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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 1:53:19 GMT -5
Dennis Rader was born in a quiet corner of Kansas, close to where Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri all meet, on March 9, 1945. He was the first of four sons born to William and Dorothea Rader. He was baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsburg KS. His father was a member of the US Marine Corps, who later worked for the electric utility KG&E starting in 1948. The family moved to the largest city in Kansas, Wichita, when Dennis was a young boy. The Raders settled into a modest but pleasant home at 4815 N. Seneca, which remained continually as a Rader household until sold in 2005.
Not much is known about Rader's childhood. Is said to have joined the Boy Scouts as a youth. He attended Riverview Elementary School. By his own admission, he says he developed fantasies about bondage, control and torture from an early age, while still in grade school. As he became pubic he dreamed of tying girls up and having his way with them. The Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was one of his favorite targets for imaginary bondage. He admits to having killed cats and dogs such as by hanging them as a youth.
Those who knew him personally describe a quiet and polite young man who preferred to keep to himself. Dennis Rader was not a joiner or known to be very socially active in high school. The young Dennis showed no interest in the music of the times. One friend described him as utterly lacking a sense of humor, but tending to be studious and focused. He was described as a person who chose his words before speaking, and who would give you his full attention as he spoke.
Dennis Rader graduated from Wichita Heights High School, class of 1963. In his latter adolescence he appears to have had employment, such as working in a grocery store. It wasn't until the fall of 1965 that he entered Kansas Wesleyan College in Salina, too far away from Wichita to live at home. He only did two semesters there. In the summer of 1966 at age 21 Rader joined the US Air Force.
Rader was first sent to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas for basic training. He spent time in Wichita Falls, Texas while doing technical training there. In early 1967 Rader was stationed at Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, Alabama and appears to have been there until January, 1968, when he was sent to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa in the west Pacific. (Keep in mind that Air Force personnel typically travel quite a bit regardless of where they are based.)
Rader remained stationed in tropical Okinawa for six months. In July 1968 he was moved to mainland Japan, stationed at the large Tachikawa Air Base located near Tokyo. He appears to have been based there until the end of his service in 1970. By his own description, he also spent time in Korea, Greece and Turkey while serving in the Air Force.
Rader's four years on active duty in the Air Force appear to have been unremarkble. He attained the rank of sargeant and worked in the installation of antenna equipment, among other tasks. One former buddy from those times was totally shocked when he found out Rader was BTK in 2005. Dennis was just one of the guys, he said, just sort of blended in. Rader received the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, the Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon and the National Defense Service Medal, was discharged from active duty in the summer of 1970 and returned to his home town of Wichita, Kansas. He would serve two more years in the reserves.
Less than a year after his return to Wichita, on May 22, 1971 Dennis Rader and Paula Dietz were married. Paula was also from north Wichita and had attended the same high school. She was also a fellow Lutheran. Dennis was 26, Paula was 23 when they got married. They settled in Park City, not far from the Rader home in north Wichita. Dennis was working in the meat department of an IGA supermarket, Paula was a bookkeeper. In 1972 Rader went to work at the Coleman Co., a manufacturer of camping supplies and Wichita's largest employer at the time. He lasted 13 months there until July 1973. He was also attending Butler County Community College in El Dorado, and earned an Associate's (2 year) degree in Electronics in 1973.
In the fall of 1973 Rader began his studies at Wichita State University. It would take him six more years of night school to earn his degree. He was a poor student, even by his own description, a chronic C minus or D level. He couldn't spell and may have had a learning disability reflected in his unusually bad written grammar. In late 1973 or early 1974 he appears to have had a brief stint working for Cessna, the aircraft manufacturer, but says he was fired from that job. He found himself in a low frame of mind, unemployed, unhappy, with time on his hands. He slipped deeper into the fantasy world he had known since childhood and wanted to know: what would it feel like to strangle somebody to death?
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 1:55:40 GMT -5
In January, 1974 Dennis Rader was in between jobs and restless. His wife worked at the VA Hospital in Wichita and didn't like driving in snow and ice, so Dennis would sometimes drive her to and from work. He enjoyed "trolling", which consisted of driving or walking around certain neighborhoods or school campuses where there would be women to observe. He would focus in on a good prospect and enter into his fantasy realm of bondage, torture and death, imagining what he would do to her. Bind them, torture them, kill them.
There was a new Hispanic family that had moved into a corner house at Edgemoor and Murdock, and one day while dropping Paula off he spied Julie Otero, age 34, and her daughter Josephine, age 11. He had a thing for Hispanic women, admired their beauty and dark hair.
Rader devised a plan. He gathered together his hit kit, consisting of a gun, cords, knives, tools for breaking and entering, a wirecutter. He observed the Otero house for a time, getting an idea of when people left or returned, what their daily schedule was like. On the morning of January 15, he could wait no longer. After 8 a.m. he came around the house, snuck into the yard and cut the phone line. Hesitating at the back door, unsure if he could go through with it, he barged in. Things were not as he had expected. The man of the house, Joe Otero, 38, was still home, as were Julie, Josephine and Joey, the 9 year old son. Their rather vicious dog was in the house also. Rader seized control of the situation, ordering Joey to put the dog in the back yard at gunpoint. He somehow was able to control all four people using the gun. He told them he was a wanted criminal and needed money, food and a car to escape. At first Joe was dumbfounded and asked him if this was some kind of a joke set up by his brother-in-law. Rader ordered everyone to lie down in the living room, then changed his mind and sent them all into a bedroom. Using his vagrant ruse, he was able to disalarm the Oteros enough to get them all tied up.
However everything changed when Rader put a bag over Joe's head. Joe fought hard, tearing holes in the bag. Rader had to devise a cord ligature to subdue him and kill him. He attempted to manually strangle Julie, but it took considerably longer and much more effort to strangle someone than it did in the movies. Julie passed out, but revived after a time. The second strangulation attempt worked. She had begged Rader not to kill the children, and told him, "God have mercy on your soul".
Nine year old Joey was the next one to die. Rader herded him into his bedroom and did him in through strangulation and suffocation. He apparently rolled off the bed and died facedown on the bedroom floor. Rader says he brought a chair into the bedroom and sat there to watch the boy die.
Eleven year old Josie was the final one. After a failed attempt at strangulation she revived. Rader forced her to walk down to the basement. He put a noose around her neck and informed her she would be going to heaven to join the others. He had asked her for a camera, but she said they didn't have one. Josie was hanged from a sewer pipe in the basement, left partially disrobed. Rader then masturbated over her bare legs, leaving some semen on the pipe behind her.
Afterwards Rader tidied up a bit, collected his things and left after a time. He took Joe's watch and a small radio. He into got their Oldsmobile station wagon, backed out onto Murdock Street and nearly had a collision with an oncoming vehicle. Rader drove to a nearby supermarket, Dillon's, and parked the car. A lady saw him exiting the car shaking like a leaf. He stealthily tossed the car keys onto the roof of Dillon's and exited the area on foot. After that he claims he walked to his own car, but realized his knife was missing. He claims to have driven back to the Otero house, parked his car in their garage, and then retrieved the knife from the yard.
Rader had no idea that the Oteros had three other older children, all of whom had left for school before his arrival. Charlie, 15, Daniel, 14 and Carmen, 13 were the ones who found their parents dead when they arrived home from school that afternoon.
