BTK Secret Revealed After 30 Years

After more than 30 years, a clue in the BTK serial killer investigation, and one of the secrets most closely guarded by authorities, has finally come to light -- the distinctive way the killer signed some of his communications to the press and police.

The distinct, sexually-suggestive signature was used by police to help verify that recent communications were actually from the BTK killer. Instead of writing B-T-K left-to-right, the killer wrote the letter vertically, top-to-bottom, and drew the letter "B" was written so that it looked like a woman's breasts. (See Photo).

The signature appeared on some of the communications from the killer during the 1970s and it was used again when BTK first contacted the press again in March 2004. The police had kept the unusual signature secret so that they could distinguish real communications from hoaxes and so that it could not be used by copycats.

A psychologist who consulted on the BTK case from 1979 until 1981, Tony Ruark, told The Wichita Eagle, that he was instructed to keep the signature secret. "This is the one thing that couldn't get out," he said. "I've never ever described that to anybody."

The signature was not the only way police determined if communications were from the real BTK killer. See also:
BTK's Distinctive Signature Revealed After 31 Years

More from The Wichita Eagle:
Police Shoo Sightseers at Rader Home
Lawyer: Rader Is 'Easy to Deal With'
Rader Trial Expected to Cost Millions
The puzzle of Dennis Rader

Background:
The BTK Serial Killer