Together Gloria and Dennis made their home in Spruce Grove Township where they operated their Dairy Farm. He started his murdering spree in the mid-1970s, terrorizing the citizens of Kansas for more than 30 years before he was finally arrested. 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. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! There were four people present inside: Julie Otero, her husband Joseph Otero, and two of their children, Joseph Jr. and Josephine. 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. A poem was enclosed titled "Oh! Rader's father's name is William E. Rader and his mother's name is Dorothea M. Rader. 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. Rader spent hours waiting in her home but became impatient and left when she did not return home from visiting friends. The author of the letter claimed that he had murdered Vicki Wegerle on September16, 1986, and enclosed photographs of the crime scene and a photocopy of her driver's license, which had been stolen at the time of the crime. Inside Dennis Raders Childhood: What Made Him the BTK Killer? The next year, Rader graduated from Wichita State University with a degree in administration of justice. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Rader had attended Wichita State University in the 1970s. His father is an American serial killer known as BTK or the BTK Strangler while his mother is a former bookkeeper. Police tape hangs across the street in front of Rader's house, 2005. In his police interview, Rader stated that "there are a lot of lucky people", meaning that he had thought about, and developed various levels of planning, the murdering of other victims. He married Paula Dietz on May 22, 1971, and they had two children. He also intended to kill others, notably Anna Williams, 63, who in 1979 escaped death by returning home much later than he expected. Brian Rader is an American famous youth who is known as the son of an American serial killer or BTK strangler, Dennis Lynn Rader. Dennis Rader's Early Life. He then worked for a few months before entering the Kansas Wesleyan College in 1965. Dennis is also referred to as the BTK Strangler and the BTK Killer. In terms of his family, he was born to William Elvin Rader and Dorothea Mae Rader. On the afternoon of January 15, 1974, 15-year-old Charlie Otero and two of his siblings came home from school to . 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 spent hours waiting at her home but became impatient and left when she did not return home from visiting friends. [34] Rader wrote a letter that had been stashed inside an engineering book in the Wichita Public Library in October1974, which described in detail the killing of the Otero family in January of that year. Then, Rader sent an anonymous letter to the police, claiming responsibility for a killing that had previously not been attributed to him. That became imprinted in his mind and became the image he was always after. On August 12, 2005, Dateline NBC aired Confessions of BTK. Serial Killers that Charmed Their Victims. His final known victim, Dolores Davis, was taken from her home on January 19, 1991. Daniel's 5th outing as Bond gets bums back on seats in the cinema. But he blew his own cover through an insatiable desire for attention.. [36][37] In the letter, he claimed to be driven to kill by "factorX", which he characterized as a supernatural element that also motivated Jack the Ripper, the Son of Sam, and the Hillside Strangler murders. The late 1970s and the early 1980s marked a busy time for Dennis Rader. He is known as the BTK killer (or the BTK strangler). It is believed to be correct at the time of inputting and is presented here in good faith. On May 10, 2007, Mendoza settled the case for US$30,000 with no admission of wrongdoing. Rader wrote, "It's hard to control myself. Shortly afterward, in January 1978, Rader sent a poem to a local newspaper about the Vian killing. It had many cards with images of terror and bondage of children pasted on them, a poem threatening the life of lead investigator Lt. Ken Landwehr, and a false autobiography with many details about Rader's life. AMERICAN serial killer Dennis Rader known as BTK, killed 10 people, including two children, over a 17-year period. Rader was a census field operations supervisor for the Wichita area in 1989, prior to the 1990 federal census. On February 25, 2005, Rader was detained near his home in Park City and accused of the BTK killings. Their marriage was blessed with 5 children: Larry, Deanna, Donna, Dale and Scott. [28], Rader was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita and had been elected president of the church council. Her parents were also professional actresses. Rader's story inspired the Stephen King novella A Good Marriage, which was published as part of the 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars and later became a feature film. Kevin later described Rader as "an average-sized guy, bushy mustache, 'psychotic' eyes," according to a TIME magazine