Dennis Rader: The BTK Killer

Dennis Rader, also known as The BTK Killer is a serial killer who was convicted for murdering ten people around Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991.

Dennis was the eldest son of William Rader and Dorothea Cook. As with most psychopaths Rader enjoyed torturing animals as a child. He also had a fetish for women’s underwear. At a young age Rader realized that he could not achieve sexual satisfaction without binding, torturing and killing the other person. Hence, he chose the BTK killer as he pseudonym. He joined the U.S. Air Force from 1966 till 1970. During his time in the Force, he was stationed in Alabama, Texas, South Korea, Greece, Turkey and Okinawa. During his time in the Force, he developed a habit of peeping into homes to watch women

After his stint in the U.S. Air Force, he met and married Paula Dietz and eventually had two children with her. He then went to Community College and earned an associate degree in Electronics in 1973. He then enrolled in Wichita State University for a degree in Administration of Justice. He changed jobs several times in his life, never staying at one job for more than a few years. In 1980, he became a boy scout troop leader. During this time, he would teach the boy scouts some knots which he used later on in his murders. In 1989, he worked as a consensus field operations supervisor of Wichita and in 1991, worked for the Compliance Department in Park City. He held this job till his arrest. At the time of his arrest, he was also the congregation president of the Christ Lutheran Church. Rader was said to have a gentle and pleasant attitude making people him trust in him. This goes to show that even the craziest psychopaths in the world are hiding in plain sight. Rader was clever enough to hide his sadistic nature and

However, this claim was found to be false and the death was ruled a suicide. In October 2004, an envelope was dropped into a UPS box in Wichita. In it were a series of cards with images of bondage and terror of children on them, a false autobiography containing many details about Rader's life and a poem threatening the life of lead investigator Lt. Ken Landwehr. In December, the police found another package from the BTK killer in Murdock Park. Inside the package were Nancy Fox’s driver’s license and a doll whose hands and feet were bound and had a plastic bag around its head. In January 2005, Rader sent another message in a cereal box, but the box was thrown out. It was later found after Rader made a reference to it in a later message. In February, KAKE received more postcards and another cereal box was found in a rural area with a bound doll symbolizing Josephine