BTK Dennis Rader: When Your Neighbor Is Literally a Serial Killer

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There's a guy in Wigital who will measure your grasp with a tape measure and write

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you a citation if it's too long.

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He's also the president of his church council.

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He installs home security systems for a living.

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He leads a Cubscout group, and for 31 years nobody knew he was killing people.

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Until, he asks police one question about a floppy disk.

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[Music]

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January 15, 1974, a Tuesday morning in Wigital, Kansas.

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Four members of the Otero family are found dead in their home.

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Joseph Otero Sr., his wife Julie, and two of their children, Josephine and Joseph Junior, all murdered.

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Their 15-year-old son Charlie came home from school and found them there.

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The way they died told investigators everything they needed to know about who this was.

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All four victims have been bound, strangled.

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The scene was methodical and controlled.

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This person had a system.

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The killer had broken in by throwing a concrete block through a window.

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When someone came to check on the noise, he told them he was on the run.

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He needed food and warmth.

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He handcuffed her, calmed her down, then bound and strangled the entire family, one by one.

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Years later, when Dennis Rader confessed to these murders, he said something that still makes your skin crawl.

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He admitted he had never strangled anyone before,

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so he didn't really know how much pressure to use or how long it would take.

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He was just learning, experimenting, treating murder like it was a science project.

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Three months after the Otero murders, Rader struck again.

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Catherine Bright was killed in her home on April 4, 1974.

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Her brother Kevin was there.

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He fought back.

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Rader shot him twice and Kevin still survived, giving police their first real description.

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Average-sized guy, Bushie mustache, and eyes that looked psychotic.

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That description should have led somewhere.

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A Dennis Rader looked like every other suburban dad in Wichita, two ordinary, two forgettable.

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Then October 1974, a letter arrived at the Wichita Eagle.

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Someone was taking credit for the Otero murders.

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Three men had falsely confessed to the crimes the month before,

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and this letter was furious about it.

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He included details that only the killer would know.

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He wrote, "I did it by myself and no one's help."

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He signed it, BTK, bind, torture, kill.

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The methodology was always the same.

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He would bind his victims with whatever he found in their homes.

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Rope, pantyhose, belt.

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He would torture them psychologically,

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making them believe that they might survive.

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Then he would strangle them, often manually.

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Sometimes with a plastic bag, he took his time.

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He watched them die.

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Dennis Rader worked for ADT Security Services from 1974 to 1988.

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His job was installing home security alarms across Wichita.

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The man breaking into homes and murdering families was the same man,

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homeowners paid to protect them.

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He knew exactly how home alarm systems worked,

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where the vulnerabilities were, which houses were easy targets.

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His co-workers called him the blue book man,

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because he was obsessed with following every rule in the employee handbook.

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He would scold people for chatting too long during breaks.

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He measured everything, controlled everything.

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At work, he needed perfect order.

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At home and in his community, he built the facade deeper.

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He married Paula Deets in 1971.

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They had two kids, Carrie and Brian.

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He was active at Christ Lutheran Church,

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eventually becoming Church Council President.

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He led a Cub Scout group.

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He was the guy that you'd waive to in the grocery store parking lot.

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"Oh, that's Dennis."

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"Hey, Dennis."

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Later, he worked as a compliance officer for Park City,

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enforcing local ordinances.

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He would patrol neighborhoods with a tape measure,

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citing people for grass that was too long,

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or trash cans left out too late.

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People hated him for being petty and annoying.

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Nobody suspected him of murder.

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Dennis Raider's motivation was sexual in a specific way.

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Autopsies found his victims were not sexually assaulted.

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Seaman was found that some of the crime scenes,

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but Raider wasn't interested in rape.

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He was interested in control.

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He derived his gratification from the dominance, the fear,

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the moment of strangulation.

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He confessed to masturbating while watching his victim struggle.

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Absolute power over another person's life is what satisfied him.

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He kept trophies, driver's licenses, underwear, personal items.

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He called his murders "projects" and kept detailed files on each one.

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He would stalk his victims for weeks or months,

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learning their schedules, their routines, their vulnerabilities.

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Then he would strike when they were most alone.

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Between 1974 and 1991,

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Dennis Raider murdered at least 10 people.

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Shirley Relford in 1977, a mother of three, Nancy Fox,

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later that same year.

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After killing Nancy Fox, Raider did something that shows you exactly how theatrical his ego was.

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He called the police himself,

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anonymously reported his own victim.

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He wanted to make sure they found her.

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He wanted the credit and the terror.

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In 1985, he killed his neighbor.

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Marine Hedge, demonstrating just how close the danger really was.

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The Loris Davis in 1991 was his last confirmed victim.

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Then around 1979, the letters stopped.

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The murders seemed to stop.

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The case went cold.

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Wichita tried to move on.

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In 1984, police formed a special task force.

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They called the Ghostbusters because they were chasing a phantom.

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They had Kevin Bright's description.

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They had letters. They had crime scenes.

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They had nothing concrete.

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Police developed theories.

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Maybe he was in prison for another crime.

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Maybe he died.

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Maybe he found a partner who let him act out his fantasies safely.

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Former FBI agent Robert Restler suggested

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the killer might be a criminal justice student.

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Someone organized an intelligent.

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Dennis Raider was still right there,

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living his boring rule-obsessed life.

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He finished his degree at Wichita State University.

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He worked his compliance officer job.

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He went to church. He raised his kids.

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By 2004, his ego could not stay quiet anymore.

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He felt like people had forgotten about him.

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He wasn't getting the credit that he wanted.

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That he felt like he deserved.

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In March 2004, a letter arrived at the Wichita Eagle,

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claiming responsibility for a murder that happened in 1986.