In April, 1974 Rader was stalking a woman named Kathryn Bright, 21. He had seen her one day entering the home she rented in Wichita. On April 4 he broke into the home via the back porch door. He hid in a bedroom. Around 2 pm Kathryn arrived home, accompanied by her brother Kevin who was 19 years old. Kevin didn't live there, but had gone with his sister that day to the bank. Rader startled them by emerging from the bedroom pointing a gun at them. He recited the same story he had told the Oteros, he was a wanted criminal from California on his way to New York, and needed a car and money. Rader forced the two of them in a bedroom, where Kathryn was tied up by Kevin forced at gunpoint and/or by Rader himself. He attempted to tie Kevin up in another room, but he hadn't brought his best hit kit materials that day and had to improvise from materials found in the home. Kevin worked his way loose and got into a vicious fight for his life with Rader, nearly succeeding in taking the gun from him.
Rader grabbed back the gun and got off a shot that hit Kevin in the face. Still fighting, Kevin made one more attempt to overpower Rader but got shot a second time in the head. Stunned and bleeding, Kevin appeared to be dead or dying and Rader went back to work on Kathryn. She gave him a powerful fight also, but in order to end the scene quickly Rader switched from attempted strangulation to stabbing, getting her with deep cuts to the abdomen and other areas. Meanwhile Kevin had revived and ran out of the house screaming for help. This necessitated Rader having to make a hasty exit, and he did, running from the scene on foot. He ran the many blocks to where his car was parked and drove off. He was all cleaned up by the time his wife got off work, and no one suspected him. Kathryn died in the hospital a few hours later despite urgent attempts to save her with surgery and blood transfusions. Kevin was left in critical condition with his head wounds but survived. He still bears the damage done to him that day.
In October, 1974 an editor of the Wichita Eagle newspaper received a phone call directing him to a letter hidden in an engineering book at the Wichita Public Library. He notified police instead, who found the letter at the library. It was a gruesome description of the unsolved Otero murders by someone with a good knowledge of the crime scene. It was written in poor English with numerous misspellings. The writer was concerned that the police had recently arrested the wrong men for the Otero murders, and proudly proclaimed, " I did it myself with noone's help". He said, "the code words for me will be... Bind them, to(r)ture them, kill them, B.T.K..."
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 1:57:40 GMT -5
In November, 1974 Dennis Rader finally found a steady job with ADT Security, a company specializing in the installation of alarm systems. He would stay with ADT for the next 14 years. He rose to the position of installation supervisor, which gave him some flexibility in terms of where he could be during the day.
In 1975 the Raders' first child was born, Brian. Dennis had a full schedule between ADT and night school at WSU. Even though he is not known to have committed any known crime during 1975 and 1976, by his own description the trolling for more victims never did cease then or until his arrest 30 years later.
On March 17, 1977 Rader decided it was time for a murder one way or another. He had been trolling a particular neighborhood fairly heavily and had some women in mind there. He had met a woman named Cheryl in a bar and found her quite interesting. Cheryl was renting a house with another woman and often had parties there in those days. Rader found out where she lived and decided it would be "a go", meaning a definite hit. Fortunately for Cheryl and her friends, no one was home when Rader came around that day. Rader states he had also cased another home in the neighborhood, but that no one was there either.
Rader went trolling on foot down Hydraulic Street and encountered a five year old boy, Steve Relford. He pulled out a photo of his own wife and son and asked Steve if he knew who they were. Steve said he didn't and proceeded on home to complete the errand to the store his mother had sent him on. Rader soon knocked on the door, and Steve answered. He was posing as an official person, perhaps a detective, and gained entry into the home. There were three children in the home including Steve and an 8 year old brother and a 4 year old sister. Rader abruptly turned off the television and lowered the blinds.
The mother emerged in a bathrobe, demanding to know what was going on. At gunpoint, Rader ordered all the children into the bathroom, where he blockaded the children in. He made his intentions clear to the mother, Shirley Vian, 24, that he was going to bind her up and have his way with her. However, it wasn't rape he was after as he led Shirley to believe. Rader claims he got her a glass of water after she threw up and allowed her to have a smoke to calm down. Shirley was ill that day and her common law husband Richard Vian wouldn't be home till later.
Rader tied her up as promised but then strangled her to death with a cord around her neck. He left semen on panties found next to the body. He was gone before the children could break out of the bathroom and summon help. Rader later stated that a ringing telephone unnerved him and caused him to leave before he could kill the children.
In December, 1977 Rader became fixated on Nancy Fox, 25, stalking her from her residence and workplace. On the evening of December 8 he broke into her modest duplex via a rear bedroom window after first cutting the phone line. He awaited her arrival from her evening job at a jewerly store. Nancy was the sole occupant of the duplex at that time and lived alone. The initial confrontation took place in the kitchen, presumably at gunpoint. Rader stated that he had a sexual issue and needed to tie her up to rape her. Other than making barbed comments, Nancy didn't fight back. She was ordered into the bedroom after being allowed to partly disrobe in the bathroom. Rader tied her to the bed and undressed himself. At that point he announced who he really was, making it clear he was the same person who had killed the Oteros, and proceeded to strangle her to death with a ligature. He left semen deposited on a nightgown found next to the body.
The following morning after reporting to work at ADT and leaving the office in a company van, Rader stopped at a phone booth just a couple blocks down the street. He dialed a police dispatcher and said, "Yes, you will find a home-acide at 843 South Pershing. Nancy Fox...That is correct", and left the receiver dangling. Police rushed to the residence and found the lifeless body still lying on the bed, the head badly swollen. A tape recording of that call was eventually played repeatedly over and over in the Wichita media, but no one including Rader's co-workers or family was able to recognize the voice.
In early 1978 Rader attempted to send a postcard with a sarcastic poem, "Shirley Locks", to the Wichita Eagle but no one recognized the significance of it until days later. It was followed by a letter that was taken quite seriously. In it the killer took full responsibility for the Otero, Shirley Vian and Nancy Fox murders plus an unnamed seventh victim later assumed to be Kathryn Bright. The writer suggested a number of names for himself, including B.T.K. It was written in the same style as the 1974 letter, and mentioned a mysterious "factor x" that the writer said was the reason for his need to kill people. See Letters from BTK for the full text of this letter. Also included was a bizarre poem, "Oh death to Nancy", mimicking an old folk song and poem called "Oh Death".
This letter forced the Wichita Police Department to make a decision. It was decided that it would be publicly announced that Wichita had an unknown serial killer on the loose, and citizens were urged to be extra careful about locking doors and looking out for each other. A whole generation of women grew up in Wichita that routinely checked their phones for a dial tone whenever re-entering their homes, to make sure the phone line had not been cut by an intruder.
In June, 1978 Paula gave birth to the Rader's second and final child, Kerri. She had been pregnant through all the events during and following Nancy Fox's murder.
In April, 1979 Rader broke into the home of Anna Williams, a 63 year old widow who had recently lost her husband. He waited fruitlessly for Anna to come home, but she didn't until later that evening. Rader pilfered a few small items and left, disappointed. In June of that year, just days before Rader's graduation ceremony at WSU, Anna received a package in the mail with a poem entitled "Oh Anna why didn't you appear", a drawing of what Rader had intended to do her and a few of the things he had stolen. The next day a similar package arrived at the studios of KAKE-TV in Wichita. Anna was terrified and quickly moved far away from Wichita.
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 1:59:01 GMT -5
If Dennis Rader had enjoyed all the publicity BTK was getting in the late 1970s, he must have grown increasingly wary of being caught. Ahead in the game, he knew when to fold it. Nothing more was heard from the killer publicly until 2004, except for one letter that was not officially acknowledged to have come from BTK in 1988. Rader continued his trolling while becoming more active in his church and also became a Cub Scout leader when his son was old enough. In fact, son Brian would eventually attain the status of Eagle Scout, undoubtedly with ample encouragement and guidance from his father. Rader never utilized his degree in Administation of Justice from WSU, but was known to have envied becoming a police officer and was also reportedly involved at times in reserve officer programs as a volunteer.
