Latest / Podcast Extra Anormal / BTK Killer Was Absolutely Terrifying(MP3_70K)

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BTK Killer Was Absolutely Terrifying(MP3_70K) · Podcast Extra Anormal

0:00
Speaker 1: Wichita, Kansas, a city once known for its small-town charm,
0:04
Speaker 1: where church bells marked Sundays and families felt safe behind
0:08
Speaker 1: unlocked doors. But beneath the calm streets and manicured lawns,
0:12
Speaker 1: something sinister waited. A man who blended perfectly into the ordinary,
0:16
Speaker 1: all while harboring unspeakable secrets. For over 30 years, he
0:22
Speaker 1: hid in plain sight, living two lives, one built on
0:26
Speaker 1: trust and faith and the other on obsession and control.
0:30
Speaker 1: And he watched, he planned, and when the urge took hold,
0:34
Speaker 1: he murdered. This is the story of Dennis Rader, the
0:38
Speaker 1: man the world would come to know as BTK. Crime, conspiracy, cults,
0:43
Speaker 1: serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume,
0:47
Speaker 1: and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, beautiful,
0:49
Speaker 1: intellectually minded freak. Currently, there's a rat in my room.
0:54
Speaker 1: So if I'm a little on edge, it's not only
0:56
Speaker 1: because I'm talking about the biggest monster there is to be,
1:01
Speaker 1: but also because there's a giant monster rat in my room.
1:03
Speaker 1: So this episode might be a little... A little scary
1:07
Speaker 1: for multiple reasons. Anyway, today we are going over one
1:11
Speaker 1: of the most infamous serial killers in the world at
1:14
Speaker 1: any point in history. So without further ado, let's unbuckle
1:17
Speaker 1: our seatbelts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam all
1:19
Speaker 1: the brakes, and bust through this windshield into this horrifying
1:23
Speaker 1: case together. So in the mid-1940s, Kansas was a heartland
1:42
Speaker 1: state experiencing post-World War II optimism and growth. Wichita, in particular,
1:48
Speaker 1: had boomed during the war as the air capital of
1:51
Speaker 1: the world, turning out military aircrafts, and notably the B-29 bombers,
1:56
Speaker 1: and drawing thousands of new residents for factory jobs. So
2:00
Speaker 1: by 1950, Wichita's population swelled to around 168,000 people. up
2:06
Speaker 1: from 114,000 in 1940. That's a lot of people. And
2:10
Speaker 1: this was due to the wartime influx. And the war's
2:13
Speaker 1: end in 1945 brought a sense of hopefulness. Returning veterans
2:18
Speaker 1: settled down to start families, aided by the GI Bill,
2:22
Speaker 1: and new suburbs, schools, and churches sprang up amid a
2:25
Speaker 1: spirit of confident post-war growth. And culturally, mid-century Kansas was
2:30
Speaker 1: conservative and community-oriented. and life centered on family, hard work,
2:36
Speaker 1: and faith, values that thrived in the Bible Belt environment
2:40
Speaker 1: of the Great Plains. Yet beneath the peaceful small-town facade,
2:44
Speaker 1: societal norms were strict and traditional. Wichita was still segregated
2:49
Speaker 1: in the 1940s, for example, with Black residents relegated to
2:53
Speaker 1: certain theaters and restaurants. And this was the world that
2:57
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader's parents inhabited, a world of church on Sundays,
3:02
Speaker 1: neighborly trust, and post-war prosperity. And blatant racism, all of
3:08
Speaker 1: which would form the backdrop for the arrival of this child,
3:12
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader. Wichita in the 1940s was a city in transition,
3:16
Speaker 1: evolving from its Wild West cow town roots in a
3:20
Speaker 1: modern industrial hub. The downtown bustled with department stores, theaters,
3:24
Speaker 1: and diners, while the outskirts saw new housing for factory workers.
3:29
Speaker 1: And aviation companies like Boeing and Beechcraft and Cessna had
3:32
Speaker 1: expanded massively during the war, and then scrambled to reproduce
3:36
Speaker 1: their production in peacetime. And meanwhile, church congregations grew alongside
3:41
Speaker 1: new neighborhoods, reinforcing the area's strong religious culture. So by
3:45
Speaker 1: the late 1940s, Wichita's civic leaders, often war veterans themselves,
3:49
Speaker 1: were building a city that viewed itself as an embodiment
3:53
Speaker 1: of the American dream. A blend of small-town values and
3:57
Speaker 1: high-tech industry in this optimistic climate, community ties were tight.
4:01
Speaker 1: and crime was generally thought of as something distant or
4:05
Speaker 1: confined to only big cities. So the notion of a
4:09
Speaker 1: predatory killer that could be hiding in such a wholesome
4:12
Speaker 1: Midwestern setting felt almost unthinkable. But from what we know
4:16
Speaker 1: now about Midwestern serial killers, dude, I feel so unsafe
4:20
Speaker 1: in Midwestern. We got this guy, this guy, this guy, like...
4:25
Speaker 1: Shit's crazy. But it was in this setting that Dennis
4:28
Speaker 1: Rader's family began their story. So Dennis's father, William Elvin Rader,
4:33
Speaker 1: was a U.S. Marine veteran who served around the time
4:36
Speaker 1: of World War II and later made a living as
4:38
Speaker 1: a civilian worker for the Kansas Gas Service. And his mother,
4:41
Speaker 1: Dorothea May Rader, worked as a bookkeeper. And they married
4:45
Speaker 1: and would start a family in southeastern Kansas. And the
4:49
Speaker 1: Raiders were known to be of modest socioeconomic status, a
4:53
Speaker 1: working class, middle class family where both parents labored long
4:57
Speaker 1: hours to make ends meet. And William's job with the
5:00
Speaker 1: gas company and Dorothea's bookkeeping position suggests the family was
5:04
Speaker 1: not in poverty, but certainly lived a no frills lifestyle.
5:08
Speaker 1: They could afford a stable home, but with both parents
5:11
Speaker 1: working full time, money was earned through diligence, not privilege.
5:15
Speaker 1: And this work ethic was typical of Kansas families rebuilding
5:19
Speaker 1: after the war. And religion was a cornerstone of life
5:22
Speaker 1: for the Rader family and their entire community. William and
5:25
Speaker 1: Dorothea were devout Lutherans, and they were active members of
5:29
Speaker 1: the Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, where infant Dennis was baptized.
5:34
Speaker 1: And the Lutheran faith, a Protestant denomination with Germanic roots,
5:39
Speaker 1: basically a denomination of Christianity, was common in that region
5:43
Speaker 1: of Kansas, and it stressed moral living and church fellowship
5:46
Speaker 1: and obedience to God's commandments. Growing up in the late
5:51
Speaker 1: 1940s and 1950s, Dennis Rader would have been steeped in
5:55
Speaker 1: culture that encouraged clean living and neighborly kindness. and the
5:59
Speaker 1: Raiders likely attended Sunday service without fail and observed traditional
6:02
Speaker 1: values at home. And as a strict and God-fearing patriarch,
6:07
Speaker 1: William Raider expected discipline and respect from his children. And
6:11
Speaker 1: neighbors later described him as firm, but not the kind
6:15
Speaker 1: of stern religious father figure that was not unusual in
6:19
Speaker 1: mid-century America. And in the broader Wichita area, a strong
6:22
Speaker 1: sense of community meant that people and culture prized safety
6:26
Speaker 1: and trust. And ironically, it was exactly this trusting environment
6:30
Speaker 1: and emphasis on appearing upstanding that would enable someone like
6:34
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader to hide in plain sight for so long.
6:38
Speaker 1: But in the 1940s, no one could have imagined the
6:41
Speaker 1: dark path that lay ahead. So the stage was set
6:44
Speaker 1: in wholesome, conservative fashion. Kansas, and the future BTK killer
6:49
Speaker 1: was born into what appeared to be a completely normal,
6:51
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9:14
Speaker 1: So Dennis Rader was born on March 9th, 1945 in Pittsburgh, Kansas,
9:19
Speaker 1: just months before the end of World War II. And
9:22
Speaker 1: shortly after his birth, the Rader family moved to the
9:24
Speaker 1: Wichita area, which is where Dennis would grow up and
9:27
Speaker 1: where decades later he would carry out his crimes. And
9:30
Speaker 1: he was described as a shy child who enjoyed typical
9:34
Speaker 1: pastimes like reading comic books and playing with neighborhood friends.
9:38
Speaker 1: And as the oldest of four brothers, Dennis sometimes shouldered
9:41
Speaker 1: the responsibility of looking after his siblings. I know how
9:45
Speaker 1: that feels. Not the serial killer. I babysat my siblings
9:50
Speaker 1: and stuff. I can't relate to him on any other
9:52
Speaker 1: level other than that anyway. But family and friends and
9:55
Speaker 1: neighbors later remembered the Rader boys as polite and ordinary
9:59
Speaker 1: kids raised in a very normal benign family upbringing. So
10:04
Speaker 1: the nurture aspect to Dennis Rader is quite different than
10:07
Speaker 1: what we see in other serial killers. There's always like
10:10
Speaker 1: a mix of both, but with him it seems to
10:13
Speaker 1: be more just He was just born into the world
10:17
Speaker 1: spawn of Satan, it seems. But regardless, all the boys
10:21
Speaker 1: attended Riverview Elementary School in Wichita, and Dennis was noted
10:24
Speaker 1: to be an average or slightly below average student with
10:27
Speaker 1: an introverted personality. And he wasn't especially social, and he
10:32
Speaker 1: tended to be quiet and kept to himself, never causing
10:35
Speaker 1: much trouble at school. And in many ways, he appeared
10:38
Speaker 1: to be just another Midwestern boy next door. A quiet,
10:42
Speaker 1: unassuming child, as one criminologist put it. However, even during
10:47
Speaker 1: these early years, there were subtle warning signs of the
10:50
Speaker 1: deviance brewing within him. And he would later admit that, quote,
11:01
Speaker 1: fantasies probably more than normal, unquote. Red flag number one.
11:06
Speaker 1: And one eerie childhood incident in particular seemed to spark
11:10
Speaker 1: young Dennis's dark imagination. Because when he was a little boy,
11:14
Speaker 1: his mother got her finger accidentally caught in a sofa
11:18
Speaker 1: spring and became stuck. So naturally, she panicked and yelled
11:22
Speaker 1: for Dennis to run and get help. The sight of
11:24
Speaker 1: his mother trapped and terrified, pleading helplessly, had an electrifying
11:29
Speaker 1: effect on the boy. Red flag number two. I'm going
11:33
Speaker 1: to count that as five, actually, so we're at six now.
11:36
Speaker 1: So instead of empathizing with her fear, Dennis felt a
11:40
Speaker 1: strange thrill at seeing a woman in distress. His mother,
11:44
Speaker 1: in particular, which is horrifying. And Dr. Catherine Ramsland, who
11:50
Speaker 1: later extensively interviewed Rader, recounted that, quote, it was exciting
11:54
Speaker 1: to him to see a woman helpless, unquote. And in
11:57
Speaker 1: this moment, quote, became imprinted in his mind, unquote, planting
12:02
Speaker 1: the seed of his lifelong obsession with trapping and controlling women.
12:07
Speaker 1: But little Dennis eventually did get help for his mother,
12:11
Speaker 1: but the incident was a formative one to say the least.
12:15
Speaker 1: And from then on, the image of a woman trapped
12:18
Speaker 1: and helpless and looking to him in terror was ingrained
12:23
Speaker 1: in his fantasies. And he was a child at this point.
12:28
Speaker 1: And he's realizing that. Like, I don't know. I don't know.
12:33
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. Just note to self,
12:35
Speaker 1: if you got a little kid and you get stuck
12:38
Speaker 1: and he's just like staring at you like this. I'd
12:44
Speaker 1: get him some help, I think. So as he grew
12:46
Speaker 1: into adolescence, Raider's private deviance escalated beyond mere fantasies. And
12:52
Speaker 1: by his own later admissions, Dennis began, say it with me,
12:55
Speaker 1: the number one thing most serial killers do, they torture animals.
13:01
Speaker 1: So hang or cats and dogs in secret for his
13:05
Speaker 1: own twisted pleasure. And this classic red flag behavior, I think,
13:11
Speaker 1: let's give it another 10, we're at 16 now, just
13:13
Speaker 1: went unnoticed by adults at the time. Because kids will
13:17
Speaker 1: be kids, you know? What happened to Buster? He's just
13:21
Speaker 1: hanging from the tree, but Dennis didn't mean it. He's
13:25
Speaker 1: just being a boy, you know? Or whatever. It's horrifying.
13:31
Speaker 1: I'm laughing. I'm very uncomfortable right now. But all of
13:33
Speaker 1: this just foreshadowed the violence to come. And puberty only
13:37
Speaker 1: intensified little Dennis's disturbing inner world. And by his early teens,
13:42
Speaker 1: he was regularly daydreaming about tying up girls and having
13:46
Speaker 1: complete power over them. And he engaged in acts of
13:50
Speaker 1: self-bondage and autoerotic asphyxiation, which is basically, uh, yourself with
13:57
Speaker 1: ropes or belts to achieve success. a, you know, spicy
14:01
Speaker 1: rush nearly to the point of passing out. And I'd
14:05
Speaker 1: say these are not the typical fantasies of a teenage boy.
14:08
Speaker 1: And if it is, get some help, all right? And
14:12
Speaker 1: as Rader later understated, quote, all males probably go through
14:16
Speaker 1: some kind of fantasy. Mine was probably just weirder than
14:21
Speaker 1: other people, unquote. Just like a little bit, just a
14:25
Speaker 1: little bit. And by a little bit, I mean a lot.
