Inside the Mind of BTK

My Lifelong Hunt for BTK 25
be necessary to totally change or modify this analysis if new information
is developed—such as additional victims, more forensic evidence,
or new information obtained from research.”
I rolled my chair up tight against my desk and laid the pages down
on top of the clutter. As I began reading the words I’d typed years
before, I felt it all coming back to me:
MULTIPLE HOMICIDES. WICHITA. The murders of the BTK Strangler are the result
of a fantasy acted out. A fantasy where for the first time in his life, he is in a position
of importance and dominance. He is an inadequate type, a nobody, who, through his
crimes, has placed himself into a position of importance. The BTK Strangler is now a
somebody who is receiving the recognition he feels is long overdue him. To show his
inadequacies, he is not even very original in his crimes. He must pattern himself after
other notorious killers such as the .44 caliber killer, better known as the “Son of
Sam” in New York City. Much of the verbiage that your subject is using (in his letters)
probably comes out of recent publications in detective magazines.
Your subject is alienated, lonely and withdrawn. He would not be expected to
have any lasting relationships with others and would lead a solitary existence dominated
as mentioned above—by fantasy and magical thinking. His killing is an attempt
on his part to find affection and acceptance. He fears everyone, including himself. He
would not be expected to have ever enjoyed any normal relations with women and
probably has never had a normal heterosexual relationship with one. When he is not
killing, he experiences intense fear that he is not “normal” and therefore kills to cope
with his disorder in an attempt to escape from his own fantasies. Thus, he can be expected
to kill again and to do so in a compulsive repetition of the pattern he has already
established. His victims can be anyone either male or female, who are both loved and
outgoing. His victims will be in a position of vulnerability, one where he can totally
render them helpless. His victims represent his own feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
His own life has been disruptive. He probably comes from a background
where his family was broken. He was raised by an overbearing mother who was inconsistent
with her discipline. His father probably left home, either by marital separation
or death, when he was a youth. Your subject may have been raised by foster parents.
Your subject was an average student in the classroom. However, he was more
adept at disrupting the class by using profanity and pranks. His language and statements
make us believe that he has some military experience and/or is a police buff.
He probably has had run-ins with police in the past, such as assault, and/or breaking
and entering (B&E). His involvement with B&Es will show that the items taken
were of insignificance. Items taken were more for reason of a fetish or a strong urge
to obtain an article of clothing that he is fond of—or the thrill of committing a
crime that will leave little evidence to investigating officers. The BTK Strangler may