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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please
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contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more
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detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website.
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Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners.
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testa.rtf properties created Thursday, February 10, 2005 at 6:05 p.m. modified Monday, February 14, 2005 at
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2:47 p.m. pages one paragraphs one lines one words 18 characters 68 title Christ Lutheran Church
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author Christ Lutheran Church company Park City Community Public Library last saved by
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Dennis For as long as Dennis Rader could remember, he had what he referred to as
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a little monster inside his brain. He said it featured heavily throughout his childhood memories, appearing in
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many frightening forms. Rader visualized the monster in shadows, wallpapers, rugs, wood grains, clouds,
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trees, and buildings. Seeing it filled him with fear, but he also experienced another stranger
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sensation, a tightness in his crotch. In Rader's words, those moments imprinted onto his adulthood like the
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programming of a computer chip. Dennis Rader was born in March 1945, the first of four boys to high school
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sweethearts who married young. Although his mother was at times distant and neglectful, partly due to untreated
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postpartum depression, Rader was surrounded by the love and support of his extended family, community, and
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friends. His strict but decent father worked hard to provide the family with a stable home
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in Wichita, while fostering their strong connection to the Christian faith. Rader routinely attended church and
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Sunday school and participated in Bible study and prayer. Once during mass, Dennis Rader
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experienced what he believed to be a moment of enlightenment. He said he felt the Holy Spirit moving
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through him, compelling him toward a noble pursuit such as community service and personal development.
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He became an altar boy and he joined the Boy Scouts, maintaining an outward appearance of goodness throughout his
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youth by abstaining from cussing, alcohol, drugs, and promiscuity. His religious devotion was so deeply
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ingrained that hearing other boys take a God's name in vain brought him to tears.
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Though he tried to nurture his so-called Holy Spirit, the little monster within Rader never went away.
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One of his earliest memories of its presence was when his mother became stuck after her wedding ring caught on a
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sofa spring. Seeing her in distress excited Rader, producing the strange erotic sensation
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in the pit of his stomach and groin. The same troubling feeling resurfaced when his mother started panicking at the
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top of a Ferris wheel. Rader's mother inadvertently played a pivotal role in his sexual development
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as he came to realize that he found the idea of people being trapped and helpless thrilling.
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Through the Boy Scouts, he became skilled at tying a variety of knots with the clove hitch being his favorite.
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He experimented with tying his wrists and ankles together with all manner of bindings, including string, tape, twine,
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ropes, cords, straps, leather belts, and chains. He restrained himself to beds, doors,
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clothes racks, beams, and trees, tried out gags and nooses, and even put a plastic bag over his head, all for the
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purpose of sexual gratification. Rader claimed that his mother's infrequent use of corporal punishment
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aroused him further, forming his belief that violence and sex go hand in hand. Her comfort and affection whenever Rader
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experienced pain or distress resulted in another one of his sexual obsessions, sadomasochism.
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He also discovered that he enjoyed wearing women's clothing when he started pleasuring himself while dressed in his
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mother's nightclothes and underwear. Rader described a complex relationship with his mother.
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He insisted he loved her, yet blamed her for much of the trauma he carried throughout his life.
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One day, when she mistakenly accused him of stealing, the humiliation and shame he felt marked the beginning of his
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impulse problem. Rader became easily provoked when stressed or frustrated and couldn't
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control his temper. His eruptions were so explosive they left him drenched in sweat.
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Any criticism, especially when he considered it unjustified, stoked a deep-seated resentments and a craving
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for retribution. This led Rader to focus more on action than on consequences and learn to keep
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secrets rather than face repercussions. Lies became a defensive strategy he relied on to maintain control while
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feeding him a smug sense of superiority. Over time, Dennis Rader's behavior escalated to include spying on people,
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peeping through windows, and breaking into houses. In his opinion, the little monster went
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too far when it compelled him to start a fire that threatened nearby homes. Though Rader managed to extinguish the
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flames before anyone was harmed, the sense of grave danger both terrified and excited him.
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He reproduced the feeling by torturing animals, mostly cats, finding it exhilarating to exert complete control
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over a powerless creature. For Rader, the power to command life and death was the ultimate pleasure.
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When Rader heard the real-life story of a man who had strangled his girlfriend to death, he felt sexually aroused.
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It led him to consume and collect crime thrillers, horror films, and detective magazines as a form of pornography and
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he grew to idolize serial killers. Anything that depicted women being stalked, frightened, and harmed was his
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favorite content. He drew sketches of girls and women he knew tightly bound and designed dungeons
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where he imagined torturing them. One of his creations involved sealing a woman in a box that was partially filled
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with water. Rader would increase the box's temperature causing the woman to sweat
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and urinate profusely until she inevitably drowned in her own fluids. He hid his depraved art, pornography
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collection, bondage equipment, and mother's soiled clothing in secret places he called his hidey holes.
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He had many hidey holes. Some were close by like the attic of his home. Others were in remote or abandoned
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locations throughout Wichita. As time went on, Rader's fantasies grew increasingly deranged.
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One of his favorites involved a victim being tied to a railroad track as a train approached.
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He reveled in their torment in the face of impending death. The violent fantasies the little monster
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conjured were like a book Rader could open and read repeatedly in his mind. They served as a form of disassociation
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intensifying whenever he felt unsatisfied in real life and shielding him from negative feelings and
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experiences. To Rader, the monster existed in another world, a make-believe realm he called
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his dark side. He found it difficult to put this part of himself into words. He referred to the intense feeling it
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evoked as factor X and believed anyone capable of willfully harming others possessed some form of it.
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But because Rader had convinced himself that he wasn't actually hurting other people, he avoided feelings of remorse,
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self-hate, or shame. While Rader knew that what he was doing was wrong, he insisted he was unable to
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rid himself of the little monster inside him. He claimed that he was too embarrassed
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to ask for help, and although there were warning signs, no one in his life suspected anything was seriously wrong.
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Dennis Rader was awkward, shy, and a slow learner, but other than that, he came across as a relatively normal young
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man. Rader referred to his ability to switch between the different sides of himself
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as cubing. He reasoned that a cube can have one side fully visible face on, while all
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others remain completely hidden. Cubing came easily to him. It felt as natural as breathing, like
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changing hats on his head, or shifting gears in a car. It allowed him to attend school, date
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girls, and work a part-time job without arousing any suspicion that something was wrong in his mind.
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Rader liked to believe that each side of his cube existed independently, with none affecting the others.
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He described it as though multiple different people were living inside his body.
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In the early days, he didn't act out his sexual fantasies with anyone, nor did he
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tell anyone about the little monster. As far as he was concerned, it was safely locked away in a secret
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compartment within him, and he felt completely in control. Rader claimed the origin of the little
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monster was a mystery to him. He wondered if it was because of his mother's smoking habit or the fact that
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she'd fallen off a horse while pregnant with him. Or could it be because he had a low
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glucose and glycogen levels which caused nervousness and irritability? Perhaps it was worsened by a head injury
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he sustained in a car accident when he was 17. Maybe there was always something fundamentally wrong with his brain,
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possibly with the neurotransmitter dopamine associated with pleasure, motivation, and focus.
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Rader was adamant that he hadn't endured sexual trauma or abuse, and those closest to him corroborated that
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account. Whatever the cause, he often wondered whether the monster would one day lead
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him down a dark path. After graduating high school, Rader worked briefly before serving a 4-year
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tour of duty with the Air Force. Photography became a hobby and he learned how to develop film.
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By 1970, he was back in Wichita studying electronics at community college. He embarked on a whirlwind romance with
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a woman named Paula, marrying her the following year, and moving to Park City, where they became youth sponsors at the
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local Christ Lutheran Church. During these times, when Rader displayed the good side of his cube, he was
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primarily seen as friendly, caring, and hospitable. At worst, he struck people as humorless.
