News Articles
 
The following articles are the result of several people spending long hours at the Wichita Public Library.
and searches on the web by various people. They are presented here in chronological order.
Thank you to those people who have gathered these articles, most of which no longer seem to be
available on the internet.
 
 
 
 
Police Await Oregon Report on Similarity in Otero Case
The Wichita Eagle April 4, 1974
(no reporter name given)
 
Wichita police said they should know "Thursday or Friday" if the man who turned himself in to Portland,
Ore., authorities Wednesday for the murders of four persons there was involved in the Otero murders here
Jan. 15.
 
Detective Capt. Charles Stewart said fingerprints of the suspect in Portland had been requested to compare
with ones found in the Joseph Otero home at 803 N. Edgemoor.
 
Colin Hockings, 30, of Gresham, Ore., turned himself in to the public defender in Portland when he learned
that warrants had been issued charging him with the March 25 killings of Howard A. Weeks, 29, his wife,
Arlene, 27, and two boys for whom they babysat, Kevin Wiebe, 7, and his brother, Todd, 9.
 
A staffer of the Portland Journal said Hockings had been charged with four counts of murder and was held
without bond.
 
Wichita detectives had been in contact with Portland officials since the slayings of the Oregon residents
because of the similarity between that case and the murders of Otero, 38, his wife, Julie, 34, daughter,
Josephine, 11, and son, Joseph II, 9.
 
In each case the victims were bound with material found in their homes, the crimes were committed early
in the morning - which local police said is most unusual - and the description of a man in the vicinity of
each murder scene was similar.
 
Robbery also was ruled out in each because the homes were not ransacked nor was there any sign of
a struggle in either residence. The victims were not sexually assaulted.
 
A dissimilarity in the two murders is the method in which the victims died. The Oteros were strangled and
the Portland victims were bludgeoned with a hammer.
 
The Journal spokesman said a motive for the Oregon slayings had not been determined late Wednesday
but apparently resulted from "some kind of argument between Hockings and people who lived in the house (the Weeks)."
 
 
 
 
Girl, 20, Fatally Stabbed, Brother Shot by Intruder
 
The Wichita Eagle April 5, 1974
(no reporter name given)
 
A 20-year-old Wichita woman died Thursday night of stab wounds inflicted by an intruder who shot her
19-year-old brother in the head.
 
Kathryn Bright, 3217 E 13th, died at Wesley Medical Center shortly after 7 p.m. She had been stabbed
several times in the abdomen.
 
Kevin Bright, Valley Center, was listed in critical condition in the Wesley intensive care unit following surgery.
 
Police said the two went to Kathryn's East 13th Street residence about 2 p.m. and discovered an intruder
in the back bedroom.
 
The man told them he would not hurt them but he wanted money and their car to go to New York, Kevin
told officers.
 
He forced Kevin to tie his sister to a chair and then took him to another room.
 
Police Col. Jack Bruce said Kevin was shot when he began struggling with the prowler because he was
being choked by the man's attempt to bind him.
 
After being wounded, Kevin escaped from the house, and caught the attention of a motorist.
 
"I've been shot. There's a guy in the house doing a job on my sister," he said.
 
One of the two occupants of the car took Kevin to the hospital while the other telephoned police.
 
When officers arrived they found Miss Bright unconscious on the living room floor.
 
The suspect was described as a white male, about 25 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 180
pounds. He had a moustache and at the time of his assault was wearing an orange shirt, orange windbreaker,
and black stocking cap.
 
 
 
 
Coleman Link
 
The Wichita Beacon
April 5, 1974
By Glenda Holder
 
The victims of a robbery Thursday afternoon, a 20-year-old woman who was fatally stabbed and
her 19-year-old brother who was shot in the head, were employees of the Coleman Co., as were victims
of two other recent violent crimes.
 
Kathryn D. Bright, died about five hours after she was stabbed three times in the abdomen by the intruder
in her home at 3217 E. 13th.
 
Kevin Bright, who accompanied his sister to her home, received two gunshot wounds to the head after
he opposed the man. He was listed in serious condition at Wesley Medical Center today.
 
