Monster: BTK - Susan Visits the Sites [Bonus]

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Producers Gnoems Griffin and Jesse Funk meet with Susan in Wichita. Together they visit key locations in the BTK story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. He was a freaking crazy man. He was my father, and I had no idea about any of this until now. Crook County is available now.

Listen for free on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? We will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Hi, I'm Bob Pitman, science stuff on the iHeart video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to share my podcast with you,

Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Make sure to check out my recent episode with legendary musician and philanthropist, Jewel. I didn't want a million dollars. I wanted a career. I wanted a way to figure out how to do something that I loved for the rest of my life. Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I Heart Icon Award recipient Moriah Carey. And I Heart Breakthrough Award recipient Gracie Abrams. Watch live on Fox, Monday, March 17th. At 8, 7 Central. Welcome to another special bonus episode of Monster BTK.

My name is Noms Griffin. I'm one of the writers and producers for this season of Monster. While we were in production for the show, I flew to Wichita to meet up with another writer and producer, Jesse Funk, and our host, Susan Peters. Over the course of three days in Wichita, Jesse, Susan, and I sat down to interview Steve Relford, Charlie Otero, Bob Schmeiser, and Larry Hattaberg. And Susan also acted as our Wichita tour guide, showing us the city she's called home for decades. We took time each day we were there to visit the important locations in this story. Susan told us that when she first met Steve Relford, she was able to accompany him to

the home where his mother was killed. It was an emotional experience for both of them. She shared that for her, the visit was a chance to support a grieving Steve and pay her respects to his late mother, Shirley Vian. But she didn't have that for every victim. In particular, she wanted a chance to do that for the Otero family. Okay. All right.

Perfect. So you went to... I'm so sorry, honey. Um, well, okay. I'm going to call you later on today to see how you're feeling, okay? As we pulled into the Otero's former neighborhood, Susan called up Charlie Otero, the eldest of the Otero siblings, and they chatted briefly.

Alright honey, love you. Bye. When they hung up, we walked up the sidewalk to the front of the house. It was a warm, sunny day, and a rooster was crowing from the backyard. The house faces a major street, so cars passed by rather frequently. So I'll just be honest. I had never been to this house before. I've reported on it one and a half million times,

seen it in video over and over and over again. But coming to this property, I have a pit in the middle of my stomach. It is so, so haunting because you look at the front door, everything's the same. It's a small, white home where a wonderful family lived in an average part of town in Wichita, Kansas. It's a tree-lined street with sidewalks. This is a family neighborhood.

In the 70s, this was a total family neighborhood. The kids walked to school. Charlie Otero walked to Southeast High School from this neighborhood. It's on a busy street, and it was on a busy street in the 70s. This was a neighborhood where street in the 70s. This was a neighborhood where you thought you were safe.

In the 1970s in Wichita, Kansas, every place was safe. And that evil, evil, horrible man killed two children in this home. Dennis Rader's famous thing that he was known for is cutting the telephone cord. There's a home, what, 10 feet away? But he had the illness, the sickness, to come to the middle of these two homes, cut the telephone line, and then go to the front door with a gun. The Otero family home here on Edgemore Street is the beginning of the changing of the Wichita community. This is where the Wichita community began to change from a sleepy safe town where no one locked their doors

to a town of, well, for years, horror. A town of horror. Very, very haunting and unbelievable. Honestly, I am ripped apart being here because it's the first time I've been here knowing what Charlie went through. I'm just so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,

so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, Next, Susan wanted to visit the house where Steve Relford grew up again. I've been to this house before, just a small white house on a busy street in the middle of Wichita, Kansas. And it looks exactly the same as when I brought Steve Relford here in 2005. And I'm sure it looks exactly the same as it did when Steve lived here in 1977. It just doesn't look like it's changed much at all.

And after BTK was captured and we, you know, flew Steve Rolford back to Wichita, I said, is there anything I can do for you? And he said, take me to the house. So we picked him up at the hotel and we brought him here. I had already knocked on the door of the house and said, I'm Susan Peters, can we come in? Steve, they were very nice and said yes. We walked, Steve and I walked into this house at 1311 South Hydraulic and he said, it looks exactly the same.

