Authorities Examining Suspected 'BTK' Serial Killer Package
Dec. 15, 2004 — -- Wichita, Kan. authorities are awaiting FBI test results on a package that may have been left by the notorious BTK, the self-coined "Blind, Torture, Kill" serial killer who has eluded capture for 30 years.
Police in Wichita suspect the notoriously elusive BTK serial killer may have communicated with them again, this time by leaving a package of items found by a local resident. According to ABC News affiliate KAKE-TV in Wichita, an unidentified man found a package while walking in a local park overnight on Monday.
The package was wrapped in plastic and held together by rubber bands. When he saw the contents inside, the man contacted KAKE-TV.
"I didn't know what it was, because it was wrapped in rubber bands," the man, whose name has not been released, told KAKE-TV. "So, I just held on to it and I brought it to the house and I sat [it] on the table and I took the scissors and I clipped around the trash bag."
KAKE-TV notified Wichita police, who retrieved the package and then sent it to the FBI for analysis and authentication.
Is the Package Linked to a Victim?
Wichita police, KAKE-TV said, asked them not to disclose all the specific items the package contained. However, KAKE-TV has reported the package allegedly contained what appeared to be the driver's license of Nancy Fox, one of BTK's alleged victims who was found in her home tied up and strangled on Dec. 8, 1977.
Fox's driver's license was not found at the scene at the time of the investigation, and authorities captured what they believe to be BTK's voice on tape when he called a dispatcher to report her slaying.
KAKE-TV also reported that the package contained an alleged chapter list of a book called "The BTK Story." In May, KAKE-TV also received a letter that included a page titled "The BTK Story" that listed what appeared to be chapter titles. The final chapter title, according to KAKE-TV, reads "Will there more?" [sic]
In the purported list found in the package, three of the chapters are blank, according to KAKE-TV. The final chapter title in the list has a similar title to the one in the letter sent to KAKE-TV in May. The only difference is that this chapter is entitled, "Will there BE more?"
A Recent Police Plea for Help
BTK has been linked to eight unsolved homicides in Wichita between 1974 and 1986. The killer remained silent for 25 years until last March, when authorities believe he sent The Wichita Eagle a letter that detailed an unsolved 1986 slaying and contained the victim's driver's license and photos of her body.
BTK has stayed in the spotlight since then, sending various letters to police and the media. The letters have been authenticated by the FBI. In the letter to KAKE-TV last spring, BTK sent photocopies of I.D. cards of a former employee of the Wichita public school district and a Southwestern Bell employee who retired 20 years ago and a couple of word puzzles that spell out "wrong address" backward and "ruse."
The latest developments come two weeks after police, in a plea for the public's help in the case, released some detailed information provided in recent letters sent to local media by the person they believe is BTK.
Police Lt. Ken Landwehr said the BTK killer claimed he was born in 1939, making him either 64 or 65 years old. BTK said he had served in the military in the 1960s and has had a lifelong fascination with trains. Though his family moved frequently when he was a child, BTK said he always lived near railroad tracks. Since that plea for help, police warned the public that the suspected BTK killer may change his routine habits in the wake of the publicity.
Wichita police have received thousands of tips since BTK's return last spring, but they say they need more help. Authorities have asked people with information to call 1-866-765-8285, send an e-mail to coldcase@wichita.gov, or write to Cold Case, P.O. Box 9202, Wichita, KS 67277-0202. People can also call Crimestoppers at (316) 267-2111.
ABC News affiliate KAKE-TV contributed to this report.