On the night of December 8, 1977, Nancy Fox, a 25-year-old woman living in Wichita, Kansas, fell victim to serial killer Dennis Rader, infamously known as BTK—short for Bind, Torture, Kill. Rader, who was later revealed to be responsible for a string of brutal murders spanning decades, had selected Nancy as his next target through careful surveillance and meticulous planning.
That evening, Rader broke into Nancy’s home while she was away. He waited for her to return, and once inside, he confronted her. Demonstrating the same cold, calculated methods seen in his other crimes, Rader subdued Nancy, bound her hands and feet, and methodically tightened his control over the scene. He then strangled her to death, leaving behind a signature that would later help investigators connect her murder to the broader BTK case.
Nancy Fox’s killing became one of the most pivotal cases in Wichita’s criminal history. In 1978, Rader himself taunted police and the press by sending a detailed, disturbing letter describing her murder—an act that cemented his identity as BTK in the public consciousness. Decades later, in 2005, DNA evidence and Rader’s own confessions confirmed his guilt, bringing closure to one of Kansas’s most haunting unsolved murder cases.