14:28
Speaker 1: But at some point, he discovered a detective magazine in
14:31
Speaker 1: his father's car that featured Harvey Glattman, a 1950s murderer
14:36
Speaker 1: who photographed and tortured women in California for his own
14:40
Speaker 1: perverse pleasure. And Rader saw a reflection of his own
14:44
Speaker 1: desires in Glattman's story. And it was at this point
14:47
Speaker 1: where he also began to steal women's undergarments while indulging
14:51
Speaker 1: in what he called, quote-unquote, prostitution. trolling. Yeah, he's the
14:54
Speaker 1: OG troller, I guess. What? But not in the internet sense,
14:59
Speaker 1: in the sense that he roamed around neighborhoods peeping on
15:02
Speaker 1: women to fuel his lustful imaginations. And despite these alarming behaviors,
15:09
Speaker 1: Rader outwardly maintained the mask of a normal youth. And
15:13
Speaker 1: he continued participating in positive activities that bolstered his wholesome image.
15:18
Speaker 1: And he was involved in the local Boy Scout troop
15:21
Speaker 1: and became proficient at tying knots. More on that later.
15:24
Speaker 1: And he was also active in the church's youth group
15:27
Speaker 1: and attended service with his family every week. And those
15:31
Speaker 1: who knew him casually saw only a quiet church-going boy
15:34
Speaker 1: who never got into serious trouble. But at home, though,
15:37
Speaker 1: there was some emotional turbulence, and Dennis felt somewhat neglected
15:41
Speaker 1: by his mother, who, according to him, didn't pay much
15:44
Speaker 1: attention to the children and often left them in the
15:47
Speaker 1: care of their grandparents. Quote, I got along real well
15:51
Speaker 1: with dad, but mom wasn't always so happy. I did
15:55
Speaker 1: have a little bit of a grudge against mama. Unquote.
15:58
Speaker 1: Rader later reflected. And this is just fuel to the
16:02
Speaker 1: fire for Rader. Because this subtle resentment toward his mother
16:06
Speaker 1: may have further warped his attitudes toward women. But still,
16:11
Speaker 1: nothing about young Dennis' public behavior in the late 1950s
16:14
Speaker 1: and early 60s hinted at the monster he would become.
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Speaker 1: Dennis would graduate from Wichita Heights High School in 1963
18:36
Speaker 1: without incident. And to the community, Dennis Rader was just
18:40
Speaker 1: another local boy entering adulthood now. A somewhat withdrawn kid, perhaps,
18:45
Speaker 1: but essentially... A normal and unremarkable child. Or now, young adult,
18:50
Speaker 1: as one account later summarized. But behind the timid demeanor
18:54
Speaker 1: lurked violent fantasies that were growing stronger and stronger by
18:57
Speaker 1: the day. So after high school, Rader drifted through early
19:00
Speaker 1: adulthood in search of direction. All while the side of
19:04
Speaker 1: his psyche continued to develop in secret. And he enrolled
19:07
Speaker 1: in college and attended Kansas Wesleyan University for a short time. However,
19:12
Speaker 1: academics didn't hold his interest and his grades were... unexceptional
19:17
Speaker 1: to say the least. And with the Vietnam War ramping
19:20
Speaker 1: up and the draft looming, 21-year-old Rader took a different path.
19:24
Speaker 1: And in the summer of 1966, he enlisted in the U.S.
19:27
Speaker 1: Air Force. And this decision may have been partly to
19:30
Speaker 1: avoid being drafted into Army combat. and joining the Air
19:35
Speaker 1: Force allowed him some choice in his fate during the
19:38
Speaker 1: war years. So he went to Texas to complete basic
19:41
Speaker 1: training and tech school before his station at Berkeley Air
19:44
Speaker 1: Force Base in Mobile, Alabama. And he worked as an
19:47
Speaker 1: antenna installer and maintenance specialist during his time there. And
19:51
Speaker 1: Rader served on active duty from 1966 until 1970, spending
19:55
Speaker 1: his service stationed in Turkey, Greece, South Korea, and Japan.
19:59
Speaker 1: And he even earned a medal for good conduct, a
20:02
Speaker 1: ribbon for marksmanship, and received a National Defense Service Medal
20:06
Speaker 1: as his service occurred under a state of national emergency
20:10
Speaker 1: in the military during the Vietnam War. And this military
20:13
Speaker 1: life instilled discipline and technical skills in him, but it
20:18
Speaker 1: did not dampen his deviant impulses at all, okay? And actually,
20:23
Speaker 1: Rader's time in the Air Force provided new opportunities to
20:27
Speaker 1: act on his voyeuristic and fetishistic urges. And he later
20:32
Speaker 1: said that the Air Force actually taught him about the
20:36
Speaker 1: devil's tango, if you know what I mean. The spicy sessions,
20:40
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. And the structure of
20:42
Speaker 1: the military may have contained his behavior to some extent,
20:45
Speaker 1: but it certainly didn't reform his twisted proclivities. And Rader
20:49
Speaker 1: would be honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1970
20:52
Speaker 1: and would return home to Wichita, Kansas. So now, in
20:56
Speaker 1: his mid-twenties, he tried to settle into normal civilian life.
21:00
Speaker 1: And a major positive change came when he met a
21:02
Speaker 1: young woman named Paula Dietz. Now, Paula was a church-going
21:07
Speaker 1: bookkeeper who knew Dennis' parents from their Lutheran congregation. And
21:12
Speaker 1: Dennis' father introduced him to Paula at church soon after
21:15
Speaker 1: Dennis came home from the service. And the two hit
21:18
Speaker 1: it off and began dating. Run, Paula, run! So, unfortunately,
21:24
Speaker 1: Dennis married Paula in a simple church ceremony. beginning what
21:28
Speaker 1: appeared to be a typical Midwestern marriage. But as we
21:33
Speaker 1: know today, it was just to keep up this facade
21:36
Speaker 1: of a normal life so he could commit his utter
21:39
Speaker 1: depravity behind the scenes. So the couple moved to the
21:43
Speaker 1: suburban Wichita area of Park City and planned to start
21:47
Speaker 1: a family. And in the coming years, they would have
21:49
Speaker 1: two children, a son and a daughter. And to outsiders,
21:52
Speaker 1: the Raiders were the picture of normalcy. Exactly what Raider wanted.
21:58
Speaker 1: A hard-working husband, a loving wife, and eventually a boy
22:01
Speaker 1: and a girl, all living in a modest house on
22:04
Speaker 1: a typical suburban street. And in the early 1970s, Rader
22:08
Speaker 1: struggled a bit to find stable employment, but he eventually
22:11
Speaker 1: landed on his feet. And he took a job on
22:14
Speaker 1: the production line at the Coleman Company, which was a
22:17
Speaker 1: camping gear and outdoor equipment manufacturer in Wichita. But by 1973,
22:22
Speaker 1: he left Coleman for what he thought was his dream job,
22:26
Speaker 1: which was assembling small aircraft for the Cessna company. Because
22:29
Speaker 1: aviation was booming in Wichita and working at Cessna paid
22:33
Speaker 1: really well. In that same year, with his career seemingly progressing,
22:37
Speaker 1: Rader decided to further his education. And after earning an
22:41
Speaker 1: associate degree in electronic engineering, he enrolled at Wichita State
22:44
Speaker 1: University in the fall, aiming for a degree in criminal justice. Disgusting. unfortunately,
22:52
Speaker 1: is very, very dedicated to being the best criminal he
22:56
Speaker 1: could be. And perhaps in some corner of his mind,
23:00
Speaker 1: which this is what I think, Rader fantasized about law enforcement,
23:05
Speaker 1: which is a profession of control and authority over people. Specifically,
23:11
Speaker 1: can be women, you know? It's all kind of fitting together.
23:14
Speaker 1: Not to mention, He would learn how law enforcement works
23:19
Speaker 1: and the criminal justice system so he could just maneuver
23:22
Speaker 1: his way around like a snake. So Dennis's life seemed
23:27
Speaker 1: full of promise. He was a newlywed, working toward a
23:30
Speaker 1: college degree, active in church groups, and described as a reliable,
23:34
Speaker 1: ordinary young man. But the cracks were starting to show
23:38
Speaker 1: beneath the facade. And late in 1973, Dennis Rader's tenuous
23:41
Speaker 1: hold on a normal life began to slip, and he
23:47
Speaker 1: was laid off from his job at Cessna in November,
23:49
Speaker 1: which was a blow to his self-esteem and to his finances.
23:54
Speaker 1: Unemployment left him with idle time and simmering resentment. So
23:58
Speaker 1: Raider became depressed over the setback, and without work to
24:02
Speaker 1: occupy him, he sank deeper and deeper into the fantasy
24:06
Speaker 1: world he had known since childhood. And all the violent
24:10
Speaker 1: stuff urges he had been harboring swelled up, demanding to
24:15
Speaker 1: be acted upon. And he spent his days at home
24:17
Speaker 1: nursing dark fantasies of bondage and murder, just picturing women
24:23
Speaker 1: bound and struggling completely at his mercy. And he obsessively
24:28
Speaker 1: consumed to fuel his imagination. And the more he fed
24:33
Speaker 1: on these obsessions, the more they demanded an outlet in reality.
24:37
Speaker 1: And he would continue his aforementioned trolling by scouting certain
24:41
Speaker 1: neighborhoods and campuses to find young women to watch and
24:45
Speaker 1: fantasize over. Just imagining scenarios like hiding in their vehicles
24:49
Speaker 1: to surprise and kidnap them. And he would even physically
24:53
Speaker 1: stalk lone women in grocery stores. Just the ultimate creep.
24:59
Speaker 1: So by the end of 1973, the dark side of
25:02
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader was in full control of his mind. And he, quote,
25:08
Speaker 1: was ready to act on his twisted desires, unquote, no
25:12
Speaker 1: longer satisfied with fantasy alone. So in early 1974, he
25:17
Speaker 1: made the fateful decision to cross the line from fantasy
25:20
Speaker 1: into actual violence. And he had already attempted at least
25:24
Speaker 1: one failed kidnapping or attack before his first murder. And
25:28
Speaker 1: it was an aborted plan involving a young bank teller
25:31
Speaker 1: that didn't pan out. But the failed attempts only emboldened
25:35
Speaker 1: him to try again. And Rader had spent years training
25:40
Speaker 1: himself in his mind how to be a predator without
25:43
Speaker 1: getting caught. And he knew how to tie knots, how
25:47
Speaker 1: to quietly break into a house, and how to wear
25:50
Speaker 1: gloves and leave no fingerprints. And scariest of all, he
25:55
Speaker 1: knew how to kill and carry out his darkest desires.
25:59
Speaker 1: So now... unemployed, and spiraling, he had time to stalk
26:04
Speaker 1: potential victims, and the urge to kill had become overwhelming.
26:09
Speaker 1: So as he embraced his darkest fantasies, Rader stood on
26:12
Speaker 1: the brink of unleashing unspeakable horror on his community. All
26:16
Speaker 1: while his wife Paula and everyone around him remained utterly
26:21
Speaker 1: unaware of the monster growing inside him. I'd like to
26:24
Speaker 1: take a quick break from the very dark and very
26:28
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26:31
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26:35
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26:38
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26:42
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26:45
Speaker 1: I will give her extra food. She's basically trained me.
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28:22
Speaker 1: to it. So on January 15th, 1974, Raiders' long-held violent
28:27
Speaker 1: fantasies became a reality in one of the most brutal
28:30
Speaker 1: family murders Kansas has ever seen. That morning, he put
28:34
Speaker 1: together what he called his hit kit. a bag containing
28:39
Speaker 1: a gun, knives, ropes, tape, plastic bags, and tools for
28:43
Speaker 1: breaking into a home. And he had selected his targets.
28:47
Speaker 1: And this was the Otero family, who had recently moved
28:51
Speaker 1: into his neighborhood. Rader had become obsessed with 34-year-old Julie
28:56
Speaker 1: Otero and his daughter, Josephine. And he admitted he, quote-unquote,
29:01
Speaker 1: lustfully noticed Julie and especially Josephine, considering the young girl,
29:07
Speaker 1: the primary target of his twisted plan. Just a sick
29:12
Speaker 1: piece of shit. So for weeks, he stalked the Oteros
29:16
Speaker 1: from afar, learning their routines, and he fantasized about the
29:20
Speaker 1: moment he would strike. And finally, he could wait no longer.
29:24
Speaker 1: And on that fateful morning, just after 8 a.m., Rader
29:28
Speaker 1: approached the Otero house convinced that only Julie and Josephine
29:32
Speaker 1: would be at home. And he slipped into the backyard
29:35
Speaker 1: and quietly cut the telephone line, making sure that they
29:38
Speaker 1: couldn't call for help if anything went wrong. And armed
29:42
Speaker 1: with a pistol, Rader entered the house through an unlocked
29:45
Speaker 1: back door. And inside, he was startled to find not
29:49
Speaker 1: just Julie and Josephine, but also Joseph Jr. and 38-year-old
29:55
Speaker 1: Joseph Otero Sr. But despite this unexpected complication, Rader pulled
30:01
Speaker 1: his gun and asserted control over the family immediately. And
30:05
Speaker 1: speaking calmly, he lied to them that he was a
30:09
Speaker 1: criminal on the run who needed food, money, and a car.
30:13
Speaker 1: So to think on the spot like that, you had
30:16
Speaker 1: to imagine that he went through every single scenario that
30:20
Speaker 1: could have happened and had a backup plan for that,
30:23
Speaker 1: an A, B, C, D plan for everything. And the Ateros,
30:28
Speaker 1: unaware of his true intent, believed they were dealing with
30:31
Speaker 1: a desperate robber rather than a sadist. So using his cold,
30:36
Speaker 1: authoritative demeanor, Rader managed to bind the wrists and ankles
30:40
Speaker 1: of all four family members without immediate incident. But once
30:44
Speaker 1: they were helpless, he revealed what kind of monster he
30:48
Speaker 1: truly was. And with all four Oteros tied up and
30:51
Speaker 1: at his mercy, Rader methodically began to kill them one
30:56
Speaker 1: by one. And first, he would slip a plastic bag
30:59
Speaker 1: over Joseph Sr. 's head and tighten it, watching as
31:04
Speaker 1: the man sucked. and Joseph Jr. would meet the same fate,
31:08
Speaker 1: while his mother and sister looked on in horror. And
31:12
Speaker 1: Julie would beg Rader to stop hurting her family, because
31:16
Speaker 1: she was sitting there completely helpless, and the mother would
31:20
Speaker 1: meet the same fate, dying of strength. When he was
31:25
Speaker 1: done with that, Rader turned his attention to Josephine, the
31:29
Speaker 1: girl who had been his true target all along. And
31:33
Speaker 1: he would separate Josephine from her mother, taking her down
31:37
Speaker 1: to the basement. And this is where Rader would prepare
31:40
Speaker 1: a noose and use it on the girl. I don't
31:45
Speaker 1: want to... You can put that together. And he would
31:48
Speaker 1: attach the noose to a sewer pipe on the ceiling.
