Woman bound and gagged in BTK serial killer’s drawing has potentially been identified
The 78-year-old is serving 10 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to 10 murders committed from the 1970s to the 1990s in Wichita, Kansas.
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A bound and gagged woman who was depicted in one of self-proclaimed BTK serial killer Dennis Rader’s chilling drawings has potentially been identified.
Rader’s daughter, Kerri Rawson, appeared on “CNN This Morning” this week where she revealed Oklahoma authorities believe they had identified the “young woman in the green shirt” from one of her father’s recently released drawings.
Ms Rawson, who has been assisting Oklahoma authorities with the investigation as a volunteer, could not disclose further details citing the open and active case.
The detailed drawing depicts a young woman wearing green who is gagged, and bound at the hands and feet sitting in a barn.
Her name has not been released, but Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden said investigators are sorting through “very, very good tips” that have “provided more information”.
It comes after the sheriff’s office released the detailed colored drawings with the hope that “someone might recognise one of these barns or the unique features in them, or the closeness of the silo to the barn, or possibly might have even found items that they didn’t know why were there that could be very important in this case,” Sheriff Virden told CNN.
The drawings of the female victims in barns were first recovered by the authorities after Rader’s arrest in 2005. Sheriff Virden said he believes the few rare color images may depict more crimes in at least three states, including Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.
“We have a lot of follow ups to do, of course, a lot of interviews to do,” Sheriff Virden said. “Barn-wise we’ve got a lot of things sent to us for us to check out.”
The 78-year-old is serving 10 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to 10 murders committed from the 1970s to the 1990s in Wichita, Kansas. He reportedly called himself BTK for the abbreviation “blind, torture, kill”.
Last month, Rader was named the prime suspect in the 1976 disappearance of 16-year-old Cynthia Dawn Kinney in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and in the 1990 murder of 22-year-old Shawna Beth Garber in McDonald County, Missouri.
Investigators believe Rader may have buried Kinney in a barn near the Kansas-Oklahoma border. Her body has never been found.
Sheriff Virden told CNN about an anonymous call they received months after Kinney disappeared from a man claiming her body could be found in an old barn along the Oklahoma-Kansas border.
And just recently, law enforcement intercepted communications from Rader in prison that revealed there may be some hidden items in old barns, according to the sheriff.