Mrs. Joseph Ortero, who along with Kathryn became an employee of the company in August 1973 and was
still employed by the firm.
Kevin, of Valley Center, began working for Coleman in March 1973 and quit in June to take a vacation.
Records show he was rehired to do the same job in July and quit in August.
 
Mrs. Joseph Otero, who along with three other members of her family were brutally slain Jan. 15, was
employed at Coleman as an assembler from the middle of December to the first part of January. Miss
Bright had worked as an assembler since March 11. Prior to that time she had worked as a brazer.
A supervisor of assembly, Michael L. Williams, 26, was shot in the abdomen Jan. 12 by two unknown
persons who apparently were attempting to rob him at him home in 4140 N. Battin. He was shot when
the assailants fired shotgun blasts through the door.
On March 28 someone broke into Williams' home and took a rifle and a radio. When laboratory
investigators arrived at the scene, they were unable to obtain fingerprints because Williams had touched
the surface the burglar had touched.
Police Chief Floyd Hannon is the only officer issuing statements concerning the Thursday homicide.
However, he was attending a class this morning and could not be contacted about the case or any possible
connection with the Otero or Williams incidents.
Drugs also have been mentioned in the Williams and Otero cases, but neither police nor sheriff's
officers, who are investigating the Williams shooting, have been able to rule out or confirm this possibility.
The Beacon learned that a quantity of unknown drugs was found by police in the Bright home.
The killer apparently broke a glass in the backdoor of the east Wichita residence and waited in a backroom
for Kathryn and Kevin.
The two returned to the residence about 2 p.m. and were confronted by the man, police at the
scene said.
He allegedly told the couple that he wanted money and their car to go to New York and that he did
not want to hurt them.
However, he forced Kevin to tie his sister to a chair and then took Kevin to another room, where
he attempted to bind him.
The assailant had a cord of some type around Kevin\rquote s neck and was tightening it when Kevin
fought and was shot twice in the head with a .22-caliber automatic pistol.
Bright was able to escape and flagged down a passing vehicle. One person in the car took him to
the hospital while the other summoned police.
Kathryn was unconscious when officers arrived and died following surgery.
Police are continuing their investigation into the case and also the Otero murders.
In the Bright case, they are searching for a white male, 5-foot-11 and about 25 years old. At the time
of the crime, he was wearing a black stocking cap and an orange shirt and jacket.
 
 
 
 
 
Chief Denies Coleman Link In Slayings
 
The Wichita Beacon
April 8, 1974
(no reporter name given)
 
Police Chief Floyd Hannon said today there is no connection between the Jan. 15 murders of the
Joseph Otero family and a quadruple murder last week in Portland, Ore.
 
Hannon also told reporters at City Hall a remark by an officer last week connecting the Otero murders
and other incidents to the Coleman Co. should not have been made.
 
The remark resulted in a story relating employment at Coleman by Mrs. Otero; Kathryn Bright,
who was stabbed to death Thursday, and Michael L. Williams, who was shot and wounded Jan. 12.
 
Hannon said any innuendo a place of business is involved in the drug traffic should not have been made.
 
Police have been investigating a possible connection between the violence and drug trafficking.
 
A story in The Wichita Beacon, however, did not actually connect the Coleman Co. to the incidents
but merely showed the victims had been employed there where they may have developed common acquaintances.
 
Hannon said today there had been about 12 cases of violence since November that also may be connected.
 
He said the victims of those represent a cross-section of the community - " so we can't look at Coleman."
 
Hannon did not comment further on why the Portland connection has been eliminated.
 
That crime resulted in the deaths of Howard A. Weeks, his wife, Arlene, and two boys for whom
they babysat.
 
As in the Otero murders, the crime took place in early morning daylight at the home and the victims
were bound and gagged similarly. Also, a description of a suspect seen leaving the Week's home
was similar to a description of a suspect seen leaving the Otero home.
 
 
Oteros / "Monster" drives killer, police told in secret letter
 
The Wichita Sun
Wednesday, December 11, 1974
Cathy Henkel, Sun staff writer
 
A man who identifies himself as "B.T.K." has written police, claiming that he murdered four members
of the Joseph Otero family here last January and vowing to kill again, The Sun has learned.
 