It is impossible to understand the story of Dennis Rader unless one has some knowledge of what a psychopath is. A psychopath is a person who is incapable of empathy for other beings. They are self-centered to the extreme that no one else matters unless someone serves a purpose or potential purpose for the psychopath. This is a person who has no problems with hurting others, no guilt, shame or remorse. It is a person who is deceptive, lies freely and skillfully without shame or regret. Dennis Rader from his youth learned how to live in two worlds, the conventional, social realm everyone lives in and his own private world of torture and death. He was extremely skillful in separating these two worlds, what is known as compartmentalizing. He could go out and commit the most atrocious murder, and come home like nothing had happened. It was like changing clothes or switching to a different channel.
By 1985 as far as anyone knows, it had been a number of years since the last kill. Rader was a busy family man, a person with no criminal record, someone apparently religious and helpful at church. Despite all this he took great lengths to pull off his next murder. He was now 40 years old, his son was 9 and his daughter 6. Marine Hedge, 53, was a widowed neighbor who lived on the same street in Park City as the Raders. She was a petite, friendly woman, mother of four grown children, who had lost her husband Thomas in the past year. In the 1970s the Raders had purchased a small home on Independence Street. During their walks Dennis and Paula would sometimes wave to Marine, who enjoyed gardening around the home as did Dennis.
On the weekend of April 27, 1985, Rader was attending a Boy Scout camp-out just outside of Wichita. He left camp in the evening, with the pretext of having a headache and needing to get to town to buy something for it. He parked his car by a bowling alley in the city and bought himself a beer. He swished the liquid in his mouth and spit it out, and also deliberately got some beer on his clothing so he would have a smell like he had been drinking. Calling a cab, he pretended to be drunk and instructed the driver to take him to a park in Park City so he could walk it off before arriving home. The park adjoined the backyard of the Hedge property. Rader was disappointed to see Marine's car in the carport, and assumed she was home. He cut the phone line and quietly pried open a rear door using a screwdriver. It turned out that no one was home as he had hoped, and soon a car pulled up and Rader hid in a bedroom closet. Marine Hedge and a friend, Gerald Porter, entered the home. Gerald left for the night around 1 a.m. Rader waited while Marine went to bed and fell asleep.
Rader crept out of the closet. He flicked on the bathroom light and then pounced on Marine in the bed, manually choking the 100 pound woman to death. However, his fantasy-driven outing was far from over. He dragged the body with the bedding to her car and put her in the trunk. Rader drove directly to his church, where he was a person so trusted that he had the keys to the building. He dragged the body underneath some trees and entered the building down to the basement, where he taped black plastic over the basement windows so no one could see inside. He then dragged the body down into the basement and photographed it in various poses. It was getting late and Rader hurriedly returned the body to the car trunk and took off. He found a dumping place in a ditch along a dirt road several miles outside of Park City, and semi-concealed the body under some trimmings. He left knotted pantyhose by the body, which apparently had been used for some purpose during the night.
By now it was getting light and Rader hurriedly made his way back to where he had left his car in Wichita. He parked Marine's car there after wiping it down for fingerprints, and returned to the Scout camp he had deserted earlier. He was never connected to this crime until some 20 years later. He still had those photographs in his collection.
In September, 1986 Rader had his eye on Vicki Wegerle, a 28 year old mother of two. He would walk by her house, hearing strains of piano music as Vickie played. On September 16 he was working for ADT as usual, but took some time for a "PJ" or project, as he called his murder prospects. Sometime after 10 a.m. he showed up at Vickie's door, dressed up like a telephone repairman complete with hardhat. He somehow managed to get Vicki to allow him inside the home to check the phone line. He fiddled with her phone with an improvised testing gadget and then informed her she was going to be tied up and raped. Presumably using a gun, he forced her into a bedroom and attempted to tie her up, but she gave him a fierce battle scratching him in the process. Rader prevailed in the physical fight and secured her with ropes, then proceeded to strangle her to death using pantyhose as a ligature. He photographed the dying body in a few poses and hastily left in the Wegerle car. Vicki had warned him that her husband would be arriving home shortly. Rader later stated that had the husband come home, he would have been killed also.
Bill Wegerle indeed came home soon afterward and even saw his own car going in the opposite direction away from the house. He couldn't identify the driver, but it didn't appear to be Vicki. His 2 year old son Brandon was still in the living room, unattended. Bill couldn't find Vicki at first, who was on the bedroom floor behind the bed, but finally did after a while. She was rushed to a hospital with paramedics desperately trying to revive her, but was pronounced dead a short time later.
BTK meanwhile had driven around the city for a while disposing of evidence, then returned to the area near the house and parked the Wegerle's car a couple blocks from their home. He exited the area on foot and returned to his own car nearby. Changing clothes, he was soon back on the job for ADT that day.
Bill Wegerle's life soon took a turn for the drastic. Not only had he lost his wife and mother of his two children, he was faced with a hostile and skeptical police and public who never seemed satisfied that he was innocent of this crime. This dark cloud of suspicion hung over him for the next 18 years. Nobody had heard from BTK in eight years and the police discounted this as a BTK crime. No charges were ever filed against Bill, but the anguish of those years was keen.
At the very end of 1987 another notorious family murder occurred in Wichita, this time three members of the Phillip f*ger family: the father, Phillip, and two teenage daughters. A contractor who worked for the f*gers was arrested in Florida after leaving the murder scene in the f*ger car and using a credit card stolen from them. Bill Butterworth was eventually acquitted by a jury due to a lack of physical evidence, but the police remain satisfied that he was the murderer. A letter was received by Mrs. f*ger in early 1988 from BTK, who stated he did not do this crime but admired the work of the man who did. This was never confirmed as a genuine BTK communication until police found a copy of the original letter in Rader's stash 17 years later. He also had his own illustration of what he thought had happened that day to one of the girls, but it was not accurate to the real crime scene.
In 1988 Rader succeeded in getting himself fired from ADT Security. The official reason stated by the company was that he was not getting his work quota done. The varying reports from co-workers describe a man who could be difficult to work with but was customer-oriented. One description of him from that time paints a picture of a man who wanted to be a police officer but had been forced to settle for what Rader saw as the inferior position of being an alarm installer. In any case, he was out of a steady job. There is a record of Rader working for the US Census Bureau for several months only in 1989 as a field operations supervisor. Otherwise he may have been unemployed or finding temporary work until landing a new position in 1991.
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 2:00:48 GMT -5
It's not known what work Dennis Rader had, if any, into early 1991, but he was into another PJ in January 1991. Now 45 years old, he was wary of PJs involving younger women or where a male was present. He saw older women as more vulnerable. Encounters with younger ladies had been difficult when they fought back. Males were just obstacles in the way of his intended conquests.
Rader focused his attentions on an older woman who lived alone, 62 year old Dolores Davis. She only lived about a mile and a half from where he did, but there is no indication he was personally acquainted with her. Dolores had moved to the Park City area after years an an executive secretary in Wichita and was renting a house in an area without close neighbors. This undoubtedly piqued Rader's interest. He noticed her at her home one day and might have done some snooping or investigating to confirm her status as a single woman living alone.
