The cops cared about her and did whatever they could to keep her safe.

We took that extremely seriously, not just for them, because they were good people.

It was obvious that they were nice, kind people.

But it would have just been extremely disheartening as a police department to have had some forewarning of this and not be able to protect her.

That would have been a failure of gigantic proportions.

I can't even imagine what that would feel like.

So there was a lot of diligence and a lot of effort put into protecting them.

Next time on The Poet.

Here's Detective Arlen Smith.

Ruth was a very nice woman.

Of course, she was old enough to be my mother and my partner's mother.

The cops cared about her and did whatever they could to keep her safe.

We took that extremely seriously.

It, not just for them, because they were good people.

It was obvious that they were nice, kind people.

But it would have just been extremely disheartening as a police department to have had some forewarning of this and not be able to protect her.

This is Arlen Smith, a detective who investigated Ruth's case.

There was a couple of ladies that were volunteers that would come down and do the best they could, and then some of them were, were not bad, but we didn't employ a police artist.

That just wasn't anywhere close to the budget.

Smith & Wesson company made a thing called the Identi-Kit, which was just a, an overlay, a series of overlays.

You know, you had, like, 500 noses and 500 sets of lips and 500 ears and hairstyles, and you would overlay these things and ask your victim, you know, "What do I need to change here or there?" But it wasn't really stellar.

But somewhere in there, somebody came up with a composite of the poet.

His hair is graying at the temples, and he wears gold or black-rimmed glasses.

To me, he looked old and wrinkled, which was easier to say when I was 27.

This is Arlen Smith, a detective who investigated Ruth's case.

There was a couple of ladies that were volunteers that would come down and do the best they could, and then some of them were, were not bad, but we didn't employ a police artist.

That just wasn't anywhere close to the budget.

Smith & Wesson company made a thing called the Identi-Kit, which was just a, an overlay, a series of overlays.

You know, you had, like, 500 noses and 500 sets of lips and 500 ears and hairstyles, and you would overlay these things and ask your victim, you know, "What do I need to change here and there?" But it wasn't really stellar.

But somewhere in there, somebody came up with a composite of the poet.

His hair is graying at the temples, and he wears gold or black-rimmed glasses.

To me, he looked old and wrinkled, which was easier to say when I was 27.

Detective Arlen Smith of the Wichita Police recalls how things changed for the couple.

She lived in fear that she would be kidnapped again.

She tried to watch for people following her when she went to and from work.

She and her husband changed their habits about where they ate and when they went out, when they came home.

And they'd come home and they'd check the house carefully.

Then the killer sent a chilling letter to a local TV station that read in part, "How many do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention?"

He apparently was pretty irritated by the lack of news coverage.

Former Wichita police detective Arlen Smith says the city was in a panic.

We worked it with a sense of urgency, because nobody knew how long it was gonna be before he killed somebody else.