Wichita ? The Wichita Eagle has agreed to turn over to investigators information on six people who posted messages on the newspaper’s Internet message board about the BTK serial killings.

At the request of Wichita Police and assisting investigators, a court ordered Knight Ridder Digital, a subsidiary of the newspaper’s parent company, to deliver the information.

The subpoena asks for all subscriber information on those six people, including profiles and credit card information. It also asks for copies of all posts as well as any information that would show the location of the computer from which they were sent. It was signed by Sedgwick County District Judge Gregory Waller.

Police would not comment on the subpoena or why they focused efforts on the six message posters. The Eagle’s Thursday editions did not publicly identify the “screen names” of the six posters or the content of their messages; Chisenhall said doing so might hinder the investigation or falsely identify someone as a suspect.

Between 1974 and 1978, the killer known as BTK — the name stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill” — killed at least seven people. Last month, shortly after the 30th anniversary of the first murders, BTK sent a letter to The Eagle claiming responsibility for a 1986 killing.

The newspaper started the BTK message board after it received the latest letter.

Eagle managing editor Sherry Chisenhall said terms of the discussion board advised users that Knight Ridder Digital reserved the right to disclose information “necessary to satisfy the law, regulation or government request.”

After the Eagle published a story on the subpoena in its Thursday editions, Dist. Atty. Nola Foulston issued a news release criticizing the newspaper for printing the story.

“Court-ordered subpoenas issued during inquisition proceedings specifically request nondisclosure of the existence of the subpoena so that law enforcement investigations are not hindered, public safety is not endangered and individual privacy is respected,” Foulston said.

The Eagle failed to inform the public that the court-ordered subpoena included a specific request by the court not to disclose its existence because that could hurt the investigation, she said.

The District Attorney’s Office has “serious concerns” about any disclosure that could jeopardize the ability to identify a suspect, Foulston said.

Chisenhall told The Associated Press that nondisclosure of the subpoena was a request, not a court order. Editors conferred with their attorney before deciding to run the story, she said.

“Our track record in this story from the very beginning has been to cooperate with investigators,” Chisenhall said, noting the newspaper gave police the original BTK letter and is quickly getting the subpoenaed materials together.

The newspaper historically has always reported on subpoenas issued to the company, she said.

Hundred of messages have been posted to the board concerning a wide range of topics related to the case, including speculation on whether a psychologist might be in the best position to catch BTK, news on an unrelated serial killer case in Kansas City, and even invitations to parties thrown by and for message board posters.

The newspaper received an average of 40,000 hits per day on the message board during the first three weeks after the reports surfaced of the BTK letter to the newspaper.

The board gets an average of more than 300 posts a day.