This would be another well-planned project. Using the pretext of being away for the weekend on a Scout camping outing in Harvey County, just to the north of Sedgwick County where Rader resided, he again invented an excuse to slip away from camp in the evening. It was a very cold night, below freezing. He drove back to his parents' home in north Wichita (apparently they may have been away that weekend) and changed out of his Scout uniform into his hit clothes. Rader then drove to the Baptist Church in Park City and parked his car, and set out on foot for the Davis residence. When he got there Dolores was still awake and reading in bed. He waited out in the cold for her to turn off the light and go to sleep. Using a cement block taken from a shed in the backyard, he rammed the sliding glass door at the rear of the house. Dolores came out of the bedroom thinking someone had driven into her house, but there was Rader. He launched into the familiar line of being a vagrant in need of food, money and a car and told her he had to tie her up. There are indications from the crime scene that a struggle did take place, but Rader succeeded in tying her up in the bedroom. It's not known how long Rader lingered there, but Dolores helped to ruin his party by telling him she was expecting someone to arrive any minute. He ended her life by ligature strangulation.
Rader dragged the body outside and put it in the trunk of her car. He only drove a short distance to a lake area near I-135 by Park City and left the body and other evidence there under some trees. He then drove the car back to the Davis house and wiped it down for fingerprints, tossing the keys onto the roof. Rader then set out on foot, walking in a roundabout fashion back to the Baptist Church. Driving his own car, he returned to where he left the body and put it in his car. He meandered around to the north, and settled on a remote spot underneath a bridge in northern Sedgwick County as the dumping spot. After leaving her there, he went somewhere to change back into his Scout uniform and returned to camp. The following night he left camp again to come back to the dumping spot to pose and photograph the body. Rader says he had an encounter with a police officer at a place where he had to change clothes, but was let go after a few questions.
Only four months after this episode Rader was hired by Park City as compliance and animal control officer. He became a combination dogcatcher and local code enforcer. He was now part of the local law establishment. He gained a varying reputation ranging from efficient and friendly to overzealous and petty,writing citations if a lawn exceeded six inches in grass height. There were complaints against him, and several people were said to have moved away from Park City due to his mistreatment. No complaint ever resulted in disciplinary action, as local officials would usually side with Rader when dealing with citizens. There is only one record of a case going to court, where a woman contested a $25 fine levied against her by Rader over dog control. Rader showed up in court with a satchel a half- inch thick full of official documents and won the case.
One woman had a very disturbing story about Rader. There was no problem until after she got divorced and a new male friend came to live with her. Rader kept issuing citation after citation for among other things, items as trivial as having the wrong color garden hose. He didn't like the "inoperable vehicle" in the driveway the male friend was working on, and made it clear to the woman that if "he" left the problems would cease. Rader started looking in her windows and one day was found examining a door that had been mysteriously broken. But it all culminated when Rader impounded her daughter's dog and had it put to sleep before anyone could reclaim it. The lady immediately moved out of Park City.
In a gender discrimination lawsuit filed in federal court, Rader's co-worker Mary Capps, who worked under Rader from 1998 until his arrest, alleges he was a terrible boss, cold, demanding and degrading. She describes one incident of being trapped in her office and chased around the room, terrified. Capps states that she complained weekly to Rader's supervisor about his ongoing behavior but was dismissed or simply referred back to Rader himself. Three formal complaints to the city of Park City were, by city procedures, channeled to her supervisor, Dennis Rader, who naturally did nothing about them. Even after Rader's arrest, his supervisor Jack Whitson continued to uphold Rader's behavior. Whitson and Rader are named as the defendants in the lawsuit. There were media reports after the arrest stating that Capps may have been drugged repeatedly with animal tranquilizers while working with Rader, although this is not mentioned in this lawsuit.
During the 1990s Rader served on two local boards in Park City. In 1996 his father William Rader died of natural causes. His mother Dorothea eventually began staying in a nursing home or at home with son Jeff. Rader's daughter Kerri attended Kansas State University, whose football team he was a huge fan of. In 2003 Kerri married a man from Michigan and went there to live. Son Brian joined the Navy and left the area for the East Coast. Rader was elected to the church council and assumed the position of vice president starting on January 1, 2004. According to church procedure, the vice president becomes council president after one year. The Raders remained quite active in their Lutheran church, with Dennis a trusted leader, helper and usher. Despite all this, with the kids gone Rader found himself increasingly bored.
The on-line Crime Library had published an article about the unsolved BTK case. It was thought BTK was dead, jailed or institutionalized perhaps. The subject had faded even in Wichita, and a whole generation of Wichitans were growing up without much knowledge of the case. Rader had thought about publicly reemerging later on in life. But then all of sudden BTK became a topic of interest again.
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 2:01:49 GMT -5
A Wichita lawyer named Robert Beattie was concerned that the BTK case was being all but forgotten. He set out to write a book about the investigation that tried so hard to capture this elusive killer, who he still reasoned to be a potential threat to the public even though the last known murder had occurred in 1977. BTK was attributed with seven murders and the attempt on Anna Williams in 1979. Beattie was responsible for renewed interest in the BTK case as early as 2003, and the message board Crime and Justice began discussing the case again on the Internet. January 2004 was the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders, and the Wichita Eagle ran an article about the crime and the BTK killer. In conjuction with that came the announcement of the publication of Robert Beattie's new book. These events more than captured Dennis Rader's attention. He became alarmed that someone else would be telling what was his own story, and suddenly his plans for an eventual reemergence were greatly accelerated.
Rader fumed over what to do for the next couple months but then took action. On March 17 he mailed an envelope to the Wichita Eagle from a Bill Thomas Killman. It contained three photocopied pictures of his own photos of the dying Vicki Wegerle taken in 1986, as well as a photocopy of her missing driver's license. He signed it with the BTK symbol he had used in his previous letters in the 1970s. The letter was forwarded to the FBI who confirmed its authenticity as a BTK communication. An old cold case was solved, but the uproar had only just begun.
The dust hadn't begun to settle when Rader sent a second letter, this time on May 5, 2004 to the studios of KAKE-TV, the Wichita ABC affililiate. This was a lengthy word puzzle consisting of columns of letters and a few numbers mixed in. The FBI verified that this also came from BTK, as he characteristically used his unique signature, but couldn't make any particular sense out of the puzzle.
On June 9, 2004 Rader left a package taped to a stop sign at the corner of First and Kansas, in the middle of the city. This contained a disturbing collection of documents, including a letter detailing the grisly murders of the Otero family and a sketch of a nude and bound female hanging by a rope. Eleven year old Josephine Otero had been hanged by a rope in the basement of their home in 1974. The sketch was labeled, "The Sexual Thrill is My Bill." Also enclosed was a chapter list entitled "The BTK Story" that mimicked the chapter list of David Lohr's original article on BTK at the on-line Crime Library. Chapter One was entitled, "A Serial Killer is Born."
On July 17, 2004 a package marked "BTK" was found in a book return at the Wichita Public Library downtown. It contained a worrisome message: "I have spotted a female that I think lives alone and/or is a spotted latchkey kid. Just got to work out the details. I'm much older (not feeble) now and have to conditions myself carefully. Also my thinking process is not as sharp as it uses to be ... I think fall or winter would be just about right for the HIT. Got to do it this year or next! ... time is running out for me." This same package contained an intriguing claim that he, BTK, had engineered the recent death of a 19 year old man from Argonia, Kansas, named Jake Allen. Jake Allen had committed suicide by lying on railroad tracks 12 days earlier. BTK claimed to have lured the young man to his death via a series of computer chats. (This claim was later disproven as a hoax, as there was no evidence that Allen had ever had any such Internet chat with anyone, and his death is still seen as a suicide).
