🎭 "BTK: The Killer Next Door Who Terrorized America" Dennis Rader

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a warning.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Thank you, bind torture kill. Last night we hit the
airwaves asking you to help America's heartland. A serial killer
re emerges. He's already claimed the lives of eight people,
and now he has resurfaced it.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
BTK claims to have strangled a total of seven women.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
BTK the name synonymous with evil in Wichita and across
the world. One man's reign of terror, spanning over three decades,
stalking his victims, torturing them and then tawning police. But
in the end he was undone by his own vanity
and stupidity. BTK was a man of two sides. He
was a hard worker, a loving family man, and a

(00:47):
church president. But on the other side, he was a
serial killer, reveling in sadistic fantasies made reality by the
media attention at Broaden, this is the story of Dennis Raider,
the killer.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
Now I'm a Guy.

Speaker 6 (01:05):
Director goes on in San Francisco for the man known
as the Zodiac Killer.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
There could be a serial killer in Chicago, the open
child killer killer Frankfurt slasher.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Four children have now been murdered.

Speaker 6 (01:19):
Has killed five, says he's going to kill again.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
His team brutally murdered young women.

Speaker 7 (01:24):
The pattern is the same, one by one, and that
gap started rising.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
A man in a mask robbed hide and stabbed him.

Speaker 8 (01:31):
Strengthen stuff you b lap backs.

Speaker 9 (01:34):
It is highly unlikely that these women were murdered by
separate man.

Speaker 7 (01:38):
Where will the killer strength next?

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Police can't answer food or why. That's the question that
we've never known.

Speaker 10 (01:44):
I don't want to live the rest of my life
wondering if this person's going to be caught.

Speaker 6 (01:47):
I believe that there's someone out there that has knowledge,
and he's probably still at large.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
This is forty eight to fifteen Seneca in the northern
part of Wichita, Kansas. It is where the Raider family
moved in the early nineteen fifties from Pittsburgh, Kansas, a
small city south of wichitaal Dennis was the oldest of
four sons to William and Dorothy Rader. His parents often
worked long hours, leaving the boys on their own, which

(02:19):
is where Dennis started to develop disturbing behavior. His mother
once got her fingers stuck in a couch spring. The
image of a woman trapped and pleading for help burned
into his adolescent mind. This would develop into him becoming
a voyeur, spying on women in nearby houses. While he
would be dressed in women's clothes or panties and tie
a rope around his neck. While pleasuring himself. He would

(02:43):
hang dogs and cats and watch them die. Who fantasized
by women being tied in bondage, anette food Ofhellow from
the Mousketeers being a particular favorite fantasy. By the time
he graduated from Wichita Heights High School in nineteen sixty three,
he was described as a quiet, hardworking young man who
chose his words carefully. He did not care much for music,

(03:06):
joining any sports or clubs, and had no sense of humor.
Post graduation, he worked at a local grocery store until
enrolling in Wesleyan College and Salina, about ninety miles north
of Witch Dawn the fall of nineteen sixty five. After
one year, he would drop out due to bad grades
in oderoll in the United States Air Force, training at
multiple bases across the South before being stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

(03:29):
For the bulk of his four year enlistment. He would
mainly work on installing radar equipment, and by the time
he was on a rearly discharge in nineteen seventy he'd
attained the rank of sergeant, serving an additional two years
as a reserve soldier when he moved back to Witchtawn.
It was at this time that he met twenty three
year old Paula Dits, a fellow WHHS graduate, and the

(03:52):
pair were married in less than a year. They were
purchased a small, three bedroom, nine hundred and sixty square
foot house at sixty two to Independence Street in Park City,
a suburb north of Witchdaw and just a couple of
miles from his childhood home. Today the home is this
vacant lot, sold to the city and demolished following his arrest,

(04:17):
but for over thirty years the Raider family lived in
this home, having two children. While Dennis would go back
to college, earning his Electronics engineering degree in nineteen seventy three,
he then enrolled in night classes at Witchdast a EU,
which would take him six years to graduate with a
Bachelor of Science and Administration of Justice. During this time,

(04:39):
he worked a variety of jobs, including Coleman Company, before
settling at ADT Security in November nineteen seventy four, becoming
a home security installer, but the earlier part of the
year he had been between jobs and restless. Paula had
begun working at the VA hospital in the city, but
didn't like driving in the snow, so Dennis took her

(04:59):
to work. After dropping her off, he would begin what
he called trolling, driving or walking around neighborhoods and campuses
around the city, watching women as he did. His fantasies
of binding, torturing and strangling them re surface. One day,

(05:32):
he spotted thirty four year old Julia Otero and her
two children exiting their new home at the corner of
Edgemore and Murdock Avenue on the east side of the city.
He began keeping a logbook of projects, or pjs as
he referred to them, deciding the otos, which he named
PJ Little mex would be his first. He would scope

(05:53):
out the house over a period of two months, learning
the family's movements, all the while compiling a quote hit
kid consisting of a gun, cords, knives, and burglary tools.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
If you read much about serial killers, they go through
what they call the trolling stage.

Speaker 5 (06:08):
You're basically you're.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Looking for a victim at that time, and that you
could be trolling for months or years. But once you
lock in on a certain person that you've become stocking,
and that might be several of them, but.

Speaker 5 (06:18):
Do you really home in on that person. I got
this fantasy.

Speaker 11 (06:21):
I started working out this fantasy online, and once that
potential that person.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
Become a fantasy, I could just loop it over it.

Speaker 11 (06:29):
Lay up bed at night thinking about this person, the
events and how it's going to happen, and if it
become a real almost like a picture show, I want
to go ahead and produce.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
It and direct it and go through with it, no
matter what.