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He maintained normal sexual relations with his wife and felt no urge to act on his violent tendencies.
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Rader said that when life was going well, the little monster inside him seemed to disappear entirely.
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However, as he approached midlife, he began to sense a shift. Although the monster felt gratified, it
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was never fully satisfied. One day, Paula was hospitalized following a car accident.
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During a visit, Rader stopped at a corner drug store and was drawn to the magazine display, where he began
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flipping through detective magazines. Suddenly, the little monster reemerged, and Rader found himself once again
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consuming crime content for sexual pleasure. He created new hidey holes in his attic,
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crawl spaces, and shed, as well as at his parents' home and the local Christ Lutheran Church building.
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He spied on young women undressing in their homes while fantasizing about kidnapping them.
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He assembled what he called his hit kit, a collection of items that would help him carry out an abduction, including
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tools, bindings, knives, and handguns. He drove around in search of abandoned and remote locations where he imagined
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himself carrying out torture. Despite these urges, Rader managed to avoid the temptation to act on them.
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It wasn't until the economy faltered in late 1973 that he said the little monster took
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full control. At age 28, crushed by the loss of his job, Rader finally, quote, went to the dark side.
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Weeks later, in January 1974, Dennis Rader murdered Joe, Julie, Josie, and to Joey Otero.
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He didn't expect Joe to be home and intended to quote quickly dispatch Joey before taking his time with the Julie
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and the Josie. Although events had didn't unfold exactly as Rader intended, he said he
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was proud of what he'd managed to accomplish. Afterwards, he described feeling as
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though his brain was on fire, like his head was caught in a tightening vise. He destroyed all of the items he used in
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the killings except for the blood stained Air Force parka he had worn and the wristwatch he'd taken from Joe
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Otero, fully expecting the police to show up and arrest him at any moment. But Rader soon realized that he had
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somehow gotten away with it. He journaled about the experience and began clipping newspaper articles about
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the crime, storing them alongside the blood stained parka in one of his hidey holes.
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Rader resized the Joe's watch to fit his wrist and wore it occasionally, justifying it to himself by thinking he
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needed a new one anyway, before finally throwing it into a creek. With little improvement in Rader's daily
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life, the little monster craved the rush of killing again. Rader said his good side tried to
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dissuade him, urging him to consider the Otero murders as quote just a bad day and move on with his life.
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But in Rader's words, the other part of me overrode the good sense. He told his wife that he was working
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late on personal projects or visiting the library while instead driving around stalking potential victims.
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On several occasions, he prepared to carry out another attack only to have his plans thwarted at the last minute.
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Three months after the Otero killings, Rader murdered Kathryn Bright. This time, he felt neither pride nor
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sexual gratification during or after the crime. It was his first, {quote} close call, an
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unmitigated disaster that left him completely rattled. Although he had felt prepared
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beforehand, the attack was riddled with critical mistakes, including the unexpected presence of Kathryn's
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brother, Kevin. While Rader intended to rape Catherine and had no plans to stab anyone,
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he said he lost control, calling it a {quote} total mess. When Kevin escaped, Rader was certain
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this would be the moment that led to his arrest. He fled home, washed up, hid Catherine's
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stolen driver's license in one of his hidey holes, and waited for the police. But days, weeks, and months passed
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without any visits. Kevin Bright had provided a fairly accurate description of Rader,
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but the side of the cube that people knew, his good side, didn't match Catherine's killer, so no one suspected
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him. Rader continued his ritual of documenting his crimes and collecting relevant newspaper articles, relieved to
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have evaded capture yet again. As his good side, Rader said he prayed repeatedly, pleading for the Lord's help
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and asking, "Why me?" But the hesitation was fleeting, and he ultimately lost no sleep over his
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actions. He viewed his victims as mere objects, existing only to fulfill roles in his
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twisted fantasies. Rader was plotting his next strike when his plans were unexpectedly disrupted by
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three men who falsely confessed to the Otero killings. Although this presented Rader with the
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rare opportunity to wash his hands of the crime entirely by letting others take the fall, he couldn't shake the
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thought. I wanted credit, not someone else. Sitting at his typewriter, he drafted a
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detailed confession letter. Although he was fully aware that its release could lead to his capture, his
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desire for recognition outweighed any instinct for self-preservation. After much deliberation, he settled on a
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moniker, one that he felt conveyed power and instilled terror. Bind them, torture them, kill them. BTK.
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To Rader, the name wasn't entirely accurate. He felt the T was somewhat misleading
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since he didn't believe he had truly tortured anyone. In his view, bondage didn't count as
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torture, and when he decided to kill, he said he aimed to make it quick, despite
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evidence proving otherwise. According to Rader, the K in BTK was also largely irrelevant.
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He claimed that he killed his victims solely to eliminate them as witnesses to avoid punishment.
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Only the B mattered to him. In his journals, Rader described binding his victims as a moment he, quote, could
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live in for years. Rader was elated when the police responded to BTK through the papers, but
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he chose not to reply suspecting it was a trap. Meanwhile, he kept blending effortlessly
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into the community. As Wichitans grappled with the horror of BTK's brutal murders and began
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protecting themselves and their families, Rader spotted an opportunity. Ironically, he took a job installing
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security alarms and giving him access to people's homes and the chance to study potential targets up close.
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He also enrolled in an administration of justice course at Wichita State University where he learned a great deal
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including how to cover his tracks. He was delighted when the forensic pathologist who had autopsied BTK's
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victims spoke as a guest lecturer. In late 1974, Rader found out he was going to be a
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father. He was overjoyed by the news and his dark side went into remission as a result.
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Over the next 3 years, he was too busy parenting, working, and studying to act out again.
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Even so, he said the little monster never truly went away. Although Rader didn't commit any murders
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during this time, he remained on the prowl aware that he wasn't completely done with killing.
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By 1977, Rader had become a father for a second time. He said the little monster was growing
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restless, but nothing came to fruition until March. That month, he visited the home of a
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woman he had met at university intending to kill her only to find out that she wasn't home.
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Going against everything had learned from the botched murder of Kathryn Bright, Rader impulsively decided to
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visit a nearby house where Shirley Vianne lived with her three young children. As expected, with no plan in place,
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things quickly went awry. Rader said he had to rush to kill Shirley to secure his escape and
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reluctantly left her children alive as witnesses. He braced for the moment he would be
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placed in handcuffs, but the police didn't even connect Shirley's murder to BTK.
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Rader considered himself lucky to have gotten away with all his murders so far given that none of them had gone
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according to his plan. His luck almost ran out when his wife discovered a draft version of the
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Shirley Locks poem that he intended to send to the press as a confession to Shirley Vianne's murder.
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Thinking quickly, Rader claimed it was part of a university project on the BTK murders.
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His wife seemingly accepted his explanation. Despite having murdered six victims at
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this point, Rader said he was disappointed in himself. He vowed that his next kill would be
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meticulous, leaving no room for error, interruptions, distractions, or witnesses.
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In December 1977, he targeted Nancy Fox. In Rader's view, absolutely nothing went
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wrong. He had finally carried out what he considered to be the perfect murder. After that, Rader enjoyed Christmas with
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his family. Then in early 1978, he recommenced to BTK's cat and mouse game with the police by writing poems
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confessing to the Vianne and Fox murders. His decision to include poems in his correspondence was a nod to childhood
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memories of his beloved grandmother reading poetry to him. Rader stopped short of openly admitting
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to Kathryn Bright's murder, needing to distance himself from Kevin Bright's witness account.
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Vague allusions to it were enough to provide the recognition he craved. Communicating as BTK became an addictive
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power rush for Rader, like walking on a knife's edge. He sought more than mere notoriety. He
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wanted to turn BTK into a timeless, mythical legend, like a werewolf. His fantasies became more grandiose and
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egocentric as he visualized his victims becoming his slaves in the afterlife. Rader continued cubing in his day-to-day
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life while the little monster simmered inside him like a dormant volcano. When the feelings of factor X took over,
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he went back to stalking women, breaking into homes, and sketching lewd and violent art.
