True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

 (Dennis Rader - BTK. Picture credit: nzherald)

''There once was a girl who had all the right curves and a large tummy. All the better to wrap up tight and make a mummy.''- Dennis Rader (BTK) 

One of the things that I found really interesting and refreshing about the popular Netflix show Mindhunter, was that it introduced a lot of infamous serial killers to a new true crime audience. Some of us have had an interest in Criminology and studied it for a long time but some people just have a passing interest and are not as familiar with some of the shocking murder cases we have known about over the decades. 

If you follow me on social media you will be aware of my constant moaning in regards to the lack of a Mindhunter third season! To say I was addicted to that programme is an understatement, I would have to sit and watch every episode and I'd be glued to my sofa until 5am. Everybody I knew loved it and talked about it so it was a shock when they said there would be no more episodes. I'm still salty about it and you know who else is probably salty about it.....Dennis Rader! 

As you know, the series was based on the Mindhunter book by the famous criminal profiler and pioneer John Douglas and Johnny Dodd. I've mentioned John Douglas a few times previously on this blog not only because of his amazing work in the criminology field, his insightful and informative books but also because his work has inspired TV shows and even the famous character 'Jack Crawford' in my favourite movie of all time, The Silence of The Lambs. John Douglas is a legend in the area of criminal profiling and is still regularly consulted to this day, he's had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting across the table from some of the most evilest of murderers in history and he details a lot of his experiences in his books. I highly recommend John Douglas's books if you happen to have an interest in true crime. 

So the reason I mentioned that Dennis Rader would be salty about the third season of Mindhunter not coming to fruition, is because if you know a bit about him, the guy kinda likes a bit of publicity! I am of course talking about infamous serial murderer, Dennis Rader or as he likes to call himself....BTK (which stands for Bind, Torture, Kill). My best friend often refers to him as BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, which is a popular sandwich over here in the UK. I had to tell her to stop because it was confusing me and I started to actually call him this) but all jokes aside, the man is a monster and intriguing in a nightmarish way. Not a shred of remorse to be seen which is often the case with serial murderers but this guy seems to be really proud of his 'work' and will talk about it in detail until the cows come home. He's a publicity whore and if there's an opportunity for his name to be mentioned in anything, he'll take it. With the third season of Mindhunter, we were supposed to be getting closer to the focus being on the infamous serial killer BTK (the series had hinted about Rader in the first two seasons) but everything came to an abrupt stop and as of right now (I still live in hope) there are no plans for the show to continue. So the viewers never got the chance to find out the story of BTK, Ted Bundy and many more. I put off writing about BTK because I thought he was going to feature highly in Mindhunter and expected to see his story all over the place. We saw how Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Edmund Kemper's popularity soared (I know that sounds in poor taste but serial killers who have featured in Netflix shows have a habit of attracting a cult following as disturbing as it may seem, some people are curious and some people actually idolize them) as soon as the Netflix shows were put out. 

I think that Dennis Rader was hoping for the same, for his name and crimes to be the topic of conversation again and possibly have a teen heart-throb like Zac Efron (that's what they did with the Bundy movie) play him and over glamourize everything as Hollywood and Netflix shows tend to do. 

In this post I was going to be moving into the decade of the 1980s with the focus being on the first of the six serial killers that I had chosen for that particular decade. I have already covered six serial killers from the 1970s and for some reason I planned to start the 1980s decade with Dennis Rader. Dennis committed most of his known murders in the 1970s with two known murders taking place in the 1980s and one in the 1990s. I should have placed him in with the 1970s decade but here we are. I have titled this post as Serial Killers of The 70s, 80s & 90s because Dennis Rader was active for all three of those decades. He terrorized Wichita, Kansas for over three decades and played cat and mouse with the media and the police for years until he was caught. I could have placed him in any one of my chosen decades but as the investigation and hunt for him was still actively ongoing in the 1980s and it was when the team of investigators (The Ghostbusters) that were sorely dedicated to the BTK case, was officially set up, I have kept him in this decade. 

