Synopsis
Synopsis
Charlie Otero was as happy as any 15-year-old boy growing up – until he came home from school on the cold winter day of January 15, 1974. He entered the saltbox house on the corner of Murdock and Edgemoor streets and found his mother, his father and his two youngest siblings murdered in their Wichita, Kansas home. Charlie’s life would never be the same again and 30 years would pass before the truth about the killings would be revealed – in the cryptic form of three initials: BTK.
Orphaned, along with his surviving brother and sister and forever plagued by the mysteries surrounding his family’s slayings, Charlie relocated to New Mexico and tried to begin a new life. The three Otero children lived with family friends but Charlie found trouble wherever he went and whenever possible. Unable to cope with the loss of his family and prone to violence, he managed to finish high school but eventually became a drifter. Day and night, he roamed the outskirts and badlands of New Mexico on his motorcycle and lived the life of an outlaw biker. He drank and drugged and stole chickens for food. He worked as a motorcycle mechanic and fathered an illegitimate son with a woman he barely knew. As the years passed, Charlie remained a lone wolf and armed himself with sawed-off shotguns, pit bulls and a hair-trigger temper. Eventually, he landed in prison.
While incarcerated, Charlie learned the man responsible for his family’s demise was the serial killer, BTK, whose modus operandi had been to Bind, Torture and Kill his victims. For three decades, BTK had remained an elusive killer, however he always had a penchant for communicating with the press and taunting the police. Between 1974 and 1979, the killer sent several letters and poems – all alluding to and claiming responsibility for the Otero murders and other killings in Wichita, Kansas. Then, almost as soon as he appeared, he vanished. Some thought him dead, yet others believed he was institutionalized – and many never thought he existed at all. But in the year 2004, twenty-five years after his last message, BTK returned for an encore.
This history springs to life in the true-crime horror documentary, I Survived BTK. The film, shot in verité-style, chronicles the beginning of the end of the 30-year-old BTK Strangler mystery, as it is told through the eyes of Charlie Otero – the oldest, surviving son of BTK’s first victims. It is one man’s personal journey through the most unique serial killer case in U.S. history and a survivor’s search for truth and redemption amid a killer’s day in the sun. The story unravels in real-time, highlighting the events surrounding the resurfacing, arrest and sentencing of the BTK Strangler – the man who became one of the highest-profile serial killers of our time.
I Survived BTK is the story you haven’t heard. Over half a decade in the making, the film unfolds as a timeless tribute dedicated to those whose voices are often silenced by the heinous acts of others and serves as a reminder that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Cast
Carmen Otero … Herself
Charlie Otero … Himself
Danny Otero … Himself
Dennis Rader … Himself aka BTK Serial Killer
Steve Relford … Himself
Joseph Otero Shafer … Himself
Contact Info
- https://isurvivedbtk.com
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Survived-BTK/103812214226
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963292/