31:52
Speaker 1: And in his own words, while he was asked why
31:54
Speaker 1: he did this, he coldly replied, quote, I thought it
31:58
Speaker 1: would be interesting to watch her die. Unquote. Nobody's life
32:07
Speaker 1: matters more than anybody else's, but I hate talking about kids.
32:12
Speaker 1: I really, I don't like it at all. And after
32:15
Speaker 1: he was done with that, he decided to take that
32:19
Speaker 1: moment to indulge himself. Again, I don't want to say
32:26
Speaker 1: any more on that. You can understand what I'm saying.
32:30
Speaker 1: Because at the end of the day, this was all
32:31
Speaker 1: about control and pleasure for him and how he got
32:36
Speaker 1: pleasure from control. And after he was done, he then
32:39
Speaker 1: collected a few personal items from the home as souvenirs
32:44
Speaker 1: and casually cleaned up and left the crime scene. And
32:47
Speaker 1: then he allegedly took the Otero's family car to a
32:50
Speaker 1: Dillon's grocery store parking lot. And realizing later that he
32:53
Speaker 1: had left a knife in the backyard, he went back
32:56
Speaker 1: to remove that piece of evidence. So in a matter
33:00
Speaker 1: of minutes, an entire family had been wiped out, and
33:04
Speaker 1: Rader had bound, tortured, and killed four innocent people in
33:09
Speaker 1: pursuit of his perverse, disgusting fantasies. And the Otero family
33:15
Speaker 1: murders shocked Wichita to its core. Joseph and Julie's three
33:21
Speaker 1: older children, who were at school during the massacre, came
33:24
Speaker 1: home that day to find their parents and siblings dead.
33:28
Speaker 1: It was just a nightmare that made no sense. I
33:32
Speaker 1: can't even imagine how those kids felt finding their family
33:37
Speaker 1: just massacred. It's absolutely heart-wrenching. And the crime puzzled police
33:43
Speaker 1: for its sheer brutality and apparent lack of motive. Unknown
33:47
Speaker 1: to investigators, the killer had left behind clues. A bizarre
33:52
Speaker 1: knot used in the bindings and... stains near Josephine's body.
33:57
Speaker 1: But in those first few weeks of 1974, the name
34:00
Speaker 1: BTK did not yet exist, and the authorities had no
34:04
Speaker 1: idea that the Otero murders were the beginning of a
34:07
Speaker 1: serial killer's career. And Dennis Rader, meanwhile, was already secretly
34:12
Speaker 1: planning his next attack, because the high he had gotten
34:15
Speaker 1: from fulfilling his dark desires only fueled his hunger for more.
34:19
Speaker 1: And only a few months later, Rader would strike again.
34:22
Speaker 1: And on April 4th, 1974, he targeted 21-year-old Catherine Wright.
34:28
Speaker 1: petite college student who happened to work at the same
34:31
Speaker 1: Coleman factory where Rader had briefly been employed. And Rader
34:34
Speaker 1: had stalked Bright and decided she would be another project
34:39
Speaker 1: for him, as Rader called his intended victims, because he
34:42
Speaker 1: saw them less than human, as we now know. And
34:45
Speaker 1: he would break into her home and he would wait
34:48
Speaker 1: for her to return. And when Catherine came home that
34:51
Speaker 1: afternoon with her brother Kevin, Rader was startled, but decided,
34:56
Speaker 1: just like the front of the siblings at gunpoint and
35:01
Speaker 1: forced Kevin to tie Catherine up and then bound Kevin
35:05
Speaker 1: himself in a separate room. And in order to distinguish
35:09
Speaker 1: the scenario from the Oteros, Rader used household items like
35:13
Speaker 1: bandanas to bind his victims, which he would soon find
35:16
Speaker 1: out was a mistake. So after tying them up, he
35:19
Speaker 1: turned on the living room stereo to drown out any
35:22
Speaker 1: suspicious noise. A tactic he allegedly picked up from a
35:26
Speaker 1: detective magazine and then returned to find Kevin free of
35:30
Speaker 1: his bindings. Because using household items didn't work. And this
35:34
Speaker 1: is when a violent struggle would ensue. And Kevin Bright
35:38
Speaker 1: fought back fiercely. But Rader ended up shitting Kevin in
35:42
Speaker 1: the head twice. once in the forehead and once just
35:46
Speaker 1: above his mouth. But miraculously, the young man survived the
35:50
Speaker 1: gunshots and managed to escape the house by playing dead
35:53
Speaker 1: until his attacker left the room. So Rader, now enraged,
35:58
Speaker 1: returned to Catherine, who also had escaped from her bindings.
36:02
Speaker 1: So unable to strike her as planned... he stabbed her
36:05
Speaker 1: repeatedly with a knife, inflicting fatal wounds. So Rader would
36:10
Speaker 1: flee the scene after he heard Kevin call for help outside.
36:14
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, Catherine later died from her injuries at the hospital.
36:19
Speaker 1: So this second attack had been messy and risky, a
36:23
Speaker 1: far cry from the controlled story of the defenseless Oteros.
36:28
Speaker 1: But it taught Rader a lesson to be even more
36:31
Speaker 1: careful in selecting victims who were alone. So after this incident,
36:35
Speaker 1: he would primarily target women by themselves or with small
36:39
Speaker 1: children to minimize unexpected resistance. But still, two horrific crimes
36:45
Speaker 1: in quick succession had left Wichita police scrambling for answers.
36:49
Speaker 1: Two different crime scenes, multiple victims killed by... And it
36:54
Speaker 1: wasn't obvious at first that the same perpetrator was responsible,
36:58
Speaker 1: but the community was certainly on edge at this point.
37:02
Speaker 1: And Rader, however, wanted the police and public to know
37:05
Speaker 1: that a single killer was out there and that he
37:08
Speaker 1: relished in the notoriety because he's a narcissistic, sadistic man.
37:16
Speaker 1: So in October of 1974, as if unable to restrain
37:19
Speaker 1: his need for attention, Rader made his first contact with
37:23
Speaker 1: the media. About nine months after the Otero murders, an
37:27
Speaker 1: anonymous phone call was placed to the desk of the
37:30
Speaker 1: Wichita Eagle newspaper, directing them to a specific engineering textbook
37:34
Speaker 1: at the public library downtown. And inside that library book,
37:38
Speaker 1: authorities found a letter. And in it, the writer took
37:42
Speaker 1: credit for the Otero family killings, providing details that only
37:46
Speaker 1: the true murderer would know. And the letter's author claimed
37:49
Speaker 1: he was driven to kill by sexual motive and suggested
37:53
Speaker 1: he would strike again. And most famously, he gave himself
37:57
Speaker 1: a nickname in the note, declaring that, quote, unquote. We've
38:10
Speaker 1: gone over serial killers that like the notoriety or want it,
38:14
Speaker 1: but BTK just takes the cake for me. Naming himself,
38:19
Speaker 1: what a pathetic loser. What an actual loser. I can't
38:26
Speaker 1: even think of somebody that just is lower class. than
38:30
Speaker 1: whale shit. Like, he's, I, I, yeah. Just, it's embarrassing, honestly.
38:36
Speaker 1: But obviously, the Wichita Eagle would turn the letter over
38:39
Speaker 1: to police, and the news of the Otero killer's self-chosen
38:43
Speaker 1: name eventually reached the public. And law enforcement, upon reading
38:47
Speaker 1: this letter, knew they indeed had a serial killer in
38:50
Speaker 1: their midst. One who was seeking recognition. And the BTK
38:55
Speaker 1: killer had introduced himself. And after the Catherine Bright incident,
38:59
Speaker 1: there were no known BTK murders for nearly three years.
39:04
Speaker 1: And it's possible Rader attempted other crimes that didn't succeed
39:08
Speaker 1: during this interval, but the first confirmed murders after 1974
39:12
Speaker 1: came in early 1977, so quite the cool-down period. And
39:16
Speaker 1: on March 17th, Rader randomly selected a young mother named
39:20
Speaker 1: Shirley Ruth Relford as his next victim. and the encounter
39:24
Speaker 1: was initiated in a disturbingly casual way, because he originally
39:28
Speaker 1: had a different target, but when they weren't home, he
39:32
Speaker 1: went about finding a different one. And Raider spotted Shirley's son, Steve,
39:36
Speaker 1: walking home with a loaf of bread from the store
39:39
Speaker 1: and approached him, pretending to be a detective looking for someone.
39:43
Speaker 1: And he asked Steve if he recognized the people in
39:45
Speaker 1: the photo, showing a picture of his wife and daughter,
39:48
Speaker 1: which Steve misidentified as his mom and sister, because he's
39:52
Speaker 1: six years old. And the boy then led him back
39:56
Speaker 1: to his home. Like, Dennis Rader, is he just an
39:59
Speaker 1: epitome of evil? I just... So, upon arrival, Rader showed
40:08
Speaker 1: 24-year-old Shirley the same photo, and then forced his way
40:12
Speaker 1: in at gunpoint. And inside were Shirley and her three children,
40:17
Speaker 1: Steve and two siblings, all under the age of eight.
40:21
Speaker 1: And Rader initially attempted to tie all of them up,
40:24
Speaker 1: but binding the children proved to be difficult. And in
40:27
Speaker 1: a twisted act of quote-unquote mercy, he put the three
40:32
Speaker 1: kids in the bathroom and barricaded the door, and reportedly
40:36
Speaker 1: giving them toys to help them stay comfortable before threatening
40:40
Speaker 1: to shoot them if they left the bathroom. But he
40:43
Speaker 1: had no intention of sparing Shirley, however. Rader would bind
40:48
Speaker 1: the terrified woman and would strangle her with a cord.
40:51
Speaker 1: And allegedly, she was actually sick and threw up before
40:55
Speaker 1: being bound and also requested water, which he gave to
40:58
Speaker 1: her before finishing the job. And he later admitted that
41:02
Speaker 1: he intended to kill the children as well, but fled
41:06
Speaker 1: the scene after the phone rang and they said it
41:08
Speaker 1: was likely someone who was scheduled to visit soon. So
41:11
Speaker 1: the Relford children had survived by sheer luck. And thank goodness. But,
41:17
Speaker 1: I mean, I... Just... being in a bathroom and then
41:21
Speaker 1: your mom, that happening to your mother and then going
41:24
Speaker 1: through life, having that happen. I mean, again, my heart
41:28
Speaker 1: just always goes out to people having to live with
41:31
Speaker 1: that trauma, and obviously the victims as well, but the
41:34
Speaker 1: people that are so young and that have to live
41:38
Speaker 1: with that trauma throughout the rest of their lives. I
41:40
Speaker 1: can't even imagine. I cannot imagine what that's like. So
41:43
Speaker 1: this horrifying crime underscored BTK's cruel modus operandi, or MO,
41:49
Speaker 1: targeting a woman at home, binding and straining her, and
41:53
Speaker 1: showing indifference to the collateral trauma inflicted on any children
41:57
Speaker 1: who happened to be present. So by now, Wichita authorities
42:01
Speaker 1: recognized the pattern of BTK's bind or kill signature, and
42:06
Speaker 1: the public was growing very fearful because a serial killer
42:09
Speaker 1: was stalking the city. And BTK's next known victim was
42:13
Speaker 1: 25-year-old Nancy Jo Fox. The writer had stalked Nancy for
42:17
Speaker 1: a period of time in late 1977, noting her schedule
42:21
Speaker 1: and routine. And on the night of December 8th, He
42:24
Speaker 1: finally struck and Rader would break into Nancy's home and
42:28
Speaker 1: he would wait for her to come home from her
42:30
Speaker 1: evening job. And when Nancy arrived, she screamed at Rader
42:33
Speaker 1: and threatened to call the police. And he calmly told
42:36
Speaker 1: her that the phone lines were cut and she would
42:39
Speaker 1: not be able to call for help. And then he
42:42
Speaker 1: also told her of his intentions and he told her
42:46
Speaker 1: that he wanted to restrain her, photograph her, and ask her.
42:51
Speaker 1: So Nancy cooperated initially out of pure fear of just
42:55
Speaker 1: trying to survive, and Rader even let her smoke a
42:58
Speaker 1: cigarette and use the bathroom before it all began, giving
43:02
Speaker 1: her a sense of comfortability, like she could maybe make
43:06
Speaker 1: it out, like he was maybe just a freak. who
43:11
Speaker 1: wanted to get off on taking photos and stuff, but
43:16
Speaker 1: little did she know he had something much, much worse
43:20
Speaker 1: planned for her. So once she returned from the bathroom,
43:23
Speaker 1: partially undressed as demanded, he forced her to lay down,
43:26
Speaker 1: and she resisted as he attempted to remove her clothing
43:30
Speaker 1: and handcuff her, questioning the necessity of it. to which
43:34
Speaker 1: he replied that it was part of the thing and
43:36
Speaker 1: it wouldn't work unless he used the handcuffs. And that's
43:39
Speaker 1: when he proceeded to wrap his belt around her neck.