The until-now-secret letter, which police say they received three months ago, consists of two
typewritten pages with very specific details of the murders as well as the writer's description of a
"monster" in his brain which drives him to kill.
 
"I can't stop it so the monster goes on and hurts me as well as society...," the self-proclaimed killer
writes. "It's a big complicated game my friend the monster play, putting victims number down, follow
them, checking up on them, waiting in the dark, waiting, waiting... the pressure is great and some times
he run the game to his liking. Maybe you can stop him. I can't."
 
Although Police Chief Floyd Hannon refused to say whether police believe the writer actually is the
killer, they have made two attempts to make contact with him - once through a classified newspaper
advertisement and the second time through a newspaper columnist.
 
Most of the details in the letter have not been published in any account of the murders. When asked
to verify the accuracy of the details, Hannon replied, "No comment." Other sources have told The
Sun that details included in the letter could only have been known by the killer.
 
Nearly 11 months have elapsed since the four Oteros were strangled in their northeast Wichita home.
Since then, three persons have confessed to the slayings - one of the facts which apparently led the
letterwriter to surface.
 
"I write this letter to you for the sake of the taxpayer as well as your time," he writes. "Those three
dude you have in custody are just talking to get publicity for the Otero murders. They know nothing at
all. I did it by myself with no one's help."
 
Then, with the comment, "Let's put it straight," the writer proceeds, victim by victim, to list the
positioning of the bodies, the types of bonds used, the garrote (method of strangulation) involved,
causes of death and the clothes worn by each victim.
 
The letter came to police via The Wichita Eagle and Beacon's Secret Witness program, Hannon said
Monday. The program was designed to allow persons with knowledge of the crime to impart what
they know anonymously. Don Granger, Eagle and Beacon director of community affairs, was in
charge of Secret Witness, but according to Hannon, "Granger never saw the letter. He turned it over
to us without reading it."
 
Police refuse to comment further on the letter, and confusion remains as to when it was received.
Although Hannon said this week the letter was received "three months ago," the first of the three
suspects referred in the letter was not picked up until Oct. 8 and the third man was not picked up until
Oct. 18, eight weeks ago. And it was not until Oct. 24 that police placed a personal classified
advertisement in an attempt to contact "B.T.K."
 
Those code letters are not the person's initials, but instead are derived from the letterwriter's
characterization of his method of operation.\line The letter is signed "Yours, Truly Guiltily," and
includes an apology from the alleged killer.
 
"I'm sorry this happen to the society," the letter says. "They are the ones who suffer the most. It hard
to control myself. You probably call me 'psychotic with sexual perversion hang-up.' When this
monster enter my brain I will never know. But, it here to stay. How does one cure himself? If you
ask for help, that you have killed four people they will laugh or hit the panic button and call the cops."
 
Even though police may have a written confession from the Otero killer, they still are at a loss to find
him. More than 20,000 hours have been spent investigating the murders, thousand of citizens have
been interviewed, but the case remains unsolved.
 
The police tried to communicate with B.T.K. in at least two ways after they received his letter. For
four days, Oct. 24 through 27, they ran a personal classified advertisement in the Eagle and Beacon.
The ad read:
"B.T.K. Help is available. Call 684-6321 before 10 p.m."
 
The phone was manned by officers during that time but no call was received from B.T.K. The phone
has since been disconnected.
 
On Oct. 31, police tried again - this time in a column by Granger on the Second Front of The Beacon.
Granger asked B.T.K. to call the special telephone number of the newspaper's Secret Witness
number. He also included his home telephone number for B.T.K. to call if he felt uneasy about either
of the other two. Still, no contact was made.
 
Granger's column indicated that the police were convinced that B.T.K. really did have direct
knowledge of the slayings.
 
"For the past week Wichita police have tried to get in touch with a man who has important information
on the Otero murder case - a man who needs help badly," the column starts. Then, after explaining
about the classified ad directed to "B.T.K.," the column says, "There really is a 'B.T.K.' Police can't
say how they know, but they're convinced B.T.K. has information about the murder of Joseph Otero,
his wife and two of his children."
 
