1. Dennis Rader's victims were often bound, sometimes with objects from their homes, and either suffocated with a plastic bag or manually strangled with a ligature.
114 Facts About Dennis Rader
1. 2.
Dennis Rader often sent taunting letters to police and media outlets, describing his crimes in detail.
3.
In 2004, after a thirteen-year hiatus, Dennis Rader resumed sending letters, leading to his 2005 arrest and subsequent guilty plea.
4.
Dennis Rader is currently serving ten consecutive life sentences at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
5.
Dennis Lynn Rader was born in Pittsburg, Kansas, on March 9,1945.
6.
Dennis Rader's parents were bookkeeper Dorothea Mae Rader and Kansas Gas Service worker William Elvin Rader.
7.
Dennis Rader exhibited zoosadism by torturing, killing and hanging small animals.
8.
Dennis Rader masturbated with ropes or other bindings around his arms and neck.
9.
Years later, during his "cooling off" periods between murders, Dennis Rader would take pictures of himself wearing women's clothes and a female mask while bound.
10.
Dennis Rader received only mediocre grades and dropped out after one year.
11.
Dennis Rader served in the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1970.
12.
Dennis Rader attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, earning an associate degree in electronics engineering in 1973.
13.
Dennis Rader then enrolled at Wichita State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in administration of justice.
14.
Dennis Rader initially worked as an assembler for the Coleman Company, an outdoor supply company.
15.
Dennis Rader then worked at the local Wichita office of ADT Security Services from 1974 to 1988, where he installed security alarms.
16.
Dennis Rader was a field operations supervisor for the Wichita area for the 1990 federal census.
17.
In May 1991, Dennis Rader became a dogcatcher and compliance officer in Park City.
18.
One neighbor complained that Dennis Rader killed her dog for no reason.
19.
Dennis Rader was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita, and at one point was elected president of the church council.
20.
Dennis Rader was a Cub Scout leader and would frequently use being with the scouts as his alibi when a BTK killing was discovered.
21.
Hungry for attention, Dennis Rader re-emerged as BTK in 2004 after learning that the book was being written.
22.
Dennis Rader told the Otero family that he was a "wanted" man in California before he ordered them to lie on the living room floor at gunpoint.
23.
Joseph Otero Sr complained of a cracked rib, so Dennis Rader put a pillow underneath for him.
24.
Around this time, Dennis Rader made the decision to kill them.
25.
Joseph's head was covered by a plastic bag, which Dennis Rader then secured with ropes.
26.
Dennis Rader was pretty upset with what was going on, and she asked me to save her son, so I took the bag off.
27.
Dennis Rader asked Josephine if her father had a camera because he wanted to take pictures.
28.
Dennis Rader realized his "main, big knife" was still in the backyard of the Otero home so he drove his car back to the house to retrieve the knife.
29.
Dennis Rader had no knowledge of her brother living at the same house, trying to "stay away from the males as much as possible" in order to make the killings easier.
30.
Dennis Rader had punched the door open, discovering nobody was home yet.
31.
Dennis Rader accidentally discharged his pistol because of the delicate trigger, fearing the smell of gunpowder would alert Kathryn Bright.
32.
Dennis Rader came home shortly with her brother, Kevin Bright.
33.
Dennis Rader told the Brights that he was a wanted man from California, and needed money and food.
34.
Dennis Rader was described as a stocky man wearing a silver wrist watch, "sweating profusely".
35.
The Brights were forced into the southeast bedroom, where he forced Kevin to tie up Kathryn, before Dennis Rader tied up Kevin.
36.
Dennis Rader didn't bring his own restraints in order to separate himself from the Otero murders, using materials present at the house, such as bandanas.
37.
Dennis Rader then pulled his firearm and a struggle ensued, eventually resulting in Kevin being shot in the forehead.
38.
Dennis Rader went to another room, returning shortly and attempting to strangle Kevin again.
39.
Dennis Rader was able to flag down neighbors, who took him to the hospital and called police.
