Woman in BTK killer’s medical chart, possibly identified
Sick, newly released drawings of BTK serial killer Dennis Rader show a number of terrified women bound and gagged – and police believe they may have identified at least one of them as a known missing woman.
The disturbing images were released as part of a major new campaign to investigate possible cold-related cases linked to the ailing 78-year-old, who nicknamed himself ‘BTK’ for ‘bind, torture, kill’.
Two of the sketches show women – including one in a short red dress or blouse – tied with nooses around their necks.
The third image shows a blonde woman staring with clear fear in her eyes, her arms and legs tied with ropes and a red gag in her mouth.
This woman, wearing a green top, has been believed to be identified as a Southeast Kansas woman who disappeared in 1991, Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden said CNN.
While Virden didn’t provide any further details on her identity, he did tell the outlet that his team had “very, very good tips” regarding the drawing and possible victims.
“It’s going to be a busy week,” Virden said of the flood of tips that “provided more information.”
Rader was sentenced to life in 2005 for a series of ten gruesome murders that terrorized Wichita, Kansas for over two decades.
The newly released drawings were among hundreds in the possession of the couple’s father hidden in a suburb at the time of his arrest, CNN explained.
The three images were released in the hope that someone might be able to identify the scenes, which are believed to be taking place in barns or silos, Verdin said.
“We hope that by posting these barns or the unique features within them, someone will recognize or possibly even find items close to the silo to the barn that they didn’t know why were there, which in this case would be very important,” Virden said CNN.
“Even if the barn is no longer there. We would still like to have this information.”
In the picture of the woman in the green shirt, officials believe the black piping behind her could be an important clue.
“The reason for this would be that if you were moving cattle there, these grates would keep the cattle from probably bumping into the can or the wood on the outside of the stall, so if an animal bumped into it they would “Don’t go through and dent the can or knock the wood off the outside,” Virden told CNN.
“We know from Dennis’ testimony in that very photo that it was a drawing he made in an actual barn,” he added.
The woman in the red shirt, Verdin continued, appears to be a wooden room like a tack or feed room.
“That would be a barn with wooden slats. You know, maybe a rounded post, but there might be a wooden floor in that area of the stall, you know, and often in tack rooms inside barns or in feed rooms or storage rooms. They wouldn’t leave clay soil because there were no livestock in the area,” Virden explained.
The third drawing, he noted, shows a particular angle on the stair that might help identify the actual location.
“The support post appears to have a bracket and then a screw that threads through that to hold everything together,” he told CNN.
Law enforcement also recently intercepted some of Rader’s prison communications suggesting evidence may be hidden in old barns, the sheriff added.
Rader has always been fascinated by barns and their surroundings, his daughter Kerri Rawson told the outlet.
“My father drew at our house, he made plans for the gardens,” recalls the author of The Daughter of a Serial Killer.
“And my dad always had to be outside and in the air, and winters were tough for him. So we had to find things for him to do because if he got in there and he was too cooped up, he would get angry,” she continued.
“My father loves barns and silos. Every time we went camping, fishing, or to college, he would definitely say, “I want to retire here.” And he would tease my mom about it.
“And after he was arrested, we found out later that he had huge fantasies about those specific places. So now we drive around and try to find them from my memory and write them down because we need to see if anyone is missing or buried there.”
Earlier this summer, authorities named Rader as a person involved in the 1976 disappearance of Oklahoma teen Cynthia Dawn Kinney.
Officials believe Rader may have secretly referred to Kinney’s alleged kidnapping in his journals, and are also investigating the pantyhose tie and other troubling items discovered in a “stash” on Rader’s former property in Park City, Kansas.
Osage investigators are now hoping that state and federal agencies will help process any remaining DNA on the ligature and other worrisome “trophies,” in addition to the DNA recovered in 2005, CNN said.
“We’re dealing with a man who plays a lot of games,” Rawson told NewsNation of her conniving father’s reaction to the re-examination.
On Monday, however, the FBI’s field agent in Kansas City said he wasn’t aware of the FBI supporting any BTK-related efforts, CNN reported.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigations also met with the Osage crew but did not assist in finding the property, the outlet added.