It looks exactly the same. The living room's there. He walked directly into the bedroom back here of this house, knelt down in his mom's bedroom and started saying a prayer and cried his eyes out. It was the first time he had been back since the day of the murder, since the day he witnessed his mother being brutally killed by BTK.

And so for him to be inside the house, I think it provided some sort of, I don't want to say closure, but it helped a little bit seeing that it still exists and that it's with a new family who's making new memories here. The feeling that I get in front of this house, I see Steve Relford at this house, but I don't see him as a six-year-old. I see him as he is now, still a broken man, and he'll even admit that day broke him.

My thought is of frustration because a horrible parasite changed a whole family's life forever inside this home by a matter of chance. So my only other feeling besides complete sadness is very, very much anger. About five minutes down the road from the Otero house is where Catherine Bright lived in 1974.

The houses that were once there have since been demolished. So this is Hillside 13th and Wichita State's at 17th. Here we are at the site where BTK killed his fifth victim and changed the life of her brother forever. On this corner that's an empty lot right now, there were several houses. It was close to Wichita State University, so students would rent. And that's who was here on this busy corner.

On the lot where Catherine Bright's house once stood, you can still see where the foundations were laid and where the mailbox was. Today, there's a neighborhood a block behind the lot. It faces out to one of the busiest intersections in East Wichita. Okay, they described it back then as her house being on a hill.

This is much of a hill as you get in Wichita, Kansas. The most shocking thing about this is how many people were around that day. There had to have been so many, there were businesses on this corner. That's all that was on this corner were businesses. In fact, Kevin Bright, after he was shot, ran from this corner down to a business down the street and said, call the police, call the police.

— As we visited the second site of a BTK murder, something sunk in for Susan. — I never registered. I mean, I've been to some of the sites, but it never registered. They're all busy streets. — Why do you think that is? — I think Dennis Rader had such an ego that he never thought he was going to be caught. And he almost did, in the back of his mind, did busy streets to say, I just dare you. I don't care if it's a busy street. He was a brazen, evil person. From the hillside intersection, we continued east on 13th Street to stop by a place Susan

calls home, the Cake TV station. Hi, Brooklyn. Nice to meet you. Brooklyn, nice meeting you. Here we are in the Cake Studios studios where we did the newscast. How does it feel to be in the newsroom where you spent so much of your time in your career? 25 years, it feels wonderful.

It still feels like home to me. This studio still feels like home to me. And the reason, I think one of the reasons it does is because we went through so many stories together and tragedies together. Of course, the biggest one being BTK. We went through that together for a whole year and a half. And it was gut wrenching.

It took all of our emotions out of us because we knew when we were sitting at this set that I'm standing at right now, when we were communicating BTK stories, we were communicating to BTK. We were saying things that would get BTK to react and send another clue. So we were sitting here at this set not only doing a newscast in this set, but we were trying to catch a killer from this set. — He knew he was listening. — We knew he was watching every night. We knew BTK was watching us from this new set every night.

He said it in his letters to us. — While Susan told us about her memories in the Kake studio during the BTK era, the new generation of K cake TV anchors listened in And then another memory I have of the studio in Relation to BTK he pleaded guilty. Okay, so the preliminary hearing. Okay, so my co-anchor and I Jeff We set up a special BTK set My co-anchor and I, Jeff, we set up a special BTK set for the preliminary hearing and the sentencing hearing and all that.

It was in that corner of the studio, okay, which was a special BTK set. And we go on the air that morning and Jeff and I are talking in this corner. The preliminary hearing starts at 9 o'clock, okay? Oh, we'll be out of the studio by 9.15, 9.30, because it's just a preliminary hearing starts at 9 o'clock, okay? Oh, we'll be out of the studio by 9 15, 9 30, because it's just a preliminary hearing plea agreement. We sat in that corner with our mouths dropped open for four hours as Dennis Rader described in detail every single murder. In detail, horrifying detail, like he was being interviewed on an entertainment show.

