Table of Biography [ show] Early Life and Childhood Dennis Rader was born on March 9, 1945, and is currently 77 years old. As a young boy, he was reserved and quiet. He told Ramsland he would fantasize about tying women to train tracks. NBC claimed Rader knew the interview might be televised, but this was false according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office. Convicted serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 males between 1978 and 1991. [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. He suggested a number of possible names for himself, including the one that stuck: BTK. [14], Years later, during his "cooling off" periods between murders, Rader would take pictures of himself wearing women's clothes and a female mask while bound. Ive always loved her. Rader did not contest the divorce, and the 34-year marriage was ended. Chapter One was titled "A Serial Killer Is Born". The same year, he began his studies at Wichita State University. NBC claimed Rader knew the interview might be on TV, but that was a false statement according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Department. His father is an American serial killer known as BTK or the BTK Strangler while his mother is a former bookkeeper. Dennis had 2 brothers: Kermit Charles Rader and one other sibling. 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. 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. ", Rader's next known crimes occurred in 1977. Because Rader did not contest his guilt, most evidence was not tested in court. Having developed a morbid fascination with extreme violence as a young boy, he often fantasized in his head about torturing and killing others. [43] Before this, it had not been definitively established that Wegerle was killed by BTK. This is a nature explanation for Rader's gruesome acts. During the sentencing, victims' families spoke about the effect. Over the next several years, BTK dropped off the map as Rader focused on work and family life. The church he attended, his office at City Hall, and the main branch of the Park City library were also searched. Convicted of murdering ten victims, he was planning to attack another victim at the time of his arrest. Rader spent hours waiting in her home but became impatient and left when she did not return home from visiting friends. But psychologist and professor Dr. Terence G. Leary, who helps lead the largest non-governmental serial killer database in the world, Radford/FGCU Serial Killer Research at Gulf Coast University, told Heavy he thinks there are even more secrets in Raders childhood that made him the serial killer he grew up to be. The police also knew BTK owned a black Jeep Cherokee. According to Rader's record in the Kansas Department of Corrections database, he had a Class Two disciplinary report concerning "mail" on April 10, 2006. He would torture to a large degree his victims all 10 of them intense torture really, really cruel torture and he would get some close to death and then revive them so they could live this horrific experience again, and he would do that simultaneously. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Rader stated in his police interview that "there are a lot of lucky people", meaning that he had thought about and developed various levels of murder plans for other victims. Following Rader's arrest, police in Wichita, Park City and several surrounding cities looked into unsolved cases with the cooperation of the state police and the FBI. A blue 1.44-MB Memorex floppy disk was enclosed in the package. A narcissist who took pride in the murders he committed, he sent a series of anonymous letters to the police along with a few pieces of evidence claiming himself to be responsible for the murders. All relationship and family history information shown on FameChain has been compiled from data in the public domain. In February, more postcards were sent to KAKE, and another cereal box left at a rural location that contained another bound doll, apparently meant to symbolize the murder of 11-year-old Josephine Otero. Police in Wichita, Park City, and several surrounding cities looked into unsolved cases before, during, and after 1974 and 1991 in cooperation with the state police and the FBI. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. See the Elon Musk family tree here at FameChain. That became imprinted in his mind and became the image he was always after. Space-X continues to reach for the stars. He is known as the BTK killer (or the BTK strangler). By the 2000s, the public interest in the BTK killer had faded off to a great extent. He would serve two more years in the reserves. Several weeks later, he sent a letter to a local television station stating that he was responsible for killing Vian, Fox and another unknown victim. Soon the detectives were able to pinpoint Rader as the suspected BTK killer and he was arrested on February 25, 2005. On August 12, 2005, Dateline NBC aired Confessions of BTK. Between 1974 and 1991, he killed ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, and sent taunting letters to police and media outlets describing the details of his crimes. A poem was enclosed titled "Oh! psychology professorKatherine Ramsland published Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer, which revealed that the notorious murderer had planned to claim an 11th victim before he was arrested. [12][13] Rader acted out sexual fetishes for voyeurism, autoerotic asphyxiation, and cross-dressing; he often spied on female neighbors while dressed in women's clothing, including women's underwear that he had stolen, and masturbated with ropes or other bindings around his arms and neck. 