This is one sick son of a bitch, and Wichita, Kansas police think they have him. While Kansas’s supreme court last year ruled its death penalty unconstitutional, assuring that this vermin escapes state execution, his crimes carry the prison code death penalty. Barring permanent isolation in solitary confinement, some felon a step up on the murderer food chain will jam a rusty spoon handle still bearing spots of dried mashed potatoes into his throat just beneath the Adam’s apple, sending BTK onto the ninth ring of Hell.
While the DemocraticUndergrounders, I’m sure, are pleading for a great defense attorney and questioning police tactics, and while my own thoughts on the death penalty are less than firm, this gentleman’s first crime was enough to allow me to pull the switch on the electric chair myself. Here’s the description from America’s Most Wanted:
It was January 15, 1974. Charlie Otero, the oldest of five children, arrived at his family’s house and walked into a child’s worst nightmare. His father, Joseph Otero was lying bound and strangled on his bedroom floor (although it has been falsely reported that he was on the bed) and his mother, Julie was bound and strangled on the bed. Charlie ran out of the house crying for help.
When police arrived, a search of the house uncovered something even more horrifying. Charlie’s 9-year-old brother Joseph was found strangled in his bedroom, a plastic bag around his head. His 11-year-old sister Josephine was found hanging from a pipe in the basement. She was partially nude.
All four family members had been tied at the ankles and wrists by cord from venetian blinds. They had not only been killed, but apparently tortured and slowly strangled to death. Surprisingly, none of the victims had any defensive wounds. The only item missing was Joseph Otero’s watch.
One problem I have with capital punishment is that it is award too frequently and executed too rarely. Since Kansas can’t kill him, if this suspect is convicted, perhaps some conscientious inmate will.
Dean Esmay Joe Gandelman, guest blogging on Dean’s World, points out the high degree of confidence police display that this is their man. (Sorry, Joe, for the error.)
Michelle Malkin links to this site, which is a clearing house for BTK information.