"Cat and Mouse Games": Osage County Sheriff Names BTK a Suspect in the Cynthia Kinney Case, KSN, 2023

Name: "Cat and Mouse Games": Osage County Sheriff Names BTK a Suspect in the Cynthia Kinney Case, KSN, 2023
Uploaded: 2023-08-23T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 43 s
Description: A KSN News segment from August 23, 2023, after a search at the site of Dennis Rader's former Park City home, with Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden on interviewing Rader, a suspect only in the Cynthia Kinney case. Rader is not heard.

A KSN News segment from August 23, 2023, after a search at the site of Dennis Rader's former Park City home, with Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden on interviewing Rader, a suspect only in the Cynthia Kinney case. Rader is not heard.

Subject: Dennis Lynn Rader
Recorded: August 23, 2023
Runtime: 1:43

Content warning: Concerns the unsolved disappearance of a 16-year-old girl and items found in a search; no graphic detail.

The Report

This is a 1-minute-43-second segment from KSN News in Wichita, from the evening of August 23, 2023, posted by the station on its own channel the same day. The anchors report that the Osage County, Oklahoma, sheriff had named Dennis Rader a prime suspect in the 1976 disappearance of Cynthia Dawn Kinney, after searches at the site of Rader's former home. Sheriff Eddie Virden is heard for about 30 seconds on interviewing Rader. Rader himself is not heard. He is a suspect only in the Kinney case and has not been charged.

Historical Context

Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, was arrested on February 25, 2005, pleaded guilty to ten murders in Kansas on June 27, 2005, and was sentenced on August 18, 2005, to ten consecutive life terms. Cynthia Dawn Kinney, 16, of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, disappeared on June 23, 1976, after leaving a laundromat. The Osage County Sheriff's Office reopened the case in December 2022.

Circumstances

On Tuesday, August 22, 2023, Osage County deputies, with Park City police and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, searched the site of Rader's former Park City home and storage shed and recovered what they called items of interest; an earlier search in April 2023 had also found items. The sheriff's office then named Rader a prime suspect in the Kinney case.

What the Report Covers

The anchors say the two searches uncovered items including old pantyhose and items buried with shingles, at the place where Rader had a storage shed in which Wichita police found evidence in 2005, and that the sheriff had interviewed Rader several times. Virden says Rader "has spoke with us," calls him "pretty notorious for playing cat-and-mouse games," and says that after the first interview Rader contacted the media, which he calls "probably not unexpected." The anchors report that, according to the sheriff, Rader denies involvement in the Kinney case. They close with a summary of a social media post by Rader's daughter, Kerri Rawson, who said a federal prosecutor's office had offered her father immunity that spring to confess to any other violent crimes, and that she would keep helping the authorities.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The segment is early local coverage of the 2023 effort to link Rader to further cases, with the investigating sheriff on camera describing his dealings with Rader.

Important Caveats

Dennis Rader is not heard in this video. **He is a suspect only in the Cynthia Kinney case; he has not been charged, and he denies involvement.** The page must not present him as responsible for Kinney's disappearance or treat the items found as proof of a link. The immunity offer is reported only as Kerri Rawson's statement on social media; it was not independently verified.

Jeff Herndon: Good evening. Thank you for joining us. I'm Jeff Herndon.

Julia Thatcher: And I'm Julia Thatcher.

Anchor: BTK back in the spotlight tonight after investigators find items of interest connected to unsolved murders on the property where he used to live. The search happened Tuesday. The Osage County sheriff says Rader is a prime suspect in the Cynthia Dawn Kinney case. She was reported missing from Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in 1976. The sheriff's office says two searches, in April and yesterday, uncovered items, including old pantyhose and items that had been buried with shingles, saying it's the same location where Rader had a storage shed where Wichita police found evidence back in 2005. The sheriff also says leading up to the search, he's interviewed Dennis Rader several times.

Eddie Virden: Dennis, I, I, he, he has spoke with us. You know, he's pretty notorious for playing cat-and-mouse games. Um, uh, you know, he, uh, the first interview, within a short time after I left, he contacted media and advise them. So, you know, it's, it's probably not unexpected, but it's, uh, you know, it's just part of going through these type cases.

Anchor: The sheriff told KSN Rader denies being involved with the Kinney case. Rader's daughter, Kerri Rawson, [unclear: "is reacting" / "reacting"] on social media to Tuesday's search. She said this past spring a federal district attorney's officer offered her father federal immunity, giving him a chance to confess to any other violent crimes he may have committed. She said she'll continue to provide assistance to authorities as investigations continue. [01:42: speech ends; clip runs to 01:43.] ---