March 24, 2025 • 34 mins
Listener discretion is advised. SERIAL KILLER: The BTK Strangler Monster |Bind, Torture, Kill| Part 2 of 2 Bind them. Torture Them. Kill Them. Shout out the listeners who recently left us a 5 star review and rating! Jen and I celebrate each one! Jen will be at Advocacy Con in Indiana the end of March as a guest speaker and creator. Jules will be attending the True Crime Awards UK in London in June- Missing in Hush Town has been name a finalist for Podcast Rookie of The Year! And Jules will also be a Content Creator and have a booth at Crime Con UK! Jules & Jen will both be creators at True Crime Podcast Festival in Boston in July- use Hush20 for a 20 percent off code! Come hang out with us! Jules & Jen will both be at Crime Con in Denver in September! hey...you matter.
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Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi everybody, and welcome back to chu Cremin Headlines with
Jewles and Jen. Hi. I'm your host today, I'm Jules,
and I want to welcome you to part two of
the two part series about the BTK Strangler. Hi, shall
we just dive ruight on it. Let's go. We left
(01:13):
you in nineteen seventy nine with Ann and Williams escaping
the possibility of a brutal death all because she made
an unplanned stop at her daughter's house on the drive home.
We're going to fast forward five years to nineteen eighty
four because things with BTK have been quiet. In fact,
there haven't been any suspected BTK committed crimes or even
any communication from BTK himself in five years. And here
(01:39):
we are in nineteen eighty four, where an officer named
ken Land where heads up a task force created solely
to track down BTK. This task force will be named
Ghostbusters after the popular movie which was also released in
nineteen eighty four. One of their goals is while they
are trying to locate BTK, they're also organized all the evidence,
(02:01):
so the notes, voice recordings, articles of clothing he left behind.
Recall there are items with his bodily fluid, which we
will later know to be seminal fluid. And remember, anything
BTK does, from the trolling, to the stalking to the killing,
is all to fuel his sexual fantasies. His sexual fantasy
(02:22):
is the BTK, the bind, torture, and kill sick. I
know actual penetration of his victims, however, does not appear
to occur in most cases. Well that's just from what
we know of thus far. Shortly after the Ghostbuster's task
Force is created, another victim is strangled to death on
(02:44):
April twenty seventh, nineteen eighty five. But first, let me
introduce you to family man Dennis Rader. Dennis Raider, a
forty year old Boy Scout leader, devout church member, involved,
father of two son Brian and daughter Carrie, and the
(03:04):
loving husband was in a Boy Scout meeting with his son.
It's then that he tells the group he has a
headache and he has to return home. However, instead of
going home, he pulls into a gas station, buys a beer,
and ensures he is seen by onlookers as he lets
the beer spill out of his mouth all over his clothes.
He then proceeds to stumble around and eventually calls a
(03:27):
cab to bring him home. As far as anyone knew,
Dennis was drunk, many people witnessed it, the cab driver
could smell it. He has the driver drop him off
at Park City, a Wichita suburb, in front of a
woman's home named Marine Hedge. Marine Hedge fifty three was
Dennis Raider's neighbor for thirty years. She was said by
(03:51):
those who knew her to be kind, loving, and wonderful
to know. She lived alone as she was a widow.
So when Dennis Rader arrives at her home and sees
her car is there, but it doesn't look like she
is home, he doesn't walk to the door to knock,
you know, like a neighbor would typically do. Nor does
he really sense any fear for his neighbor, for any
type of killer on the loose. No, Dennis Raider does
(04:14):
not fear the local serial killer BTK because this forty
year old boy scout leader, church leader, father, and loving
husband is BTK. He cuts the phone lines and quietly
enters her home. Realizes she isn't actually there, so he
hides in the closet and awaits her return. Marine does
(04:36):
return later, but she unexpectedly has a man with her.
This man had driven them home and was bringing Marine home.
Dennis Raider aka BTK stays quiet in her bedroom closet
until the man leaves and Marine readies for bed around
one am. It's then that Dennis Raider exits the closet
to bind, torture, and kill innocent Marine Hedge. After he
(05:02):
has murdered her, he takes her body to her car
and puts her in the trunk. He then proceeds to
drive to his church and then drags her body into
the basement of his church. To prevent anyone from looking in,
he places black tarp in the windows. What he does
next is actually not surprising given the magnitude of demented
(05:25):
this individual monster is. He takes photos of Miss Hedge
and many different compromising positions. Then he again drags her
body up the church basement steps and puts her back
in the trunk of her own car, and proceeds to
drive back near the suburb of Wichita in Park City,
and continues to show his monster instincts by dumping Marine
(05:46):
Hedge's body into a ditch near their homes. Marine's body
is discovered eight days later, and her cause of death
was reported to be strangulation, but the police do not
connect her murder to b TK. I am curious is
this because this is the first instance where BTK has
removed the body from the home from the scene of
(06:07):
the crime. Has his mo O changed? Was he becoming
more sloppy, desperate or chaotic, since it's been five years
since his last killing. Allegedly he's older now as well,
now he's forty. Here i'll read down this raider's own
words that were transcribed from his confession in court in
conversation with the judge, just to remind everybody, first person
(06:31):
narrative can never be trusted, So listen and believe what
you will or what you will not. Here we are quote. Well,
actually kind of like the other she was chosen. I
went through the different phases, you know, the stalking phase,
and since she lived down the street from me, I
could watch her coming and going quite easily. On that
particular day, I had another commitment. Came back from that commitment,
(06:54):
parked my car over at Woodlawn in twenty first Street,
and I was a bowling alley at the time. Before that,
I dressed into I had some of the clothes on.
I changed clothes. I went to the bowling alley. I
went in there under the precepts of bowling, called a taxi,
had a taxi take me to Park City, had my
kit with me. It was a bowling bag end quote.
(07:15):
The judge then asked Dennis Raider how he knew Marine Hedge,
and he proceeds to tell him that he would wave
when passing by and do the neighborly chats, that this
here was nothing personal, they were just neighbors. On September sixteenth,
in nineteen eighty six, Bill Weggirl's life will be forever
changed for the worst. His high school sweetheart and wife,
(07:36):
Vicki wegggirl then just twenty eight and mother to Stephanie
ten and two year old son Brandon, was murdered. Bill
was driving home to have lunch with Vicki son Brandon
when he sees his wife's car on the road, but
it's not his wife driving instead, it's someone he doesn't recognize.
