Discover the high stakes and raw emotions that fueled the manhunt for one of history's most elusive serial killers. Our latest episode peels back the curtain on the BTK investigation, revealing how a surge of public tips catapulted the case forward, igniting a collaborative effort between the KBI, FBI, and prosecutors. You'll be captivated by the tale of the 'Swap-a-thon' DNA event, the dismissal of an innocent man, and the strategic silence imposed on the press. As we recount the task force's commitment to justice and unwavering dedication despite their trials, you'll see the BTK case in a light only those on the inside could share.
Step into the shoes of lead detective Ken Langworth and experience the investigation's twists and turns from his perspective. Our narration dives into the meticulous analysis of BTK's cryptic communications, the psychological warfare between the killer and law enforcement, and the profound impact on the detective's family life. Join us as we thread through the intricate dance of media maneuvering and law enforcement integrity, with a sprinkle of newsroom humor featuring reporter Hurst Laviana. This episode doesn't just tell a story; it places you at the heart of one of our time's most intense criminal investigations.
Discover the high stakes and raw emotions that fueled the manhunt for one of history's most elusive serial killers. Our latest episode peels back the curtain on the BTK investigation, revealing how a surge of public tips catapulted the case forward, igniting a collaborative effort between the KBI, FBI, and prosecutors. You'll be captivated by the tale of the 'Swap-a-thon' DNA event, the dismissal of an innocent man, and the strategic silence imposed on the press. As we recount the task force's commitment to justice and unwavering dedication despite their trials, you'll see the BTK case in a light only those on the inside could share.
Step into the shoes of lead detective Ken Langworth and experience the investigation's twists and turns from his perspective. Our narration dives into the meticulous analysis of BTK's cryptic communications, the psychological warfare between the killer and law enforcement, and the profound impact on the detective's family life. Join us as we thread through the intricate dance of media maneuvering and law enforcement integrity, with a sprinkle of newsroom humor featuring reporter Hurst Laviana. This episode doesn't just tell a story; it places you at the heart of one of our time's most intense criminal investigations.
Welcome to the Murder Book. I'm your host, kiera, and this is part 11 of BTK. Let's begin. In the first 24 hours after the ego story appeared, police received more than 300 tips. In the next 24 hours they collected 700 more. Languard had 50 cops, most of them detectives, assigned to him in the first days. Besides working tips, police located tens of thousands of pages of documents from the previous 30 years and coordinated investigators with a big chart. The KBI's cold case unit immediately began to scan tens of thousands of pages of old notes, photographs and documents from the BTK file cabinet and the 37 boxes of investigated files accumulated since 1974. The KBI and the FBI turned everything into a huge searchable database. The work would take eight months. Nola Fauston, the said-with-County District Attorney, sent help. The cops would need to coordinate many of their moves with her prosecutors in case there was an arrest. She assigned Kerry O'Connor to shadow Languard's task force day and night if necessary, and to advise them both as needed.
Speaker 1:O'connor researched whether BTK could be sentenced to death if the cops caught him. To his disappointment, he learned Kansas did not have a death penalty law during the years BTK had murdered people. Three days after Languard got BTK's letter, he drove to the home of retired Ghostbuster Paul Holmes. Languard didn't want to ask for anything. The host was running a bricklaying company with his brother. But Holmes had helped build the massive Ghostbuster files that the new task force was going to reexamine now and he was the most organized note-taker Languard knew. He knew how to keep his mouth shut and even Languard was honest with him. He said that there's no money to pay you for something like that. But Holmes said I don't care about that. Ralph Gouch, oldest Snyder and Languard only knew how bad some retired cops felt about not catching BTK. The older men have often asked if they miss anything, if they fail to do something that they should have done. Languard did not think so, but on that day, the day that LaViana's story ran in the ego, laviana found Barney Drowacki working as chief of police in tiny coal city, oklahoma. Drowacki touched on the guilt and he said I think there's something somewhere we missed that's going to take them to him. Otis didn't drink much but thought he would become a drunk if this lasted long, because he barely slept the first two weeks. Gouch slept more and did not fret as much, but he was grateful that Languard was running things.