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He donned feminine clothing and handmade masks, asphyxiating himself and rigging
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himself in bondage, sometimes in the clothes and lingerie he had stolen from his victims.
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Occasionally, he documented these acts with his camera. One day, Rader's wife, Paula, returned
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home unannounced to find him in front of a mirror tied up in one of his contraptions while observing a woman who
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lived across the street. This was only one of two times Paula saw the dark side of her husband.
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The second time, she accidentally walked in on him in bondage and exploded into a
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fury. Embarrassed and ashamed, Rader slept on the couch as Paula contemplated separation.
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Her greatest concern was their children, but she also worried about the reaction
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of their local community. Rader was seen as the epitome of a Wichitan citizen, a proud church-going
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family man and helpful neighbor who was also by that point a dedicated Boy Scout
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leader. If his private interests became public, the Rader family's carefully cultivated
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reputation would be irreparably damaged. After seeking guidance from a professional and reading a self-help
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book on sexuality, Paula gradually became more understanding. While she eventually accepted Rader's
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fetish, they never spoke of it aside from her warning that if she ever caught him again, she would file for divorce.
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Rader learned to keep his fetishes out of the family home. Sometimes he used hotel rooms to test
00:28:05
out various autoeroticasphyxiation devices he built. He would also drive to the rural
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outskirts of Wichita, dig holes resembling graves, and then lower himself into them wrapped head to toe in
00:28:18
plastic. The danger of accidentally killing himself while performing these inherently unsafe acts was all part of
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the thrill. In April 1979, Rader failed to kill his next intended target, Anna Williams.
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Yet, he made the most of the incident by sending a chilling poem about it to both
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Anna and the press. Everyday life inevitably got in the way, and he didn't strike again until April
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1984 when he made what he considered a bold move. So far, Dennis Rader had confined his
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murders to a particular area of Wichita. It was a strategic choice to prevent police from tracing them back to him
00:29:10
further north in Park City. But, emboldened by the challenge of committing a murder closer to home, he
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targeted Marine Hedge, who lived just a few doors away. It was a risky endeavor, contradicting
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everything Rader knew about how a serial killer should operate. Marine knew him personally, and if he
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slipped up, she could easily identify him. Even if the attack went according to his
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plan, the investigation would encompass those closest to Marine, including her neighbors.
00:29:46
But, Rader was confident in his abilities. After all, he had gotten away with everything so far, despite making some
00:29:55
significant mistakes. Rader timed the murder to coincide with a camping trip he was taking with the
00:30:02
Boy Scouts. He arrived at the site, helped with setup, and by nightfall complained of a
00:30:09
headache, ostensibly retiring to his tent to rest. Instead, he slipped away to Marine's
00:30:16
house. She wasn't home, so he broke in, hid in a closet, and waited. To Rader's frustration, Marine arrived
00:30:26
with a friend. Determined to avoid a repeat of the Kathryn Bright murder, Rader remained
00:30:33
hidden until the friend left at around 1:00 a.m. After Marine went to bed, Rader crept
00:30:40
into her room and flicked on the light, jolting her awake. The plan he had for her were the same
00:30:47
he'd imagined for earlier victims that never came to fruition. He intended to abduct Marine, take her
00:30:54
somewhere secluded, string her up in bondage, and take photos of her before killing her.
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Part of Rader's strategy was to keep his victims calm by lulling them into a false sense of security.
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He pretended to be nothing more than a harmless burglar, assuring them that if they cooperated, they would be okay.
00:31:15
It was all designed to prevent a struggle and keep him in control. But he couldn't stop Marine Hedge from
00:31:22
screaming. Raider knew he was losing control over the situation. Once again, nothing had gone according
00:31:31
to his plan. Still, after murdering Marine, Raider was determined to get his pictures.
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He stripped and bound Marine's body before wrapping her in a blanket and placing her in the back of her car.
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He collected her driver's license, some of her underwear, and a few other souvenirs, then drove her to the dark,
00:31:54
quiet Christ Lutheran Church building where he, his family, and their community worshipped.
00:32:00
After breaking in, he covered the windows with large sheets of black plastic he had prepared beforehand.
00:32:07
He then set about arranging Marine's body in different bondings, capturing each pose on camera.
00:32:14
According to Raider, using the sanctity of a church for such unholy acts made him feel a troubling guilt.
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He claimed he respected God enough not to involve the altar in his photo shoot. As dawn approached, Raider cleaned up
00:32:32
the church and drove Marine's body to a remote area to dispose of it. He continued on, tossing her handbag out
00:32:40
the window along the way before abandoning her car in a shopping center parking lot.
00:32:47
He then made his way back to the scout camp, presenting himself to the group as though he had been there the whole
00:32:53
night. The murder of Marine Hedge was driven solely by Rader's desire to obtain photographs of a victim in bondage.
00:33:04
He saw no need for BTK to claim credit, knowing it was smarter not to. In fact, he distanced the BTK from the
00:33:13
crime by deviating from his pattern of targeting victims whose home addresses featured the number three, a digit he
00:33:20
considered mystical due to its recurring significance in his life and its prominence in Christian symbolism.
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Rader remained on his good side in the years following Marine's murder. Then, in September 1986, he posed as a
00:33:37
telephone repairman to gain entry to the home of Vicki Wegerle, where he launched
00:33:42
an attack. Rader was dismayed to learn that Vicki's husband, Bill, was due home for lunch at
00:33:48
any minute, meaning he would once again have to rush. Vicki fought back, scratching Rader on
00:33:56
the nose and face, but he eventually overpowered her. He rifled through her clothes and took
00:34:03
photos of her body before fleeing in her car, coincidentally passing Bill Wegerle
00:34:08
along the way. Rader drove around for a while, then returned to the area, abandoning the car
00:34:15
nearby. Once again, BTK wasn't linked to the murder, and Rader didn't feel compelled
00:34:22
to confess to it at the time. Rader claimed that the wrongful suspicion of Bill Wegerle in Vicki's
00:34:30
murder filled his good side with guilt. He said he went around town asserting that Bill was innocent hoping to sway
00:34:38
public opinion. Yet, he didn't feel bad enough to entirely stop the rumors by fessing up.
00:34:46
Rader was so detached from the devastation his crimes caused that he genuinely considered himself to be an
00:34:52
ideal candidate for the police force. He applied for a job, but his application was rejected which he
00:34:59
attributed to being aged in his 40s. Instead, he accepted a position as a compliance officer in Park City
00:35:08
enforcing local laws, state and federal regulations, and council policies. The role allowed him to wear a uniform,
00:35:17
uphold the law, and serve the community, and he was eventually appointed to the county animal control advisory board.
00:35:25
But, even when on the clock, he was plotting away. While out on the road, he scouted for
00:35:32
victims or photo shoot locations. Back in his office at City Hall, he drafted many of the communications he
00:35:40
sent as BTK, and even created a hidey-hole there. Four months after Vicki Wegerle's
00:35:50
murder, Rader killed again. Like Marine Hedge, Dolores Davis was a high-risk target. She also lived in Park
00:35:59
City, and while Rader didn't know her personally, he had noticed her outside her home.
00:36:05
He began watching her obsessively. On one occasion, while peering through her bedroom window, he startled her cats
00:36:13
and narrowly avoided being caught. It wasn't until January 1991 when Rader's personal life had quieted that
00:36:22
he found the opportunity to act. Once again, he timed the attack to coincide with a scout camping trip.
00:36:31
This time, he fabricated a reason to return to town, but instead went to Dolores' house.
00:36:39
Through a window, he saw her reading. He planned to abduct her, take her to the church, photograph her, and kill
00:36:46
her. Rader had wanted to break in silently, but when no suitable entry presented
00:36:52
itself, he made another bold move. He threw a cinder block he found in the backyard through a sliding glass door.
