Case 337: Test A.rtf (Part 2/4)

[Part 2 of 4] *** Content warning: child victims *** After claiming seven victims and terrorising Wichita for nearly three decades, the unidentified killer known as B. T. K. suddenly fell silent. Then, in 2004, a letter bearing his unmistakable signature arrived at a local newspaper… --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-337-test-a-rtf-part-2-4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From journalist Olivia LaVoix, the creator of the hidden investigative series The Bakersfield Three, comes the new Case File Presents series, Ada. In 2011, the body of a woman was discovered in a California vineyard. For more than a decade, she was known only as Jane Doe. Then detectives finally discovered her name. But identifying her was only the beginning. Listen to Ada wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:34Speaker 01

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• 1:19Speaker 01

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• 1:30Speaker 02

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• 2:16Speaker 00

  Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners.

• 2:48Speaker 00

  What is this that I can see? Cold icy hands taking hold of me. For death has come, you all can see. Hell has opened its gate to trick me. Oh death, oh death, can't you spare me over for another year? I'll stuff your jaws till you can't talk. I'll bind your legs till you can't walk. I'll tie your hands till you can't make a stand. And finally, I'll close your eyes so you can't see. I'll bring sexual death unto you for me.

• 3:48Speaker 00

  The poem arrived on Friday, February 10, 1978, two months after the murder of Nancy Fox. It was delivered in an envelope addressed to the studio office of local Kansas news television station Cake TV. Titled 'Oh Death to Nancy', the poem was a twisted parody of the folk song 'Oh Death', in which a man pleads with the grim reaper to spare his life.

• 4:16Speaker 00

  Listed four times along the left margin were the letters BTK, each paired with a small, hand-drawn hangman's noose. He had also included a highly detailed sketch of a partially naked woman, bound face down on a bed, depicting Nancy Fox's body with striking accuracy. The scene was further brought to life in an accompanying two-page, typewritten letter marked by BTK's characteristic poor spelling and grammar. It described the layout of Nancy's apartment, the clothes she was wearing, how her body was positioned and restrained, and the condition of her belongings, including the theft of her driver's licence.

• 4:58Speaker 00

  These were details only Nancy's killer could have known.

• 5:04Speaker 00

  The letter contained unreported details from Shirley Wayan's crime scene as well. BTK claimed responsibility for Shirley's murder too, admitting he had planned to kill Shirley's three young children by suffocating the boys with plastic bags and hanging the girl. He lamented that it would have been a "beautiful sexual relief" to do so, before describing in obscene detail the pleasure he took in killing 11-year-old Josie Otero the same way. Ultimately, he said he gave up the idea of killing Shirley's children only because the ringing telephone spooked him. Fearing the unanswered call might prompt someone to visit the house

• 5:49Speaker 00

  and check in on the family, he ended his plans prematurely to secure his escape.

• 5:57Speaker 00

  BTK expressed frustration that a poem he claimed to have previously sent to the Wichita Eagle about Shirley Wayan hadn't received media attention. "I find the newspaper not writing about the poem on Wayan unamusing," he wrote. "A little paragraph would have been enough. I know it's not the news media's fault." He went on to blame Police Chief Richard Lemunyan for the lack of coverage, even though neither he nor anyone at the Eagle's office had any knowledge of the supposed poem. "The police chief, he keeps things quiet and doesn't let the public know there is a psycho running around loose strangling mostly women," BTK complained.

• 6:43Speaker 00

  Following this revelation, staff at the Wichita Eagle reviewed all their recently received mail. In the classified advertising department's dead letter pile, they found a three-by-five-inch index card which had arrived nine days earlier. Stamped onto it with the children's rubber letter kit was a short, poorly-written poem. It was an adaptation of the children's nursery rhyme "Curlylocks", about a girl who gets lost in the woods and befriends three bears who live in a cabin. The index card version referenced Shirley Wayan. "Shirleylocks, Shirleylocks, wilt thou be mine? Thou shalt not scream, nor yet flee the line,

• 7:29Speaker 00

  but lay on cushion and think of me and death, and how it's going to be."

• 7:36Speaker 00

  Signed BTK, it was followed by a postscript stating: "Poem for Fox: Next." Given that the card didn't list a specific department or recipient at the Eagle, it had been inspected by a clerk in the mailroom. They assumed it was a cryptic Valentine's poem intended for the personals section in the paper's upcoming February 14 edition. The card was forwarded to classified advertising, but as it lacked the required payment for publication, it was ultimately discarded into the dead letter pile.

• 8:13Speaker 00

  In the Cake TV letter, BTK attempted to offer an explanation for his crimes. “You don’t understand,” he wrote, “because you’re not under the influence of Factor X.”

• 8:27Speaker 00

  He blamed his actions on this vague, seemingly supernatural force, claiming it had also driven many other killers, including Jack the Ripper, Son of Sam, and the Boston Strangler. BTK appeared to draw inspiration from these other notorious killers. His crimes echoed aspects of theirs, and they too had taunted police through their writings. In the words of one psychiatrist, “Each of them chose to share themselves with society in their own ways, to imprint themselves on history.” BTK claimed the only cure for Factor X was death, or being caught and put away.

• 9:10Speaker 00

  He described living with it as a terrible nightmare, yet noted he didn’t lose any sleep over it.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  The letter ended with BTK proposing a list of names he wished to be known by. His first suggestion was the BTK Strangler, followed by alternatives such as Wichita Strangler, Poetic Strangler, and Bonded Strangler. He also offered darker monikers, including the Wichita Hangman or Executioner, the Garrett Phantom, the Asphyxiator, or simply just Psycho.

• 9:46Speaker 00

  But it was two specific lines in his letter that drew the most alarm. One read, “There are seven in the ground, who will be next?” The other said, “Seven down, and many more to go.” But the four members of the Otero family, in addition to Shirley Wayan and Nancy Fox, accounted for just six victims. When it came to his unnamed seventh victim, BTK wrote, “You guess motive and victim.”

• 10:23Speaker 00

  Police Chief Richard Lemunyan read BTK's latest letter slowly and silently. It was clear the man behind the persona relished not only notoriety and fear, but also took pleasure in taunting the police by turning his unidentified victim into a puzzle he dared them to solve. The way he numbered his known victims suggested that this murder had occurred after the Otero's but before Shirley Vian. Lemunyan began reviewing homicides from this three-year-two-month period, which had previously been considered a hiatus for the killer. He found that just three months after the Otero murders, an incident occurred that, in hindsight, bore several familiar hallmarks.

