Digg

Digg Townhall Tonight!
Tune into the live Digg townhall tonight at 5:00pm PST/8:00pm EST.

From Honor Student to Paranoid Outlaw

rd.com — After four members of his family were brutally murdered, Charlie Otero went from honor student to paranoid outlaw. It took 31 years to catch the killer -- and for Charlie to heal himself.

Bury

Burento 111 days ago, made popular 110 days ago

789 diggs
digg it

59 Comments
Who Dugg It?

dantidote, on 07/30/2008, -2/+72The world is a ***** up place.
- BCCStu, on 07/31/2008, -1/+4Yep.
- TsuruchiBrian, on 07/31/2008, -1/+6God works in mysterious ways....
  No actually you're right... it's just ***** up.
- JEWestbrookJR, on 07/31/2008, -0/+3What else is there to do in Wichita, KS?
  I live there... let me tell ya, NOTHING!
  
  Charlie is well known for his trouble after the BTK stuff. It would pretty much ruin your life.
- Stevethegreat, on 08/01/2008, -0/+1No it's not, at least in the rest 99% situation in the advanced world. Your life along with most people's life is so terribly mundane that they would not make front pages or bestsellers, that's why you keep hearing of those leaving in the edge of society
jer2eydevil88, on 07/30/2008, -1/+36This is a very deep, moving and touching article about one mans struggle to deal with horrific personal tragedy and its worth reading all the way through. That said I always have trouble understanding what goes on inside the head of a serial killer, if they want to feel so damn superior they should just play GTA4 and hurt virtual people.
- IphtashuFitz, on 07/31/2008, -0/+6Unfortunately serial killers don't get any thrill out of hurting virtual people, only real ones.
vroom101, on 07/31/2008, -2/+36This story has all the human emotions -- good and bad, positive and negative -- it's gripping. . .it draws you in. Riveting. Absolutely riveting.

Digger @dantidote is right: The world is deeply messed up. I'll add this: Let's try to make this place little better -- and if we fail at least we will be able to say with a clear conscience, We Tried.
dylanmcdonald, on 07/31/2008, -1/+15Wow! What a story. This family was torn apart , by what really caught me by surprise - a Cub Scout leader/devoted church goer, then stitched back together. I wish him and his family the best for their lives ahead.
Rocketbird, on 07/31/2008, -1/+24This is one of the best stories I've ever seen on Digg.
marjo9, on 07/31/2008, -2/+50"Their house was a shack made of shipping containers from a local missile range, encircled by barbed wire and guarded by attack dogs."

***** awesome.
2oonhed, on 07/31/2008, -2/+6Fantastic ending to a horrific story.
One thing goes unexplained, how did a Cub Scout leader/president of the congregation at church single handedly get the drop on 2 judo experts, even with a gun?
- kingmanic, on 07/31/2008, -1/+9Ambush + firearms > ninja skills + bad assness.
  
  The thing about guns is that they kill very quickly. If someone chooses to shoot first there isn't much you can do to stop it. Near the city I live in a drug grow op had one guy ambush and kill 4 mounties before he was "found dead by other mounties". No matter how much training you have it's not probable that you can dodge bullets.
  
  It's one of the reasons having a fully armed populace does nothing to stop retards like the virginia tech loser. He'd just get the drop on his armed fellow students and the fact everyone is armed will complicate things for the police. They have to sort out the civilians defending them selves from the whackjob shooting. False identification is also going to lead to deaths.
  - IPublius, on 07/31/2008, -0/+4You were doing great until the Virginia Tech thing. If you will do some actual research, there are multiple cases where armed students and/or faculty were able to stop shooters before their rampage had started or gotten very far. Including one at VT if memory serves before they banned guns on campus.
  - staplez, on 07/31/2008, -1/+1Well, that maybe true if he got the drop on 3 or 4 people. But if you have a classroom armed of 30 people, there's no way he could kill nearly as many as he did. He might get 5 before someone drops him. 5 is still a lot less than the 30 or so he killed.
  - kingmanic, on 07/31/2008, -0/+2Ipublius-staples: Maybe maybe not. Hard to say. He would have killed a few. and widespread guns would have made the cops job a bit harder. Remember they gave wrong descriptions of the shooter through the news. The whackjob may have only got 5 students but 5 other maybe have been shot by mistake. Or maybe he would have just kept ambushing people and we'd have extra casualties from false information. I'm not sure how well armed you'd expect students to be. If you lucky there might be one or two with a concealed weapon mixed into each class. It's all highly hypothetical, I don't think it would have helped much. It might have reduced the death toll but we'll never know for sure.
  - amy31415, on 08/01/2008, -0/+2Yeah, you were doing great until the VT thing. Didn't you read the news article about the armed woman at a church who prevented a slaughter? http://michellemalkin.com/2007/12/09/sunday-horror ...
    
    That chick is bad-ass and many people are alive thanks to her.
    
    If dad/mom or the kids were armed and trained, they would have stood a better chance against him, they may have even been able to kill him before he killed again.
    
    2nd Amendment FTMFW!
welliwonder, on 07/31/2008, -14/+9There is no god in any sense that we know it as.
- gn0stik, on 07/31/2008, -1/+8Why does everything have to be turned into this debate. This was a great story that should have just been read for what it was. A story of triumph over unspeakable adversity, and trauma.
  
  Some people will use anything to further their agendas. That goes for the guy below me as well.
  