He continues on to his home and upon entering, he
(07:57):
observes toddler Brandon playing alone on the floor in the
middle of the home. Bill begins to search the home
for his wife and finally finds her. She's in their bedroom,
on the floor behind their bed, and she's still alive,
you guys. She's rushed to the hospital, but she is
ultimately pronounced dead, and for the next eighteen years, Bill
(08:21):
will remain the main suspect in his wife's murder. His
kids would continue to hear whispers at school about how
your dad is a murderer, your dad is a killer,
and Bill would continue to proclaim his innocence, all while
grieving his wife's murder, dealing with the trauma of discovering her,
raising his kids as a widower, and continuing on with
(08:43):
his life as best as this man could. The man
driving his wife's car on the road was Dennis Raider,
and when Bill passed him, it was Dennis aka bt
K who was disposing any evidence from that murder. So
how did Vicky become Btk's next proclaimed PJ you know
(09:03):
the project? Well, according to BTK, he just happened to
walk by her home often and would hear her playing
the piano from inside her home. It's then that he
meticulously thought about how he would kill her. Around ten am,
after her husband had left for work and her daughter
was at school, the killer cut her phone line, sticking
you know with his usual mo o. He then dressed
(09:26):
as a telephone repair man and knocked on her door.
She believes him when he tells her that you know,
he's here to fix her phone, and she lets him
into her home. He rushes her by gunpoint into her
bedroom and tries to first bind her, but she fights back,
and she fights back so tough that she leaves marks
on his body. He cannot control her enough to tie
(09:49):
her up, so he quickly strangles her to get her
to stop fighting back. It's then that he again takes
photos of her, posing her in different positions before he
takes her car and takes off, and thus it's then
that Vicki's innocent husband drives past her car and soon
arrives just moments after his wife's killer has fled. And
(10:12):
it won't be until five more years later on January nineteenth,
nineteen ninety one, when Dennis Raider AKABTK kills for his
final time allegedly, and again he chooses an ulner victim
as he has come to realize they appear to be
more vulnerable and easily overpowered, and again he doesn't bridge
(10:32):
out very far from his family home neighborhood. His last
victim is a woman named Delores Davis. Now Dolores Davis
was living on her own just a mile and a
half away from Dennis Raider. He had first noticed her
when he saw her outside, and then he marked her
for his next PJ Project. Dennis Raider was again on
(10:53):
a Boy Scout event trip with his son. This time
it's a camping trip and it July nineteenth, nineteen ninety one,
and Dennis has to come up with an excuse to
plan to leave to execute his final killing. Once he
leaves the troop, he then drives to his own parents'
house and it's there that he changes out of his
(11:15):
Boy Scout uniform and puts on what he calls his
hit clothes. And what we will see during the final
killing is the duplicity of BTK as a quote family
man end quote, and then as a killer. He was
in middle of being an involved father to doing what
he calls as cubing aka flipping into his BTK persona.
(11:38):
Now this is coming from his own description. He then
drives his car to the local church and he parks
it there, which wouldn't be out of the ordinary to
be seen at a church as he was a church
leader as well. That's right, he was a leader for
the church in that community. He continues his plan on
foot by walking to Dolores's home. He waits patiently outside
(12:02):
her home, hiding stocking for Dolors to show signs that
she's gone to bed, and once he believes she has
done so, the killer uses a brick to break into
her home. Now this does cause a lot of noise,
and the loris quickly comes out of her bedroom to investigate.
It's then that Dennis Writer resorts to his original intruder,
m O. He was a convict, he needed money, he
(12:24):
needed car, et cetera. He proceeds to bind her, torture her,
then kill her. Just like his last victim, he puts
the Lawres in the trunk of her own car. He
then proceeds to bind her, torture her, and then kill her,
and just like a victim Pryor, he puts the Laures
in the trunk of her own car. He then drives
her to her nearby lake, still within the same park
(12:45):
City suburb of Wichita, and leaves her body under some
trees slightly covered. He then drives her car back to
her house, cleans the surfaces to erase any evidence, and
walks back to the church. He changes back into his
scout youth and rejoins his son and the troop for
the remainder of the camping trip. The next evening, however,
(13:09):
the killer returns to where he left Dolores, and it's
then that he takes photos of her. Now he does
use a polar raid and he did keep all the photos.
So it's assumed that the photos are still in States
custody and we're used as evidence in the case against
Dennis Raider. And here we find ourselves from nineteen ninety
one to two thousand and four without hearing a word
(13:30):
from BTK. No calls to police, no letters, no sick poems,
and no killings which would resemble BTK style. That is,
you guys, until January in two thousand and four, when
Dennis Raider sees a thirty year anniversary article Special and
the Killings of the Otero Family in his local paper,
(13:51):
The Wichita Eagle. The article contains information on BTK and
recounts all that transpired. The seemingly reignites Dennis Rader to
end his BTK role, or as he called it, to Cube,
and just two months later, in March of two thousand
and four, BTK announces that the BTK serial killer has returned.
(14:14):
Dennis Raider was born in Kansas and raised in Wichita
with his mother and father and three younger brothers. As
far as appearances go, he seemingly had a fairly normal
upbringing and family, and both of his parents were long
hours and so the kids were often alone for long
periods of time. He does report as a young child
he would secretly hang and strangle straight animals, knowing Boy Scouts,
(14:35):
which you recall he was very later heavily involved with
as an adult with his son's troop. But the whole
leaving the Boy Scouts trip to commit murder thing is
is just something that it's hard for us to wrap
our minds around, obviously, But Dennis was also not a
stellar academic student in school. It was reported by the
(14:56):
website Psychology Today that Dennis was average to below average
and that quote exhibited and introverted and withdrawn personality end quote.
Young Dennis was also very involved with his family's local church,
a Lutheran denomination. This is also a theme which carries
out into adulthood. You know, you, guys, It appears that
he leans into places a familiarity to hide in plain sight.
(15:19):
We've got boy Scouts, his family, a church, the suburbs.
In fact, the only type of social interactions that Dennis
participated in as a child was through church or Boy Scouts.
Boy Scouts would also likely offer Raider a place of
familiarity and confidence. He gained skills in trying multiple different
types of notts, which was a skill he continued to
(15:40):
carry later on into his crimes. Once Dennis Raider was arrested,
a forensic psychologist named Tony Rhrik conducted Dennis Rader's initial
assessment Psychology. Today shares what mister Tony Rhret concluded about
Dennis's childhood quote. If Rader was completely honest, which he
is not, I am sure that he would find some
sort of childhood event that Rader immediately associated with feelings
(16:02):
of sexuality. Somehow, very early on, Rider encountered an event
where he immediately linked sexual pleasure with watching a living
creature suffer and die. And after that first encounter, Rader
probably began to work very hard to nurture those feelings.
