Serial Killer in Kansas Releases 3 Packages

The BTK serial killer has sent investigators at least three packages containing jewelry, and investigators were trying to determine whether any of it was taken from his victims, police said Thursday.

Along with a padded manila envelope sent Wednesday to KSAS-TV in Wichita, the communications were contained in a cereal box found northwest of Wichita in late January and a package found a few days later that police identified only as Communication No. 7.

All were sent to the FBI for analysis, said Police Lt. Ken Landwehr, commander of the BTK task force.

The BTK killer -- the initials of the killer’s self-coined nickname stand for “Bind, Torture, Kill” -- has been linked to eight unsolved killings committed between 1974 and 1986. He resurfaced last March after years of silence, sending letters to media and police.

Landwehr said he was “very pleased with the ongoing dialogue through these letters.”

The FBI’s behavior analysis unit has confirmed two earlier letters as authentic communications from BTK, Landwehr said Thursday. They were a letter dropped in a United Parcel Service box in October 2004 and a package found in Murdock Park in December, containing the driver’s license of Nancy Fox, who was killed in 1977.

The envelope received Wednesday at KSAS contained a piece of jewelry, a letter and another unidentified item, said Don North, news director at KWCH-TV, which produces the KSAS newscast. He declined to further identify the items at the request of police.

BTK has communicated primarily with Wichita’s KAKE-TV, but the letter in Wednesday’s package suggested the killer wanted to spread his correspondence to other stations.

“KAKE is a good station, but I feel they are starting to be single [sic] out, because of me, and causing problems among the people. Let’s help the news media and WPD [Wichita Police Department] by using this package as a start,” the letter read.

The letter’s return address said “PJ Fox” and listed KSAS’ address.

“It was an unusual letter, kind of weird. It wasn’t real long at all,” North said. “The way it reads, I don’t know if the guy felt sorry for KAKE or felt sorry for the other TV stations.”