article. He told Ramsland he would fantasize about tying women to train tracks. On August 18, Rader faced sentencing. Despite his cat-and-mouse game with authorities, Rader was able to keep the lid on his secret, murderous life. He has three siblings named Bill Rader, Paul Rader, and Jeff Rader. In March 2004, a series of 11 communications from BTK (Rader) to the local media led directly to his arrest in February 2005. Rader was born on March 9, 1945, in Pittsburg, Kansas, and grew up in Wichita. But I think I got Rader pretty well.. Ive always loved her. Dennis lived in 1910, at address, West Virginia. This job too did not last long and he was soon fired. Rader pleaded guilty to all of the charges on June 27, 2005. He was convicted of ten murders and received ten consecutive life sentences. In December 2004, Wichita police received another package from the BTK killer. 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. 2 Dennis Rader brutally murdered ten people, including two children, over a 17-year stretch Rader pled guilty to the murders on June 27, 2005, giving a graphic account of his crimes in court. 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. [55] I still love her greatly. [54] An Internet search determined that a "Dennis Rader" was president of the church council. On July 26, 2005, after Rader's arrest, Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost waived the usual 60-day waiting period and granted an immediate divorce for his wife, agreeing that her mental health was in danger. 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. He was arrested on February 25. Married with children by now, he now focused more on his career and rose to the position of installation supervisor. Police in surrounding states such as Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas also were thought to have investigated cold cases that fit Rader's pattern to one extent or another. Officers were seen removing a computer from his City Hall office, but it is unclear if any evidence was found at these locations. It contained the driver's license of Nancy Fox, which was noted as stolen from the crime scene, as well as a doll that was symbolically bound at the hands and feet with a plastic bag tied over its head. Rader's killing spree began in January 1974, when he targeted the Otero family, who had been living in Wichita for less than six months. After exhaustive investigations, none of these agencies discovered any further murders attributable to Rader, confirming early suspicions that Rader would have taken credit for any additional murders that he had committed. 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. Immediately after, law enforcement officials, including a Wichita Police bomb unit truck, two SWAT trucks, and KBI, FBI, and ATF agents, converged on Rader's residence near the intersection of I-135 and 61st Street North. He also harbored a sexual fetish for women's underwear and would later steal underpants from his victims and wear them himself. 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. 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. 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. Dennis Lynn Rader Gender Male Age 73 Date of birth Friday 09 Mar 1945 Birth place Pittsburg, Kansas, USA Occupations US Airforce (1966) Education Wichita Heights High School, Wichita, Kansas, United States Riverview School, Wichita, Kansas, United States Butler County Community College, El Dorado, Kansas, United States Also enclosed was a chapter list for a proposed book titled "The BTK Story", which mimicked a story written in 1999 by Court TV (now truTV) crime writer David Lohr. The ten known murders are now believed to be the only murders for which Rader is actually responsible, although Wichita police are fairly certain that Rader stalked and researched a number of other potential victims. He also said he was bored, because his children had grown up and he had more time on his hands. He demanded media attention in this second letter, and it was finally announced that Wichita did indeed have a serial killer at large. After several years without a known crime, Rader killed his neighbor Marine Hedge on April 27, 1985. 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. Brian is the son of Dennis Rader (father) and Paula Dietz (mother). 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. Explore how the celebrity world connects. Dennis Rader is a serial killer from the United States, and his moniker BTK stands for "bind, torture, kill." Between 1974 and 1991, Paula's ex-husband, Dennis Rader, murdered ten people in Wichita and Park City . He stated [where] he chose to resurface in 2004 for various reasons, including David Lohr's feature story on the case, which was broadcast on Court TV (now Tru TV) Crime Library web site and the release of the book Nightmare in Wichita: The Hunt for the BTK Strangler by Robert Beattie. He had been arrested for the murders five days earlier. [51] When investigators drove by Rader's house, a black Jeep Cherokeethe type of vehicle seen in the Home Depot surveillance footagewas parked outside. 