May I suggest they check prison records for persons who were incarcerated over this same period of time.
The killer may have been put away for another crime (though 25 years sounds like a "life" sentence) and has just now returned to the outside world.
Note to lurkers/posters:
John Douglas, former FBI profiler, has talked a bit about his involvement in
the BTK case a few times during the past couple of months on his "Mind Hunter" radio show.
He spent the last hour of his show tonight excitedly discussing the latest
developments in Wichita.
Douglas seems to think this new letter means there is renewed hope for identifying and
capturing BTK. And that given the DNA technology advances, DNA proof might be possible
on an identified suspect once taken into custody.
What gets me is that I grew up about 100 miles south of Wichita, but never heard of the
BTK serial killer case until I stumbled across it at the "crimelibrary" website a few
years ago. But I do faintly remember hearing of the first murder site in the BTK saga...
when Douglas described the murder of the Oteros (husband, wife, son and daughter),
I faintly remember hearing of it at the time (I was still a kid then), but never heard
of the cases connection to a serial killer.
Douglas has a website at the following URL; link to his Saturday evening radio show
is linked on the page:
http://www.johndouglasmindhunter.com/home.php