Inside the Mind of BTK

84 INSIDE THE MIND OF BTK
snow was piled in the gutters of downtown, and the air held a cold
sting to it, reminiscent of that winter day four years before when four
bodies were discovered inside the Otero home.
“The purpose of this news conference is to advise the public of an
extremely serious matter involving a series of murders which have
occurred in our city,” he said slowly, pausing every few words to allow
the gravity of his message to sink in.
“As you know, in January 1974, four members of the Otero family
were murdered. In March of 1977, Shirley Vian was killed. And in
December 1977, Nancy Fox was also murdered. Earlier today KAKE-
TV received and immediately brought me a letter wherein the author
took credit for the Otero, the Fox, and the Vian murders. In addition,
whoever wrote this letter has taken credit for a seventh victim....We
are convinced without a doubt that the person who claims to have
killed the Oteros, Miss Fox, and Miss Vian is in fact the same person.
I want to restate that there is no question in our minds but that the
person who wrote the letter killed these people. This person has consistently
identified himself with the initials BTK and wishes to be
known as the BTK Strangler. Because we are sure this man is responsible
for seven murders, we wish to enlist the assistance of each citizen
of this community.
“Our police department has already begun special efforts, which
are as follows: (1) Additional uniformed officers are already on the
street. (2) A special detective task force involving the major case squad
has been established. (3) A special phone number for citizens to call
has been established—269-4177. This phone will be staffed twentyfour
hours a day. (4) We have solicited the assistance of the district
attorney, the sheriff, and of professionals in the field of human behavior
and would welcome assistance from any person regardless of their
expertise....I know it is difficult to ask people to remain calm, but
we are asking exactly this. When a person of this type is at large in our
community, it requires special precautions and special awareness by
everyone.”
The one thing that struck me about LaMunyon’s press conference
was how honest he was with the residents of Wichita. Hearing him
admit that his investigators had no solid leads in the case made my
head spin for one simple reason: it let the killer off the hook far too
easily. And that was the last thing the authorities should have done. In