End quote. I know we've previously talked about how Dennis
Rader is very open and honest about his killings, but
(16:25):
that wasn't until he was in court having played guilty,
and he was confessing his crimes to the judge. And
that's only the crimes that he did confess to. We
still believe he is responsible for more killings, which we
will dive into in our next episode. However, by multiple accounts,
Dennis Rader would be considered a pathological liar. How could
(16:47):
he not be in order to live this duplicitous life.
Is it possible he doesn't remember a type of trauma
which occurred, or could he have just been born this way?
By Dennis's own admission, he says that he actually began
to have sexual fantasies of dominance, bondage, and torture from
a young age, as young as elementary school. He goes
(17:07):
on to explain that by puberty, who's fully envisioning acting
out those fantasies in his mind. When he graduates high
school in nineteen sixty four, he goes on to attend college,
where he actually doesn't do too well, not surprisingly, but
continuing with the theme of achieving mediocre grades, he does
end up dropping out a few years later, and when
he's twenty one, he joins the United States Air Force.
(17:30):
It's there that he spies on women getting dressed, and
he also does a string of break ins to steal
women's undergarments. He goes on to stay in the United
States Air Force from nineteen sixty six through nineteen seventy
and just one year after he is back home, he
meets a woman named Paula Deets and marries her in
nineteen seventy one. Born to an engineer and a librarian,
(17:52):
Paula was also raised in Kansas in a religious household,
and she went on to graduate within a counting degree
in nineteen seventy and it's shortly after that when she
meets Dennis Raider. They were not together very long, you guys.
It's actually less than a year from when they met
to when they actually got married in nineteen seventy one,
and just two years later, in nineteen seventy three, Dennis
graduates from a community college with an associate's degree in electronics,
(18:14):
which does help him in his job as an ADT
security install man installing security systems in homes. Now. He
would have that job from nineteen seventy four through nineteen
eighty eight. And it's not lost on us that Dennis
Ritter was installing many of the home security systems for
Wichita residents who were scared about the BTK killer entering
(18:39):
their homes. Also in nineteen seventy three, Dennis and Paula
Raider would welcome their child together, a son named Brian.
And that is bringing us back to the beginning a
Dennis Raider's time as a bind, torture and kill serial killer.
As just a few months after the birth of his
first child, you guys, Dennis Raider would commit his first murders,
(19:05):
the Ottero family murders Julie, Josephine Joseph and Joey Junior
in January of nineteen seventy four. Well his wife cared
for their three month newborn, Dennis Rader would carry out
his sex sickening fantasies in real life. From nineteen seventy
four through nineteen seventy seven, Dennis Rader was continuing his
(19:29):
work as the ADT security installer. Now, during this time,
Dennis Raider as BTK killed the four Otto family members
and then he killed Catherine Bright in nineteen seventy four,
and it's not until seventy seventy kills again taking the
lives of Shirley Van and Nancy Fox. Now he goes
dormant as BTK until nineteen eighty five. So what was
(19:51):
he doing during that dormant time. We have nineteen seventy
eight through nineteen eighty five, where we don't hear a
thing from BTK. Well, Dennis Paula would go on to
welcome a second child in nineteen seventy eight, a daughter
named Carrie. You guys, he was busy with two young children,
(20:11):
and he decides to go back to college. In nineteen
seventy nine, he graduates with a bachelor's degree in administration
of justice. In nineteen eighty five, he takes the life
of Marine Hedge and in nineteen eighty nine Dennis changes
jobs and he is now working as a census field
(20:32):
operations supervisor, and just a few short years later, just
two years later, he takes on another job of authority
as a Park City compliance officer. Remember park City is
a suburb of Wichita where he lives with his family,
and he also becomes a dog catcher. And it's also
in nineteen ninety one that Dennis Raider kills his final victim,
(20:54):
Delores Davis. Allegedly. Now when reading about this case, the
time in between's killings are often referred to as dormant times. However,
in oxygen dot com article quotes a professor of psychology
named Catherine Ramslin She wrote the book Confession of a
Serial Killer, The Untold Story of Denistrator the BTK Killer
by saying, quote, they were detailed lists when names of projects, states, location,
(21:18):
circumstances that would have happened to people had he had
the full amount of time that he needed and they
were home. She said, It's not like he was inactive
during those periods of time. It's that he didn't have
all the right circumstances to go forward with doing something
end quote. Dennis also would bind himself. He would dress
(21:40):
in women's garments and strangle himself with rope, oftentimes tying
himself up and taking photos of himself. It was reported
that he was trying to emulate his victims and this
brought on sexual pleasure for him in between killings. These photos,
along with his kill kit items, souvenirs, and victim photos,
would all go on to be discovered in different locations.
(22:03):
As a later told authorities a multiple hiding spots to
find each item. He does, however, admit that he had
so many hiding spots that he couldn't even recall where
everything was. Now, you guys, recall this is a span
of three decades. Rolling Stone Magazine reports that quote he
kept them in hiding places throughout the county, some in
his home and church, others buried or taped to bridges.
(22:25):
He called them hide holes. And while investigators uncovered many
of the souvenirs he took from his victims, even Raider
doesn't remember exactly where all of them are anymore. End quote.
You know, guys, what I find most disturbing is that
he kept so many items in his own home, under
the floor of his home, and in his own family garage.
(22:48):
Professor of psychology Catherine Ramslin explains that Raider was so
involved in the trolling, stalking, and meticulous planning that he
required a big chunk of time to carry out his
crimes against his list of pjs. Dennis Raider at one
time reportedly had a list of over fifty five individuals
whom he was looking to stalk, but just did not
(23:08):
have enough time. Ramslin continues to analyze Rader by explaining
how she believes that it was Raider's jobs with some
type of authority which contributed to his ability to take
long periods of breaks in between killings. His own photos
of himself help scratch that itch. All while he admits
he never stopped trolley, and all during this time he
(23:30):
is carrying out the facade of a good husband, a
good employer, the rule follower and enforcer, and the deacon
of the church.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
But was he.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
His own daughter? Carrie considers her father a psychopathic narcissist,
although she recounts how she had a great childhood and
he taught her ethics, morals, and kindness. She goes on
to explain that the way we can best learn about
killers like her father is by studying them, which is
a big reason why she wrote her own book titled
A Serial Killer's Daughter, My Story of Faith, Loved and Overcoming.
(24:02):
And here we go, you guys, this is how BTK
was caught. Now he was caught before he was able
to execute the rest of his list of over fifty
five names on his project, his PJ List, So here
we go. The Wichita Eagle publishes a thirty year anniversary
article on the nineteen seventy four mass killing of the
four Otero family murders, which includes extensive writings about BTK.
