BuffettNews.com

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Police said Saturday they have arrested a suspect they believe is the notorious BTK serial killer, who terrorized Wichita throughout the 1970s and then resurfaced about a year ago after 25 years of silence.

``The bottom line: BTK is arrested,'' Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said at a news conference in Wichita with some of the victims' family members.

The BTK killer - a self-coined nickname that stands for ``Bind, Torture, Kill'' - has been linked to eight killings committed between 1974 and 1986.

Officials did not immediately provide the name of the arrested person, and prosectors said no charges have been filed.

Prosecutor Nola Foulston said that while there is no statute of limitations for homicide, the death penalty would not apply to any crime committed before 1994, when the death penalty was introduced in Kansas.

The BTK killer sent letters to media about the crimes in the 1970s, but stopped for more than two decades before re-establishing contact last March with a letter about an unsolved 1986 killing.

Since then, authorities said the killer has sent at least eight letters to the media or police, including three packages containing jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims. One letter contained the driver's license of victim Nancy Fox.

The new letters sent chills through Wichita, but also rekindled hope that modern forensic science could find some clue that would finally lead police to a killer most thought was dead or safely locked in prison for some other crime.

Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation conducted hundreds of DNA swabs in connection with the BTK investigation.

Investigators searched a house in a Wichita suburb Friday and seized computer equipment, but police, prosecutors and the FBI all declined to comment Friday about the activity or any possible connection to the BTK case.

A source with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity said surveillance gave police their ``first big piece'' of recent evidence, leading authorities to a vehicle and the suspect.

WOW if it is the person that commited these crimes....

I hope justice is swift..

Rader is evil personified......I watched a bit about it on the news this morning....so glad they finally caught him.

Im not familiar with the story on that one. I dont remember hearing about BTK.

unclejohn wrote:Im not familiar with the story on that one. I dont remember hearing about BTK.

he was operating in an out-of-the-way media market, before the big serial killer craze hit following "Silence of the Lambs".

I just gotta wonder what shut him down for most of that span between 1979 and 2004.

RinglingRingling wrote:

unclejohn wrote:Im not familiar with the story on that one. I dont remember hearing about BTK.

he was operating in an out-of-the-way media market, before the big serial killer craze hit following "Silence of the Lambs".

I just gotta wonder what shut him down for most of that span between 1979 and 2004.

Maybe having children?

I can't get over the fact that the guy was a cop... maybe he knew they were getting close and just melted back into the shadows... creepy little f-er...

DonnaKayDunbar wrote:I can't get over the fact that the guy was a cop... maybe he knew they were getting close and just melted back into the shadows... creepy little f-er...

He wasn't a cop.....he did code enforcement...that's a civil position that serves notices for things like junky yards, weeds, fire hazards...it wasn't a sworn position where he would have had access to police investigations....may seem like a small difference, but as a cop....it's a HUGE difference!!

pbans wrote:

DonnaKayDunbar wrote:I can't get over the fact that the guy was a cop... maybe he knew they were getting close and just melted back into the shadows... creepy little f-er...

He wasn't a cop.....he did code enforcement...that's a civil position that serves notices for things like junky yards, weeds, fire hazards...it wasn't a sworn position where he would have had access to police investigations....may seem like a small difference, but as a cop....it's a HUGE difference!!

I stand corrected.

He's still a p****.

DonnaKayDunbar wrote:

pbans wrote:

DonnaKayDunbar wrote:I can't get over the fact that the guy was a cop... maybe he knew they were getting close and just melted back into the shadows... creepy little f-er...

He wasn't a cop.....he did code enforcement...that's a civil position that serves notices for things like junky yards, weeds, fire hazards...it wasn't a sworn position where he would have had access to police investigations....may seem like a small difference, but as a cop....it's a HUGE difference!!

I stand corrected.

He's still a p****.

And that's absolutely the nicest thing that could be said about him.....I suspect he will end up being a lot like Ted Bundy....suspect in many, many more cases that he will ever be charged with. We can only hope that he'll tell all and at least some families will have peace of mind knowing that the killer is locked up....and hopefully, eventually dead.

It always amazes me about the number of letters that these guys get while they are on death row, or life in prison from women that want to marry them. After what they have done, why ????

unclejohn wrote:It always amazes me about the number of letters that these guys get while they are on death row, or life in prison from women that want to marry them. After what they have done, why ????

my question is why can't we execute them too???

that would clean up the gene pool some..

ragtopW wrote:

unclejohn wrote:It always amazes me about the number of letters that these guys get while they are on death row, or life in prison from women that want to marry them. After what they have done, why ????

my question is why can't we execute them too???

that would clean up the gene pool some..

absolutely!

Word is that he's cooperating with authorities so hopefully he'll provide a full confession.

iuparrothead wrote:Word is that he's cooperating with authorities so hopefully he'll provide a full confession.

I'll bet the cops would like to give him the Pepsi challenge..
talk about telling all.

shakerofsalt wrote:

RinglingRingling wrote:

unclejohn wrote:Im not familiar with the story on that one. I dont remember hearing about BTK.

he was operating in an out-of-the-way media market, before the big serial killer craze hit following "Silence of the Lambs".

I just gotta wonder what shut him down for most of that span between 1979 and 2004.

Maybe having children?

I don't think so. There are a couple of serial killers out there who operated with a family at home (throwing out the "single, white male, 25-35, high intelligence, sexually-inactive/inept" profile out the window.)