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When it comes to managing money, forget the hype and look at the results.
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Bill has a trillion dollars of secure
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payments powering our BillPay tools. Instead of just moving money, Bill is powering the financial operations of nearly half a million customers. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with the proven choice. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.comproven to get started and grab a $250 gift card as a thank you to Terms and conditions apply. See Offer page for details. The youth mental health crisis has become increasingly evident and we know social media plays a big role. Teens spend an average of 9 hours a day on screens outside of school, and the US Surgeon General has warned that kids who spend more than three hours a day online are twice as likely to experience anxiety and depression. As a parent, it's something I think about more as my child gets older. Technology is such a big part of growing up now and figuring out how to introduce it safely can feel overwhelming. The good news is there's another option. A company called Gab has taken a different approach with something they call Tech in steps. That means phones and watches designed specifically for kids with no social media and and features that are matched to their age. From GPS enabled watches for younger kids to phones for tweens and teens with parent approved apps, each device helps kids build independence more safely. Bottom line, kids don't need devices made for adults. GAB helps them stay connected without the pressure of social media. I can't recommend Gab enough and right now use our code to get the best deal on a kid's phone. That will make parenting easier and give you more peace of mind. Visit gab.comcasefile and use code casefile for an exclusive offer. That's Gab G A B. Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre for suggested phone numbers, for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings. Please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners. On Sunday, June 9, 2004, a Wichita man spotted something strange on the south east corner of first and Kansas streets downtown. Duct taped to a stop sign was a clear plastic bag containing a brown envelope. The man collected the package and continued on his way to work. He discarded the tape and bag as he walked, but kept the envelope to show his supervisors when he arrived. Typed on the front were the words BTK fieldgram. Inside the envelope were several photocopied pages that had been reduced in size. One listed the 13 chapter titles for the BTK story, but chapter eight, mo id ruse, had been blacked out. An accompanying sketch depicted a bound woman hanging naked from a rope, along with the caption the Sexual Thrill is my Bill. Btk's unique signature was scrawled in the corner. The remaining Pages were marked C1, indicating they were part of the first chapter of the BTK story, A Serial Killer is Born. The long, rambling passage read like a personal diary entry titled Death on a Cold January Morning. It began, if a person happened to be out one of these cold mornings in a certain part of Wichita, that is the north east part, on a particular morning in January, he might have noticed a man park his car in a store parking lot, pause briefly, then walk across the street and disappear among the house and commercial building. BTK described the man slinking through the neighbourhood unnoticed, dressed in a heavy parka with his head lowered. His eyes darted back and forth as he scanned the windows and front door of a nearby house. It was a corner property with a detached garage, a fenced in yard, and enough distance from neighbours to offer privacy. The man looked up and down the street before climbing over the wooden fence into the backyard. He had spied on the family that lived at the residence long enough to know their routine. The man of the house left for work at 8am At 8:45 the mother took her five children to school in her station wagon. She returned home seven minutes later, alone. In BTK's words, it was, quote, the perfect setup. A victim all to himself, a person he could tie up, torture, and maybe kill. What followed was a meticulous, step by step account of the Otero family murders, told From BTK's perspective. Within the text he referred to himself as Rex, the Latin word for king. He explained that he had fantasised about torturing women since childhood. His imagination had satisfied him for a while, but as he got older, his fantasies intensified until he felt the urge to, quote, stake his prey. After noticing Julio Taro around town, BTK said he chose her as his first victim. He planned to force her into a car, bind her, and drive her into the countryside where he would rape and strangle her before leaving her body in a culvert. BTK watched the Otero station wagon come and go on the morning of Tuesday, January 15, 1974, assuming the family had followed their usual routine and that Julie had returned home alone after dropping her children off at school. In actuality, her husband Joe was behind the wheel as he was off work due to an injury. Joe had only dropped off the three eldest Otero children, while Julie remained home with 11 year old Josie and 9 year old Joey, who would be driven to school later. BTK approached the rear of the Otero house, cut the phone line and pulled a nylon mask over his face. He tried the back door only to discover it was locked. He then lay in wait until Joey Otero suddenly stepped outside with the family dog. Startled, BTK swiftly ordered Joey back inside and followed him in. The rest of the Oteros were gathered around the kitchen table preparing school lunches when BTK