Speaker 11 (06:40):
The cost for the consequences. It was going to happen
one way or another, maybe not that day, but it
was going to happen.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
It was eight am January fifteenth, nineteen seventy four when
he struck first cutting the phone lines, he went to
the back of the house and waited until nine year
old Joey Otaro opened the door to let their dog out,
at which point he rushed inside, and that is when
his carefully constructed plan fell apart. Expecting just Julie and

(07:12):
her two youngest of five children to be home, he
found her husband Joseph home as well. At gunpoint, he
told them he was a wanted man and planned to
just steal their car. After putting the dog in the backyard,
he led the family to the living room and then
to the front left bedroom, where he tied them all up.
He would put a bag over Joseph's head and tied it,

(07:35):
leaving the man to suffocate while he used a rope
to strangle Julie. He then moved on to eleven year
old Josephine Otero, strangling her and then placing a bag
on Joey. At this time, Julie resuscitated and began screaming,
and Dennis went back to strangle her again. He then

(08:00):
took Joey into the back bedroom and covered his head
in a shirt before placing the bag over it and
tightening it until he would suffocate. At this point, Joseph
Fiend had to regain consciousness, and he took her into
the basement where he hung her from a pipe, orgasming

(08:20):
as he watched the young child die.

Speaker 5 (08:32):
There was just something that I had to do. Once
I started with Misfoo, Taran knew.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
I had to do.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
I had to do all four It's like an execution.
And once she started there, as witnesses you had to
do it all the way around.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
With the Otaro's dead, Raider went about cleaning up after
himself in the process, taking Joseph's watch and radio with him.
As he exited the front door, got in their car
and drove it less than a mile on the road
to what was then Dylan's Supermarket, parking the car exactly
here and walking back to his own On the way,

(09:08):
he realized he was missing his knife and had to
drive back to the Otto home and retrieve it. But
through all his watching, Raider was not even aware that
OTO's had three other children were all at school already.
According to various reports, either all of them or just
fifteen year old Charlie Otero would arrive home to find

(09:30):
the bodies. Discovering the home phone didn't work, he ran
two houses down to where del Johnson was shoveling his driveway,
asking him to call police. Witnesses reported seeing a dark

(09:52):
complexioned young man prowling outside the home. This sketch being
released of the suspect. Police stated that the murders showed
similarities to two other recent criminal activity in the area,
but did not elaborate. However, they did say they were
looking into the shooting of twenty six year old Michael Williams,

(10:13):
who was shot by two Caucasian men at his home
three days earlier. Williams had been a coworker of Julia
Otero when she worked at Coleman. Having been laid off
two weeks previously. A secret witness program was launched with
a reward of five thousand dollars for information leading to
the killer or killer's arrest as what would become known

(10:36):
as one of the most intense investigations in which DAW's history.
When on local channel KAKETV decided to pull the airing
of the film The Boston Strangler from its scheduled showing
the week following the murders. On the other side of
the coin, the police chief decided to show photos of
all four victims at the crime scenes during a news conference,

(10:58):
stating it was the only way to quash rumors that
the bodies had been mutilated. Police would focus on the
Otero's background as their main lead, believing the mode of
stemming from a grudge over Joseph's history of reselling items
back at their homeland of Puerto Rico. Then, on March
twenty fifth that year, another family massacre happened in Portland, Oregon.

(11:22):
A woman was approaching the home of Howard and Arlene
Weeks when she noticed Arlene on the floor in the
living room. She'd be bound and gagged. The Week's family
would watch her two young boys while she worked. Police
would discover all flour inside, tied up and then killed
with a hammer. The Messiers collaborated between the two states,

(11:43):
but nine days later Colin Hawkings would be arrested for
the Portland murders and cleared in the Otero ones. The
investigation would continue on in the crimes, but newspapers moved on,
so too had Dennis. In April, he had selected Project
Lights out a twenty one year old college student named

(12:06):
Katherine Bright. On April fourth, nineteen seventy four, he entered
the house she was renting, formerly located here at thirty
two seventeen East thirteenth Street, just a mile and a
half northwest of the Otero home. When Catherine returned home,
Dennis was surprised she was with her nineteen year old brother, Kevin.

(12:28):
He managed to subdue the pair with the same rus
He told the Otero's, assuring them he had only wanted
to take their car and money. He tie up the
pair in different bedrooms and then began to strangle Kevin.
During this, Kevin man should break free of his ropes
and the pair struggled before Dennis shot him. He then
went and strangled Katherine, but before he could kill her,

(12:51):
he heard Kevin moving and went back to finish him off.
Kevin managed to fight yet again and grabbed Dennis's second
gun in a shoulder hose, but Dennis managed to jam
it with his finger before using his other gun to
shoot him in the head. Knowing he could not continue
to strangle Catherine, he would use a knife to stab
her three times. Meanwhile, Kevin did managed to survive and

(13:17):
miraculously fled the house and random the street. Dennis would
quickly clean up, but was forced to walk back to
his own vehicle, park north in Fairmount Park when he
could not get either of the Bright's cars to start.
Just a block south of the WSU campus, Dennis had

(13:40):
left his car parked here to keep it out of sight.
Catherine rushed to the hospital but died from her wounds
just a few hours later. His failure would leave Raider
frightened from committing more acts, but in October that year,

(14:00):
after three men were arrested his suspects in the Hoteo case,
he would break his silence. On October twenty second, Don
Granger from the witchdow Yield newspaper received a phone call
from a young man telling him a letter from the
real killer of the Otaro's could be found inside a
mechanical engineering book in the main branch of the Wichita

(14:22):
Public Library. Granger would alert police, who managed to find
the letter tucked away exactly where it was said. One
month later, Dennis would be hired at ADT Security, Though