Hannon says he remains optimistic about the case's solution. "I've never been any other way," he said.
 
"I want to solve this thing but the longer it takes, the harder it gets," the chief continued. "This isn't a
game of marbles or checkers - it's a murder investigation."
 
But it has been an unusual investigation. For example, The Sun was told Hannon held meetings with
several psychologists and psychiatrists to get their ideas about B.T.K. When questioned about it,
Hannon said, "I have no comment about meetings with psychiatrists and psychologists."
 
Police maintain that other suspects connected with the case have not been ruled out, despite the
existence of the letter. The most prominent suspect is a 19-year-old who confessed to the crime and
then implicated his 26-year-old brother and another man, age 30. All three are under psychiatric care
in separate hospitals.
 
"The 19-year-old gave us details of the murder but none that he couldn't have read in the newspaper,"
sighed Hannon. "That's one of the problems in the case - too much publicity."
 
When asked if the 19-year-old or the other two men were still under suspicion, Detective Maj. Bill
Cornwell replied: "At this time, we have insufficient evidence. We're not saying they are and we're
not saying they aren't."
 
The murders occurred Jan. 15th, a Tuesday. It was a wintry day but the sun was turning the snow to
slush. Police had been called a little before 4 p.m. by a neighbor who was alerted by one of the three
surviving Otero children, Charlie, age 15. He had discovered the bodies of his parents, a brother and
a sister when he returned home from Robinson Junior High School.
 
Bulletins were quick to appear on television and radio and soon the small, green house at 803 N.
Edgemoor was surrounded by curiosity seekers and the streets were jammed with cars.
 
Inside, police found the bodies of Joseph Otero, 38, his wife Julie, 34, and two of their children, Josephine,
11, and Joseph II, 9. Each had been bound, gagged and strangled; Josephine had been hanged.
 
It had all happened, according to the coroners' reports, between 8:15 and 9 a.m. that morning. A
dark-complected man was seen leaving the home in the Oteros' 1966 Oldsmobile station wagon at
10:35 a.m., about 90 minutes after the time of the last death.
 
The murders were described that day by Chief Hannon as bordering almost on an execution and one
of the most bizarre ones he'd seen in his 20 years' experience with homicides.
 
Many facets about the case continue to puzzle police. For one, the entire family had been trained in
judo and yet there was no sign of a struggle.
 
"The fact that there was no great violence is the most unusual aspect of the case," commented Dr.
William Eckert, deputy coroner who was at the scene the day of the murder.
 
The only sign of a struggle, said Eckert, was with Mrs. Otero who had bruises on her cheeks.
 
One theory is that he threatened the family with a gun. Another is that the man entered the house while
Otero was taking his three oldest children to school. The younger two were to have gone to school at
9 a.m. but never made it.
 
The murder was thought to have been premeditated, as the telephone line had been cut from the outside.
Whether the killer was known to the Oteros is still unknown. As Detective Cornwell put it, "That's
hard to say, not knowing who did it."
 
In the early stages of the investigation, the possibility that the murders may have been drug-related
was examined. The Oteros were newly arrived from Puerto Rico and Otero had taken a job as an
aircraft mechanic at Cook Air Field in Rose Hill. The possible connection came when a plane crashed
in Miami the day before the murders. The plane was believed to be en route to Wichita from Puerto
Rico and carried 1 1/2 tons of marijuana.
 
"We feel the drug-related motive is doubtful," said Cornwell this week.
A relation between the Otero case and an attempted murder has also been put aside, said Cornwell.
Kathryn Bright was stabbed to death in her home April 4 and had worked on the same assembly line
at Coleman with Mrs. Otero. Michael L. Williams, a supervisor in the same department at Coleman,
was shot twice four days before the quadruple slaying. He survived his wounds. The fact that all worked
in the same department at Coleman was called "coincidental" by Cornwell.
 
Cornwell and Hannon took an eight-day trip to Puerto Rico and Panama in February to uncover clues
to the Oteros' life before Wichita. There, they discovered that Otero had financial conflicts with at least
five persons. But that failed to pan out as well, said Cornwell.
 