Despite huge pressure from the public, the police refused to release many details of the packages from June on, as it was feared that hearing these things could provoke BTK into a killing frenzy.
The fifth drop didn't occur until October 22, 2004 when a UPS worker found a strange manila envelope while picking up the contents of the UPS box at the Omni Center by Second and Kansas. This consisted of a very disturbing assortment of cards that had images pasted on them, including one of a bound woman with a look of sheer terror on her face. One card contained a poem called "Death to Landwehr," a reference to Lt. Ken Landwehr who was head of the BTK investigation. There was a collage of pictures of children with bindings drawn across their bodies and faces. This envelope also contained what BTK claimed to be his autobiography, listing a number of details about his life such as being born in 1939, his father dying in the war, mother dated a railroad detective and so on. Almost all of it was actually false, an attempt to mislead police into researching false clues. The police did release the autobiography to the public a few weeks later, which undoubtedly would have greatly pleased if not excited Dennis Rader.
What the Wichita Police Dept. was actually doing was following the FBI's advice: keep the killer communicating. Don't offend him publicly. Don't over-excite him into killing some more. Just keep communicating until he makes a mistake.
Rader's sixth drop was found on December 14, 2004. A man walking through Murdock Park that night noticed a package wrapped in white plastic leaning against a tree. Out of curiosity he took it home with him and opened it. It contained a "PJ" doll. The doll's head had a plastic bag tied over it. Its hands were tied behind its back and its feet were bound together. Tied to the feet was a real driver's license belonging to BTK murder victim Nancy Fox whom he had killed in December 1977. The man immediately notified KAKE-TV, who arrived and photographed the contents and notified police. KAKE agreed not to broadcast what was found in the package, for fear of arousing the killer.
On January 1, 2005 Dennis Rader officially became the new president of the church council at Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita, as per his election to the vice presidency the previous year.
Eight days into the new year Rader left a Special K cereal box marked "BTK" and "bomb" in the bed of a pickup truck parked at the Home Depot on North Woodlawn. The truck belonged to an employee of Home Depot. He thought it was trash at first and put it in a trash can at home. Luckily his wife had thrown a discarded pillow on top of the box, unwittingly preserving it. Days later when the man realized the significance of the box he was still able to retrieve it. By reviewing surveillance tape of the parking lot for January 8 the police had their first glimpse of BTK, but the image was too far away and blurry for identification. But by measuring the wheelbase of the black vehicle he was driving it was determined the vehicle was a Jeep Cherokee. Despite having installed alarm systems for a living, Rader was apparently unaware that surveillance cameras had become a commonplace item. The box itself contained information about some of his "PJs" or projects, intended victims that he had watched or stalked. It also contained more misleading information of how he lived in a 3 story home in Wichita with an elevator that had a bomb in the basement rigged to explode if the house were invaded. Rader also asked a peculiar question to the detectives reading his note: if he put his writings on a computer disk, would it be traceable? He requested a response to be posted in the Wichita Eagle classified ads in the Misc. category using his code name, Rex.
The eighth drop was another cereal box from the "cereal" killer, this one a Post Toasties. It was discovered on January 25, 2005 as the result of a tip from drop #9, which was a postcard sent to KAKE from an S. Killet using as return address the address of the Otero house. The Post Toasties box was found leaning against a road sign on a desolate unpaved section of North Seneca to the north of the Wichita city limits. KAKE videotaped the box without touching it and notified police. It had a brick on top of it and appeared weathered. It was later revealed to have contained another doll, this one with a rope tied around its neck and tied to a plumbing fixture, simulating the hanging of Josephine Otero.
The tenth drop was another postcard that arrived on February 3, again sent to KAKE. Return address was Happ Kakemann, a 1950s character from KAKE's past. Rader wrote: Thank you for your quick response on #7 and 8. Thank to the news team for their efforts. Sorry about Susan's and Jeff's colds. Business issues: Tell WPD that I receive Newspaper Tip for a go. Test run soon. Thanks. PS: May want to use KTV-PC-etc code # and Letters from me for my Verification code to you. He was referring to the newspaper ad in the Wichita Eagle placed there by detectives to answer his question about the safety of sending in a computer disk. The responding ad had assured him in agreed-upon code: Rex it will be OK.
Drop #11 arrived at the studios of KSAS-TV on February 16, the Fox affiliate in Wichita. It contained a letter, a piece of jewelry and a purple diskette referred to as "Test Floppy for WPD review." Detectives wasted little time analyzing the diskette and found software on it from Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita and the name Dennis. Rader had apparently thought he had erased the original contents of the diskette and that it would be "safe" to use it for his purposes. A quick Internet search brought up a website for the church mentioning its current president, Dennis Rader. A group of detectives quietly drove by Rader's house in Park City and noted a black Jeep Cherokee parked in the driveway. Rader was placed under surveillance while a subpoena was secretly obtained for a DNA sample of his daughter from medical records. The familial DNA was a match to DNA found from semen at BTK crime scenes and the case was solved.
After leaving the office to eat lunch at home as was his custom, on February 25, 2005 Rader was driving home when he noticed he was totally surrounded by police, a huge number of them. He surrendered quietly and was led to a waiting police car, handcuffed.
"Hello, Mr. Landwehr," he said once inside the car.
"Hello, Mr. Rader," Lt. Ken Landwehr responded.
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 2:02:50 GMT -5
Dennis Rader was taken to an interrogation room after his arrest on February 25, 2005. At first he wouldn't talk much about the crimes, playing dumb or avoiding the subject. When he was confronted about the traced computer disk and the DNA match, he started to talk. In fact, he wouldn't stop talking. In a stunning 30 hour confession, he rambled on endlessly about his crimes, as though proudly reciting his achievements. Never-before-known details of all his crimes, his methods, his mind all came to light. Many excerpts of what he said in that interview can be read in the 92 page pdf document State's Summary of the Evidence.
On the 26th of February, Rader first mugshot was taken. He looks unkempt, which was out of chararcter for Rader, but had been up all night confessing. When it was all over, though, he was taken to his cell and left there alone. There he began to realize that the cops were not on his side after all. His interrogators had been feeding his ego all along, pretending to be impressed by Rader to get him to keep talking. He bought the whole package. Rader was astonished during the interview when he found out the detectives had lied to him about it being safe to send in a computer disk. He lamented how he thought they had such a good rapport. Lt. Landwehr had to calmly explain that they were trying to catch a serial killer. Rader had always had a strong need to feel accepted by police on a personal level. He thrived on the camaraderie displayed by the detectives, but after it was all over his elation turned to despair. The next interviews were with lawyers, and they caused him to stop the confessing.
On March 1, the public got their first live look at the newly incarcerated BTK suspect as he appeared briefly via video link to be informed by Judge Greg Waller of the charges against him. Word of his confessions had sporadically leaked out into the media, and police chief Norman Williams took unusually strong action to plug the leaks, denying everything that was going around in the media and threatening to imprison police personnel who were talking openly about the case. In America you are presumed innocent unless you declare your guilt in a court of law. Rader had ceased confessing and became tight-lipped about what he might have done. But the District Attorney's office did state that Dennis Rader was being charged with 10 counts of first degree murder, adding the names Marine Hedge and Dolores Davis to the known list of BTK victims. Rader's house and office had been raided, and plenty of incriminating evidence had been found to back up the 10 counts. It came to light later that the "mother lode" was located in Rader's filing cabinet in his office in city hall in Park City. Original copies of BTK letters, victim driver's licenses, photos, newspaper clippings, artwork and more were all found locked in his office.
