Chilling, never-before-seen sketches of the BTK serial killer show girls gagged with nooses around their necks.
Police have released the footage as they intensify their investigation into a string of unsolved murders they suspect may have involved Dennis Rader.
Known as the BTK killer, “Bind, Torture, Kill,” Rader went on a twenty-year murder spree from the 1970s to the 1990s, including two children in Kansas. He pleaded guilty to ten murders and is currently serving ten consecutive life sentences.
The footage released this week by the Osage County Sheriff’s Office was first recovered after Rader’s arrest in February 2005, but an investigation was opened in January into other evidence uncovered by Wichita police, including writings and sketches that officials believe are a crime. possibly related to several unsolved cases in the area.
Though hundreds of sketches have been recovered, Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden said CNN that a “few rare color images” may show more of Rader’s crimes.
The digital images obtained exclusively by the news outlet show eerie photos of three different female victims who are gagged — some have nooses tied around their necks with their arms and legs. They all wear a short piece of clothing and have a frightening expression on their faces.
Investigators believe all three victims are being held captive in a barn.
IMAGE: Prolific serial killer Dennis Rader, aka BTK, is pictured in 2005 after his arrest. Investigators hope to connect him to other unsolved crimes
One of the sketches shows a young blonde woman with pigtails, wearing a green top, with her arms and legs tied, sitting on what appears to be a pile of hay. Officials noted in the photo the black pipes that may be the walls of a shed
A second drawing shows a young, dark-haired girl in a red top sitting on her knees being tied and gagged with a rope around her neck. The image shows brown horizontal lines in the background
The third sketch differs from the other two because it is drawn in black ink and shows the young victim from a different angle. The girl is seen lying flat face first and tied with her neck to a stair post that appears to be in some sort of attic space in a shed
The sheriff looked at each of the images and described some critical details.
One of the sketches shows a young blond woman with pigtails, wearing a green top, with her arms and legs tied, sitting on what appears to be a pile of hay. Officials noted in the photo the black pipes that may be the walls of a barn.
The sheriff told CNN that if you were moving cattle through there, those bars would ensure that the cattle probably wouldn’t crash into the can or wood on the outside of the shed, so that if an animal hit it, they wouldn’t doing. go through and dent the can or knock the wood off.’
The photo could be related to a young woman who disappeared in Southeast Kansas in 1991. The victim’s name has not been made public in connection with Rader at this time, the news source said.
Virden added, “From the things Dennis said in this exact photo, we know it was a drawing he made of a real barn,” Virden told CNN.
A second drawing shows a young, dark-haired girl in a red top sitting on her knees being bound and gagged with a noose around her neck. The image shows brown horizontal lines.
“That would be a slatted shed,” the sheriff said.
‘You know, possibly a round post, but in that part of the stable where there could possibly be a wooden floor, you know, and often in tack rooms in barns or in feed rooms or storage rooms. They didn’t want to leave any earth behind because there was no cattle in that area.’
The third sketch differs from the other two because it was drawn in black ink and drawn from a different angle. The victim is seen lying flat and tied with her neck to a stair post that appears to be in some sort of barn attic.
In that photo, the construction of the staircase was of particular interest to researchers.
Virden explained that “the support post seems to have a brace and then a bolt that goes through that to hold it all together.”
Pictured: Police photo of Dennis Rader, taken on February 27, 2005
Pictured: Cynthia Dawn Kinney, 16, who went missing on June 23, 1976. She was last seen at the Osage Laudromat where she worked in Osage, Oklahoma. Investigators twice interviewed Rader about the young woman’s disappearance
BTK’s ten victims: (LR) January 15, 1974: #1 Julie Otero (age 33) Strangled with a rope; #2 Joseph Otero (age 38) Suffocated by a plastic bag; #3 Josephine Otero (age 11) Hanged with a rope; #4Joseph Otero, Jr. (9 years) Suffocated by a plastic bag; April 4, 1974: #5 Kathryn Bright (aged 21) stabbed 3 times in the abdomen with a knife
(L-R) March 17, 1977: #6 Shirley Vian (age 24) Strangled with a rope; December 8, 1977: #7 Nancy Fox (aged 25) Strangled with a belt; April 27, 1985: #8 Marine Hedge (aged 53) Strangled with hands; September 16, 1986: #9 Vicki Wegerle (age 28) Strangled with nylon stocking; January 19, 1991: #10 Dolores E. Davis (aged 62) Strangled with pantyhose
The ex-Air Force Sergeant’s former premises in Park City, Kansas, were raided by police last month over the disappearance of Cynthia “Cyndi” Dawn Kinney, the 16-year-old cheerleader last seen in 1976.
Detectives said they hope the investigation will help connect him to even more gruesome unsolved cases. Osage County Undersheriff Gary Upton said his department “continues to pursue leads in unsolved missing persons and homicide cases that may be related to BTK.
Rader’s adult daughter, Kerri Rawson, has assisted the police in helping investigators solve the case of the other unsolved crimes, even going so far as to visit her father in prison for the first time in nearly 20 years.
An ailing Radar, now 78, is imprisoned at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas.
Rawson she said twice went to see her father, who she admitted she “still loves him.”
Their face-to-face meeting would be the first time she would ask her father about his heinous crimes. While she said she couldn’t get a confession from him, she told the news outlet: “He is literally five feet across from me. He hasn’t seen me in eighteen years and he’s lying to me.’
Kerri Rawson, Dennis Rader’s daughter, told DailyMail.com that she has helped investigate her father
Rawson who said her father “sucks” because of his poor health and explained that she and the researchers recognize that he may not have much more time if his health deteriorates.
“He has very severe scoliosis. He’s in a wheelchair and has no teeth, so he doesn’t even look like he has a jaw,” she said.
Rawson added, “He went from a vivacious guy who was walking with me right before he was arrested, to an older guy, you know, with his legs wrapped in bandages.”
Although she only speaks to him during her prison visits, she claimed it was “not safe” otherwise.
She told the news that she remains “hopeful” and won’t give up as she tries to get answers for those whose loved ones remain missing.
When the Daily Mail reached out to Osage County Sheriff’s Department and Kerri Rawson, both were unavailable for comment