"Yes, we found that he had financial problems but we have not been able to connect them with the case,"
the detective said.
 
Several sets of fingerprints were found in the house and in the family's car which had been abandoned
at a grocery store at Central and Oliver. Police have checked the prints against thousands of others but
still have not matched them up.
 
The three surviving Otero children who were at school that day - Charlie, 15, Danny, 14 and Carmen,
13 - have left Wichita. They are living with friends in Albuquerque and took along more than $700
collected by the Red Cross to help in their new lives.
 
 
 
 
Woman Slain in S. Wichita
Apparent Victim of Strangulation
By Jeff Williamson
Staff Writer
Wichita Eagle-Beacon
March 18, 1977
 
Shirley R. Viam (sic), 26, was found dead by her children Thursday in her South Wichita home, apparently
the victim of a strangler.
 
Her nude body - bound hand and foot, with a plastic bag over the head and a cord looped around the neck -
lay face down on her bed when emergency personnel arrived shortly after 1 p.m. and unsuccessfully tried
to revive her.
 
In the small, white frame house at 1311 S. Hydraulic was the woman's 4-year-old daughter. Her two sons,
aged 6 and 8, had run up the street to inform a neighbor of the tragedy.
 
The children had been held captive in the bathroom while a man whom the children said they did not know
attacked their mother. He was still at large late Thursday night - described by the children as a paunchy,
heavily built white man in his late 30s or early 40s, with dark hair.
 
THE MAN, CARRYING a bowling bag or small suitcase, took with him two money orders totaling
approximately $40. They had been bought earlier that morning by the 6-year-old at the Dillon's market at
1227 S. Hydraulic.
 
Det. Capt. Ed Lester said the child had made two trips that morning to Dillon's, on orders of his mother who
had said she wasn't feeling well.
 
On returning from his second trip at about 11:45 a.m., the child was stopped in the street near his house by
a stranger, who showed him a picture of a child and a woman and asked him if he recognized them, police
said. The boy said no, but shortly after the boy returned home, the same man was at the door - with a gun
in one hand and his bag in the other.
 
"Don't hurt us," said Mrs. Viam (sic), according to what the children told police.
 
"I'm not going to," was the children's version of his reply, Lester said.
 
BUT THE MAN began tying up the 8-year-old. And when the boy cried, the man herded all three children
into the bathroom, wedging one door and tying the other shut.
 
By the time the children managed to free themselves, the man was gone. His relationship to the dead
woman was not known, Lester said, "It's very possible she knew the assailant but we're speculating
there."
 
An autopsy conducted by Deputy Dist. Coroner Dr. William Eckert showed no evidence of sexual
assault, leaving police with what Lester conceded to be a thin motive of robbery in the crime.
 
Lester and detectives on the major crimes squad worked into the night on the case, but without concrete
results. "We still have a number of leads to follow up," Lester said.
 
Mrs. Viam's (sic) common-law husband, Richard Viam (sic), learned of the killing shortly after 4:30 p.m.
when he returned home from his job with a local construction company. The children were taken to stay
with friends.
 
A NEIGHBOR WHO asked that her name be withheld said that Mrs. Viam (sic) had come to see her
Tuesday morning, saying that she and her children were without money, food or a car. The neighbor said
she gave Mrs. Viam (sic) some money for food.
 
The neighbor described Mrs. Viam (sic) as a friendly person who didn't appear to "have things together."
 
The two eldest children were enrolled in Linwood Elementary school, but did poorly and were frequently
absent - as they were on Thursday, Lester said.
 
 
 
 
Police Ask Help in Murder
 
The Wichita Beacon
March 18, 1977
By Tom McVey
 
Police today asked for assistance from anyone who may have observed suspicious activity in the area
of south Wichita, where Shirley R. Vian, 26, was killed Thursday.
 
Detective Capt. Ed Lester said police had no solid leads in the woman's strangulation death although
several persons were being sought for questioning.
 
Mrs. Vian's nude body - bound hand and foot, with a plastic garment bag over the head and a cord
around the neck, was discovered just before 1 p.m. in a house at 1311 S Hydraulic.
 