Like he was accepting an Academy Award. I'll never forget, we sat in that corner, stunned our stomachs in knots and of course as an anchor person you're taking notes as to what he said I still have all those notes I can't even believe what I was writing down because we couldn't believe what he was saying and that's the other spooky memory I have of this set is in that corner, us just sitting there as all of Wichita was. Are you kidding me?

This is evil over and over and over again. I did not know about this. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's so sad. David, I'll never forget that morning. It was my daughter's first day at school. They were in grade school still.

I had one in kindergarten and one four years older. So that would be fourth grade. And I took them to school in the morning. You know how emotional first day of school is for parents. So I cried, dropped them off first day of school is for parents. So I cried, dropped them off, first day of school. Came right in, the preliminary hearing was starting at 9 o'clock. And I go, God, I hope we can get out of here because I just want to go home and cry. And we go, you know, it's going to be 15 minutes. It was so weird going from

dropping them off at school and crying and then coming right to the studio, never thinking in a million years you were going to sit through four hours of pure, vile evil. And I wasn't crying for me, I was crying for the victims' families who were in the courtroom that day and were watching them on camera in the courtroom. And I said to myself, I just got to drop my kids off at school. And here they they were, Charlie was a school kid himself.

as a school kid himself. Steve Relford was five years old. He never got the chance to go to a normal school life again after he watched his mom being killed. Not to get too philosophical, but how does God choose? I mean, I know it's not God that chooses, but I don't know. I'm sorry, Day. I guess this studio is more in motion than I thought. I mean, so much evil was talked about in this studio. Okay. I think I'm done. It takes one guy out there to say,

who's that f***ing Kyle who thinks he can just get on a microphone on a podcast and start publicizing this s***? From iHeart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit. And that was my mission, to snuff the f*** life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department.

I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Torn between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing. He was a freaking crazy man. We don't know who he is really. He is my father and I had no idea about any of this until now. Welcome to Crook County, series premiere February 11th. Listen for free on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you?

Why is my cat not here? Am I going and she's eating my lunch? Or if hypnotism is real? You will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies.

Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming?

It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay. It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation. It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats everything. So things that get buried there tend to stay buried until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery. Seven thousand bodies out there or more. All former patients of the old state asylum, and nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery. But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it.

Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo Clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think. The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm Larysen Campbell. Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Bob Pitman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media.

I'm excited to share my podcast with you, Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Make sure to check out my recent episode with legendary musician and philanthropist, Jewel. I didn't want a million dollars. I wanted a career. I wanted a way to figure out how to do something that I loved for the rest of my life. Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We left the studio so the anchors could prepare for the afternoon newscast, and Susan took us downstairs to the newsroom. Here, she explained to us what would happen after the station received a BTK letter. So what would happen is the receptionist would get the mail and she would get the feeling, the receptionist would get the feeling that this is from BTK. She'd immediately put on rubber gloves, call the news director, and walk the clue postcard back to the newsroom here. The news director, I'm sorry, I'm taking you through a maze. This is the way I used to get to the newsroom. So the receptionist would call the news director. The news director would immediately get his rubber gloves on

and walk out and get the letter and bring it up to the newsroom. And as soon as the news director walked in the newsroom with a clue or a letter from BTK, he'd call the police first. Right after that, he'd call a photographer and say, come shoot this video. Yeah. Got to get a video.

So he'd go in his office here. The police would come right in this office. The news director would put his rubber gloves on in case there were fingerprints or anything. A photographer would come in, and the police would come in, confiscate the clue or the letter. We did that four times. The first letter BTK sent to us after he reappeared was simply a piece of paper that said, the

BTK story, 1 through 13. We made copies of that. Copy copy. We went out into the newsroom and every single reporter here, at every single desk, you see a couple dozen desks here, got a copy of that letter. And we just analyzed and analyzed and analyzed. We were trying to figure out what this was, who this guy was, and if this could have given us any sort of clue. All of us sat here in the newsroom and said we were scared. Our final stop was in Park City. The city of Park City bought this house from Dennis Rader's ex-wife, and then tore it down,

because there were so many Gawkers and sightseers who would drive by. I'm sure there still are, especially with what has happened lately. You can see remnants. The week before our trip to Wichita, the news broke that BTK was a suspect in the 1976 disappearance of Missouri woman Cynthia Dawn Kenney. The month prior, the Osage County Sheriff's Department in Oklahoma obtained a permit to search the lot for evidence. that's newly ripped up newly excavated because they found Mementos from one of Dennis Raider's kills buried underground here just last month and

