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BTK /// Bind, Torture, Kill /// Part 3 - True Crime Garage | Wave AI Podcast Notes

BTK /// Bind, Torture, Kill /// Part 3

Wed Apr 30 2025

BTK /// Bind, Torture, Kill /// Part 3 Released: 5-1-2018 Part 3 of 4 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com January 1974 - Wichita, Kansas - After years of fantasizing a killer emerges from the shadows and announces himself to the world. A dark haired man slipped into the home of the Otero's one morning as the children prepared for school. He murdered all four people inside the home. Later that same year he would attack and kill again before vanishing into hibernation. After many requests we have decided to take an in depth look into the dark, disturbing life and mind of Dennis Rader. Driven by what he called Factor X, Dennis was better known as the BTK. Beer of the Week - Demon Dweller by Green Man BreweryGarage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5 Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

Summary

True Crime Garage – Episode: BTK /// Bind, Torture, Kill /// Part 3

Hosts: Nic and the Captain
Release Date: April 30, 2025

Introduction

In the latest episode of True Crime Garage, hosts Nic and the Captain delve deeper into the chilling case of the BTK Strangler, Dennis Rader. With their characteristic blend of insightful analysis and engaging banter, they unpack the complexities of Rader's crimes, his manipulative communications, and the broader implications on the Wichita community.

Setting the Scene

The episode begins with Nic and the Captain enjoying a Dimwit beer, setting a relaxed yet attentive tone for the intense discussion ahead. They extend their gratitude to listeners from various locations, fostering a sense of community among true crime enthusiasts.

Nic:
"Welcome to True Crime Garage wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick and with me as always is a man that was not invited but he's certainly glad he made it. He is the Captain."
[00:39]

The Captain:
"I just assumed the invitation got lost in the mail. It's good to be seen and it's good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling my friend."
[00:51]

The BTK Case Unfolded

Early Murders and Public Announcement

The episode transitions to February 10, 1978, when the Wichita police chief holds a press conference revealing a series of murders linked to the BTK Strangler. Rader, who had already claimed responsibility for multiple killings, intimates the community with his initials and moniker.

Nic:
"Now, as you can imagine, the police announcing to the public and to the local media that a predatory sexual killer is on the loose sent a wave of widespread panic, shock, and fear across the community."
[02:23]

Listeners are introduced to the initial four murders of the Oturo family, followed by subsequent killings of Shirley Vien and Nancy Fox. Rader's communication, characterized by cryptic letters and drawings, adds a terrifying layer to his persona.

The Creeping Fear: Anna Williams Incident

About 14 months after Rader went silent, he strikes again, attempting to murder Anna Williams. His method involves breaking into her home, waiting for her return, and ultimately leaving behind unsettling evidence including a drawing and a haunting poem.

Nic:
"In that small world of longing, fear, rapture and desperation the game we play fall on devil ears fantasy spring forth mounts to storm fury Then winter clam at end. Oh Anna, why didn't you appear?"
[10:56]

Despite Rader's meticulous planning, Anna survives the initial attack, only to move out fearing the serial killer. Rader's obsession with public attention becomes evident as he continues to seek recognition for his heinous acts.

The Captain:
"He loved being the city's so-called boogeyman, let's say. He loved that he knew the answer to the biggest question around town. Who was BTK?"
[12:30]

Rader's Dual Life

Rader's personal life is explored in depth, showcasing his ability to maintain a facade of normalcy. While he terrorizes Wichita, he simultaneously leads a quiet life with his family, enjoys community activities like the Boy Scouts, and even indulges in peculiar hobbies such as self-bondage.

Nic:
"He is a guy living this quiet and pretty reserved life in Park City, living in a modest home with his wife, son, and daughter and working for the ADT company, rising through the ranks over the years."
[13:03]

This juxtaposition highlights the complexity of Rader's character, embodying the fear that evil can lurk beneath the most unsuspecting exteriors.

Expanding the Web: Suspected Additional Victims

The discussion shifts to other tragic cases that may be linked to Rader's BTK persona. Notable among these are the murders of Marine Wallace Hedge and Vicki Wagerly, whose brutal deaths share similarities with BTK's known methods.

