Dennis Rader (aka BTK Killer or BTK Strangler) is a serial killer who was caught by his floppy disk and DNA samples after killing ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991.
American serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader known as BTK, murdered 10 people, including two children, over a 17-year period.
Evil Rader managed to so spectacularly identify himself to the police several years after going on a murderous rampage from 1971 to 1991.
He was caught by a floppy disk.
It took 30 years to catch serial killer ‘Evil’ Lynn Rader.
On February 9, 2022, the BTK killer was the subject of an episode in the second series of the Netflix documentary Catching Killers.
On September 2023, terrifying images emerged as police have reopened an investigation into unsolved cases that they believe could be linked to the BTK serial killer.
Who is Dennis Rader?
Dennis Rader is a serial killer from Kansas, US.
He was arrested in 2005 for crimes committed between 1974 and 1991, and is serving ten consecutive life sentences at a Kansas prison.
Rader, who is now 78, called himself “The BTK”, which stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill”.
Rader served in the US Air Force for four years between 1966–1970.
Upon discharge, he took up a job in the meat department of the same supermarket where his mother was a bookkeeper.
From 1974 to 1988, Rader worked at the Wichita-based office of ADT Security Services where he installed security alarms as a part of his job – all while carrying out the killings.
Over the course of the following decade, he also worked as a census field operations supervisor, a dogcatcher and compliance officer.
Rader was a regular churchgoer and a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita and had been elected president of the church council. He was also a Cub Scout leader.
On March 2, 2005, the Park City council terminated Rader’s employment for failure to report to work or call in – it then emerged that he had been arrested for multiple murders five days earlier.
Who are Dennis Rader’s parents and family members?
Dennis Rader was born on March 9, 1945, in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States.
Rader’s parents are Dorothea Mae Rader (mother) and William Elvin Rader (father).
His mom, born on September 17, 1925, worked as bookkeeper while his dad, born on November 21, 1922, worked as Kansas Gas Service attendent.
Sadly, both of his parents are dead. He first lost his dad on December 27, 1996 and his mom also passed on October 14, 2007.
He has three siblings named Bill Rader, Jeff Rader and Paul Rader. He is the eldest of the four sons of his parents.
He married Paula Dietz on May 22, 1971, and had two children, a daughter named Kerri Rawson and a son called Brian Rader. He lived with his wife and two children before going on to earn two degrees.
On July 26, 2005, after Rader’s arrest, his wife was granted an “emergency divorce”.
In an interview with ABC News in 2019, Rader’s daughter Kerri said she still writes to her father and has now forgiven him, but still struggles to reconcile him with the BTK killer, stating her childhood seemed normal and they were a “normal American family.”
How was Dennis Rader’s childhood like?
He attended Wichita Heights High School, and later went to Kansas Wesleyan University; he received only mediocre grades and dropped out after one year.
He attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, earning an associate degree in Electronics Engineering Technology in 1973. He then enrolled at Wichita State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Administration of Justice.
While he was growing up, both parents were working long hours and paid little attention to their children, which Rader later said caused him to feel resentment towards his mother.
From a young age, Rader harbored sadistic sexual fantasies about torturing “trapped and helpless” women. He also exhibited zoosadism by torturing, killing and hanging small animals.
Rader acted out sexual fetishes for voyeurism, autoerotic asphyxiation, and cross-dressing; he often spied on female neighbors while dressed in women’s clothing, including women’s underwear that he had stolen, and masturbated with ropes or other bindings around his arms and neck.
How many people did he kill?
The BTK killer murdered ten people during his 17-year murder spree.
The youngest were children aged 9 and 11, while the oldest victim was 62 years old.
Four of his victims were members of the same family – Joseph Otero, 38, Julie Otero, 33, and children Joseph Jr, nine, and Josephine, 11.
His other victims are:
- Kathryn Doreen Bright, 21
- Shirley Ruth Vian Relford, 24
- Nancy Jo Fox, 25
- Marine Wallace Hedge, 53
- Vicki Lynn Wegerle, 28
- Dolores Earline Johnson Davis, 62
What did Dennis Rader say on his confession tape?