40.
Dennis Rader told Kathryn that he had shot her brother, saying Kathryn "was starting to become hysterical and going crazy", that "she fought like hell".
41.
Kathryn's resistance proved too strong for him to strangle her as planned, so Dennis Rader resorted to stabbing her repeatedly in the area under her ribcage.
42.
Dennis Rader heard this happen and immediately grabbed the keys Kathryn had and ran outside to try and start the truck parked outside to flee.
43.
On March 17,1977, Dennis Rader had a different victim other than Shirley planned for the day, but decided not to murder that specific planned victim when the victim was not home.
44.
Dennis Rader said he was frustrated by this and decided to find a random person to kill instead.
45.
Dennis Rader was holding a photo of his wife and daughter.
46.
Dennis Rader asked Steve if the 2 women in the photo lived in the neighborhood, explaining that he was a detective.
47.
Dennis Rader then watched Steve walk back to his mother's house, while he followed.
48.
At the Relford residence, Dennis Rader asked Shirley if she could identify the same photo.
49.
Dennis Rader explained that he was a wanted man, and that they were being robbed.
50.
Dennis Rader attempted to tie up her three kids that Shirley had in the house with her, but found that doing so was too difficult, leading him to force the children into a bathroom which he compelled Shirley to help him construct a barricade.
51.
Dennis Rader strangled her with rope after placing a plastic bag over her head.
52.
Dennis Rader would express that he intended to eventually kill the children in the bathroom but didn't when the telephone rang, and the oldest child in the bathroom screamed that the call was from somebody who would be stopping by the home shortly.
53.
Dennis Rader noticed Nancy Fox enter her home, and decided that he was going to kill her, stalking her for some time.
54.
Dennis Rader had given her the name "Project Foxhunt" due to her name.
55.
On December 8,1977, Dennis Rader broke into the home through a back window, after discovering that Nancy was not home at the time he knocked on the door.
56.
Dennis Rader informed her that her phone lines were cut and she would not be able.
57.
Dennis Rader then began putting handcuffs on Nancy, to which she protested and questioned the need for.
58.
On February 10,1978, Dennis Rader sent another letter to Wichita television station KAKE claiming responsibility for the murders.
59.
Dennis Rader asked for the police to send him a hidden message.
60.
Dennis Rader explained during his confession that he became obsessed with Williams and was "absolutely livid" when she evaded him.
61.
Dennis Rader recalled spending hours waiting at Williams' home but becoming impatient and leaving when she did not return from visiting friends.
62.
Dennis Rader had been stalking Hedge for some time, like with his other victims.
63.
Dennis Rader lived only a few houses up from Rader's house, which made Rader select her just to see if he could murder one of his neighbors.
64.
Dennis Rader was attending a cub scouts outing on the night of the murder.
65.
Dennis Rader had faked a headache, blaming the rainy and muddy weather for his sickness, saying he was going to bed early.
66.
Dennis Rader then drove to a bowling alley across the street from Brittany Center at 21st Street and Woodlawn.
67.
Dennis Rader walked in, ordered a beer, swished it in his mouth, and splashed it on his face and clothes.
68.
Dennis Rader then called a taxi using a fake slurred drunk voice.
69.
Dennis Rader was dropped off one street down from his and Hedge's street.
70.
Dennis Rader cut the phones line to Hedge's home and managed to break into the home without damaging it too much.
71.
Dennis Rader then stripped Hedge and dragged her out to her car, driving the body to the Christ Lutheran Church, where he was a long-time member and had keys to the building.
72.
Dennis Rader dragged the body into the building and covered the windows up with black garbage bag before turning on the lights in the church, ensuring no lights would be visible from the outside.
73.
Dennis Rader drove a little distance away, and dumped the nude body of Hedge in a remote ditch and covered her with brush.
74.
Dennis Rader stalked her for a little bit, before learning she played piano, after hearing her playing it when prowling around outside her house.
75.
