Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of BTK, the Serial Killer Next Door (47 page)

His wife and his son had done much to settle him down. Gone were the days when he regularly got hammered in bars or got drunk alone. James demanded that he quit smoking too. “Don’t you know smoking causes lung cancer?” Landwehr kept smoking, out of sight of his son.

He thought about what to do with the rest of his life. He refused to take the test to become a captain. For one thing, he had no advanced degree; for another, he did not want to give up command of the homicide section.

“Don’t make him move,” Cindy Landwehr told Chief Williams one day. “He’d be miserable.”

He was in his early fifties. He had no plans to retire. “Where would I go to work?” he said with a shrug. “I don’t have a lot of skills.”

A year after Rader’s arrest, people were still coming up to him once or twice a week to thank him. When he and Cindy went out to eat, groups at other tables stole glances, pointing and whispering.

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Cindy teased him.

Several people urged him to write a book. He turned these suggestions away, “at least for now.” He agreed to help the
Eagle
with this book because he thought his hometown deserved to know the real story of the investigation.

But there was one nine-year-old boy who was not shy about shining a light on him.

Before Rader’s arrest, Kenny and Cindy had explained to James what his father’s role was in hunting BTK.

His job, he told James, was to help his detectives catch the bad guy. James was terrified at the risk his father was taking, but Landwehr told him repeatedly that he had plenty of help, not only from Otis, Gouge, Relph, and Snyder, but from Chief Williams, Capt. John Speer, Capt. Randy Landen, Deputy Chief Robert Lee, and hundreds of other Wichita cops.

“The KBI is helping,” he told James. “The FBI is helping.”

“The FBI and the KBI?” James asked.

“Yes,” Landwehr said.

“Aren’t those guys like real secret agents?” James asked.

“Yes,” Landwehr said. “I have a lot of help.”

That conversation seemed to settle James’s fears.

After Rader’s arrest, much to Landwehr’s embarrassment, James began to talk to strangers in Wal-Marts and grocery stores; James would see them looking at his father, recognizing him. James began to walk right up to these people and tell them that his father was the cop who had caught BTK.

This was mortifying to Landwehr, who had played a team role in a group that included dozens of people who had done clever things and had worked long days for months.

Landwehr pleaded with James not to say that he had caught BTK, or to at least tell a better version of what happened.

After a few such talks, the boy finally got it right. He would walk up to people staring at his father. He would introduce himself.

“My name is James Landwehr,” he would tell them. “And my father is Lieutenant Ken Landwehr. And he caught BTK.”

And then he would add one more line:

“He had a lot of help.”

Acknowledgments

We are grateful that the police officers who hunted and caught BTK trusted us to tell their side of the story. Special thanks to Ken, Cindy, James, and Irene Landwehr; Dana Gouge; Kelly and Netta Otis; Tim Relph, and Clint Snyder. They gave us interviews lasting many hours. Ken and Cindy Landwehr, Gouge, Otis, Relph, and Snyder also fact-checked the manuscript, eliminated errors, and dispelled several fascinating myths that had attached themselves to the BTK story over thirty-one years.

We appreciate the time given to us by the victims’ families, who spoke with us and other
Eagle
reporters despite their continuing sorrow. We interviewed Kevin Bright, Jeff Davis, Dale Fox, Kevin Fox, Georgia Mason, Beverly Plapp, Charlie Otero, and Steven Relford.

This book would have been lacking without the help of the investigators mentioned above, as well as the following members of law enforcement:

Current and former members of the Wichita Police Department: Chief Norman Williams, Jack Bruce, Gary Caldwell, Bob Cocking, Bill Cornwell, Paul Dotson, Bernie Drowatzky, Raymond Fletcher, Floyd Hannon, Raymond Hartley, Dan Harty, Darrell Haynes, Paul Holmes, Cheryl James, Janet Johnson, Robert Lee, Randy Landen, Richard LaMunyon, Scott Moon, Arlyn Smith, John Speer, Randy Stone, Bobby Stout, and Joe Thomas.

From the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Gary Steed and Sam Houston.

From the Kansas Bureau of Investigation: Director Larry Welch, Ray Lundin, Sindey Schueler, and Larry Thomas.

From the Federal Bureau of Investigation: former profilers Roy Hazelwood, Gregg McCrary, and Robert Ressler.

From the Kansas Department of Corrections: Frances Breyne and Bill Miskell.

From the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office: District Attorney Nola Foulston, Kevin O’Connor, Kim Parker, Aaron Smith, and Georgia Cole.

Current and former employees of KAKE-TV were our competitors on the daily BTK story but opened their notebooks to us for this book. Thanks to Larry Hatteberg, Ron Loewen, Glen Horn, Dave Grant, Chris Frank, Jeff Herndon, Cindy Martin, and Susan Peters.

We are indebted to many other sources, including Jeff Rader, Tony Ruark, Roger Valadez, Emery Goad, Robert Beattie, Emil Bergquist, Jeff Carrs, Karin Clark, Kimberly Comer, Jan Elliott, Thelma Elliott, Troy Griggs, Misty King, George Martin, Bob Monroe, Ray Reisz, Olivia Reynolds, Karin Rodriquez, Keith Sanborn, Jim Wainscott, Jack Whitson, Brian Withrow, the meteorologists at the National Weather Service’s Wichita office, and several other people who asked to not be named.