entered armed with a knife and a pistol. He announced that it was a stick up, saying that he was a wanted man in need of food, money and a car. The frightened Dotero children pressed against their parents, who insisted they had no money. BTK instructed them to remain calm and that everything would be okay throughout. Despite this, Theotero's dog barked incessantly. BTK wanted the dog gone, saying that things would go better if it was out of the way. Joe agreed to put the dog in the backyard while BTK watched on closely, warning him against any funny tricks. Once the dog was outside, BTK herded the family into the main bedroom at gunpoint and ordered them to lie on the bed with their hands behind their backs. BTK stated that he trembled from nervousness, but he remained alert and in control as he bound Joe and Julie's hands and feet. He then turned his attention to the children. Once all four family members were restrained, BTK collected the keys to Julie's station wagon in preparation for his escape. He then returned to the bedroom and slipped a plastic bag over Joe's head. Muffled screams broke out from the others who pleaded with him to stop. Julie begged BTK to leave, promising him they wouldn't tell anyone what he'd done. Instead, he moved toward her with a length of cord. BTK went on to graphically describe how he murdered Joe, Julie, Joey, and finally, Josie Otero. Afterwards, he collected his things, took one last look at the bodies he had left throughout the house, and drove away in Julie's car. It was evident from the tone of the writing that BTK took pleasure in reliving the terror he had inflicted on the Oteros. Although some of the details, like dialogue, might have been fictionalised or embellished, his account of the murders aligned closely with the crime scene evidence, giving it a chilling authenticity. Its specificity and accuracy made it feel less like a retrospective written decades later and more like something composed in the direct aftermath of the attack. A date at the top, February 3, 1974, indicated the document was created just 19 days after the murders. BTK's compulsion to journal his crimes offered valuable insight into his psychology, confirming that he was a controlling, ego driven offender. The journals likely served as yet another gratifying trophy, allowing him to relive his attacks over the years while maintaining mastery over his victims. In the month following the discovery of Chapter one of the BTK story, a Wichita Public Library employee was emptying out the book return box when he discovered a plastic bag at the bottom. Inside were several papers marked BTK Flashgram, each bearing the killer's familiar signature. It was the second time BTK had left information at the library, the first being the Otero Murders confession letter back in 1974. This latest submission was meant to continue BTK's autobiography, specifically Chapter 2 Dawn. However, he admitted he had been sidetracked by an entirely different event and wanted to write about that. Instead, the name Jakey appeared at the top of a two page document. Since none of BTK's victims were known by that name, investigators feared they were about to learn of another they didn't know about. I was so excited about this incident, btk wrote, that I had to tell the story. The incident in question had occurred less than two weeks before the flashgram was discovered at the library. In the early hours of Sunday, July 4, 2004, 19 year old Jake Allen was struck and killed by a freight train near his family's farm, 35 miles outside of Wichita. His death stunned the community and made local headlines. Jake came from a large and supportive Catholic family and his parents ran a successful business. Easygoing, popular and creative, he was homecoming king, class valedictorian, a National Honour Society student, and a star athlete in football, basketball and track. Those who knew Jake couldn't imagine him caught up in anything sinister, yet he was found naked with his sweatshirt and pants recovered a short distance away from his remains. Worse still, he had been bound with bailing wire and tied to the railway tracks. In his latest writings, BTK claimed he had become acquainted with the Jake Allen through online chats during which they discussed sadomasochism, amongst other things. Posing as a detective investigating the BTK case, he allegedly lured Jake to the train tracks, convincing him to act as bait to draw out the elusive serial killer. BTK said he played games with Jake before leaving him bound on the tracks to die, the vibration of the approaching train sexually arousing him. As evidence of his claims, he included photocopies of four grainy Polaroid photos showing a portly old a man in the woods. He was bound in bondage and partially naked, with a hood covering his face and white tube socks on his feet. It was clear that the man was not Jake Allen, nor did Jake appear in any of the images. When investigators examined Jake's death, they confirmed the baling wire had come from his family's farm. Additionally, Jake's computer showed no evidence of any online conversations as BTK had claimed. As improbable as it seemed, it was determined that Jake had taken his own life. It marked the first time BTK had falsely claimed credit for her death. Although this was new for him, it aligned with his history of attention seeking. Even now, he still craved power and recognition. He was also likely taking pleasure in the psychological control he exerted by misdirecting and diverting authorities. But it was what BTK wrote after his fictitious story about Jake Allen that caused genuine alarm. Writing in the present tense, he outlined his plans to kill again. He claimed he had his sights set on either a woman who lived alone or a child that was left unsupervised after school. Just got to