The increased police vigilance made Rader a bit wary and he did not kill again for a few years. (1973), Paul Rader{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul Rader", "gender": "Male" }, Bill Rader{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill Rader", "gender": "Male" }, Jeff Rader{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Jeff Rader", "gender": "Male" }, Brian Rader{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Rader", "gender": "Male" }, born 1975, age 42 When he first lived out the fantasies he started harboring as a child, to bind, torture and kill people, he was 28-years-old. [18] On June9, a package was found taped to a stop sign at the corner of First and Kansas roads in Wichita. The Worlds Most Elusive Serial Killer, Sedgwick County 18th Judicial District collection of legal documents on the Rader case, KAKE Collection of articles and videos on BTK, Dennis Rader's listing on the Kansas Department of Corrections, When your father is the BTK serial killer, forgiveness is not tidy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dennis_Rader&oldid=1133681933, Rader's case is portrayed in Episode 1 of, A character based on Rader played by actor Sonny Valicenti appears in the. The song "Bind Torture Kill" was released on the 2006 self-titled album by death metal band Suffocation. Table of Biography [ show] Early Life and Childhood Dennis Rader was born on March 9, 1945, and is currently 77 years old. [1], Rader was born on March 9, 1945, to Dorothea Mae Rader (ne Cook) and William Elvin Rader, one of four sons. The poem expressed Rader's unhappiness about being caught, with one of the verses proclaiming, "The dark side of me has been exposed". Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? The BTK killer's last known communication with the media and police was a padded envelope that arrived at FOX affiliate KSAS-TV in Wichita on February 16, 2005. He studied for only two semesters there and joined the US Air Force in 1966. Rader dropped out of college and joined the U.S. Air Force in the mid-1960s. The FBI and local jurisdictions at Rader's former duty stations checked into unsolved cases during Rader's time in the service. Dennis Lynn Rader (BTK, BTK Killer, BTK Strangler, B.T.K.) [75], Rader talked about innocuous topics such as the weather during the 40-minute drive to El Dorado, but began to cry when the victims' families' statements from the court proceedings came on the radio. In February 2005, more postcards were sent to KAKE, and another cereal box left at a rural location was found to contain another bound doll. Death to Nancy," a parody of the lyrics to the American folk song "O Death". Shortly afterward, in January 1978, Rader sent a poem to a local newspaper about the Vian killing. You probably call me 'psychotic with sexual perversion hang-up.'" It was believed that the killer was dead, or maybe institutionalized. He also harbored a sexual fetish for women's underwear and would later steal underpants from his victims and wear them himself. The church he attended, his office at City Hall, and the main branch of the Park City library were also searched. [39], Marine Hedge, aged 53, was found on May5, 1985, at East 53rd Street North between North Webb Road and North Greenwich Road in Wichita. From a Freudian perspective: Dennis Rader is the result of suppression. Surveillance tape of the parking lot from that date revealed a distant figure driving a black Jeep Cherokee leaving the box in the pickup. On July 12, 1957 Gloria was united in marriage with Dennis Arnold Rader at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Frazee, Minnesota. However, physical and circumstantial facts that would have corroborated Rader as the BTK killer include: Rader's grammar and writing style match letters and poems received from BTK, though none of his communications were handwritten, but typed, stenciled, stamped with a stamp set, or computer generated. How did Robert Hansens Wife & 2 Kids Have No Idea He Was a Serial Killer. Rader, who called himself the BTK Killer because he bound, tortured, and killed his victims, lived a double life, hiding in plain sight with his wife and two children, who were completely unaware of his crimes. Rader's father's name is William E. Rader and his mother's name is Dorothea M. Rader. By Aly Vander Hayden Snapped Notorious BTK Killer: First Signs 1:25 Crime News Dahmer on Dahmer Bonus: Days Before the Internet 1:36 Crime News In April 1979, Rader waited in an elderly womans home but left before she returned. Armed with a gun and some tools, Rader broke into the Otero home one morning, and killed four members of the familyincluding two young children. [51] When investigators drove by Rader's house, a black Jeep Cherokeethe type of vehicle seen in the Home Depot surveillance footagewas parked outside. Powered by. Once in handcuffs, he was asked by an officer, "Mr. Rader, do you know why you're being arrested?" https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/dennis-rader. writing letters to the media about his crimes. These details were later released to the public. Because he committed his crimes before the state's 1994 reinstatement of the death penalty, Rader was sent to El Dorado Correctional Facility to serve his 10 life sentences. He started his murdering spree in the mid-1970s, terrorizing the citizens of Kansas for more than 30 years before he was finally arrested. And the oldest is the guinea pig. Other cold cases in Kansas were reopened to see if Rader's DNA matched crime scenes, but Rader's confession was limited to the 10 known victims, and police and prosecutors do not believe there were any more victims because of the extensive records and memorabilia he kept on each of his victims. In January 2005, Rader attempted to leave a cereal box in the bed of a pickup truck at a Home Depot in Wichita, but the box was at first discarded by the owner. He demanded media