(14:42):
he would continue to drive around. It would not be
until March seventeenth, nineteen seventy seven that he felt the
urge to attack again. He would park in this lot
in the Linwood neighborhood, at which time was a Dylan
supermarket and watching How I'm across the street waiting for
Project Green, a woman named Cheryl that he had met

(15:05):
at a bar. After learning she wasn't home, he began
to walk south on Hydraulic Street when he spotted five
year old Steve Ralford walking home after purchasing some soup
for his mother, who was sick. Rader followed the boy
one blockdown to his home Clayton. He checked on one

(15:27):
other house before approaching thirteen eleven self hydraulic Avenue and
knocking on the door. Steve and his two siblings answered
that door, and Dennis pretended to be a private detective,
showing a photo of his own family before bursting in
and pulling out his gut. As he pulled the blinds down,

(15:49):
twenty six year old Shirley Vianne Ralford came out to
see what the commotion was. Raider attempted to tie the
children up, but could not, so he locked them in
the bathroom by eyeing a rope to the door, and
threw some toys inside with them, before blocking the other
door with a bed. He next took Shirley to the bedroom,

(16:10):
informing her he only wanted to have his way with
her as he was tying her up. The frightened mother,
who loved to sing in her church choir, threw up.
Feigning compassion, Dennis got her a glass of water before
putting a plastic bag on her head and tying a
rope around her neck. He intended to murder the children

(16:33):
as well, but they were screaming so loudly that he
was frightened packing his hit kit back up and returning
to his vehicle, leaving Seamen on a pair of panties
beside the body. Police would travel in New Mexico to
question her ex husband in the crime, but had nothing
to hold on him. It was not long before he

(17:05):
found his next project, twenty five year old Nancy Fox,
walking into her home at eight four to three South
Pershing Street in the Hilltop neighborhood, just across the highway
from Lynnwood. After spending several weeks stalking her, he struck
on the night of December eighth, nineteen seventy seven. Nancy
lived alone in this duplex, working two jobs as a

(17:27):
secretary for a law firm and jewelry store, and was
not home when he knocked on the door, so Raider
went around back, broke a window, and waited in the kitchen.
When she arrived home, he confronted her, saying the same
thing he had told to Shirley, that he had a
sexual problem and would let her live afterwards, though she

(17:49):
would have cost him, she complied with his demands, smoking
a cigarette and then going to the bathroom and disrobing,
allowing Dennis to handcuff her on the bed before stating,
all right, let's get this over with so I can
call the police. But Raider never intended to let that happen.
Once the cuffs were on, he told her he had
done the Otero murderers before strangling her with his belt. Afterwards,

(18:16):
he would remove the handcuffs and tie her arms and
legs with pantyhose before masturbating over the body. This murder
so excited him he couldn't wait for the body to
be found, and the next day he parked his work
truck at this plaza near Old Town and phone police
at a public telephone formerly located here.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
You will find a homer Tide three.

Speaker 8 (18:42):
I'm sorry for.

Speaker 11 (18:43):
I think what you do addressed.

Speaker 9 (18:47):
Calibration.

Speaker 7 (18:50):
We received a call just shortly after eight, about eight
twenty from an individual that I said, there's a homelesside
eight forty three sound versioning and hung up the phone.
Polsters came out and we have checked and we do
have a young lady that he has a victim of
home sign she shot or staff and now she'd fertas

(19:12):
have been strangled this time.

Speaker 11 (19:14):
That was kind of that was kind of an impulse,
really a really stupid thing to do, because they all
left my voice patter and my voice on there.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
The witness would report seeing a work vehicle and a
middle aged white male on the phone booth at the time,
but police were spread so thin it was three days
before they could interview her, and she could not remember
the simple letters on the vehicle. A composite sketch of
that man was believed to be the same as a
man who kidnapped a woman on she Numary First the
next year. She managed to escape from that man after

(19:47):
he claimed he had killed both Nancy Fox and twenty
one year old Denise Rathbund on November twenty sixth the
previous year. Laura turned to Denise later in the episode,
is there a number of other similar unsolved murders that
may be linked? Shortly after the composite came out, a
poem titled Shirley Locks arrived to the local newspaper, but

(20:07):
would be ignored a few weeks later. He would then
send a letter to KAKTV claiming responsibility for all seven murders.
Upset that as earlier Moniker hadn't caught on nor had
the killings been linked. He yet again suggested his name
as BTK and included another very poorly written poem. Finally

(20:43):
he got the attention he craved, which IPD decided to
announce a serial uller was hunting in the city.

Speaker 6 (20:54):
Now TV ten News with jackcas.

Speaker 12 (20:56):
Good Afternoon This morning.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
K TV was contacted by the person who policed they
believe murdered four members of the Joseph Otero family in
January of nineteen seventy four.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
The communication came in the form of a two page
typewritten letter addressed to KAKE Channel ten. It was signed
with the initials BTK. But with us right now is
Chief of Police Richard Lemonient. I have a couple of questions, Chief,
how can you be sure that the BTK letter is
authentic or on?

Speaker 13 (21:22):
After reviewing the contents of the letters, absolutely no question
that the only person who would have the type of
information that was included in the letter would have to be.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
The killer himself.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
Do you know what the initials BTK stand for?

Speaker 13 (21:38):
It's our feeling that the initials that were placed there
stand for bind, torture and kill.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Do you see any patterns btk's conduct.

Speaker 13 (21:49):
We have an individual who apparently has the uncontrollable desire
to kill at times.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
BTK has killed seven people. What kind of leads do
you have?

