The “BTK Killer” short for bind torture and kill, is an infamous serial killer who killed 10 people in Wichita, Kansas, between the years 1974 and 1991. The killer was not caught until police arrested Dennis Rader, in 2005. This case appeared in the Netflix series, “Mindhunter”, where two FBI agents interview with the most famous serial killers in American history, in order to find the BTK Killer.
Dennis Rader was seen as an “Average Joe” kind of guy, working for the ADT Security services, installing security alarms, while also serving in his Church council and Cub Scout leader. No one would have suspected that he would have been the serial killer in Wichita Kansas. He was living a double life, torturing and killing many people in this town, while also serving in his community. Rader’s first killing was on January 15, 1974. Three young children came home to their parents and two other siblings brutally murdered in their Wichita home. The murders stunned the small town in Kansas, but the killer was never found. Three years past and a strange letter was sent to Wichita’s news station. In the letter the writer stated how he took responsibility for the Otero family murders, and two other murders in 1977. In this letter he also created a nickname for himself: “BTK”. The killings and the taunting towards the press and police went on the following years. In 1991, the BTK murders seemed to stop, and the related murder cases went unsolved.
Years later, Rader began to communicate with the press and police again in 2004. He began to place bizarre letters and photos of the murder crime scenes all over the city of Wichita. The Wichita police decided to try to get the BTK killer to send them a floppy disk by publishing an ad claiming that a floppy disk would be untraceable. Dennis Rader believed them and was traced and found in 2005.
Dennis pleaded guilty to the 10 charges of murder that was filed against him. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Dennis’s family has remained silent on the subject of his killings, but his daughter has recently published a book about her life since finding out her father was a serial killer. The book is titled “A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming”. In the book she expresses how she overcomes the astonishing news of her father.
I really like your blog topic. How bad as it seems, I feel like people just have some sort of fascination with serial killers and this post proves it, it was so interesting to read about someone who seemed to be such a normal, wholesome guy, living a double life and murdering families in his freetime, it’s so weird to think about how many possible serial killers we have come into contact with and not even known.