So I'm sure other people are coming here to sightsee But this is really really really, really, after all these years, it's been 20, almost 20 years since he reappeared. Almost 20 years since he reappeared. And this is the first time really in 20 years that Dennis Rader's home is the site of another crime scene, if you will. Freshly dug up dirt and sidewalk that housed some of Dennis Rader's mementos from past crimes, past killings. And it's really weird to see it, because you never thought you'd see it again. The sidewalk that Osage County tore up leads from Independent Street,

through the lot, and behind neighbors' houses to a public park. So the city built a walkway here that welcomes you to this park down the street and behind his property. So it's almost like we're turning this place where an evil parasite used to live into something nice for children, into something that will help children grow and play and thrive. Carrie, Rossin and I came here to her former residence where Dennis Rader lived when she first came out with her book a couple years ago. And we walked along the property. She pointed

out, see those tulips over there? My dad and I planted them. My dad taught me how to plant tulips. See this over here? She pointed to that tree and said, see that tree? My dad built the neatest tree house for us in that tree and we used to climb up in the tree house all the time. And she's walking through this lot reminiscing about her normal childhood. What did you say, you know, I've noticed as we were sitting, you know, walking through this property, well it used to be his property, you've, I've noticed two cars that come past and you see they slow down. That's why the city of Park City wanted to tear the house down in the first place, because it used to be a steady stream,

just a steady stream of gawkers down this quiet little street. And now, even though the house is torn down and we're standing in the middle of an empty lot, we still see cars driving by pointing to the lot. That this is where BTK lived. These neighbors here now, I'm sure they're very tired of people coming down the street and gawking at the house,

but it'll happen that way forever and ever. There's no stopping it. As we sit here also outside of Raider's house, you know, when everything's done with the new investigations and what do you think should be done to this property? Should you just leave it as land or should they... Do you have, you know... No, that's a very good question. What do you think should be put here that can make it maybe stop being such a landmark? That is a very, very good question.

I feel if it was a place that people had access to, you wouldn't have people driving by. It would just be another thing on the street. And it would cease to be BTK's property. If they built something here that people could name, for instance, a food pantry, maybe a mini park here, the city of Park City could build. Maybe if they built a mini park here, I don't think people would look at this area the same. I think they look at it as a park where kids could play and recreate. I don't think they'd drive down the street and say, that was BTK's house. I agree. And as I'm sitting here and looking, you know, a dog park.

I've spent the last two years working on this project, and our trip to Wichita was one of the most difficult parts. Not only were the interviews emotionally heavy, but so were these site visits. The demolition of Dennis Rader's home should have signaled the finality of this case. But walking past the torn-up sidewalk, it just goes to show you that closure is fickle. I don't know if Dennis Rader actually committed this 1976 murder. But after this trip, I do know that the city of Wichita is incredibly resilient. You I'm not going to lie. My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new True Crime podcast, Crook County.

I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. He was a freaking crazy man. He was my father and I had no idea about any of this until now.

Crook County is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? We will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole?

Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Sighin' Stuff. Join me, or Hitcham, as we answer questions about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pitman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to share my podcast with you, Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing.

Make sure to check out my recent episode with legendary musician and philanthropist, Jewel. I didn't want a million dollars. I wanted a career. I wanted a way to figure out how to do something that I loved for the rest of my life. Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. LL Cool J. Are you guys ready to have some fun tonight? Plus iHeart Innovator Award recipient, Lady Gaga. iHeart Icon Award recipient, Moriah Carey. And iHeart Breakthrough Award recipient, Gracie Abrams.

Watch live on Fox, Monday, March 17th. At 8, 7 Central.