BTK Serial Killer from
Park City, Kansas - So is TORNADO FILMS
by Lon Christopher
Teter
PARK CITY, KANSAS -
27 FEBRUARY 2005
Friday February 25th was, to say the least, an interesting day around here.
My great-uncle Raymond Schecher died on Monday and Friday was his funeral.
After the funeral as the relatives all gathered around catching up and
talking many of the conversations turned to BTK. After all he was
big news in Kansas... again. For those of you living under a rock
BTK was a serial killer from the 1970's & 80's who (up until recently)
claimed 8 victims in the Wichita, Kansas area. BTK sent many letters
to the Wichita Police and to KAKE TV-10 (our ABC affiliate) taunting them
with clues about his crimes. Then he stopped... stopped killing (as
was presumed) and stopped sending letters.
Nearly a year ago, in March 2004, I turned on the local news only to see
them talking about BTK. How odd, I thought. But not near as
odd as what I was about to learn. BTK, long presumed dead or incarcerated
for other crimes (without every being identified as BTK) was BACK.
He was still in Wichita and 30 years after his first murder was again sending
letters to the Wichita Police and local media. This was uber-bizarre.
Many people in Wichita had forgotten all about BTK or were too young to
know who he was. Suddenly every local station was talking about him;
he was front page news; and even the national news outlets were talking
about his comeback.
Wichita Police assigned a new BTK team and began tracking the new clues
while re-examing old cold cases for connection. In one of his first
letters BTK admitted to another killing (one that had been a cold case
for years). My father used to be a reporter for The Wichita Eagle
before moving to the east coast and this was the subject of many of his
stories so the BTK case was all very personal to myself. I had NO
clue just how personal though...
... until the day of Raymond's funeral. After the funeral we drove
back to Park City. Park City is a small town about 7 miles north
of Wichita. It's the town we call home and the town where TORNADO
FILMS operates out of. As we headed to pick up our school kids we
noticed the area of Independence and West Kechi Road (the 61st street frontage
road) roped off with police tape. Wichita Police and Park City Police
were all over the place as was the media. Our three local TV stations
each had TWO Live Trucks and several of the News Photogs SUVs parked all
over. What the hell was going on?
Just over two years ago I worked for KWCH TV-12 (our CBS affiliate) and
in that exact same spot there was an disaster preparedness drill staged
by the city of Wichita, city of Park City, and Sedgwick County. All
of the media were invited and I ASSUMED this was the same thing.
Turning on the TV at 4:45 however we learned this was not a drill.
This was breaking news. There was a "situation" in Park City.
Our library was "Closed until further notice" and FBI agents were taped
removing computer equipment. More computer equipment was removed
from Park City City Hall. A city employee's work truck (Park City
Compliance Department) was towed from a residence on Independence Street.
My wife and I assumed a Meth Bust or even Meth Explosion. After all
this was VERY common in Kansas. I flipped back and forth between
10, 12 and KSNW TV-3 (our NBC affiliate) trying to figure out what was
going on. It was KAKE that dropped the first bomb. This was
connected to BTK. Could they possibly have found him? Authorities
were close-lipped and rightfully so. Several months ago a man who
fit the BTK profile was arrested for other violations and the local media
blew up claiming the man was BTK. Of course he wasn't and he is now
suing WPD and many of the news outlets. This time around people were
being careful about what they said.
As the hours moved on the other stations picked up the BTK connection but
were careful to point out this was speculation. Then a KAKE reporter
said his "reliable" source said they were 90% they had CAUGHT BTK and were
awaiting DNA results. This was insane! By the evening news
very few new details had emerged. The man in question was a "person
of interest" (yeah, and so was Scott Peterson) and as of yet was not a
"BTK suspect." The man fit the profile, however, and had lived in
Park City since the 1970's. A press conference had been called for
10:00 am Saturday morning. Expected to be there were the Mayor Carlos
Mayans, Chief of Police Norman Williams, FBI, KBI, Attorney General (and
all around scum) Phil Kline, District Attorney Nola Foulston, Congressman
Todd Tiahrt (counted on to be anywhere the cameras are), Sedgwick County
Sheriff Gary Steed, AND the families of the victims.
Now nobody would go on the record as saying they caught BTK but were NOT
going to have that many people AND the families of the victims show up
just to say we 'caught some random dude, he's not BTK.'
10:00 the next morning everything was confirmed when Wichita Police Chief
Normal Williams breathed a sigh of relief than said: "The bottom line...
BTK is arrested"
What is known at this point is still limited. The BTK Strangler serial
killer has been identified as Dennis L. Rader, 59, from Park City, Kansas.
Rader is a compliance officer with Park City, Kansas and has been in my
backyard rounding up stray dogs (before I finished my fence). Rader
is married with two children. His son is my age and was in the same
graduating class at Wichita Heights High School as my friend (and Tornado
Films actor) Jason
Whitley. His daughter was a few years younger. Rader is
actively involved at Christ Lutheran Church (where I bought one of the
TV's for McNamara's Pub), president of his parish, and a Cub Scout leader.
This just floors me... the guy lives one mile STRAIGHT west of our home.
This guy has BEEN to my home. I probably helped him during the brief
month I worked at Leeker's Grocery Store in Park City. The weirdest
part, however, is an unfinished film of mine from 2002. I wrote a
short film in which my friend Aaron Michaelis was going to play a Park
City, Kansas serial killer who was a BTK copycat. The film was written
and cast but we never shot a single scene. I can't make this movie
now without people accusing me of trying to cash in. I just wish
we would have shot it back then. I can only imagine now if I had;
a short film suggesting that the notorious BTK Strangler was from Park
City, Kansas... who would ever believe that?
