Post by Graveyardbride on Sept 2, 2018 16:40:03 GMT -5
BTK Killer Blames Demon for His Crimes
Dennis Rader, the notorious BTK Killer, was seemingly a good, church-going family man. But during a span of three decades, he murdered 10 individuals, including two children, and now he is telling people what allegedly drove him to kill.
Rader, now 73, is the subject of a new documentary on the Oxygen Network entitled Snapped: Notorious BTK Serial Killer airing tonight (September 2) at 6 p.m. (EST). The special delves deeply into Rader’s life and features a previously unreleased interview with Rader in which he recounts his childhood and heinous crimes. Some of his victim’s family members, as well as investigators and those who knew Rader, also appear in the special. The haunting tell-all with local KAKE-TV reporter Larry Hatteberg took place July 2, 2005, following Rader’s allocution in court. The documentary reveals Rader granted the interview because the station was his favorite and one he grew up watching.
The former code inspector and church president pled guilty in 2005 to the murders that spread fear across Wichita, Kansas, beginning in the 1970s. Rader describes how he “trolled” for victims and then shot, stabbed or strangled them. He says he killed to satisfy his sexual fantasies.
“How could a guy like me, church member, raised a family, go out and do those sort of things?” Rader asks rhetorically. “I want the people of Sedgwick County, the United States and the world to know that I am a serial killer … It’s a dark side of me.” When Hatteberg asks Rader if he had any feelings toward his victims, he quickly responds, “Yes, I do. I mean, I have a lot of feelings for them. I guess it’s more of an achievement for this object in the hunt. Or sort of more of a high, I guess.”
Prior to his capture, Rader lived an ordinary life and attended church every Sunday. His father, who died in 1996 after retiring as a plant operator at a utility company’s generating station, was described by friends as “strict, but never cruel.” But in the documentary, it is revealed that while Rader’s father worked long hours, his mother reportedly dedicated her time to reading and watching television, paying little attention to her children. “I got along real well with dad,” Rader recalls. “But mom wasn’t always quite happy. I’ve always loved her. I still love her, greatly. But I did have a little … a little bit of grudge against momma.”
And there was one incident that seemingly foreshadowed what was to come. Rader recounts that when he was young, his mother’s ring got caught in a couch spring and the terrified woman quickly realized she couldn’t free her hand. She begged her son to get help and Rader suddenly realized that watching a trapped, helpless woman “looking to him in terror” was sexually exciting. The image never left him. “I would say probably even when I was in grade school, I sort of had some problems,” he admits. “Sexual fantasies. Probably more than normal. All males probably go through some kind of sexual fantasy. Mine was probably just weirder than other people.”
In letters, Rader told police he began fantasizing about women in bondage scenarios as a teenager. Still, he was yearning to fit in. He joined the Air Force in 1966 and worked as a mechanic during his four-year hitch until he was discharged in 1970. The following year, he met Paula Dietz in church and the two married shortly thereafter. They would go on to have two children, but Rader couldn’t ignore his urges. He also became fascinated by other high-profile killers, including the Manson family. In the early 70s, he worked on an assembly line at the Coleman Company, where 33-year-old Julie Otero was employed.
Rader’s dark fantasies became reality on January 15, 1974, when he forced his way inside the Otero household, murdered Otero, along with her husband and two of their children: Josephine, 11, and Joseph II, 9. They all died of asphyxiation, but in different ways. The couple’s three other children, who went to school early that day, survived. According to the documentary, Rader taunted the media and police with cryptic messages during a cat-and-mouse game that began following the murders. He signed his letters “BTK.”
Less than three months later, on April 4, 1974, 21-year-old Kathryn Bright, who also worked at the Coleman plant, was found stabbed to death in her home. She was bound with a cord and partially undressed. Her brother was shot, but survived.
Rader resumed his seemingly mundane life until March 17, 1977, when Shirley Vian, 24, was found partially dressed on her bed with a plastic bag over her head and a cord wrapped around her neck, hands and feet. The three children in the house were unharmed.
Nine months later, on December 8, 25-year-old Nancy Fox was strangled with nylon stockings in her home. Craving media attention, Rader made an anonymous call to police from a pay phone and provided Fox’s name and address. He also took credit for the slayings in a letter to investigators.
In the documentary, Rader claims it was “Factor X” that drove him to kill. “I personally think, and I know it’s not very Christian, but I actually think it’s a demon that’s within me,” he asserts. “At some point and time, it entered me when I was young. And it basically controlled me.”
Rader hid in plain sight for eight years as he and his wife raised their family, satisfying his urges with mementos he took from his victims. Then on April 27, 1985, 53-year-old Marine Hedge, a neighbor with whom Rader was friendly, went missing. After murdering the woman, the killer took her to his church, photographed her corpse in various bondage positions, then dumped the body beside an unpaved road. According to Rader, he took the body to church to “have my way with her” and fulfill his sexual fantasies.
On September 16, 1986, Rader strangled 28-year-old Vicki Wegerle in her bed. Her 2-year-old son was in the house, but wasn’t harmed.
Once again, Rader returned to a low-profile life as he became more involved in his church community. However, this changed January 18-19, 1991, when he abducted 62-year-old Dolores Davis, his final victim, from her home. She was found under a bridge 13 days later. The woman was strangled, bound and wearing a mask.
BTK, in an attempt to remain in the spotlight, resurfaced in 2004 with a series of chilling, taunting letters and packages. The break in the case came in 2005 after a computer disk from Rader was traced to his church.
Following his confession, Rader’s wife of 34 years was granted an immediate divorce. He was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms and confined in the maximum-security El Dorado Correctional Facility near Wichita.
In the documentary, Rader reveals he was planning to kill again and had already picked out his next victim at the time of his capture. “I was not planning on being caught,” Rader admits in the special. “I just played cat-and-mouse too long with the police and they finally figured it out.”
Sources: Sephanie Nolasco, Fox News, September 1, 2018; The Associated Press; Aly Vander Hayden; Benjamin H. Smith, Oxygen, August 31, 2018; and CNN, August 18, 2005.
Photo: Self-photo of Rader dressed as one of his victims.
