CHICAGO (AFP) - A serial killer who gave himself the name BTK -- Bind, Torture, Kill -- calmly told a court how he strangled, stabbed and shot 10 victims to satisfy his sexual fantasies.
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Dennis Rader, a 59-year-old former home security company worker, haunted the midwestern town of Wichita, Kansas for decades as he silently stalked victims, broke into their homes and left them a tangled, broken mess.
Rader taunted police by sending them a series of letters full of spelling mistakes in which he named himself BTK for the grisly method he employed in seven violent attacks between 1974 and 1991 that left 10 people dead.
Dressed in a beige suit jacket and dark tie, Rader showed no emotion as he described the slayings, pausing only briefly to take sips of water as he told the court how he used various ruses to talk his way into some of the homes.
After posing as a telephone repairman, criminal on the run or a private detective, Rader said he pulled a gun on his victims and told them that he had "a problem with sexual fantasies" and was going to tie them up and rape them.
In several cases he tried to comfort his victims before he tied them up, sitting with them as they smoked cigarettes. But instead of raping the women, Rader strangled them with a belt or panty hose, masturbated over their dead bodies, took some of their personal belongings to keep as "trophies" and then made his way home to his wife and children.
Rader told the court that he "trolled" the city for most of his victims, waiting months or years for the right person to catch his fancy. But one day, when he was "all keyed up", he chose a woman at random.
Shirley Vian was home with her children on March 17, 1977 when Rader knocked on her door. Threatening her with a .357 Magnum, Rader told Vian he was going to tie her up and rape her and then got her to help him tie the children up as well.
"I explained to her that I'd done this before," he said. "I proceeded to tie the kids up but they were crying so that didn't work. So we put them in the bathroom."
The children were still upset, Rader told the court, so he and the mother gave them blankets and toys, locked the bathroom door and then pushed a bed up against it so they could not escape.
"She got sick, proceeded to throw up and so I got her a glass of water to comfort her and then I put a bag over her head and strangled her," he told the court in a flat monotone voice.
The BTK slayings confounded law enforcement for decades and left residents to anxiously await the next sadistic slaying.
Rader struck first in January, 1974, killing Joseph and Julie Otero and two of their children. He told the court he almost lost his nerve after he cut their phone line and was unsure of what he was doing.
"I had never strangled anyone before. I really didn't know how much pressure to put on a person or how long it would take," he said when describing how he killed Julie Otero as she lay beneath him with her hands and feet bound.
A few months later Rader broke into the home of Kathryn Bright where he was surprised to find her in the company of her brother. He beat, strangled and shot both of them, but Bright's brother managed to escape.
Rader struck twice in 1977 and then laid low until 1985. He killed again in 1986 and 1991, which authorities believe was his last slaying.
Authorities reopened their investigation in March 2004 after Rader, who had remained silent for decades, wrote to a local television station and sent a package containing the driver's license of a 25-year-old woman killed in 1986 whose death had not previously been linked to BTK. More taunts arrived, including a computer disk that was later traced to Rader's church.
Throughout his testimony Rader remained chillingly calm. He expressed a slight frustration when the judge was confused by his use of the word "trolling."
"If you've read much about serial killers, they go through what they call different phases," he said as he rubbed his forehead. "In the trolling stage, basically, you're looking for a victim at that time. You can be trolling for months or years, but once you lock in on a certain person, you become a stalker. (There) might be several of them but you really hone in on one person."
Rader referred to his victims as "projects" and said he often prepared for the slayings by bringing a "hit kit" and wearing "hit clothes" that he would dispose of after the murder. He frequently took Polaroid pictures of his victims, in one case taking the body with him so he could take more pictures of her in sadomasochist poses.
A Cub Scout leader, devout churchgoer and married father of two, Rader was a respected member of the local community before his arrest.
Rader will not be eligible for the death penalty because the murders occurred before Kansas reintroduced capital punishment in 1994.
District Attorney Nola Foulston said she will seek 10 consecutive life sentences for Rader at a sentencing hearing on August 15.
