WICHITA, Kan., May 31 (UPI) -- More than 1,300 DNA samples of people suspected of being the BTK serial killer have been destroyed by Wichita, Kan., police.
The DNA swabs were taken during the decade's long investigation into the serial killer, when hundreds of men merely suspected of being the killer were forced to give up a sample.
But after Dennis Rader's 2005 arrest and subsequent conviction and life sentence for 10 murders, a judge ordered all the DNA evidence destroyed, The Wichita Eagle reports.
The delay was blamed on paperwork and simple mistakes.
Police say none of the DNA was ever used for any other purposes besides identifying the BTK killer and that Tuesday's incineration should quell all privacy fears.
BTK stood for "bind, torture and kill," a phrase Rader used to describe himself.