Meanwhile a barrage of information about Dennis Rader was tossed about by the news media. Not one person who had ever known him had ever suspected he was or even could be BTK. No one had turned him in during the intense 11 month investigation that followed BTK's initial reemergence in March 2004. There were people like Mary Capps who thought he was a jerk, but he just didn't come across to anyone as a vicious serial killer. Rader's wife and children were described as being in a deep state of shock. A procession of neighbors and friends all testified to the media that they never would have guessed Rader was capable of the crimes he was being charged with. The congregation of Christ Lutheran Church, led by pastor Michael Clark, was left stunned, confused and bewildered.
Nightmare in Wichita: The Hunt for the BTK StranglerIn March 2005 the long-awaited book by Robert Beattie was released, "Nightmare in Wichita - the Hunt for the BTK Strangler". BTK's reemergence and subsequent arrest delayed the release till this time. Beattie is credited as being a major player in the process that culminated in Dennis Rader's arrest.
Rader's first court appearence occurred on April 19, 2005. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing and postponed entering a plea, a move that disappointed many who wanted to hear the state's case against him. Judge Waller continued the hearing until May 3, at which time Rader remained mute in front of a crowded and tense courtroom while Waller entered a plea of not guilty. During the hearing he was, however, confronted by District Attorney Nola Foulston who notified him that he was being charged under the Kansas "hard 40" law for the 1991 murder of Dolores Davis, the only murder to occur after that sentencing law went into effect in 1990. That law required a minimum prison sentence of 40 years for any murder considered particularly cruel or heinous. The other nine murders occurred in years in Kansas where the minimum sentence was 15 years. The death penalty did not resume in Kansas until 1994.
Rader was initially kept alone and separate in the Sedgwick County Jail, only seen by his three court-appointed lawyers, his pastor and whoever else he permitted to visit him. His wife and chidren refused to visit. There were some letters exchanged. However, Rader soon developed a number of penpals scattered in various locations. He wrote poetry, including an incriminating poem called Black Friday which appeared to describe his arrest while acknowledging his dark side. In a surprise move, county jail officials decided to allow Rader live in a pod where he could mingle with other hardened criminals during the daytime. He was an instant hit with his podmates, who called him "Radar" or "The Suspect". He would chat about sports, religion, crime or anything else and play cards. He soon earned the title "the Podfather".
Dennis Rader's trial on the 10 counts of first degree murder was set for June 27, 2005. As the date approached with no news of a postponement, speculation erupted about what Rader was up to. It became apparent that he would use that appearence to formally plead guilty, and he did so. The event turned into a dramatic courtroom confession, as Judge Waller began to quiz Rader over some of the details of the crimes. Before millions of viewers watching live coverage on Kansas local stations, on Court TV nationally and worldwide on the Internet, Rader calmly revealed some of the grisly details of his murders from his own perspective, talking about strangulations, hit kits, ruses, projects, etc. as if they were all an everyday thing. Here are transcripts and videos of the confession from KSN.com, scroll down to the bottom of that page for each victim.
There was considerable fallout following the confession. One by one, each of the victims' families filed lawsuits against Rader seeking damages. There was little hope of recovering any monetary damages from him, but the idea was to prevent Rader from profiting from his crimes in any way, such as by selling book or TV rights to his story. On July 26, 2005 his wife Paula filed for an emergency divorce citing physical and mental distress, and was immediately granted the divorce. Rader had agreed to give up ownership rights on the small house he shared with his wife as well as all other belongings the couple owned. She could benefit from two pension funds Dennis had established. Soon after the divorce was granted, the family home at 6220 Independence Street in Park City went up for auction. Appraised at $57,000, a benevolent bidder offered $90,000. However the house sale has been held up for complicated legal reasons. Some of the victims' families have objected to the inflated selling price, calling it "blood money" due to the notoriety of BTK. They demand that the excess, about $30,000, belongs to them and not to Paula. At the same time the winning bidder is threatening to back out of the sale if the entire selling price does not go to Paula. In any case, she is still responsible for paying off the $45,000 mortgage the couple had on the house, plus any auction and legal fees.
Up to this point prosecutors still had not had the opportunity to formally present their case against Dennis Rader. Rader's own admissions in court were graphic, but diluted with claims of having attempted to comfort victims before their deaths, instead of the outright acts of torture that they were. At the sentencing hearing on August 17 and 18, 2005, prosecutors finally had their turn to present some of the accumulated evidence against Rader in open court. As there was the possibility of leniency since the sentence had to be determined by the judge, the presentation was designed to show why Rader should be sentenced to the maximum permitted by law, which amounted to a minimum of 175 years to life in prison. Rader was now 60 years old and it was desired that he never be eligible to walk the streets of freedom again.
Judge Greg Waller listened patiently to two full days of testimony. Individual detectives representing the cases of the Oteros, Kathryn Bright, Shirley Vian, Nancy Fox, Marine Hedge, Vicki Wegerle and Dolores Davis all gave statements illustrated with grim crime scene and autopsy photos in front of a packed courtroom and another large international television audience. Videos of these testimonies are available in the archives of Court TV Extra, written transcripts can be seen at Kansas.com.
After testimony was completed, individual members of the victims' families were permitted to air their grievances to Rader in court. Moving statements were given from Carmen Montoya (Otero) and Charlie Otero, Kevin Bright, Steve Relford and Richard Vian, Fred Fox the brother of Nancy Fox and her sister Beverley Plapp, Rod Hook the son-in-law of Marine Hedge, Bill Wegerle and daughter Stephanie, and from Jeff Davis the son of Dolores Davis and Davis' daughter Laurel Keating. The complete videos of these statements can be seen at KSN.com.
After this Rader was permitted to give his own statement. He rambled on for over 20 minutes, delivering a semi-apology to everyone and going on mostly about himself. It took on the air of someone giving a speech to a church group, thanking all the people who had helped him recently. The video of Rader's statement can be seen at KSN.com.
At the end of the proceeding on August 18 Judge Waller sentenced Dennis Rader to the maximum sentence permitted by law, a minimum of 175 years to life in prison. He will not be elgible for parole until 2180. Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston requested special conditions for Rader's sentence, stating that he should be denied access to materials that could feed his fantasies.
On the morning of August 19, 2005 Rader was taken to his new home, the El Dorado Correctional Facility in El Dorado, Kansas. Two boxes he wanted sent to the mother of a woman friend were seized by authorities before they could be sent. They appeared to contain a lot of his writings in jail. He was processed, shaved and photographed. All entering inmates have to undergo an intial period of evaluation and testing, to determine how and where they will be housed in the jail.
On October 12, 2005 a hearing was held at the prison regarding Rader's privileges in jail. District Attorney Nola Foulston again made the plea to Judge Greg Waller to deny drawing materials and access to media and interviews, stating Rader has the ability to turn normal things like newspaper and magazine underwear advertisements into fantasies of bondage and torture. Investigators had found a huge number of what Rader called "slick ads" that had been altered by him into pictures of bondage stashed away in his office and home. Rader's public defender Steve Osburn argued that basic first amendment rights were being denied.The outcome of the hearing was that Judge Waller agreed with all prosecutor recommendations. Waller also ruled that Rader must register as a sexual offender and must pay restitution to victims. Prison officials have indicated that Rader has been classified as a specially managed inmate, but that not all of the restrictions may be enforceable. He will be permitted to earn privileges such as access to television, radio, newspapers and news magazines.
Another odd fact that came to light as a result of the evidence seized from Rader's "mother lode" was his obsession with self-bondage. Detectives found a number of photos Rader had taken of himself all tied up in various ways. He was also fond of dressing up in items stolen from his female victims. Using a Polaroid camera and a tripping mechanism, he took many photos of himself in these ways. See BTK Bondage Photos and Artwork for several examples of his photos and artwork.