43:43
Speaker 1: And that's when he repeatedly tightened the belt and loosened
43:46
Speaker 1: the belt so she would pass out and then wake
43:49
Speaker 1: up again and then pass out and then wake up
43:51
Speaker 1: again until she ultimately passed away in the process. But
43:55
Speaker 1: this time, Rader made sure the murder of Nancy Fox
43:58
Speaker 1: got the attention he craved. And the morning after killing Nancy,
44:02
Speaker 1: he himself placed an anonymous call to the police from
44:05
Speaker 1: a payphone, directing them to find her at her home,
44:09
Speaker 1: as he wanted the body discovered quickly. And in addition,
44:13
Speaker 1: in early 1978, Rader sent a long, taunting letter to
44:17
Speaker 1: a local television station, KAKETV, and to the Wichita Eagle
44:22
Speaker 1: Beacon newspaper, formally taking credit for the several murders. And
44:26
Speaker 1: in this letter, he listed details of seven victims. The
44:30
Speaker 1: Oteros counted as four, plus Bright, Relford, and Fox, and
44:34
Speaker 1: suggested a number of macabre pseudonyms for himself, complaining that
44:39
Speaker 1: the authorities needed to come up with a good name
44:41
Speaker 1: for him. Again, just like the most pathetic human being
44:45
Speaker 1: to ever exist, basically. He's in a big group of
44:48
Speaker 1: those people, but he's definitely one of them. But ultimately,
44:52
Speaker 1: he repeated the one that stuck, which was BTK. And
44:56
Speaker 1: he also famously vented, quote, Unquote. Pathetic. And this brazen
45:00
Speaker 1: provocation worked. And the press published BTK's letters saying, and
45:15
Speaker 1: Wichita's citizens were thrown into a panic. Because a serial
45:19
Speaker 1: killer was not only on the loose, but he was
45:21
Speaker 1: openly mocking the police and threatening to strike again. And
45:25
Speaker 1: by 1978, BTK was a name that induced terror across
45:30
Speaker 1: Kansas and the nation. Little did they know that the
45:33
Speaker 1: killer lived among them as an ordinary family man. And
45:37
Speaker 1: for a long stretch of time after 1977, it seemed
45:39
Speaker 1: BTK had vanished. But in reality, he was entering a
45:45
Speaker 1: deceptive hiatus, blending back into civilian life while his murderous
45:50
Speaker 1: persona went underground for a while. So after the frenzy
45:54
Speaker 1: of his first murders, Rader did something many serial killers
45:58
Speaker 1: do not. And frankly, just don't have the willpower to do.
46:02
Speaker 1: I'm not. giving him any sort of credit or anything,
46:05
Speaker 1: but he's just very methodical in what he does because
46:09
Speaker 1: he is a sadistic, pathetic, psychopathic POS, right? But he
46:14
Speaker 1: stopped killing for several years. And from the end of
46:17
Speaker 1: 1977 through the early 1980s, there were no more bodies
46:22
Speaker 1: attributed to BTK. And this period lasted roughly eight years.
46:28
Speaker 1: And to investigators at the time, it was baffling. And
46:31
Speaker 1: investigators had to think, did the killer die or was
46:35
Speaker 1: he imprisoned for another crime or did he just move away?
46:38
Speaker 1: But in truth, Rader was very much alive and free
46:41
Speaker 1: in Wichita. But he had receded into the facade of
46:45
Speaker 1: a normal life. And in his years, Rader focused on work, family,
46:49
Speaker 1: and community. The very things that kept him looking like
46:53
Speaker 1: a model citizen while his dark desires simmered beneath the surface.
46:58
Speaker 1: And in 1974, almost the same time as the first murders,
47:02
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader had found steady employment with ADT Security Services.
47:07
Speaker 1: a company that installed home alarm systems. Just a extremely
47:13
Speaker 1: cruel irony, as BTK's reign of terror led frightened Wichita
47:18
Speaker 1: residents to invest in BTK. security alarms. The serial killer
47:23
Speaker 1: himself was often the technician coming to their homes to
47:26
Speaker 1: set up the systems. Absolutely horrifying. And Rader worked for
47:31
Speaker 1: ADT from 1974 all the way up to 1988, a
47:36
Speaker 1: 14-year stint where he rose to the role of installation supervisor.
47:41
Speaker 1: And through his job, he became intimately familiar with the
47:45
Speaker 1: ins and outs of home security. and knowledge he had
47:48
Speaker 1: already exploited by cutting phone lines and sneaking into houses.
47:52
Speaker 1: And co-workers later recalled that Rader was not particularly well-liked
47:56
Speaker 1: at ATT, because he was seen as an arrogant micromanager
47:59
Speaker 1: who did his job, we did our job, and nothing more.
48:03
Speaker 1: He had no desire to have, like, repertoire with his
48:07
Speaker 1: employees or co-workers. But there was no hint that this
48:11
Speaker 1: uptight alarm installer was secretly the BTK killer. And this
48:15
Speaker 1: job kept him busy during the day and provided cover
48:18
Speaker 1: for any odd behavior around neighborhoods, because he could always
48:22
Speaker 1: claim he was on a service call. And on the
48:24
Speaker 1: home front, Rader maintained the charade of being a devoted
48:28
Speaker 1: family man. And he and Paula welcomed their first child, Brian,
48:32
Speaker 1: born sometime in the early to mid-1970s. Some sources say 1975,
48:36
Speaker 1: others say it's unknown. and their daughter Carrie in 1978.
48:41
Speaker 1: So during the late 70s and early 80s, Rader was
48:45
Speaker 1: busy raising toddlers and then school-age kids. By all accounts,
48:49
Speaker 1: he was a loving father, supposedly, and he was a
48:53
Speaker 1: Boy Scout leader and active in Boy Scout activities. And
48:56
Speaker 1: the same skills he excelled at in Scouts were a
48:59
Speaker 1: grisly part of his crimes. But in the Scout context,
49:03
Speaker 1: Rader was just seen as an enthusiastic dad volunteer. But
49:07
Speaker 1: it's crazy looking at just He was in the security business.
49:10
Speaker 1: He was in the Air Force at one point, and
49:14
Speaker 1: he was a Boy Scout who specializes in knots. It
49:16
Speaker 1: all makes sense when you put it all together in
49:18
Speaker 1: just this terrifying way, but on the surface, who would
49:22
Speaker 1: ever put that together at the time, especially with this
49:24
Speaker 1: huge cool-off period? And he also continued his college education part-time,
49:30
Speaker 1: and in 1979, Rader achieved a long-term goal by graduating
49:33
Speaker 1: from Wichita State University with a bachelor's degree in administration
49:37
Speaker 1: of justice. essentially criminal justice. So just throw that into
49:41
Speaker 1: the mix. So it's wild to think that BTK earned
49:44
Speaker 1: a criminal justice degree studying law enforcement techniques, even as
49:49
Speaker 1: he was secretly outwitting law enforcement. And Rader became even
49:53
Speaker 1: more involved in church during this period as well. And
49:57
Speaker 1: he and Paula were dedicated members of the Christ Lutheran
49:59
Speaker 1: Church in Park City, and Rader volunteered for various church
50:02
Speaker 1: duties and joined the church council. And to his fellow parishioners,
50:07
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader was the reliable man who would usher on
50:10
Speaker 1: Sundays and step in to help with whatever needed when asked.
50:14
Speaker 1: And that was the depth of his deception. Even as
50:17
Speaker 1: the congregation prayed for the unknown BTK killer to be caught,
50:22
Speaker 1: the very man sat among them quietly saying, Amen. And
50:26
Speaker 1: during these dormant years, BTK's case gradually went cold for
50:31
Speaker 1: the police. Leeds dried up, and with no new murders
50:34
Speaker 1: after 1977, some in Wichita hoped the killer was gone
50:38
Speaker 1: for good. But little did they realize the killer was
50:41
Speaker 1: very much present, just temporarily taking a break. But still,
50:46
Speaker 1: Rader's inner compulsions did not disappear, and he later admitted
50:50
Speaker 1: that he continued to indulge in what he called fantasies
50:54
Speaker 1: throughout the 1980s, because I can't even imagine. committing all
50:58
Speaker 1: those things and then just not being able to do
51:00
Speaker 1: anything in that time period. I would never believe that
51:03
Speaker 1: he didn't do anything. But during this time, he said
51:06
Speaker 1: he relived his crimes and planned for potential new ones.
51:10
Speaker 1: And he had kept trophies from his victims, such as
51:13
Speaker 1: jewelry or underwear, and would use these to fantasize. And
51:18
Speaker 1: at home, hidden from his family, Rader engaged in elaborate
51:22
Speaker 1: autoerotic sessions. where he would dress in women's clothing or
51:27
Speaker 1: masks stolen from victims, tie himself up, and take Polaroid
51:32
Speaker 1: photos of himself bound and gagged. Again, just a pathetic psychopath.
51:39
Speaker 1: But essentially role-playing his own victims to recapture the ecstasy
51:44
Speaker 1: of the murder. But these secret behaviors kept his dark
51:48
Speaker 1: side satisfied for a time. perhaps preventing him from killing
51:52
Speaker 1: again immediately. So the monster was sleeping, but it wasn't
51:55
Speaker 1: dead yet. And that's not to say Raider didn't come
51:58
Speaker 1: close to killing during the off years. There were a
52:02
Speaker 1: few near misses, apparently. One of the most notable was
52:05
Speaker 1: the Anna Williams incident in 1979. where Rader had stalked
52:09
Speaker 1: 63-year-old Anna Williams and broken into her home at night,
52:14
Speaker 1: intending to kill her when she returned. But by sheer luck,
52:17
Speaker 1: Anna stayed out later than usual at a dance class,
52:20
Speaker 1: and Rader, frustrated, eventually left her house before she got home.
52:25
Speaker 1: So infuriated by being deprived of his prey, he later
52:29
Speaker 1: mailed Anna an anonymous poem titled, Oh Anna, Why Didn't
52:33
Speaker 1: You Appear?, hinting that he was the one who had
52:37
Speaker 1: been in her house before. and laminating that his perfect
52:40
Speaker 1: plan was foiled. Straight up horror movie. What? Oh my,
52:48
Speaker 1: I would leave the country if I got a letter
52:50
Speaker 1: like that. Oh my God. And to be fair, I
52:53
Speaker 1: actually did. Looking back, I actually did. I got a
52:56
Speaker 1: creepy letter similar to that at a house that I
52:59
Speaker 1: used to live in in Canada. And I'm in a
53:01
Speaker 1: different country now. So there you go. Yeah. Yeah, and
53:04
Speaker 1: there were likely other aborted projects in those years that
53:08
Speaker 1: we may never know about, and since the victims either
53:11
Speaker 1: escaped or Rader lost his nerve. For instance, BTK's journal
53:15
Speaker 1: entries later suggested he trolled many potential targets, but often
53:19
Speaker 1: backed out if conditions or timing weren't just right. Because
53:23
Speaker 1: he was cautious. He was a predator who could exercise patience. However,
53:29
Speaker 1: by the mid-1980s, the savage side of Raider could no
53:33
Speaker 1: longer be contained by fantasy alone, and BTK was about
53:36
Speaker 1: to resurface and resume his ghastly projects, embarking on a
53:41
Speaker 1: second wave of killings that would prove the first spree
53:45
Speaker 1: was no fluke. So after nearly eight quiet years, the
53:48
Speaker 1: BTK killer broke his silence with a murder that hit
53:51
Speaker 1: startlingly close to home. Because Rader's next victim was Maureen Hedge,
53:57
Speaker 1: a 53-year-old widow who lived on the same street as
54:01
Speaker 1: the Rader family. And she was his neighbor just a
54:04
Speaker 1: few doors down. And in 1985, Rader decided it was
54:08
Speaker 1: time to kill again, and he set his sights on Marine,
54:12
Speaker 1: his next project. Just to see if he could kill
54:15
Speaker 1: a neighbor and get away with it. It was a challenge,
54:19
Speaker 1: if anything, for him. So on the night of April 27th,
54:22
Speaker 1: Rader attended a Boy Scouts outing, establishing an alibi of sorts,
54:26
Speaker 1: but he faked a headache, claiming he needed to go
54:28
Speaker 1: to bed early and sneaked away. And he then drove
54:32
Speaker 1: to a bowling alley, ordered a quick drink, and faked
54:35
Speaker 1: a drunk call to a taxi that dropped him off
54:37
Speaker 1: down the street from Hedges' house. And Rader then cut
54:41
Speaker 1: her phone line and broke into the house, hiding until
54:45
Speaker 1: she returned. Marie returned sometime later with her boyfriend, forcing
54:49
Speaker 1: Rader to wait an extended time in the closet. Yeah,
54:53
Speaker 1: he's the guy that waited in the closet. That's why
54:56
Speaker 1: we all look in the closet. All I could ever
54:58
Speaker 1: think about is BTK. Like, Ugh, just, again, nightmare fuel.
55:02
Speaker 1: So once the boyfriend left and Rader was confident that
55:05
Speaker 1: she was fully in bed for the evening, he left
55:08
Speaker 1: his hiding place and turned on the bathroom lights. And
55:12
Speaker 1: Marina woke, frightened, and began to make a scene. And
55:15
Speaker 1: that is when he appeared and bound her with handcuffs
55:18
Speaker 1: and would strangle her to death. But after acquiring her
55:22
Speaker 1: car keys and a few mementos, Rader did something that
55:25
Speaker 1: was unlike any of the murders he had done before.
55:28
Speaker 1: And he took the victim's body from the crime scene.
55:32
Speaker 1: And in a bold and extremely gruesome move, Rader carried
55:36
Speaker 1: Maureen Hedge's lifeless body out of her house into her
55:41
Speaker 1: own car and transported it to the Christ Lutheran Church.
55:47
Speaker 1: The very church he attended. Because that's how confident he was.
