SpinnerBait_Nut
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Updated: 11:29 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2005WICHITA, Kan. - <br />Police have arrested a suspect they believe is BTK, the notorious serial killer who terrorized Wichita throughout the 1970s and then resurfaced about a year ago after 25 years of silence. <br /><br />"The bottom line: BTK is arrested," Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said. <br /><br />The BTK killer a self-coined nickname that stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" has been linked to eight killings committed between 1974 and 1986. <br /><br />The killer sent letters to media about the crimes, but stopped in the late 1970s before re-establishing contact last March with a letter about an unsolved 1986 killing. <br /><br />Since then, authorities said the killer has sent at least eight letters to the media or police, including three packages containing jewelry that police believed may have been taken from BTK's victims. One letter contained the driver's license of victim Nancy Fox. <br /><br />The new letters sent chills through Wichita, but also rekindled hope that modern forensic science could find some clue that would finally lead police to a killer most thought was dead or safely locked in prison for some other crime. <br /><br />Thousands of tips poured in, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation conducted hundreds of DNA swabs in connection with the BTK investigation. <br /><br />Earlier Saturday, authorities had said they were questioning a person of interest. Surveillance gave police their first big piece of evidence, leading authorities to a vehicle and the person of interest, said a source who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity earlier on Saturday.<br /><br />On Friday, investigators searched a house in a Wichita suburb Friday, seizing computer equipment. Police, prosecutors and the FBI all declined to comment about the activity or any possible connection to the BTK case.