Dennis Rader Research Paper

Dennis Rader was born on March 9, 1945 in Pittsburg, Kansas. He was born to Dorothea Mae Rader and William Elvin Rader as one of their four sons. He was baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsburg, Kansas. The family moves to the largest city in Kansas, Wichita. He was raised in Wichita, and spent most of his life there. His father was a member of the US Marine Corps. He then later worked for the electric utility KG&E.

As a young boy, he was quiet, even though he developed some disturbing habits during his childhood, he managed to keep them hidden. “He fantasized of tying up and raping girls as an adolescent. He also started killing animals like dogs and cats by torturing and hanging them. However, he was good at hiding his dark side.”

He found himself unemployed and in a disturbed state of mind, he dove deeper into the dark fantasies that had haunted his mind from childhood. He became obsessed with a Hispanic woman named Julie Otero, and her daughter, Josephine around this time. They lived nearby. He started stalking them and fantasizing about binding and torturing them.

On January 15, 1974, Dennis Rader broke into the woman’s house. Julie Otero, her husband Joseph Otero, and two of their children, Joseph Jr. and Josephine were all present in the house when he broke in. He killed all four of them and escaped. On April 4, 1974, Dennis struck again, killing 21-year-old Kathryn Bright by stabbing her eleven times. He also attacked her brother Kevin and shot him twice in the head, but Kevin managed to survive.

The police were unsuccessful in getting any meaningful clues about the killer. In October 1974, Rader started sending a series of chilling letters to the police. He outlined the gruesome details of the murders he had committed and claimed to be the “BTK” aka “Bind, Torture, Kill” murderer. In November 1974, Dennis Rader found a job with ADT Security. He started focusing more on his career and rose to the position of installation supervisor, since he was married with children by now. With the promotion came more freedom so he began killing

In March, he strangled Shirley Vian. “Later that year, he murdered Nancy Fox. Once again he sent letters to the police claiming responsibility for the killings, as “the BTK killer.”” https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/dennis-rader-btk-killer-29880.php The increased police vigilance made Rader a bit wary in 1977 and he did not kill again for a few years.

Dennis’ method for killing his victims was bind, torture, kill. He was known as the “BTK” killer. “Rader said he broke into the home of Joseph and Julie Otero and tied them up along with two of their children. He said he told them that he was wanted and just needed a car and some food. He put a pillow under Joseph Otero's head to make him more comfortable.

"I realized that, you know, I was already -- I didn't have a mask on or anything -- they already could I.D. me," Rader said.

"I made a decision to go ahead and put 'em down, I guess, or strangle them." Rader described how he killed each member of the Otero family, but he said they did not die right away. "I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn't know how much pressure you had to put on a person or how long it would take," he said. "BTK" was the killer's self-named reference to his preference to "bind, torture and kill" his victims in the string of murders from 1974 to 1991.”