• 11:10Speaker 00

  After midday on Thursday, April 4, 1974, 21-year-old Catherine Bright arrived at her home on East 13th Street in northeast Wichita with her 19-year-old brother Kevin. Kevin had spent the previous night at Catherine's house to avoid having to drive through recent snowfall. As they entered the dwelling, the siblings were laughing about a joke Catherine had told. They moved down a hallway and past a bedroom when a voice startled them. “Hold it right there.”

• 11:45Speaker 00

  Waiting for them was a man the siblings had never seen before. He was white, approximately 25 to 28 years old, just under six feet tall, and looked to weigh around 180 pounds. He had a few days' worth of stubble with a thick moustache that reached the corners of his mouth. A yellow-and-black stocking cap covered his head, and a silver wristwatch with an expansion band was visible on his left wrist. He brandished an automatic pistol with gloved hands, while a revolver sat holstered in a shoulder rig on his left side. Catherine demanded to know who the man was and what he was doing in her home. He claimed he was wanted in California and needed provisions,

• 12:30Speaker 00

  specifically a car, money, and firearms to make a clean getaway to New York.

• 12:37Speaker 00

  The words the man used struck Kevin as odd. He spoke as if he was reading from a turn-of-the-century detective novel, sounding far more polished and intelligent than his backstory implied. "People just don't say 'provisions' when they mean food, or 'firearms' when they mean guns," Kevin thought.

• 12:58Speaker 00

  Stranger still, the man thought he recognized Kevin. "Don't I know you? I think I've seen you up by the university," he asked, seemingly in reference to Wichita State University. There was little conversation after that. The man told Catherine and Kevin he was going to tie them up, but assured them they wouldn't be hurt. He said he was only there to rob them and would leave once he had what he needed. Because he hadn't brought anything to bind the siblings, the man rummaged through a dresser and collected bandannas, belts, scarves, pantyhose and T-shirts. He then led them into another room and ordered Kevin to tie Catherine to a chair.

• 13:44Speaker 00

  Afterwards, he forced Kevin into a front bedroom and ordered him to lie face down on the floor. The man tied Kevin's hands behind his back, stuffed a washcloth into his mouth, and then secured it with a scarf before leaving the room.

• 14:01Speaker 00

  Kevin heard the man rifling through the house, presumably searching for money. At one point, he turned a radio up so loud that it drowned out almost all other noise. Minutes later, the man returned to Kevin and asked if he thought he could untie himself. Gagged, Kevin couldn't answer. The man then looped a pair of pantyhose around Kevin's neck and pulled tight. As Kevin felt his life slipping away, he thrashed desperately and managed to free his hands. He stood and charged at the man, who quickly raised his pistol and fired. The bullet hit Kevin, dropping him to the floor as blood pooled around his head.

• 14:47Speaker 00

  The gunman then fled the room.

• 14:52Speaker 00

  From across the house, Catherine screamed. "What have you done to my brother?" The man eventually returned to Kevin, only to discover that he was still alive. The bullet had only grazed his forehead. A violent struggle ensued as the man attempted to strangle Kevin again. Kevin clawed at the revolver in the man's shoulder holster and had almost wedged his finger against the trigger when the man drew his pistol and shot Kevin again. Kevin went limp as blood gushed from another wound in his head. By this point, the man had lost all control and composure. Sweat dripped down his tired face.

• 15:36Speaker 00

  Believing Kevin was finally dead, he left the room once more.

• 15:42Speaker 00

  Against all odds, Kevin was still alive. The second bullet had struck his upper jaw, knocking out two teeth. He lay still, playing dead, until he heard his sister moaning in distress in the other room.

• 16:00Speaker 00

  Kevin tried to formulate a plan. Despite the reassurances the intruder had given them, it was clear he had intended to kill them both from the very beginning. Kevin knew he was unlikely to survive another confrontation in his condition. Summoning the little strength he had left, Kevin got up and snuck out the front door. He ran out onto the street and flagged down a passing car. Bleeding from the head, with a pair of pantyhose still around his neck, Kevin told the two men inside the car about the gunman. "He's in there now, doing a number on my sister. Please help me," he cried.

• 16:44Speaker 00

  The driver rushed Kevin to the hospital while the passenger went to call 911. Police radios crackled with the reports of a residence robbery in progress as officers Dennis Landon and Raymond Fletcher raced to the scene. Catherine's house was still and silent when Officer Fletcher approached the front door and knocked. Meanwhile, Officer Landon went to the rear of the property and noticed the glass in a back door was broken, revealing the intruder's entry point. As Landon moved into the house, he sighted a young woman lying face down in a pool of blood outside a bedroom.

• 17:24Speaker 00

  It was Catherine Bright. She was cold and clammy, and her face was tinged with a bluish hue.

• 17:32Speaker 00

  Pantyhose was tied tightly around her ankles and another pair secured her wrists. A blue scarf and a length of white rope were looped loosely around her neck and tangled in her hair. Officer Landon carefully rolled Catherine over. She was still alive and begged him to untie her legs.

• 17:54Speaker 00

  Landon cut through the pantyhose using a pocket knife, and Officer Fletcher arrived as an ambulance was summoned. With Catherine teetering on the edge of consciousness, the two officers questioned her to gather as much information as possible. When asked what had happened, Catherine lifted her blouse, revealing several open wounds in her abdomen. The officers pressed kitchen rags to the injuries and elevated Catherine's legs. She managed to tell them that she didn't know her attacker, who had since fled. At one point, Catherine grabbed Fletcher's arm and repeated: "I can't breathe. Help me."

• 18:36Speaker 00

  He tried to keep her calm, but her pupils remained fixed and blank, and her breathing grew increasingly shallow.

• 18:46Speaker 00

  Katherine had been stabbed five times in the front and twice in the back. She muttered “one more help me” as she was taken into surgery, but died of her injuries while on the operating table. Despite being shot twice in the head, her brother Kevin miraculously survived. The crime scene suggested a violent robbery, yet something about it didn’t quite add up. The contents of Katherine’s purse were scattered beneath the table in the entryway, and several of her dresser drawers had been rifled through. Yet, nothing appeared to be missing. Kevin’s recollections allowed investigators to create a suspect sketch, but it didn’t match any offenders wanted in California.