55:52
Speaker 1: That's how pathetic he was. And the church was empty
55:56
Speaker 1: at that late hour, as he knew. And inside the
55:59
Speaker 1: holy sanctuary, Rader staged a vile photo shoot. And he
56:05
Speaker 1: laid Maureen's body in various poses and bound her in
56:09
Speaker 1: different positions, and then took photographs for his collection. But
56:14
Speaker 1: the fact that he used his own church for this
56:17
Speaker 1: desecration is a testament to his arrogance and the compartmentalization
56:23
Speaker 1: of his entire life. Because in one moment, he might earnestly,
56:28
Speaker 1: or I think fake, pray in that building, and in another,
56:33
Speaker 1: he defiled it with a deceased body of a neighbor
56:37
Speaker 1: that he just murdered. The level of evil is unprecedented.
56:42
Speaker 1: And after his sick photography session, Rader dumped Maureen's body
56:47
Speaker 1: in a remote ditch alongside a dirt road outside of town.
56:51
Speaker 1: and her remains were discovered days later, but with little
56:54
Speaker 1: evidence to tie the crime to BTK at the time.
56:57
Speaker 1: And to the community, the death of Maureen Hedge was
57:00
Speaker 1: extremely frightening, because she was a beloved neighbor abruptly missing
57:04
Speaker 1: and found murdered. But no one immediately linked it to
57:07
Speaker 1: the dormant BTK killer, because it had been eight years
57:10
Speaker 1: of cool-down period, and also he didn't dump bodies, so
57:13
Speaker 1: the M.O. wasn't lining up. And only Rader knew that
57:16
Speaker 1: BTK was active again, feeding his dark side once more.
57:21
Speaker 1: And the following year, on September 16th, 1986, he struck again.
57:25
Speaker 1: And the victim this time was Vicki Waggerly, a 28-year-old
57:30
Speaker 1: mother of two. And he countered Vicki while working his
57:33
Speaker 1: day job for ADT Security, nicknaming her Project Piano, after
57:38
Speaker 1: a bout of stalking determined that she enjoyed playing the piano.
57:42
Speaker 1: So pretending to be a telephone repairman checking lines... Rader
57:46
Speaker 1: gained access to one of Vicki's neighbor's houses to help
57:49
Speaker 1: seem more believable, before then knocking on the Wegerle home
57:53
Speaker 1: front door while Vicki's husband was out. And she allowed
57:56
Speaker 1: him in to check the phone lines. And once inside,
57:59
Speaker 1: he pulled a pistol and overpowered Vicki immediately, binding her
58:04
Speaker 1: and directing her to the bedroom. And she insisted her
58:07
Speaker 1: husband would be home very shortly and to stop what
58:10
Speaker 1: he was doing. And somehow she managed to break free
58:13
Speaker 1: and fought back ferociously. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough. And Raider...
58:20
Speaker 1: just as he had done with many before. And the
58:23
Speaker 1: struggle had actually upset the dogs, who were now viciously barking.
58:27
Speaker 1: And that, along with the unknown time of the husband's arrival,
58:31
Speaker 1: spooked Rader enough to get moving. And he then took
58:34
Speaker 1: Vicki's driver's license as a trophy, along with some photographs
58:38
Speaker 1: he snapped of her in bondage and slipped away. And
58:41
Speaker 1: at the time, the and her distraught husband was even
58:47
Speaker 1: considered a suspect initially because no one imagined the long
58:50
Speaker 1: dormant BTK had suddenly killed again. And Rader, for his part,
58:54
Speaker 1: quietly blended back into normal life after the crime, maintaining
58:58
Speaker 1: his mask of ordinary life as a compliance officer, husband,
59:02
Speaker 1: and father. And that's what brings us to Rader's final
59:05
Speaker 1: known victim, who came in 1991. So in January 18, 1991,
59:11
Speaker 1: 62-year-old Dolores E. Davis was murdered in her Rule Park
59:15
Speaker 1: City home. And that winter night, Rader staged a ruse,
59:20
Speaker 1: and he attended the annual Dead of Winter outing for
59:23
Speaker 1: the Trapper Scouts, where he set up camp before leaving
59:26
Speaker 1: for a fake errand. and he then drove to Park
59:29
Speaker 1: City Baptist Church, where he left his car and made
59:32
Speaker 1: the short trek through the fields and a cemetery to
59:35
Speaker 1: reach Dolores' house. And wasting no time, as it was
59:39
Speaker 1: very cold, Rader threw a cinder block through the glass
59:43
Speaker 1: door to gain entry, and Dolores awoke in a panic
59:46
Speaker 1: to find an unknown man in her home. And initially,
59:50
Speaker 1: he fed her a lie similar to what he had
59:52
Speaker 1: told the others, that he only intended to rob her
59:55
Speaker 1: and steal her car. So she initially denied his request,
59:59
Speaker 1: but after informing her of the weapons on his person,
1:00:02
Speaker 1: she quickly shifted to a cooperative demeanor. So as he
1:00:06
Speaker 1: tied her up, Dolores began to suspect that Rader would
1:00:08
Speaker 1: not simply be robbing her, and she began to plead
1:00:11
Speaker 1: for her life. And that is when he would show
1:00:14
Speaker 1: her with pantyhose. And during the struggle, she had mentioned,
1:00:18
Speaker 1: whether true or not, that someone would be arriving to
1:00:22
Speaker 1: the house soon, which forced Rader to abandon his initial
1:00:25
Speaker 1: plan to take photos with her. So after carrying Dolores'
1:00:28
Speaker 1: deceased body to her own car, he drove out to
1:00:32
Speaker 1: a wooded area and tossed her body beneath a bridge.
1:00:35
Speaker 1: And Rader later returned to the dump site to take
1:00:38
Speaker 1: more disturbing photos. At one point, dressing Dolores' body... with
1:00:43
Speaker 1: a grotesque female mask and posing her, just to satisfy
1:00:48
Speaker 1: his fantasies for later recall. And her body was found
1:00:52
Speaker 1: about two weeks later by a 15-year-old boy and his dog.
1:00:56
Speaker 1: So the murder of Dolores Davis would turn out to
1:00:59
Speaker 1: be the last BTK's known series of 10 killings. And
1:01:04
Speaker 1: after Dolores' murder, he decided to stop killing. Perhaps middle
1:01:08
Speaker 1: age made him cautious, Or perhaps there was something else
1:01:12
Speaker 1: at work in his dark, disgusting mind. But in any case,
1:01:16
Speaker 1: from 1991 onward, BTK went completely silent. And for the
1:01:22
Speaker 1: next 13 years, Wichita's infamous boogeyman seemed to have simply vanished.
1:01:28
Speaker 1: But unbeknownst to everyone, the killer was still right there
1:01:31
Speaker 1: in Park City. Dennis Rader continued living his ordinary life,
1:01:35
Speaker 1: assuming that he had gotten away with all of it.
1:01:38
Speaker 1: And the cases of unsolved BTK murders went cold, just
1:01:42
Speaker 1: filed away as unsolvable until or unless the phantom killer resurfaced.
1:01:48
Speaker 1: And for over a decade, he did not. And the
1:01:51
Speaker 1: citizens of Wichita slowly breathed easier as the 1990s went
1:01:55
Speaker 1: by with no BTK incidents. But the story wasn't quite over.
1:01:59
Speaker 1: So from 1991 until 2004, Rader led what appeared to
1:02:03
Speaker 1: be an utterly normal life, as we know. He was
1:02:06
Speaker 1: the proverbial pillar of the community. And these were the
1:02:09
Speaker 1: years when BTK became a fading memory in Wichita, while
1:02:13
Speaker 1: Rader himself settled deeper into his double life as a husband, father,
1:02:17
Speaker 1: church leader, and public employee. So if it wasn't for
1:02:19
Speaker 1: his eventual capture, one could easily have imagined him living
1:02:24
Speaker 1: out his days as an unremarkable suburban grandfather. Yet even
1:02:28
Speaker 1: during this long hiatus from murder, the darkness in Rader
1:02:32
Speaker 1: did not disappear. It merely just found different outlets. So
1:02:36
Speaker 1: after leaving ADT in 1988, he had a brief stint
1:02:40
Speaker 1: working for the U.S. Census Bureau in 1989. And then,
1:02:44
Speaker 1: in 1990, Dennis Rader landed a job as a compliance
1:02:47
Speaker 1: officer and animal control dog catcher for Park City, the
1:02:51
Speaker 1: small municipality where he lived. And the position actually started
1:02:55
Speaker 1: overlapping with the tail end of his killing spree. Because
1:02:58
Speaker 1: as a compliance officer, Rader's job was to enforce city ordinances.
1:03:02
Speaker 1: Things like lawn upkeep, stray animal complaints, and housing codes.
1:03:07
Speaker 1: And he took to this role with zeal. And residents
1:03:10
Speaker 1: who encountered Officer Rader often found him just power drunk.
1:03:15
Speaker 1: And he had a reputation for being extremely strict, even bullying,
1:03:20
Speaker 1: especially towards single women, who he would cite for minor infractions.
1:03:24
Speaker 1: And a female co-worker at Park City, Mary Capps, recalled
1:03:28
Speaker 1: that Rader was a nightmare of a boss. Quote, mean, controlling,
1:03:33
Speaker 1: he micromanaged everything, unquote, making her walk on eggshells daily.
1:03:38
Speaker 1: And she even remembered an incident where she saw an
1:03:41
Speaker 1: eerie transformation in his demeanor. as he became enraged over
1:03:45
Speaker 1: a misplaced file, shut the door and gave her a
1:03:47
Speaker 1: terrifying look. Quote, a glimpse of looking in the eyes
1:03:52
Speaker 1: of BTK, unquote, as she later described. And Rader eventually
1:03:55
Speaker 1: let her out of the room as if nothing happened,
1:03:58
Speaker 1: but Mary Capps was deeply, deeply disturbed. and she filed
1:04:02
Speaker 1: repeatedly grievances against Rader, but his superiors dismissed her complaints because, outwardly,
1:04:07
Speaker 1: he was a respected church-going family man. That means nothing
1:04:12
Speaker 1: if you're being a piece of sh * *. Rader's
1:04:15
Speaker 1: need for domination found an outlet in his mundane job,
1:04:20
Speaker 1: lording his minor authority over neighbors and colleagues. So it's
1:04:23
Speaker 1: quite possible that exercising control as a compliance officer helped
1:04:27
Speaker 1: keep his homicidal urges at bay for a while. And
1:04:31
Speaker 1: in a sense, he could play God with someone's pet
1:04:35
Speaker 1: or property code violation instead of murdering, which I guess
1:04:40
Speaker 1: is better. But this guy needs to be thrown into
1:04:44
Speaker 1: the depths of hell at this point. But this behavior,
1:04:47
Speaker 1: in retrospect, was a glimpse of Rader's true nature leaking
1:04:51
Speaker 1: out in socially acceptable context. As he could torment women
1:04:55
Speaker 1: under the guise of doing his job, savoring their discomfort
1:04:58
Speaker 1: in a way that echoed his violent domination of victims,
1:05:02
Speaker 1: albeit on a smaller scale. Meanwhile, Rader's family life progressed
1:05:06
Speaker 1: in an apparently wholesome way, and his son and daughter
1:05:10
Speaker 1: grew into teenagers and then young adults in the 1990s.
1:05:13
Speaker 1: And by the late 90s, both children left home for
1:05:16
Speaker 1: college and careers. And those who knew the Rader family
1:05:19
Speaker 1: saw a proud father who just loved his children. And
1:05:23
Speaker 1: he taught them to fish and camp, attended their school events,
1:05:27
Speaker 1: and imparted moral lessons. Quote, my dad was the one
1:05:31
Speaker 1: who taught me my morals, right from wrong, unquote. His
1:05:35
Speaker 1: daughter Carrie later said, reflecting the sad truth that she
1:05:39
Speaker 1: never had an inkling of his double life. And to
1:05:42
Speaker 1: her dad, he was just dad. the man who gave
1:05:46
Speaker 1: piggyback rides and danced with her. And Paula and Dennis
1:05:49
Speaker 1: remained married and there was no sign of marital discord
1:05:53
Speaker 1: visible to outsiders. The family continued their deep involvement at
1:05:57
Speaker 1: Christ Lutheran Church. And Rader served many years on the
1:06:00
Speaker 1: church council through the 90s, guiding church business and even
1:06:04
Speaker 1: sometimes leading prayers during services. And he would eventually become
1:06:08
Speaker 1: president of the council in 2005. And parishioners respected him
1:06:12
Speaker 1: as a steady longtime member. And if you were to
1:06:15
Speaker 1: list the characteristics of a model citizen, Dennis Rader's resume
1:06:20
Speaker 1: in the 90s would check nearly every single box, which
1:06:23
Speaker 1: is absolutely horrifying. He's a veteran, college graduate, steady job,
1:06:29
Speaker 1: family man, church leader, scoutmaster, neighborhood watch captain. It was
1:06:34
Speaker 1: an astonishing camouflage for the fiend inside. Privately, however, Rader's
1:06:41
Speaker 1: deviant impulses did not lie completely dormant. And though he
1:06:46
Speaker 1: abstained from murdering anyone during these years, he continued to
1:06:49
Speaker 1: nurture his fetish for bondage, terror, and terror using proxies
1:06:54
Speaker 1: and mementos. And investigators later discovered that Rader kept extensive
1:06:59
Speaker 1: journals and boxes of memorabilia from his crimes hidden in
1:07:02
Speaker 1: his home in what he called the motherlode. And he
1:07:06
Speaker 1: would write about his past murders in detail, fantasizing over
1:07:10
Speaker 1: them to relive the thrill. And he also still had
1:07:13
Speaker 1: the driver's licenses of Vicki Wegerle, and some jewelry and
1:07:17
Speaker 1: clothing from other victims, and the disturbing photographs he had
1:07:20
Speaker 1: taken of Maureen Hedge and Dolores Davis. Periodically, Rader would
1:07:25
Speaker 1: take out these trophies to mentally transport himself back to
1:07:29
Speaker 1: those moments of power he had over his victims. And
1:07:32
Speaker 1: he also continued his escalated self-bondage activities as well. And
1:07:37
Speaker 1: in the privacy of his basement or remote locations, Rader
1:07:41
Speaker 1: would tie himself up and pose for photographs, wearing those
1:07:45
Speaker 1: women's wigs or masks, and sometimes dressing in the stolen
1:07:49
Speaker 1: underwear of his victims. definition of a monster. And in
1:07:53
Speaker 1: one such Polaroid later found, Rader had bound himself to
1:07:57
Speaker 1: a chair wearing a woman's blonde wig and a dress
1:08:00
Speaker 1: taken from victim Dolores's house. And through these bizarre rituals,
1:08:05
Speaker 1: Rader could live in the moment for years without killing,
1:08:09
Speaker 1: as one detective put it, using the final memories of
1:08:12
Speaker 1: his victims as fuel for ongoing gratification. And it is
1:08:17
Speaker 1: harrowing to realize that while the city of Wichita moved
1:08:20
Speaker 1: on from BTK fear, Dennis Rader was still very much
1:08:24
Speaker 1: BTK in his secret moments, feeding the monster within so
1:08:28
Speaker 1: that it stayed satiated. But the dormant years nearly ended
1:08:32
Speaker 1: early on a few occasions. Apart from the 1979 Anna
1:08:37
Speaker 1: Williams near-miss, after which Rader did not kill again until 1985,
1:08:41
Speaker 1: there are indications BTK considered other victims in the 90s,
1:08:45
Speaker 1: but just didn't follow through. And as mentioned, Rader referred
1:08:49
Speaker 1: to potential victims as projects or PJs, and he had
1:08:53
Speaker 1: a list of them. And one such possible target was
1:08:56
Speaker 1: his own employee, Mary caps the one he closed the
1:09:00
Speaker 1: door on and gave her the deadpan terrifying serial killer
1:09:05
Speaker 1: stare and mary later wrote a book called my boss
1:09:08
Speaker 1: was btk i was the next victim claiming she believed
1:09:13
Speaker 1: raider might have been on the verge of harming her
1:09:16
Speaker 1: And she cited his frightening behavior and even a creepy
1:09:18
Speaker 1: moment when Rader himself joked to her, you know, it
1:09:22
Speaker 1: looks like me. I could be BTK. Referring to a
1:09:26
Speaker 1: composite sketch of the killer. God, this guy is so
1:09:29
Speaker 1: full of himself and pathetic and disgusting. I hate him.