work out the details, he explained. I'm much older, not feeble now, and have to condition 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. Got to do it this year or next as time is running out for me. The threat mobilised the Ghostbusters, the specialised task force that had overseen the BTK case in the 1980s and reassembled following the killer's re emergence in 2004. In the wake of the Flashgram, the 23 member team was expanded to 40 as they scrambled to prevent the forewarned murder. The killer's next communication arrived. It surfaced late on Friday, October 22, three months after he falsely claimed responsibility for the death of Jake Allen. A United Parcel Service delivery driver discovered the package in a secluded Dropbox outside an office building near Interstate 1 135. It was another plastic bag with an envelope marked BTK Fieldgram. Inside were eight pieces of paper, copied, recopied and reduced multiple times, making their text difficult to read even when enlarged. One page contained an updated list of the 13 chapters of the BTK story. Now with chapter one, A Serial Killer is Born blacked out. A four page document labelled C2DAWN was the anticipated second chapter of BTK's autobiography. The content appeared to chronicle BTK's childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, he was a dull writer and the story was a monotonous read. He described having an inappropriately close relationship with his mother from a young age, sleeping beside her at night, feeling her underclothes and being allowed to rub her hair. Then, when he was between 10 and 11 years old, his mother discovered semen stains in his underwear. She held BTK's hands behind his back and whipped him with a belt. If you masturbate, God will come and kill you. Although the beating hurt, BTK admitted that he found it strangely arousing. He carried this fascination into his youth by reading books about sadomasochism. By age 18, he was peeping through windows, breaking into homes and stealing women's underwear. He escalated into animal abuse, confessing that he had hanged a cat and later a dog. He drew sketches of his violent fantasies but destroyed them whenever he moved, seeking a fresh start. Yet the urges always returned. In his early 30s, he began visiting sex workers and experimenting with bondage. Some refused to see him again, as BTK explained, because I was too scary. Between the ages of 32 and 34, his violent urges grew considerably to the point that he described them as bad. During this time, he studied well known serial killers including Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy and Richard Speck. He noted that they all got caught except the Ripper. He wondered whether he could avoid capture if he became a serial killer. In addition to chapter two, BTK supplied a rambling two page list titled 3 1, 2, 3 Uno, Dos, Tres. Theory the BTK world works in threes and is base on the eternal Triangle. In it he listed examples of bizarre triangulations such Universe, cosmos elements God, Holy spirit, Son, women, man sex Psycho Serial KILLER BTK BTK VICTIM Police Details Time Hit, hit, thrill, kill the list confirmed a long standing suspicion that the number three held particular significance for the killer as it had appeared in the house numbers of each of his known victims. The reason why remained a mystery. The final item in BTK's latest package was titled after a local phone book, Wichita and Vicinity. It consisted of a collage of photographs of children cut from newspaper advertisements. Scrawled over the children in black permanent marker were gags, ropes and bindings. While BTK's latest offering provided several potential clues to his identity, the Ghostbusters remained wary. Although much of his previous correspondence had proven reliable, BTK had also shown the ability and willingness to lie, as evidenced by his recent false claims about Jake Allen's death. Nevertheless, the task force took a calculated risk and held a press conference outlining more than 20 claims BTK had made about himself in chapter two. They included that he was born in 1939, making him 64 or 65 years old in 2004. He apparently had a cousin named Susan who had moved to Missouri, a grandfather who played the fiddle and died of lung disease, and a father who had perished in World War II. His mother had supposedly worked during the day near a railroad, which led to BTK's lifelong fascination with trains and his preference to live close to their roots. As a boy, he said that he'd built and operated a ham radio and attended church and Sunday school. His hobbies included hunting, fishing and camping. He had a Hispanic acquaintance named Petra who had a younger sister named Tina. He had repaired photocopiers for work, possessed basic knowledge of photography and developing images, and had served overseas as part of the Air Force before being discharged in 1966. These disclosures sparked conversation, though not all of it positive. Many were sceptical of BTK's claims, with a former FBI profiler warning this whole scenario could be contrived just to set out false leads and keep the police running. Still, he defended the decision to release the material publicly, arguing that withholding it would be irresponsible. The key could be there, he said. There could be something that leads to this guy's apprehension. Critics simply wanted the press to stop reporting on btk. One Wichita resident expressed fatigue with the media frenzy, stating, the only reason BTK should be in the news is if he is captured. Period. The media should stop feeding into his ego with all the coverage. Even those who were inclined to believe that the information was genuine cautioned against treating it as significant. A psychologist who consulted on the case in the 1970s noted that many of the details were