A 2018 documentary titled Snapped: Notorious BTK Serial Killer featured a previously unheard interview Rader gave to a local television reporter after he confessed to the murders in 2005.
Speaking to reporter Larry Hatteberg, Rader asked: “How could a guy like me, church member, raised a family, go out and do those sort of things?
“I want the people of Sedgwick County, the United States and the world to know that I am a serial killer.”
Rader then told Hatteburg what urged him to commit his crimes.
He said: “I personally think, and I know it’s not very Christian, but I actually think it’s a demon that’s within me.
“At some point in time, it entered me when I was young, and it basically controlled me.”
When Hatteburg asked him if he had any feelings for the victims, Rader replied: “Yes I do.
“I mean, I have a lot of feelings for them.”
Rader also revealed how the murders made him feel, saying: “I guess it’s more of an achievement for this object in the hunt, or sort of more of a high.”
Rader hid all his crimes from his family, and admitted he noticed his dark streak back in the eighth grade – when he was around 14 years old.
He has previously claimed that it was the desire for fame and power that drove him to murder.
How did Dennis Rader get caught?
The BTK Killer was on the loose from 1974 until 2004, which obviously left Wichita in a constant state of fear and panic.
He continuously taunted police about the killings, which later led to his downfall.
Serial killer Evil Dennis Lynn Rader was caught by a floppy disk he left behind.
Initially, the police received a postcard one month later that led them to another note that read, “Can I communicate with Floppy [disk] and not be traced to a computer. Be honest.” Rader ended up sending the floppy disk, and officials were able to use metadata from the documents to reveal him as the BTK Killer.
Law enforcement handed the disk to computer forensic specialists and traced it back to Rader’s church computer. This along with familial DNA evidence from disk convicted Rader.
Detectives claimed that Rader showed much pride in his crimes and even shared many details about the tortures he planned to inflict on the 11th victim.
Rader was arrested in February 2005. He pleaded guilty in June 2005 to 10 murders from 1974 to 1991 in Wichita and Park City.
Where is the BTK killer now?
He was charged with 10 counts of first degree murder and sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences with a minimum of 175 years in prison.
Rader is serving his life sentences in the El Dorado Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Kansas.
He is in solitary confinement, allowed one hour of exercise per day, and has some limited access to television, radio and magazines.
Inside BTK serial killer’s horrifying ‘art’ as newly unearthed drawings of ‘bound and gagged females’ go on display.
New sketches by the BTK serial killer are leading investigators to look into possible connections to other murders in the area.
The Osage County Sheriff’s Office shared a set of the recovered drawings that depict three separate victims of horrific torture.
Sheriff Eddie Virden described the images to CNN, pointing out some of the details that may be pertinent to the investigation.
One of the drawings shows a young girl with blonde hair and a green shirt.
Her arms and legs were bound, and she appeared to be placed on a bail of hay, leading investigators to believe the torture may have taken place on a farm.
“We know from things Dennis said on this exact photograph that it was a drawing he created from an actual barn,” Virden told the outlet.
A second dreadful image featured another young brunette girl with a red top.
She was also bound and gagged, with a noose tied around her neck.
Officials believe that the horizontal line in the image could be the wood slats from a barn.
“You know, possibly a rounded post, but in that area of the barn, what would have possibly a wooden floor, you know, and a lot of times in tack rooms inside of barns or in feed rooms or storage,” Virven explained.
The final sketch exhibited a victim lying flat in what looks like a barn loft space. Her neck was tied to a staircase post.
“The support post appears to have a bracket and then a bolt that bolts through that to hold everything together,” Virven noted.
Dennis Rader’s daughter Kerri Rawson speaks on his newly discovered images
Rader’s daughter, Kerri Rawson, has been speaking with investigators in hopes of helping solve more crimes that may be linked to her father.
She told DailyMail.com that the newly released images were privately held by law enforcement up until this weekend.
“Osage County Sheriff’s Department were trying to find out were these actually women that were victims and murdered or what my dad fantasized about,’ she explained.
“We have no idea right now on a timeline or missing person information on them that is why we released them on a missing person’s poster yesterday with a partner,” she said.
Rawson believes that her father’s drawing could have been a “secret hobby,” and he may have sketched the girls between binding and torturing them.