From: BTK Strangler to Wichita Police Dept. - Thank you

Every letter the BTK (Bind, Torture, & Kill) Strangler has sent to the Wichita media, over the last 29 years, should include a "P.S.- Thank you" note to the Wichita Police for being so clueless and incompetent in their manhunt for the serial killer.

We now learn in a KSNW-TV report from yesterday that for eighteen years the Wichita Police Department considered Vicki Wegerle's husband, Bill, a suspect. They apparently never considered the BTK Strangler as a prime suspect in the Sept. 16, 1986 murder of Vicki Wegerle.

"He (BTK Strangler) can burn in hell," said Glenda Wegerle, sister-in-law of Vicki Wegerle found slain in 1986. "Whether he goes to jail -- I don't care, just burn in hell," Wegerle said.

Wegerly said initially police insisted her brother Bill, who was married to the victim, killed his wife. "My brother has not been vindicated, he has been a suspect for nearly eighteen years," Wegerle said.

She said until BTK sent a letter to the Wichita Eagle over three weeks ago -- police refused to believe the serial killer could have murdered her sister-in-law.

Police have no comment.

The special Wichita BTK Task Force, called the "Ghost Busters," had been active from July 1984 until late 1987. So police interest in the killer was still very much a part of the WPD consciousness in September 1986. It is hard to figure how this case slipped through the cracks.

Therefore any intelligent person has to ask how many of the other (15?) unsolved Wichita murders since 1974 that fit the BTK profile; i.e. female, over age 10, and cold cases, are in fact the work of the BTK serial killer. Wichita lawyer Bob Beattie, who is working on a book about the BTK strangler, has questions about three cases in particular.

The Wichita Police seem to be pinning all of their hopes for solving this case on DNA evidence. If the BTK Strangler is still walking the streets he obviously knows the police have his DNA and they can match him. But, that fact didn't stop him from taunting the Wichita P.D. again last month when he sent his most recent letter. He must feel he is so far off their radar screen that he could chance reinvigorating the investigation and not getting caught up in a DNA dragnet.

Therefore we can conclude that his DNA is not on file at the FBI's national DNA database or CODIS (Combined DNA Index System).

Wegerle family member speaks out on BTK [April 20, 2004, KSNW-TV]
Cold cases [Wichita Eagle]

related Johnsville News BTK coverage:
BTK (Bind, Torture, & Kill) Strangler Info & Voice Recording [consolidated information]
Son of BTK? [Apr. 15, 2004]
BTK Update [Apr. 12, 2004]
Wichita BTK Serial Killer Update [Apr. 6, 2004]
Help Wanted: Need Fresh Investigative "Muscle" For BTK Case [5-Apr-04]
Serial Killer Sampling [Apr. 5, 2004]
BTK Serial Killer Manhunt Update [Apr. 2, 2004]
BTK Cold Case Investigation Continues [Mar. 31, 2004]
BTK Serial Killer Clue Update [Mar. 29, 2004]
Cold Case gets Hot: The Kansas BTK Serial Killer is Back [Mar. 26, 2004]