hardly unusual, telling the Wichita Eagle all boys in the early 50s were playing with radio kits. Photography was a contemporary thing back then. What struck him as more meaningful was BTK's alleged upbringing without a father figure. He stated that this was not uncommon among sex offenders and sociopaths, as it was hard to imagine BTK could still be actively killing in his 60s. The psychologist suggested he was more likely indulging in memories of his, quote, glory days, perhaps because he sensed his time was limited. After all, he had mysteriously written in his latest letter that time is running out for me. Former Wichita Chief of Police Richard Lamunion agreed, saying the tone of the communications suggested that BTK wanted to be identified and the case brought to a close. I could be wrong, he acknowledged, but I truly believe this is an individual who doesn't want to go to his grave without telling us who he is. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.
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Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Foreign. Backstory sparked a fresh wave of tips as investigators contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compile a list of mining sites where workers might have contracted a lung disease. They cross checked suspects against railroad employees and hobbyists while launching a nationwide search for sisters named Petra and tina. They identified 27 such pairs. One even lived in Wichita, but they were of Bulgarian descent, not Hispanic. By December 2004, BTK had been sporadically communicating with the police and the press for almost a year. If he had claimed any more lives during his resurgence, he wasn't willing to reveal it yet. On Wednesday, December 1st, 64 year old Wichita retiree Roger Valadez felt feverish and decided to spend the day in bed. At 7:30pm he overheard people talking outside his home, followed by loud knocking on his front door. Not wanting to entertain visitors in his condition, Roger ignored the sounds. Suddenly, a group of about 20 plain clothed men stormed into his home, prying open the dead bolted storm door and forcing their way through the wooden door behind it. One of the men pointed a handgun at Roger and ordered Put your hands up, you're under arrest. Roger realised the men were police. They said they had a warrant to collect his DNA, but Roger didn't know why they wanted it and refused to give a sample. Well, we're going to take it from you one way or the other, he was told. Two officers held him by the shoulders as a swab was forcibly rubbed against the inside of his mouth. Roger's house underwent a dramatic search. Holes were put through walls and several bags and boxes of items were seized, including papers, photographs and typewriters. He was taken to jail for outstanding warrants alleging criminal trespass and housing code violations from years earlier. Meanwhile, news of Roger's dramatic arrest spread quickly through Wichita's media. Although the name was never uttered to Roger during his ordeal, reports were quickly going to print that authorities had finally caught btk. A tip off to the BTK hotline that morning had apparently led investigators to Roger's door. He fit the profile somewhat in that he was in the right age bracket, was a lifelong Wichita resident, had served in the armed forces and lived near a railroad track. Roger's three adult children were stunned by the allegations. They knew their father as a hard working, honest and good man, and they were baffled that anyone could consider him btk. Though the charges laid against him were for unrelated misdemeanours involving housing code and trespassing violations, Roger spent 24 sleepless hours in jail. It wasn't until a phone call with his daughter the next day that he learned the true pretext behind the search of his house. By the time of his release, his name and address had been widely broadcast as a BTK suspect. Roger couldn't go back home. Crowds of reporters and stunned onlookers staked out his house, wanting to catch a glimpse of the elusive killer who had haunted the city for more than three decades. News reports did little to acknowledge Roger's potential innocence. Instead, they fixated on how creepy it seemed that he had children's toys in his yard. Without mentioning the fact that he was a grandfather, Roger watched the chaos unfold in horrified awe. As neighbours who knew him well told reporters, we can't believe that BTK had been this close to here or that we'd have a murderer in our midst. Three days later, the results of the DNA test came in. Roger Valadez was not btk. His misdemeanour charges were resolved, but his reputation had been tarnished, with some in the community unwilling to accept his innocence, even in the face of scientific proof. In an effort to clear his name and restore justice for his family, Roger sued the parent companies of three media outlets, all of which invaded his privacy by broadcasting his name and address on television, radio and the Internet. In their rush to be the first to report the capture of BTK, Roger ultimately won a $1.1 million judgement. The defendants vowed to appeal. But Roger, who had spoken openly about how the ordeal had caused him immense pain and stress, passed away a month later. To investigators, the arrest of Roger Valdez was purely procedural. They had deliberately avoided accusing him of being btk, mindful that a false accusation like that could ruin a man's life. The media's response, however, underscored just how far the relationship between the police and the press had deteriorated since BTK first emerged. In the early years, the two had cooperated mutually, agreeing to handle the case discreetly to protect the integrity of the investigation. By the early 2000s, the atmosphere had shifted. The