00:37:01
Startled, Dolores rushed outside, where Rader confronted her. He led her back inside, only to be
00:37:09
thwarted yet again when Dolores revealed that she was expecting someone. Leaving her handcuffed in the bedroom,
00:37:16
Rader began rifling through the house, collecting items to keep. With Dolores' guest potentially arriving
00:37:24
at any moment, he returned to the bedroom and began his bondage ritual, using pantyhose from her dresser drawer
00:37:31
to tie her feet to her hands. He then murdered her. Pressed for time, Rader left Dolores'
00:37:40
body in bushes a short distance away, planning to return later to complete the photo shoot.
00:37:47
As the night wore on, he grew concerned that she was too exposed, so he returned
00:37:52
and moved her further into the countryside, placing her underneath a rural bridge.
00:37:58
He visited again soon after, covering her face with one of his handmade feminine masks and taking several
00:38:05
photographs. He was unable to return a third time, as her body had already been discovered.
00:38:13
For the same reasons he stayed silent about Marine Hedge's murder, Rader never confessed to Dolores Davis' killing in
00:38:20
any BTK correspondence. He did, however, journal about it, noting that it must be kept secret
00:38:28
forever. He saved the photos he had taken of both women, yet he said the little monster
00:38:36
inside him remained unfulfilled. By the early 2000s, Dennis Rader was in his 50s and had accepted that his days
00:38:48
as BTK were behind him. The little monster was still there, but he had decided that murder was best left
00:38:56
to the younger, stronger version of himself. He focused his attention on his family,
00:39:02
work, and church, where fellow parishioners had elected him president of the congregation.
00:39:09
Furthermore, advances in DNA testing and forensic technology were leading to arrests in cold cases across the
00:39:16
country, and police already had a Rader's DNA from the Otero, Fox, and Wagler crime scenes.
00:39:24
Feeling uneasy, Rader destroyed most of the evidence relating to his murders that he'd hoarded, though he kept some
00:39:31
items. He didn't want his crimes to remain unsolved forever. Rader's plan was to reveal his full
00:39:40
identity with proof on a CD or floppy disk, which he would then put in a safe deposit box hidden within his home.
00:39:49
After he died and the house was sold, he hoped someone would eventually discover
00:39:53
the box and realize they had uncovered BTK. Obsessed with his legacy, Rader longed
00:40:02
for the world to eventually learn who he really was, but only on his terms, after
00:40:08
he was beyond reproach. In January 2004, the Wichita Eagle published an article marking the 30th
00:40:17
anniversary of the Otero murders. To Rader's dismay, the article made it painfully clear that BTK had left no
00:40:26
lasting mark on Wichita. The legacy he'd hoped would endure long after his death simply did not exist.
00:40:35
His reign of terror had faded from memory, meaning there was little chance BTK would be named alongside the
00:40:42
notorious killers Rader had once admired. Left with nothing more than a bruised ego, the article reignited Rader's
00:40:51
craving for attention, control, and validation. For the first time in over a decade, he
00:40:59
sent a letter as BTK. Intent on making a dramatic return, he revealed his responsibility for Vicki
00:41:07
Wegerle's murder. Stepping back into the spotlight exhilarated him. Where his earlier communications had
00:41:16
been intended to guide investigators, now Rader simply wanted to stir the pot. He falsely confessed to the murder of
00:41:25
Kansas teen Jake Allen and began turning over trophies stored in his hiding holes, including his victims' driver's
00:41:33
licenses and to jewelry, as well as his sketches and photographs. Rader compared his actions during this
00:41:41
time to a game of chess, finding enjoyment in creating increasingly elaborate packages and cryptic puzzles
00:41:48
for the police to discover and solve. To ensure that his story, and ultimately his legacy, would be told in the exact
00:41:56
way he wanted, Rader began releasing a serialized autobiography. While the retellings of his crimes were
00:42:05
mostly accurate, his backstory mixed truthful details with outright fabrications.
00:42:13
To Rader, his comeback was originally meant to be just for fun. But, as he basked in the renewed
00:42:19
attention, he found himself on the hunt for the first time in years. Almost a year passed, and while Rader
00:42:28
hadn't yet claimed another life, it wasn't for not trying. And though he hadn't succeeded, neither
00:42:36
had the police. By this point, Rader had eluded them for more than three decades.
00:42:43
He watched their news conferences with amusement as they hopelessly begged BTK to communicate with them again.
00:42:51
Rader had come to believe that he was simply too smart to get caught. Psychologists refer to this line of
00:43:01
belief as a narcissistic immunity, a trait Rader shared with other infamous serial killers, including Ted Bundy, H.
00:43:08
H. Holmes, and Harvey Glatman. As detailed in the book Confession of a Serial Killer by Katherine Ramsland,
00:43:17
narcissistic immunity often shows up in the most audacious and predatory people,
00:43:22
repeat offenders who take significant risks. They have a talent for rebounding from
00:43:28
setbacks because they're so certain of their invulnerability, even when the evidence is clearly against them.
00:43:36
The peculiar resilience of narcissistic immunity derives from arrogance, a sense
00:43:41
of entitlement, and disdain. Such killers believe they have a special destiny and that they are smarter than
00:43:49
anyone investigating them. They pride themselves on their modes of deception and manipulation.
00:43:57
However, they need others to affirm their superiority. In addition, they can get defensive and
00:44:03
needy, which damages their inflated sense of self. When they retaliate over slights or
00:44:11
criticism, the results can be deadly to their victims. But, such actions can also expose the
00:44:18
killers more than they realize. The narcissist's addiction to self can be his greatest strength in some
00:44:26
contexts, but also his greatest weakness. February 2005 marked a little over 31 years since BTK first terrorized Wichita
00:44:41
with the Otero murders. Dennis Rader had released only a few chapters of the BTK story so far,
00:44:49
detailing the Otero and Fox killings. He was preparing another communication featuring the full detailed account of
00:44:57
Shirley Vian's murder, accompanied by a doll he'd mocked up to represent her. He intended to put the doll in a
00:45:05
miniature coffin wired to look like a bomb. At 12:15 p.m. on Friday, February 25,
00:45:14
Rader drove home in his work truck for lunch, a daily routine executed like clockwork.
00:45:21
That day, however, a car sped up behind him. Rader was startled by the sound of sirens blaring and red and blue lights
00:45:30
flashing. He pulled over, stepping out with an irritated expression. He thought he must have been caught
00:45:39
committing a minor infraction, like running a stop sign. Within seconds, however, multiple
00:45:46
undercover police vehicles converged and boxed in his truck. Officers in body armor with guns drawn
00:45:53
leaped out and surrounded him, shouting, "Don't move. Keep your hands where I can
00:45:59
see them." Rader froze, stunned by the chaos erupting around him. Everything happened so fast that he
00:46:09
barely had time to react. He offered no resistance as an officer forced him to the pavement, though he
00:46:16
sputtered in confusion, "What did I do?" and "What's this all about?" Beneath the shock, a faint trace of
00:46:26
resignation was visible on his face. As Rader was lifted to his feet, he asked officers to call his wife, saying
00:46:36
that she was expecting him for lunch. "I assume you know where I live," he added, aware that the scale of the
00:46:44
operation could only mean one thing. The jig was up. He was led to a police vehicle, where a
00:46:52
detective was waiting in the backseat. Immediately recognizing the man, Rader said politely, "Hello, Mr. Landwehr."
00:47:02
The detective casually replied, "Hello, Mr. Rader." Senior homicide detective Lieutenant
00:47:10
Kenneth Landwehr was the commander of the Ghostbusters, the task force responsible for investigating BTK.
