(NewsReady.com) – Dennis Rader is known as the B.T.K. (bind, torture, kill) Killer. He murdered 10 people in the Wichita, Kansas, area over about two decades, then disappeared for more than 10 years before his own carelessness led to his capture. Nearly 20 years after he was convicted of the murders, police believe he may be responsible for two more unsolved cases.
In 2022, an Oklahoma sheriff was watching Netflix when he realized how close Rader’s crimes were to his home in Osage County. Sheriff Eddie Virden watched as the serial killer described his crimes in great detail. The sheriff said that near the end, the killer claimed he had never managed to complete one “fantasy.” That was to kidnap a girl from a laundromat — the sheriff doesn’t believe that was true.
Rader is now the suspect in two unsolved cases: the murder of 22-year-old Shawna Beth Garber and the kidnapping of 16-year-old Cynthia Kinney. The latter worked at a laundromat in 1976 when she suddenly vanished.
In January, undersheriff Gary Upton began investigating Kinney’s cold case. The 31-year law enforcement official looked through old files, including Rader’s journals. They found that the killer, who was a regional installer for ADT security, was working at a bank across from the laundromat where the victim worked at the same time. He also had a journal entry from that time where he went into detail about kidnapping a girl from a laundromat.
Records also put him in the area of Garber’s disappearance at the same time she went missing. Polaroids in his journals showed items that police believe matched things the victim had, including a red blanket.
While searching Rader’s property, investigators found a “hidey-hole,” according to Upton. That hole reportedly contained items now considered “evidentiary in value and worthy of further testing.” That includes pantyhose that were tied into a knot, similar to the way he bound his victims.
The probe is ongoing.
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