media was swept up in scandal and sensationalism, each outlet eager to be the first to announce an arrest and reap the resulting acclaim. When BTK had contacted the press in the past, journalists had alerted police immediately. By 2004, however, they held onto evidence, examining and documenting it before notifying authorities. They appeared unannounced at suspects homes, pursued confidential information, interfered with surveillance, and followed leads so aggressively that at times, officers threatened to arrest them. The relationship between police and the media had eroded so severely that investigators no longer viewed the press as a potential asset, but as a liability. And they knew only one person stood to benefit from that breakdown. Btk. Merely days after Roger Valadez was cleared from the BTK investigation, on Wednesday, December 8, 2004, the phone rang at a Quick Trip convenience store on East Harry Street, a major thoroughfare in downtown Wichita. Do not hang up, the irritated mail caller demanded. There is a bomb in your store. He spoke quickly to ensure that he wasn't cut off, announcing, this is btk, the store's assistant manager took over the call with btk, instructing him to write down the following details. I'm calling to tell you of a package at ninth End, Minnesota on the north east corner, he said before abruptly hanging up. Investigators raced to the location provided, which was near the serene grounds of Murdoch park and adjacent to Interstate 135. The interstate had appeared frequently in BTK's recent movements, leading investigators to suspect it was the route he used when travelling around the city to drop off his packages. Perhaps he lived nearby, or maybe he knew that even if police attempted to monitor the roadway, it would be nearly impossible to single out his vehicle among the thousands of drivers who used it every day. With flashlights in hand, investigators scoured the streets, trash cans and bushes around Murdoch park but found nothing of note. The bomb threat was ultimately deemed to be a hoax after it was discovered that BTK had attempted to call through the coordinates of his latest drop to other businesses as well, including the jewellery store where victim Nancy Fox had worked. However, after hearing the caller announce this is btk, the others assumed it was a prank and had immediately hung up. The bomb threat to Kwiktrip was likely intended to ensure that police would be contacted. Five days later, a local man was walking through Murdoch park when he spotted a package by a tree on the south side facing away from the corner Pinpointed by btk, it was a small white trash bag with a clear plastic ziplock bag inside that contained a doll. Several sheets of paper were secured to the doll with rubber bands, including an index card labelled Doll Gram. Once again, the papers included the list of BTK's 13 story chapters, this time with chapters one, two and eight crossed out. The doll's hands and ankles were bound with white string and it was naked from the waist down, with pubic hair crudely drawn on in black marker. The ziplock bag had been tied in a way that made it appear as though the doll was being suffocated, and a piece of pantyhose was wrapped around its neck. The string around the doll's ankles was woven through a punctured hole in the corner of a driver's license. It belonged to Nancy Fox, who had been killed by BTK in 1977. The licence was in pristine condition, indicating that BTK had carefully preserved it during the 27 years since Nancy's murder. Why he chose to surrender it now was puzzling to investigators, given that serial killers typically hoard their trophies to maintain a lasting sense of power, control and ownership over their victims. Once again, speculation arose that BTK was nearing the end of his life and was relinquishing everything before his story could end unfinished. The call alerting police to the dolegram was placed on the 27th anniversary of Nancy Fox's murder. The package included a two page document titled Chapter 9 Hits and was subheaded PJ Foxtail. December 8, 1977, the date Nancy was killed. Sure enough, the writing detailed the crime from BTK's perspective. I spotted Nancy one day while cruising the area, he explained, adding that her age was right and that she had the look of a BTK victim. He described how he stalked her, explaining, found out her name by checking her mailbox and tracked her to work. I visited the store where she worked asking for some jewellery on display and bought some cheap jewellery. BTK went on to detail the murder in a conversational tone. He said that he parked a few blocks away from Nancy's apartment, walked there, cut the phone line, broke in and waited until she arrived home from work. He then provided a graphic account of how he killed Nancy Fox. Before leaving, he took mementos from her apartment, including lingerie, jewellery and her driver's licence. His written confession of Nancy's murder ended with the letters sbt, though it was unclear what they stood for. BTK also revealed that he had given a piece of Nancy's jewellery to a girlfriend, writing, naturally, I didn't tell her where it came from. It was confirmed that a necklace belonging to Nancy was missing following her murder. Police issued a public appeal for the piece, a gold chain set with two vertically aligned pearls, speculating that BTK might have given it to a woman in December 1977 or early 1978. But no one came forward claiming to have received it. On Tuesday, January 25, 2005, over a month after police received BTK's dolegram, local Wichita television station Cake TV received another communication from the killer, adding to the long list of messages he had sent them over the years. This time it was a postcard labelled Communication number eight. He gave his name as S Killit and