I mentioned that he had been active in all three decades but although he committed murder in the 70s, 80s and 90s, he took breaks in between and the police, media and public were never sure of when he was going to strike again. So I will be delving into some facts and information about BTK in this post and I hope you find it informative. Please be aware that I will be sharing some disturbing details. 

• BTK came into the world on the 9th of March 1945 as Dennis Lynn Rader in Pittsburgh, Kansas (USA). He was brought up by his church-going parents, William and Dorothea, in Wichita. His childhood was described by some criminologists to be 'unremarkable and somewhat normal' but I beg to differ, I may not be a qualified criminologist or psychologist but Dennis was showing abnormal behaviour from a young age which included the torture and murder of animals as well as  masturbating into his mother's lingerie. His relationship with his mother was very up and down and she would beat him if she discovered that he had been masturbating this further led to him learning to be secretive. There was also an incident where he found a toy in the street one day and brought it home to play with, his intention was to take it back but his mother accused him of being a thief and ordered him to return the toy to where he found it. Although this does not sound like a major incident, to Dennis he would recall this moment in his childhood as traumatic and left him with feelings of humiliation and loneliness, He was a confused child who couldn't understand why his mother would be harsh with him one minute but very loving the next. 

• He spent a lot of time on farms as a child and would torture animals, mostly cats which he disliked. He was very suspicious of them and claimed that he thought they had mystical powers and were devious. He also said that they reminded him of women and that the cats were his first BDSM victims. He would either strangle or drown the cats and had made a box specifically designed to capture the poor animals so that he could carry out his sickening acts. Dennis said that he had seen a lot of animal cruelty in his childhood with various relatives either slaughtering animals for food or drowning them.

• When it came to animals, he intensely disliked cats but claimed to not have a problem with dogs because dogs reminded him of wolves. Dennis said that he could relate more to wolves as he saw himself as a lone wolf. In one of his many games with the police later on in his life, he would tell investigators false truths and one of them was that he tortured dogs which he later claimed to be untrue, he just told investigators that to create a bit of attention for himself which he always enjoyed. 

• Dennis had three brothers and complained that his parents didn't show him enough attention during his childhood because they worked long hours so they would have to make their own entertainment. Dennis would often play with other boys and they would go hunting, fishing or playing in the barns on the farm. He kept his fetish for lingerie secret but a small interest in women's underwear was soon developing into a full time hobby as he enjoyed dressing up in the undergarments and progressed to taking pictures of himself. In the beginning he thought it was a phase but soon learned that it was deeply ingrained into him and he would continue this interest all through the rest of his life. 

• He realised that he was not like other boys and he later believed that it had something to do with a couple of dramatic events in his childhood which may have caused permanent brain damage. When Dorothea was pregnant she had an accident and fell and there is a possibility that Dennis was injured as a result. She also dropped him when he was six months old and this time he had taken a blow to the right side of the head. Dennis claimed that he had turned blue but nobody took him to the hospital at that time. He survived the incident and nothing more was said about it. As for his unusual behaviour, the aspects of his personality that he did allow people to see, were still unusual for a young boy but everyone around him just ignored it. 

• As he grew older he realised that these strange fantasies were not going to go away. He developed a keen interest in detective magazines that depicted bound women on the front cover (many serial killers have mentioned these types of magazines before and how they peaked their interests), He was also drawn to movies which were violent in nature and included scenes of women being tied up. He also had an obsession with mummification and werewolves. He said that the idea of someone being in pain, wrapped up like a mummy and buried alive, turned him on. He was growing more and more interested in serial killers who he could identify with in different ways. He would study how they carried out their crimes and where they went wrong. Dennis considered himself more intelligent and was quite self assured believing that he would never be caught if he was a serial killer. 