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BTK was back after 25 years of silence.

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Law enforcement learned from their past mistakes.

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They appointed one spokesperson to the investigation.

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Someone who could speak directly to BTK through the media.

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They knew what they were dealing with,

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a narcissist who craved attention and validation.

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So they gave it to him, carefully, and strategically.

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BTK responded by sending packages with crime-scene photos and a driver's license belonging to one of his victims.

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Police used DNA found under a victim's fingernail to create a genetic profile they could match against any suspect.

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And then on January 25th, 2005,

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BTK sent a postcard with a question.

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"Can I communicate with floppy and not be traced to a computer? Be honest."

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Police saw their opportunity.

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They placed a classified ad in the Wichita Eagle with the message BTK requested.

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"Rex, it will be okay."

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It was a lie, of course, and Dennis Raider believed them.

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Two weeks later, a purple floppy disk arrived at a local Fox TV affiliate.

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Raider thought he was being clever.

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He believed the disk could not be traced back to him.

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Here's what actually happened.

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Dennis Raider sat down at a computer in his office at Chryslutheran Church where he served as Council President.

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He created the file he wanted to send to police.

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Then he deleted all the other files on the disk, thinking that this would erase them completely.

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Forensic investigators recovered those deleted files.

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The metadata embedded in them showed the disk had been used at a computer registered to Chryslutheran Church by a user named Dennis.

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The Church Council President, the Compliance Officer.

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The man measuring grass with a tape measure.

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Police obtained a DNA sample through a court order for his daughter's medical records, using familial matching to compare it against crime scene evidence.

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The DNA from under a victim's fingernail matched.

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The semen from the Otero crime scene matched.

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Nine days after the floppy disk arrived on February 25, 2005, Dennis Raider was arrested.

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31 years of terror ended because a narcissist trusted a lie and didn't understand how computers worked.

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Later Raider admitted, the floppy did me in.

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He was reportedly angry that police had lied to him about being able to trace the disk, even in custody his entitlement was staggering.

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What happened in court was almost as disturbing as the crimes themselves.

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Dennis Raider was polite, courteous.

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He answered every question with "yes sir" and "yes your honor."

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Then he described the murders like he was giving a college lecture.

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He talked about the trolling stage where he looked for victims.

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The stalker phase where he locked on to a target.

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He explained how he manually strangled Shirley Ralford when she started to scream.

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He described hanging one young victim in a basement and admitted to having sexual fantasies afterward.

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Charlie Otero, who found his family dead in 1974, called Raider, "in emotionally devoid humanoid

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with a monster living inside."

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The clinical detached way Raider recounted destroying families offered no closure, only more pain.

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Dennis Raider was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms, a minimum of 175 years without the possibility of parole.

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He will die in prison several lifetimes over.

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Authorities believe Dennis Raider has even more victims.

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His narcissism makes it likely that he would want credit for every project.

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In 2024, investigators began re-examining a word puzzle Raider sent to a Kansas City TV station.

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At first, they saw the obvious words about BTK fantasies, Wichita, Proud, Ruse.

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Then they looked closer.

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Hidden in the puzzle were the words "Cindy, Kenny, and Kehika."

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Kehika is the name of a street in Oklahoma.

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In 1976, 16-year-old cheerleader Cynthia Kenny disappeared from the Osage laundry on Kehika Street.

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She vanished mid-morning, which matches Raider's general pattern of operation.

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He's never confessed to her murder.

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The puzzle suggests he wants more people to know anyway.

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Even from prison, his ego compels him to communicate the full scope of what he's done.

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Thank you for listening to 10-minute murder, binge-a-bull true crime stories.

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My name is Joe on the host, and I appreciate you listening.

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If this lesson happens to be your very first one, welcome.

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Make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening right now.

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And after you do that, you can go to 10minutemurder.com.

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There you can find links to social media, every place you can listen to the podcasts, a blog, and every single episode of EverDone.

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Also on the website, you can email me.

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Like this one, subject longtime listener, quick question plus big thanks.

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Hey Joe, longtime listener, first time caller.

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I hope you are fantastic.

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I'm such a fan of this podcast and your new one, and they've gotten me through some dark grueling days at work.

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Or honestly, whenever I needed it.

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I seriously love the show and even past it along to a few co-workers who were also hooked.

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A former supervisor got me started because we used to listen in her office together.

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I was curious about something.

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Since you covered David Parker Ray, do you believe the theories about courage, the cowardly dog being based off him?

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I love the show as a kid and honestly still do.

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Just curious what your thoughts were.

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Joe, keep being incredible.

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Not just in the content, but in your voice, your opinions.

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And never being afraid to say what needs to be said, especially when you cover the more racially charged stuff.

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I love you Joe, not in a creepy way, but in a good way.

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It only took me four years to write this since first hearing you in 2021.

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Till next time, all the best and with open ears, Danielle.

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Okay, first of all, Danielle, thank you for the email.

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I love you too.

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And second, you've just taken up my entire day.

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I had no idea about this conspiracy about courage, the cowardly dog being based on the toy box killer.

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I googled it and holy crap, there's stuff all over the place.

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So I don't have an opinion just yet, but I've been reading and wow, it's weird.

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You would think a chronically online person who's into true crime would have heard about this conspiracy, but I never have.

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This is a brand new one on me.

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So maybe at a later date, I'll give an opinion on this, but I haven't read enough to have an intelligent thought on this.

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Alright, that's it.

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That is your episode for today.

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I'm off to do more research on this courage, the cowardly dog thing.

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And if you're in the middle of a 10 minute murder, 10 minute mystery binge, don't let me stop you.

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Keep run on going.

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But I'll talk to you next time.

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Have a good one.

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Have a good one.