1:09:33
Speaker 1: With every piece of DNA in me. But Mary wasn't
1:09:37
Speaker 1: sure if he was serious or not, but it unsettled
1:09:40
Speaker 1: her greatly. And we may never know if Rader truly
1:09:43
Speaker 1: planned to murder Mary Capps or any others during the 90s.
1:09:47
Speaker 1: But what is clear is that by 2003, over a
1:09:50
Speaker 1: decade had passed with no new BTK murders, and the
1:09:54
Speaker 1: entire saga was fading into local lore. And many of
1:09:58
Speaker 1: the younger generation in Wichita only knew of BTK as
1:10:01
Speaker 1: a scary story from the past, something their parents talked about. However,
1:10:05
Speaker 1: law enforcement had never forgotten, and the BTK case remained
1:10:09
Speaker 1: officially open but ice cold. But in early 2004, around
1:10:14
Speaker 1: the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders, Wichita media ran
1:10:17
Speaker 1: retrospective pieces about the unsolved BTK murders, speculating about what
1:10:23
Speaker 1: had become of the killer. And this proved to be
1:10:26
Speaker 1: the trigger that awoke the BTK killer from his long dormancy.
1:10:30
Speaker 1: And Rader, now nearing 60 years old, saw the newspaper
1:10:34
Speaker 1: story and could not resist the temptation. So after years
1:10:38
Speaker 1: of silence, his dark side wanted attention again. The stage
1:10:41
Speaker 1: was set for one of the most astonishing re-emergences in
1:10:44
Speaker 1: serial killer history. So after years of lying low, Dennis
1:10:48
Speaker 1: Rader's need for recognition and control surged back to the forefront.
1:10:52
Speaker 1: And he felt provoked by the Wichita Eagles article reflecting
1:10:55
Speaker 1: on the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders. And Wichita
1:10:59
Speaker 1: would soon receive an unwelcome message from the past. BTK
1:11:04
Speaker 1: was back. And on March 19, 2004, an envelope from
1:11:08
Speaker 1: someone allegedly named Bill Thomas Killman arrived at the Wichita
1:11:12
Speaker 1: Eagle newspaper containing some startling evidence. And inside were photocopies
1:11:18
Speaker 1: of Vicki Wegerle's driver's license and several crime scene photographs
1:11:23
Speaker 1: from her 1986 murder, images that had never been released
1:11:27
Speaker 1: to the public. And the letter claimed responsibility for the
1:11:30
Speaker 1: Wegerle killing. And this was the first time authorities definitively
1:11:34
Speaker 1: linked BTK to Vicky's unsolved murder. And until then, Vicky's
1:11:38
Speaker 1: case wasn't officially attributed to him. So the realization that
1:11:41
Speaker 1: BTK was confirming a 1986 crime suddenly expanded his known
1:11:46
Speaker 1: victim count and proved he had been active later than
1:11:49
Speaker 1: they thought. So Wichita police were horrified and stunned. And
1:11:54
Speaker 1: the 2004 letter was quickly authenticated as genuine BTK because
1:11:59
Speaker 1: of the specific details it provided. And it meant that
1:12:01
Speaker 1: legendary Boogeyman was not dead. He simply had been silent.
1:12:06
Speaker 1: And now he was reaching out again. That spring and
1:12:09
Speaker 1: summer of 2004, BTK began a twisted correspondence spree, sending
1:12:14
Speaker 1: a series of taunting communications to the media and to authorities.
1:12:19
Speaker 1: And he was clearly very much enjoying this sick, twisted game.
1:12:24
Speaker 1: much as he had in the 1970s, and perhaps felt
1:12:27
Speaker 1: confident that modern police still could not catch him. So
1:12:31
Speaker 1: in May of 2004, a puzzling letter was sent to
1:12:34
Speaker 1: a local TV station, KAKE, containing a word puzzle and
1:12:38
Speaker 1: fake IDs. And in June, a package was found taped
1:12:41
Speaker 1: to a stop sign in Wichita containing a bizarre collection,
1:12:45
Speaker 1: which was graphic descriptions of the Otero murders, a sketch titled,
1:12:49
Speaker 1: This Thrill Is My Bill, and a chapter list for
1:12:53
Speaker 1: what he called the BTK story. Just self-indulgent bullshit. And
1:12:59
Speaker 1: he also placed several more packages in public spots throughout
1:13:03
Speaker 1: Wichita with other sketches, puzzles, writings, and more. The guy
1:13:07
Speaker 1: was f * * * ing bored and just even
1:13:10
Speaker 1: more pathetic, if that was even possible. So the cat
1:13:12
Speaker 1: and mouse game was fully afoot again. And Wichita descended
1:13:16
Speaker 1: into renewed anxiety as the BTK killer dominated headlines once more.
1:13:21
Speaker 1: And law enforcement formed a new task force and threw
1:13:23
Speaker 1: all resources at this case. And the FBI, the KBI,
1:13:27
Speaker 1: which is the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and Wichita police
1:13:31
Speaker 1: poured over the letters and the clues. But this time,
1:13:34
Speaker 1: the world had changed because there was DNA profiling, computer
1:13:38
Speaker 1: forensic existed, and media was instantaneous. So BTK had entered
1:13:43
Speaker 1: the modern age of policing, and it would prove to
1:13:45
Speaker 1: be his downfall. And a critical break came from a
1:13:49
Speaker 1: package left in a Home Depot parking lot in January
1:13:52
Speaker 1: of 2005. Rader had deposited yet another cereal box containing
1:13:56
Speaker 1: BTK materials in the bed of a pickup truck in
1:13:59
Speaker 1: that lot, but the driver tossed it in the trash,
1:14:02
Speaker 1: not realizing what it was. Unfortunately, it was later retrieved
1:14:07
Speaker 1: and traced to BTK. crazy coincidence. Karma did work that day.
1:14:14
Speaker 1: All right. And investigators reviewed security footage from the Home
1:14:17
Speaker 1: Depot and spotted a shadowy figure in a black Jeep
1:14:20
Speaker 1: Cherokee dropping that box off. And it wasn't clear enough
1:14:24
Speaker 1: to identify the man, but it gave a key clue.
1:14:27
Speaker 1: BTK drove a black Jeep Cherokee and the task force
1:14:31
Speaker 1: quietly began checking registration records for that vehicle model in
1:14:35
Speaker 1: the area. And the noose was tightening. But Rader remained
1:14:39
Speaker 1: oblivious and cocky as ever. So in February, he made
1:14:43
Speaker 1: a fateful error that ultimately gave him away. And written
1:14:47
Speaker 1: in one of his letters to police left in a
1:14:49
Speaker 1: cereal box package, Rader had asked a rather naive question.
1:14:53
Speaker 1: He wanted to send a computer floppy disk, and he
1:14:56
Speaker 1: asked if the cops could trace it. And the authorities
1:15:00
Speaker 1: saw an opportunity because... What the hell do you think
1:15:05
Speaker 1: they're going to say? No, we can't trace that. send
1:15:08
Speaker 1: it over. Guy's stupid as shit. And they replied in
1:15:13
Speaker 1: a newspaper ad as BTK instructed them to do with
1:15:15
Speaker 1: a message essentially saying, use the floppy. It's okay. Which
1:15:20
Speaker 1: is crazy. It is crazy that after this many years,
1:15:24
Speaker 1: this is what worked, but it just speaks to the
1:15:26
Speaker 1: just pathetic naivety of this, uh, human waste of a person. Um,
1:15:34
Speaker 1: So believing them, Raiders sent a purple 1.44 megabyte floppy
1:15:39
Speaker 1: disk to KSAS-TV, a Fox affiliate in Wichita. And the
1:15:45
Speaker 1: disk contained a message from BTK. But what Rader didn't
1:15:48
Speaker 1: realize is that floppy disks often contain hidden metadata about
1:15:52
Speaker 1: the last computer that used them. Oh no! Oh no!
1:15:57
Speaker 1: So tech experts quickly analyzed the disk, and embedded in
1:16:01
Speaker 1: the Microsoft Word file was metadata that pointed to a
1:16:04
Speaker 1: computer at Christ Lutheran Church. And the username of the
1:16:08
Speaker 1: last person who edited it was Dennis. So this was
1:16:12
Speaker 1: a smoking gun. A quick web search by police found
1:16:15
Speaker 1: that the president of Christ Lutheran's council was one Dennis Rader. Wow,
1:16:21
Speaker 1: he just handed it to them on a silver platter
1:16:24
Speaker 1: like a freaking moron. And he drove what? A black Cherokee.
1:16:30
Speaker 1: All the puzzle pieces are coming together. And the decades-long
1:16:33
Speaker 1: mystery had a name and a face at last. And
1:16:37
Speaker 1: surveillance on Rader began immediately and quickly. quietly because investigators
1:16:42
Speaker 1: needed definitive proof linking him to the murders and dna
1:16:46
Speaker 1: was the route because they had the dna from btk's
1:16:49
Speaker 1: left at some crime scenes but they did not want
1:16:52
Speaker 1: to tip raider off by asking for his dna directly
1:16:55
Speaker 1: obviously so they obtained a sample in a covert way
1:16:59
Speaker 1: And they learned that Rader's daughter, Carrie, had a pap
1:17:02
Speaker 1: smear at a university clinic as a student years earlier.
1:17:07
Speaker 1: So with a court order and her permission, of course,
1:17:11
Speaker 1: they obtained the DNA from that medical sample. I didn't
1:17:14
Speaker 1: even know this was possible, by the way. This is
1:17:16
Speaker 1: crazy work. and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation lab tested
1:17:19
Speaker 1: the daughter's DNA, which makes sense. I mean, just going
1:17:22
Speaker 1: to a pap smear place just seems kind of crazy,
1:17:24
Speaker 1: but whatever. Anyway, but they got the daughter's DNA against
1:17:27
Speaker 1: the BTK crime scene DNA and found a familial match,
1:17:31
Speaker 1: indicating that the killer was closely related to Carrie. And
1:17:35
Speaker 1: this was the final confirmation. Dennis Rader's family member's DNA
1:17:39
Speaker 1: was consistent with BTK's. So the odds of him being
1:17:42
Speaker 1: BTK were high. Really, really, really high. So on the
1:17:47
Speaker 1: strength of that evidence, plus all the circumstantial clues, they
1:17:50
Speaker 1: moved in to make the arrest before Rader could potentially
1:17:53
Speaker 1: harm anyone or destroy evidence. And February 25th, 2005 was
1:17:58
Speaker 1: a cold day in Wichita when police decided it was
1:18:01
Speaker 1: time to take down BTK. And in a carefully coordinated operation,
1:18:06
Speaker 1: Wichita police pulled over Dennis Rader near his home, and
1:18:09
Speaker 1: he was taken by complete surprise. So officers ordered him
1:18:13
Speaker 1: out of his Jeep and onto the ground. And when
1:18:16
Speaker 1: asked if he knew why he was being arrested, he
1:18:18
Speaker 1: allegedly murmured, Oh, I have suspicions. Why? Just trying to
1:18:22
Speaker 1: play it cool, but you know that he was literally
1:18:24
Speaker 1: crying inside like a little baby bitch? In his home,
1:18:28
Speaker 1: his vehicle, his work office, Christ Lutheran Church, and the
1:18:31
Speaker 1: main branch of the Park City Library were all searched
1:18:34
Speaker 1: for evidence. And once in custody, the evidence against him
1:18:37
Speaker 1: was overwhelming, and Rader quickly folded. And at police headquarters,
1:18:43
Speaker 1: after a bit of initial denial, Rader began talking. And
1:18:46
Speaker 1: once he started, he did not stop. So when a interrogation,
1:18:51
Speaker 1: Rader confessed in detail to being BTK, and to the
1:18:55
Speaker 1: 10 murders attributed to the killer. And investigators were struck
1:18:58
Speaker 1: by how matter-of-fact and emotionless his tone was as he
1:19:02
Speaker 1: recounted each killing. It was as if he was proud,
1:19:06
Speaker 1: eager to finally tell his story now that the game
1:19:09
Speaker 1: was over. And he expressed only one real surprise, and
1:19:13
Speaker 1: he was shocked that the police had lied to him
1:19:15
Speaker 1: about tracing the floppy disk. This guy, I can't. I
1:19:21
Speaker 1: can't with this guy. Like, the fact that he studied
1:19:24
Speaker 1: criminal justice and doesn't realize that police are allowed to
1:19:28
Speaker 1: lie in circumstances like this is, like, next-level stupid. Like,
1:19:32
Speaker 1: he is really smart, but also incredibly stupid, and I'm
1:19:35
Speaker 1: so grateful for that. And his ego is huge. And
1:19:39
Speaker 1: that ego was bruised that he had been outsmarted. And meanwhile,
1:19:44
Speaker 1: news of the arrest sent shockwaves through Wichita and the nation.