•  He saw serial killers H.H Holmes and Ted Bundy as inspirations. After graduating from high school he went on to attend University and tried to keep his fantasies under control. He also spent four years in the U.S Airforce and had traveled to various countries around the world. He was always keeping himself busy and to some people on the outside, Dennis was a handsome and well adjusted young man but what they didn't know was that beneath the surface a horrible darkness was continuing to grow and had been festering. It was only a matter of time before he was tempted to carry out his fantasies. 

• After his time in the Airforce he decided to return home to settle down and marry his long term girlfriend, Paula as well as start a family. The couple lived in an area known as Park City which was situated just outside of Wichita and Dennis took a job at a local supermarket before returning to University to study for a degree in Electronics. He did very well at University and would later go on to gain a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, It was during this period of time that he and Paula welcomed two children into their lives, a boy and a girl. All through his murder spree and the moments where he took breaks, he was constantly working and involved in his local community. He was the president of a local church, a popular leader of a scout group, a family man and neighbourhood watch type figure that people felt they could trust and say hello to. He moved on to other jobs too, such as an assembler for a camping firm (Coleman company) which, ironically two of his victims had also been employees of. He'd also later worked for a company that specialised in installing security systems. Dennis seemed to pick up knowledge and techniques from everywhere he could, he learned how to tie knots from his time as a scout leader and he also figured out how to trick security alarms. His last position was for the Compliance Department of Park City and the power in this role seemed to go to his head. He was responsible for any of the housing complaints in that area and he was very tight with his restrictions, often giving fines and warnings for the least little thing. 

• Despite always keeping a busy lifestyle, Dennis could not shake off the fantasies that constantly plagued him. In private he would steal women's lingerie, wear the garments and masturbate. He would also stalk various women in his local neighbourhood but this only kept him calm for a short period of time, he wanted more and started to fantasize and plan what it would be like to commit a murder of a human being, even a family. 

• He was always watching people everyday and sometimes he would be driving past someone's house and he'd see a person and instantly pick them out as a potential 'project'. He saw all of his victims as 'projects'. He would carefully stalk and plan out how he was going to kill them and he would keep personal records and drawings of his crimes. Sometimes he would take items that had belonged to the deceased. 

• Whilst being able to carry out the everyday appearance of the hardworking, church-going family man and scout leader, Dennis Rader was living a double life. It is a wonder how he was able to organize and carry out his sickening crimes and then go back to his family but he had his own system in place. He nicknamed this dark part of his life as Factor X. As far as Dennis was concerned, he was able to switch either of the two sides of him on and off like a light switch. Any evil doing was simply carried out by the Factor X side of his personality and not the family man side. His first known murder was of 4 innocent people in 1974, The Otero family. The parents Julie and Joseph were murdered in a sickening fashion with their two children, Joseph Jr and Josephine. He didn't know the family personally but claimed that he had planned what he was going to do to Julie and Josephine. Dennis went around the back of the house and cut the phone lines, he then waited at the back door to which Joseph Jr suddenly opened the door and he forced his way in. He expected to see Julie and the two younger children but was surprised to see that Joseph Snr was in the house. He threatened the shocked family with a gun and claimed that he was an escaped convict. He told the family to put the dog outside and they did so. Joseph and Julie were begging for him not to harm them or the children and had offered him money, their car and to take anything that he wanted but he didn't care, he had no feeling or remorse, all he cared about was living out this sick fantasy that he had stored up for years. 

• At first Dennis instructed the family to lay down in the livingroom but then decided he'd rather carry out the killings in the bedroom so ordered them to go there. Whilst being tied up and held at gunpoint, the family were complaining about how tight the binds were and in a strange action, Dennis would attempt to loosen the restraints but also was concerned in trying to make Joseph Snr a bit more comfortable as he had complained of an existing rib injury from a previous car accident. Dennis placed a pillow underneath him to ease some of his discomfort in that moment. Dennis engaged in conversations with the parents and despite their pleas for mercy and offers of their belongings, he still planned to go ahead and kill them especially as they would now be able to identify him. He wasn't wearing any type of mask and could easily be identified so he knew he had to go through with his evil plans. He tried to kill Joseph Snr first by placing a plastic bag over his head with a ligature around his neck. 