(24:27):
And it's on March seventeenth, two thousand and four, that
the Wichita Eagle receives a letter with the return address
of the name Bill Thomas Kilmore with the initials BTK
inside the letter, where items seemingly included to prove that
the correspondence was indeed coming from BTK himself. There were
three photocopies of polaroid photos of the once he took
(24:49):
of Vicky Woregirl, along with Vicky's driver's license, and to
sign the envelope he did his symbol signature, which he
has done in past correspondence. Of course, the letter gets
sent off the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where they in
turn release information to the public via the media and
the Internet about the BTK case gearing up once again.
(25:10):
It's also noted that at the time of the Wichita
thirty anniversary coverage of the Ataro family and the BTK hysteria,
that a book reporting on BTK was also released. Now
It was titled Nightmare in Wichita, The Hunt for the
BTK Strangler by lawyer Robert Beattie, and it was said
to have angered BTK as he felt that people were
(25:30):
telling his story for him and it was time for
him to come back out to continue his story on
his own. Now is that the narcissism showing About seven
weeks later, on May fifth, two thousand and four, the
BTK killer cannot stop himself from feeding into the fame,
resurfaced and proceeds to then send local news station kak
(25:53):
ETV a puzzle. The puzzle included words that described Dennis
Raider's process, such as pra and also a list of
what seemed to be disguises, such as serviceman. What's even
more odd is it even included four individual numbers, which
they would realize after Raider is arrested are the actual
numbers of his home address. CNN reported that assistant managing
(26:17):
editor Timothy Rogers said, quote, it could be the killer's
way of saying, Hey, it was all there in front
of your face, and you just didn't see it. End quote.
Now fast forward seven more months to December of two
thousand and four, when BTK starts amping up his public
messages and packages. He leaves a barbie doll which he
has strangled and attached to a part of a PVC pipe,
(26:38):
details which nod to the Otero murder of young Josephine,
who was hanging from the pipes in the basement of
her own home. He seems to be adding more and
more clues for what to enjoy this cat mouse game
with authorities, Perhaps does he possibly believe that they also
enjoy it. BTK leaves a plastic bag wrapped in rubber
(26:59):
ba in a local park. A man out walking finds it,
takes it home and opens it out of curiosity. Inside
is the driver's license of Nancy Fox. He delivers the
package to KAKETV news station, who in turn rightfully turned
it over immediately to the police. This is the confirmation
that Nancy was btk's victim, and this was BTK actually
(27:23):
corresponding with them. Just a few weeks later, in January
of two thousand and five, BTK sends a postcard containing
more clues. This time it was a postcard sent again
to the news station with instructions on where to find
the other packages. The police were able to locate the items,
and inside the first package they found descriptions of the
(27:43):
Otera murder that only the killer and the police would know.
He also asked if they had found his other message
he previously left at home depot while not knowing about
this one. The police head over to home depot immediately
and after questioning employees, it came about the one worker
found a serial box in the bed of his truck.
Assuming it was trash, he tosses it, but the police
(28:06):
are able to recover it from the man's trash. And
is this message which will lead to Btk's capture? Well,
what is this message? BTK asked the police if he
would be able to communicate with them using a floppy
disk without the police being able to trace it back
to him, and for the police to reply to him
by putting an ad in the paper if it's okay,
(28:27):
with the words rex it will be okay. And this
is why I'm left to wonder if Dennis Raider really
did believe the police enjoyed the game of cat and mouse.
You know that same month, police take out an ad
in the newspaper just as instructed, And on January twenty eighth,
an undercover detective has a Wichita Eagle newspaper print the
(28:49):
following ad, rex it will be okay, contact me pobox
first four reference numbers, that's six seven to two zero two,
And as suspected, Dennis rate A applies to the ad
within six days by again sending a lettered KAKATV confirming
he did indeed see the message. And now they wait,
(29:10):
could BTK truly send a floppy disc to them? Would
this really happen? You know, they're waiting for this floppy
disc which will hopefully be arriving from the serial killer BTK,
which can absolutely be traced. It was just about three
weeks after confirmation from BTK that on February sixteen, two
(29:31):
thousand and five, a floppy disk arrives to police. They
immediately hand it to their cybercops specialists, who gets to
work to access the floppy disks metadata. Each disc has
something called metadata, which is basically an identifier or users
with the disc. The metadata on the disc was obtained
and it said the last user was by a quote
(29:54):
Dennis at Christ Lutheran Church at Park City Library quo.
The police were quick to discover that the church's president
was a man named Dennis Raider. Within the next nine days,
authorities worked behind the scenes to gather as much information
on Dennis Rader as they can now. You'll recall in
(30:15):
the past parts of this episode we covered that the
BTK killer left behind physical DNA evidence which was collected
in storage securely throughout the years. The task force titled
the Ghostbusters was ready to bring Denis in after they
confirmed matching DNA. So how did they do this without
tipping Denis off that they knew who he truly was?
How did they get his DNA? Okay, this park gets
(30:37):
a bit controversial, and I'm curious to know your thoughts
on this, but I'm just going to state the facts.
The police attained a warrant to get medical records from
BTK Dennis Rader's daughters university. We're five years prior she
had a PAP smear and it's on February twenty fifth,
two thousand and five. The BTK killer is finally stopped.
(30:58):
And that's not all they stopped. The subsequent capture of
BTK Dennis Rader meant that they stopped any planned future projects.
Those were stopped. Those people were saved. But did he
do more murders? We don't know yet. But we're going
to talk next week to somebody who thinks that she's
cracked the two thousand and four word search that Dennis
(31:19):
Raider sent to the KAKETV news station, and what she
has to say is going to blow your mind. So
make sure you come back next week, you guys. It's crazy.
On June twenty seven, two thousand and five, Dennis Raider
pleads guilty, and on August eighteenth, two thousand and five,
Dennis is sentenced to ten consecutive life terms in prison,
where he remains today. One common question which I often
(31:43):
saw in my research for this case was how did
the family just not know well? Btk's daughter Carrie, she
recalls a time in her book looking back that there
were some signs, but overall, she says, he was ninety
five percent in an amazing dad and father. She does
recount one time, though, when she came home to visit
from they were all at the dinner table and her
father lunged across at her brother during an argument and
(32:05):
choked him until he turned white. Aside from that, she
does not recall many signs. She says if anyone in
her family believed he could have been the local BTK
serial killer, they would have immediately told authorities. Carrie goes
on to explain how hard it was to believe that
BTK was the same man as her father. The trauma
in PTSD that his daughter has shared about going through
is immense, and she is living her life the best
(32:27):
way she can amid the reality of the monster who
she now knows was her father. She hopes that people
will be able to learn from her story and experience
as a serial killer's daughter for one purpose, you guys.
It's this to stop people like her father in the
future and to end the murders of innocent people. Thank
you for being here, guys, Thank you for caring, for
(32:49):
always being open to learning, and for diving deeper into
these cases, learning about the why, not just the how.