Speaker 1:Languard did not babysit or second-guess detectives and though there was great external pressure to find BTK, he kept it away from the detectives. Gouch, otis, ralph Snyder and other cops would head out every morning, approaching men over Wichita who had been named by tipsters. The cops asked for DNA samples and when they reached the enophilist they went back for another and they called it the Swapathon. Another named in a tip had to be swapped because a few tipsters suspected Languard and the detectives took it seriously. Police have theorized for years that BTK was a cop, but Languard swapped himself. He said that he didn't trust Otis or anybody else to stick a swap in his mouth. So he did it, but he did it with witnesses. Gouch handed him two sterile Q-tips that made fun of him when he rubbed them against the inset of his cheek and watched closely to make sure he didn't cheat.
Speaker 1:On the same day that Otis and Gouch saw the new BTK letter, they had gone out to find Bill Werrily. There was no side-door approach through relatives this time. Otis told Bill that someone claiming to be BTK had sent a letter named Vicky as a victim In his coat pocket. Otis had the subpoena that would force Bill to give his DNA if he refused. Otis have asked a judge to sign it, but he was hoping to leave it in his pocket unused. Bill listened as Otis explained. He said quote I'm not here to tell you that the cops grew up in 1986, but I can tell you we will do things differently today. I am sorry about how things turned out for you. I believe you did not kill your wife and now I can prove it, but I need your help. He said that he needed a DNA sample now and Bill said okay, it took just a couple of minutes. Otis and Gouch thanked him and drove away. The warrant still went Otis's pocket.
Speaker 1:Two days later they went to see Bill at his house, bill still worried, at a relative sitting beside him. A witness to the conversation. A test has just confirmed that the DNA profile of the material found on the Vicky's fingernail matched that of the man who had killed the Oteros 30 years before. And now the detectives knew he was not Bill's DNA. He had taken almost 18 years but finally he had been eliminated as a suspect.
Speaker 1:When Otis and Gouch told him this, bill did not smile or complain about the years he had lived with a suspicion that he had killed Vicky. He did not complain about how other children had mocked his children at school, telling them that their father had murdered their mother. He said I'm glad you clear me why. Ever one it was for you to find who killed Vicky. Otis and Gouch wanted the names of people she knew, places. She shopped details of her life, in spite of the passage of nearly two decades. Bill gave detailed answers and Otis admired him. He said that he could have told him to go pound sand. He could have told them to stay out of his house. He could have stayed mad at them for at least 18 years, but he's too good a man to do that.
Speaker 1:In the first week Johnson turned down requests from 32 national media outlets wanting to interview Langworth or Chief Williams. Some reporters got rude. The FBI's Bob Morton encouraged Johnson to ignore them and stick to the plan. Morton said the media is not going to solve this case. Btk is a very clever predator. If you put too much out there you are jeopardizing the investigation. Just because you have spoiled the press doesn't mean that you can't change the way you do business on this case. It's very dangerous for you to over talk. If you brief every day, you run out of things to put out there and you say too much and run the risk of causing another homicide, then the very press that you were catering to will turn on you and blame you for the homicide.
Speaker 1:Some local politicians worried about the flow of information too for other reasons. They thought the BTK publicity might scare off tourists and conventioneers, including some of the 42,000 people who were expected in Wichita for the 4th or 85th Women's International Bowling Congress Tournament. Johnson emailed Morton that the cops were getting a lot of pressure from politicians and he said you need to go on TV and say that everything is fine. But Morton said I do not do that because if BTK killed someone after police sounded the all clear, the city could be liable in lawsuits With investigators of limits.
Speaker 1:The television crews descended on anyone they thought had a remote connection to the case Former BTK investigators like Doratsky, beat Beatty, who was rushing completion of his book, and Laviana, who had broken the story. With three daughters at home, laviana worried about going on TV and talking about the killer, but he knew more about BTK than anyone else in the paper, so he gave interviews the day his story ran. The media lined up to talk to him after that. Laviana didn't have cable TV. So he had no idea who Gretchen Vassusterin was or that she had a national primetime show on Fox News Channel and that weekend he got more than a dozen calls at home from national shows, one day more and he would tell them you need to come to the paper if you want to talk to me. Within days he also got calls from Japanese and German television crews and magazines he had never heard of. The ego published a story about the Swapathon on April 2nd after three men contacted the newspaper to say the DNA had been collected and a police spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny that DNA testing was underway. That same day Langworth held his third news conference to keep the tip lines ringing.