00:47:18
Known as a dedicated and compassionate investigator, he'd been part of the unit since its inception in 1984 and was the
00:47:26
last remaining member when it was unceremoniously disbanded 3 years later. When BTK reemerged in 2004, Landwehr
00:47:36
spearheaded the task force's reactivation, persuading veteran members to return and recruiting new detectives
00:47:43
to assist. Credited with keeping the long cold investigation alive, Landwehr became the
00:47:50
public face of the case, regularly appearing in the media to provide updates, appeal directly to BTK, and
00:47:58
build a rapport with the killer. When the case languished, public discourse questioned Landwehr's
00:48:05
suitability for the job, but his superiors felt that replacing him would send a bad message.
00:48:12
To their mind, no one knew the case better than Kenneth Landwehr. Among the many strategies he helped
00:48:20
engineer, Landwehr was instrumental in the plan to trick BTK into sending police a floppy disk, the pivotal
00:48:27
breakthrough that ultimately led them to uncover three crucial clues about the killer.
00:48:32
The Park City Community Public Library, the Christ Lutheran Church, and most significantly,
00:48:39
the name Dennis. The Ghostbusters Task Force had hastily searched online for the Christ Lutheran
00:48:50
Church in Park City and located its website. They discovered that the congregation's
00:48:56
president was listed as a local man named Dennis Rader. Although records showed that Rader
00:49:03
didn't own a Jeep Cherokee SUV, the vehicle seen on CCTV when BTK left a package in a Home Depot parking lot,
00:49:12
they confirmed that he lived on North Independence Street in Park City, just a few doors down from unconfirmed BTK
00:49:20
victim Marine Hedge. Investigators scrambled to their cars and sped towards Park City.
00:49:28
Although energized by these latest developments, they also harbored nagging concerns that BTK might be orchestrating
00:49:36
a long con, possibly setting up a Dennis Rader who might be an innocent man. On paper, there was nothing about Rader
00:49:45
that suggested he could be a serial killer. The 59-year-old had no prior history
00:49:51
with the police. As a long-time Wichitan and married father of two, he had embedded himself
00:49:57
in the local community as a trusted and valued member. Not only was he highly active in his
00:50:04
church, he was also a Boy Scout leader. And professionally, Rader was on the side of law and order as a compliance
00:50:12
officer. Rader's official employee portrait depicted a smiling white man in uniform.
00:50:20
He was slightly stocky with dark hair that was balding on top, thin-framed eyeglasses, and a thick mustache.
00:50:28
He bore a resemblance to the fictional character George Costanza from the popular television sitcom Seinfeld.
00:50:36
In other words, he was as ordinary and unassuming as they came. It was around at noon when the
00:50:44
Ghostbusters descended on North Independence Street and pulled up at Rader's home address.
00:50:50
To their surprise, a black Jeep Cherokee was parked in the driveway. A check of the vehicle's registration
00:50:58
revealed it belonged to Rader's adult son. The presence of the Jeep heightened the
00:51:05
officers' excitement. Realizing that a convoy of identical unmarked vehicles packed with men in
00:51:11
suits staring intensely at his home might alert Rader, the officers moved half a block away to plan their next
00:51:19
move. In his most recent communications, BTK had warned that his house had been rigged to explode if the police tried to
00:51:28
breach it. Driven by adrenaline, the Ghostbusters were willing to take the risk.
00:51:35
But, as they waited for the order to move in, the instruction came to return to base and carefully plan their next
00:51:42
steps. "We are not going to do this now," they were told. Despite the pressure to act, their
00:51:50
superiors insisted on doing things right. They didn't want to risk another Roger
00:51:57
Valadez situation. And they were acutely aware that they were on the back foot. BTK had spent more than 30 years
00:52:07
preparing for this very moment. The task force investigated Dennis Rader's background further, discovering
00:52:17
that he was an Air Force veteran who had graduated from Wichita State University
00:52:22
in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in Administration of Justice. Both institutions had been linked to
00:52:30
BTK. A check with the pastor of the Christ Lutheran Church confirmed that Rader had
00:52:37
used their computer, and an examination of the device's hard drive revealed a smoking gun.
00:52:44
BTK's recent messages. There was now little doubt, but the Ghostbusters needed objective proof.
00:52:55
They conducted extensive discussions about the best course of action, including placing tracking devices on
00:53:01
Rader's vehicle or using FBI surveillance planes to monitor him from above. These options were deemed too
00:53:09
complicated and offered no guarantee of results. The Ghostbusters wanted something
00:53:16
simpler, something concrete. They decided the most effective plan was to compare Rader's DNA with BTK's.
00:53:26
However, approaching Rader directly or indirectly for a sample might alert him to the investigation and give him time
00:53:34
to react. Investigators had gone to great lengths to avoid tipping him off that they were
00:53:40
closing in, even holding press conferences to implore BTK to communicate with them again as though
00:53:46
they weren't making any progress. After a vigorous debate on the ethics of the plan, investigators decided the
00:53:55
safest way to test Rader's DNA was to avoid obtaining it from him at all. Instead, they subpoenaed a DNA sample of
00:54:04
Rader's adult daughter from an old pap smear in her medical records. The sample, containing cells collected
00:54:12
during the routine cervical screening, could be tested alongside BTK's DNA for a familial match.
00:54:21
Investigators were fully aware that Rader's daughter had done nothing wrong and that their method was highly
00:54:27
personal, invasive, and embarrassing, but it was legally permissible and did not violate her privacy rights.
00:54:36
The sample was obtained without her knowledge and compared to carefully preserved seminal fluid left by BTK at
00:54:44
his crime scenes, as well as skin scrapings recovered underneath Vicki Wegerle's fingernails.
00:54:51
The results confirmed a familial match. The exhausted but elated members of the Ghostbusters Task Force shared emotional
00:55:00
high fives and hugs as one of them exclaimed to joyfully, "It's over, baby." Dennis Rader claimed that if he'd had
00:55:13
time to react during his arrest, he would have brandished a gun, shot his way out, and escaped, quote, "like a
00:55:20
movie superhero." Reality instead placed him in the backseat of a police car next to
00:55:27
Lieutenant Kenneth Landwehr. Rader recognized him from the BTK news conferences.
00:55:35
While he'd felt a stronger rapport with the previous head of the case, former Wichita police chief Richard LaMunyon,
00:55:41
he still trusted Landwehr. Landwehr worked to maintain that trust. He loosened Rader's handcuffs when he
00:55:50
complained they were too tight, engaged him in friendly conversation, offered him a soda, and allowed him to use the
00:55:57
restroom. For Landwehr, treating Rader with courtesy and respect was a calculated
00:56:04
tactic to ensure his cooperation. Rader appeared to respond positively in response, and willingly answered
00:56:11
questions, though he avoided providing meaningful answers, and often spoke in the third person, as if Dennis Rader was
00:56:19
someone else. At no point did he inquire as to why he had been arrested, prompting Landwehr to
00:56:27
finally ask after 3 hours of talking, "Why do you think we're here?" Rader presumed they wanted to talk to
00:56:37
him about BTK. When asked if he had followed the investigation, Rader replied, "Yeah, I've been a BTK fan for years,
00:56:48
watching it. I assume I'm a main suspect." He proceeded to crack jokes about the
00:56:55
case, but avoided addressing it directly. Lieutenant Landwehr pressed on. "Do you remember anything about the
00:57:04
Otero murders?" Rader said he did, recalling what he had read in a newspaper, a man, his wife,
00:57:12
and their two young children. "It was pretty brutal," he remarked. "Why do you think the Oteros were
00:57:20
murdered?" Landwehr asked. "Well," Rader said, "if you take that murder and some of the
00:57:28
others, I'd say you've got a serial killer loose." Prior to the interrogation, Rader had
00:57:35
agreed to be swabbed for DNA. He was surprisingly upbeat about it. Landwehr wanted to know what Rader
00:57:44
thought would happen if his DNA matched to BTK's. Rader nodded and replied, "I guess that might be it then."
