ABC News
SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA
March 26, 2004(snip)
DAVID MUIR - Police say BTK began killing in 1974. In January, four members of the Otero family were tied up and strangled in their home. Calmly hiding in a victim's own home after cutting the phone line became BTK's hallmark.
(blah, blah, blah...)
CLAIRE SHIPMAN - ... they must be terrified that the most notorious serial killer in your city's history says he's back.
LARRY HETTEBERG - (an anchor at KAKE, the ABC affiliate that received several of the earlier letters) They are terrified. And right now, they're terrifying a whole new generation of people, because 25 years have passed since the 1970's, and now with this letter, this new generation is as terrified as the old generation. And it's just starting all over again. Because, normally, things like this don't happen in Wichita, Kansas. Things like this happen to other people.
CLAIRE SHIPMAN - I understand you know people who are taking precautions, moving in with friends, women who don't want to be alone?LARRY HETTEBERG - That's right. Just last night, when I got off the newscast, a viewer called up and said she walked into her house and was just overcome by a feeling of terror, backed out of her house, called a friend and stayed all night with that friend. We've also had runs on mace here in the stores. Many of the stores are selling out of mace. Locksmiths are getting calls. And one security company called, said that they had six times more calls yesterday than they've ever had. So, fear is, is rampant in this area. (Just think: for 15 years during the middle of the killing spree, Dennis Rader was the person making many of those house calls and becoming intimately familiar with your house. I'll bet he made it a point to check the hallways and fireplace mantels for family photos).
(snip)
CLAIRE SHIPMAN - And do police have any idea why, after 25 years, he's resurfaced? Could he have been in jail someplace?
LARRY HETTEBERG - Well, that's, of course, one theory. And there are many theories as to what happened. The former police chief from the 1970's says he believes that BTK has been in town all along for this 25 years. And has been walking among us, has been going to the supermarket. And he also believes that most of us would never know that this guy is BTK. We could be close to him, we could be best friends to him and we would never know that he's the one who is doing all this.
CLAIRE SHIPMAN - Like most serial killers, he seems to have a very twisted psychological profile. You all, at your TV station, got some of those earlier letters. I understand you have some of the, you've read through them. What do they say about him?
LARRY HETTEBERG - Well, they're, they're very interesting. I have just a couple of quotes. In the letter that he wrote to us first in 1979, he said, "How many do I have to kill before I get my name in the paper or before I get some national attention?" He also said, "it seem senseless but we cannot help it. There is no help, no cure, except death or being caught and put away." And the scary thing that he said in the letter to us, he says after a killing he comes home and he goes about his life like anyone else. "And I will be like that until the urge hits me again." It's letters like that where he includes a poem or comments about himself, over the course of time, that has just scared Wichitans to death. I don't think there's an unlocked door in Wichita, Kansas.
(blah, blah, blah...)
I'm only just now beginning to comprehend the terror this man brought to Wichita for decades. I think every woman on this forum will agree, having a strange man pop out of your closet when you come home is every woman's nightmare. And I'll bet the first thing he did after popping out of the closet was smile and say, "Ever heard of the BTK Killer?"
(I think watching "Psycho" has given me some 'issues.' LOL!)