• 19:33Speaker 00

  When no leads emerged, a $5,000 reward was offered, and the case was added to the secret witness program alongside the still-unsolved Otero murders. Investigators did consider whether the two cases were linked, as both involved fatal home invasions, but the differences made any connections extremely tenuous. The Otero killer brought his own restraints, whereas Katherine and Kevin were bound with items from Katherine’s home. Even the knots differed, with clove hitches used on the Oteros and granny knots for the Brights. The killer broke into the Bright residence and lay in wait, whereas he entered the Otero home when the family was present.

• 20:18Speaker 00

  Katherine’s phone lines were intact, and the Bright scene contained no sexual undertones, while none of the Oteros had been shot or stabbed.

• 20:28Speaker 00

  Coincidentally, Police Officer Raymond Fletcher, one of the first responders at the Bright scene, was also the first to arrive at Shirley Vian’s murder three years later. While Fletcher immediately recognized Shirley as likely being a victim of BTK, he didn’t draw the same conclusion with Katherine. In the letter sent to CAG TV following the murder of Nancy Fox, BTK taunted.

• 20:55Speaker 00

  Did the cops think that all those deaths are not related? Golly gee, yes, the MO is different in each, but look, a pattern is developing. The victims are tied up, most have been women, phone card, bring some bondage, sadist tendencies, no struggle, outside the death spot, no witnesses, except Vienn's kids. Police Chief Richard Lemunyan deduced that Catherine Bright was likely BTK's unknown victim. While the pattern was evident, it was incomplete. It appeared that BTK had intended to carry out his signature killing, but when Kevin

• 21:37Speaker 00

  Bright escaped, the plan was cut short, much like what happened with Shirley Vienn. He likely altered his methods in subsequent killings, such as abandoning the use of a knife, to avoid being linked back to the Bright case. Lemunyan suspected BTK had avoided naming Catherine in his letter not merely as a part of a depraved guessing game with authorities, but because the crime had been sloppy and riddled with mistakes. Most significantly, Kevin's survival presented a major threat. He provided a reliable and credible account of his sister's murder, including a detailed

• 22:17Speaker 00

  physical description of her killer and his possible connection to Wichita State University. “How many do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention? BTK threatened in his Cake TV letter. Up until that point, Chief Lemunyan had kept news of the serial killer under wraps to maintain order. But now, with seven confirmed victims and threats of more, Lemunyan spoke with Cake TV's news director. He fully expected the chief to urge him to bury the story entirely, but, to his surprise, Lemunyan said:

• 22:57Speaker 00

  “For the good of everybody, it's time we tell what we know. We've got to warn people.”

• 23:11Speaker 00

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• 24:50Speaker 01

  I'm Jake Stauk, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work, and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English and it's built. No drag and drop workflows, no expensive consultants. Employees get unblocked and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company. This is a new way to run IT. We guarantee you'll automate 50% of all tickets,

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• 26:20Speaker 00

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• 26:36Speaker 00

  That evening, Chief Lamunyan held a press conference in which he announced: "The purpose of this news conference is to advise the public of an extremely serious matter involving a series of murders which have occurred in our city." This person has consistently identified himself with the initials BTK and wishes to be known as the BTK Strangler. The decision for the police to officially go public with the news of BTK had its detractors. Even Lamunyan had doubts. If BTK struck again, the chief worried he would be blamed for provoking him through the publicity. Yet, he faced seven unsolved murders,

• 27:18Speaker 00

  and the public remained oblivious to the danger. Before the conference, Lamunyan consulted several psychologists to determine whether publicly announcing the case might prompt a BTK to communicate again and provide valuable intelligence. Their guidance persuaded him to move forward.

• 27:39Speaker 00

  Calmly and with resolve, Lemunyan informed the people of Wichita that a serial killer was among them. He also addressed the difficult question of why news of BTK had been withheld for so long. “We felt the lack of news coverage would forestall any more killings. That was what was hoped at the time,” he admitted, before adding that investigators were never fully certain all the murders were connected until recently. There were, of course, very definite similarities, but at the same time, there were very significant differences.

• 28:18Speaker 00

  Lemunyan explained that the police had every reason to believe BTK had the capability to kill again, but they didn’t know if, when, or where he might strike next. Worse still, they had no worthwhile leads or suspects. He urged residents to remain vigilant. After murdering Nancy Fox, BTK wrote that he simply went home and carried on with his life, quote, “like anyone else.” He went on to warn: “And I will be like that, until the urge hits me again.”

• 28:59Speaker 00

  Based on this information, Lemunyan emphasized that BTK wouldn’t appear to be an obvious monster within their community, nor would he seem insane. He would be hiding in plain sight, living a seemingly normal life outside of his crimes, and appearing like any ordinary man in every respect. A psychologist agreed, explaining: “I don’t think one could get very close to the guy, but he might not appear particularly different superficially.”

• 29:30Speaker 00

  FBI criminal profilers suspected BTK was a lone wolf in his mid-30s, who performed well at work but rarely stayed in one job as he disliked being told what to do. He likely had military training and an interest in law enforcement, reading detective magazines that gave insight into police procedures and ways to avoid detection. He would criticize the BTK investigation in casual conversations and would be known to drive around frequently. Profilers believed he likely lived within a few miles of the crime scenes and might have known one or more of the Otero's personally.

• 30:11Speaker 00

  In his private life, BTK likely consumed pornography and engaged in sadomasochistic acts involving both the infliction and reception of pain. While he clearly derived sexual gratification from torture, it was notable that he hadn't committed rape. As a killer, he was controlling and sadistic. Megalomania was the term used to describe him, someone gripped by delusions of grandeur and power. He dared people to catch him almost as if he wanted to get caught, yet was exhilarated by the chase. One psychologist emphasized: "The unfortunate part of this is that he is stimulated by publicity."

• 30:58Speaker 00

  Much to his embarrassment, Police Chief Richard Lemunyan admitted that authorities didn't know how to stop BTK. Research from the FBI indicated that serial killers were extraordinarily difficult to catch. Most of the time, it was a game of waiting and hoping, waiting for the killer to strike again and hoping they made a mistake. "I'll say this about BTK," Lemunyan said, "he's very good. He doesn't leave much behind for us to work with."

