Police: ‘Items of interest’ found on property formerly owned by BTK
- Police dug in the yard of a property formerly owned by Dennis Rader
- The serial killer known as BTK was convicted of killing 10 people
- Police said they were following up leads of missing persons
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(NewsNation) — Oklahoma authorities recovered “items of interest” while searching a Kansas property that formerly belonged to Dennis Rader, the serial killer dubbed BTK.
These items will undergo a “thorough examination” to determine their potential relevance to ongoing investigations, police said in a news release Wednesday.
The Osage County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma told NewsNation affiliate KSNW-TV investigators are looking into missing persons cases possibly associated with Rader.
“I can confirm we are working leads on possible murder and missing persons that could be related to BTK,” Undersheriff Gary Upston said.
Rader’s former property is located in Park City, Kansas, a suburb of Wichita.
Park City Police Chief Phil Bostian told KSNW-TV that Osage County called them as a courtesy and asked public works to move some cement and do a little digging.
Rader, also known as BTK, which stands for bind, torture and kill, was convicted of killing 10 people from 1974 to 1991 in 2005.
Kerri Rawson, Rader’s daughter, told NewsNation she was flown to Oklahoma in June to help investigators in Osage County. Rawson said she visited her father in prison for a total of three hours in June and July to try and get information from him.
However, he was uncooperative, she said. Rawson says did not know police were going to start digging at the property Tuesday.
Rawson previously told NewsNation the stain of the killings has followed the family.
“We just have to carry around the burden of what our family member did. … We didn’t know. My family is still being accused of hiding things, or somehow being involved in my father’s actions. Seven of my father’s murders happened before I was born,” Rawson said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rawson said beyond the two cases that have been released publicly, she’s not at liberty to discuss other possible missing persons and unsolved murder cases that are being actively investigated.
“I will continue to partner closely and heartily support all LE agencies and offer my volunteer assistance,” she said. “Together, daily, we can make a difference. Let’s keep working together to solve these cases for these families. They deserve all that we can give them. We can join together to put our mark on modern inter-agency cooperation and modern forensics.”
NewsNation affiliate KSNW-TV and digital producer Liz Jassin contributed to this report.