• At this point Joseph Snr was not deceased but he was struggling whilst Dennis moved on to Julie and strangled her. During his confession in 2005, he claimed that he had never physically strangled a human being before so he wasn't sure how much pressure to apply or how long it would take before the victim would succumb to the lack of oxygen. Dennis was out of his depth with this first killing and struggled to control the victims, this was demonstrated when he had thought he had murdered all four family members but they were indeed, passed out. He noticed that Joseph Snr had managed to create a hole in the bag and was still alive so he placed another bag along with a t-shirt over his head with a ligature and sadly Joseph finally succumbed to lack of oxygen. He noticed that the others were stirring and he strangled Julie again until she was deceased. He then murdered Joseph Jr in the same way. Josephine was still alive but disorientated, he picked her up and carried her to the basement where he hung the child and when she was deceased he pleasured himself before taking a few items from the property which included a watch and a radio. He then took the car keys and drove the Otero family car to another location before walking back to his own vehicle. 

• The sickening murders of the Otero family were said to be Dennis's first experience of taking human life and the mistakes that he made during the killings showed that he was not an experienced killer. He did clean up the house after the murders and tried to cover his tracks the best he could. He made sure that he would plan better for his next project. Sadly, he had no remorse or disgust at taking the lives of this beautiful, innocent family, it just gave him more of a thirst to carry on because he enjoyed the power and the sexual satisfaction it gave him. 

• He would go on to murder six more innocent people who he referred to as 'projects'. The victims would be stalked, the same procedure would follow with the phone lines being cut and strangulation would occur. He never r*ped any of his victims but he would masturbate at the scene.

• His next victim was to be a young woman named as Kathryn Bright (aged 21). He had stalked her after driving past her house one day and planned how he was going to take her life. He broke into her house and waited for her to come home, when she finally did return, he was surprised to see that she had a man with her (he didn't know at the time that this man, later identified as Kevin, was her brother). The young siblings were shocked to discover Dennis in the house and he told them the same story that he told the Otero family, that he was a convict on the run and needed a car. He ordered Kevin to tie his sister up and then he proceeded to bind Kevin. Dennis had two handguns with him this time but he claimed that he didn't have his kill kit with him so there was a struggle with both victims with the binds not being tight enough. He fired one of the guns at Kevin and assumed that he had been killed so he returned to Kathryn and decided to stab her. Thinking that Kathryn was deceased he returned to check on Kevin who was still alive and able to make a run for it. Kevin managed to escape from BTK but Kathryn sadly didn't. 

• Chillingly, Dennis would later say that if he had, had the correct equipment with him that day then Kevin would have been deceased. 

''If I had brought my stuff and used my stuff. Kevin would probably be dead today. I'm not bragging on that. It's just a matter of fact.'' - Dennis Rader (BTK) 

• Another young woman was to be his sixth known, deceased victim and that was 24 year old Shirley Vian. Shirley had been chosen at random and Dennis discovered that she had three children. When he got into her house, he found her alone with the children and told her that he had sexual problems and desired to have sex with her. Shirley and the children were clearly terrified but followed instructions. The children were tied up and placed in the bathroom whilst Dennis carried out his attack on their mother. Just like the strange behaviour of placing a pillow underneath Joseph Otero Snr's body when he complained of a rib injury, Dennis ordered Shirley to place toys and blankets in the bathroom to keep the children (who were understandably distressed) occupied. 

• Shirley had vomited a couple of times and it's unclear whether this was because of the trauma of the situation or because she was actually sick (she had been dressed in a robe at the time). Whilst being sick, Dennis brought her a glass of water as if trying to be helpful, he then placed a plastic bag over her head with a rope and strangled her whilst her three children were locked in the bathroom. The children could clearly hear the commotion and were screaming and banging on the bathroom door. Dennis quickly cleaned up and placed his items in his briefcase (which was his kill kit. The briefcase contained rope, tape, gloves, one or two handguns, knives, handcuffs and tools for cutting wires and breaking into houses. Sometimes he would carry a camera in there along with fake identity papers and business cards). 