• 31:33Speaker 00

  To anticipate BTK's next possible target, investigators attempted to create a victim profile. All the murders had occurred within a three-and-a-half-mile radius in Wichita's east, suggesting the killer was intimately familiar with the area and likely considered it his home turf. His victims were analysed for similar characteristics, including details as specific as eye colour, but they varied widely. However, several of his victims wore eyeglasses. BTK had even mentioned 11-year-old Josie Otero's glasses in his first letter and included Nancy Fox's glasses in the sketch depicting her murder.

• 32:17Speaker 00

  Thinking they might hold particular significance, this gave police an idea.

• 32:24Speaker 00

  Given that BTK had sent a letter to Cake TV, it was likely he watched their broadcasts. Chief Flamunyan arranged to discuss the case on their newscast, during which an image flashed on the screen for a fraction of a second. It showed Nancy Fox's eyeglasses, exactly as BTK had sketched them, accompanied by the words "Now call the chief." The subliminal message was intended to entice BTK to respond. While many viewers saw it and contacted police, BTK did not. It marked the first and last time Wichita Police used subliminal messaging to reach a killer.

• 33:10Speaker 00

  Although BTK wasn't speaking to police, there were countless reports of him contacting others. Various households and women received calls from people announcing "This is BTK, you're next."

• 33:25Speaker 00

  Although they were deemed cranked, the calls did little to ease the panic and distrust gripping Wichita under BTK's looming presence. Knowing he had the capacity to indiscriminately strike anyone, anywhere, through carefully-planned attacks or spontaneous violence, everyone feared the killer equally. Men, women, children, and entire families were at risk. Wichita's deputy police chief explained: "What makes this person so terrifying to people is that they fear they could be the next person chosen.

• 34:03Speaker 00

  It's this fear of the unknown that makes the terror so personal and so powerful."

• 34:12Speaker 00

  On the night of Saturday, April 28, 1979, 63-year-old widow Anna Williams arrived at her small, two-bedroom home on South Pinecrest Street in Wichita's east. She had been expected home hours earlier, but had deviated from her normal routine, deciding to go square dancing and then visit her 24-year-old granddaughter Rebecca. Rebecca had planned to accompany Anna to spend the night at her place, but her boss had called her in for overtime on the evening shift.

• 34:46Speaker 00

  By the time Anna arrived home alone, it was around 11:00 PM. In contrast to how she left it, she noticed the door to her spare bedroom was ajar. Inside, the drawers of a dresser had been opened and clothes were scattered across the floor.

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Someone had stolen jewellery, clothing, and a sock in which Anna had hidden $35.

• 35:12Speaker 00

  Even more disturbing, belts, bindings, and ropes had been laid out on the bed. Anna rushed to call the police, only to find her phone line was dead.

• 35:24Speaker 00

  Terrified, she ran to a neighbour's house, who called for help.

• 35:29Speaker 00

  When officers arrived, they found no sign of the intruder, but they noticed Anna's phone line had been cut and her basement window had been broken into.

• 35:40Speaker 00

  The following month, Anna received a package in the mail.

• 35:45Speaker 00

  It was addressed to her deceased husband, his name spelled out in big block letters. Inside were various items, including a scarf and a piece of jewellery stolen from Anna's home during the April burglary. There was also a drawing of a bound and gagged woman on a bed, naked except for a pair of pantyhose. Her hands and feet were tied to a pole in a manner reminiscent of how safari hunters trust the big game, and designed so that any struggle to free herself would only tighten her restraints.

• 36:21Speaker 00

  There was also a poem originally addressed to someone named Lois, but the name had been crossed out and replaced with Anna. Riddled with typos, the poem was titled "Oh Anna, Why Didn't You Appear", and referred to her within the text by the letter A.

• 36:41Speaker 00

  "Twas the perfect plan of deviant pleasure so bold on that spring night, My inner feeling hot with propensity of the new awakening season. Warm, wet with inner fear and rapture, My pleasure of entanglement, like new vines so tight.

• 36:59Speaker 00

  Oh, eh, why didn't you appear?

• 37:03Speaker 00

  Drop of fear-fresh spring rain would roll down from your nakedness To scent the lofty fever that burns within. In that small world of longing, fear, rapture and desperation, The games we play, fall on devil's ears. Fantasy spring forth mounts to storm fury, Then winter come at the end. Oh, eh, why didn't you appear?

• 37:30Speaker 00

  Now in another time-span I lay, With sweet enraptured garments across most private thought. Bed of spring-moist grass, cleaned before the sun, Enslaved with control, warm wind scenting the air, Sunlight sparkle tears in eyes so deep and clear. Alone again I trod in past memory of mirrors, And ponder why you, number eight, was not. Oh, eh, why didn't you appear?"

• 38:02Speaker 00

  The poem was signed with a peculiar signature.

• 38:07Speaker 00

  The letter B had been scrawled sideways to resemble a pair of eyeglasses, with a T next to it joined to the following K, forming a smile dangling beneath the glasses. BTK. It was the first time he had marked his correspondence in such a stylized way. Curiously, a similar package had been sent to Cake TV. It contained copies of the O. Anna poem and the drawing of the restrained woman, as well as a few other items stolen from Anna's house.

• 38:42Speaker 00

  It was now abundantly clear that it was BTK who had broken into Anna Williams' home intending to kill. He must have had knowledge of her schedule, but because she had made spontaneous plans that night, she wasn't home when he expected.

• 38:59Speaker 00

  Eventually, he got tired of waiting and left.

• 39:04Speaker 00

  Anna was a perplexing target. At 63, she was older than BTK's other victims, who were all under 40. Investigators wondered whether BTK had actually intended to target Anna's 24-year-old granddaughter Rebecca, who would have been with her that night had she not worked late. Whatever the case, the close call rattled Anna, and she fled Kansas as a result.

• 39:35Speaker 00

  BTK had eluded police once again, but at least he hadn't claimed another life. He seemed to go dormant after his failed attack on Anna Williams, leading investigators to consider whether personal distractions in his daily life prevented him from committing crimes more regularly. 1984 marked the 10th anniversary of the Otero family killings and the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between BTK and the authorities. But times had changed. Advancements in technology and forensics in the new decade were proving invaluable to police work. Computers saved thousands of man-hours that were previously spent searching and comparing documents,

• 40:20Speaker 00

  while enabling vast amounts of data to be stored efficiently. For the first time, police also had the capability to perform DNA testing.