used the Otero's former family home on North Edgemoor street as the return address. The postcard contained a set of directions and strangely referenced a box of cereal called Post Toasties Week of January 17, 2005 between 69th north and 77th north on Seneca Street. Post Toasties Box C9PJ, Little Max and Doll Haunt of KS Acronym List and Jewell. Instead of contacting the authorities straight away, KAKE TV's news director dispatched reporters and a film crew to the location. They arrived on Seneca street, an isolated rural dirt road in north Wichita. Leaning against the base of a road curve sign, they found a Post Toasties box adorned with a red crepe streamer and weighed down with a brick. By the time police were alerted, the scene on Seneca street had been compromised. The Cake TV staff had driven right up to the sign and walked within a foot of the cereal box, destroying any tracks that BTK might have left in the dirt. However, the box itself remained untouched. Inside was a note from BTK explaining the abbreviations he had used in previous correspondence. He clarified that spt, which had ended the chapter on Nancy Fox's murder, stood for Sparky, Big Time, Sparky being the nickname he had given his penis and Big Time referring to masturbation. PJ stood for projects, SFX meant sexual fantasy, DBs death by strangulation, and DTPG meant death to Pretty Girl. There were many others. To investigators, his excessive use of cryptic acronyms showcased his desire to be perceived as intelligent or cunning. Kind of like a spy. But they weren't impressed. The Post Toasties box contained another doll, also naked from the waist down with marker drawn pubic hair. This one had its wrists, waist, knees and ankles bound with a thin white cord and a gag across the mouth. A piece of rough rope extended from the doll's neck to a short piece of white plastic PVC pipe. It was a grotesque representation of the murder of 11 year old Josie Otero. The Otero murders were once again the focus of an accompanying document which was part of the ninth December chapter of BTK's Story Hits. This time he asserted that Josie, not Julio Taro, had been his intended target all along. Interestingly, the Post Toasties box was left in an area where BTK had never been known to operate. It was within walking distance of Park City, a growing suburb north of Wichita. Home to around 7,000 people, Park City functioned as its own independent city within the wider metropolitan area. This got investigators thinking. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.
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Adam Grant, host of Ted's podcast Rethinking with Adam Grant. Have you heard of Bill? It's the intelligent finance platform that uses AI to help you avoid costly errors and optimize cash flow. In fact, Bill reports that over 90 of the top 100 US accounting firms trust them to manage, move and maximize money proven by over a trillion dollars in secure transactions. Eliminate the friction and start scaling with the proven choice. Visit bill.compenven to talk with an expert about automating your business finances and get a $250 gift card as the thank you. That's bill.com proven terms and conditions apply. See Offer page for details.
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Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Almost two decades earlier, in early hours of Saturday, April 27, 1985, 53 year old widow and grandmother Maureen Hedge had disappeared from her home on North Independence street in Park City. Marine, who lived alone, had hosted a friend that evening. The pair stayed up talking until the friend left around 1am Hours later, Marine failed to show up for her shift at the coffee shop where she had worked for 13 years, which was highly uncharacteristic of her. Park City police were called and although Marine's home appeared normal, her phone line had been cut and her car was missing. It was found days later, abandoned at a shopping centre a short drive southeast. It was locked and the keys were missing. The driver's side windshield was partially broken and it was unusually muddy, though it had been wiped clean around the trunk and sides. Inside the trunk, police found two bed covers, a purple bedspread, a tan curtain and a pink electric blanket, all belonging to Marine. Pine needles from an evergreen tree were also scattered throughout the vehicle, adding to the mystery. The following day, Marine's purse was spotted alongside a rural road on the eastern outskirts of Wichita, stripped of all forms of identification. Nine days after Marine's disappearance, her naked body was discovered in a wet ditch seven miles from her home in an area known for illegal rubbish dumping. Displacing her car, purse and body would have required as little as a 20 mile round trip or roughly a 30 minute drive on back roads. In the early hours, her killer had attempted to conceal her remains with grass, twigs and a small section of an evergreen tree. A pair of knotted pantyhose lay nearby, and although Marine had been strangled to death, the act had been Carried out by hand, the case marked Park City's first murder in five years. Leaving the neighbourhood shaken, Marine had spent her days working, playing bingo, tending to her garden and attending church. Given her quiet trouble free nature, locals were convinced her killer couldn't have been someone she knew. I just hope the hell they catch them, one neighbour told the Wichita Eagle. Yet as time passed, Park City authorities made no arrests and the case remained unsolved. Six years later, on Saturday, January 19, 1991, Park City Police responded to a report of a possible robbery at a residence on North Hillside Street. A visitor had raised concerns after finding the curtains drawn with the porch light left on. Their knocks on