Speaker 1:Some callers suspected ex-husbands, some turn ins, sons or fathers, some suspected neighbors or coworkers. Men were named a suspect for many reasons because they were loners, eccentrics or just mean. Some were known cooks, others were upstanding citizens. Some tipsters viewed themselves as Amateus Sleuths. One theory had BTK and California Sodia killer being the same person. Others were sure BTK had Strango, jamban and Riamsi and Colorado. By this time Langworth's instructions had been passed along to every street cop If they responded to a homicide, call burglary or even attempted burglary and noticed a cut line that said clear the house. He had the same instruction for any scene involving a missing person or a female in bondage.
Speaker 1:While some detectives read email tips or phone call transcripts, others did computer background checks. They could quickly eliminate people as potential suspects if they were black Because of the DNA profile, if they were not the right age at least 46, or if they have a probable alibi, such as being incarcerated at the time of one of the murders. Or did my kennedycee prioritize which of the others would be asked for DNA? Tip after tip led to dead ends and oldest feared that something they overlooked would come back to hunt them. Because the BTK news conferences were so brief, television reporters often filled out their stories by getting reactions from people downtown. Young women would say that BTK did not frighten them and they pointed out that he was an old man. Langworth cringe when he heard that he would take that as a challenge and he would try to kill somebody to show him his hand.
Speaker 1:To help the detectives anticipate the killer's next moves, langworth brought in Bob Morton, the profiler from the FBI Behavior Science Unit. Langworth was comfortable working with the FBI. His uncle, ernie, had been an FBI guy. So had his close friend, kbi director Welch. By many other cops we got FBI agents as arrogant removed from the street. Morton began his overview of the case by stating the obvious BTK probably has sexual fixations. He might live in the Jewishita area. On the other hand, he might not. And Otis thought, well, I got better things to do than listen to this. So he and Gouch walked out, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1:Langworth wondered whether BTK might follow him home some night and learned that he had a family, and then probably not. But Langworth asked supervisors to cruise officers past his house and his mothers every hour. Disrespected officers were already doing it on their own. His mother, irene, did not tell him she was scared, but she conceded it to Cindy and Cindy told her that BTK must be old by now, feeling cautious. But Cindy got in touch with Morton. She understood why Langworth had to talk to BTK on television, but he had made himself a target. And now they were telling James, their 8 year old son, that he could not play in the front yard and must never answer the door to strangers, and the boy was scared. Morton told her that serial killers almost never hunt cops because they prefer defenseless victims. He said take precautions but don't dwell on this. Langworth worried for weeks about whether the talk to BTK strategy would work. His worries went away on May 4th, 46 days after the wriggly message surfaced.
Speaker 1:A receptionist at KAKE TV found an envelope in the mail with a return address of Thomas B King, the initials in an anagram to BTK. The news director, glenn Hearn, opened the package and found several items A word search puzzle, photocopies of two identification cards, a photocopy of a badge with the form of the word special officer on it and 13 chapter headings for something titled the BTK story. And he made reference to fetishes like PJs, a final curtain call and asked will there more? So KAKE called the cops and Otis went to fetch the package. Kake shot video of him picking it up, much of his irritation, and he walked out without saying anything. Much to Horne's irritation, the puzzle included a section called Ruse that included the words servicemen, insurance reauthor. Btk was hinting that he gained access to homes by pretending to be someone on business.
Speaker 1:James Langworth called his father at work one day and he said dad, you need to come home. Why haven't you come home? So Langworth and Cindy had not told James what was going on and it seemed to James that his father had disappeared and sometimes his dad worked 24 hours a day or he would come home for a few minutes to put James to bed and then drive back to work. And his bond with his father had grown deep and Langworth like nothing better than to help with homework or play along with his son. But James was now seeing his father on television and the boy says that something sinister was going on. And he kept saying you need to come home. And you know. Langworth, said James, you know how sometimes I need to work late to catch a bad guy. That's what I'm doing now. So the Langworths debated about whether to tell him a longer version of the truth. But how do you tell a little boy about BTK and that his dad is hunting him?