Lester said detectives are looking for a white male in his early 30's, described as being about six feet
tall and heavily built with a paunchy stomach. The man apparently was carrying a small suitcase, or
possibly a bowling ball bag or duffle bag.
 
Lester said anyone who might have seen the man in the area of Mrs. Vian's house between 11:15 a.m.
and 12:15 p.m. Thursday should contact the detective section at xxx-xxxx.
 
The description of the suspect was provided by Mrs. Vian's three children, who had been held in
the bathroom while the woman was attacked.
 
Lester said the children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years, had been placed in the bathroom with the door tied shut
by the woman's assailant.
 
The children apparently pulled on the cord until it loosened, squeezed through a crack in the door and
ran to a neighbor's house to report the crime.\line\line Lester said the children were in protective custody
this morning with further interviews scheduled by detectives. He said they probably will remain under
police protection because it is thought they can identify the assailant.
 
 
 
 
 
Young Woman Found Slain
 
The Wichita Beacon
December 9, 1977
By Wichita Beacon Staff
 
The body of a young woman - apparently the victim of a burglary-slaying - was found by police today in he
bedroom of a duplex at 843 S. Pershing.
 
The victim was identified by police as Nancy Fox, a resident of the home where the slaying occurred.
Police said they did not immediately have her age.
 
The police received a call about 8:20 a.m. from an unidentified man who said there had been a murder at
the duplex, Detective Capt. Al Thimmesch said.
 
Officers found the woman face down on a bed, Thimmesch said. He declined further comment on the
condition of the body or whether the woman appeared to have been sexually assaulted.
 
Thimmesch said " preliminary indications" were that the victim had been strangled and the house burglarized.
 
A neighbor described the woman as " a loner," who seldom entertained friends.
 
Other neighbors said they heard no loud noises or other disturbances in the victim's home last night.
 
 
 
 
 
No Suspect Identified In Slaying of Woman In SE Wichita Home
 
The Wichita Eagle
December 10, 1977
(no reporter name given)
 
Wichita police late Friday had no suspects beyond an anonymous phone caller in the slaying of 25-year-old
Nancy Fox.
 
Fox was discovered strangled early Friday in the bedroom of her home at 843 S. Pershing, police said. An
autopsy later Friday confirmed she had died of strangulation, said District Coroner Robert Daniels.
 
Daniels said there was no evidence that Fox had been sexually assaulted, although that could not be
positively confirmed until chemical tests are completed.
 
Detective Capt. Al Thimmesch said police received a call at 8:20 a.m. Friday from a man, thought by police
to be white and in his 20s, saying there had been a homicide.
 
Thimmesch did not say how police determined the man's race and age.
 
He said the dispatcher traced the call to a pay phone at the southwest corner of Central where it meets St.
Francis, outside Organ's Market, 527 E. Central
.
Thimmesch said police want help from citizens who may have seen someone calling from the phone.
 
Officers found the partially nude body of Fox lying face down on her bed, police said. Thimmesch said it
appeared she had been strangled with a nylon stocking. Her hands and feet were bound behind her back
with nylon stockings, Thimmesch said.
 
Detectives said Fox, who was single, had apparently lived in the southeast Wichita duplex for about two
years. The northern half of the duplex was vacant, Thimmesch said.
 
Fox left her job at Helzberg's Jewellers, 3845 E. Harry, about 9 p.m. Thursday, Thimmesch said. Police
said that is where she was last seen. Thimmesch said he thinks she was slain shortly after she arrived at her
apartment.
 
A window at the back of the duplex had been smashed and there was evidence that the apartment had
been burglarized, Thimmesch said.
 
The phone had been taken off the hook and the lines had been cut on the outside of the house,
police said.
 
Detectives said the contents of her purse had been dumped on a coffee table and her sweater had been
draped neatly over a chair.
 
 
 
 
 
Police Seek Caller in Strangling
 
The Wichita Eagle
December 11, 1978
(no reporter name given)
 
The police are searching for a man seen using a pay phone in connection with the killing Friday of Nancy
Fox, 25, who was found strangled in her home at 843 S. Pershing.
 
