Btk Killer
The BTK (for bind, torture, kill) investigation in Wichita, Kansas, was a serial homicide investigation spanning decades and presenting extraordinary challenges. The investigation began in the mid-1970s, spanned 30 years, and concluded with the arrest of a 59-year-old compliance officer in a small community adjacent to Wichita. His apprehension came as a result of a creative approach that used local media to maintain contact with the killer and carefully manage the release of information about the case. The case also allowed the Wichita Police Department to develop innovative ways to manage large amounts of information provided by the public and use biological and computer forensics.
The BTK serial killer first stuck in 1974 with the murder of four members of a Wichita family in their home and committed his last murder in January 1991. Thirty years after the first murders, between March 2004 and February 2005, the BTK killer resurfaced amid media attention, triggering an intensive 11-month investigation by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies that brought the case to a successful close (Gibson 54). The BTK killer’s craving for media attention provided unusual opportunities for innovative involvement of the news media. When BTK sent a letter to the local newspaper after 16 years of silence, the Wichita Police Department developed a controversial media strategy to foster communications with the serial killer.
It is not a new investigative technique to employ the news media in communicating with serial killers, but the Wichita Police Department knew it had to develop a carefully planned strategy that controlled the messages sent to BTK (Hansen 25). “Between March 2004 and February 2005, the BTK Task Force recorded more than 5,600 tips and leads from the public, collected more than 1,300 DNA swabs, and convinced the killer to communicate with police by using a computer disk” (Simons 33). The disk provided the first leads to his identity, which was
The BTK serial killer first stuck in 1974 with the murder of four members of a Wichita family in their home and committed his last murder in January 1991. Thirty years after the first murders, between March 2004 and February 2005, the BTK killer resurfaced amid media attention, triggering an intensive 11-month investigation by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies that brought the case to a successful close (Gibson 54). The BTK killer’s craving for media attention provided unusual opportunities for innovative involvement of the news media. When BTK sent a letter to the local newspaper after 16 years of silence, the Wichita Police Department developed a controversial media strategy to foster communications with the serial killer.
It is not a new investigative technique to employ the news media in communicating with serial killers, but the Wichita Police Department knew it had to develop a carefully planned strategy that controlled the messages sent to BTK (Hansen 25). “Between March 2004 and February 2005, the BTK Task Force recorded more than 5,600 tips and leads from the public, collected more than 1,300 DNA swabs, and convinced the killer to communicate with police by using a computer disk” (Simons 33). The disk provided the first leads to his identity, which was
Cited: Bardsley, Marilyn, Rachael Bell, and David Lohr. "BTK Kansas Serial Killer - Full BTK Story — Birth of a Serial Killer — Crime Library on TruTV.com." TruTV.com. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/unsolved/btk/index_1.html>. Gibson, Dirk Cameron. Clues from Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004. Print. Hansen, Mark. "How the Cops Caught BTK." ABA Journal 92.4 (2006): 44-48. Criminal Justice Abstracts. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. Simons, Erica B. "Forensic Computer Investigation Brings Notorious Serial Killer BTK to Justice." Forensic Examiner 14.4 (2005): 55-57. Criminal Justice Abstracts. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.