Bind, Torture, Kill Read Free Page B

afternoon Beacon covered every development. Readers learned that Josie and Joey were model students; that Joe and Julie Otero had taken out a $16,850 mortgage on their “junior ranch” home, that the killings indicated “some kind of fetish.” The coverage included a forensics photo of a knotted cord that the killer had used, front-page diagrams by newspaper cartoonist Jerry Bittle showing where in the home the bodies were found, and a sketch of Josie hanging from the pipe.
    None of this made a lasting impression on Kenny Landwehr, the west-side kid. The Otero murders occurred on the east side. Wichita in 1974 was a socially divided city, the boundary clearly drawn by the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers that converge downtown. These were broad stereotypes, but the west side was more blue-collar, the east side more elite. Landwehr’s parents, Lee and Irene, read about the killings with dismay, but their son paid scant attention, even though he’d daydreamed about joining the FBI.
    The inspiration for this was Irene’s brother, Ernie Halsig, an FBI agent. “If you apply to the FBI, they’ll want you to have some accounting,” Uncle Ernie said. So Landwehr, majoring in history at Wichita State University, added accounting to his schedule.
    To make a little money, he worked as a salesman at Beuttel’s Clothing Company in Wichita’s industrial north end.
    He did not feel strongly about the FBI. He had other preoccupations: girls, golf, beer�sometimes a lot of beer. He played pool and foosball at a west-side lounge called the Old English Pub.
    He didn’t dwell on the Otero murders; the Pub seemed dangerous enough. There was this guy who hung out there…Bell…James Eddy Bell. He was an asshole, a big and ugly bully. In the Pub, Landwehr gave Bell plenty of space and spoke politely around him.
    That was hard. Landwehr had a smart mouth.

3
January–April 1974
    Fear and Possibilities
    The Oteros were buried in Puerto Rico. The surviving children left Wichita for good; they found a home with a family in Albuquerque.
    Charlie Otero’s future would include depression, anger, a rift with his siblings, and prison time for domestic assault. He would forsake God, as he believed God had forsaken his family. He had no answers for the questions that troubled him:
    Why had someone attacked his family?
    How did he get past the dog? How could he talk a boxer like Dad into putting his fists behind his back?
    There must have been more than one killer, Charlie thought.
    Charlie wanted to kill them all.
     
    Police started with four possibilities:
1. Was the killer somebody within the family? They quickly ruled out that idea.
2. Was there a drug connection? In the air force, Joseph Otero had served in Latin America. After his discharge, Joe took a job that gave him access to private airplanes. This intrigued detectives. Maybe a big overseas drug deal had gone sour, and Joe lost his life and family in a revenge killing.
Cornwell and Hannon flew to Panama and Puerto Rico to chase this idea. Bruce was dubious�the cops had not found so much as a single aspirin in the house, let alone illegal drugs.
3. Was someone out to get Julie? She had worked at Coleman. Did she have a jealous boyfriend there? Her former supervisor had been shot and wounded just days before she died. Was there a connection?
4. Was the killer a thief who killed to cover his tracks? Detectives looked at known burglars, though the only things missing were Joe’s watch, Joey’s radio, and a set of keys.
Four ideas, four wild goose chases.
    Dennis Rader had spent two hours with the Oteros, then he had slid into their Vista Cruiser and driven to the Dillons grocery store. He just made it�the Oteros had run the tank nearly dry. On the way, he kept the hood of his parka up to hide his face. Before he got out, he adjusted the seat forward to disguise his height. He walked to his own car, a white 1962 Impala coupe. There he took an inventory of everything he had