This has been true Kremen Headlines. I'm your host, Jules
Thorpe Jan Rivera will be back with this now and
this concludes our coverage of Dennis Raider, the BTK Strangler
serial killer. I'll see you guys next week. And don't forget.
You're wanted, your loved, and your voice matters, So go
(33:12):
ahead and use a baby fireeyes media man.
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Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi everybody, and welcome back to chu Cremin Headlines with
Jewles and Jen. Hi. I'm your host today, I'm Jules,
and I want to welcome you to part two of
the two part series about the BTK Strangler. Hi, shall
we just dive ruight on it. Let's go. We left
(01:13):
you in nineteen seventy nine with Ann and Williams escaping
the possibility of a brutal death all because she made
an unplanned stop at her daughter's house on the drive home.
We're going to fast forward five years to nineteen eighty
four because things with BTK have been quiet. In fact,
there haven't been any suspected BTK committed crimes or even
any communication from BTK himself in five years. And here
(01:39):
we are in nineteen eighty four, where an officer named
ken Land where heads up a task force created solely
to track down BTK. This task force will be named
Ghostbusters after the popular movie which was also released in
nineteen eighty four. One of their goals is while they
are trying to locate BTK, they're also organized all the evidence,
(02:01):
so the notes, voice recordings, articles of clothing he left behind.
Recall there are items with his bodily fluid, which we
will later know to be seminal fluid. And remember, anything
BTK does, from the trolling, to the stalking to the killing,
is all to fuel his sexual fantasies. His sexual fantasy
(02:22):
is the BTK, the bind, torture, and kill sick. I
know actual penetration of his victims, however, does not appear
to occur in most cases. Well that's just from what
we know of thus far. Shortly after the Ghostbuster's task
Force is created, another victim is strangled to death on
(02:44):
April twenty seventh, nineteen eighty five. But first, let me
introduce you to family man Dennis Rader. Dennis Raider, a
forty year old Boy Scout leader, devout church member, involved,
father of two son Brian and daughter Carrie, and the
(03:04):
loving husband was in a Boy Scout meeting with his son.
It's then that he tells the group he has a
headache and he has to return home. However, instead of
going home, he pulls into a gas station, buys a beer,
and ensures he is seen by onlookers as he lets
the beer spill out of his mouth all over his clothes.
He then proceeds to stumble around and eventually calls a
(03:27):
cab to bring him home. As far as anyone knew,
Dennis was drunk, many people witnessed it, the cab driver
could smell it. He has the driver drop him off
at Park City, a Wichita suburb, in front of a
woman's home named Marine Hedge. Marine Hedge fifty three was
Dennis Raider's neighbor for thirty years. She was said by
(03:51):
those who knew her to be kind, loving, and wonderful
to know. She lived alone as she was a widow.
So when Dennis Rader arrives at her home and sees
her car is there, but it doesn't look like she
is home, he doesn't walk to the door to knock,
you know, like a neighbor would typically do. Nor does
he really sense any fear for his neighbor, for any
type of killer on the loose. No, Dennis Raider does
(04:14):
not fear the local serial killer BTK because this forty
year old boy scout leader, church leader, father, and loving
husband is BTK. He cuts the phone lines and quietly
enters her home. Realizes she isn't actually there, so he
hides in the closet and awaits her return. Marine does
(04:36):
return later, but she unexpectedly has a man with her.
This man had driven them home and was bringing Marine home.
Dennis Raider aka BTK stays quiet in her bedroom closet
until the man leaves and Marine readies for bed around
one am. It's then that Dennis Raider exits the closet
to bind, torture, and kill innocent Marine Hedge. After he
(05:02):
has murdered her, he takes her body to her car
and puts her in the trunk. He then proceeds to
drive to his church and then drags her body into
the basement of his church. To prevent anyone from looking in,
he places black tarp in the windows. What he does
next is actually not surprising given the magnitude of demented
(05:25):
this individual monster is. He takes photos of Miss Hedge
and many different compromising positions. Then he again drags her
body up the church basement steps and puts her back
in the trunk of her own car, and proceeds to
drive back near the suburb of Wichita in Park City,
and continues to show his monster instincts by dumping Marine
(05:46):
Hedge's body into a ditch near their homes. Marine's body
is discovered eight days later, and her cause of death
was reported to be strangulation, but the police do not
connect her murder to b TK. I am curious is
this because this is the first instance where BTK has
removed the body from the home from the scene of
(06:07):
the crime. Has his mo O changed? Was he becoming
more sloppy, desperate or chaotic, since it's been five years
since his last killing. Allegedly he's older now as well,
now he's forty. Here i'll read down this raider's own
words that were transcribed from his confession in court in
conversation with the judge, just to remind everybody, first person
(06:31):
narrative can never be trusted, So listen and believe what
you will or what you will not. Here we are quote. Well,
actually kind of like the other she was chosen. I
went through the different phases, you know, the stalking phase,
and since she lived down the street from me, I
could watch her coming and going quite easily. On that
particular day, I had another commitment. Came back from that commitment,
(06:54):
parked my car over at Woodlawn in twenty first Street,
and I was a bowling alley at the time. Before that,
I dressed into I had some of the clothes on.
I changed clothes. I went to the bowling alley. I
went in there under the precepts of bowling, called a taxi,
had a taxi take me to Park City, had my
kit with me. It was a bowling bag end quote.
(07:15):
The judge then asked Dennis Raider how he knew Marine Hedge,
and he proceeds to tell him that he would wave
when passing by and do the neighborly chats, that this
here was nothing personal, they were just neighbors. On September sixteenth,
in nineteen eighty six, Bill Weggirl's life will be forever
changed for the worst. His high school sweetheart and wife,
(07:36):
Vicki wegggirl then just twenty eight and mother to Stephanie
ten and two year old son Brandon, was murdered. Bill
was driving home to have lunch with Vicki son Brandon
when he sees his wife's car on the road, but
it's not his wife driving instead, it's someone he doesn't recognize.
He continues on to his home and upon entering, he
(07:57):
observes toddler Brandon playing alone on the floor in the
middle of the home. Bill begins to search the home
for his wife and finally finds her. She's in their bedroom,
on the floor behind their bed, and she's still alive,
you guys. She's rushed to the hospital, but she is
ultimately pronounced dead, and for the next eighteen years, Bill
(08:21):
will remain the main suspect in his wife's murder. His
kids would continue to hear whispers at school about how
your dad is a murderer, your dad is a killer,
and Bill would continue to proclaim his innocence, all while
grieving his wife's murder, dealing with the trauma of discovering her,
raising his kids as a widower, and continuing on with
(08:43):
his life as best as this man could. The man
driving his wife's car on the road was Dennis Raider,
and when Bill passed him, it was Dennis aka bt
K who was disposing any evidence from that murder. So
how did Vicky become Btk's next proclaimed PJ you know
(09:03):
the project? Well, according to BTK, he just happened to
walk by her home often and would hear her playing
the piano from inside her home. It's then that he
meticulously thought about how he would kill her. Around ten am,
after her husband had left for work and her daughter
was at school, the killer cut her phone line, sticking
you know with his usual mo o. He then dressed
(09:26):
as a telephone repair man and knocked on her door.
