Robert Beattie

Robert Beattie of Hesston, Kansas, USA is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author, attorney, former teacher, and former firefighter. Known as a bestselling true crime author, now retired, he was a 30-year HR professional, 25-year employment law attorney (and 16-year pro bono legal counsel for a nonprofit), who wrote successful true crime books. His March 2005 bestseller Nightmare in Wichita: The Hunt for the BTK Strangler was adapted into the October 2005 CBS/Sony made-for-television movie The Hunt for the BTK Killer. Beattie was portrayed in the movie by Maury Chaykin. Beattie also wrote the true crime book Language of Evil (Signet, 2009). He won third prize in the 1989 IPPNW (International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War) "Cease Fire" writing contest for his one-act stage play "Fire Escape," and in 2010 wrote the produced teleplay "Witness to Necessity," a short crime-courtroom drama, broadcast on Wichita's UHF station KCTU-TV43. He's been a paid writer since age 17 when he wrote a "TEEN TALK" column for The Wichita Beacon afternoon newspaper. He was a campaign manager and candidate in local and statewide elections in Kansas. In 2008 he was elected by the Kansas State Democratic Party as one of Kansas's six Presidential Electors for the Electoral College, pledged to vote for Barack Obama. He wrote an American football series discussing various aspects of pro football such as whether the Super Bowl trophy should be renamed.