On September 16,1986, Dennis Rader used one of the company's hard-hats, and a Southwest Bell manual to act as a repairman or technician for the telephone company.
76.
Dennis Rader first gained entry into Wegerle's neighbor's house, and pretended to do telephone work, before leaving and knocking on Wegerle's door.
77.
Dennis Rader made small talk with Wegerle as he pretended to check the phone.
78.
Dennis Rader fled with the Wegerle car, and actually passed Vicki's husband on the way out, confirming that the husband likely would've walked into it if Rader had stayed later.
79.
Dennis Rader parked the car in a grocery store parking lot, and drove back home in his car.
80.
Dennis Rader had seen Dolores Davis not far from where he lived, and stalked her for a while.
81.
Dennis Rader codenamed Davis "Project Dogside" because of the dog kennels north of her home.
82.
Dennis Rader used a Trappers Scout outing as cover for the murder.
83.
Dennis Rader then drove to his parents' house and got undressed out of the trapping scout clothes.
84.
Dennis Rader then drove to the Baptist Church, 1301 East 61st Street in Park City for his final preparation.
85.
Dennis Rader had a key to the church because of the Boys Scouts.
86.
Dennis Rader left the church and walked to the Davis home.
87.
Dennis Rader crossed 61 Street and walked through wheat fields and cut through a cemetery.
88.
Dennis Rader recalled the cold and how bad his feet were hurting.
89.
The time was 10:30 pm to 11 pm when Dennis Rader arrived at the Davis home.
90.
Davis was reading and Dennis Rader saw her through the window blinds.
91.
Dennis Rader obtained the keys to her car and rattled around in the kitchen pretending to look for food.
92.
Dennis Rader took the body of Dolores Davis and put her in the trunk of her car.
93.
Dennis Rader drove her car to the Kansas Department of Transportation lake at 45th and Hillside where he dumped her body in the bushes.
94.
Dennis Rader drove back to the Davis home and threw her keys on the roof.
95.
Dennis Rader threw the keys on the roof because he recalled reading that the police had looked for the keys to the Otero car on the roof of buildings.
96.
Dennis Rader walked back to the Baptist Church to pick up his car.
97.
Dennis Rader drove back to the KDOT and collected the body.
98.
Dennis Rader drove out to a rural area, and dumped the body underneath a bridge.
99.
However, Dennis Rader initiated a series of 11 communications to local media, which led directly to his arrest in February 2005.
100.
In January 2005, Dennis Rader attempted to leave a cereal box in the bed of a pickup truck at a Home Depot in Wichita, but the box was discarded by the truck's owner.
101.
On February 16,2005, Dennis Rader sent a purple 1.44-megabyte Memorex floppy disk to Wichita station KSAS-TV.
102.
Police found metadata embedded in a deleted Microsoft Word document that was, unknown to Dennis Rader, still stored on the floppy disk.
103.
Dennis Rader was arrested while driving near his home in Park City shortly after noon on February 25,2005.
104.
Dennis Rader asked about the death penalty, and inquired several times about what his potential sentence would end up being.
105.
On February 28,2005, Dennis Rader was charged with 10 counts of first degree murder.
106.
However, the Sedgwick County district attorney denied the story, yet refused to say whether Dennis Rader had made any confessions or if investigators were looking into his possible involvement in more unsolved killings.
107.
Dennis Rader described the murders in detail to the court and made no apologies.
108.
Dennis Rader's statement has been described as an example of an often-observed phenomenon among psychopaths: their inability to understand the emotional content of language.
109.
Dennis Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences, with a minimum of 175 years.
110.
Dennis 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.
111.
Dennis Rader conducted an interview after Rader had pleaded guilty on June 27,2005.
112.
NBC claimed Dennis Rader knew the interview might be televised, but this was false according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office.
113.
Dennis Rader talked about innocuous topics such as the weather during the forty-minute drive to El Dorado but began to cry when the victims' families' statements from the court proceedings came on the radio.
114.
Dennis Rader is in solitary confinement for his protection.