Marine Wallace Hedge

Marine was a 53-year-old widow living on the same block as Rader. Her murders reveal Rader's escalating obsession, culminating in a meticulously planned attack where he ultimately loses control, resulting in her unintended death.

Nic:
"He was really just trying to get control of her and get control of the situation. But because he was so much larger than her, his hands strong, he ended up strangling her to death."
[31:24]

Rader's struggle with his own violent impulses becomes evident as his fantasies spiral beyond his intentions.

Vicki Wagerly

Vicki, a 28-year-old mother, becomes another potential target of Rader. His attempts to disguise his identity and gain access to her home showcase his manipulative tactics and relentless pursuit of victims.

Nic:
"He is looking for a place to ditch this body. So he's looking for a Dumping ground."
[32:28]

The William Butterworth Connection

One of the most intriguing segments of the episode examines the William Butterworth case. Initially a suspect in the Fager family murders, Butterworth's inexplicable flight to Florida and subsequent alibi raises questions about his true involvement.

Nic:
"Maybe, maybe Butterworth did it. Maybe Butterworth has a partner. You know, maybe that would explain some of it, because some of the evidence doesn't match up with him 100%."
[52:25]

The hosts explore the possibility of Butterworth being an accomplice or even a misdirect in the broader BTK narrative, suggesting that the truth behind these murders remains elusive.

Rader's Continued Elusiveness

Despite his arrest and the overwhelming evidence against him, Rader's ability to maintain normalcy underscores the challenges law enforcement faces in capturing such a calculated predator. His communication strategies, including sending letters and maintaining records of his crimes, reveal a disturbing need for recognition and control.

The Captain:
"Thanks for listening and stick around for the finale of BTK tomorrow."
[54:05]

Conclusion and Reflections

Nic and the Captain wrap up the episode by reflecting on Rader's enduring impact on the Wichita community and the unresolved mysteries that continue to haunt true crime enthusiasts. They emphasize the importance of vigilance and community awareness in preventing such tragedies.

Nic:
"Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter."
[54:05]

Notable Quotes

Nic:
"He loved being the city's so-called boogeyman, let's say. He loved that he knew the answer to the biggest question around town. Who was BTK?"
[12:30]
The Captain:
"Thanks for listening and stick around for the finale of BTK tomorrow."
[54:05]
Nick:
"I don't know what was actually said, but according to Dennis Raider, he got very agitated and pretty defensive when that had happened."
[15:08]

Final Thoughts

This episode of True Crime Garage offers a comprehensive and gripping examination of the BTK Strangler's reign of terror, intertwining detailed case analysis with personal insights from the hosts. For listeners eager to understand the depths of Rader's malevolence and the enduring mysteries surrounding his crimes, this episode serves as an essential resource.

For more detailed discussions and future episodes, visit truecrimegarage.com and follow True Crime Garage on Instagram and Untapped.

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Transcript

Nick (0:39)

Welcome to True Crime Garage wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick and with me as always is a man that was not invited but he's certainly glad he made it. He is the Captain.

The Captain (0:51)

I just assumed the invitation got lost in the mail. It's good to be seen and it's good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling my friend.

Nick (1:02)

Well, I too Captain. I'm glad that you made it because today we are drinking Dimwit by the river City Brewing Company garage. Grade 3 and a half bottle caps out of five. Dimwit is a fantastic wit beer brewed in Wichita and delivering everything one would expect from a great wit beer.

The Captain (1:18)

And Dimwit is a fantastic co host.

Nick (1:21)

It's citrusy, it's light and it's warm. And today's beer was brought to us by these witty guys and girls. First up we have ladonna up in Alberta, Canada and a big we like.

The Captain (1:31)

You Jib to Sarah and Stockton, New Jersey.

Nick (1:34)

And Captain, everybody knows you don't mess with Texas. And down there we got Adrian and Denton. And we also have Katherine in Houston. Big shout out.

The Captain (1:41)

You mess with the bull, you get the horn.

Nick (1:45)

Next up, a cheers to Veronica and Matt in Charleston, South Carolina. Also it's here's the Kerry listening in the farmlands in Ledger, Montana. And last but not least, we have Brenda and Bloomington Illin. So thanks to everybody for your continued support. To get involved, go to truecrimegarage.com check out our blog, check out our store page. Also True Crime Garage is awesome on Instagram and untapped.