• 40:32Speaker 00

  With these developments opening new investigative opportunities in cold cases, Police Chief Richard Lemunyan handpicked several detectives and computer consultants to form a secret task force to reexamine the BTK case. A recently released film inspired their code name: The Ghostbusters.

• 40:54Speaker 00

  The task force was housed in a dedicated office, off-limits to other police personnel, where they spent their first month painstakingly reading over the thousands of pages of reports in the BTK case file. Afterward, they began reviewing the vast quantities of evidence stored securely in underground vaults 50 miles northwest of Wichita.

• 41:17Speaker 00

  Every detail of the crime scenes was scrutinized, while previously ruled-out suspects were re-interviewed. The audio recording of BTK's 911 call reporting Nancy Fox's murder was released publicly. Investigators wondered whether the number 3 appearing in each victim's house number was more than a coincidence. They studied books on numerology, mythology, witchcraft, and demonology to explore its possible significance. They even analyzed the moon phases during each attack, searching for a connection.

• 41:55Speaker 00

  Advice was sought from interstate agencies that had recently faced their own serial killer investigations, including the detectives who caught Son of Sam in New York, and those still pursuing the Hillside Strangler in Los Angeles. At one stage, confidential files, including crime scene photos, were shared with trusted members of the press. They weren't meant for publication. Investigators simply wanted to see if a fresh set of eyes noticed something they had overlooked.

• 42:27Speaker 00

  BTK's written correspondence remained one of the case's few substantial clues, though he had been careful not to lay fingerprints or DNA on any of them. All of his letters, except the very first one, were determined to be photocopies of an original document. Some were several generations removed from the original. It appeared he had made the copies to obscure the text to prevent authorities from identifying the typewriter he had used, while also preserving the original as a keepsake.

• 43:02Speaker 00

  Photocopiers leave toolmark fingerprints along the edges of each sheet they process, which can potentially be traced back to the specific machine used. BTK had the foresight to trim the margins of his messages. Nevertheless, the Ghostbusters became experts in the hundreds of copiers available in Wichita, learning everything about them, from their parts to their ink components. They studied the types of trees used to produce different kinds of paper and learnt which companies manufactured various pulp varieties. They even analysed the trace minerals present in different paper brands,

• 43:43Speaker 00

  a by-product of the fertilisers used on the trees from which the paper originated. This line of investigation received a boost when staff from the US printing corporation Xerox offered their expertise. As pioneers of the photocopier market, they offered to examine BTK's letters in their lab and determined that the poem sent to Anna Williams in 1979 had likely been copied at the Wichita Public Library. It was in this same library that BTK had hidden his first letter confessing to the Otero murders.

• 44:22Speaker 00

  The poem and letter sent to Cake TV following Nancy Fox's murder were definitively traced to a copier located in the Life Sciences Building at Wichita State University.

• 44:35Speaker 00

  The institution had come up in the case before, when the killer had told Kevin Bright that he might have seen him on campus. The yellow and black stocking cap he wore during the attack on the Bright siblings also echoed the school's colours.

• 44:52Speaker 00

  Furthermore, the text "O Death", which had inspired the Nancy Fox poem, was found in a textbook used in an American folklore class there. However, Wichita State shredded their student records after three years, leaving no official enrolment information for 1978, the year the Nancy Fox letter had been copied on site.

• 45:19Speaker 00

  The Ghostbusters began compiling extensive lists. They started by cataloguing every local white male fitting BTK's age profile, dead or alive. They then tracked men who had lived within a quarter mile of the Otero's, Catherine Bright, Shirley Vian and Nancy Fox at the time of their murders. Those connected to Wichita State University were included, along with known animal abusers, window peepers, prison inmates, sex offenders, and men who owned the type of pistol used against Kevin Bright. If a name appeared on two or more of the lists, it was considered significant.

• 46:02Speaker 00

  But this barely narrowed things down, as tens of thousands of men fell into this category. One individual appeared in four lists, while the smallest list contained just eight names. These were men who had checked out the textbook Applied Engineering Mechanics from the public library around the time the Otero confession letter had been hidden within its pages.

• 46:28Speaker 00

  Each individual was systematically ruled out until the total number of names was narrowed down to thirty men who were living in Wichita and another one hundred and eighty-five who were living elsewhere. Two teams of detectives worked seven days a week, twelve to fourteen hours a day, travelling to visit each of these men in person. They collected blood and saliva samples, searched homes for clues such as detective magazines or bondage equipment, and interviewed current and former wives and partners to determine if any of the men engaged in sadomasochism. The biological samples were compared to the semen left by BTK at the Otero and Fox crime scenes,

• 47:12Speaker 00

  but there were no matches. The task force didn't relent. They simply compiled new lists and continued the search.

• 47:25Speaker 00

  At noon on Thursday, December thirty-one, nineteen eighty-seven, Wichita mother of two, Mary Fager, returned to her family's one-storey brick ranch home on East Fourteenth Street after visiting relatives out of town. The Fager's grey Volkswagen Rabbit was missing from the driveway. Mary assumed that her oldest daughter, sixteen-year-old Kelly, had taken her nine-year-old sister, Sherry, out for a drive. It wasn't until Mary entered the house that she realised something was horribly wrong.

• 48:00Speaker 00

  Her thirty-seven-year-old husband, Philip, lay dead on the living room floor, having been shot twice in the back at close range.

• 48:09Speaker 00

  When first responders arrived, they discovered a horrific scene in the basement. Beneath the fabric cover of a bubbling above-ground hot tub were the bodies of Kelly and Sherry Fager. Nine-year-old Sherry was in her pyjamas and had been bound with half-inch-wide black electrician's tape before being strangled to death and her body then dumped in the tub. Sixteen-year-old Kelly was naked and had been asphyxiated, but was still alive when placed into the ninety-two-degree hot tub eight hours after Sherry. The lid was then sealed over Kelly, leaving her to drown.

• 48:49Speaker 00

  Rumors swirled in the aftermath of the killings. Police Chief Richard Lemunyan was quick to assert doubt over any links between the Fager murders and any other unsolved cases. Instead, police focused on Bill Butterworth, a contractor who had recently built the Fagers' sunroom. He was tracked down to Florida after stealing the Fagers' car, withdrawing all the money from his bank account, and buying new clothes.