Speaker 1:Odess still wondered whether the person sending the messages was BTK or someone who had found BTK's trophies. The items sent to the ego and KAK were perfectly clean. The only fingerprints on the papers were from the people who handled them. After the envelopes had been opened. They were nostril hairs, not dried beads of sweat. If it's him, how come the son of a bitch won't just lick the damn envelope so we can get his DNA and prove it. Langworth thought Odess had a point. Perhaps he could prompt BTK to do that. He called a news conference and replied to BTK on May 10, 6 days after the KAK message arrived.
Speaker 1:In consultation with the FBI's, morton Johnson had written a paragraph that prodded BTK to prove it was him writing the messages. And Langworth was to say, quote we are proceeding on the possibility that this letter is from BTK. We have turned it over to Federal Bureau of Investigation. They will do a thorough analysis utilizing the latest technology in forensic science in order to determine the authenticity of the letter and quote Longer practice reading the script out loud. The moment he said out authenticity he stumbled over it and broke into laughter because it was for him. It was hard to pronounce this five syllable word. So in front of the television cameras talking to BTK on live television, he fumbled the pronunciation again and had to suppress his own laughter. Embarrassed he teased Johnson. Later he said don't ever give me that word again. He should have deleted the word. He had ignored his training and debate and drama.
Speaker 1:On June 9th Michael Hellman saw a clear plastic back taped to the back of a stop sign at the southeast corner of 1st and Kansas Street. As he walked to his job at Spanglesaw local burger chain, on the back Hellman pulled out an envelope that had BTK feel grant Type on it. When Langwood threw three pieces of paper inside he realized it was BTK's longest communication yet Its misspelled title was Death on a Code, january Moring. It was detailed account of what happened inside the hotel, including how Jesse pleaded for her life.
Speaker 1:Langwood waited to pick up James from the school bus one day and the bus was late. He looked at his watch and he was thinking if he did not catch this guy he might get transferred out of homicide remove as command of the task force. The chief had been supportive, but Langwood knew that Williams must be under tremendous pressure to make something happen. Privately Langwood had concluded that if he failed to catch BTK in a year he would be transferred. His son's safety worry him more. The bus arrived a few minutes late and James tried it to his father. After that he goes back to work and he even suppressed a desire to order the swabbing of every school bus driver in Wichita.
Speaker 1:So he goes on and starts reading the BTK's Otero story. They was written as a narrative, complete with a scene setting opener and their usual misspellings. It says if a person happened to be out one of these cold morning in a certain part of Wichita, that is, the northeast part, on a particular morning in January, he might have noticed a man park his car in a store parking lot because briefly, then walk across the street and disappear among the house and commercial building. If they had followed him they would have noticed his head bent low to the ground and wearing a heavy parker. If they would have looked closer they would notice his eye dart back and forth across the street checking the house windows and door as he near a house on the corner. He quickly glanced around and jumped the wooded fence surrounding the house and what followed was a step by step description of what BTK said had happened more than 30 years before. It has such detail that language would wonder whether BTK wrote it soon after it happened.
Speaker 1:And he goes on like this. He says he knew the family left the house approximately 8.45 and they would walk out of the car, leave for school and in approximately 7 minutes the lady Judy would return home. He had eerily he had early because he's misspelling words when he's typing he had early in the week saw them leave for school. One day he thought to himself, say this may be it? A perfect setup a house on the corner, a garage set off from the house, a fence yard, a large space from nearby neighbor house, especially the back door. It was a few days later that he stopped across the street and followed the family car to see whether they went that morning. She took the kids to school each day and returned a perfect setup. It was close to his fantasy of a victim or to himself a person who could tidy up, torture and maybe kill.
Speaker 1:Cindy told Langworth one night that they have to tell James something about what was going on, because the boy was getting increasingly anxious about his father's absences. So the Langworth sat down at the home computer with James. Cindy showed the boy how to co-op his father's name on a search and what came up was a new story after another about Lieutenant Ken Langworth and BTK. Then they explained to the son about his job, how he was trying to catch this really bad guy called BTK and that's why he's going on TV. And Langworth also explained to the son that BTK has got to be an old man now because he heard people starting 30 years ago. So he has to be like in his 60s and that he doesn't think that he would hurt anybody. And the son said well, what if BTK has a son? And it's the son who's doing this now and it was what Otis and Gouch had suggested that someone else was pretending to be BTK. And Langworth even said to the son well, you are ahead of me, that's a good idea, but we don't think so. We don't think he will come here.