The Captain (2:10)

And if you're in or around Columbus, Ohio this Thursday, May 10th, we're going to be doing a live event through Columbus Podcast Festival. For more information or tickets, check out Columbus podcast festival.com I will see you there Captain.

Nick (2:23)

Everybody gather round. Grab a chair, grab some beers. Let's talk some true. February 10, 1978 Friday evening in the Wichita Kansas City hall building the police chief made the following announcement. The purpose of this news conference is to advise the public of an extremely serious matter involving a series of murders which occurred in our city. As you know, In January of 1974 four members of the Oturo family were murdered. In March of 1977 Shirley Vien was killed. And in December of 1977 Nancy Fox was also murdered. Earlier today, K A K E T V immediately brought me a letter where the author took credit for the Oturo, the Fox and the VN murders. In addition, whoever wrote this letter has taken credit For a seventh victim. We are in no doubt and are convinced that the person that killed the Oturos, Ms. Fox and Ms. Vianne is the same person. I want to restate. There is no question in our minds 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 is as 1. Additional uniformed officers are already on the street. 2. A special detective task force involving the major case squad has been established. Three, A special phone number for citizens to call has been established. This phone will be staffed 24 hours a day. 4. We have solicited the assistance of the district attorney, the sheriff and professionals in the field of human behavior and would welcome the 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. When we left off last week, we finished the week by announcing that the BTK killer had named himself, had sent a letter to K A K E T V. And immediately that letter was sent to the police department. That same evening, they held the press conference where we just discussed that announcement that they made. Now, as you can imagine, the police announcing to the public and to the local media that a predatory sexual killer is on the loose Sent a wave of widespread panic, shock and fear across the community. The announcement quickly became national news. With the public aware that BTK was hunting people in Wichita, Many rumors were swirling about who the killer was and how and why he chose certain victims. One thing that was also mentioned during the public announcement was that the killer had cut the phone line to the houses before he entered the home to attack and kill the occupants. This information inspired a safety precaution that became a ritualistic habit of nearly all the citizens of the greater Wichita area, Especially something practiced by single women that lived alone. Because the phone line was cut, people would, upon arriving back at their homes, they would run to the phone in the house and pick up the receiver and listen for a dial tone. A lot of people would call their home from another location before returning home to make sure that the phone would ring. Other precautions were taken by citizens as well. This included the increased sales of peepholes, deadbolts, Other additional door locks, and of course, guns and dogs were in high demand, but a pattern that we would see time and time again. After this communication, BTK went dark and it was 14 months later when we have another incident.

Nick (25:23)

Marine Wallace Hedge was 53 years old, was a quiet, dependable second shift supervisor at a medical center coffee shop. Now, she was originally from Arkansas, but she had moved to Kansas with her late husband. She was widowed. She was described as a kind, petite, well dressed woman with a charming southern voice. She was a devoted mother to her three daughters, one son and a devoted she was devoted to her grandchildren as well. Now she enjoyed playing bingo, doing yard work and attending the Baptist church. She lived on the same block as Dennis Raider. Actually, she had lived there on the same block as Dennis raider for over 30 years. At some point, Dennis started to fantasize about Maureen Hedges. He got a strong sexual charge thinking about what she would look like tied up, gagged and with a rope tight around her neck. Now this could be a big, big problem for Dennis because Factor X is telling him to kill her. But killing a neighbor would be extremely risky. But once Factor X focused in on a victim, Dennis had to get to work trolling the subject, checking up on them, as he would call it. Now during this process, Dennis learned that the woman had worked at a coffee shop and he would call this project Cookie. Sometimes at night, Dennis would take a bike ride and he would sneak around her home watching her through the windows. Sometimes he would stare at her as she lie in bed at night with the light on, reading. Dennis didn't care about the risk. The the urge that he got to kill her was so strong he was willing to take the risk. He was going to create some kind of plan so that he could kill her. But Also give himself an alibi as well. Okay, so on the weekend of April 27, 1985, Dennis Raider was attending a boy Scout camp. This is just outside of Wichita. He left the camp in the evening with the pretext of having a headache and needing to get to town to buy something for his headache. In his vehicle, Dennis Raider had what he referred to as his hit kit. This would be his kit of prepared items he thought he needed or intended to use during the course of one of his murders. You know, we saw this type of thing with Bundy. You know, that you keep this thing in your vehicle or you keep it close at hand and you have these materials or items that you think you're going to need to use.