• 49:18Speaker 00

  On Tuesday, January 5, less than a week after the triple homicide, a letter arrived at the Fager residence. Mary opened it to find a poorly-written anonymous poem titled "Oh God, He Put Kelly and Sherry in the Tub." It was accompanied by a drawing of a young girl lying beside a hot tub with her hands bound behind her and fear etched across her face. In the lower right corner was a familiar symbol, the letter "B" on its side with a "T" and "K" below, this time forming a frown. This marked BTK's first communication in eight years.

• 50:01Speaker 00

  However, the letter contained no insider details of the Fager murders and the drawing was inaccurate, suggesting it was inspired by news coverage rather than firsthand knowledge. BTK did not confess or claim responsibility for the crime. Instead, he expressed admiration for the family's alleged killer, Bill Butterworth. This letter marked an unusual shift for BTK, who was now composing taunting verses and illustrations for crimes he hadn't committed purely to provoke fear, distress, and uncertainty.

• 50:41Speaker 00

  His self-insertion into the Fager case left his figurative DNA all over it, and was believed to have contributed to Bill Butterworth's acquittal.

• 50:56Speaker 00

  By this point, thousands of man-hours and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars had been spent chasing an overwhelming number of tips, theories, persons of interest, hoaxes, alleged confessions, and false correspondence in the BTK investigation. Every lead had reached a dead end, and the case remained stone-cold. Police Chief Richard Lemunyan assured the public the case file wouldn’t gather dust, but behind the scenes, the Ghostbusters were being reassigned. Only one detective remained actively working the case, though he was periodically pulled away for other investigations until he was transferred to the homicide unit.

• 51:41Speaker 00

  The three-year investigation had taken a heavy toll on the Ghostbusters team, who felt they had exhausted every lead, yet unanswered questions plagued them daily. Their relentless work brought fatigue, self-doubt, and personal strain. They endured sleepless nights, and some turned to alcohol to cope. Their families suffered too, living in constant fear that BTK might harm them as payback. This threat became very real for Chief Lemunyan. During BTK’s reign, a parallel investigation in Wichita targeted a mysterious individual known only as “The Poet”.

• 52:24Speaker 00

  Some suspected that The Poet and BTK were one and the same, given their shared interest in writing cryptic, sexually-charged poems about murder. When The Poet sent a letter threatening Lemunyan’s wife, the chief personally entered the investigation to track down the elusive figure. This story is covered in episode 308 of Case File, titled “Ruth Finley”.

• 52:51Speaker 00

  Richard Lemunyan had begun his tenure as police chief determined to catch the Otero family's killer. Over the years, he oversaw investigations into three more BTK victims. Yet, when he stepped down in 1988, the cases remained unsolved. He called it “the greatest disappointment of his 12 years as chief, a devastation that was shared by the Ghostbusters”. During an interview, one former member broke down in tears, feeling as if he had failed young Josie Otero. Another told The Wichita Eagle: “When I think of the Ghostbusters, all I can think of is what a failure it was,

• 53:35Speaker 00

  and what I didn’t do, and how I could have done more, if only I’d been smarter.” As time passed with no word from BTK, people wondered whether he had moved away, been incarcerated, confined to a mental health facility, or had died. Perhaps he had found a partner willing to indulge his violent sexual fantasies, satisfying urges that might otherwise have driven him to attack others. Whenever a Wichita homicide bore a hint of BTK’s MO, questions arose about his involvement. But since he never claimed responsibility, the answer was always the same: maybe, maybe

• 54:20Speaker 00

  not. Some held out hope that BTK would eventually be discovered, perhaps over something as simple as someone noticing him wearing Joe Otero’s wristwatch. An investigator who worked on the case in 1978 was far less optimistic. He told The Wichita Eagle: “It’s sad to say the only way that we’ll ever find out who this individual is, we’ll have to be a victim.” Another investigator noted: “If the BTK strangler died tomorrow of natural causes or some accident, society might never know who he was.”

• 55:04Speaker 00

  But if he lived on, one question remained: would he kill again, or was he satisfied to fade away into obscurity?

• 55:24Speaker 00

  Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode sponsors.

• 55:32Speaker 00

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• 56:54Speaker 01

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• 58:10Speaker 00

  By the 2000s, life in Wichita had returned to normal. Those who had lived through BTK's reign of terror had moved on with their lives, and the younger generations didn't even know what the initials stood for. As far as police knew, BTK hadn't claimed any victims since 1977, and it had been over a decade since he'd sent any correspondence. He'd barely made the news anymore, appearing only in brief mentions on the anniversaries of his murders. One such article appeared in the January 2004 edition of the Wichita Eagle to mark the 30th anniversary of the killer's first known crime, the 1974 Otero family quadruple

• 58:55Speaker 00

  homicide. The piece suggested that many Wichitaans probably have never heard of BTK, a claim supported by local lawyer and criminal justice lecturer, Robert Beatty. When Beatty referenced the case during his class, the response surprised him. "I had zero recognition from the students. Not one of them had heard of it," he recalled. This prompted Beatty to write a book about the case slated for release that coming April. He predicted it would draw attention, remarking, "I'm sure we will be contacted by both crackpots and

• 59:35Speaker 00

  well-meaning people who have little to contribute. But I do not think we'll be contacted by BTK."

• 59:44Speaker 00

  Two months later, on Friday, March 19, 2004, an envelope arrived at the Wichita Eagle addressed to the paper's newsroom. According to the return label, it had been sent by a man named Bill Thomas Kilman, listing an address on South Old Manor Road in Wichita. The newspaper received about 700 pieces of mail daily, but this one stood out. Inside was a single sheet of paper that contained grainy photocopies of several images, including three Polaroid photographs depicting a woman bound on the floor.

• 1:00:24Speaker 00

  At the top of the page was a cryptic string of stenciled letters: GBSOAP7-TNLTREITBSFAV14. At first, it was assumed to be just a senseless, incoherent letter from a mentally unwell individual, and it was almost discarded. But what drew attention was a faint graffiti-like symbol in the lower right corner of the page. It consisted of a letter "B" tipped over to resemble a pair of breasts, each curve marked with a dot for a nipple.

• 1:01:05Speaker 00

  Underneath it were the letters "T" and "K" fused together to suggest arms bound behind the breasts and legs splayed wide. Adding to the unease was the sender's name. Bill Thomas Kilman bore the initials BTK, and the surname "Kilman" didn't seem coincidental. The letter had been postmarked two days earlier, on March 17, which happened to be the 27th anniversary of Shirley Vian's murder. Newspaper staff found no record of a man named Bill Thomas Kilman in Wichita, and the address he listed on South Old Manor Road led to a vacant apartment building.