  By the way, the guy found his way back to his faith in prison. So this condescension is more directed at him and how he found at least some of his strength to over come than it is a generic statement, in context.
  
  Pathetic.
  - welliwonder, on 07/31/2008, -1/+1Naw, just ***** with you so you write a page long rant on Digg. ;-)
patrickchee, on 07/31/2008, -16/+20"...and president of the congregation at Christ Lutheran Church"

-Why am I not surprised?!
- mahdaeng, on 07/31/2008, -5/+6Yeah, I've never heard of a non-religious person committing a crime.
  - brianboyko, on 07/31/2008, -4/+2Actually... I've heard of atheists committing crime, but I'm not sure there's ever been an atheist serial killer. I could be wrong, of course, but I mean, I have literally never heard of a non-religious serial killer.
  - 15thPD, on 07/31/2008, -0/+5The overwhelming majority of people living on this planet are religious, and serial killers are very few and far between, so it only stands to reason that most if not all recorded serial killers were religious in some way. It's just probability.
- mojoel, on 07/31/2008, -1/+5You're not surprised? Why not? Is the Christ Lutheran Church full of serial killers?
BCCStu, on 07/31/2008, -1/+1Yikes.
chrissku, on 07/31/2008, -0/+11Wow. It's nice to see Charlie receive some closure. Even if it was only a tiny bit. Life can be so cruel.
- mahdaeng, on 07/31/2008, -1/+3There is no such thing as closure, just endurance.
HunterKiller, on 07/31/2008, -0/+10I feel really bad for him; he can't seem to get a break. It's stories like these that make me re-evaluate my own life and really appreciate how fortunate I am.
IphtashuFitz, on 07/31/2008, -0/+7Wow, what a story. I must say I'm really glad that he stood up to BTK in court the way he did. I feel really bad for what he's gone through but I'm really glad that he was able to work through it the way he did. So many people faced with similar situations would likely self destruct.
andy4sax, on 07/31/2008, -4/+3I was really excited to read this, thinking it would turn into a adrenaline fueled, vengeance filled action novel. I was sadly disappointed, but it was a good read nonetheless.
- passedoutghost, on 08/01/2008, -1/+0Douchebag....
SriLankan1, on 07/31/2008, -0/+11Great Story, i am really surprised i never heard it before even though i had seen documentaries on the BTK killer before. Thanks for the submission.
PeckerSlap, on 07/31/2008, -0/+10glad btk was finally caught
mofw, on 07/31/2008, -1/+2Good article.
writer512, on 07/31/2008, -1/+2Gripping.
kingUssop, on 07/31/2008, -0/+7Man, I've read the BTK story but they usually leave out what happens to surviving victims. Poor kid, where was some counseling when he needed it? And screw that lump of ***** killer.
joauri, on 07/31/2008, -0/+10I live in Wichita and I cannot tell you how scary this whole thing was. It was a freaking nightmare! My ex mother-in-law lived 3 blocks away from him in Park City (tiny suburb). It was creepy knowing he was so close and probably drove by her house while I was outside with my kids.
- IphtashuFitz, on 07/31/2008, -0/+2I think that right there was the scariest thing about the whole BTK thing. It turns out he was a typical family man who could have been living next to anybody. I never in a million years would have thought any of my neighbors could be serial killers, but after they figured out who BTK was it makes you realize that your happily married next door neighbor COULD be a serial killer, serial rapist, etc.
DuffyDirect, on 07/31/2008, -10/+2how is being an honor student an accomplishment? i remember getting on the honor roll regularly in hs without knowing how to diagram a sentence or translate a lick of spanish.
jvasi, on 07/31/2008, -1/+3a leader of the cub scouts and his church as well as a father of two. it's always the person you'd least expect.
- bffoley, on 07/31/2008, -0/+2Nah, it's becoming that the person you'd least expect is the person you'd most expect.
rinote, on 07/31/2008, -2/+2He is a much better person than I'd ever be... if someone did that to my family I'd hunt them down like the dogs.
PathmarkPolice, on 07/31/2008, -10/+1This ***** is gay, what feel good BS.
- nycmac247, on 07/31/2008, -0/+2watch what you wish for - keep saying your so "tough" and one day you might have to prove it, although I hope not
- PathmarkPolice, on 08/01/2008, -0/+1Never said I was tough, just said this ***** was gay.
davpge, on 07/31/2008, -1/+1that sucks...at least he is trying to make things right again.
Tugging, on 07/31/2008, -3/+3The loss of so many lives in this instance is so sad. When we live lives without trusting in our Creator and obeying what He has left us in His Word we make our lives and the lives of so many others so sad. We must walk closely with Him, trust what He has said and be obedient. So, so sad, What a waste. This is not the end.
rowlodge, on 07/31/2008, -2/+1whats a serial killer?, i mean, is a mafia hit man any different? they both kill as many people,(this is kinda morbid)
- joauri, on 07/31/2008, -0/+1Does a hit man sexually abuse a young girl before and after he hangs her from a pipe in her own basement?
  
  These were innocent people and children. If you're in with the mob (and I know not all hits are such), isn't it a little bit different?
  
  Yeah, its different.
drexl, on 07/31/2008, -0/+1....excuse me....I have something in my eye.
rowlodge, on 08/01/2008, -0/+1are you joking? well , thats like saying one is better than the other, but dont answer that.
Login or register to add a comment

Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.

From Honor Student to Paranoid Outlaw

Login or register to add a comment