Detective Capt. Al Thimmesch said Saturday that a woman had told the police she had seen a man using
a pay phone outside Organ's Market, 527 E. Central.
 
He said the police would follow up on the witness's information Monday because they did not have enough
manpower to follow the lead before then.
 
The police received a phone call at 8:20 a.m. Friday saying there had been a homicide at Fox's apartment.
The police say they think the caller was a white male in his 20s, but Thimmesch did not say how the
police had determined the man's race and age.
 
Thimmesch said a dispatcher had traced the call to an outside pay phone at the market, on the
southwest corner of Central and St. Francis.\line\line Progress on the investigation is slow, Thimmesch
said Saturday.
 
Thimmesch said he saw no link between the slaying of Fox and the unsolved strangling death of Shirley
Vian, 26, who was found March 17 by her children in their home at 1311 S. Hydraulic.
 
Fox was found strangled, lying face down on her bed, the police said. She was partly nude and her
hands and feet were bound behind her back with nylon stockings. It appeared she had been strangled
with a stocking, the police said.
 
An autopsy Friday revealed no evidence that Fox had been sexually assaulted.
 
Vian was found strangled, lying face down on her bed, the police said at the time. Her nude body was
bound hand and foot. There was a plastic garment bag over her head and a venetian blind cord around
her neck, the police said.
 
An autopsy revealed no evidence that Vian had been sexually assaulted.
 
He said Vian's killer had left no clues. No clues were left in the Fox killing, either, he said. "None I
could comment on, anyway," he said.
 
 
 
 
 
BTK Tape - Few call to identify voice; limited airing angers stations
 
The Wichita Beacon
August 15, 1979
By Casey Scott
 
Response from Wichitans attempting to identify the voice of the BTK Strangler, aired Tuesday and today
on a radio and television station, has been slow, said Police Capt. Al Thimmesch.
 
However, the decision by Chief Richard LaMunyon to give KAKE-TV and Radio a tape of the voice has
prompted some anger and concern by other Wichita radio and television stations.
 
Thimmesch said this morning that police had received about 40 calls to a special number, but that some
of the calls were in response to a published composite of a man police are searching for in connection
with the stabbing Monday of Ruth C. Finley.
 
Police urge anyone recognizing the voice to call detectives at 268-xxxx.
 
LaMunyon said police doubt the tape will lead to BTK\rquote s identity because the quality of the tape
isn't good and BTK talks for only three seconds to a police dispatcher.
 
The voice was recorded on the automatic taping system at the Emergency Communications Department
when BTK called police Dec. 9, 1977, to report the death of Nancy Jo Fox.
 
In letters and poems written to the Wichita Eagle-Beacon and KAKE-TV, the strangler has claimed
responsibility for seven Wichita slayings since January 1974. It was a February 1978 letter to KAKE
that linked the Fox slaying to BTK, who says his initials stand for "bind, torture, kill."
 
BTK placed the call to police through a telephone operator, activating an automatic trapping system.
The telephone company traced the call to a phone booth at St. Francis and Central.
 
When a police dispatcher picked up the telephone, a man said in a clear voice, "Yes. You will find
a homicide at 843 South Pershing. Nancy Fox."
 
The dispatcher attempted to get the man to repeat his statement, but the operator, still on the
line, interrupted and repeated the address. The man said, "That is correct," and hung up.
 
 
About two months ago, KAKE offered to pay to have the tape enhanced through computer methods if the
police would provide a copy of the tape. LaMunyon agreed.
 
LaMunyon said the police didn't seek to have the tape improved because "we didn't think it would be
of any value because we didn't think it was long enough." He added, "I still have my doubts."
 
When KAKE began broadcasting the tape Tuesday, some other stations called police to request a copy
of the tape. They were denied. Several stations have complained to police about the arrangement.
 
Ron Scott, vice president in charge of news for KTVH, said today that if the point of airing the tape was to
make as many Wichitans as possible aware of the voice, then it should have been released to all
broadcasters.
 
"Since KAKE had offered to pay for it (to be enhanced) and because they had a line on the BTK thing,
we would have credited them," Scott said.
 