00:57:56
When shown the purple floppy disk BTK had sent to police, Rader's demeanor changed.
00:58:03
"There's no way I can weasel out of that or lie," he said defeatedly. He asked about prison, then expressed
00:58:13
the desire to speak with his pastor. "I really need help," he insisted, appearing on the verge of breaking down.
00:58:23
Landwehr agreed on one condition. "First," he said, "you need to talk." Rader expressed concern about how his
00:58:34
children would react to his arrest and how it would affect the wider Park City community.
00:58:41
He asked what would happen to BTK's house. "We'd tear it up looking for evidence
00:58:47
unless we know where to find it," Landwehr replied. Rader winced. "You guys have got me," he said.
00:58:57
"How can I get out of it?" Resting his elbow on the table and his chin in the palm of his hands, he
00:59:04
wondered aloud whether there was any way to escape the DNA results. Fed up with the Rader's stalling, an FBI
00:59:13
profiler observing the interrogation cut in sharply. "Enough. Enough. You've got to say it.
00:59:22
Just say who you are." Rader replied simply, "I'm BTK." Investigators took turns questioning
00:59:37
Dennis Rader as he confessed to each of BTK's 10 known murders: Joe, Julie, Josie, and Joey Otero,
00:59:47
Kathryn Bright, Shirley Vianne, Nancy Fox, Marine Hedge, Vicki Wegerle, and Dolores Davis.
00:59:56
Rader tried to project a cool, cavalier persona throughout the process, making wisecracks, insulting detectives, and
01:00:04
mocking his victims. Investigators noted that while BTK had emerged as a terrifying and formidable
01:00:11
figure, the man behind the mask was something else entirely. Stripped of mystery, Dennis Rader
01:00:19
appeared far more pathetic than powerful. In their words, he was nothing more than
01:00:26
a dork. A search of Rader's home didn't uncover any explosives, but it revealed plenty
01:00:33
of other significant items. In the attic were detective magazines, as predicted, as well as pornographic
01:00:41
magazines focused on bondage. A storage area at the rear of the house and a metal shed in the backyard
01:00:48
contained bondage equipment. Rader had told investigators about a cupboard with a false bottom,
01:00:55
encouraging them to look beneath it. When they did, they found Marine Hedge's wedding ring along with photographs of
01:01:03
her dead body taken inside the Christ Lutheran Church. The church was searched, as well as the
01:01:10
Park City Community Public Library. In Rader's City Hall office, investigators discovered his hit kit, as
01:01:18
well as one of his handguns. In the bottom drawer of a cream-colored filing cabinet lay what Rader referred
01:01:25
to as his mother lode, seven three-ring binders and more than 25 hanging file folders that contained a staggering
01:01:34
array of material. They included newspaper clippings into journals about BTK's crimes, sketches of
01:01:41
his victims, computer disks labeled according to the chapters of BTK's autobiography, and the original versions
01:01:49
of the letters and poems Rader had sent to both the press and police. They found the photographs he'd taken of
01:01:57
Vicki Wegerle and Dolores Davis, along with the IDs and the jewelry he'd stolen from each crime scene.
01:02:05
There was also a large number of disturbing photographs showing Rader engaging in extreme self-bondage,
01:02:11
sometimes wearing clothing or lingerie stolen from his victims. In several photos, he wore the
01:02:18
hand-painted mask left near Dolores Davis's body. Meticulous records kept by Rader
01:02:25
confirmed his 10 victims and revealed he had stalked hundreds more. Also found was the original note in
01:02:34
which BTK asked whether a computer disk could be traced and a newspaper clipping
01:02:39
of the ad police used to respond. Back in the interrogation room, Rader tapped on the floppy disk that led to
01:02:50
his capture and asked, "How come you lied to me?" referring to the fact that police had led him to believe the disk
01:02:58
could not be traced. "Because," Lieutenant Kenneth Landwehr replied, "I was trying to catch you."
01:03:08
Rader admitted that he had been hesitant to send the disk. He had personally checked it for any
01:03:14
identifying information and even consulted acquaintances who were knowledgeable about computer technology.
01:03:21
All of them assured him that floppy disks couldn't be traced. Feeling betrayed, he lamented,
01:03:30
"You guys know more about computers than I do. Unlucky for me, lucky for you. I thought I would pull it off, retire,
01:03:39
and keep mementos. It didn't happen. You guys outsmarted me." The more detectives spoke with Rader,
01:03:49
the more they realized that outsmarting him was hardly an achievement. In fact, they were embarrassed by how
01:03:57
unintelligent he seemed. When questioned about the undeciphered string of 23 stenciled letters he'd
01:04:04
placed at the top of the Wiegand confession letter, Rader treated Lieutenant Landwehr like he was an
01:04:10
idiot. "It's a code," Rader insisted, "a German fractional code he claimed to have
01:04:17
learned in the Air Force, to be specific." He was stunned that investigators had
01:04:22
not cracked it. When asked what the code meant, Rader answered, "Let Beaty know for his book," referring
01:04:32
to author Robert Beaty, who was preparing to publish a book about BTK. Landwehr was confused.
01:04:41
He asked Rader to demonstrate how he had converted that sentence into the string
01:04:45
of letters and numbers in the code. Rader tried, but he could not replicate his own method.
01:04:54
In that moment, it became clear. Rader had evaded capture for decades, not because he was a criminal
01:05:02
mastermind, but because of sheer luck. Over the course of 2 days, Rader spoke for 33 hours about his crimes,
01:05:12
confessing that he would have had more victims if his personal life had not gotten in the way.
01:05:18
"My big problem was my social contacts," he admitted. "If I was a lone wolf, you would have
01:05:24
had many more victims, many more. I guarantee that. Many more. When you live at home with a wife, you
01:05:33
can't go out and prowl around till 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning without your wife
01:05:37
being suspicious. So, I had to connect this all with school and work and family life.
01:05:44
It was difficult, but that's the way I did it. Kind of like a spy. He also admitted that during his 2004
01:05:54
resurgence, he had targeted an 11th victim as his final curtain call. He said, "She had a perfect pattern. I could
01:06:04
almost time it within 5 minutes of when she was going to be home. Perfect. She didn't change her routine.
01:06:12
In my business, people that have routines were in bad shape. The woman had a daughter and Rader was
01:06:21
willing to kill them both, but reconsidered when he arrived at her house and noticed road workers nearby.
01:06:28
He was genuinely disappointed when detectives had heard enough and ended the interview, remarking that he had
01:06:35
loved helping them work the cases. The press conference announcing the capture of BTK was described by the
01:06:45
Ghostbusters as a comedy. Random government officials, politicians, law enforcement officers,
01:06:52
and prosecuting attorneys uninvolved in the case seized the podium to seek credit and adulation.
01:07:00
The task force watched in disappointment as the speakers self-congratulated while
01:07:05
failing to acknowledge the work of the team or the loved ones of BTK's victims in attendance.
01:07:12
Finally, after 39 minutes, Lieutenant Kenneth Landwehr approached the podium. He hadn't intended to thank anyone, but
01:07:21
witnessing the spectacle before him prompted him to deviate from his planned speech.
01:07:27
"I want to thank the families of the victims who gave us their trust and stood behind us," he said.
01:07:34
"I want to thank the families of our task force who stood behind them." He then personally thanked every member
01:07:41
of law enforcement who had worked on the case and even named and thanked civilians who had provided tangible
01:07:48
assistance. In total, Landwehr named and thanked 42 people off the top of his head.
01:07:56
By this point, the name of the person in custody still hadn't been announced. It was clear that everyone was still
01:08:04
wary after the prior wrongful announcement implicating Roger Valadez. Landwehr finally declared Dennis Rader's
01:08:12
arrest for the BTK murders, choking up as he read out the names of the youngest victims, Josie and Joey Otero.
