The Otero family home

Otero house

This Google Street View image of the side of the Otero family home was taken in July 2019. We have circled the back door in red.

The Otero family had only been living here since the fall of 1973.

BTK told the court that he had pre-selected the family as his first victims.

The fact that the house sits on a corner probably impacted his decision to target the family. Not only did the public-facing side entrance make it easier for him to access the backyard, it also gave him a greater ability to scope the place out.

This is one of the reasons why corner homes are more vulnerable to burglaries.

Coincidentally, this crime took place 11 days after serial killer Ted Bundy attacked his first known victim in Seattle. This means that Rader and Bundy started targeting their victims around the same time as each other.

Dillons

Following the murders, Rader drove the Otero family car over to Dillons at 4801 East Central Ave. The car in question was a tan-colored Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser wagon.

After parking the Vista Cruiser in Dillons, he walked back to his own car and drove away. Although Rader never specified where he parked his vehicle that day, it is likely that it was within walking distance of the grocery store.

During the murder of Kathryn Bright, he strategically parked his car away from the crime scene. By operating this way, he was able to reduce the risk of someone writing down his license plate.

Two different witnesses noticed Rader that day. One saw him aggressively reversing the Vista Cruiser out of the driveway at the Otero residence, while another spotted him leaving the car in the parking lot at Dillons.

The second witness said that he looked extremely nervous—so much so that he was visibly shaking.

View Location

Crime scene

The photograph at the top shows the police removing the bodies of the Otero family from 803 Edgemoor Street.

The Google Street View image at the bottom is from 2022.

In 1974, Rader wrote a detailed letter about the murders and hid it inside a book at the Wichita Public Library. This letter rejected claims that more than one person was involved. It also went into great detail about the crime scene.

Victims

Joseph (38), Julie (33), Josephine (11), and Joseph Jr. (9) were all murdered.

The Oteros' other three children—Charlie, Carmen, and Danny—survived because they were in school at the time of the attack.

15-year-old Charlie discovered the bodies after he returned home.

Initially, the police theorized that the killings were related to Joseph Otero's business dealings in Panama. At the time, he reportedly had business conflicts with a number of people over the resale of merchandise.

Rader said that he did not expect the father to be in the house at the time.

These were BTK's first known murders. He was 28 years old when he committed the crime.

Witness

This excerpt from the Kansas City Times newspaper was published on January 18th, 1974.

One witness claimed that they saw a dark-complexioned man wearing a rumpled hat driving off in the Otero family car.

The inaccurate description of his complexion is a good example of how witness accounts can be unreliable. For example, this person may have only caught a quick glimpse of BTK as he was driving away. It is also possible that his skin appeared darker through the windows of the vehicle.

Because the crime took place in the middle of January, we can rule out the possibility that Rader was sporting a tan.

Other neighbors also reported seeing a strange man in the area on the day that the crime took place.

Aerial photograph

This aerial photograph from 1975 shows how close the house was to the parking lot at Dillons.

803 North Edgemoor Street

This Google Street View image of 803 North Edgemoor Street was captured in March 2022.

The house was built in 1947 and is 813 square feet in size. It was last sold for an undisclosed price in 2015.