Speaker 1:They continued reading the narration and it says finally, about 20 minutes before 9, the door unlocked and the boy stepped outside In just a flash. He ordered him back inside, confronting the family armed with a pistol and knife. He told them that this was a stick up and not to be alarmed. The family was preparing to leave, the kids were packing their lunches and had gathered their coats by the table. The mother Judy asked what was going on and said they had no money of anything of value. But the boy said the boy was by his folks side looking scared and the girl, josephine, was beginning to cry, all of them gathering the whole way. He told them his orders. He was wanted and needed the car, money and food. Still noticed his gun and handshake and told the family to settle down and would be ok. And then he said Rex wanted the pest out of. The dog was barking. So he says Rex wanted the pest out and told them he would shoot it, or damn if they tried any funny tricks, expressing that the gun he held wax and automatic and held hollowed point bullets that would kill. Joey assured him that if the dog was out of the way things should be better. So, agreeing the man, let them put the dog out, but being very careful of Joe, he said he bound his parents hand and foot. He said Julie called her Judy, complained that her hands were going numb so he retied them.
Speaker 1:He began to tie up the girl. Her hair was so long and kept getting the way. When he tried to gag her in the first place, tears rolled down her face and Rex said he was sorry about pinching her hair. He gagged them, then slipped a plastic bag over Joe's head. The others immediately began to scream and he could see tears on their faces. He tried to cover their mouth with his gloved hand, but they pleaded for him to release the boy and Joe. Joe had moved to the other bed post and rubbed a hole in his back, but he was not feeling good and had threw up and breathing heavy.
Speaker 1:The boys eyes were open now Josephine was crying. Judy was still pleading for him to leave the house. They would not tell. He produced a rope and walked over to Judy and in her crying, pleading voice says what are you doing? So he slipped the rope around her neck and strung her slowly. Josephine cried out mommy, I love you. It was all horror and maybe it was all fiction, but the writer obviously enjoyed writing it. And it continued by saying that Josephine kept asking him to be careful, but Rex told her her mother and her dad would be asleep also. After he quit tightening the rope, he then slipped the rope around the girl's neck. She grasped, her eyes bulged and then she passed out.
Speaker 1:Judy was by now awake, her eyes open, slowly moving her head. This time Rex makes a cloth hitch and places it over Judy's neck. She cries God, have mercy on you before he tightens the nose. Her eyes really bulge because of the extreme pressure the tight cloth hitch makes. She grasps and struggles, but soon passes out. Blood appears eye and mouth and nose. James um BTK have saved the killing of the girl for last. And then he said in the narration.
Speaker 1:Returning to the basement he found Josephine awake looking at the ceiling. He then tied her feet together and then around her knees and lower abdominal secured tightly. He pulled up her sweater and cut her bra into her small Oreo exposed. So probably the first man to lay eyes on them except her father. With that done, he again checked the area for mistakes. Nothing out of place. He returned to the girl. She asked him if he was going to do the same things as he had done to the rest and he told her no, the rest were asleep. He picked her up and took her tight body to the sewer pipe there laying on her back. He asked her if her dad had a camera. She asked no, and then gagged her, please. She said. Don't worry, baby. He said you will be in heaven tonight. With the rest We'll be right back.
Speaker 1:On the morning of Saturday, july 17, 2004, an employee at the downtown Wichita library named James Stenhorn found a plastic bag and the book drop. The bag contained papers with the letters BTK. So the library was called police. Langwood was not happy about what officers did when they arrived. They shut the library down and Langwood said come on, guys, what were you thinking? Because closing the main library drew attention. That meant reporters and other nuances. The cops might as well have turned on the tornado sirens. Langwood saw about 50 homeless men blinking like a flock of owls. They hung out in the air conditioner library and now standing in the sun. They looked as irritated as Langwood. And you know Langwood said it was just a bag, I could have walked in here like all I was doing was picking up a book.
