Police dismiss reports of 'BTK' arrest
But state authorities say man's DNA tested for links
Thursday, December 2, 2004 Posted: 10:49 PM EST (0349 GMT)
(CNN) -- Police in Wichita, Kansas, dismissed television reports Thursday that said a 64-year-old man arrested on minor charges may be linked to the so-called "BTK" killings in the 1970s.
"We have not -- and I repeat -- we have not made an arrest in connection with BTK," said Police Chief Norman Williams, using the shorthand for "bind, torture, kill" that the killer has called himself in letters to police and the news media.
The Associated Press quoted Kansas state police as saying the DNA of a man arrested Wednesday night on minor trespassing and housing code violation charges was being tested for links to the serial killings that terrorized Wichita in the 1970s.
Officials noted that hundreds of samples of blood and DNA in the case have been screened by police since the 1980s, the AP reported.
Williams expressed dismay at the overwhelming response by members of the news media to unverified reports that the arrested man had been linked to the killings. "A community, a neighborhood will be forever impacted by what has happened to their neighborhood, and that's unfortunate," he said.
The media attention, he said, "has taken away from our ability to focus on following up on different types of leads."
From 1977 until 1979, police and news outlets received letters from a writer claiming to be the killer. After 25 years, the letters resumed last spring, with BTK linking himself to an eighth killing and divulging what he said was more information about himself.
On Tuesday, Wichita police began releasing some of the details contained in those letters, including his claim that he was born in 1939, which would make him 64 or 65. He said that his father died in World War II and his grandparents raised him while his mother worked. He said his hobbies include hunting, fishing and camping.
Around 1960, the letter writer said, he attended military school, then served in the military. After he was discharged in 1966, he repaired copy machines and business equipment and had a female Latina acquaintance named Petra, he said. He added that he had solicited prostitutes and had a lifetime fascination with railroads and trains.
Authorities said they believe the man frequented the Wichita State University campus during the 1970s and that he used fake IDs to gain access to people's homes.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/02/bt...ngs/index.html