the door had gone unanswered despite the homeowner's car sitting in the driveway inside, the doors throughout the house appeared to have been wiped clean. A cinder block had been thrown through a sliding patio door and lay on the living room floor amid shattered glass. The cord to the kitchen phone had been pulled from the wall Jack. A jewellery display had been raided and a lingerie drawer rifled through. A bed had been stripped of its linen and the pillows had been piled against the wall with their cases removed. The keys to the car out front had been inexplicably tossed onto the roof of the garage. Inside the trunk, which also appeared to have been wiped clean, was a rug. Most troubling of all, the homeowner herself, 62 year old Dolores Davis, was missing. It was a peculiar scenario. Dolores was a beloved grandmother who lived alone with her pet cats and she never left home without her car. But something had been troubling her lately. Days before she went missing, she was on the phone to her son when she said that she heard a rustling sound outside her window. Her cat seemed spooked by whatever was out there and one even began batting at the glass as if trying to get to it. Dolores worried that someone was watching her. Two weeks later, Dolores body was found partially covered in snow under a rural bridge a 12 minute drive north of her home. She was clad in nightclothes with her breasts exposed. Her legs and wrists were tied with pantyhose and another pair was wrapped tightly around her neck. A bedspread lay close by, as did a strange and sinister mask of a woman's face. It was made from heavy plastic and was pale in colour. But someone had hand painted eyebrows, black eyelashes and red lips on it. Although the murders of Maureen Hedge and Dolores Davis fell under the jurisdiction of Park City authorities, Wichita based police took notice. They saw hints of BTK's presence in both Crime scenes, including the break ins, cut phone lines, bondage and strangulation. However, FBI specialists weren't convinced he was responsible for either killing. To them, it simply wasn't his style. BTK's previous murders had been confined to victims homes with no instances of him attempting to remove any bodies from the scene. He had also never struck in Park City before. All of his confirmed victims lived closer to downtown Wichita, specifically a small pocket in the eastern region. While they varied overall, he typically targeted younger women with everyone else being collateral damage. Additionally, Marine and Dolores home addresses didn't include the number three, a digit that held particular significance to BTK when selecting victims. Rumours persisted that Marine and Dolores were BTK victims, even though he never referenced either murder in his correspondence over the years. This belief was substantiated in 2005 in the piecemeal narrative BTK was slowly releasing. He admitted that he had originally intended to bind, abduct and kill Julio Teiro before disposing of her body in a culvert resembling what had happened to Marine and Dolores. Chronologically, Marine's murder fell seven years after Nancy Fox and a little over a year before Vicky Wegerly, possibly making her BTK victim number eight. Dolores murder occurred four months after Vicki Wegly's, which would potentially make her BTK's 10th and final known victim. This raised a compelling question. If BTK was responsible for these two additional murders, why hadn't he owned up to them? What was it about the murders of Maureen Hedge and Dolores Davis that made him less inclined to boast or even hint at his involvement? Investigators wondered who Marine and Dolores were to btk. Perhaps they weren't random strangers, but people he could be traced to. Or maybe the answer lay in the location of these crimes. Could BTK be found in Park City? Going back to the communication number eight postcard BTK had sent to Cake TV that triggered this latest discovery, Investigators were intrigued by a cryptic note he had included. It read, let me know if you or police Department received number 7 at Home Depot drop site January 8, 2005 thanks. It seemed that BTK had left them another package earlier that month which had gone unnoticed. Wichita's Home Depot building and gardening retail store was situated on North Woodlawn Boulevard in the city's northeast. Interestingly, it sat on the same road as the shopping centre where Maureen Hedges car had been found, adding another potential link to her unsolved homicide. Police visited the location where BTK said he left a package weeks earlier on Saturday, January 8th. They searched the store and surrounding area thoroughly and spoke to Home Depot staff and customers. But no one reported noticing anything unusual around that time. It wasn't until Home Depot employee Edgar Bishop returned from vacation and saw a notice about the police inquiry in the break room that he made the connection. On January 8th, Edgar discovered that someone had placed a box of Special Case cereal in the bed of his truck, which had been parked in Home Depot's lot. Black block letters scrawled on the box read BOMB and BTK pre. Inside was a blue beaded necklace and several pages of computer typed notes that made little sense to Edgar. One page labelled boom described BTK's Laird, a three story house with a bondage room and kill room that was rigged with a propane and gasoline bomb designed to detonate if police entered. Believing the box and its contents were a prank, Edgar discarded them in the trash can at his home. Luckily, because Edgar had been on vacation, he hadn't taken the trash to the curb, where its contents would have been nearly impossible to recover. Investigators retrieved the Special K box. It contained more of BTK's egotistical musings, including further references to himself as Rex. He also