She believes him when he tells her that you know,
he's here to fix her phone, and she lets him
into her home. He rushes her by gunpoint into her
bedroom and tries to first bind her, but she fights back,
and she fights back so tough that she leaves marks
on his body. He cannot control her enough to tie
(09:49):
her up, so he quickly strangles her to get her
to stop fighting back. It's then that he again takes
photos of her, posing her in different positions before he
takes her car and takes off, and thus it's then
that Vicki's innocent husband drives past her car and soon
arrives just moments after his wife's killer has fled. And
(10:12):
it won't be until five more years later on January nineteenth,
nineteen ninety one, when Dennis Raider AKABTK kills for his
final time allegedly, and again he chooses an ulner victim
as he has come to realize they appear to be
more vulnerable and easily overpowered, and again he doesn't bridge
(10:32):
out very far from his family home neighborhood. His last
victim is a woman named Delores Davis. Now Dolores Davis
was living on her own just a mile and a
half away from Dennis Raider. He had first noticed her
when he saw her outside, and then he marked her
for his next PJ Project. Dennis Raider was again on
(10:53):
a Boy Scout event trip with his son. This time
it's a camping trip and it July nineteenth, nineteen ninety one,
and Dennis has to come up with an excuse to
plan to leave to execute his final killing. Once he
leaves the troop, he then drives to his own parents'
house and it's there that he changes out of his
(11:15):
Boy Scout uniform and puts on what he calls his
hit clothes. And what we will see during the final
killing is the duplicity of BTK as a quote family
man end quote, and then as a killer. He was
in middle of being an involved father to doing what
he calls as cubing aka flipping into his BTK persona.
(11:38):
Now this is coming from his own description. He then
drives his car to the local church and he parks
it there, which wouldn't be out of the ordinary to
be seen at a church as he was a church
leader as well. That's right, he was a leader for
the church in that community. He continues his plan on
foot by walking to Dolores's home. He waits patiently outside
(12:02):
her home, hiding stocking for Dolors to show signs that
she's gone to bed, and once he believes she has
done so, the killer uses a brick to break into
her home. Now this does cause a lot of noise,
and the loris quickly comes out of her bedroom to investigate.
It's then that Dennis Writer resorts to his original intruder,
m O. He was a convict, he needed money, he
(12:24):
needed car, et cetera. He proceeds to bind her, torture her,
then kill her. Just like his last victim, he puts
the Lawres in the trunk of her own car. He
then proceeds to bind her, torture her, and then kill her,
and just like a victim Pryor, he puts the Laures
in the trunk of her own car. He then drives
her to her nearby lake, still within the same park
(12:45):
City suburb of Wichita, and leaves her body under some
trees slightly covered. He then drives her car back to
her house, cleans the surfaces to erase any evidence, and
walks back to the church. He changes back into his
scout youth and rejoins his son and the troop for
the remainder of the camping trip. The next evening, however,
(13:09):
the killer returns to where he left Dolores, and it's
then that he takes photos of her. Now he does
use a polar raid and he did keep all the photos.
So it's assumed that the photos are still in States
custody and we're used as evidence in the case against
Dennis Raider. And here we find ourselves from nineteen ninety
one to two thousand and four without hearing a word
(13:30):
from BTK. No calls to police, no letters, no sick poems,
and no killings which would resemble BTK style. That is,
you guys, until January in two thousand and four, when
Dennis Raider sees a thirty year anniversary article Special and
the Killings of the Otero Family in his local paper,
(13:51):
The Wichita Eagle. The article contains information on BTK and
recounts all that transpired. The seemingly reignites Dennis Rader to
end his BTK role, or as he called it, to Cube,
and just two months later, in March of two thousand
and four, BTK announces that the BTK serial killer has returned.
(14:14):
Dennis Raider was born in Kansas and raised in Wichita
with his mother and father and three younger brothers. As
far as appearances go, he seemingly had a fairly normal
upbringing and family, and both of his parents were long
hours and so the kids were often alone for long
periods of time. He does report as a young child
he would secretly hang and strangle straight animals, knowing Boy Scouts,
(14:35):
which you recall he was very later heavily involved with
as an adult with his son's troop. But the whole
leaving the Boy Scouts trip to commit murder thing is
is just something that it's hard for us to wrap
our minds around, obviously, But Dennis was also not a
stellar academic student in school. It was reported by the
(14:56):
website Psychology Today that Dennis was average to below average
and that quote exhibited and introverted and withdrawn personality end quote.
Young Dennis was also very involved with his family's local church,
a Lutheran denomination. This is also a theme which carries
out into adulthood. You know, you, guys, It appears that
he leans into places a familiarity to hide in plain sight.
(15:19):
We've got boy Scouts, his family, a church, the suburbs.
In fact, the only type of social interactions that Dennis
participated in as a child was through church or Boy Scouts.
Boy Scouts would also likely offer Raider a place of
familiarity and confidence. He gained skills in trying multiple different
types of notts, which was a skill he continued to
(15:40):
carry later on into his crimes. Once Dennis Raider was arrested,
a forensic psychologist named Tony Rhrik conducted Dennis Rader's initial
assessment Psychology. Today shares what mister Tony Rhret concluded about
Dennis's childhood quote. If Rader was completely honest, which he
is not, I am sure that he would find some
sort of childhood event that Rader immediately associated with feelings
(16:02):
of sexuality. Somehow, very early on, Rider encountered an event
where he immediately linked sexual pleasure with watching a living
creature suffer and die. And after that first encounter, Rader
probably began to work very hard to nurture those feelings.
End quote. I know we've previously talked about how Dennis
Rader is very open and honest about his killings, but
(16:25):
that wasn't until he was in court having played guilty,
and he was confessing his crimes to the judge. And
that's only the crimes that he did confess to. We
still believe he is responsible for more killings, which we
will dive into in our next episode. However, by multiple accounts,
Dennis Rader would be considered a pathological liar. How could
(16:47):
he not be in order to live this duplicitous life.
Is it possible he doesn't remember a type of trauma
which occurred, or could he have just been born this way?
