Neighbor of BTK Suspect Weighs In

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," February 25, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Under arrest: Police may have finally caught the notorious serial killer who has terrorized the nation for 30 years…

Now let's go to Gary Vandusen. Gary lives next door to the person police have arrested in the BTK case. Welcome, Gary.

GARY VANDUSEN, NEIGHBOR OF MAN ARRESTED: Hi. How're you doing?

VAN SUSTEREN: Gary, have you ever talk to the man who has been arrested? Do you know him?

VANDUSEN: Yes, I've talked to him many, many times. He's a very friendly person. I've been there are about a year or so. I struck up a conversation with him. He's a real nice guy.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. You live near him, right?

VANDUSEN: Yes. I live right across the street.

VAN SUSTEREN: What kind of conversations did you have with his this man?

VANDUSEN: Oh, everything, about the weather, about his job, about the dogs that he chased after. We even talked one time about the crime in Wichita and I said, It's really getting crazy out there. He said, yes, it's really bad out there. And that kind of really struck me bad after I found out what they thought he had done.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did he say anything in particular about the crimes, when you discussed the crimes with him?

VANDUSEN: No. Actually, I've never really discussed the BTK case with him. We discussed a lot about crime in Wichita, the way it's going up. I moved out of Wichita to go to Park City, to a smaller town, to get away from the crime. And that didn't quite work out the way we planned it to.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. What's his family life like? Is he married?

VANDUSEN: Yes, he's married. His wife is a very pleasant lady. I've had a chance to meet her on a couple of occasions. Real nice lady, very talkative, very congenial, real nice family. They always put up Christmas lights at Christmas, out working in the yard. Real nice family people.

VAN SUSTEREN: And how about children?

VANDUSEN: They do have children. I'm not sure of their ages. You know, they do come over once in a while. I haven't seen them very often. They do have I think it's two children. I'm not sure how many children they have.

VAN SUSTEREN: What does he do for a living? Did he ever tell you what he did for a living?

VANDUSEN: He's a compliance officer for the city of Park City.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you have any idea what that means? I mean, what did he actually do?

VANDUSEN: Oh, he did things like ran around on reports for dogs running loose. He filled out paperwork. He just kept up on all the stuff of Park City, maintenance and everything of the yards, and just more or less I think was more like under a police officer, did a lot of paperwork, too.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know if he was active in the community, in any community organizations?

VANDUSEN: I do not know.

VAN SUSTEREN: What are the neighbors saying tonight?

VANDUSEN: Well, surprisingly, not very many are surprised. I mean, I was really shocked. It's unbelievable to me because you know, could have suspected this in a million years from this guy. But most of the neighbors I talked to, it seemed like that they didn't really get along with him very well. They didn't like the guy. And I just had the complete opposite. I had really struck up a conversation, like I said, and he really was a nice guy to me. I was just really shocked.

VAN SUSTEREN: What didn't the neighbors like about him?

VANDUSEN: They said that he was always griping about them about their dogs, mowing their yard. You know, he'd always have something to complain about. But like I said, once again, he was just a real nice guy.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. So today he was taken into custody. Were you at home when he was taken into custody?

VANDUSEN: No. I tried to get home about 1:30 and was blocked off by an undercover officer, wouldn't let me into my house. He said he would escort me into the house to get a few things, but I had to get back out of the house. And I wasn't there when he was removed from the house.

VAN SUSTEREN: What did you see at 1:00 o'clock? I mean, take me through it. You arrived home in your neighborhood, and what were the next steps? What did you see?

VANDUSEN: Well, first of all, of course, it was just lined with media. There was actually no police there when I first got there. There was a couple of big trucks, great, big Wichita Police Department trucks. There was a lot of, you know, media there. There was no police officer when I first arrived, but there was more undercover cops because they told me that — you know — it was undercover cops and they would lead me to my house. And that's all they'd really tell us. They wouldn't let us know what was going on at all. No idea what was going on.

VAN SUSTEREN: In the time that you've known him, lived across the street, did he ever cause a problem in the neighborhood?

VANDUSEN: Never. Never that I know of at all. My wife was left at home many evenings by herself. And you know, who knew? I mean, honestly, who knew? I just never would have guessed.

VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of what the neighbors are saying tonight, did anyone say anything specific about him that has struck you?

VANDUSEN: No. They just all said about the same thing, you know, that he didn't get along with them, that he was cranky and that, you know, they didn't like working with him and they didn't like him working for the city of Park City because, you know, they just didn't like him.

VAN SUSTEREN: I know you've been a neighbor for a year. Do you know how long he's lived in the neighborhood?

VANDUSEN: No, I do not.

VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of, you know, the discussions that you had with him, did he ever, you know, discuss anything that's sort of peculiar, that now stands out in your mind, like, What an odd thing to say?

VANDUSEN: No. Like I said, we did talk about crime quite a bit in Wichita, but you know, he never gave me any indication at all that this could be him. I mean, you know, I guess I just have a hard time believing it until I actually find out it was really him.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did you see the police take anything out of his house?

VANDUSEN: I couldn't tell what it was, but I did see a lot of activity and removing things from his house. Yes, I did.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know whether his wife stayed in the house or whether she left, whether she went wherever he was taken?

VANDUSEN: Well, I understood — and this was from the neighbors there, but I understood that as the police showed up, they did remove him from the house and she was removed at a later time.

VAN SUSTEREN: How old is he, about?

VANDUSEN: About 60, I'd say.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Gary, thank you very much. I appreciate you joining us this evening.

VANDUSEN: Thank you very much for your time.

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