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. Dennis Rader was not only the BTK (short for bind, torture, kill) killer, the notorious serial killer who killed 10 people and tortured Kansas for decades. See FameChain's massive Trump family tree. In total, Rader would be eligible for parole after 175 years of imprisonment, in 2180. Who Is Dennis Rader? One of the serial killer characters known as ADT Man on the show is based on Rader. [77], The videotape of Mendoza's interview ended up being used on NBC's Dateline. [49] This time, the package was found in Wichita's Murdock Park. Son of William Elvin Rader and Dorothea Mae Cooke In his letters to police, Rader asked if his writings, if put on a floppy disk, could be traced or not. Rader had attended Wichita State University in the 1970s. It is believed to be correct at the time of inputting and is presented here in good faith. In 1966, Richard Speck committed one of the most horrifying mass murders in American history when he brutalized and killed eight student nurses living on Chicago's South Side. He unemotionally described the murders in detail and made no apologies. The victim this time was someone Rader and his wife knew personally: his 53-year-old neighbor Marine Hedge. Strangulation and souvenir-taking would become part of his modus operandi, or pattern of behavior. On August 18, 2005, he was sentenced to serve 10 consecutive life sentences, one life sentence per murder victim. Known as a shy and studious boy, he had a darker side to his persona even as a teenagerhe used to kill dogs and cats in secret. Dennis Lynn Rader (born March 9, 1945) is an American serial killer known as BTK (an abbreviation he gave himself, for "bind, torture, kill"), the BTK Strangler or the BTK Killer. On October 25, 2005, the Kansas attorney general filed a petition to sue Robert Mendoza and Tali Waters, co-owners of Cambridge Forensic Consultants, LLC, for breach of contract, claiming they intended to benefit financially from the use of information obtained from involvement in Raders defense. Rader worked at Coleman only a short time and not at the same location as the victims. Dennis is also referred to as the BTK Strangler and the BTK Killer. He was represented by a public defender. He measured the height of people's lawns and chased stray animals while toting a tranquilizer gun. He did credit the killer with having done "admirable work". By 2004, the investigation of the BTK Killer was considered a cold case. He sent her a letter to let her know that BTK had been there. Rader mentioned the interview during his sentencing statement. Also included was a poem threatening the life of lead investigator Lt. Ken Landwehr and a false autobiography containing many details about Rader's life. Rader also twice shot her brother, Kevin, though he survived. On April 4, 1974, the killer struck again, killing 21-year-old Kathryn Bright by stabbing her multiple times. [52], Police found metadata embedded in a deleted Microsoft Word document that was, unknown to Rader, still stored on the floppy disk. But he was really thirsty for that kind publicity of sorts., The other factor here, Leary said, is in family situations he was the oldest. 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. A pay phone that the killer used to report a murder in 1977 was located a few blocks from Rader's place of work (ADT Security) at the time. [28], Rader was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita and had been elected president of the church council. Should you have information that conflicts with anything shown please make us aware by email. Shortly afterward, in January 1978, Rader sent a poem to a local newspaper about the Vian killing. This would be his last killing. He married Paula Dietz on May 22, 1971, and they had two children. What makes me think so is the frequency of the cruel behavior. 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. Dennis Rader. He collected items from the scenes of the murders he committed. ", The Raven that Refused to Sing Concert Review, B.T.K. He also left packages with clues, including a computer disk that ultimately led authorities to Rader's church. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/dennis-rader-btk-killer-29880.php. (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 He then worked at the Wichita-based office of ADT Security Services from 1974 to 1988, where he installed security alarms as part of his job, in many cases for homeowners concerned about the BTK killings. He had been arrested for the murders five days earlier. He also engaged in mutilations of some degree. DNA tests showed a "familial match" between the pap smear and the sample from Wegerle's fingernails; this indicated that the killer was closely related to Rader's daughter, and combined with the other evidence was enough for police to arrest Rader. Forensic analysis quickly determined that the disk had been used by the Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita, as well as a reference to the name "Dennis". After exhaustive investigations, no other murders have been discovered by any of these, or other, agencies that can be attributed to Rader, confirming early suspicions that Rader would have admitted to, and taken credit for, any additional murders that he had committed. From a nurture standpoint, one must start at childhood. [43] DNA collected from under Wegerle's fingernails provided police with previously unknown evidence. 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