The Brutally Murders - Essay Example

In January of 1974, four members of the Otero family were brutally murdered. The father and mother, Joseph and Julie were found with bags over theirheads. They had been suffocated and strangled to death. Their youngest son, Joseph Jr. was found in a similar state. The youngest daughter of the Otero family, Josephine was found in the basement hanging by her neck. The murders shocked the sleepy neighbourhood in Wichita Kansas where they lived. What was especially shocking was the brutal nature of the murders. All of the members of the family showed signs of torture. Each was bound in some manner as well. Indications of sexual assault were also found on the body of the Otero’s daughter Josephine. Unfortunately for the residents of Wichita, these grisly murders were just the beginning of a long stream of murders by a serial killer that became known as the BTK killer. One of the more bizarre aspects of the BTK killings is the amount of contact the killer made with the media and the police. Following the second murder, the BTK killer contacted a local television station in Wichita to identify himself. He explained that he was indeed a serial killer and that his M.O. would be to bind them, to torture them and to kill them, thus BTK. Over the next five years, three more women would be found dead. All would bear the same markings that became to be associated with this killer. All were female and had been bound, tortured, sexually assaulted and killed. Over these five years, the BTK killer continued to send taunting letters to the police and media outlets. He would write poems about his victims and openly shared how he would stalk his intended victims. He became enraged when one of his intended victims failed to return home as he planned. In response, he wrote a poem complete with illustrations that described and showed all of the tortuous things he was planning to do to this lady. Then, in 1980 a curious thing happened. The BTK killer stopped contacting the media and the police. The killings stopped and all of Wichita breathed a sigh of relief. The authorities speculated that perhaps the killer had died or was incarcerated for another crime. There was also some thought that the killer may have been a student at the university. This theory came from the brother of one of the victims. Kathryn Bright was the BTK killer’s second victim. Her brother was at home at the time of the attack. He remembers letting the person into the house for some official reason. The man said he recognized Bright’s brother and asked if he had seen him around the university campus. Bright’s brother attempted to respond but before he could the BTK killer shot him in the face. He was shot once again in the head while lying prone on the floor. Miraculously, he survived both wounds, but was unable to identify the intruder. Bright’s brother was the only person to survive an attack by the BTK killer. His information about meeting the killer at college gave the police in Wichita the hopeful feeling that perhaps the killer was a college student that had graduated and moved away. Unfortunately for at least five other individuals in Wichita, they were wrong. Once again in the mid 1980’s women in Wichita were murdered following the format used by the BTK killer. Police had to decide between two very unsettling options to consider on how to pursue the new murder cases. One approach would be to treat them as copycat killings. The letters, poems and artwork that attended the first victims did not surface for the victims in the mid-1980’s. The second and least favourable scenario from a crime solving perspective was the thought that there was a serial killer loose in Wichita that could resist the urge to kill for very long periods of time. This was especially troubling because part of what allows police to eventually catch serial killers is the frequency with which they commit their acts of murder. All of the authorities agreed that a serial killer that could go dormant for long periods of time would be very difficult to catch. In 1988 the BTK killer ended all speculation by contacting police once again. This time it was in relation to a family of three that were killed near Wichita. The person responsible for the killings claimed that he was the BTK killer. The actual BTK killer wrote a letter to the police denying the accusation, but did admit that he admired the work of the other killer. Grammar patterns in the letter as well as photos and memorabilia of prior murders were included in the letter. Police now knew that the BTK killer was indeed alive and well. In early 1991, the BTK killer again struck. Another woman killed in similar fashion. Wichita was once again gripped by fear. Police were having difficulty coping with the lack of a pattern displayed by the BTK killer. By the year 2000, the trail was cold and the police had one again given up hope of catching the BTK killer, but renewed hope that he had left Wichita or was dead. In 2001, they were reminded again of the BTK killer’s presence in the community. But this time things were different. The letters sent were talking about past crimes, not any new ones. They seemed to take issue with recent movies, television shows and books that had been produced telling the story of the BTK killer. The real killer seemed to be stepping forward to set the record strait with his taunting letters. But the end was soon in sight for the serial killer. Times had changed. More communication was taking place using computers. Pencil and paper weren’t good enough for the BTK killer anymore. He told the police that he was going to send them a CD Rom from a computer with his next letter. This piece of plastic would prove to be the undoing of the BTK killer. Everything that is created or accessed using a computer leaves traces of that creation or contact behind. Even if you delete something, bits of it remain behind that can be discovered using sophisticated software. Forensics is the use of science to discover clues that lead to solving crimes. We are all familiar with forensics by watching police dramas such as Law and Order or CSI. Usually we think of police looking for a bullet or a handgun that can be taken to the “lab” and analysed using forensics to see if it is related to the crime. Other times they look for body fluids such as blood or semen so a DNA match can be found. What isn’t featured so often is the growing use of digital forensics. It was the use of these forensics that lead to the capture of the BTK killer. The CD Rom that was sent to the television station contained something called metadata. Simply put, this data is placed on every disc that is inserted into the computer. It automatically records information such as the name of the computer the disc entered, which user is using the computer when the disc is inserted and general data such as the day, date and time. The police tracked the disc to a computer owned by the Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita. The user name on the disc was simply “Dennis”. A quick search revealed that the president of the congregation council at this church was a man named Dennis Raider. The police arrested Dennis Raider the next day and charged him with the BTK murders. Digital forensics played an important role in apprehending this dangerous criminal. Who was Dennis Raider? This is the question that is so troubling to many followers of the case. Dennis Raider was normal in so many ways. He grew up in Wichita and lived in many foreign countries during his time in the Air Force. He had a wife and two daughters, was active in his church as a Deacon and served as a Boy Scout leader. He may have been eccentric in some ways. He seemed over-zealous as a code enforcement officer. It has been recorded that he measured some people’s grass to see if it had grown too high, thus breaking city ordinances. But most people would have never thought of Dennis Raider as anything more than quirky. Certainly no one would have thought he was capable of murder, torture and assault on any scale. The real horror now that Dennis Raider has been convicted appears to be how shockingly normal this man appeared to be on the exterior. After his shocking confession and gruesome description of the murders, Dennis Raider was found guilty on all ten counts of first degree murder. He is currently serving ten life sentences for his crimes. Some prosecutors are trying to determine if Raider can be linked to any murders after 1994. If this is the case, Denis Raider can be sentenced to death for his crimes in the state of Kansas. As things currently stand, Denis Raider spends 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. He is allowed one hour each day to walk alone in the prison yard. Thanks to diligent police work and digital forensics, this very dangerous killer will never threaten another human life. Read More