Kriti Mehrotra
January 15, 1974, was when the state of Kansas was left shaken to the core as Julia Otero, Joseph Otero Sr., and their two youngest kids were found heinously killed inside their home. The couple’s three surviving children were the ones who had found them, only to then have to navigate their grief and trauma all on their own without knowing precisely what had transpired or why. In fact, as indicated in Netflix’s ‘My Father, the BTK Killer,’ it wasn’t until the 2000s that they finally got closure upon learning the identity of the perpetrator and seeing him face justice.
Julia and Joseph’s Three Elder Kids Found Their Remains
Puerto Rico natives Julia Burgos Ruiz and Joseph Otero were merely teenagers when they first came across one another, but they soon fell head over heels in love. They tied the knot within a few years, following which they chose to settle down in Camden, New Jersey, to take over a candy store his parents proudly operated at 247 Clinton Street. Therefore, that’s where they welcomed all five of their kids – Charles AKA “Charlie” in 1959, followed by Danny, Camren, Josephine, and finally Joseph Otero II in 1964. However, things changed for the family in the ensuing years, owing to the 1967 Camden riots, which drove them to relocate to Panama and Puerto Rico before settling in Kansas. They made a home for themselves in Wichita in 1973, with Joseph, a former Air Force officer turned mechanic and flight instructor, providing for them every step of the way.
However, their world was shattered in mere months as the parents, 11-year-old Josaphine, and 9-year-old Joey were all brutally killed on January 15, 1974, while Charlie, Danny, and Camren were in school. According to records, when the teenagers returned home, they found their dog uncharacteristically outside in the yard. So, Charlie decided to enter from the back door, while his siblings used the front. The then-15-year-old saw Julia’s purse on the stove with a mess all around, prompting him to panic and ask if anyone was home, only to hear his siblings yell about their parents “playing a bad trick.” Danny and Carmen had found Julia and Joseph’s bloody remains, but they had assumed it was a part of some twisted prank. Yet, Charlie knew better and rushed them to a neighbor’s home.
As per Charlie’s own account to ABC, the trio subsequently called local police, and they were the ones who discovered young Josaphine and Joey’s tied-up, tortured remains in another room. The older siblings had no idea their young ones had also been killed until a chaplain and officers informed them of it hours later, under what they believed to be the safe space of a police station. “I thank God every day for the fact that I didn’t find Joey and Josie, because I don’t know how I would have handled it,” Charlie once stated, indicating it would have broken him in an unimaginable way.
After Years of Struggle, Charlie Otero Found His Calling as a Public Speaker
In the aftermath of their parents’ and young siblings’ deaths, Charlie, Danny, and Carmen found themselves in the care of loved ones, but it wasn’t enough. So, while Danny and Carmen chose to step away from the limelight, Charlie found himself relocating to New Mexico and leading an outlaw life. According to records, he struggled with instability and homelessness for a period while coping with trauma. However, it wasn’t until he found himself in prison from 2001 to 2005 for aggravated battery in a domestic violence case, as per court records, that he realized he had hit rock bottom. So, he cleaned up his act and was actually at home in early 2005 when his sister called him to let him know their family’s killer, the BTK killer, had finally been apprehended.
Therefore, when the killer finally faced his day in court, neither Charlie nor Carmen hesitated to give victim impact statements to make it clear precisely what had been stolen from them. They also revealed that the killer’s admission in detail during his pleading guilty was the first time they learned precisely what had happened to their parents and siblings because they had been protected until then. So, upon getting closure, Charlie moved back to Kansas in 2008 to start a new life with his then-fiancée, Linda Kay Evans, as well as their two beloved dogs, Little and Angel.
That’s also when Charlie found his calling as a motivational speaker for at-risk youths, young, vulnerable minds, and prison inmates, with the hope of inspiring them to lead positive lives. Whether it be schools, churches, prisons, or businesses, the motorcycle enthusiast and Dale Carnegie Public Relations and Speaking graduate travels across the nation to assert that it’s never too late to heal and start anew. Today, at the age of 67, he continues to reside in Valley Center, Kansas, where he proudly serves as a speaker and motorcycle mechanic, while fulfilling his responsibilities as a brother, father, and grandfather. As of writing, we believe he is single, and his surviving siblings prefer to remain out of the limelight.
Read More: Joseph Borrelli: Who Was He? How Did He Die?