included a list titled PJ, which authorities now understood meant projects. Essentially BTK's victims. He assigned each a codename and a brief descriptor of the attack. He wrote about Josie Otero, whom he incorrectly referred to as Little Max, despite the fact she was Puerto Rican. He referred to Nancy Fox as Foxtail. He also detailed other unnamed victims he had considered targeting but ultimately did not murder for various reasons. If he had carried out those attacks, his victim count would have been at least twice as high as usual. BTK's writing lacked any real substance, but the Special K box itself proved useful. A code on the box indicated it had been sold at a grocery store in Park City. And this wasn't the only major breakthrough. Home Depot had three security cameras covering its parking lot. Investigators pored over the footage from January 8th until they spotted Edgar Bishop's truck. It had been a busy day of trade as the city was recovering from a recent ice storm. Hundreds of vehicles came and went that day as customers purchased items to repair the damage left in its wake. Just after 2.30pm, a dark coloured Jeep Cherokee SUV entered the lot, circled a few times and then parked. The male driver got out, walked over to Edgar's truck and stood beside it for a moment before placing something in the bed. He then returned to his Jeep and drove away. Investigators rewound and enhanced the footage, repeatedly straining to discern any details of the man and his car records showed that 2,500 dark coloured jeep Cherokees were registered in the Wichita area. But the man remained frustratingly indistinct. Yet even his blurred figure was enough to raise anticipation. It marked the first time police had ever laid eyes on btk. For the first time in the exhaustive three decade long investigation, police had narrowed down BTK's vehicle type and pinpointed his potential location in Park City. And that wasn't all. Can I communicate with floppy and not be traced to a computer? Be honest, BTK had written in the special case cereal box correspondence. He was forthrightly asking whether he could send police further messages via a floppy disk. These square flat plastic devices were widely used for computer data storage in the 1980s and 90s, before higher capacity media like CDs and USB drives became standard. Essentially, BTK wanted to know whether using a floppy disk as a means of communication would allow him to remain untraceable. Given the painstaking effort he put into sending his messages while avoiding detection and then distributing clues about how to find them, he seemed to be looking for a way to streamline the process. He requested that police run an advertisement in the local newspaper with the message, Rex, it will be ok. If a floppy disk couldn't be traced. If he received this assurance, he then promised to do a test run and send them a disc in the near future. The Ghostbusters were dumbfounded by the audacity of BTK's request, debating whether he was even serious. Surely he wouldn't be foolish enough to trust them. Either way, to test him, they went ahead and ran the ad in the Wichita Eagles classified section. Rex, it will be OK, it said, followed by the address of a PO box where he could send the floppy disk. Thirteen days later, on Wednesday, February 16, 2005, a padded envelope arrived at the Wichita based television station KSAS tv. The return address bore the name PJ Fox, the codename BTK used to reference victim Nancy Fox. Inside the envelope was a gold chain with a pendant and three index cards. One card contained a photocopy of the front cover of the 1989 novel Rules of Prey by John Sanford. The book follows the hunt for a serial killer who kills for pleasure and delights in placing elaborate obstacles to keep police baffled. Notably, the killer lived by a specific set of rules. Never kill anyone you know, never have a motive. Never follow a discoverable pattern. Never carry a weapon after it has been used. Isolate yourself from random discovery. Beware of leaving physical evidence. A second index card listed several of BTK'S recent communications, seemingly to ensure that authorities had located them all. The final card explained how police could contact BTK via yet another newspaper advertisement. But most significantly, the package contained a purple floppy disk. The Ghostbusters had mixed feelings. They were wary that the disk might hold nothing of value and be just another setup designed to toy with them. Nevertheless, they gathered around a computer as the disc was inserted. It contained a single file named Testa rtf, which opened a Microsoft Word document containing a brief message. This is a test, it read. See 3x5 card for details on communication with me in the newspaper. In his previous communication, BTK had asked whether a floppy disk could be traced. He urged the police to be honest with him, seemingly because he lacked knowledge of modern computer technology. Unbeknown to him, the officers were not forthcoming. They assured him it would be safe to send the disk, while in reality they had the means to examine it for potentially valuable information. Running the disk through a premier forensic computer program uncovered a second document that had been previously stored on the disc but since deleted. It was an agenda for a church council meeting. Simply clicking on the file's properties revealed far more than BTK had likely anticipated. Look at that, one investigator remarked. The file was titled Christ Lutheran Church, and it had been accessed on a public library computer in Park City. Surely it couldn't be that easy, the investigators wondered. Oh my God, another investigator muttered in disbelief as they read on. There was also a name to be continued next week.
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