Nick (27:58)

But this time, captain, he had actually stored these items in a pre selected bag. He put them in a different bag. This time, he was using a bowling bag. So after he left the camp, he parked his car by a bowling alley inside the city, and he bought himself a beer at the bowling alley. He drank half the beer and deliberately spilled beer on his clothing and on his hands so he would have smelled like he had been there all night, drinking a lot. So he calls a cab, and when the cab gets there, he pretends to be drunk. And he tells the driver that he's far too drunk to drive home. And he needed a ride. But Dennis instructed the driver to take him, to take him home. But he didn't give the driver an actual address. He told the driver to take him to a park in Park City so that he could walk it off before going home, saying he wanted to get some fresh air, was too drunk to see his wife, whatever, right? So this park, it was near the backyard of Hedge's property. Raider shows up, he makes the walk to her property, and he's actually just disappointed to see Marine's car in the carport. So he assumed when he saw the vehicle that she was at home, he didn't want her to be home. When he arrived at the house, he cuts the phone line and he quietly pried open a rear door using a screwdriver. And it turned out that. That no one was home. To his surprise, even though that car was there. Right, Nobody was in the house. But soon a car pulled up, and Raider decided to hide in a bedroom closet. Now, Maureen Hedge and a friend, this was Gerald Porter, entered the home. They stayed there talking for approximately two hours. The whole time, Dennis Raider is hiding in this closet, listening to the two of them talk, waiting for the man to leave. Well, Gerald left the house that night around 1am Now, Raider waited until Maureen went to bed and you know, till, till he, he thought that she had fallen asleep. At that time, he crept out of the closet. He turns on the, the bathroom light so he can see what is he's doing. And then he pounces on Marine who's still in the bed. He manually is choking the, this woman. Now I, I said she's a petite woman. This woman weighed less than £100. So Dennis Raider would seem like a giant on top of her. He ends up killing her when he's, he's choking her. He was really just trying to get control of her and get control of the situation. But because he was so much larger than her, his hands strong, he ended up strangling her to death. Now this, this fantasy driven outing was far from over though. There was other stuff that he wanted to do. Looks like he's going to have to make up for it now that he accidentally killed her too fast for his liking. So he decided to rummage through the house looking for trophies that he could keep. And he decided to take her purse and everything in it. He was going to do something he had not done before. He was going to remove the victim's body from the house and dump her somewhere else. He didn't want this to look like a BTK killing. Remember, this is way too close to his home.

Nick (44:43)

It was initially feared by the investigators that Butterworth was either another victim or he had, you know, possibly been taken by force or that perhaps he was party to whatever had happened in the house. Now, his own van was found several days later. This was just blocks away from the house. A search of the van came up empty. They found no evidence in this van whatsoever on January 3, 1988. So almost a year later, Butterworth is arrested in Florida. He had called his wife and a family member reported this to the police. And in fact, he was still on the phone when he was arrested. They had been looking for this guy ever since this murder went down. They find him in Florida because he decides to call his wife. Now, when he's arrested, the car keys, the keys to the Fager family vehicle, they were found in his pocket, and the stolen car was found nearby. He was unarmed, and he did not resist when he was arrested. Now, while being questioned by the police, he told the officers that he had entered the home, discovered the body of Melvin, that's the father, heard some noises in the house, got scared and ran away. He had no obvious reason to flee to Florida. The police couldn't figure out, look, if you're not guilty. Why did you flee the area? He didn't have a police record. He was not a match for the. There was semen found in the hot tub. He was not a match for the. That semen. He was also not a match for strange fingerprints that were found inside the home. He was described as a guy who would always go out of his way to do a favor for someone. Nice guy. He had three children. A three year old, a six month old, six month old, twins. I'm sorry. And he had been having some financial issues at the time. Just weeks before these murders, under questioning, you know, he's questioned multiple times, Captain. He did not change his story. His story did not change. He stuck to it. He said that he entered the house, saw the body, heard something, ran away. He also said that, that being terrified in this situation, he thought he was going to die.