• 1:01:50Speaker 00

  It was assumed to be part of the joke. "Old Manor" sounded a lot like "old man," a nod to the stage of life BTK would presumably now be in.

• 1:02:03Speaker 00

  The Polaroid photos of the bound woman looked disturbingly like crime scene photographs, but it was quickly pointed out that the woman's arms were in different positions across the photos. In some, she was fully clothed, while in others, her top and bra were pushed up to partially expose her breasts.

• 1:02:24Speaker 00

  Police never moved a body around like that when documenting a crime scene, meaning they couldn't possibly be genuine.

• 1:02:32Speaker 00

  Everything suggested the latter was just an elaborate, distasteful hoax, hardly the first in BTK's long history. Yet, something else stood out. Among the images of the bound woman was a photocopy of a Kansas driver's licence. The accompanying photo showed a woman looking pleasantly at the camera, her thick, shoulder-length blond hair and fringe framing her face. Her date of birth was listed as March 25, 1958, and her address was on West 13th Street North in Wichita. Her name was Vicky Wegerly. The Eagle staff felt a chill run down their spines.

• 1:03:22Speaker 00

  Over seventeen years earlier, late on the morning of Tuesday, September 16, 1986, a 911 corps was placed from Wichita. "I think someone has killed my wife," the distressed male caller reported, wailing repeatedly. "Vicky, Vicky, Vicky. Oh God. No, no, no."

• 1:03:46Speaker 00

  Two firefighters arrived first on scene, a multi-story family home on West 13th Street North. On the front porch, they found the man who had called 911, Bill Wegerly. He was punching a wall in anguish, saying, "If I could have been here five minutes earlier, I could have done something."

• 1:04:10Speaker 00

  Inside the main bedroom, the firefighters found Bill's wife, twenty-eight-year-old Vicky Wegerli. Her body was wedged in a three-foot space between the bed and a television cabinet. Her jeans were unzipped and her breasts were partially exposed, with her wrists tied behind her back. Her ankles were bound with leather shoelaces and a deep ligature mark encircled her neck. Vicky had fought fiercely, clawing some of her killer's skin under her fingernail, but she was ultimately overpowered and strangled with a pair of pantyhose taken from her own dresser drawer. Bill Wegerli, who was a house painter by trade,

• 1:04:53Speaker 00

  told the police that he had gone home for lunch that day as he was working on a site nearby. Vicky was there with their youngest child, two-year-old Brandon, while their eldest daughter was at school. As Bill drove home, a gold 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Luxury Coupe passed in the opposite direction. For a moment, Bill thought it was Vicky's car, as she drove the exact same vehicle. But when he saw a tall man alone at the wheel, he realised he was mistaken.

• 1:05:29Speaker 00

  Upon arriving home, Bill noticed that Vicky's car was gone, and he found Brandon alone inside. Though it wasn't like Vicky to leave Brandon behind, Bill assumed she had just stepped out briefly, and he waited for her to return.

• 1:05:46Speaker 00

  When forty-five minutes passed with no sign of her, he searched the house, discovered her bound body in the bedroom, and promptly called 911.

• 1:05:59Speaker 00

  Police zeroed in on who they thought was the most logical suspect in cases like these: the husband. They thought that Bill Wegerli appeared suspicious. He showed little visible emotion, coming across as cold-hearted, and the fact that he'd been at home for forty-five minutes before discovering Vicky's body seemed like a convenient cover. Vicky's car was ultimately found within walking distance of the Wegerli home, parked in a lot next to a meat market. Nothing was found in or around the vehicle to indicate that a stranger had driven it. If the car had been stolen and Bill saw it being driven away on his journey home,

• 1:06:42Speaker 00

  investigators wondered how it had ended up so close by. Bill took two polygraph tests and failed both of them. Realising he was being viewed as the prime suspect, Bill refused to cooperate further with police. Though there was insufficient evidence to charge him with Vicky's murder, many detectives remained convinced that he was responsible.

• 1:07:09Speaker 00

  Rumours that Bill had killed his wife followed him for years to come, and his children were teased for it. Throughout it all, Bill Wegerly maintained his innocence, consistently asserting that he had loved Vicky and would never have harmed her.

• 1:07:26Speaker 00

  Those who knew the family agreed. In their view, the Wegerlys had a happy marriage. Their home was always filled with warmth, laughter, and the occasional sound of Vicky's beautiful piano playing.

• 1:07:40Speaker 00

  Bill had always been a reserved man who didn't show much emotion, but he regularly visited his family during his workday because he enjoyed doing so.

• 1:07:50Speaker 00

  Given that Vicky's body wasn't visible from the bedroom doorway, it made sense that he might not have noticed it immediately. At the time of Vicky's murder, the task force reinvestigating BTK was winding down, though a few detectives had visited the Wegerly crime scene to rule out any connections.

• 1:08:11Speaker 00

  There were several details that struck them as significant. Two-year-old Brandon had told the police, "Man hurt mummy."

• 1:08:21Speaker 00

  The Ghostbusters reasoned that a child wouldn't use the word "man" if he meant daddy. What stood out most, however, was that Vicky's driver's licence appeared to be the only item missing from her home.

• 1:08:36Speaker 00

  Her wallet, money and credit cards had been left behind. A driver's licence held little value to an ordinary burglar, unless it was taken as a trophy.

• 1:08:49Speaker 00

  While the victim profile, bindings, method of killing and missing driver’s licence were notable, there was nothing to definitively prove BTK was responsible for the crime. The Ghostbusters came away believing Bill Wegerly was likely innocent, but they refrained from imposing their judgement on the detectives actively investigating Vicky’s case. As far as they were concerned, their sole focus was BTK.

• 1:09:20Speaker 00

  By the following year, the Ghostbusters had effectively disbanded and the Wegerly case remained unsolved.

• 1:09:32Speaker 00

  Almost two decades later, the Wichita Eagle received a letter from someone claiming to be BTK taking responsibility for Vicky Wegerly’s murder. He hadn’t claimed a victim since Nancy Fox, nearly nine years before Vicky was killed. While the newspaper assumed it was likely a hoax confession, they reported it to the police regardless.