We did much of our own reporting but had the benefit of work by current and former employees of the
Eagle
as the story unfolded over thirty-one years. Ken Stephens and Bill Hirschman, who led the newspaper’s BTK investigations decades ago, kept their own files throughout the years and donated them to us when we started this book. In 2004 and 2005, virtually everyone in our newsroom was called into play to help with the newspaper’s coverage of the BTK story. Special thanks to the following current and former members of the
Eagle
’s staff: Theresa Johnson, Jean Hays, Marcia Werts, Les Anderson, Deb Bagby, Lori O’Toole Buselt, Jeff Butts, Brian Corn, Bob Curtright, Monty Davis, Glenda Elliott, Stan Finger, Larry Fish, Tanya Foxx, Josh Funk, Jerri Gean, Deb Gruver, Travis Heying, Carolyn Hytche, Dion Lefler, Abe Levy, Teri Levy, Fred Mann, Mark McCormick, Kevin McGrath, Lisa McLendon, Davis “Buzz” Merritt, Denise Neil, Jaime Oppenheimer, Deb Phillips, Connie Pickler, Bo Rader, Jerry Ratts, Carrie Rengers, Joe Rodriguez, Michael Roehrman, Tim Rogers, Casey Scott, Tom Shine, Alice Sky, Paul Soutar, Craig Stock, Dana Strongin, Ron Sylvester, Rick Thames, Suzanne Perez Tobias, Randy Tobias, Lon Teter, Jeff Tuttle, Katherine Leal Unmuth, Dan Voorhis, Ronda Voorhis, Van Williams, and Brent Wistrom. Chuck Potter copyedited the book for the
Eagle
. Dan Close was a consultant and manuscript assistant. Jillian Cohan read the manuscript.

Wichita Eagle
editor Sherry Chisenhall detached us from other duties, some for more than a year, to work on this book; that sacrifice is deeply appreciated. Her thoughtful reading of the manuscript reminded us again of why she deserves the title in front of her name.

This book would not have been possible without the support of
Wichita Eagle
publisher Lou Heldman. His backing made it possible for us to spend the time and effort necessary to produce this account. In addition, Lou agreed at the start of this project to donate a significant portion of the book’s proceeds to help build and maintain the Sedgwick County Law Enforcement Memorial, which will honor Wichita-area officers who have died in the line of duty.

Early on, fellow journalists and authors Teresa Riordan and Ron Suskind gave us encouragement and advice on getting published.

Many thanks to our agent, Mary Tahan, who loved this book from the beginning, believed in us, and guided us at every step. Once HarperCollins senior editor Doug Grad got his hands on the proposal, he would not let go, for which we are most grateful.

And finally, we’d like to thank our own families, who put up with us�and without us�throughout the reporting and writing. Their love means much to us. Thank you.

ROY WENZL, TIM POTTER, PROJECT LEADER L. KELLY, AND HURST LAVIANA

Searchable Terms

ADT

Allen, Tom

America’s Most Wanted (AMW),

Bachman, Heather

Ballinger, Richard

Beattie, Robert

Befort, Jason

Bell, Edward

Bell, James Eddy

Bergquist, Emil

Bing, Bonnie

Bishop, Edgar

Bishop, Jim

Bittle, Jerry

Borin-Devuono, Michelle

Bright, Kathryn

Bright, Kevin

Bruce, Jack

Bryan, Larry A.

BTK.
See
Rader, Dennis

Bulla, Robert

Bundy, Ted

Burnett, James

Burnett, Sharon

Butterworth, William T.

Caldwell, Gary

Carnahan, Cindy

Carr, Jonathan

Carr, Reginald

Casarona, Kris

Chaney, Reginald

Chisenhall, Sherry

Chisholm, Robert

Clark, Judy

Clark, Michael

Cocking, Bob

Comer, Kimberly

Cornwell, Bill

Craig, Rick

Dahmer, Jeffrey

Davenport, Ronald

Davis, Dolores

Davis, Jeff

Davis, Monty

Denton, Gene

Di Pietra, John

Dotson, John

Dotson, Paul

Drowatzky, Bernie

Ebenkamp, Bob

Eldridge, Ronald G.

Elliott, Glenda

Elliott, Jan

Ervin, William Ronald

Evans, Ronald

Fager, Mary

Fatkin, Tom

Finger, Stan

Fletcher, Raymond

Floyd, Ray

Ford, Odessa Laquita

Forster, Robert

Foulston, Nola Tedesco

Fox, Dale

Fox, Kevin

Fox, Nancy

Fox, Rev. Terry

Frank, Chris

Fulton, Gary

Gacy, John Wayne

Gilmour, Cheryl

Gouge, Dana

Granger, Don

Halsig, Ernie

Hannon, Floyd

Harper, Jerry

Harris, Deana

Harty, Dan

Hathaway, Thomas H.

Hatteberg, Larry

Haynes, Darrell

Haynes, Marc

Hazelwood, Roy

Hedge, Marine

Hellman, Michael

Henderson, Hayden

Henkel, Cathy

Hennessy, Mike

Henry, Gregg

Herndon, Jeff

Heying, Travis

Heyka, Brad

Hicks, Jack

Hirschman, Bill

Holmes, Paul

Horn, Glen

Houston, Sam

Hughes, Cindy.
See
Landwehr, Cindy

Hughes (wife)

James, Cheryl

Johnson, Janet

Jordan, Butch Lee

Kelly, Barbara

Kelly, L.

Kelly, Laura

Kelly, Lindberg

Kiesling, Jeanene

King, Misty

Kirk, Al

Kline, Phill

Koral, Charles

Kuschnereit, Beth

LaMunyon, Richard

Landon, Dennis

Landwehr, Cindy Hughes (wife),

Landwehr, Irene (mother)

Landwehr, James (son)

Landwehr, Ken

after arrest of BTK

announcement of arrest of BTK

Butterworth verdict and

capture of BTK

Dayton street killings and

Detective Otis and

Detective Relph and

first year as head of homicide section

goes on offensive against BTK,

injured on job

interviews with BTK

joins BTK secret task force

joins Wichita police force

life after arrest of BTK

marriage to Cindy Hughes