01:08:21
And with that, after 31 years, the mystique of BTK was gone. Any trace of the satisfaction Rader had
01:08:32
felt during his lengthy police interview vanished when it came time for his jail
01:08:36
booking photo, in which his face was utterly sullen. This same attitude was reflected in a
01:08:43
questionnaire he completed to assess his mental state. When asked if he felt shame or
01:08:49
embarrassment, Rader wrote, "Yes, because I got caught." There was a palpable sense of relief in
01:09:00
Wichita following Dennis Rader's arrest. Women could finally go about their lives
01:09:06
without the fear of BTK. But those who knew Rader personally, including his family, were left in
01:09:13
shock. Many struggled to reconcile BTK with the so-called regular guy they'd known as
01:09:20
nice and friendly, who was respectful towards women and devoted to his wife. For others, Rader had barely registered
01:09:30
at all. He'd lived such a low-key life that many who had encountered him over the years,
01:09:36
from former colleagues to university instructors, didn't even remember him. Still, a few recalled a glimpses of what
01:09:44
they later interpreted as his dark side, describing him as a by-the-numbers control freak who could be arrogant and
01:09:52
confrontational. The most vocal member of Rader's family was his daughter, Kerri, whose DNA
01:10:00
ultimately helped investigators identify him. Kerri later described her experience of
01:10:06
being raised by BTK in her book, A Serial Killer's Daughter. To her, Rader had been a normal, loving
01:10:14
father who built her a tree house and taught her how to fish. He warned her to be wary of strangers,
01:10:21
advised her to hold her keys between her fingers when walking alone at night, and
01:10:26
told her to ask for identification from anyone who came to the door because they can pretend to be somebody else.
01:10:35
Reflecting on this, Kerri said, "He was trying really hard to protect us, but we realized he was also trying
01:10:44
to protect us from somebody like him." In June 2005, Rader appeared in court for his plea hearing.
01:10:54
The highly anticipated proceedings were live-streamed to a global audience as speculation intensified over what plea
01:11:01
he would enter. Although he had already fully confessed, Rader had long established himself as
01:11:08
someone who thrived on attention, control, notoriety, and the hope of leaving a lasting legacy.
01:11:16
A lengthy trial would offer him the perverse satisfaction of reliving his crimes through the testimony of others,
01:11:22
perhaps even himself, and inflict one final layer of pain on his victims by forcing their loved ones to endure it
01:11:30
all. Surprisingly, Rader made the decision that BTK story had reached its conclusion and announced a guilty plea
01:11:40
to all 10 counts of murder. In his typically callous tone, he gave a detailed account of each killing,
01:11:48
claiming that his motivation in every case was rooted in his sexual fantasy. At times, he got basic but important
01:11:57
details wrong, such as the Otero family's house number. He stumbled over words, lost his train
01:12:03
of thought, and expressed uncertainty on specifics. Given that he'd been such a meticulous,
01:12:11
obsessive, and detail-oriented record keeper, many suspected his thoughtlessness was just one final
01:12:18
mocking. Police found Rader's courtroom performance so embarrassing that Lieutenant Kenneth Landwehr muttered
01:12:26
breath, "Jesus, you stupid son of a [ __ ] Can you look any goddamn stupider? You'll make anybody watching think that
01:12:36
anyone could have caught you at any time." Landwehr's remark was not unwarranted.
01:12:43
Wichita police faced significant criticism when BTK was finally unmasked, with many questioning how he had alluded
01:12:51
capture for so long. Rader had even left clues to his identity in the word search puzzle he
01:12:58
sent as BTK in 2004, including the words lost pet and officer, referencing his animal control work as a compliance
01:13:07
officer. Landwehr was willing to hear and accept the criticism, but the truth was that
01:13:14
when people kill at random, they often get away with it. At Rader's sentencing hearing, the
01:13:24
victims' family and friends were given the chance to speak in the order that their loved ones had fallen victim to
01:13:30
BTK. First was Carmen Otero, who had been a teenager when she discovered her parents' bound lifeless bodies.
01:13:40
Carmen spoke directly to Rader on behalf of herself and her two brothers, Danny and Charlie, who had also witnessed the
01:13:47
harrowing scene. She said, "Although we have never met, you have seen my face before.
01:13:55
It is the same face you murdered over 30 years ago, the face of my mother, Julie
01:14:01
Otero. Rader, when you took away my mother, you took someone who meant a lot to a lot of
01:14:08
people. My mother loved life, her friends, a good laugh, dancing with my dad, and she
01:14:17
loved to help people. But most of all, she loved and lived for us, her family. She showed me how to love, to be a good
01:14:28
person, to accept others as they are, and most of all, to face your fears. I'm sure you saw that in her face as she
01:14:38
fought to live." Carmen went on to describe the deep adoration her parents had for one
01:14:45
another, having known each other since childhood. She remembered her father, Joe, as a
01:14:50
hard-working man who ensured his family always felt secure. Quote, "The thing that everyone remembers of my
01:14:58
father is that he demanded respect, but that he gave it in return. Everyone knew you didn't mess with the
01:15:05
Joe's family. I'm sure you could feel his love for his family as you took away his last
01:15:12
breath." Speaking of her sister, Josie, Carmen said, "You should not have the privilege of
01:15:20
even saying her name. Such a sweet girl. All she ever wanted was to be happy and successful in
01:15:27
school. She had dreams. She was my shadow and at the same time her own person. She always tried to see the bright side
01:15:38
of everything. It's amazing to me that you could be so cruel to a sweet, beautiful child."
01:15:47
And finally, Carmen spoke about her brother, Joey, whom Raider had repeatedly referred to as merely Junior.
01:15:56
"His name was Joey, not Junior," she stated. "But I guess it really doesn't matter to
01:16:02
you. You took away the most lovable son, outgoing, friendly, and adorable little
01:16:09
brother anyone could ever imagine. Joey was a magnet. He attracted people of all ages.
01:16:17
He could have done something big with his life, but you took care of that, didn't you?
01:16:23
A man with a gun against a little boy. You are definitely a coward." Carmen concluded,
01:16:34
"Just recently I realized that I could not remember my mother's voice. It was a painful discovery, but as I put
01:16:42
my thoughts on paper, it comes to me. I am my mother's voice, and I know we've been heard.
01:16:52
Despite having more than half of his family murdered by BTK, Charlie Otero said,
01:17:00
"When it's all said and done, Dennis Rader has failed in his attempts to kill the Otero family."
01:17:09
Kevin Bright spoke next. Kevin, who survived being shot twice in the head by BTK, revealed that he
01:17:17
suffered permanent nerve damage as a result. He described the lingering anguish over
01:17:23
every decision he made during the attack, wishing he had managed to wrestle the gun from Rader and end him
01:17:29
then and there. Despite his ongoing trauma, Kevin explained, "I'm glad I was there that day because
01:17:37
of what Dennis Rader and his fantasy world was going to do to Kathryn if I wasn't.
01:17:43
I'm glad that I was preventing him from doing anything like that." Speaking of his older sister as a
01:17:51
beautiful young woman, Kevin expressed pride after learning that Rader had told authorities she had fought like a
01:17:57
hellcat. He added, "I'm so proud of her for that because I knew she had that in her."
01:18:07
Despite having been just 6 years old at the time, Steven Relford carried lifelong guilt for opening the door that
01:18:14
allowed BTK into his home to murder his mother, Shirley Vianne. Though he did not prepare a formal
01:18:21
statement for the court, he nevertheless had something to say. Wiping away tears, he said,
01:18:30
"I'd adjust to like for him to suffer for the rest of his life. That's all." Nancy Fox's sister, Beverly, told the
01:18:41
court, "There are no words to make you understand what losing Nancy has meant to me and my family.
01:18:49
I lost a friend, a confidant. My children will never have an aunt, and I'll never have another sister.
01:18:58
Nancy's death is like a deep wound that will never, ever heal. As far as I'm concerned, Dennis Rader
01:19:07
does not deserve to live. I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer.
