Yearly Archives: «2006»

• May 31, 2006
• The Wichita Eagle
• -
• by Hurst Laviana

Wichita police complied with a court order Tuesday and destroyed more than 1,300 DNA swabs that were taken as part of the BTK investigation. Manila envelopes containing swabs were tossed several hundred at a time into a portable incinerator at the Police Department’s firing range.

After 10 minutes in a propane-fueled incinerator that is usually used to destroy ammunition, all that was left was a light gray powder the consistency of cigarette ashes. The destruction of the evidence marked the end of a sometimes-controversial process in which police asked for DNA samples from hundreds of people whom callers to BTK tip lines named as suspects.

Although some considered the process an invasion of privacy, Deputy Chief Robert Lee said their concerns should be eased knowing the samples had been destroyed.

In a typical criminal case, a DNA sample can be used to prepare a profile that can then be stored on a computer. But Lee and other police officials said no such profiles were used in the BTK testing. They said all DNA evidence in the case had now been purged from investigative files.

With the BTK case solved and Dennis Rader serving a life sentence for 10 murders, District Judge Greg Waller ordered the swabs destroyed on Oct. 12. Police and prosecutors blamed the delay in carrying out the order on an innocent oversight by investigators and the time required to complete paperwork. Not everyone was satisfied by that explanation.

Wichita psychologist Bernie Mermis, a former Wichita State University professor, said he was probably swabbed because of BTK’s known ties to the university. He said he didn’t give it much thought when detectives showed up at his door and asked for a DNA sample.

“I certainly wouldn’t do it again, not without some clear guidelines about what would happen to the sample,” he said. Mermis said he now realizes that scientists can use a DNA sample to glean information about a person’s relatives or health. “I think are some very significant problems with these DNA sweeps,” he said.

Wichita lawyer Dan Monnat, whose firm represents a man who was forced by a court order to give a DNA sample in the BTK investigation, said he was leery of the process. “I think any time law enforcement officers show up at your doorstep and forcibly or unforcibly obtain bodily fluids from you, there’s some invasion of privacy,” he said.

All content © 2006 THE WICHITA EAGLE and may not be republished without permission.

The Wichita Eagle – By Hurst Laviana

• Apr 25, 2006
• The Wichita Eagle
• -
• by Tim Potter

Six months after a judge ordered the destruction of more than 1,300 DNA samples taken to eliminate possible suspects in the BTK serial murder investigation, none have been destroyed, police say. That situation will change soon, they say. Deputy Police Chief Robert Lee told The Eagle on Monday that the department expects to have all the samples destroyed — in a careful, deliberate process — by mid-June.

The task has not been completed partly because a key police official – Lt. Ken Landwehr – didn’t receive the paperwork on the court order until March, Landwehr said. “It’s probably as much my fault as anybody because I didn’t ask for it,” Landwehr said. He said he promptly took the order to the police property and evidence staff once he received it.

Still, the disposal process is more time-consuming than people probably realize, said Landwehr, the homicide unit supervisor who has been widely praised for his work in the BTK investigation. Only two people in the property and evidence unit have clearance to handle and dispose of such evidence, Landwehr said. And they also have to handle evidence streaming in from ongoing cases.

“It’s not like I can take 20 people over there and do it one day,” said Landwehr.

He headed the investigation that led to the arrest of Dennis Rader last year for 10 murders committed by BTK since 1974. Rader pleaded guilty last summer. During the investigation leading to Rader’s capture, Bernie Mermis voluntarily gave a DNA sample to police. He figured he was on a list of potential suspects because he taught at Wichita State University in the 1970s. Authorities concluded that BTK had ties to the campus.

Beginning in December, Mermis said, he began writing officials to find out if his DNA was being destroyed as ordered. Although Mermis appreciates the work of police to catch Rader, he said he would be reluctant to give his DNA again, partly because of privacy concerns and partly because of the time it’s taken to dispose of the samples.

“Nobody followed through on what (District Attorney) Nola Foulston promised and what the judge had ordered” regarding DNA disposal, said Mermis, a Wichita psychologist.

Before investigators arrested Rader near his Park City home, they received thousands of tips about possible suspects, and they used DNA samples to eliminate the innocent. Each sample, taken by a swab of the inside of each person’s cheek, went into a package that has been stored in a secure location, police said.

On Oct. 12, with the case solved and Rader starting to spend the rest of his life in prison, District Judge Greg Waller, who presided over the BTK court proceedings, ordered the destruction of the DNA samples.

Kevin O’Connor, a deputy district attorney, said prosecutors asked that the DNA samples be disposed of to protect the privacy of those who gave samples. Both O’Connor and Lee, the deputy chief, said Monday that they want to again thank those people who aided the investigation by giving samples. “Unfortunately,” O’Connor said, “it’s taking more time than we expected it would” to dispose of the samples.

Each person’s DNA has been kept in a separate sealed package. The two property and evidence personnel have to locate each package, verify the name and check it off. “We want to make sure it is indeed the correct one,” Lee said. Because the samples are considered biohazards, Landwehr said, they likely will be incinerated. “Disposing of those swabs is a priority to us,” Lee said. “We are glad to get rid of these 1,300-plus swabs.”All but a handful of those people whose DNA was taken gave samples willingly, police and prosecutors have said.

Among the few people whose samples were taken against their will was Roger Valadez, a Wichita man who said police wrongly targeted him as a suspect. BTK task force investigators and KBI agents came to his home one night in December of 2004 and seized items. His DNA was taken, and he was arrested on unrelated, minor charges and then released.

Asked about the time it has taken to destroy the samples, Valadez’s lawyer, Dan Monnat, said: “That’s one of the problems with sensitive, personal information in the hands of the government. “There may be a court order to destroy it, but you discover a long time hence that the personal information is still in the hands of the government, undestroyed and with the government still having the opportunity to put it to use.”

Waller, the judge, said people have a right to ask about the disposition of their DNA samples. But Waller said he wasn’t troubled by the time it has taken to follow his order. “I don’t really see it as a problem,” he said, “because court orders don’t necessarily happen right now.”

All content © 2006 THE WICHITA EAGLE and may not be republished without permission.

The Wichita Eagle – By Tim Potter