attention in this second letter, and it was finally announced that Wichita did indeed have a serial killer at large. [19], On July26, 2005, after Rader's arrest, his wife was granted an "emergency divorce" (waiving the normal waiting period). A blue 1.44-MB Memorex floppy disk was enclosed in the package. During the sentencing, victims' families spoke about the effect. Brian grew up in the United States alongside his sister, Kerri Rawson born in 1978. Convicted of murdering ten victims, he was planning to attack another victim at the time of his arrest. NBC claimed Rader knew the interview might be on TV, but that was a false statement according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Department. DNA collected from under the fingernails of that victim provided police with previously unknown evidence. See FameChain's massive Trump family tree. Ramsland, Katherine. He suggested a number of possible names for himself, including the one that stuck: BTK. 2 Dennis Rader brutally murdered ten people, including two children, over a 17-year stretch As a young boy, he was reserved and quiet. [19][22] Rader was a census field operations supervisor for the Wichita area in 1989, before the 1990federal census. Dubbed the "Night Stalker," Richard Ramirez was an American serial killer who broke into California homes, raping and torturing more than 25 victims and killing at least 13 over a two-year rampage. The police now had strong circumstantial evidence against Rader, but they needed more direct evidence in order to detain him. Her body was found a few days later. Their bodies were discovered by the family's three older children, Charlie, Danny, and Carmen, who had been at school at the time of the killings. In his new position, Rader was known to be a stickler for the rules. On March 5, news sources claimed to have verified by multiple sources that Rader had confessed to the 10 murders he was charged with, but no additional ones. He was also a family man, the president of the local Christ Lutheran Church and a boy scout troop leader. [65] On March 5, news sources claimed to have verified by multiple sources that Rader had confessed to the 10 murders he was charged with, but no other ones. Rader maintained the image of being a good husband and father, and his family had no inkling about his murderous streak. Rader did not contest the divorce, and the 34-year marriage was ended. There were several communications from BTK from 1974 to 1979. Rader was particularly known for sending taunting letters to police and newspapers. Known as BTK - which stands for bind, torture, kill - Dennis Rader murdered 10 people in the Wichita, Kansas area from 1974 to 1991, often leaving clues to taunt authorities. John Wayne Gacy, often called the "Killer Clown," was one of the worst serial killers in U.S. history, murdering at least 33 young male victims. He had been arrested for the murders five days earlier. Dr Ramsland is the leading academic authority on the BTK killings and wrote the 2016 book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer, drawing on hundreds of . He was also a member of Christ Lutheran Church and had been elected president of the church council. The police department replied that there was no way of knowing on what computer such a disk had been used, which was in fact not true. In March of that year, he tied up and strangled Shirley Vian, after locking her children in the bathroom. [45], In May 2004, television station KAKE in Wichita received a letter with chapter headings for the "BTK Story", fake IDs, and a word puzzle. Then he drove to the church where he took some pictures with the dead body and eventually dumped the body in a road side culvert a few miles away from her house. Rader attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, earning an associate degree in electronics in 1973.He then enrolled at Wichita State University and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in administration of justice. Bail was continued at $10 million. The 10 known murders are now believed to be the only murders that Rader is actually responsible for, although Wichita police are fairly certain that Rader stalked and researched a number of other potential future victims. Under interrogation, Dennis Rader confessed to being the BTK killer. Then, Rader initiated a series of 11 communications to the local media. The DNA of the Pap smear was processed by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at their laboratory in Topeka which provided a familial match to the DNA of the sample taken from the victim's fingernails, indicating that the killer was closely related to Rader's daughter. Then everything upended on us', "Charlie Otero finds peace, stability nearly 40 years after BTK murders", "BTK serial killer's victim families to address court", "BTK: 'I took her to the basement andhung her', "Victim's family files suit against Rader", "Transcription of poem "Oh! In July, a package was dropped into the return slot at the downtown public library containing more bizarre material, including the claim that he was responsible for the death of 19-year-old Jake Allen in Argonia, Kansas, earlier that same month. Ramsland told one of Raders stories about his mother that may have contributed to his fetish for terrorizing women, saying: When he was young, his mothers ring got caught on a couch spring, and she couldnt get her hand out. These letters subsequently led to his arrest in 2005. Rader also twice shot her brother, Kevin, though he survived. Asked about the reported confessions, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said, "Your information is patently false", but she refused to say whether Rader had made any confessions or whether investigators were looking into Rader's possible involvement in more unsolved killings. Reportedly an attentive husband, he and his wife had a son in 1975 and a daughter in 1978. He told the reporter they could not talk