The BTK Killer
Dennis Rader
BACKGROUND: DENNIS RADER
Dennis Rader is described as a quiet, polite young man who kept his independence. Rader was born on March 6, 1945 in a quiet corner of Kansas. As a child, Rader seemed normal and outgoing as he joined the boys scouts and participated in various church activities.(Blog-spot, 2) He was an average to mediocre student with low standards. By Rader's own recall, he says that he had developed torture and control over people as he was in elementary school. As Dennis became more developed as a male, he has always dreamed of tying up girls and having his way with them. Rader had also stated that he had an early development of bondage, torture and strangulation. (Blog-spot, 5) While still in grade school, he had killed cats and dogs by hanging them as youths. Rader's father, William Rader, was a member of the Marine Corps and later worked with the electric utility KG&E in 1948. So there was no say that Dennis's father had influenced him in anyway to commit his behavior in an unlawful matter. Outside of Dennis's psychological behavior, he was married for 34 years with Paula Dietz who is now 67 years old. During the 34 years of marriage, she had no idea that she was married to a monster. (Blog-spot, 1)
NATURE OF CRIME
To begin With, the BTK killer had killed 10 people. BTK stands for bind, torture and kill. Dennis Rader has committed his first murder on January 15, 1974. (Bio, 1) Rader did not kill one person, he killed four! Rader has killed the Otero family. Joseph and Julie Otero has been murdered from strangulation and as well as their two kids, josephine and Joseph Jr, However, the Otero's 15 year-old son, Charlie, has discovered the bodies. Modus Operandi is basically the methodology or the plan of doing something to make it well-established. Dennis Rader's Modus Operandi would be strangulation. Also, after he commits his murders, he would steal souvenirs and leave semen at the scene. (Bio, 4) Rader has admitted that killing has deprived sexual pleasure on him. A few months later, the BTK has done it again. On April 4, 1974, Rader was waiting inside Kathryn Bright's apartment. He had killed Kathryn from stabbing and strangulation. Rader had also attempted to kill her brother, Kevin, but fortunately he survived two gunshot wounds. Kevin has described Dennis as an average-man, psychotic "eyes" and a man with a bushy mustache. Dennis has always felt the desire for fame. After each kill he had committed, he would send a letter or a poem to not only the reporters, but the authorities as well. All of Rader's murderers have the same signature. However, after each kill, he would send a letters, poems and pictures of the victims to the authorities. (Bio, 6) Dennis would often leave packages with clues inside them, including a computer disk. This has led the authorities to track the disk down and had eventually furthered his arrest. The authorities had tracked and found that it came from Rader's church. Dennis Lynn Rader, was arrested on February 25, 2005. (Bio, 13) He has been counted on 10 charges and is currently facing 10 consecutive life sentences in a Kansas prison. Many areas of the neighborhood including his church, are all in shock about the news. They had no idea the area of Wichita has been terrorized. You just don't know what kind of people are living right underneath your nose.
ANALYSIS OF DENNIS RADER
Although it may seem that Dennis Lynn Rader was harmless in other's eyes, he was deep down a horrific monster. Dennis hid his dirty secret for many years and no one had a clue. He had disguised this fairly well until he wanted people to find out by sending letters, pictures and poems to the media. Every serial killer has their own way and signature on murdering someone. However, Rader's way of killing is quite savage and disturbing. His method of killing would be strangulation with his bare hands and stabbing. After he had created the offence, Rader would then leave semen at the scene. This is because killing gives him sexual pleasure and that the activity feels exciting. This is called "The Lust-oriented Hedonist". Rader, the lust hedonistic killer, feels the rush in killing and feels excited in a hormonal way. That is really odd and weird in so many ways but it does however feel normal to him. As he was a little boy, he felt the need to take control and kill. Rader then took cats and dogs and hung them. Since then, he developed his urges and mental capacity to further himself as a serial killer. It is unclear on what caused or influenced Dennis to behave this way, however I believe that it is because of his childhood. In grade school, he wasn't very successful academically and that he was well withdrawn from his tendencies. Rader had found and developed something that had his interests and made him feel excited about it. That "something" is obviously killing. He had found something that he had success in and further developed it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/ WORKS CITED
http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociology101/tp/Major-Sociological-Frameworks.htm
http://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/rader-dennis.htm
"Dennis Rader | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers." Dennis Rader | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2015.
"Dennis Rader - BTK Killer - a Biography." Dennis Rader - BTK Killer - a Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2015.
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2015.