Speaker 1:Langwood took the package and studied with his team. They were surprised by what BTK had to say at the bottom of the two-page letter it says I had spotted a female that I think lives alone and or is a spotted latchkey kid. Just got to work out the details. I'm much older, not feeble now, and I have two conditions myself carefully. Also, my thinking process is not as sharp as it used to be Details, details, details. I think fall or winter would be just about right for the HIT, for the HIT Got to do it this year or next. Number X or number 10, as time is running out for me, but it was he had written at the top that sent detectives immediately to the telephones. Btk had titled the letter Jakey and implied that he had already killed again and it says I had to stop work on chapter two of the BTK story due to the death of Jake Allen. I was so excited about this incident that I have to tell the story.
Speaker 1:12 days earlier, the Argonia High School Homecoming King and Class Valedictorian had been run over by a freight train about four miles from his family's farm and about 35 miles from Wichita. Allen had been a star athlete. His body had been wrapped in a baleen wire and tied to the tracks. Though Sumner County Sheriff's investigators tried to keep the fact a secret, btk wrote that they had met when Allen had knee surgery and had gotten better acquainted through computer chats. He said he lured Allen to the tracks by posing as a private detective investigating BTK. Jakey would be the bait. He would capture him and turn him over to the police.
Speaker 1:Btk made taunting references to bondage, cybermasochism and bailing wired. He described the sexual thrills he got not only from being with Allen at the tracks but quote well, I packed this out and quote. His library package included grain-y copies of photos showing someone in bondage out in the woods, a hood on his face and white tube socks on his feet. He claimed that he and Jakey had been out playing games Lower Court Chief Williams to tell him about BTK's threat to kill and his hints that he had killed Allen. Williams began to look away for ways to reinforce the task force. All this called the Sumner County Sheriff's Office. Its lead investigator, jeff Hawkins, and others drove to Wichita that day and studied the letter. Hawkins were dubious, for in six days when not only but the Sumner County teams strongly suspected Allen's death was a suicide, london and Thomas, the two KBI agents, went to Sumner County. The FBI's Morton also looked into Allen's death. The more they looked, the more they agreed that BTK was blowing smoke. For when six determined that the wire found with Allen's body came from his farm, an examination of Allen's computer turned out no evidence that he had conversations with the silver killer. Investigators concluded that Allen had wrapped the wire around his body and positioned himself on the tracks.
Speaker 1:The Jakey letter touched off an intense debate and district attorney Nola Foulston's office the date surface. Her first instinct was that the authorities should go public with a warning that BTK was threatening to kill a child. As the county's chief elected law enforcement authority, she had the power to do that, or make the cops do it. Kevin O'Connor and Kim Parker. Her two top prosecutors tried to talk her out of it. O'connor was a loyal Foulston friend but she always encouraged him to speak his mind and he did so.
Speaker 1:Now A lot of hard words flew. O'connor, who had spent four months tethering the BTK task force, argued that the cops were right to keep as much of a lid on the investigation as possible. They didn't want to give BTK information or publicity or a feeling that he was manipulating the chase. Chief Williams resolved with a decision too. If they reveal BTK's thread, should they mention the specifics BTK had written about a latchkey kid. There were thousands of latchkey children and many afterschool programs and Vegeta revealing the thread. That would worry thousands of parents, many of whom had to work and leave kids at home. It was clear that BTK liked to push the cops' buttons. Williams didn't want to boost his ego. In the end they decided they should warn the public but not be specific about the thread. The decision weighted heavily on Williams. If BTK killed someone now, williams would wonder whether he had blown the call.
Speaker 1:The task force cops took the thread personally. Long word continued to worry about James CND and himself. Every time this guy puts out a package for us to find. Is he just trying to draw me away from my house so he can attack it? So Otis had a 12 year old daughter who was alone at home for 20 minutes after school every day until his wife came home from work. After the Jakey letter arrived, otis arranged for his sister to stay with his daughter for those minutes after school. Gouch did not worry Early on. He told his family to be careful when they're in the door, but he didn't want to say more and make them worry. So he thought that BTK did not have the guts to visit a cop.
