poem from BTK was sent to the Wichita Eagle which was a parody on a nursery rhyme related to the murder of Shirley Relford (Vian).
February 9, 1978, BTK sent a letter to KAKE-TV claiming responsibility for seven murders and threatened to kill again. One of the four pages in the letter was the poem “Oh! Death to Nancy.”. Another page had a drawing of how Nancy Fox’s body was arranged. The other two pages were the letter, again replete with misspellings. In it, BTK describes his erotic feelings at the death of young Josephine Otero.
In April, 1979, BTK waited inside the home of Anna Williams, 63. He lost patience and left before she came home. Several weeks later, BTK sent her the poem “Oh Anna, Why Didn’t You Appear.”
Along with the poem were some items he had stolen from her. KAKE-TV reportedly received a similar package.
This was the last of the officially recognized BTK letters until March 19, 2004.
On March 19, 2004, BTK resurfaced again with a letter to the Wichita Eagle with a copy of Vicki Wegerle’s drivers license and three crime scene photos that only the killer could have taken, since Wegerle was taken to the hospital and no police photos of her at the crime scene were taken by police.
May 5, 2004, KAKE-TV receives another letter from BTK and turns it over to police. It is later determined to be a genuine BTK letter.
This letter contained a list of chapter titles from Crime Library’s feature story on the BTK case, which had been the only BTK feature story on the Internet at that time. However, BTK modified the original Crime Library chapter titles to suit his own purposes:
THE BTK STORY
- A SERIAL KILLER IS BORN
- 2. DAWN
- FETISH
- FANTASY WORLD
- THE SEARCH BEGINS
- HAUNTS
- PJ’S
- MO-ID-RUSE
- HITS
- TREASURED MEMORIES
- FINAL CURTAIN CALL
- DUSK
- WILL THERE MORE?
On June 17, 2004 another letter was found in a mechanical engineering book in the drop box of the Wichita Public Library. The letter was immediately handed over to police, who later revealed that it was yet another genuine BTK communication. This time the letter detailed some of the events surrounding the 1974 Otero murders, among other things.
The entire letter’s contents have not yet been revealed by authorities. However, it is believed that there might have been more clues present in the letter, which linked the killer to Wichita State University. Initially, it was unclear why the hunt for BTK continuously led the police to the school campus. Yet, in August 2004 investigators finally revealed the significance of the university in their investigation.
Professor P.J. Wyatt, who taught an English literature class at the university between 1964 and 1986, was of interest to police because of a folksong she analyzed titled “Oh Death.” The song was of great significance to the BTK killer and inspired a poem he wrote called “Oh! Death to Nancy” which was found in a 1978 letter. It was alleged that the altered poem referenced BTK’s murder of Nancy Fox in December 1977.
Additional information on the June 17 letter can be found in Chapter 13, More Clues, of the BTK Feature story.
On October 22, 2004, a suspicious letter was left at a UPS drop box outside the OmniCenter building at 250 N. Kansas Street in Wichita, Kansas. Police suspected that the letter was written by BTK and have sent it to the FBI for verification three days after its discovery. Interestingly, the letter was discovered on the 30th anniversary of BTK’s first communication with the authorities. Chances are that the timing was no coincidence. The contents of the letter and the identity of the person who alerted police of its whereabouts still remain unclear.
Additional information on the October 22 letter can be found in Chapter 14, Name Games, of the BTK Feature story.
On November 30, 2004, Wichita Police did a press release offering a great deal of background information supplied by BTK about his life. This is, indeed unique in the history of serial killers. Occasionally, the concept that serial killers "want to be caught" finds its way into the news. This is pure fiction. Serial killers are pyschopaths. They are entirely self-focused. They will not intentionally put themselves in harm's way. Psychopaths are notorious liars and BTK is no exception.
Additional information on the November 30 letter can be found in Chapter 16, Too Many Clues, of the BTK Feature story.
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 8th. If this were the case, it would be a vital clue that might provide insight into BTK and the way in which he communicates.
In 2005, there were several other BTK communications discovered. On January 25, 2005 a tip off to KAKE-TV led to the detection of “a suspicious package” on “a dirt road that runs between 69th and 77th Street North,” the television station revealed in an article on the BTK serial killer case. The package, which was sent by BTK, contained a Post Toasties cereal box with several items of jewelry were eventually turned over to the FBI. The FBI later confirmed that the package was indeed from the Wichita serial killer known as BTK.
Earlier in January and again in February a postcard was sent by BTK to the television station. Jeanene Kiesling reported in her KAKE-TV article that the two BTK postcards were similar in layout and directed the reader to the Post Toasties cereal box that was found on January 25th. BTK then sent KAKE-TV another post card, which thanked them for their quick response and also asked them to relate some information to the Wichita Police Department, the report further stated.
Then several weeks later in February, Fox News’ KSAS-TV affliate received a padded manila envelope sent by BTK, which contained a necklace, a letter and another unidentified item inside, Fox 4 News reported. It is believed that the necklace belonged to one of BTK's victims but it is not clear which one. The package, which was BTK’s seventh communication, was handed over to the police for analysis.
That same week, Kiesling reported for the first time the entire list of chapters BTK sent to KAKE-TV in May 2004. The chapter list, loosely based on Crime Library’s BTK story, was not made public earlier because the police did not want it to hamper the ongoing investigation.
Additional information on the 2005 letters can be found in Chapter 23, BTK Messages Revealed, of the BTK Feature story.
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