Speaker 13 (22:03):
Well, very honestly, we have no Cholotte leads at all.
We have absolutely nothing that will pin us to any
one particular individual.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
A fear spread. Upon arriving home, women would check to
make sure their phones had him and cut home security
system purchases skyrocketed. It was April twenty eighth in nineteen
seventy nine when BTKA decided to strike again. Less than

(22:36):
two weeks after the notorious Herman Hill riot, Dennis would
break into the home of sixty three year old Anna Williams,
who lived at six one five South Pinecrest, just blocks
away from Nancy Fox's home. She would hide in her
bedroom closet, waiting several hours. Banna had gone to a
square dance with her granddaughter and afterwards paid a visit

(22:57):
to her daughter's house. When she returned back to her
own home, Anna discovered her room in disarray and some
jewelry missing. When she picked up the phone to discover
it dead, she immediately fled her house. When police found
nodded ropes left in the closet, the grandmother would learn
just how close she'd come to become the victim. Number eight.

(23:22):
On June fifteenth, a Manila envelope was delivered to her
home from their burglar. In another poorly written poem, he
lamented the fact she did not return home, but then
BTK went silent.

Speaker 5 (23:43):
Is it safe to say that there are at least
a few lucky people out there? There's a lot of
lucky people out there who you didn't kill, that you
would dad about.

Speaker 11 (23:51):
Didn't need to make of the house to come home,
or for some reason I didn't know.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
There's a lot of lucky people out there. Yes, there
a bit more for that.

Speaker 11 (23:59):
Probably hit five whatever the exist seated again, off your
as guaranteed.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
The nineteen seventy eight murder of Marion O'Leary was eventually
decided not to be related to BTK, and was eventually
linked to Harold Kidd, who had sexually assault six other
women who were all bound and got lived. The task
force would disband, which Ada would see ryots against police

(24:32):
racism in nineteen eighty while the downtown area underwent a revitalization.
In nineteen eighty four, a ten person task force was
formed to revisit the BTK murders, using computers to choose
probable suspects. Who were then tested against the blood and

(24:52):
sperm from the crime scenes. After three years with no hits,
just one detective was left on the case, but BTK
was still out there. Dennis Raider had become a Cub
Scout leader when his son joined and served on his

(25:15):
church's council, all the while stopping his projects. He had
started watching Marine Hetch, a fifty three year old widow
and mother of three who lived just six houses down
from the Raiders, whose husband had just passed away in
nineteen eighty four. On April twenty seventh the following year,

(25:35):
Dennis complained he had a headache and left an overnight
camping trip with the boy Scouts to go get some asprin. Instead,
he drove to a bowling alley, purposely spilled beer on himself,
and then called a cab, pretending to be drunk. He
had the driver drop him off at the Jardine Memorial
Park just north of his neighborhood on the pretense he
was going to walk it off. Instead, wrapped around back

(26:00):
of the hedge property and spotted her car. When he
broke in. However, he found she was not home and
laid in wait. Before long, Marine returned with a male
companion who would eventually leave. Around one am, when the
woman fell asleep, he crept out through on the bathroom
light and pounced, strangling her with his bare hands. He

(26:24):
then wrapped her body in the bedspread and placed her
in the trunk of her car and drove it to
the Christ Lutheran Church, which is across her road from
his old high school and where Dennis had keys the
building as a council member. The current church building was
constructed in nineteen ninety seven after the former building was
demolished the previous year, and it was in the basement

(26:47):
of that building where Dennis would tape sheets over the
windows and proceed to photograph Marine's body in various bondage poses,
losing track of time in his fantasy. Raider was scared
when he noticed it was almost daylight, so he quickly
cleaned up and put Marine back in her car and
drove east on fifty third for about four miles before

(27:09):
arriving around here, placing the body in the northern ditch
and covering it with some brush. In the years since,
this road has greatly changed as warehouses have spread to
the area, but back then it was unpaved had trees
on both sides and was a known spot to dump bodies.

(27:34):
He would then drive the vehicle back to the Britney
Center plaza, where the Bowling Alley was located, and swapped
cars after dropping her purse about four more miles southeast
of the body. When she was not heard from and
didn't show up to work, relatives would find Marine's for
a door left open. Five days later, the car was found.

(28:00):
One day after that, her purse was discovered and an
air search was planned. Two days after that, police would
swa out a foot sticking out from the brush and
find a decomposing body that would eventually confirm to be
Marine Hedge. The FBI developed a profile on the killer,

(28:20):
stating he was likely an unmarried loner with a high
school education, was not linked to the previous decades BTK murders.

(28:40):
It was August the following year when he chose twenty
eight year old Vicki Weigerley as another project. For weeks,
he would walk past her home at two four h
four West Thirteenth Street North in the Indian Hills section
of Western Witchdal and listen as the married mother of
two would play the piano. September sixteenth, nineteen eighty six,

(29:05):
Dennis Raider knocked on the front door wearing a telephone
repairman outfit and convinced the woman to allow him in
to check her line while her two year old son
was in the living room. Once inside, he forced her
to the bedroom and tried to subdue her, but Vicki
would fight back until he eventually managed to tie her
up and then strangle her to death. With a pair

(29:26):
of panting os on the bedroom floor. The family's dogs
were in the backyard and barking loudly, so Raider would
quickly pull her shirt up, snapped several polaroids, and then
took her car, driving just two blocks west and leaving
the car here on Edward's Court. In that short drive,

(29:50):
Vicky's husband had passed the car as he was coming
home for lunch. He couldn't make out who was behind
the wheel, but knew it wasn't Vicki. When he returned home,
he saw their son on in the living room and
then followed his wife. She was rushed to the hospital
but would never recover.

