after btk disappeared in 1979, police would spend 25 more years in a frustrating search to try to capture him. did you ever look around? oh, always. btk, ron loewen knew, could be anyone, anywhere. listen to what the former wichita news director told us about the killer a year before btk was caught. i think this guy is probably a lot more normal than anybody thinks. he told us it was easy. after he killed someone, he just assumed his rightful place in the world. he s a person who has been walking in that community. he s really the stranger beside you. today, that all sounds positively prophetic. because that s just what dennis rader was doing all those years, hiding in plain sight, raising his children, going to church, getting a degree in his spare time. attending kansas state university home football games.
offering yourself up as someone who would be willing to communicate with this deranged mass murderer? well, you know, you want to help. if he wanted to write letters, and they came to my attention, why not? it was quite a risk. btk had already murdered seven people. and loewen could end up getting far more than just a letter in the mail. but there he sat what kind of leads do you have? asking questions of chief lamunyon for which there were no good answers. very honestly we have no solid leads at all. it was horrific news. it changed for me and everything changed for everyone in wichita. he says the effect of the bombshell announcement on this gentle, family-oriented city, was instantaneous. he absolutely terrorized the community. everyone was a suspect. girlfriends were concerned about their boyfriends. there were parents who turned in their children. the fear was palpable. hoping btk would contact him
another life the police abruptly changed strategy. at that point we need to step up and say, yes, we recognize you as btk, and we do have a serial killer here. so police chief lamunyon and news director ron loewen appeared on tv that february 1978, side by side. btk claims to have strangled a total of seven women. it was loewen himself who broke the story of btk to the community. during that newscast, loewen, who never talked publicly about these events before discussing them with us, became, in effect, live bait. the police said, based on the talk with the behavioral people, this is a cry for help. this guy has more that he wants to say. we suggest that you do the story so that it has someone that he might choose to communicate with again. how did you feel about
you never caught me. and i ve been here all along. his need for attention is apparently unquenched. i absolutely thought that this was the tip of the iceberg. former wichita tv news director ron loewen made that prediction to us almost a year before dennis rader was caught. and sadly, when it was over, he would be proven right. there had been two more murders never before connected to btk that brought the total number of his victims to ten. in 2004, rader was still hiding evidence about his murder of maureen hedge. she lived on his block, and they knew each other. in court, rader described how after bowling one evening in 1985, he broke into her house and waited for her to come home. she screamed. i jumped on the bed and strangled her manually. rather than leaving her body in her home, rader changed his m.o., confusing police at the time. killed her in her house, put her in the trunk of her car,
you as btk, and we do have a serial killer here. so the police chief and news director ron loewen appeared on tv that february 1978, side by side. btk claims to have strangled a total of seven women. it was loewen himself who broke the story of btk to the community. during that news cast, loewen, who never talked publicly about these events before discussing them with us, became, in effect, live bait. the police said, based on the talk with the behavioral people, this is a cry for help. this guy has more that he wants to say. we suggest that you do the story so that it has someone that he might choose to communicate with again. how did you feel about offering yourself up as someone who would be willing to communicate with this deranged