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. Dennis Lynn Rader was born on March 9, 1945, in Pittsburg, Kansas, U.S. to Dorothea Mae Rader (ne Cook) and William Elvin Rader as one of their four sons. The increased police vigilance made Rader a bit wary and he did not kill again for a few years. But maybe, with me, acceptance is starting to creep in.. [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. Then, Rader initiated a series of 11 communications to the local media. On February 28, 2005, Rader was formally charged with 10 counts of first degree murder. He was also a Cub Scout leader. He is not considered by police to have committed this crime. He was also a family man, the president of the local Christ Lutheran Church and a boy scout troop leader. was born on 9 March, 1945 in Pittsburg, Kansas, USA, is an Actor. These details were later released to the public. Rader was formally charged with the murders on February 28, 2005. There were several communications from BTK from 1974 to 1979. His chosen victim was a young mother, Vicki Wegerle. ", "Is The Clovehitch Killer Based On The BTK Murders True Story? These details were later released to the public. "[59][60] Wichita Police, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, and ATF agents searched Rader's home and vehicle, seizing evidence including computer equipment, a pair of black pantyhose retrieved from a shed, and a cylindrical container. Rader initially worked as an assembler for the Coleman Company, an outdoor supply company. It was believed that the killer was dead, or maybe institutionalized. Dennis Rader is 76 years old, having been born on March 9, 1945. In 1985, he struck again. Both parents worked long hours and paid little attention to their children at home; Rader later described feeling ignored by his mother in particular and resenting her for it. The poem expressed Rader's unhappiness about being caught, with one of the verses proclaiming, "The dark side of me has been exposed". [18] Rader married Paula Dietz on May22, 1971; they had two children, Kerri and Brian. He collected items from the scenes of the murders he committed. It was exciting to him to see a woman helpless, and it was the beginning of his ideas about women that what he wanted from them was to keep them trapped and helpless and looking to him in terror. This is a puzzlenot all is meeting the eye here. In 1977, Dennis Rader struck twice. Rader's alter ego resurfaced in 2004, but his penchant for leaving clues led to his arrest and life imprisonment the following year. Death to Nancy," a parody of the lyrics to the American folk song "O Death". 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. The BTK killer is now the subject of an episode in the second series of the Netflix documentary Catching Killers, airing on February 9, 2022. 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 Rader did not contest the divorce, and the 34-year marriage was ended. It was not proven until 2005 that this letter was, in fact, written by Rader. Paula Dietz is best known as the ex-wife of Dennis Rader. US based Meghan and Harry.. FameChain has their amazing trees. These featured another poem, "Oh Anna Why Didn't You Appear", a drawing of what he had intended to do to his victim, as well as some small items he had stolen from Williams's home. William Elvin Rader, Dorthea Mae Rader (born Cook), er, Rader, Rader, Rader, Rader, Rader, Rader, over thc couple's property and all his retirement benefits to, "Wichita (ap) The woman who was married to serial killer, over the couple's property and all his retirement benefits to, Ellensburg, Kittitas Valley County, WA, USA, Apr 1 1950 - 4810 Kechi Township, Sedgwick, Kansas, United States, Mar 9 1945 - Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas, USA, William Elvin Rader, Dorothea Mae Rader (born Cook), Rader, Rader, Rader, We're Related to Royalty and Famous People. After returning to Wichita, he married his wife, Paula, in 1971, and worked for an outdoor-supply company for about a year. Dennis Rader has been an enigma to many of us in the field because I dont think the people who claim to be experts are, regarding Dennis, and Ill tell you why, Leary said. He told the reporter they could not talk to Dorthea, saying, Its too hard on my mother. He also liked to hang cats and watch them struggle until they died. [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. 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. [41], His final victim, Dolores E. Davis, was found on February1, 1991, at West 117th Street North and North Meridian Street in Park City. Her body was found a few days later. With time he grew bolder and began targeting human beings, killing his first known victimsthe Otero familyin early 1974. Convicted serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 males between 1978 and 1991. And he felt the first stirrings of arousal over this. 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