proud wichitan
wichita, kansas. home of river festival, cowtown, and titled the "air capital of the world." we have the 18th largest zoo in the nation, moshe safdie's exploration place, and the wushock [weirdest mascot i have ever seen]. but from now wichita will also carry the title, "home of btk." there is nothing that has brought the city more national and international attention than the serial killer dennis rader. if you hadn't heard of us before, you definitely have by now. wichita didn't carry the best of name before, and this doesn't help the case.
most people in wichita have some random event or to link them to btk [bind, torture, kill]; i am no different. when i was six, my babysitter, vicky wegerle, was murdered. it is my first memory of death. i remember her being with us one day and then gone the next. i couldn't figure out when she was coming back. i overheard my mom talking to someone about her being strangled by a telephone chord and how hard she must have fought. her husband was first suspected which created quite a stirring in our little church. it wasn't until years later her homicide was connected to the already long string of btk "projects" he had created for himself.
in the same lutheran congregation, we found our wichita grandparents...well kind of. our own grandparents lived hours away and don and pete, don and pete rader that is, adopted us as their own. i cannot tell you how many afternoons were spent running around their backyard and playing lincoln logs in their living room. the first time the mug shot of the now infamous dennis radar appeared on our tv screen, the family resemblance was unmistakable. don told us later that dennis was his nephew and they had spent many a summers camping with him and his family. he was always such a family man and played with all the kids. he never would have guessed the same man was not only capable of committing such heinous crimes, but already had.
i am really quite tired of it all. i don't watch the news anymore or pick up the paper. i don't want to give him any more attention then he already has. that's all btk has wanted from the beginning; it makes me sick. last week the tv stations played the trial live for three days, sharing the gruesome details. i left the room when my family flipped to it. i have to admit, there is something in us that is curious, something that wants to know how another human being is capable of such things. but there is a much larger part of me that wants absolutely nothing to do with it.
i cannot tell you how many times i have been asked about the wizard of oz when people outside the state or even the country find out i'm from kansas. i have even had questions like, " is toto's breed more dominate there than others? have you ever been hit by a tornado? do you have lots of friends named dorthy?" are you serious? [and i really think some of them were.] i can only wait for the next round of questions that will inevitably be follow me because of the life of this wichitan serial killer. thanks.
most people in wichita have some random event or to link them to btk [bind, torture, kill]; i am no different. when i was six, my babysitter, vicky wegerle, was murdered. it is my first memory of death. i remember her being with us one day and then gone the next. i couldn't figure out when she was coming back. i overheard my mom talking to someone about her being strangled by a telephone chord and how hard she must have fought. her husband was first suspected which created quite a stirring in our little church. it wasn't until years later her homicide was connected to the already long string of btk "projects" he had created for himself.
in the same lutheran congregation, we found our wichita grandparents...well kind of. our own grandparents lived hours away and don and pete, don and pete rader that is, adopted us as their own. i cannot tell you how many afternoons were spent running around their backyard and playing lincoln logs in their living room. the first time the mug shot of the now infamous dennis radar appeared on our tv screen, the family resemblance was unmistakable. don told us later that dennis was his nephew and they had spent many a summers camping with him and his family. he was always such a family man and played with all the kids. he never would have guessed the same man was not only capable of committing such heinous crimes, but already had.
i am really quite tired of it all. i don't watch the news anymore or pick up the paper. i don't want to give him any more attention then he already has. that's all btk has wanted from the beginning; it makes me sick. last week the tv stations played the trial live for three days, sharing the gruesome details. i left the room when my family flipped to it. i have to admit, there is something in us that is curious, something that wants to know how another human being is capable of such things. but there is a much larger part of me that wants absolutely nothing to do with it.
i cannot tell you how many times i have been asked about the wizard of oz when people outside the state or even the country find out i'm from kansas. i have even had questions like, " is toto's breed more dominate there than others? have you ever been hit by a tornado? do you have lots of friends named dorthy?" are you serious? [and i really think some of them were.] i can only wait for the next round of questions that will inevitably be follow me because of the life of this wichitan serial killer. thanks.
posted by jill m at 8:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home