1:19:48
Speaker 1: And for Wichita residents who remembered the terror of the 1970s,
1:19:51
Speaker 1: it was almost surreal to learn BTK had been living
1:19:54
Speaker 1: among them as a seemingly ordinary man. And for Rader's friends, co-workers,
1:19:58
Speaker 1: and especially his family, the revelation was devastating. And no
1:20:04
Speaker 1: one close to Dennis had any clue of his secret life.
1:20:08
Speaker 1: Besides Mary Capps, probably. And the betrayal was total. His pastor,
1:20:13
Speaker 1: who had prayed with Raider Weekly, said, It was beyond comprehension.
1:20:18
Speaker 1: We prayed for the capture of BTK. We didn't know
1:20:21
Speaker 1: he was among us. And the community's collective sense of
1:20:24
Speaker 1: relief at BTK's capture was tempered by the horror that
1:20:28
Speaker 1: the boogeyman had been captured. the bland neighbor next door
1:20:32
Speaker 1: all along. So Reiter's arrest was just the beginning of
1:20:35
Speaker 1: a legal saga that would see him confronted with his
1:20:37
Speaker 1: crimes in a court of law. And he faced a
1:20:40
Speaker 1: swift and airtight prosecution. And on March 1st, 2005, he
1:20:45
Speaker 1: was formally charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder, corresponding
1:20:49
Speaker 1: to each of his known victims. Kansas had no death
1:20:52
Speaker 1: penalty at the time the murders were committed. The state's
1:20:55
Speaker 1: death penalty law was reinstated in 1994, three years after
1:20:59
Speaker 1: his last kill, and could not be applied retroactively. Damn. So,
1:21:04
Speaker 1: Rader's punishment would be life in prison regardless of trial outcome,
1:21:08
Speaker 1: which I kind of love the idea of him just
1:21:11
Speaker 1: rotting away in prison, hopefully getting beat up and stuff. Sorry.
1:21:14
Speaker 1: But I'm not sorry. So, understanding this, Rader chose to
1:21:17
Speaker 1: waive his right to a jury trial and instead opted
1:21:20
Speaker 1: to plead guilty to all charges. So, on June 27th,
1:21:24
Speaker 1: in a packed Wichita courtroom, Dennis Rader stood before Judge
1:21:27
Speaker 1: Gregory Waller and calmly pleaded guilty to murdering 10 people.
1:21:32
Speaker 1: And what followed was one of the most chilling courtroom
1:21:34
Speaker 1: confessions ever recorded. And as part of the plea, Rader
1:21:38
Speaker 1: was required to give the factual basis for each of
1:21:41
Speaker 1: his crimes, essentially describing in his own words what he
1:21:45
Speaker 1: had done to each victim. And for about 45 minutes,
1:21:51
Speaker 1: Rader spoke in an unnervingly detached, casual tone, recounting each
1:21:56
Speaker 1: murder in detail as if discussing the weather. And he
1:21:59
Speaker 1: described how he tied them up and put bags over
1:22:03
Speaker 1: their heads and how he locked kids away and so
1:22:07
Speaker 1: on and so on. And his voice was emotionless and clinical,
1:22:12
Speaker 1: even when describing the death of Rader. the younger victims.
1:22:16
Speaker 1: And at times he used his familiar phrase, projects, to
1:22:21
Speaker 1: refer to his victims and hits to describe the murders,
1:22:25
Speaker 1: like he was recounting a work project. And the bizarre
1:22:28
Speaker 1: courtroom monologue stunned those present. It was the ultimate revelation
1:22:32
Speaker 1: of the banality of evil. Soft-spoken, middle-aged man describing acts
1:22:38
Speaker 1: of unimaginable cruelty in the same tone one might use
1:22:41
Speaker 1: to order a sandwich. And his words confirmed everything from
1:22:46
Speaker 1: the early 1974 killings to the 1991 murder, leaving no
1:22:50
Speaker 1: doubt the right man had been caught. And Rader expressed
1:22:54
Speaker 1: that he had fantasies that drove him and that he
1:22:57
Speaker 1: couldn't stop himself. But he did not outwardly express remorse
1:23:01
Speaker 1: during his plea. And his hearing solidified his guilt on record.
1:23:05
Speaker 1: And with the guilty plea entered, the case moved directly
1:23:07
Speaker 1: to the sentencing phase, since no trial was needed. And
1:23:10
Speaker 1: Kansas law mandated life sentences for each first-degree murder. And
1:23:14
Speaker 1: the main question was whether the 10 life sentences would
1:23:17
Speaker 1: run concurrently or consecutively, which could affect the symbolic minimum
1:23:23
Speaker 1: time he'd serve. Practically, at Rader's age, any life sentence
1:23:27
Speaker 1: meant he would die in prison. But Judge Waller had
1:23:29
Speaker 1: discretion and was inclined to impose the maximum severity. Before
1:23:34
Speaker 1: he did, however, the court allowed the families of Raider's
1:23:37
Speaker 1: victims to give victim impact statements. And this took place
1:23:41
Speaker 1: on August 18th, and it was an emotionally wrenching proceeding.
1:23:46
Speaker 1: One by one, the survivors, including children, siblings, spouses of
1:23:51
Speaker 1: the victims, stood only a few feet away from Raider,
1:23:54
Speaker 1: the absolute pathetic monster, and poured out their pain and anger.
1:23:59
Speaker 1: They wanted him to know the devastation he caused. And
1:24:02
Speaker 1: Beverly Platt, Nancy Fox's sister, spoke through tears about the
1:24:06
Speaker 1: eternal grief of losing Nancy. Quote, Nancy's death is like
1:24:11
Speaker 1: a deep wound that will never heal. As far as
1:24:13
Speaker 1: I'm concerned, Dennis Rader does not deserve to live. I
1:24:17
Speaker 1: want him to suffer as much as he made his
1:24:19
Speaker 1: victims suffer. This man needs to be thrown in a deep,
1:24:23
Speaker 1: dark hole and left to rot. He should never, ever
1:24:27
Speaker 1: see the light of day. Unquote. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is
1:24:34
Speaker 1: what it should be, in my opinion. Just rot in
1:24:38
Speaker 1: a dark hole, never see the light of day, get
1:24:40
Speaker 1: the minimal amount of food to survive just so you
1:24:44
Speaker 1: can survive. But just a painful existence. That is what
1:24:49
Speaker 1: he deserves. That is what he deserves. And I'm not
1:24:52
Speaker 1: going to say sorry for that. That's just true. Carmen Otero,
1:24:55
Speaker 1: who was 15 when she came home from school to
1:24:57
Speaker 1: find her parents and siblings murdered. unleashed raw fury at Rader.
1:25:02
Speaker 1: And Kevin Bright, the young man who survived being shot
1:25:05
Speaker 1: in the head during the Catherine Bright attack, delivered a
1:25:08
Speaker 1: statement so gut-wrenching that some of the courtroom broke down.
1:25:12
Speaker 1: And he described the trauma and the guilt he carried
1:25:15
Speaker 1: for not being able to save his sister. All the while,
1:25:18
Speaker 1: Rader sat at the defense table, mostly just avoiding eye contact.
1:25:23
Speaker 1: Occasionally welling up with tears, but saying nothing. The prosecution
1:25:28
Speaker 1: also presented additional evidence during sentencing to ensure Rader received
1:25:32
Speaker 1: the harshest possible penalty. The detectives testified to some of
1:25:35
Speaker 1: Rader's more grotesque behaviors. illustrating the depth of his depravity.
1:25:40
Speaker 1: And Captain Sam Houston of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office
1:25:43
Speaker 1: recounted how Rader's gruesome fantasies were fueled by the final
1:25:47
Speaker 1: moments of his victim's lives. And he revealed that Rader
1:25:50
Speaker 1: had a journal where he described how he savored the
1:25:53
Speaker 1: moment a victim was bound and helpless. That, quote, it
1:25:57
Speaker 1: was this moment when the victim was tied and bound,
1:26:00
Speaker 1: which gave Rader the greatest strength. thrill. And to underscore this,
1:26:04
Speaker 1: the prosecution showed the court some of Rader's secret photos
1:26:07
Speaker 1: of himself, including one where he was seen wearing a
1:26:10
Speaker 1: woman's mask and blonde wig tied to a chair with bindings.
1:26:14
Speaker 1: And other photos showed Rader dressed in victim Dolores Davis
1:26:17
Speaker 1: clothing and a female mask bound in various poses. I
1:26:21
Speaker 1: imagine he was And these disturbing pictures demonstrated how far
1:26:31
Speaker 1: Rader went in reliving the murders and how twisted his
1:26:34
Speaker 1: mind remained even years later. And the courtroom gasped at
1:26:38
Speaker 1: these revelations. And that same day, Judge Waller pronounced the sentence.
1:26:43
Speaker 1: Citing the extreme cruelty and the lasting harm to the community,
1:26:46
Speaker 1: he ordered the maximum 10 consecutive life sentences, one for
1:26:50
Speaker 1: each murder. And in Kansas, a life sentence for a
1:26:53
Speaker 1: crime in the 1970s and 80s carried a minimum of
1:26:57
Speaker 1: 15 years, life means 15 at the time, also known
1:27:00
Speaker 1: as hard 15, and for later crimes, a hard 40
1:27:05
Speaker 1: for the 1990s murders due to updated laws. So by
1:27:08
Speaker 1: running them consecutively, the judge ensured Rader would never even
1:27:12
Speaker 1: come close to a parole date, and the earliest theoretical
1:27:15
Speaker 1: parole eligibility for Rader added up to some 175 years
1:27:18
Speaker 1: in the future. So there's no way he's ever, ever,
1:27:24
Speaker 1: ever getting out. And Rader would spend the rest of
1:27:26
Speaker 1: his natural life in prison. No appeals or leniency in sight.
1:27:31
Speaker 1: And in addition to the prison sentences, the court addressed
1:27:33
Speaker 1: financial and legal repercussions. And the state of Kansas sought
1:27:37
Speaker 1: to ensure Rader did not profit from his crimes in
1:27:40
Speaker 1: any way. Thank God they did this. citing Son of
1:27:45
Speaker 1: Sam laws, which prevent criminals from making money off of
1:27:48
Speaker 1: book deals or media about their crimes. I will definitely
1:27:52
Speaker 1: do a video on Son of Sam at a different
1:27:54
Speaker 1: time if you guys want that. I think I just
1:27:56
Speaker 1: will anyway, because that's a crazy, crazy case, to say
1:28:01
Speaker 1: the least, and all the profiting and everything anyway. So
1:28:04
Speaker 1: he was not allowed to do that, and Kansas Attorney
1:28:07
Speaker 1: General filed liens to claim any of Rader's assets that
1:28:10
Speaker 1: could be used for restitution or legal fees. So Rader
1:28:14
Speaker 1: was ordered to pay nearly $ 42, 000 in restitution to the
1:28:17
Speaker 1: victim's families for funeral costs and other expenses. I think
1:28:21
Speaker 1: that's extremely low, but that's just me. And he was
1:28:24
Speaker 1: also held responsible for court costs. And at the time
1:28:27
Speaker 1: of his arrest, Rader and his wife owned their house
1:28:30
Speaker 1: in Park City, and he had a civilian government pension.
1:28:33
Speaker 1: And Paula, who had divorced him immediately after his arrest,
1:28:37
Speaker 1: the divorce was finalized in July of 2005, just five
1:28:39
Speaker 1: months later. after arrest, with the judge granting it swiftly
1:28:43
Speaker 1: for her protection, was initially awarded their property and his
1:28:47
Speaker 1: retirement funds. So at least the family could be well off. However,
1:28:51
Speaker 1: families of BTK's victims filed civil suits to prevent any
1:28:55
Speaker 1: sale of Rader's home or or assets benefiting his family,
1:28:59
Speaker 1: which is understandable. And indeed, the modest Raider home was
1:29:03
Speaker 1: put up for auction, and someone offered $ 90, 000 for it,
1:29:07
Speaker 1: but legal wrangling put that on hold, and the state
1:29:09
Speaker 1: intended that proceeds from any sale go towards paying the
1:29:12
Speaker 1: restitution and costs, not to Raider's wife or children. Which,
1:29:17
Speaker 1: that's like a whole, that's a tough moral thing. It's
1:29:20
Speaker 1: like the family didn't know what was going on, you know,
1:29:24
Speaker 1: and like the victim's families had lost somebody. It's just like,
1:29:29
Speaker 1: they're all victims in a sense. But I can't even
1:29:32
Speaker 1: imagine just being one of the victim's family members and
1:29:36
Speaker 1: seeing the family be well off while you're struggling. You
1:29:39
Speaker 1: lost somebody and you have all these, it's a whole
1:29:42
Speaker 1: moral dilemma. I don't even know what's right and wrong.