• He would go on to kill four more women in a similar fashion with the final victim said to be 62 year old Dolores Davis in 1991. He strangled Dolores with a pair of stockings and then looked through her house for items before taking her car. He took Dolores's deceased body with him in the vehicle because he said he had some commitments to see too. He later dumped her body underneath a bridge. 

• Throughout his killing spree, Dennis would often taunt the police and the press. He would leave messages in local library books and it was he himself who insisted on being called BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill). He made it clear that he was proud of his 'work' and wanted to be known as an infamous serial killer who was always one step ahead of the police. For years he evaded capture and would get irate and contact the police and media if someone was trying to take credit (as he saw it) for the murders that he committed. The real identity of BTK remained a mystery and continued to haunt Wichita was years with residents constantly having to look over their shoulder wondering if and when BTK would strike next. The police had an audio recording of his voice when he brazenly contacted 911 to report one of the murders by payphone. When the tape was made public his daughter (who later went on to write about her father) recognized her father's voice immediately. 

• His last known murder was of Dolores in 1991 and he later claimed that he was planning to 'retire' from murdering innocent people. He avoided detection all the way through the 1990s and continued to be a family man and pillar of the community. It was only when an article appeared in the Wichita newspaper which was focused on the 30th anniversary of the BTK murders, did Dennis suddenly sit up and take notice again. As always, being the publicity whore and attention seeker that he was, he was fuming as he read the article that basically implied that the community had began to move on from BTK and had mostly forgotten him. It was meant to be a healing article to show that the community was trying to move on after a horrific time in the past. Dennis didn't see himself in the past though, to him the murders (his 'work') was not in the past. He enjoyed being this mysterious boogeyman who outsmarted the police and had the community gripped in fear, walking around knowing what he had done and nobody suspecting him in a second, he enjoyed that power. But the huge bruise to his ego that he was just old news was enough to start the evil inside him rising again. He planned to commit another murder to show them all that he still had what it took. He contacted the police and the media again to let them know that he was still around.

• I'm sure a lot of people were hoping that he would be dead after being quiet for so long but their fears were to be ignited again with the knowledge that he could strike at any time. For the cops they saw this as another chance to finally get him.

• And the cops were to get their day because Dennis finally made the ultimate slip up and it was because of a computer disk. He contacted the police and asked them if he could be traced via a computer disk, they told him that they wouldn't be able to and he fell for it. He sent in a computer disk after he saw a secret code which the police had arranged to be printed in a local newspaper and it was through this that they were able to trace him. 

• It was an extraordinary moment when Dennis Rader aka BTK was finally arrested on the 25th of February 2005. It had been a long time coming and a lot of people had given up hope of ever seeing that day but here it was, the monster was finally caught.

• At first he tried to deny his guilt but the evidence was overwhelming and he just gave up and confessed to everything in chilling detail. It was chilling the way he was able to recall every minute detail from each of the murders as if it happened only yesterday. 

• There was no trial, Dennis and his lawyers knew the game as up and there would be no point with the huge amount of evidence against him. There was a hearing where the evidence was to be presented along with Dennis Rader's confession and a chance for the victim's families to have their final say. Dennis stood up in the courtroom and talked about each of the killings with no emotion, almost as if he was reading out a shopping list. 

• He was given 10 life sentences and missed out on the death penalty because it had not been reinstated at the time of his crimes. He is still alive today and continues to serve his sentence. A number of books, documentaries and movies have explored his crimes and he is very much still obsessed with gaining as much publicity as possible. He managed to get himself into the press recently by saying that he felt sorry for the alleged Idaho Four murderer Bryan Kohberger. Bryan is featured heavily in the media right now because he is due to stand trial, he also attended a criminology course which was being conducted by Dr Katherine Ramsland. Dr Ramsland is a well known 'expert' on the BTK murders and has been in personal contact with Dennis Rader for a number of years and has written a best-selling book on the case. Dennis claimed to feel sorry for Bryan because he knew what it was like to feel lonely in prison but assured that things would get better once the letters arrived. I think the letters that Dennis means are from the ghouls, the crazy people who are obsessed with serial killers and the ambitious true crime writers. 