Speaker 6 (30:07):
By the time police got to Vicky Weggerly's house on
West Thirteenth, her heart had already stopped beating. She died
within fifteen minutes at Riverside Hospital. Her husband Bill supposedly
found Vicky with a noose around her neck. Their two
year old son, Brandon, was playing in another bedroom at
the time of the murder.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Bill Weggerley would fail two polygraph tests and would remain
the primary suspect of his wife's murder until btk's capture.
Just a few months later, Philip Fager and his two
daughters were found murdered in their home, which is almost
on the direct opposite side of the city from the
Weggerley house. Someone who shot Philip twice in the back

(30:55):
as he entered the house, and then taking his nine
and sixteen year old daughters into the basement, wrapped electrical
tape around one or both of their throats, and then
dumped them in the hot tub. Semen was found floating
the water. A contractor who worked for the family, Bill Butterworth,
would be arrested when he was seen driving their car
and using their credit card, but eventually acquitted. The surviving

(31:19):
wife would receive a letter from BTK early the next
year claiming he was impressed with whoever had killed the family,
including a drawing of how he imagined the crime occurred,
though it is not accurate at all. That same year,
Dennis was fired from ADT for not filling his quota.
He would also get two restraining orders from women over

(31:40):
the next few years that he had stalked. Six other
stranglings in nineteen eighty seven would be compared, including the fakers,
but police stated all but Vicki's had been found or
placed in water during the murders. Four years later, James
Cromwell would be convicted on one of those murderers, six
year old Ernestine Hoys, as well as the nineteen ninety

(32:02):
one murder of Isabelle Moore. That same year Cromwell was convicted,
Dennis would start up his next project, sixty two year
old Dolores Davis, who lived on the outskirts of town
at a home on North Hillside Street formerly located here.
Dolores was a divorced mother of two who had just

(32:24):
retired and worked as a Mary Kay cosmetic consultant on
the side. He could nickname her Project dog Side, after
the kennel that still operates beside the home. On January
nineteenth that year, under the guise of going on a
boy scout trip, Dennis would park at his church and

(32:45):
walk two miles to the home. Having cased it several times,
he could find no way of getting in unnoticed, so
he threw a cinder blot through the glass patio door
and came inside again. He used the lie that he
was only a robber to get her to calm down

(33:06):
and let him tie her up before strangling her with
a pair of pannios. He would then drive her body
in her car to this small wooded area one mile
directly south of his church and dump her there, before
returning to the home and leaving the car. At this point,
he realized he had dropped one of his guns where

(33:28):
he smashed the window and had to look for it
before hiking back to his own car. Next, he would
return for the body, where he would then drive it
almost ten miles north to the Jester Creek Bridge, placing
Dolores underneath, before going back to his boy scout a man.

(33:55):
The next day he would return and pose the body
for photographs, using his which he left lying beside her.
The current bridge was one of multiple in the era,
rebuilt later that year, but underneath there's still wooden pillars
of the original bridge, which Dolores laid next to one

(34:20):
week after the murder. The bloody bedsheets were found at
the first dumb site location, but would not be until
February first, when a boy chasing after his dog would
discover the bloated, decomposing body underneath the bridge. It would

(34:42):
take two days to identify it as Dolores via dental records.
The community would recall the still unsolved murder of Marine Hetch,
noting that whoever did the murders had to have meticulously
stopped them before. Police refused to come out on any similarity,
but Dolores's son, a police officer, would disagree, hiring a

(35:03):
private investigator and putting up ten thousand dollars reward for information.
He would also camp out at the bridge on the
anniversary of her murder to see if the killer would return.
Six months after the murder, he'd received a letter later
conferring to me from Denis that stated Vicki Uggerly's murder

(35:23):
was connected and that a cult had done them. Wicharda's
panic continued to spread after Isabel Moore was found a
month later, and then on April eleventh, the bodies of
Mildred and Chanet McDowell were found shot to death in
their home. Once previously, their garage door had been found
tampered with, and the home was burgalized a second time.

(35:46):
Two weeks later, fifty five year old landlord Donna Baker
was found stabbed to death in her apartment. It would
take less than a week to identify her killers as
her tenants, Allen and Sherry Kingsley. Almost a year after
the mcdell murders, Delbert Hyman would be convicted of that crime.
In nineteen ninety six, following his release of a book

(36:06):
about dealing with his mother's murder, Jeff Davis would receive
a second letter, again stating Accult was behind the murders,
and this time adding Marine Hedge as a victim of them.
In his book, he stated he had no hopes his
mother's killer would be caught and after having his fun
the Manman was likely long gone. Little did he know

(36:28):
the killer lived just one and a half miles away.
Four months after her murder, Dennis Raider had been hired
by Park City as a dog catcher and code enforcement officer.

Speaker 6 (36:38):
Who've been tracking it down.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
The dogs are somewhat territorial as well.

Speaker 4 (36:41):
As vicious This newfound power seems to have been enough
for the Aging Killer, who now could legally torment citizens
of Park City, seeming to focus on single women in particular.
In one instance, he had a family dog put down
before they could claim the pet the shelter. In another,
he repeatedly harassed one woman when her boyfriend moved in

(37:02):
with her, implying that he would stop if the man moved.
One female employee of his made three separate complaints against Raider,
but they went ignored. He could measure the height of
people's grass, finding them if it was too long. In
two thousand and three, his daughter would marry and move
to Michigan, and his son would join the navy. The

(37:24):
Raiders found themselves empty nesters with free time on their
hands again, and that is when BTK re emerged. On
the thirtieth anniversary of though Tara murders, a retrospective was
printed that announced a book was being written by the
Forgotten Killer, who was believed to have either died or
been institutionalized after his last known letter in nineteen seventy nine.

(37:47):
On March nineteenth, the Wichita Yield newspaper would receive a
letter from a fictitious name with the initials BTK. Inside
was a copy of Vicki Weggerly's missing driver's license, as
well as photographs of her boy. The FBI would confirm
the letter as being written by BTK. Suddenly, newspapers and

(38:09):
online forums were a wash in BTK news.