01:19:14
But then, when I think about that, in his sick, perverted way, he would probably find that as some kind of
01:19:21
pleasure or reward. This man needs to be thrown in a deep, dark hole and left to rot.
01:19:29
He should never, ever see the light of day." In reference to Rader's fantasies about
01:19:37
his victims serving him in the afterlife, Beverly offered her own scenario. "Nancy and all of his victims will be
01:19:45
waiting with God and watching him burn in hell." A spokesperson provided a succinct
01:19:53
statement on behalf of the loved ones of Marine Hedge. They thanked all the members of the
01:19:59
Ghostbusters Task Force for making that day possible, while urging the court to impose the maximum sentence allowed by
01:20:06
the law on the monster responsible. For almost 20 years, Bill Wegerle had faced painful accusations that he had
01:20:15
killed his wife, Vicki, until DNA tests implicated BTK in the crime. Calling Rader vicious and cruel, Bill
01:20:25
told the court, "It's all in the light now. There's no punishment you can exact upon
01:20:31
him that will satisfy our needs. We can just ask the court to bestow upon him the most that you can.
01:20:39
And hopefully, we will not have to deal with him or see him or hear from him ever again.
01:20:47
Vicki's daughter, Stephanie, described every day being a struggle without her mother.
01:20:53
Adding, "It's not fair that we had so little with her. I only had 10 years with her, and my
01:21:00
brother Brandon only had two. Anyone who knew my mom knew how much she loved her family.
01:21:08
There's nothing she wouldn't do for any of us. My mother begged for her life, yet he
01:21:14
showed no remorse. He saw that she had a family and a little boy right there in the house with
01:21:21
her, yet he continued with his sick plan. I ask today, your honor, to show no remorse for him.
01:21:30
He isn't worthy." In a speech deemed deserving of a standing ovation if the court had
01:21:39
permitted it, Dolores Davis's son, Jeffrey, delivered a lengthy, passionate address that read in part,
01:21:48
"For the last 5,326 days, I have wondered what it would be like to confront the walking cesspool
01:21:55
that took my mother's precious life. Throughout that time, I always envisioned this day as being one for
01:22:02
avenging the past. I could think of nothing but savoring the bittersweet taste of revenge as
01:22:09
justice is served upon this social sewage here before us today. Now that it has arrived, surprisingly, I
01:22:18
realized that this day is not just about avenging past crimes. Sitting here before us is a depraved
01:22:26
predator, a rabid animal that has murdered people, poisoned countless lives, and terrorized this community for
01:22:33
30 years, all the while relishing every minute of it. As such, there can be no justice harsh
01:22:41
enough or revenge bitter enough, in this world at least, to cause the pain and suffering a social malignancy like this
01:22:49
has caused. Therefore, I have determined that, for the sake of our innocent victims and
01:22:57
their loving families and friends with us here today, for me, this will be a day of celebration,
01:23:05
not retribution. If my focus were hatred, I would stare you down and call you a demon from hell
01:23:13
who defiles this court at the very sight of its cancerous presence. If I embrace bitterness, I would remind
01:23:20
you that you are nothing but a despicable child-murdering, cowardly, impotent, unique, and pervert
01:23:27
masquerading as a human being. If I were spiteful, I would remind you that it is only fitting that a twisted,
01:23:35
narcissistic psychopath obsessed with public attention will soon have his world reduced to an isolated, solitary
01:23:43
existence in an 80-square-foot cell, doomed to languish away the rest of your miserable life alone.
01:23:51
If I had your devil nature, I would delight in the fact that your congregation has turned its back on you,
01:23:58
that your friends have deserted you, that your wife has divorced you, that your own children have disowned
01:24:05
you. And then, I would remind you you'll never have any warm, loving human contact again for the remainder of your
01:24:13
twisted existence. If I had your sadistic nature, I would delight in the pain you feel now in
01:24:22
realizing that your own arrogance and ego got you caught. That if you just kept your big mouth shut, you'd still be
01:24:29
able to be a free man today. If I were judgmental, I would call you the most despicable form of hypocrite
01:24:37
for profaning Christianity by daring to associate yourself with my faith and for
01:24:43
blaspheming in God's house with your demonic actions. But I won't hurl these invectives at you
01:24:51
or I won't rain these curses down upon you because you're not smart enough to understand most of the words I would use
01:24:58
anyway. And even if you could fathom the depth of my hatred for you, I would still
01:25:05
refuse to waste any breath on you because that would once again allow you the satisfaction of being in the
01:25:11
limelight and that attention I refuse to allow you. As of today, you no longer exist.
01:25:22
From this point on, we declare our independence from the tyranny of your actions.
01:25:28
While your body wastes away in prison, we will renew ourselves by incorporating into our lives those characteristics
01:25:35
modeled by our loved ones. Humility, compassion, honor, integrity, kindness, selflessness, and love.
01:25:47
Your despicable actions will not defeat us. Our very lives will be testimony that
01:25:53
good can triumph over even the most hideous form of evil and perversion. Just as your days are over, ours are
01:26:03
just beginning. In the final analysis, you have to live with the cold reality that while all of
01:26:10
us here will overcome your depravity, you have now lost everything and you will forever remain nothing.
01:26:19
May that torment you for the rest of your tortured existence. Rader was accused of shedding crocodile
01:26:29
tears during the victims' family statements. Then, in a rambling and at times incoherent 20-minute speech, he offered
01:26:38
an apology to them all. But, they had deliberately left the courtroom beforehand, so they wouldn't have to
01:26:44
hear any of it. In the end, it made no difference. Those who witnessed Rader's supposed
01:26:51
remorse didn't believe that a word of it was genuine. Because Rader's crimes had occurred
01:26:59
during years when Kansas had no death penalty, he did not face execution. Instead, he was given the maximum
01:27:08
sentence available, 10 consecutive life terms, one for each murder. Dennis Rader, who was 60 years old,
01:27:17
would die in prison long before becoming eligible for parole. Although there has been speculation
01:27:25
about other potential BTK victims, exhaustive investigations have failed to uncover any proof that Rader is
01:27:32
responsible for any other killings other than the 10 he confessed to. Although Rader did not pursue an
01:27:42
insanity defense, some struggled to reconcile that his crimes could have been carried out by a sane person.
01:27:50
Since his arrest, he has spoken willingly about his crimes to anyone prepared to listen, from pen pals to
01:27:56
psychologists, repeating the same stories about the so-called little monster in his head, his good and dark
01:28:03
sides, factor X, and cubing. While Rader is not the first serial killer to attribute his actions to some
01:28:12
kind of mystical or mental influence. His manipulative and self-serving nature means his words should be taken with
01:28:19
caution. He has been officially diagnosed with narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, and
01:28:26
antisocial personality disorders, but has never received a formal diagnosis of psychopathy.
01:28:34
While many in law enforcement, including FBI profilers, use this label to describe him, psychopathy researchers
01:28:41
are less definitive in their opinions, though they acknowledge that Rader exhibits several of its core traits.
01:28:50
One detective who had initially accepted the idea of Rader having a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like personality came
01:28:56
away with an entirely different impression after interviewing him. To the detective, Rader's lack of
01:29:03
genuine remorse suggested little real division in his mind. That his good side never truly existed, and was only ever
01:29:12
an act. In his opinion, Rader was and has always been the little monster. Another observer described Rader as the
01:29:23
closest thing he had ever encountered to a human being without a soul. For the detectives who ultimately
01:29:31
captured Dennis Rader, all of his explanations were just excuses to shift the blame onto anything or anyone but
01:29:38
himself. To them, his motive was simple. Cold-blooded egocentrism. As Lieutenant Kenneth Landwehr put it in
01:29:49
Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door by Roy Wenzl,
01:29:57
"It boils down to this. We all make choices. Rader made his, and 10 people died."