"But if the idea was to get as many people as possible to identify the voice, then the police department's
ivestigation would have been better served by releasing simultaneously the tape to other stations."
 
This morning, LaMunyon made available to other stations copies of the tape. He said KAKE had
provided the copies.
 
LaMunyon today defended his decision to release the tape to KAKE, and said he would have made the
same arrangement with any other station had they come to him with the idea.
 
KAKE ran the tape during every radio news broadcast between 4 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. today, and
during its television news broadcasts until noon today. Kelly Walker, KAKE Radio news director, said
KAKE would begin Thursday airing short public service announcements of the voice, asking anyone
with information to call police.
 
 
 
 
 
Wichita Woman Found Strangled
 
The Wichita Eagle
September 17, 1986
By John Jenks
Police reported that they had no suspects Tuesday night in the murder of a west-side Wichita woman
who was found strangled in her home earlier in the day.
 
The woman's 2-year-old son - who was in the home at the time of the murder - was not harmed,
Capt. John Dotson said.
 
Vicki Wegerle, 28, of 2404 W. 13th, was found on her bedroom floor by her husband, Bill, who had
come home for lunch shortly before noon Tuesday, police said. She was taken to Riverside Hospital and
died shortly afterward.
 
A Tuesday night autopsy showed that she had not been sexually assaulted, Dotson said.
 
Vicki Wegerle was a homemaker. Bill Wegerle is a self-employed apartment maintenance man who
came home every day for lunch about noon, friends and neighbors said. Besides their son, the couple
also had a 10-year-old daughter, who was in school at the time of the murder.
 
Dotson said Vicki Wegerle was strangled, but declined to specify what item or materials may have
been used in the killing. He also declined to say whether she had suffered other injuries.
 
Police said Bill Wegerle told them he had seen his wife before he left for work. A friend said she had seen
Vicki Wegerle taking children to school shortly before 9 a.m.
 
Dotson declined to say if police had determined how the murderer got into the home or if anything
was stolen.
 
One neighbor reported hearing an unusual amount of barking from dogs near the Wegerle house
about 10:15 a.m. Another neighbor said she saw the family car - a 1978 gold Monte Carlo - pull out of
the driveway about 10:30 a.m. She said she didn' t see who was driving.
 
That driver was probably the killer, Dotson said.
 
"It's logical to assume that the perpetrator took the car from the scene," he said.
 
Police found the abandoned Monte Carlo two blocks from the house at 12:10 p.m. in the 1300 block
of North Edwards. Dotson declined to say if evidence was found in the car.
 
One neighbor in the middle-class Indian Hills area, where the Wegerles had lived for about three years,
said she was frightened by the killing. "Of course, it's scary," she said. "A friend of mine called and
said, 'Put double locks on your doors.' "
 
Another woman wasn't as worried about her safety. "Doesn't bother me," she said. " I've lived here for
many years."
 
Vicki Wegerle's friends and family described her as a pleasant woman who had a soft spot for children.
Wegerle volunteered her time as a babysitter both at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, which she regularly
attended, and at the Asbury United Methodist Church, which was in her neighborhood.
 
"She was quite involved in babysitting, especially for church events," said the Rev. Arno Meyer, pastor
of St. Andrew's.
 
At Asbury United Methodist, she was the church's nursery supervisor, lining up people to take care of
small children during church activities, said assistant pastor Robert Winslow.
 
She also was active in the Parent-Teachers Association at OK Elementary School, which her daughter
attends, and she was a Girl Scout leader.
 
"With her background and character and all, it's just unreal," said one family friend. "She was probably
like your own mother or sister; she didn' t have a vicious bone in her body."
 
At OK school, the school counselor will lead a discussion with Wegerle's daughter's fifth-grade class
today, said Principal Devin Stahl. The counselor will be available for any students during the day, he said.
 
Bill Wegerle had worked as an apartment maintenance man for nine years for Fidelity Management until
he struck out on his own this spring, former co-workers said. Ted Roe, a former co-worker,
said the couple had no enemies.
 
"She's real nice," he said. "Both of them are real nice people."