Speaker 14 (38:14):
This is him coming out after thirty years and saying,
I'm not as famous as Ted Bundy, I'm not as
famous as the Hillside strangler. I want my fifteen minutes
of shame, fifteen minutes of infamy. And he is absolutely
torturing this community and absolutely breaking the hearts of the
victims' families.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
The investigation was renewed with fervor. On March fifth. Kk
TV would receive a second letter. Inside was a suggestion
for chapter titles on the BTK story, several fake IDs,
and a long word puzzle claimed to have the killer's inside.

(38:56):
June knife, a package was discovered taped to this stop
sign at First in Kansas Roads. Inside was a graphic
description of how he murdered the Oterio family, along with
a sketchule of bound woman and yet another chapter's suggestion
list for the BTK story. On July seventeenth, a package
was found in the dropbox of the Central Library where

(39:17):
he left his first letter inside a book some three
decades prior. Inside was perhaps the most frightening letter today.

Speaker 15 (39:26):
I have spotted a female that I think lives alone
and or is spotted at KI. Kid just got to
work out the details. I'm not oldered out and have
a condition myself care Philly. Also, my thinking process is
out as sharp as it used to be. I think

(39:50):
fall or winter? What be just about riot? The kid
got to do it this year or next time? Rocking
out for me.

Speaker 9 (40:03):
Since last March, BTK has sent numerous communications to the
media and the police. In these letters, he has provided
certain background information about himself, which he claims is accurate.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
He also claimed responsibility for the death of Jake Allen
in Argonia, Kansas, just twelve days prior, but his claims
would be proven false regardless. After this letter, police decided
with whole contents of btk's correspondence to the public for
fear he would follow through on his acts. Little do
they know, he already had a plan. It was October

(40:42):
twenty second that year when he left his next package
inside a UPS drop box at what was then the
Omni Center, just to block up from where the June
ninth letter was taped. Inside was a collection of more
disturbing drawings, along with a fake autobiography of who the
killer was. Directly after he made that drop, BTK had

(41:02):
gone to the home of Project Broadwater, a woman he
had been stalking. Thankfully, upon his arrival, he discovered a
road crew had been working on front and planned to
retry in the spring or fall of the next year.
On December first, police would raid the home of Roger Valadez,
focusing on him using the information of the biography, but

(41:24):
DNA testing would eliminate him as BTK. Two weeks later,
on December fourteenth, a man walking through Murdoch Park found
a garbage bag bound by rubber bands. He would open
it to find the driver's license of Nancy Fox, along
with a Barbie doll that had been bound. Like his
victims Kfdon.

Speaker 11 (41:44):
The FBI is now checking out a package that was
found in a Wichita park.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
On January the following year, after he'd become the president
of his church, Dennis would throw a cereal box into
the truck bed of an employee at this home depot
in Cottonwood Village. Feast of the city. When the truck
driver arrived home that night, he assumed it to be
garbage and simply threw it away. On January twenty fifth,

(42:11):
take TV would receive a postcard giving the location of
another job, that being against this road curve sign north
of the city on Seneca Street. Inside would be another
barbie doll tied to a pipe. BTA also wondered if

(42:35):
they had found his last correspondence he left at the
home depot on north Woodlawn. Police would put flyers up
at the store asking anyone who saw it to come forward,
and that employee did by pure luck, he still had
it as he forgot to put his trash can out
that week. Surveillance footage was able to see the man

(43:03):
drive into the back of the lob, walk up, and
toss the package into the truck. Inside was a letter
asking if BTK could communicate via floppy disc without being traced.
Police were to leave an answer in the miscellaneous section
of the newspaper. They lied and said yes. On February sixteenth,

(43:28):
KSAs TV Studio received a Manila envelope with a floppy
disk and jewelry. Police were able to scan it and
found deleted documents with the words Christ's Lutheran Church and
last edited by someone named Dennis. The home depot surveillance
footage showed the killer had a black jeep Cherokee. Dennis Raider,

(43:50):
the president of Christ Lutheran, drove a black Cherokee. DNA
from his daughter's pap smear was obtained and tested. There
was a familiar old match to DNA FEI underneath Vicki
Regarly's fingerdowns. Nine days after the floppy desk arrived, police
would follow Dentis on his way home for lunch, pulling
him over just turn the corner from his house.

Speaker 11 (44:11):
I saw this full line of police cars. That's not good,
and it's just they were right away quick, so.

Speaker 5 (44:19):
I thought maybe maybe it's a tracking stop or something.

Speaker 11 (44:21):
But well, soon as one of us behind him with
the red lights sirens, I knew there.

Speaker 5 (44:25):
Was a rest of me. Yet I go out of
the car. They pulled down something pulled to lay down, and.

Speaker 11 (44:30):
I sprawled out and they grabbed me every quickly from handcuffs, stuck.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
Me in a car from mister reader, do you know
where you're going? Downtown? And I said, oh, I have
some suspicious.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
While tonight a possible break. CNN affiliate KAKE reports a
person of interest in custody for questioning tonight. A search
of the person's home being conducted as we speak. This
is a live search of what's going down.

Speaker 15 (44:54):
Nancy.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
I think they've got him. Remember back in December they
had the wrong person.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
In custody. Dennis would confess to the seven known BTK murderers,
as well as finally admitting to Catherine Bright, Marine Hedge
and Dolores Davis.

Speaker 7 (45:14):
We interrupt this program for a KCTU five news alert.

Speaker 6 (45:22):
Good morning. I'm r J.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Dickens with me Ryan Terry.

Speaker 9 (45:26):
Moments ago a press conference in the city called count
the City Council Chambers at City Hall concluded.

Speaker 5 (45:33):
Yesterday afternoon.

Speaker 9 (45:36):
As agents through the FBI members.

Speaker 11 (45:40):
Of the Wishtoc Police Department arrested Dennis Raider.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
The bottom line BTK is arrested.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
On August eighteenth, after pleading guilty. He would be given
ten life sentences and committed to the Eldorado Correctional Facility to.

