WICHITA, Kan., March 2 (UPI) -- The suspect in the BTK killings that had police searching for 30 years may have been found through the many communications he sent about the crimes.
Dennis Rader Tuesday was formally charged with 10 counts of murder in cases that began in January 1974 and continued until 1991. In many messages to police and media, a person called BTK -- bind, torture, kill -- taunted authorities. A letter to a television station asked, “How many do I have to kill before I get my name in the paper or some national attention?”
Rader, 59, was arrested last week.
The pastor of the church where Rader was president of the church council told The New York Times it was a computer disc from the church’s computer that led police to Rader. Police did not confirm that, however.
The messages began shortly after the first killing but stopped in 1979. They began to appear again last March. The latest one, in the form of a manila envelope containing several items including a computer disc, was sent to a television station Feb. 16.
The Times reported the disc was traced to a computer at the church and the pastor said Rader had recently used the machine.