to Dorthea, saying, Its too hard on my mother. Death to Nancy", a botched version of the lyrics of the American folk song "O Death". In total, Rader would be eligible for parole after 175 years of imprisonment, in 2180. Ive always loved her. The parents couldve behaved very differently toward him than they did the othersIve seen that in cases and the other kids are spared some of the discipline and harsh behavior apparently sometimes.. Massachusetts psychologist Robert Mendoza, who had been hired by Rader's court-appointed public defenders to conduct the psychological evaluation earlier in the case to determine if an insanity-based defense might be viable, conducted an interview after Rader pled guilty on June 27. [19][20] He attended Butler County Community College in ElDorado, earning an associate degree in electronics in 1973. I still love her greatly. Rader initially worked as an assembler for the Coleman Company, an outdoor supply company. According to witnesses, while traveling the 40-minute drive from Wichita to El Dorado, Rader talked about innocuous topics such as the weather, but began to cry when the victims' families' statements from the court proceedings came on the radio. He worked for a time in the meat department of Leekers IGA supermarket in Park City alongside his mother, a bookkeeper for the store. He served in the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1970. On May 3, District Court Judge Gregory Waller entered not guilty pleas to the 10 charges on Rader's behalf, as Rader did not speak at his arraignment. His father was a member of the US Marine Corps, who later worked for the electric utility KG&E. [41], His final victim, Dolores E. Davis, was found on February1, 1991, at West 117th Street North and North Meridian Street in Park City. This claim was false, and the death was ruled a suicide. The FBI, Civil Air Patrol, and local jurisdictions at Rader's former duty stations also checked into unsolved cases during Rader's time in the service. Ex-husband of Private Officers were seen removing a computer from his City Hall office, but it is unclear if any evidence was found at these locations. The police corresponded with the BTK Killer (Rader) in an effort to gain his confidence. [23], Between the spring of 1974 and winter 1977, Rader killed three more women: Kathryn Bright (April4, 1974), Shirley Vian Relford (March17, 1977), and Nancy Fox (December8, 1977). While the narrative has been that Rader seemed like a regular kid, the oldest of four brothers raised in a house with stable parents, Leary believes there is more to the story. This includes one person who was saved when Rader called off his planned attack upon his arrival near the target's home due to the presence of construction and road crews nearby. [40], In 1988, after the murders of three members of the Fager family in Wichita, a letter was received from someone claiming to be the BTK killer, in which the author of the letter denied being the perpetrator of the Fager murders. She apparently was terrified and told him to go get help. Dennis lived in 1910, at address, West Virginia. Convicted serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 males between 1978 and 1991. After returning to Wichita, he married his wife, Paula, in 1971, and worked for an outdoor-supply company for about a year. Sources give Rader's place of birth as either Columbus, Kansas,[7][8] or Pittsburg, Kansas. He gained entry into her house posing as a telephone repairman and then strangled her to death. Rader has always maintained that he was not physically or sexually abused as a child, according to an ABC News interview with his daughter, Kerri Rawson. Rader, who called himself the BTK Killer because he bound, tortured, and killed his victims, lived a double life, hiding in plain sight with his wife and two. He told Ramsland he would fantasize about tying women to train tracks. Dennis Rader's Early Life. His final known victim, Dolores Davis, was taken from her home on January 19, 1991. Police searched Rader's home and vehicle, collecting evidence, including computer equipment, a pair of black pantyhose retrieved from a shed, and a cylindrical container. They say he was the squeaky clean, oldest of four boys, very traditional parents, traditional family, went to school, did the right things etcetera, so there were no clues.. Who Is Dennis Rader? A poem in one of the killer's letters was similar to a folk song taught by a professor on that campus in that time period, though Rader himself dismissed any connection. Would love your thoughts, please comment. He is currently 77 years old as of 2022. killed four members of the Otero family, including two children, to fulfill a sexual fantasy. Rader struck again a few months later: On April 4, 1974, he waited in the apartment of a young woman named Kathryn Bright, before stabbing and strangling her when she returned home. Kevin later described Rader as "an average-sized guy, bushy mustache, 'psychotic' eyes," according to a TIME magazine article. So something awful happened here and we still dont know. He was sexually excited when he read books about murders, masturbating to his fathers copy of a book about the Lonely Hearts Killers. [47], After his capture, Rader admitted in his interrogation that he had been planning to kill again and he had set a date, October 2004, and was stalking his intended victim. He had even set a date, October 2004, and was stalking his intended victim. But do note that it is not possible to be certain of a person's genealogy without a family's cooperation (and/or DNA testing). He started trolling them, hanging out around their house, and fantasizing about binding and torturing them. Family, Parents, Siblings, Education She was born to her father Larry Palmer and her mother Sharon Palmer. On February 28, 2005, Rader was formally charged with 10 counts of first degree murder. 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