BTK Strangler Update

Summary of information about the Wichita BTK (Bind-Torture-Kill) Strangler provided in KAKE-TV report on 29-Apr-04:

• retired Police Capt Bernie Drowatzky (also seen spelled Drowatsky), former lead investigator provided case information:

• Prime area for suspects: Wichita State University (WSU) - "location where BTK copied some of his letters"

• Before the BTK strangler shot the only survivor of his attacks, BTK asked him, "Haven't I seen you at the University?" The survivor was Kevin Bright, the brother of victim Katherine Bright. Drowatzky confirmed that back then, Kevin Bright was hypnotized in a search for new clues.

• Two victims: Katherine Bright (4-April-74) and Julie Otero (15-Jan-74), both worked on the same assembly line at Coleman Company (camping gear)-police took Kevin Bright to Coleman several times to sit outside the plant in case he recognized anyone coming out (unclear what year this was done-police reportedly did not link the BTK strangler to the Bright murder until sometime after Feb 12, 1978)

• Possible clues: where Julie Otero's husband Joseph worked as an instructor at Rose Hill Airport

• Possible clues: in the poems BTK included in his letters, not in the contents of the poems, but in where the poems come from.

• Possible clues: who had a subscription to "Games" Magazine. "This guy is not dumb. Maybe he does that for a pastime, crossword puzzles, word games."

• Drowatzky's final opinion: case will ultimately be solved only through DNA testing

BTK: The Untold Clues [KAKE-TV, 30-Apr-04]
BTK (Bind, Torture, & Kill) Strangler Info & Voice Recording [consolidated information- Johnsville News]