Speaker 7 (45:59):
Serve a term of life for which you will not
be par eligible until the expiration of forty years.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
His wife would divorce him and sell their home to
Park City, who demolished it in two thousand and seven. Ironically,
a trail on the back leads past the Edge property
and on a jardine park. The pavement section is where
a metal shed that was Dennis's hideout was located. Inside.
Police found women's stockings in his polar A collection called

(46:28):
His Mother Look, along with photos of his victims, was
a collection of bizarre bondage photography. Using a corded shutter release,
Rader would go into either motels or the woods near
his home and take self portraits as his own victims.

(46:48):
Sometimes we're in clothing items of theirs. In twenty twenty three,
a section of the sidewalk was removed to uncover a
hidden compartment with a dish, trophies and items. It was
some of these items that led to police to renew
their interest in further victims of BTK.

Speaker 12 (47:07):
And now there is new evidence that may connect the
infamous BTK serial killer to additional murders. Arginkasaras spoke to
the killer's daughter and got exclusive access to some of
his diary entries and drawings.

Speaker 8 (47:21):
It was parts of this journal belonging to BTK real
name Dennis Rader, shared exclusively with CNN that prompted law
enforcement in Oklahoma to act. For the first time, law
enforcement is revealing detailed drawings made by raider showing young
girls tied and bound in barnes.

Speaker 11 (47:43):
Our hope was to get these drawings out in hopes
that someone will recognize these barns.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
Since his arrest, please some websleutors have speculated on if
there were more victims. Detectives from the surrounding states all
looked into unsolved crimes, but were unable to prove he
was responsible.

Speaker 5 (48:02):
Why are there.

Speaker 11 (48:05):
It seemed like us I got older, I started making
and well physically almost just wasn't up too.

Speaker 5 (48:13):
I like head fighting somebody. You'd have to be an.

Speaker 11 (48:15):
Older person because just just went and or wouldn't be
able to fight physically.

Speaker 5 (48:22):
I don't know. I think it was just starting to
mellow out a little bit.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
Though he had made a thirty hour long confession, Once
his lawyers arrived, they made Dennis stop talking. Since then,
he has refused to start again, even at the behest
of his own daughter. Five cases were selected by detectives
to follow up on, but while researching I would find
a starling number of other cold cases around which tall

(48:47):
that have been mentioned as related, but looking into those cases,
I would discover that though there were some similarities to BTK,
there are even more similarities between those murders on their
own did which and I have one or more other
serial killers operating at the same time. To learn more
about those, check out our witch DAW's Secret serial Killer
video that has a link at the end of this one.

(49:11):
But for now we'll look at the cases more directly
tied with BTK that investigators have mentioned. On June twenty third,
nineteen seventy six, sixteen year old Cynthia Kinney disappeared from
most Age laundry and pow Husco, Oklahoma. Her purse, a drink,
and hafi and donut were left inside shortly after a

(49:34):
man phone police telling them her body was located in
a barn, but has never been found. Detectives ascertained Adt
was scheduled to install alarms at a bank across the
street at this time, but could not tell if Rader
had been the one working. In his journals under nineteen
seventy seven, he had a project listed as bad Wash Day.

(49:55):
He would write that laundromats were a good place to
watch victims. The Kiney case would be the most roll
file suspected case in twenty twenty three, but will later
be determined to as being used as a pod in
the local sheriff's reelection campaign, and there was no substantial
evidence to link Raater. On November twenty sixth, nineteen seventy seven,

(50:15):
twenty six year old mother of two, Denise Rathbun was
the last seen leaving a laundromat here and to her
home at five three three two East Pine, about two
blocks away from the former Otario Family home. On December
twelfth that year, a hunter would find her body in
a creek bed about nine miles north of Park City,

(50:36):
underneath the bridge three and a half miles northeast of
the Jester Bridge where Deloris Davis would be dumped. In
autops he would reveals she had died from exposure or
possibly drowning. In nineteen seventy eight, police stated that they
were looking ato the Rathbun murder as being connected to
the BTK killer after the unknown man claimed he had

(50:56):
killed both Nancy Fox and Denise Rathbund when he adducted
another woman. Almost exactly two years later, on December seventh,
twenty year old Tamara Taylor left her home at twenty
three thirteen South Feluzia. On December twentieth. A farmer passing
a ditch about a mile north of Rathbuns Dump site

(51:16):
spotted Tamara in a ditch with a rope around her neck.
She had not been sexually assaulted and it had exposure wounds,
but died via ciringulation. The autopsy revealed she had been
eight weeks pregnant. In nineteen eighty police arrested David and
Donna Courtney for her murder after they found a letter
confessing to the crime, along with a murder in New

(51:39):
Orleans and two in Houston. David had planned to take
his own life before it was found. On New Year's
Day in nineteen eighty three, fifty six year old Valdia
Wage was found in the alleyway behind a warehouse on
Santa Fe, directly across the street from where BTK made
his phone call to police about Nancy Fox five years prior.