____________________
I'm having a hard time rating him on my all-time serial killer list
1-Zodiac
2-Night Stalker (richard ramirez)
3-Son of Sam (david berkowitz)
4-Jack the Ripper
5-Albert Fish
6-Green River killer
7-Pedro Lopez
8-Andrei Chikatilo
9-John Wayne Gacy (everybodies favorite clown)
10-Lucian Staniak
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Dennis Rader, a 59-year-old former home security company worker, haunted the midwestern town of Wichita, Kansas for decades as he silently stalked victims, broke into their homes and left them a tangled, broken mess.
Rader taunted police by sending them a series of letters full of spelling mistakes in which he named himself BTK for the grisly method he employed in seven violent attacks between 1974 and 1991 that left 10 people dead.
Dressed in a beige suit jacket and dark tie, Rader showed no emotion as he described the slayings, pausing only briefly to take sips of water as he told the court how he used various ruses to talk his way into some of the homes.
After posing as a telephone repairman, criminal on the run or a private detective, Rader said he pulled a gun on his victims and told them that he had "a problem with sexual fantasies" and was going to tie them up and rape them.
In several cases he tried to comfort his victims before he tied them up, sitting with them as they smoked cigarettes. But instead of raping the women, Rader strangled them with a belt or panty hose, masturbated over their dead bodies, took some of their personal belongings to keep as "trophies" and then made his way home to his wife and children.
Rader told the court that he "trolled" the city for most of his victims, waiting months or years for the right person to catch his fancy. But one day, when he was "all keyed up", he chose a woman at random.
Shirley Vian was home with her children on March 17, 1977 when Rader knocked on her door. Threatening her with a .357 Magnum, Rader told Vian he was going to tie her up and rape her and then got her to help him tie the children up as well.
"I explained to her that I'd done this before," he said. "I proceeded to tie the kids up but they were crying so that didn't work. So we put them in the bathroom."
The children were still upset, Rader told the court, so he and the mother gave them blankets and toys, locked the bathroom door and then pushed a bed up against it so they could not escape.
"She got sick, proceeded to throw up and so I got her a glass of water to comfort her and then I put a bag over her head and strangled her," he told the court in a flat monotone voice.
The BTK slayings confounded law enforcement for decades and left residents to anxiously await the next sadistic slaying.
Rader struck first in January, 1974, killing Joseph and Julie Otero and two of their children. He told the court he almost lost his nerve after he cut their phone line and was unsure of what he was doing.
"I had never strangled anyone before. I really didn't know how much pressure to put on a person or how long it would take," he said when describing how he killed Julie Otero as she lay beneath him with her hands and feet bound.
A few months later Rader broke into the home of Kathryn Bright where he was surprised to find her in the company of her brother. He beat, strangled and shot both of them, but Bright's brother managed to escape.
Rader struck twice in 1977 and then laid low until 1985. He killed again in 1986 and 1991, which authorities believe was his last slaying.
Authorities reopened their investigation in March 2004 after Rader, who had remained silent for decades, wrote to a local television station and sent a package containing the driver's license of a 25-year-old woman killed in 1986 whose death had not previously been linked to BTK. More taunts arrived, including a computer disk that was later traced to Rader's church.
Throughout his testimony Rader remained chillingly calm. He expressed a slight frustration when the judge was confused by his use of the word "trolling."
"If you've read much about serial killers, they go through what they call different phases," he said as he rubbed his forehead. "In the trolling stage, basically, you're looking for a victim at that time. You can be trolling for months or years, but once you lock in on a certain person, you become a stalker. (There) might be several of them but you really hone in on one person."
Rader referred to his victims as "projects" and said he often prepared for the slayings by bringing a "hit kit" and wearing "hit clothes" that he would dispose of after the murder. He frequently took Polaroid pictures of his victims, in one case taking the body with him so he could take more pictures of her in sadomasochist poses.
A Cub Scout leader, devout churchgoer and married father of two, Rader was a respected member of the local community before his arrest.
Rader will not be eligible for the death penalty because the murders occurred before Kansas reintroduced capital punishment in 1994.
District Attorney Nola Foulston said she will seek 10 consecutive life sentences for Rader at a sentencing hearing on August 15.
____________________
I'm having a hard time rating him on my all-time serial killer list
1-Zodiac
2-Night Stalker (richard ramirez)
3-Son of Sam (david berkowitz)
4-Jack the Ripper
5-Albert Fish
6-Green River killer
7-Pedro Lopez
8-Andrei Chikatilo
9-John Wayne Gacy (everybodies favorite clown)
10-Lucian Staniak