Speaker 1:When the J Key letter was found, langworth's BTK task force was down to 23 people. Four days later Williams nearly doubled the size of the task force to 40. He told Langworth that he intended to keep the number working on the case for a long time. Investigators were brought in to follow up on tips so the detectives most heavily involved could focus more on digging through case files. There were nights when Williams' home rang in the wee hours and one of his commanders would tell him about some of her nights shooting or something else that needed his immediate attention. Now, when his phone rang, williams first thought upon waking was a silent prayer. Don't let it be a BTK killing.
Speaker 1:Five days after police got the J Key letter, langworth appeared at a news conference in words carefully crafted by Johnson. He said, based on the information provided to us by the FBI and the fake IDs and fake batch that were sent to KAK by BTK, we think it is important for citizens to continue to practice personal and home crime prevention techniques. We want parents to teach their skills to their children also. He didn't reveal the context of the library letter but many people correctly interpreted his words and told to mean that BTK had made a threat. La Viana covered the news conference for the eagle or is it an approach? In a hallway afterward and he said Hearst, I need to talk to you. So the national media in the meantime kept pestering Johnson with interview requests. When fulfilled they continued to turn to people with less immediate connections to the investigation. Some news shows backstab competitors, insisting that interview subjects not talk to other shows. La Viana refused to cut such deals. This shows irritated the cops.
Speaker 1:Severe killer experts who knew nothing about BTK appeared on air talking nonsense, blowing smoke, as Otis described it. A few days after the July 22 news conference, one cell saw Langworth come out of city hall to light up a smoke and was cell new. Langworth will not talk about BTK, but he also knew from La Viana that Langworth had a sense of humor. So one cell pretended to interview him. He said Kenny Langworth, have you caught BTK yet? And Langworth said no. He said I have a suspect, if you don't mind me intruding and Langworth was listening politely. He said it's Hearst La Viana. So Langworth's face cringed into a grin. He said no, really, you got to admit, hearst is a weird dude. And Langworth said no. He said okay, but we have talked about this in the newsroom for weeks now and we have concluded that one day the Hearst is either going to reveal BTK on the front page or come to you and confess. Langworth took a long pull on his cigarette. He said I know for certain that it's not him. He said why? How? He said because we have eliminated him as a suspect. He said but how? And Langworth said no comment.
Speaker 1:A few minutes later, back in the newsroom, one cell found La Viana writing a story and when cell said I have clear your head. I ran it to Langworth outside city hall. We compare notes and concluded you're not BTK. La Viana said well, okay, thank you. And when cell said I didn't say you're innocent, I said you're not BTK. And La Viana nodded and Langworth said something weird. According to one cell, he said they eliminated you as a suspect. He said it like it meant something. La Viana said it. Does the cops want me to get my DNA? He said what? And it was true. La Viana said after the July 22nd news conference, all the support him aside, and he said I hate to do this but I need to ask you for your DNA. You have been named in some of our tips as a suspect and La Viana shrugged and said I'm surprised it took you this long. He had thought the cops would swap him from the moment he began giving TV interviews. He feared someone would see him on television and call him in as a suspect for knowing so much about this case.
Speaker 1:La Viana followed Otis to John's office and Otis shut the door. The cops had refused to talk about the rumors swirling around town that they have swapped thousands of men. La Viana decided he would try to get Otis to talk. Otis put on latex gloves and La Viana said well, some of the television people say that you have already swapped 2,000 people so far. Is that true? Otis had picked up a cotton swab and said no, that's not right, it's only about 500. He said what makes you decide you need to swap somebody? He said it takes this, only takes this one tip. So Otis rubbed the inside of La Viana's cheek, first with one cotton swab, then with a second, and he would say how long does it take to get the results back? And he said well, if I don't come looking for you again in two weeks, you will know you have been eliminated. And that was it. They were done.
Speaker 1:La Viana went back to work, told his editors that he had been swapped and tried to sort out how he felt about being a suspect. Weird, he thought, and you can keep it a secret. So La Viana went back to work and he said that in some ways it was a relief and he thought that he knew other men who had been swapped and he had been awkward asking them about it. But it was also like being in an exclusive club Once you were in you could talk openly. And he was in now. So he considered whether he should volunteer to write a first person story about what it was like to be a BTK suspect. But then he decided not to do that. La Viana had three daughters at North High School and he didn't want them teased or tunted.