(52:04):
She had not been sexually assaulted, but her purse was stolen.
It was believed a robe had been used to strangle her.
Half a year later, someone sent a letter to her
former employer, asking for her money to be withdrawn and
sent to a specific address forging Valdias, Saturana. On October

(52:25):
twenty first, nineteen eighty three, thirty one year old and
Mary Lang would vanish after leaving the attorney's office she
worked at to run an errand in Hayes, Kansas, a
small city less than three hours northwest of witch Da.
A search was launched and five days later her jacket
and car keys were found along the Saline River northwest
of town. It was noted at the time of her

(52:48):
disappearance someone had been making threatening phone calls to her.
In twenty twenty three, Lang would be investigated as a
BTK victim due to a reference to Project Prairie under
the nineteen eighty three year and his diary, but another
killer is also a person of interest in lady's disappearance.
In nineteen seventy nine, Stephen Holdron would be arrested for

(53:09):
the nineteen seventy seven murder of share and Leading, who
had been strangled before being shot in the head. Before
her murder, Holdron had been charged with making obscene phone
calls to the woman, but he would be found not
guilty in the murder in nineteen eighty four, he would
break into the Hayes apartment of Jacqueline Peters and shoot

(53:30):
her in the chest. Police surrounded the building and arrested him.
On November fifth, nineteen eighty five, thirty four year old
Katherine Bower's mother would find the woman hanging in the
basement of her home at the corner of Edgemore Street.
Katherine and her husband had made national news two years

(53:51):
prior when they pleaded for liver transplants for their two
young daughters who had rare genetic disorders. One of the
girls would sadly pass away after the operation, while her
other daughter would successfully have hers in nineteen eighty four.
It is said that her family refused to believe Cathy
would take her own life just two days after her
surviving child's birthday. But what earns this a reason to

(54:14):
be looked into is the Border home is less than
a mile up the same road as where Josephine Otero
would lose her life as she was hung in the
basement nine years prior. Twenty two year old Shauna Garber
would be the second cold face name as being looked
at as connected to Dennis Raider. Her body had not
been identified until twenty twenty one, giving police the full

(54:36):
story on her murder. On December second, nineteen ninety her
skeleton was found inside an abandoned barn on Talley Road
in Missouri. The body was never identified to name Grace
Doe until DNA would match the body as shawnas a
total of six different types of chords had been used
to bind her. Then in twenty twenty four, they would

(55:00):
identified Tealfie Reeves as her likely killer, who picked her
up while hitchhiking, hog tied her, sexually assaulted her, and
finally ended her life. He had drug overdose. Six different
witnesses who had been too afraid to talk, would corroborate
his guilt after he passed away in November twenty twenty one.

(55:22):
On September twelfth, nineteen ninety six, Art Fox left for
work in the morning, leaving his sixteen year old daughter
Sherry home at their home in twenty one p fifty
North Meridian, less than a mile directly north of Vicky
Ruggerly's home. The pair had moved here less than a
year ago from Phoenix, Arizona, to escape the gang violence
they had experienced in that city. When Art came back home.

(55:45):
Less than three hours later, he discovered his daughter dead
from two gunshot wounds to the head on his bed
after not coming to her job as a nurse. Twenty
two year old Tina fred Yorick's apartment manager would enter
her apartment in one thirty seven at eight eighty eight
South Hydraulic, just two blocks north of where BTK parked

(56:08):
when he murdered Shirley Vyanne. Inside, the woman discovered Tina
dead of a gunshot on the floor beside her bed.
On November twelfth, nineteen ninety nine. Tina was known to
leave her front door open to let fresh air in.
Her case was one that was noted as being looked
at by the writer of the two thousand and four

(56:29):
BTK book. However, six months prior to raiders arrest, police
would save Frederick's murder after linking the bullets with the
murder of Christopher Pollard. That same year. Acha's Alfred had
been arrested in that crime and was found guilty on
Tina's murder in December two thousand and four. On June fourth,

(56:51):
two thousand and two, neighbors would notice that a previously
boarded up basement window of this house lived in by
Dorothy and James Slaughter, had been opened. Upon further inspection,
the side door was found to be a jar. Police
would enter to find the eligerly couple beaten unconscious, Their
telephone cord had been cut, and the only thing missing

(57:12):
was a set of car keys. Dorothy would die from
her injuries two weeks later, while James would eventually recover
but lost his memory of the attack. Did Dennis Raider
have additional victims? Unfortunately, he has refused to help in
the investigation and in the five cases mentioned in twenty
twenty three, detectives would later state they could find no ties.

(57:37):
Could they be goading the notorious and media hunger killer
into confessing or is it all a false hunt? Charlie
Otero and Steve Vanne would form a friendship following btk's arrest,
both of them bonding over having difficulties adjusting to society
following their family's murders. Anna Williams would pass away before

(57:57):
Dennis Raider was caught, never knowing who broke into her home.
Roger Valadez would sue several media outlets for defamation, claiming
he was BTK after his arrest on December one, two
thousand and four. He would win a one point one
million dollar verdict, but died before he could collect it.

(58:18):
Dennis Rader's family all ceased contact with him following his arrest.
His wife was said to have ptsd from the day
of the arrest and treat her ex husband as if
he is dead. Brian Rader has also stayed out of
the media, only noted as going to college in twenty
sixteen after finishing his enlistment in the Navy. Carrie Raider

(58:40):
would eventually speak with her father in twenty twenty three
to see if she could convince him to confess to
any more murders. She would publish a memoir of her
life and has been an advocate for victims and family
members of serial killers. Following her visit with her father,
she stated he had no teeth anymore, was confined to
a wheel chair, and was seething that his head and

(59:01):
trophies have been found. While the man known as bt
K rots in prison, his legacy of pain still extends
to the family and friends of his many victims, whose
only comfort is that the killer can no longer trawl
the streets of which dam looking for more projects.

Speaker 5 (59:32):
Ye.

Speaker 10 (01:00:03):
Yeah, you know, something drove me to do this.

Speaker 5 (01:00:24):
You know, the normal people just don't do this.

Speaker 11 (01:00:27):
You can't stop it. I can't stop it. It's just
it controls me, you know. It's uh, it's it's like.

Speaker 5 (01:00:33):
It's in the driver's sea. Yeah, that's probably the reason
we're setting here. You know, I could just say no,
I don't wanna do this and go crawl a hole.
But it's you know, it's it's it's driving me.

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🎭 "BTK: The Killer Next Door Who Terrorized America" Dennis Rader

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