Some notable television programs were produced in 2005 on the subject of Dennis Rader. In August shortly before the sentencing Dateline NBC aired a two hour special, 31 Years of the BTK Killer, featuring interviews with Rader in prison by Robert Mendoza, a forensic psychologist who had been hired by the defense to evaluate him. It also reviews the crimes and some of the impact they had. At this writing Mendoza is being sued by the state of Kansas for unauthorized usage of the filmed interview. On October 1 CBS 48 Hours Mystery aired an excellent program called Out of the Shadows, featuring the Wegerle family and also reviewing the history of the BTK case. On October 9 CBS aired a television movie called The Hunt for the BTK Killer. The A&E network produced two excellent programs on the BTK case, including a special edition of Cold Case Files.
Source website: The BTK Site - BTK Strangler Serial Killer - Dennis Rader
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 16:37:26 GMT -5
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 16:41:13 GMT -5
The following is a transcript from Monday, June 27th. Dennis Rader details ten murders in front of Judge Greg Waller.
OTERO FAMILY
Waller "In regards to Count One. Please tell me in your own words what you did on the 15th day of January of 1974, in Sedgwick County, Kansas that makes you believe you are guilty of Count One?"
Rader: "On January 15,1974, I maliciously and intentionally killed Joseph Otero." Waller: "I need to find out more information. On that particular day can you tell me where and when you went to kill Joseph Otero?"
Rader: "It was 1834 Edgemoor, somewhere between 7 and 7:30."
Waller: "Did you know these people?"
Rader: "That was part of my fantasy these people were selected."
Waller: "You were engaged in some kind of fantasy in this part of time?"
Rader: "Yes, sir."
Waller: "When you use the word fantasy is this something you did for personal pleasure?"
Rader: "Sexual fantasy, sir."
Waller: "So, you went to this residence. What occurred there?"
Rader: "I had done some thinking of what I should do to Mrs. Otero or Josephine. I went to the home and confronted the family and basically went from there."
Waller: "Had you planned this beforehand?
Rader: "To some degree. When I got there I lost control. In the back of my mind I had a good idea of what I would do, but I basically panicked that first day."
Waller: "Did you know who was there that first day?"
Rader: "I knew she was in the house and the two kids were in the house, but I didn’t realize Mr. Otero was in the house."
Waller: "How did you get into the house?"
Rader: "I came through the back door, cut the phone lines. I had reservations about even going in, but once the door opened, I didn’t turn back. I think one of the kids opened the door to let the dog out."
Waller: "When you went into the house what happened then?"
Rader: "I confronted the family and pulled a pistol and confronted Mr. Otero. I told them I was wanted and told them to lie down in the living room. The dog was a real problem and one of the kids took the dog outside. I took the four members of the family in the back bedroom and tied them up. They started to complain about being tied up. I re-loosened the bonds a couple of times. I tried to make Mr. Otero as comfortable as possible. Mr. Otero had a cracked rib from a car accident, so I put a pillow by his head and put a coat underneath him. From there, I realized I didn’t have a mask on or anything, so he could I.D. me. So, I made a decision to put him down."
Waller: "What did you do to Joseph Otero?"
Rader: "I put a plastic bag over his head and tightened it with some cords."
Waller: "Did he die right away?"
Rader: "No sir. No, he didn’t."
Waller: "What happened?"
Rader: "After that I did Mrs. Otero. I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn’t know how long it would take. Both her hands and her feet were tied up."
Waller: "Where were the children?"
Rader: "They were on the bed."
Waller: "But, Mr. Otero didn’t die right way. So, what happened?"
Rader: "He moved over and tore a hole in the bag, but at that time, the whole family panicked. So, I worked pretty quick. I mean, I strangled Mrs. Otero and she went out. Then, I strangled Josephine. She passed out and I thought she was dead. Then, I went over and put a bag over Junior’s head and then, if I remember right, Mrs. Otero came back."
Waller: "You indicated Mr. Otero tore a hole in the bag. "What did you do then?"
Rader: "I put another bag over him. Or, if I recollect, I think I put a cloth over his head."
Waller: "Did he subsequently die?"
Rader: "Yes. I didn’t just stand there and watch him because I was moving around the room."
Waller: "You indicated you strangled Mrs. Otero after you’d done this?"
Rader: "I went back and strangled her again, and finally, killed her.
Judge Waller summarizes what he’s heard from Defendant Rader up to this point. Rader responds: "First of all, Mr. Otero was strangled. Then, I thought he was going down. Then, I strangled Mrs. Otero and thought she was down. Then, I went and strangled Josephine and she was down.
Then, I went over to Junior and put the bag over his head. Then, Mrs. Otero came back and she was pretty upset over what’s going on. So, I came back and at that point in time gave her a ‘death strangle’ with a cord. Then, at that point in time I re-did Mr. Otero with the bag over his head. Before that, Mrs. Otero had asked me before to save her son. So, I took the bag off his head and was pretty upset at that time. Basically, Mr. Otero was down and Mrs. Otero was down. I put a bag over his head and took him (Junior) to the other bedroom. I put a bag over his head and a cloth over his head. He died.
Then, I went over and Josephine had woke (sic) back up. I took her to the basement and hung her."
Waller: "You hung her in the basement. Did you do anything then?"
Rader: "Yes sir. I had some sexual fantasies, but that was after she was hung."
Waller: "What did you do then?"
Rader: "I cleaned up and went from room to room. I went back and took a radio (and a watch). I have no idea why I took them. I took the keys to the car and cleaned the house up and left through the front door and went over to their car, and went over to Dillon’s and eventually walked back to my car." 9:34:22 (12 MINUTES)
KATHRYN BRIGHT
Rader: "I had many projects. I had people I would watch around town. Kathryn Bright was one of the next targets. (I was) Just driving by one day and thought that would be a possibility. It was basically, a selection process. There were many places in the area. If it didn’t work out, I would just move on to something else. In my kind of person it was kind of a trolling stage and a stalking stage and I was in stalking stage when this happened. On this particular day, I broke into the house and waited for her to come home through the back door on the east side."
Waller: "Where did you wait?"
Rader: "In the back room and waited. Kevin and her came in. I didn’t expect him to be there, but found out later they were related. At that time, I approached them and told them I was wanted in California. Basically, the same thing I told the Otero’s. I tied up him or her first. I can’t remember right now."
Waller: "You indicated before you brought some things with you before. What did you this time to tie them up?"
Rader: "I can’t remember with the Brights. When I was working with the police (after his arrest) there was some controversy about that, but if I would have brought my own things, Kevin would have probably died. I’m not bragging on that. It’s just a matter of fact. But the bonds I used, you couldn’t get out of."
Waller: "Then what happened?"
Rader: "I really can’t remember, Judge. But basically, I moved her to another bedroom, but he was already secured there. I tied her up in the other bedroom and came back to tie him up again to the bedpost. I had two handguns. I started to strangle him and he broke out of his bonds and jumped out with his hands like this. I shot and it hit his head and I saw the blood and thought he was dead. Then, I went to strangle Kathryn and we started fighting because the bonds weren’t very good. I got the best of her and thought she was going down. I heard some movement in the other room so I went back and tried to re-strangle him (Kevin) at that time. We fought and he tried to get my gun in the shoulder holster and we fought and he tried to get my gun. But I shot him a second time and thought he was down. I went back to Kathryn and strangling wasn’t working so I stabbed her two or three times underneath the ribs and in the back. At that point in time it was a total mess. I heard Kevin escape. The front door was open and he was gone. I thought the police were coming. I quickly cleaned up everything, and left."