By Dennis's own admission, he says that he actually began
to have sexual fantasies of dominance, bondage, and torture from
a young age, as young as elementary school. He goes
(17:07):
on to explain that by puberty, who's fully envisioning acting
out those fantasies in his mind. When he graduates high
school in nineteen sixty four, he goes on to attend college,
where he actually doesn't do too well, not surprisingly, but
continuing with the theme of achieving mediocre grades, he does
end up dropping out a few years later, and when
he's twenty one, he joins the United States Air Force.
(17:30):
It's there that he spies on women getting dressed, and
he also does a string of break ins to steal
women's undergarments. He goes on to stay in the United
States Air Force from nineteen sixty six through nineteen seventy
and just one year after he is back home, he
meets a woman named Paula Deets and marries her in
nineteen seventy one. Born to an engineer and a librarian,
(17:52):
Paula was also raised in Kansas in a religious household,
and she went on to graduate within a counting degree
in nineteen seventy and it's shortly after that when she
meets Dennis Raider. They were not together very long, you guys.
It's actually less than a year from when they met
to when they actually got married in nineteen seventy one,
and just two years later, in nineteen seventy three, Dennis
graduates from a community college with an associate's degree in electronics,
(18:14):
which does help him in his job as an ADT
security install man installing security systems in homes. Now. He
would have that job from nineteen seventy four through nineteen
eighty eight. And it's not lost on us that Dennis
Ritter was installing many of the home security systems for
Wichita residents who were scared about the BTK killer entering
(18:39):
their homes. Also in nineteen seventy three, Dennis and Paula
Raider would welcome their child together, a son named Brian.
And that is bringing us back to the beginning a
Dennis Raider's time as a bind, torture and kill serial killer.
As just a few months after the birth of his
first child, you guys, Dennis Raider would commit his first murders,
(19:05):
the Ottero family murders Julie, Josephine Joseph and Joey Junior
in January of nineteen seventy four. Well his wife cared
for their three month newborn, Dennis Rader would carry out
his sex sickening fantasies in real life. From nineteen seventy
four through nineteen seventy seven, Dennis Rader was continuing his
(19:29):
work as the ADT security installer. Now, during this time,
Dennis Raider as BTK killed the four Otto family members
and then he killed Catherine Bright in nineteen seventy four,
and it's not until seventy seventy kills again taking the
lives of Shirley Van and Nancy Fox. Now he goes
dormant as BTK until nineteen eighty five. So what was
(19:51):
he doing during that dormant time. We have nineteen seventy
eight through nineteen eighty five, where we don't hear a
thing from BTK. Well, Dennis Paula would go on to
welcome a second child in nineteen seventy eight, a daughter
named Carrie. You guys, he was busy with two young children,
(20:11):
and he decides to go back to college. In nineteen
seventy nine, he graduates with a bachelor's degree in administration
of justice. In nineteen eighty five, he takes the life
of Marine Hedge and in nineteen eighty nine Dennis changes
jobs and he is now working as a census field
(20:32):
operations supervisor, and just a few short years later, just
two years later, he takes on another job of authority
as a Park City compliance officer. Remember park City is
a suburb of Wichita where he lives with his family,
and he also becomes a dog catcher. And it's also
in nineteen ninety one that Dennis Raider kills his final victim,
(20:54):
Delores Davis. Allegedly. Now when reading about this case, the
time in between's killings are often referred to as dormant times. However,
in oxygen dot com article quotes a professor of psychology
named Catherine Ramslin She wrote the book Confession of a
Serial Killer, The Untold Story of Denistrator the BTK Killer
by saying, quote, they were detailed lists when names of projects, states, location,
(21:18):
circumstances that would have happened to people had he had
the full amount of time that he needed and they
were home. She said, It's not like he was inactive
during those periods of time. It's that he didn't have
all the right circumstances to go forward with doing something
end quote. Dennis also would bind himself. He would dress
(21:40):
in women's garments and strangle himself with rope, oftentimes tying
himself up and taking photos of himself. It was reported
that he was trying to emulate his victims and this
brought on sexual pleasure for him in between killings. These photos,
along with his kill kit items, souvenirs, and victim photos,
would all go on to be discovered in different locations.
(22:03):
As a later told authorities a multiple hiding spots to
find each item. He does, however, admit that he had
so many hiding spots that he couldn't even recall where
everything was. Now, you guys, recall this is a span
of three decades. Rolling Stone Magazine reports that quote he
kept them in hiding places throughout the county, some in
his home and church, others buried or taped to bridges.
(22:25):
He called them hide holes. And while investigators uncovered many
of the souvenirs he took from his victims, even Raider
doesn't remember exactly where all of them are anymore. End quote.
You know, guys, what I find most disturbing is that
he kept so many items in his own home, under
the floor of his home, and in his own family garage.
(22:48):
Professor of psychology Catherine Ramslin explains that Raider was so
involved in the trolling, stalking, and meticulous planning that he
required a big chunk of time to carry out his
crimes against his list of pjs. Dennis Raider at one
time reportedly had a list of over fifty five individuals
whom he was looking to stalk, but just did not
(23:08):
have enough time. Ramslin continues to analyze Rader by explaining
how she believes that it was Raider's jobs with some
type of authority which contributed to his ability to take
long periods of breaks in between killings. His own photos
of himself help scratch that itch. All while he admits
he never stopped trolley, and all during this time he
(23:30):
is carrying out the facade of a good husband, a
good employer, the rule follower and enforcer, and the deacon
of the church.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
But was he.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
His own daughter? Carrie considers her father a psychopathic narcissist,
although she recounts how she had a great childhood and
he taught her ethics, morals, and kindness. She goes on
to explain that the way we can best learn about
killers like her father is by studying them, which is
a big reason why she wrote her own book titled
A Serial Killer's Daughter, My Story of Faith, Loved and Overcoming.
(24:02):
And here we go, you guys, this is how BTK
was caught. Now he was caught before he was able
to execute the rest of his list of over fifty
five names on his project, his PJ List, So here
we go. The Wichita Eagle publishes a thirty year anniversary
article on the nineteen seventy four mass killing of the
four Otero family murders, which includes extensive writings about BTK.
(24:27):
And it's on March seventeenth, two thousand and four, that
the Wichita Eagle receives a letter with the return address
of the name Bill Thomas Kilmore with the initials BTK
inside the letter, where items seemingly included to prove that
the correspondence was indeed coming from BTK himself. There were
three photocopies of polaroid photos of the once he took
(24:49):
of Vicky Woregirl, along with Vicky's driver's license, and to
sign the envelope he did his symbol signature, which he
has done in past correspondence. Of course, the letter gets
sent off the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where they in
turn release information to the public via the media and
the Internet about the BTK case gearing up once again.
