BTK Killer

Dennis Lynn Rader, known as the BTK Killer — an acronym he chose himself standing for Bind, Torture, Kill — terrorized the Wichita, Kansas area for over three decades, committing ten murders between 1974 and 1991 while living an outwardly unremarkable life as a husband, father, church leader, and city employee.

Rader committed his first murders on January 15, 1974, when he broke into the home of the Otero family in Wichita. He killed Joseph Otero (age 38), his wife Julie (age 34), and two of their five children — Josephine (age 11) and Joseph Jr. (age 9) — by binding and strangling them. The family had recently moved to Kansas from Puerto Rico. Rader later described the Otero family as his first "project," a term he used to describe his planned murders. [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/btk-killer-rader-guilty-plea-kansas-2005)

Three months later, on April 4, 1974, Rader attacked siblings Kathryn and Kevin Bright. Kathryn, 21, was stabbed and strangled to death. Kevin, 19, was shot twice but survived and later provided police with a description of the attacker. This was one of the few times Rader left a living witness.

Over the following years, Rader continued to target women in their homes. On March 17, 1977, he strangled Shirley Vian Relford, 24, in front of her children, whom he had locked in a closet. On December 8, 1977, he broke into the home of Nancy Fox, 25, a shoe store clerk, and strangled her with a belt. After the Fox murder, Rader called police from a pay phone to report the crime himself. Between 1977 and 1985, there was a long gap between known murders.

Rader resumed killing in 1985 when he murdered Marine Hedge, 53, his neighbor in Park City. He strangled her, then moved her body to his church where he photographed it. In September 1986, he killed Vicki Wegerle, 28, a piano teacher and mother, by strangling her in her home. His final known victim was Dolores Davis, 62, whom he murdered on January 19, 1991, after breaking into her rural home near Park City. [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-12230670)

Throughout his killing career, Rader taunted police and media with written communications. His first letter was sent to The Wichita Eagle in October 1974, in which he took credit for the Otero murders. He continued sending letters, poems, puzzles, and packages over the years, deliberately seeking media attention and public notoriety. He gave himself the BTK moniker and reveled in the fear he created.

Rader's day-to-day existence stood in stark contrast to his crimes. Born on March 9, 1945, in Pittsburg, Kansas, he served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1970. He graduated from Wichita State University in 1979 with a degree in administration of justice. He married Paula Dietz in 1971, and they had two children. Rader worked for ADT Security Services and later became a compliance officer for Park City, where he was known as an overzealous code enforcer. He was also an active member of Christ Lutheran Church, serving as congregation president, and was a Cub Scout leader. [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/feb/26/usa.crime)

After a long period of silence from BTK, Rader renewed contact with police and media in March 2004 by sending a letter to The Wichita Eagle containing items stolen from victim Vicki Wegerle, including her driver's license. Over the following year, he sent numerous packages to media and police, including photographs, drawings, writings, and items taken from victims. [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/18/AR2005081800351.html)

The breakthrough in the case came in February 2005. Rader had asked police through a classified ad in the newspaper whether a floppy disk could be traced. Police replied dishonestly that it could not. When Rader sent a floppy disk to KSAS-TV in Wichita, forensic analysts recovered deleted metadata linking the disk to "Christ Lutheran Church" and a user named "Dennis." This, combined with DNA evidence obtained from a Pap smear belonging to Rader's daughter (retrieved under a court order from a university medical clinic), confirmed Rader as the BTK Killer. [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2005/02/28/4470082/btk-serial-killer-arrested-in-wichita)

Dennis Rader was arrested on February 25, 2005, while driving near his home in Park City. He was charged with ten counts of first-degree murder. Rader waived his right to a jury trial and entered guilty pleas to all ten murder counts on June 27, 2005, in Sedgwick County District Court. During the plea hearing, he described each murder in clinical detail, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone that disturbed the courtroom and victims' families. [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/btk-killer-rader-guilty-plea-kansas-2005)

On August 18, 2005, Sedgwick County District Judge Gregory Waller sentenced Rader to ten consecutive life sentences — the maximum penalty under Kansas law, as the death penalty was not in effect in Kansas when most of the crimes were committed. The sentence carries a minimum of 175 years before parole eligibility, effectively ensuring Rader will die in prison. [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/18/btk.killings/index.html)

Rader is currently incarcerated at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Butler County, Kansas. He has no possibility of parole. The BTK case has become one of the most extensively studied serial killer investigations in American criminal history, particularly for how Rader's narcissistic need for public attention ultimately led to his capture.