1:29:44
Speaker 1: So by late 2005, Judge Waller had placed a hold
1:29:47
Speaker 1: on the transfer of the home's title until these issues
1:29:49
Speaker 1: were sorted. And in the end, any meager assets Rader
1:29:53
Speaker 1: had were consumed by legal battles, victim compensation, and government
1:29:57
Speaker 1: claims for the cost of his public defender. And the
1:29:59
Speaker 1: Kansas AG even filed a lien to recover the cost
1:30:03
Speaker 1: of Rader's court-appointed defense attorneys. So financially and legally, Rader
1:30:07
Speaker 1: was left with nothing, which was exactly what the families wanted,
1:30:12
Speaker 1: which was... make sense to me. And victims' relatives and
1:30:15
Speaker 1: public commentary expressed that Rader should not profit or receive
1:30:19
Speaker 1: comfort from what remained. So justice in the courtroom had
1:30:22
Speaker 1: been served, and the BTK killer was condemned, and every
1:30:26
Speaker 1: possible measure taken to ensure his punishment was absolute. So
1:30:29
Speaker 1: after his sentencing, Dennis Rader was transferred into custody of
1:30:33
Speaker 1: the Kansas Department of Corrections to begin serving his 10
1:30:36
Speaker 1: life sentences. And he was now inmate number 0083707, destined
1:30:42
Speaker 1: to spend the remainder of his days behind bars. And
1:30:44
Speaker 1: Kansas officials, aware of the notoriety of this prisoner and
1:30:48
Speaker 1: the need for security, placed Rader in the El Dorado
1:30:51
Speaker 1: Correctional Facility, which was a maximum security prison in Kansas.
1:30:55
Speaker 1: And on August 19th, 2005, just one day after sentencing,
1:30:59
Speaker 1: Rader arrived at El Dorado and was immediately put into
1:31:02
Speaker 1: administrative segregation. basically solitary confinement for his own protection, and
1:31:08
Speaker 1: to isolate him from harming or being harmed by others.
1:31:11
Speaker 1: And life in prison for Rader has been stark and
1:31:14
Speaker 1: tightly controlled. Yes, he is still rotting, guys. He's rotting,
1:31:19
Speaker 1: and I love it. And for the first months and years,
1:31:22
Speaker 1: he was kept in an 8-foot-by-10-foot cell 23 hours a day. Initially,
1:31:29
Speaker 1: a judge had ordered special restrictions on Rader to prevent
1:31:32
Speaker 1: him from relishing or sharing his sick fantasies from behind bars,
1:31:36
Speaker 1: and the court ruled that Rader should not be allowed
1:31:38
Speaker 1: to possess, receive, or create any visual images of humans, beings,
1:31:42
Speaker 1: or animals, including drawings, due to fear he might derive
1:31:46
Speaker 1: pleasure from sketching violent scenes or communicating coded messages. And
1:31:49
Speaker 1: for a time, he was barred even from watching television
1:31:52
Speaker 1: or having magazines with pictures. However, these restrictions eased after
1:31:56
Speaker 1: about a year once Rader proved to be a compliant inmate.
1:32:00
Speaker 1: And through a privileged system for good behavior, he eventually
1:32:03
Speaker 1: was allowed limited access to TV, radio, and reading material
1:32:07
Speaker 1: by 2006 and 2007. And the prison administration concluded that
1:32:11
Speaker 1: completely sensory depriving him was unnecessary if he followed the rules. Ugh!
1:32:17
Speaker 1: I don't agree. But still, Rader has remained in isolation,
1:32:20
Speaker 1: not integrated with the general prison population. And Rader, now
1:32:24
Speaker 1: in his late 70s, he turned 80 in 2025, has
1:32:27
Speaker 1: spent over 18 years in custody. And over that time,
1:32:31
Speaker 1: bits of information have emerged about his condition and mindset.
1:32:35
Speaker 1: And he's kept to himself, occupied by reading the Bible
1:32:38
Speaker 1: and true crime books, are known favorites, and writing extensive letters.
1:32:43
Speaker 1: Why the f- Is he allowed to do any of that?
1:32:45
Speaker 1: That doesn't make sense to me, but what do I know?
1:32:47
Speaker 1: I'm just a YouTuber. So, indeed, BTK's penchant for communication
1:32:52
Speaker 1: did not entirely stop in prison, and he began corresponding
1:32:56
Speaker 1: with a few people on the outside, though under prison monitoring.
1:33:00
Speaker 1: The most prominent correspondent has been forensic psychology professor Dr.
1:33:04
Speaker 1: Catherine Ramsland, who engaged in a multi-year exchange of letters
1:33:08
Speaker 1: and interviews with Radar. Ramsland even wrote a 2016 book
1:33:13
Speaker 1: based on it titled Confession of a Serial Killer, The
1:33:16
Speaker 1: Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer. And through
1:33:19
Speaker 1: these letters, Rader expounded on his life and crimes in
1:33:23
Speaker 1: the third person, sometimes referring to his murderous side as
1:33:26
Speaker 1: Factor X, giving Ramsland insight into his psychology. And he
1:33:31
Speaker 1: described early fantasies, the Oterra scene, etc. And Rader revealed
1:33:36
Speaker 1: in the attention from Dr. Ramsland seeing it as a
1:33:39
Speaker 1: way to cement his infamous legacy. And inside Eldorado, Rader's
1:33:43
Speaker 1: behavior has been described as largely compliant and routine. Because
1:33:47
Speaker 1: we know he's really good at blending in. And he's
1:33:51
Speaker 1: aged into a quiet, if still manipulative, older man. and
1:33:56
Speaker 1: one of the few visitors he had was his pastor
1:33:59
Speaker 1: from Christ, Lutheran, who initially visited to offer spiritual counsel,
1:34:03
Speaker 1: and Rader, interestingly, still allegedly considered himself religious, which is...
1:34:09
Speaker 1: No words. I have no words. And Rader's wife, Paula,
1:34:12
Speaker 1: never spoke to him again after his arrest and secured
1:34:14
Speaker 1: that immediate divorce in 2005. And she and their son
1:34:18
Speaker 1: moved away and changed their names to avoid media attention.
1:34:21
Speaker 1: And his daughter, Carrie Rawson, struggled immensely with the revelation
1:34:25
Speaker 1: that her father was BTK. And for years, she suffered
1:34:28
Speaker 1: PTSD and night terrors and disorientation. And in her memoir,
1:34:32
Speaker 1: A Serial Killer's Daughter, she recounts how everything she thought
1:34:36
Speaker 1: she knew collapsed. And after Rader's sentencing, Carrie said she
1:34:40
Speaker 1: shut down and ceased corresponding with her father. And Rader
1:34:43
Speaker 1: complied and did not attempt to contact his children, recognizing
1:34:47
Speaker 1: the harm that he had done. And for over a decade,
1:34:50
Speaker 1: Rader stood in prison with minimal outside interaction beyond the
1:34:53
Speaker 1: Ramsland Project. But in 2021 to 2022, a surprising development occurred,
1:34:59
Speaker 1: and cold case detectives from Oklahoma and Missouri began reinvestigating
1:35:03
Speaker 1: some unsolved cases that they thought could be tied to Rader.
1:35:06
Speaker 1: This was sparked by similarities in MO and a few
1:35:09
Speaker 1: hints from Rader's old journals. In particular, the disappearance of
1:35:13
Speaker 1: 16-year-old Cynthia Dawn Kinney in 1976 in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and
1:35:19
Speaker 1: the 1990 murder of Shawna Beth Garber in Missouri caught
1:35:22
Speaker 1: investigators' attention. So in 2023, law enforcement even dug up
1:35:27
Speaker 1: portions of Rader's former property in Park City, searching for clues,
1:35:31
Speaker 1: perhaps items buried or hidden by Rader, and they recovered
1:35:34
Speaker 1: items of interest that are still under analysis. and named
1:35:38
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader as a prime suspect in those two unsolved cases.
1:35:42
Speaker 1: And this has not yet led to new charges as
1:35:44
Speaker 1: of 2025, but it has renewed interest in Rader's possible
1:35:47
Speaker 1: wider involvement in crimes beyond the 10 known murders. And notably,
1:35:52
Speaker 1: Rader himself has not confessed to those crimes, and he
1:35:55
Speaker 1: might not ever. And he's aware he can't face additional
1:35:58
Speaker 1: punishment beyond life, but he could be enjoying holding back
1:36:02
Speaker 1: information as we know. So to assist investigators and perhaps
1:36:06
Speaker 1: for her own closure, Rader's daughter, Carrie, actually agreed to
1:36:10
Speaker 1: visit him in prison in 2023 for the first time
1:36:14
Speaker 1: since 2005. And she met with him in hopes he
1:36:17
Speaker 1: might reveal something about the cold cases. And that visit
1:36:21
Speaker 1: was jarring for Carrie. She reported that her father looked
1:36:24
Speaker 1: physically diminished. Quote, he's lost like seven inches and he's
1:36:29
Speaker 1: in a wheelchair. He's pretty much rotting to his core. unquote,
1:36:34
Speaker 1: she would tell News Nation. Good! Not for her trauma.
1:36:37
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine what it's like being her and
1:36:39
Speaker 1: what she's gone through. But the fact that we hear
1:36:42
Speaker 1: that he is just slowly rotting away into the dirt
1:36:48
Speaker 1: of a person that he is, is great to hear.
1:36:51
Speaker 1: But when she greeted him, She said, quote, And at
1:36:58
Speaker 1: one moment, she saw the facade drop and glimpsed BTK
1:37:03
Speaker 1: in her father's eyes, which deeply unsettled her. And she
1:37:07
Speaker 1: left the encounter convinced that her father is where he
1:37:09
Speaker 1: belongs and that he is rotting away as he should.
1:37:12
Speaker 1: And in the broader media, Dennis Rader's case has remained
1:37:15
Speaker 1: a source of grim fascination, and numerous documentaries and dramatizations
1:37:20
Speaker 1: have been produced. Rader has been portrayed in TV, movies,
1:37:24
Speaker 1: and subjected to countless podcast episodes and true crime shows. Hey,
1:37:29
Speaker 1: I'm here. I'm one of them. And he's often cited
1:37:32
Speaker 1: in criminology discussions as a classic example of the masked
1:37:36
Speaker 1: serial killer and the ordinary-looking family man who is secretly
1:37:39
Speaker 1: a psychopath. And from investigative techniques perspective, the BTK case
1:37:44
Speaker 1: has had a notable impact. and it highlighted the value
1:37:47
Speaker 1: of cold case persistence and modern forensics. For instance, using
1:37:51
Speaker 1: familial DNA from a pap smear to solve a serial
1:37:54
Speaker 1: killer case was an innovative move in 2005, and this
1:37:58
Speaker 1: foreshadowed the later wave of cases solved by familial DNA
1:38:01
Speaker 1: and genealogy. And BTK's capture also underscored the dangers of
1:38:06
Speaker 1: engaging in communication with an active killer. Investigations carefully balanced
1:38:11
Speaker 1: giving BTK enough rope to hang himself, like the floppy
1:38:14
Speaker 1: disk trick, without letting him slip away. And the case
1:38:17
Speaker 1: is frequently taught in criminal justice courses as a study
1:38:21
Speaker 1: in patients and the evolution of evidence technology, as well
1:38:24
Speaker 1: as the psychology of a narcissistic killer who ultimately caused
1:38:28
Speaker 1: his own downfall by seeking I remember going over this
1:38:20
Speaker 1: case in university, and I was just awestruck at how
1:38:22
Speaker 1: horrifying it was, but also... Just everything involved with the
1:38:38
Speaker 1: psychology of it is just, I mean, it's extremely fascinating
1:38:41
Speaker 1: and horrifying at the same time. Profilers also revisited their assumptions.
1:38:46
Speaker 1: His writer was unique in that he stopped killing for
1:38:49
Speaker 1: long periods, the notion of a dormant killer who isn't
1:38:52
Speaker 1: caught or dead was once controversial, and he also was
1:38:56
Speaker 1: older when he re-emerged, nearly 60 years old, challenging the
1:38:59
Speaker 1: idea that serial killers age out of violent behavior. The
1:39:03
Speaker 1: BTK investigation is credited with reinforcing the importance of interagency cooperation,
1:39:09
Speaker 1: like local police and FBI, etc., in approving how departments
1:39:13
Speaker 1: handle archival evidence and communications from unknown subjects. And today,
1:39:18
Speaker 1: Dennis Rader wakes up each morning in a cell at
1:39:21
Speaker 1: El Dorado Correctional Facility. And he's an elderly man, now
1:39:25
Speaker 1: reportedly in declining health, spending his time writing letters... drawing,
1:39:29
Speaker 1: he's allowed to sketch now, though he's monitored, and reading
1:39:33
Speaker 1: the Bible. And his identity as BTK is known to
1:39:36
Speaker 1: every guard and inmate, so he lives under watchful eyes.
1:39:40
Speaker 1: And one could say that the ultimate punishment for Rader
1:39:43
Speaker 1: is exactly what one victim's family member wished, and that
1:39:46
Speaker 1: is that he has been thrown into a deep hole, figuratively,
1:39:51
Speaker 1: to rot, likely plagued by the loss of control and
1:39:54
Speaker 1: power that he so cherished when free. No more peeking
1:39:59
Speaker 1: through windows, no more trolling for victims. His world is
1:40:02
Speaker 1: concrete walls and steel doors, and he will die as
1:40:06
Speaker 1: prisoner number 0083707, a fate fully deserved for the misery
1:40:14
Speaker 1: he wrote. And that is that for the case of
1:40:18
Speaker 1: prisoner 0083707. Just a waste of oxygen. He is rotting
1:40:25
Speaker 1: in prison. And I'm going to choose to remember him
1:40:29
Speaker 1: as that number. And I will choose to remember all
1:40:32
Speaker 1: the names of the victims. And my heart goes out
1:40:35
Speaker 1: to them, as always. And if you would like me
1:40:38
Speaker 1: to go over any other specific case, let me know
1:40:41
Speaker 1: down in the comments. I always read the comments. And
1:40:43
Speaker 1: until then, please, please, please be safe. And I will
1:40:47
Speaker 1: see your beautiful face in the next video. All right?