(25:10):
It's also noted that at the time of the Wichita
thirty anniversary coverage of the Ataro family and the BTK hysteria,
that a book reporting on BTK was also released. Now
It was titled Nightmare in Wichita, The Hunt for the
BTK Strangler by lawyer Robert Beattie, and it was said
to have angered BTK as he felt that people were
(25:30):
telling his story for him and it was time for
him to come back out to continue his story on
his own. Now is that the narcissism showing About seven
weeks later, on May fifth, two thousand and four, the
BTK killer cannot stop himself from feeding into the fame,
resurfaced and proceeds to then send local news station kak
(25:53):
ETV a puzzle. The puzzle included words that described Dennis
Raider's process, such as pra and also a list of
what seemed to be disguises, such as serviceman. What's even
more odd is it even included four individual numbers, which
they would realize after Raider is arrested are the actual
numbers of his home address. CNN reported that assistant managing
(26:17):
editor Timothy Rogers said, quote, it could be the killer's
way of saying, Hey, it was all there in front
of your face, and you just didn't see it. End quote.
Now fast forward seven more months to December of two
thousand and four, when BTK starts amping up his public
messages and packages. He leaves a barbie doll which he
has strangled and attached to a part of a PVC pipe,
(26:38):
details which nod to the Otero murder of young Josephine,
who was hanging from the pipes in the basement of
her own home. He seems to be adding more and
more clues for what to enjoy this cat mouse game
with authorities, Perhaps does he possibly believe that they also
enjoy it. BTK leaves a plastic bag wrapped in rubber
(26:59):
ba in a local park. A man out walking finds it,
takes it home and opens it out of curiosity. Inside
is the driver's license of Nancy Fox. He delivers the
package to KAKETV news station, who in turn rightfully turned
it over immediately to the police. This is the confirmation
that Nancy was btk's victim, and this was BTK actually
(27:23):
corresponding with them. Just a few weeks later, in January
of two thousand and five, BTK sends a postcard containing
more clues. This time it was a postcard sent again
to the news station with instructions on where to find
the other packages. The police were able to locate the items,
and inside the first package they found descriptions of the
(27:43):
Otera murder that only the killer and the police would know.
He also asked if they had found his other message
he previously left at home depot while not knowing about
this one. The police head over to home depot immediately
and after questioning employees, it came about the one worker
found a serial box in the bed of his truck.
Assuming it was trash, he tosses it, but the police
(28:06):
are able to recover it from the man's trash. And
is this message which will lead to Btk's capture? Well,
what is this message? BTK asked the police if he
would be able to communicate with them using a floppy
disk without the police being able to trace it back
to him, and for the police to reply to him
by putting an ad in the paper if it's okay,
(28:27):
with the words rex it will be okay. And this
is why I'm left to wonder if Dennis Raider really
did believe the police enjoyed the game of cat and mouse.
You know that same month, police take out an ad
in the newspaper just as instructed, And on January twenty eighth,
an undercover detective has a Wichita Eagle newspaper print the
(28:49):
following ad, rex it will be okay, contact me pobox
first four reference numbers, that's six seven to two zero two,
And as suspected, Dennis rate A applies to the ad
within six days by again sending a lettered KAKATV confirming
he did indeed see the message. And now they wait,
(29:10):
could BTK truly send a floppy disc to them? Would
this really happen? You know, they're waiting for this floppy
disc which will hopefully be arriving from the serial killer BTK,
which can absolutely be traced. It was just about three
weeks after confirmation from BTK that on February sixteen, two
(29:31):
thousand and five, a floppy disk arrives to police. They
immediately hand it to their cybercops specialists, who gets to
work to access the floppy disks metadata. Each disc has
something called metadata, which is basically an identifier or users
with the disc. The metadata on the disc was obtained
and it said the last user was by a quote
(29:54):
Dennis at Christ Lutheran Church at Park City Library quo.
The police were quick to discover that the church's president
was a man named Dennis Raider. Within the next nine days,
authorities worked behind the scenes to gather as much information
on Dennis Rader as they can now. You'll recall in
(30:15):
the past parts of this episode we covered that the
BTK killer left behind physical DNA evidence which was collected
in storage securely throughout the years. The task force titled
the Ghostbusters was ready to bring Denis in after they
confirmed matching DNA. So how did they do this without
tipping Denis off that they knew who he truly was?
How did they get his DNA? Okay, this park gets
(30:37):
a bit controversial, and I'm curious to know your thoughts
on this, but I'm just going to state the facts.
The police attained a warrant to get medical records from
BTK Dennis Rader's daughters university. We're five years prior she
had a PAP smear and it's on February twenty fifth,
two thousand and five. The BTK killer is finally stopped.
(30:58):
And that's not all they stopped. The subsequent capture of
BTK Dennis Rader meant that they stopped any planned future projects.
Those were stopped. Those people were saved. But did he
do more murders? We don't know yet. But we're going
to talk next week to somebody who thinks that she's
cracked the two thousand and four word search that Dennis
(31:19):
Raider sent to the KAKETV news station, and what she
has to say is going to blow your mind. So
make sure you come back next week, you guys. It's crazy.
On June twenty seven, two thousand and five, Dennis Raider
pleads guilty, and on August eighteenth, two thousand and five,
Dennis is sentenced to ten consecutive life terms in prison,
where he remains today. One common question which I often
(31:43):
saw in my research for this case was how did
the family just not know well? Btk's daughter Carrie, she
recalls a time in her book looking back that there
were some signs, but overall, she says, he was ninety
five percent in an amazing dad and father. She does
recount one time, though, when she came home to visit
from they were all at the dinner table and her
father lunged across at her brother during an argument and
(32:05):
choked him until he turned white. Aside from that, she
does not recall many signs. She says if anyone in
her family believed he could have been the local BTK
serial killer, they would have immediately told authorities. Carrie goes
on to explain how hard it was to believe that
BTK was the same man as her father. The trauma
in PTSD that his daughter has shared about going through
is immense, and she is living her life the best
(32:27):
way she can amid the reality of the monster who
she now knows was her father. She hopes that people
will be able to learn from her story and experience
as a serial killer's daughter for one purpose, you guys.
It's this to stop people like her father in the
future and to end the murders of innocent people. Thank
you for being here, guys, Thank you for caring, for
(32:49):
always being open to learning, and for diving deeper into
these cases, learning about the why, not just the how.
This has been true Kremen Headlines. I'm your host, Jules
Thorpe Jan Rivera will be back with this now and
this concludes our coverage of Dennis Raider, the BTK Strangler
serial killer. I'll see you guys next week. And don't forget.
You're wanted, your loved, and your voice matters, So go
(33:12):
ahead and use a baby fireeyes media man.
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