(Known victims of Dennis Rader - BTK. Picture collage credit: the-line-up)

RIP to the known victims of Dennis Rader:

The Otero Family: Joseph Snr, Julie, Joseph Jr & Josephine.

Kathryn Bright (thoughts also to her brother Kevin who managed to get away and survive the horrific ordeal). 

Shirley Vian, Nancy Fox, Marine Hedge, Vickie Wegerle and Dolores Davis.

There was also a lady who nearly became another one of BTK's victims but fortunately she had returned home later that night and he had given up waiting for her. The lady had no idea that she was on his kill list until she started to receive items in the mail. Some items had been stolen from her house and returned in packages with a poem asking why she never showed up. It was chilling along with a lot of chilling things that he did. As well as the sketches, records, notes and personal items that he would keep of his victims (which he kept locked away from his family) he had personal, disturbing photographs of himself dressed up in lingerie and bound. He was able to set up this whole macabre scene himself. He would either go to a wooded area to play out these sick photoshoots or he would go to a motel for what he called 'Motel Parties' and it would just be him, taking pictures of himself in lingerie, tied up, posing as a victim. 

''When this monster entered my brain. I will never know, but it is here to stay. How does one cure himself? I can't stop it, the monster goes on , and hurts me as well as society. Maybe you can stop him. I can't.'' - Dennis Rader (BTK) 

(Dennis Rader - BTK. Picture credit: oxygen)

Further Reading & Sources: 

- A Serial Killer's Daughter | Book by Kerri Rawson

- The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood & Rebecca Lo

- The Anatomy of Evil | Book by Michael Stone

- The Psychology of Notorious Serial Killers | Book by Todd Grande

- Inside The Mind of BTK | Book by John Douglas & Johnny Dodd

- The Killer Book of Serial Killers | Book by Michael Philbin & Tom Philbin

- Serial Killers & The Phenomenon of Serial Murder | Textbook by Prof David Wilson, Elizabeth Yardley & Adam Lynes

- The True Crime Dictionary | Book by Amanda Lees

- Confession of A Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, The BTK Killer | Book by Katherine Ramsland phD

- Dennis Rader - BTK: Full Confession | Courtroom Footage

- Dennis Rader - BTK | Born To Kill (Documentary)

- Dennis Rader - BTK | Murderpedia

- Dennis Rader - BTK | Wikipedia

- Dennis Rader: Article | The Independent

- Dennis Rader - BTK | Crime Museum

- Dennis Rader - BTK | Daily Mail

- Dennis Rader - BTK | Psychology Today

- BTK News | The Wichita Eagle

- Dennis Rader - BTK: Article | The New York Times

His level of evilness continues to intrigue and fascinate to this day, was he born evil or was it the injuries to his head as a child? Was he made to be a killer after years of watching relatives on the farm killing animals and slaughtering them? Did this take away any sensitivity, empathy and feeling he may have had for an animal or a human being in suffering? Nobody knows the answer and it continues to baffles us to this day. His wife was granted an emergency divorce in 2005 when the truth was finally revealed. He was able to live two separate lives for decades and nobody suspected a thing. I still hope that Mindhunter will return and that they will delve into the BTK case, not for attention for Dennis but for the viewers. We are all struggling to understand this type of evil behaviour and we all want to find ways to prevent it but it's an uphill battle. We may never be able to get to the bottom of why serial killers are able to do what they do. 

(Dennis Rader - BTK. Picture credit: wikipedia)

''I actually think I may be possessed by demons., I was dropped on my head as a kid.'' - Dennis Rader (BTK) 

If you have made it this far, as always, thank you, I appreciate it. I hope you will join me next time for my next post in the series. 

Take care x