Judge Waller asks Rader if he wore a mask at the Brights home on E. 13th Street.
Rader: "No, I didn’t have a mask on at that time. I already had the keys to the car. I tried the key it didn’t work. I just took off and ran toward the WSU campus and walked back to my car and got away."
SHIRLEY VIAN
Rader: "Actually, on that one she was completely random. Actually, someone across from Dillon’s was my potential target. This one was called Project Green. I had project names for all of them. That particular day, I drove to the Dillons parking lot and followed the victim. I knocked and nobody answered, so I was all keyed up. So, I just started going through the neighborhood. I’d gone through the back alleys before. While I was going down Hydraulic I asked a boy to I-D some pictures and followed him back to feel it out. I called them potential hits in my world."
Waller: "Was this to gratify some sexual fantasy?"
Rader: "Yes, sir. I went to the house. The boy went, too and told him I was a private detective and showed him the picture and at that time I kind of forced my way in and showed them my .357 Magnum. I told Mrs. Vian I had a problem with a sexual fantasy and I took her to the back porch and explained I’d done this before. I think she smoked a cigarette because she was extremely nervous. She wasn’t feeling well because she had her night robe on. We went back to her bedroom and proceeded to tie the kids up and they started crying, so I said, ‘this isn’t going to work.’ We took the kids to the bathroom and she helped me put some toys and blankets and other odds and ends in the bathroom. We tied the door shut and we took another bed and shoved it up against the door. I took her back in the bedroom and tied her up. At that time she got sick and threw up. I got her a glass of water and tried to comfort her a little bit. I put a plastic bag over her head. I had tied her legs to the bedpost and used a rope to strangle her. The kids were screaming and banging and the telephone rang. They had talked about a neighbor coming to check on them. I had a briefcase and I threw everything in it and cleaned everything up and got out of there."
Waller: "Was it the same stuff you’d had before?"
Rader: "I called it my hit kit. My car was still at the Dillons at Lincoln and Hydraulic. 5 MINUTES
NANCY FOX
Rader: "Nancy Fox was another one of the projects. When I was trolling the neighborhood, I noticed her go home one night. I put her down as a potential victim."
Waller: What do you mean by trolling?"
Rader: "It’s called stalking. If you’d read much about serial killers, they go through different phases. It could last months or years, but once you lock in on a victim, that’s it."
Waller: "You basically identified Nancy Fox as your project. What happened then?" Rader: "I basically did some homework. I stopped by once to get her mail to see what her name was. I stopped by Helzberg’s once to size her up. The more I saw someone the more comfortable I got with them, so I tried it that particular night and it worked out. About two or three blocks away I parked my car and I walked to that residence. I knocked and nobody answered. I went around back and cut the phone lines. I broke in and waited for her to come home in the kitchen. I confronted her and told her I had sexual problems and I’d have to tie her up and have sex with her. She was a little upset. We talked for a while and she smoked a cigarette and I went through her purse. She finally said: ‘Well, let’s get this over with so I can call police.’ She asked if she could go to the bathroom and I said yes. She went to the bathroom and I told her to make sure she was undressed when she came out. When she came out I handcuffed her. I had her lying on the bed. I tied her up. I was also undressed partially, and got on top of her. Then I strangled her with a belt. I took the belt off and replaced them with pantyhose. Then at that time I masturbated. I dressed and took some of her personal belongings and left."
5 minutes
MARINE HEDGE
Rader: "Actually, kind of like the others, I went through the different phases and she was chosen. The stalking phase and since she lived down the street from me I could watch her quite easily. On that particular day, I had another commitment and took my car over to Woodlawn and 21st Street, that bowling alley over there, at that time. I changed my clothes. I went to the bowling alley and I had a bowling bag with me. I called a taxi and had the taxi take me to Park City. I pretended I was a little drunk. I swished some beer in my mouth and he could probably smell beer on me. I had him drop me off to get some fresh air near her home. Was it 62? (Rader turns to his defense counsel and smiles.) 6254 North Independence. As before, I was going to have sexual fantasies, so I brought my hit kit. I saw her car and she wasn’t supposed to be there. I very carefully snuck in her home, like a cat burglar, after checking she wasn’t there. About that time the door was rattled and I went back in the bedroom. She came in with a male visitor. They were there for maybe an hour or so. I waited until wee hours of the morning and proceeded to go into her bathroom and flipped the lights on. She screamed and I strangled her manually. I wasn’t wearing a mask at the time. She knew me casually. She liked to work in her yard, it was just a neighborly type thing."
Waller: "Did she die?"
Rader: "Yes. I went ahead and stripped her. She was nude and put her on a blanket. I went through some personal items at her house and figured out how to get her out of there. I eventually took her out to the trunk of the car and took her to the Christ Lutheran Church and took some pictures of her with a Polaroid. The police probably have those photographs. That was it. She was already dead, so I took some pictures of her in the bondage positions, and I think that’s what got me in trouble, was the bondage thing. After that, I moved her back out to the car and went east on 53rd."
Waller: "What happened then?"
Rader: "I tried to find a place to hide her body. . . and yes, I found a place between Webb and Greenwich and I laid some brush on top of her body." 5 minutes
VICKI WEGERLE
Rader: "Again, Vicki was one of the victims I went through those different phases and decided that day was the day. I used the telephone repairman ruse to get into her house. I went over there in my own personal car, approximately at lunch hour. I changed my clothes into what I called my hit clothes, things I’d need to get rid of later. I just called them hit clothes. I walked by one other address. As I approached the (Wegerle) house I heard a piano and told her I was fixing telephones in the area. I had a briefcase and a helmet. She let me in and I went over to the phone and simulated I was checking the phone. I had a make believe tool. She looked away and I drew a pistol on her. I took her back to the bedroom and she was kind of upset because I told her I was going to have to tie her up. I used some material from her bedroom and after I tied her hands, she started fighting. I finally got the hand on her and got the nylon stocking and started strangling her around the neck. I finally gained on her and thought she was dead, but she wasn’t. After I thought she was dead, I took three photos from her. She had mentioned something about her husband coming up. The dogs were going crazy. I had already gone through her purse and used her car to get away. I found out later that paramedics took her to the hospital, but she died. 10:04:09
DELORES DAVIS
Rader: "On that particular day, I had some commitments. I left those and went to one place and changed my clothes, went to another place and left my car. I got my hit kit and walked to that residence. After spending some time in the residence, it was very cold. I finally threw something through the window and came on in."
Waller: "So you used a stone to break the window?
Rader: "Yes, sir. She came out of the bedroom and said a car had hit her house. I told her I was on the run and needed some food and a car and a warm up. I handcuffed her and told her I wanted some food and the keys to her car and calmed her down a little bit. I think she was still handcuffed. I went back to see where the car was. I then went back, took the handcuffs off and tied her up and strangled her. I went back to her room and took some personal items. I strangled her with pantyhose, kind of like Mrs. Hedge. I put her on a blanket and put her in the trunk of her car. I really had a commitment I needed to go to, so I moved her to one spot and took her out of her car. This gets complicated. The stuff I had like my clothes and a gun. I dumped that off and took her car back to her house. In the meantime, I dropped my gun and I had to go back to the house to find my gun. I took her keys and threw them on top of the roof. I walked from her car back to my car. Took my car and picked her up and dropped her off underneath a bridge."
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Post by Sher on Mar 10, 2006 16:42:32 GMT -5
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