A serial strangler known as B.T.K. who taunted Wichita, Ks., police, three decades ago, and recently resurfaced to claim credit for an unsolved slaying, may be reaching out again, reports the Los Angeles Times. A plain white envelope containing a word puzzle, a fake ID, and an outline for the killer’s autobiography arrived last week at KAKE-TV in Wichita. Although investigators haven’t ruled out that it could be a hoax, police Lt. Ken Landwehr said, they are taking the communique seriously.
After a 25-year lapse, B.T.K. he sent a local newspaper in March a copy of the driver’s license of a young mother who had been killed in 1986. He also sent three photos of her body that only the killer could have taken. The source of the latest communication is not so easily verified.
Police, employees of KAKE-TV and members of the local Mensa, the society for people with high IQs, have pored over the word puzzle for days. They concluded that it refers to ploys B.T.K. may have used to gain access to victims’ homes. It includes hidden words like “school,” “telephone” and “ID ruse,” suggesting that B.T.K. may have passed himself off as a telephone repairman or as a school district employee coming to consult with parents. There was no sign of forced entry at three of his victims’ houses; police suspect that he found a way to be invited inside.
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