Speaker 1:Before the Jakey letter arrived, the task force and Johnson had conused conferences only in reaction to BTK's messages. Langward and Johnson were wondering whether they should go more on the offensive, find excuses to communicate even when BTK had not written them. They fretted a lot over the messages. Every word and all the timing was planned. They always sprang the news conferences on reporters with little notice. They did not want to provoke shallow conjecture that would scare people or cause BTK to delay communicating until after a schedule news conference After. Jakey's reporters sometimes got no notice at all that a BTK briefing was coming. Sometimes reporters would arrive at the daily 10am briefing and be surprised to see Langward stride in script and hand In all these gatherings. Langward read his prepared statement, then walked out.
Speaker 1:Sometimes Otis or one of the other detectives was sitting in the back looking for anyone suspicious. Because they thought BTK might show up, otis and the others obtained several DNA swaps from strange men they saw at the briefings. After each announcement the newspaper quickly posted the news on its website, tv broken 2 INSTANT programming with life reports. Kake sometimes used the clip of Otis picking up the mail letter as a background visual. A confused elderly viewer sent Otis $60 to buy new clothes because every time he appeared on TV he was wearing the same suit. Of course Otis sent the money back.
Speaker 1:A few Spawn News leaks got out which put the cops on edge. Where reporters followed them when they went out to swap suspects, where reporters eavesdropping in hallways. Did they have a source on the task force? Don't worry, it's got worse. As they lost sleep. Detectives who before March had sometimes chatted with reporters stopped talking even about the weather. Nobody had the ego was focused exclusively on BTK, not even LaViana, who was part of the crime and safety reporting team. He and Potter kept hearing rumors about BTK connections to the death of the teenager in Argonia. Potter dug the story while covering day cops.
Speaker 1:At the end of July the newspaper's editor, sherry Shinsu-Ho, pulled in a new team leader to organize the coverage. Elle Kelly had grown up in Wichita and had listened to her father, a former detective, talked about the Otero crimes with disgust. She had helped her best friend and mother cope with the fears after Chief Lemanian announced that a serial killer was in Wichita. She had been with the ego for more than 20 years and had been close to Ken Stevens and Bill Hirschman back in the day. So Shinsu-Ho wanted a sharper effort on BTK coverage. She knew none of the cops were talking. The task force had proven unusually leak proof but there were plenty of other people to talk to other ways to move the story forward. She wanted the ego to own the story. Kelly was eager to get started, but she first had to make an unrelated trip to Toronto. By the time she got back, landward had made his own plans for moving forward.
Speaker 1:The cops felt their anxiety growing. Btk had not communicated since July 17th. The library message Gouch worried that BTK was busy planning a murder because his last letter had been a clear threat. Morton told the cops this is the FBI guy to keep communicating and use their scripts to hint that BTK should worry. Btk has to feel confident to kill. So undermine his confidence, keep him off balance, remind him that police are hunting him. Do not challenge or threaten him, but drop hints that you're closer. This was easy to say and not easy to do. Johnson, a former crime and government reporter at newspapers around Kansas and Missouri, wrote drafts of each message, faxed a copy to Morton and showed a copy to Landward and Williams' command staff. On August 17, one month after BTK's last communication, johnson noted after a meeting with Morton. Quote we are now changing the rules. Instead of us reacting when he sends a letter, we're going to go proactive and then he will have to respond in order to gain control of the game. End quote BTK had pushed their buttons. Now they would push his. Keep Landward talking to him. Morton said From the beginning Morton wanted BTK to feel a connection with Landward so that the killer would confess willingly to Landward someday if the cops caught him.
Speaker 1:Morton told Landward to get plenty of rest the night before each briefing. His hair was to be combed, his clothing neat. He was to look and sound refreshed, alert, upbeat. The public needed to see him and feel confident. The killer could not see him tired. Landward began to study his own face, looking for bags under his eyes. With every day that BTK did not communicate, landward lost sleep. Thank you for listening to the Mortar Book. Have a great week.