• 1:09:58Speaker 00

  They confirmed that the woman in the Polaroid photographs was indeed Vicky Wegerly. The problem was, no crime scene photos had been taken of her body in situ as first responders had moved her from the bedroom to a larger room to attempt CPR before police arrived. In fact, no official photographs were taken of Vicky inside her home as she was rushed to the hospital before any could be captured.

• 1:10:26Speaker 00

  This meant the Polaroids could only have come from one person: her killer.

• 1:10:33Speaker 00

  Vicky’s killer had also provided authorities with his DNA in the form of skin scrapings collected from beneath her fingernails. With forensic tests available in 2004, investigators were finally able to conclusively clear Bill Wegerly after nearly eighteen years as the crime’s prime suspect.

• 1:10:55Speaker 00

  The exoneration came as a relief for Bill, who told the police: “I’m glad you cleared me. All I ever wanted was for you to find who killed Vicky.”

• 1:11:07Speaker 00

  The DNA from the scrapings were compared to the semen left at BTK's crime scenes. Upon receiving the results, one detective remarked: "Fuck, it's him. Oh shit, shit, shit."

• 1:11:24Speaker 00

  After all the years of speculation about what had become of BTK, it turned out he had never left Wichita at all. He had victims the police didn't even know about, and he wasn't prepared to let them go unaccounted for.

• 1:11:40Speaker 00

  BTK's DNA was entered into a newly-developed national database of criminals, but there was no match.

• 1:11:49Speaker 00

  Vicky Wegerly was now the eighth known victim of BTK. While the realisation that she had been killed by the notorious serial killer was deeply distressing for her family, they remained hopeful that the person responsible might finally be caught and the case be solved. It was a hope shared by the loved ones of BTK's other victims.

• 1:12:12Speaker 00

  Though it was troubling to know he was still at large, his recent contact had brought investigators a mix of exhilaration and relief, as it meant they still had a chance to catch him. But, it wouldn't be easy. BTK was careful not to leave any forensic traces on the latest documents he sent to the Wichita Eagle, and the meaning behind the string of 23 stenciled letters at the top of the page remained a mystery. With BTK's return, the Ghostbusters Task Force was reactivated, bringing together several original members along with new detectives.

• 1:12:52Speaker 00

  What led BTK to come forward after all those years could only be speculated. Did the article about the anniversary of the Otero family murder two months earlier prompt him to step back into the spotlight out of fear of irrelevance? Or maybe he wanted to reveal all his crimes so that nothing would be missed in the book being written about him? Perhaps he wanted to control his legacy instead of leaving it to a random author?

• 1:13:20Speaker 00

  To FBI criminal profilers, BTK simply couldn’t resist coming forward. He was essentially saying, “Look at what I’ve done.” The profilers believed that knowing the truth about Vicky Wegerle’s murder all these years was a heady, intoxicating experience that left BTK feeling as though he was playing god.

• 1:13:45Speaker 00

  Seeing BTK appear in the headlines again stirred up long-dormant fears in Wichita. Familiar warnings were issued for residents: “If you’re being followed, don’t go home. If you return home and notice anything unusual, like lights on or doors open, don’t go inside. Check your telephone. If it isn’t working, get out. Keep windows and doors closed and locked. Don’t let anyone in without verifying their identity first.”

• 1:14:19Speaker 00

  As the BTK case became a top priority for police once again, they were left wondering: Where had he been all these years? The prevailing theory by 2004 was that he had died, but this clearly wasn’t the case. Whatever the explanation, BTK had gotten Wichita’s full attention once again, just as he intended.

• 1:14:45Speaker 00

  A retired forensic psychologist told the Wichita Eagle:

• 1:14:50Speaker 00

  “Everything he does has a purpose and elaborate forethought. I think he’ll savour the next few days. He’s got the pot stirred.”

• 1:15:03Speaker 00

  With the rise of the internet, the case became an obsession for online sleuths. Some theorised that BTK and the Zodiac Killer were the same person. Others suspected that BTK could be responsible for other infamous unsolved cases, including the strangling of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado. The finger was pointed at everyone, from Wichita State University professors to homicide detectives and journalists who covered the case. Even Robert Beatty, the lawyer writing the book about BTK, was accused.

• 1:15:41Speaker 00

  On Tuesday, May 4, 2004, forty-six days after the Wichita Eagle received the letter linking BTK to the murder of Vicky Wegerly, an envelope arrived at Cake TV. This one was sent from Thomas B. Kingman, whose initials formed an anagram of BTK. It contained several items. One was a complex, full-page word puzzle titled “Chapter Eight”. Similar to a word search, it was divided into three sections: MO, ID, and ruse. Each section contained words related to its heading.

• 1:16:24Speaker 00

  The words “cruise”, “follow”, “prowl”, and the phrase “go for it” were found in the MO section. Ruse included “handyman”, “serviceman”, “insurance”, “realtor”, and “wrong address”. The ID section contained “Strong”, “Anderson”, “telephone company”, “officer”, and “school”. This information related to another document that contained photocopies of handmade and falsified ID cards with their photos blacked out, as well as a fake police badge. One of the ID cards bore the name Francis Strong and claimed he was a supervising service foreman for a telecommunications company.

• 1:17:09Speaker 00

  The other was a school security ID featuring the name Larry Anderson. These items confirmed a longstanding police theory that BTK sometimes gained access to victims’ homes by pretending to be on official business. This aligned with the story given by Shirley Veyant’s young children that their mother’s killer had posed as a detective.

• 1:17:35Speaker 00

  The Cape TV envelope also contained a piece of paper with the chapter headings for what was described as the BTK story. They were presented like a table of contents as follows.

• 1:17:49Speaker 00

  1. A serial killer is born. 2. Dawn. 3. Fetish. 4. Fantasy world. 5. The search begins. 6. BTK's haunts. 7. PJs. 8. MO ID ruse. 9. Hits. 10. Treasured memories. 11. Final curtain call. 12. Dusk.

• 1:18:23Speaker 00

  The title of the final chapter, number 13, asked: "Will there be more?"

• 1:18:33Speaker 00

  To be continued, next week.

• 1:19:02Speaker 03

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• 1:19:33Speaker 01

  I'm Jake Stauk, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, accessed applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work, and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English, and it's built. No drag-and-drop workflows, no expensive consultants. Employees get unblocked, and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company. This is a new way to run IT.

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  We guarantee you'll automate 50% of all tickets, and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com/tickets. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash tickets.