BTK - Dennis Rader

Dennis Lynn born March 9, 1945 in Pittsburg, Kansas, is a well-known American serial killer that murdered 10 individuals in various local counties within the state of Kansas. Dennis also known as the BTK killer (bind, torture, kill), was a gruesome serial killer that traumatized the civilians of the local towns by placing letters with a signed signature that described how he carried through with his murdering spree. Many individuals believe that his letters symbolized his flaunting and taunting attitude that was accompanied by his infamous coverage on local media stations as he was known as the man to fear. Throughout his killing career, Dennis was prominent during his beginning year in 1974, and then started to dissipate through the late 80s and 90s, where eventually he would be persecuted with enough circumstantial evidence so that in 2005 he would be rigorously investigated as a prime suspect of the BTK murders.

Dennis Rader was more or less a somewhat normal individual growing up as he attended school and Lutheran church. However, according to his confessions, he had a somewhat twisted sense of entertainment, as he admitted to torturing animals. Although there is no factual evidence that states this was the beginning of his torturing capabilities, these confessions do imply that he did have abnormal tendencies. Through the early stages of his life prior to his killings, he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was stationed in numerous places inside and out of the U.S. After his return, Dennis attended community college and transferred to Wichita State University where he would graduate with a bachelor degree in Administration of Justice. Throughout his life, Dennis held many jobs ranging from technicians, to assembly man, and was even on his local counties Board of Zoning Appeals as well as Animal Control Advisory Board.

The BTK killer's first murders occurred early in 1974, where he killed a local family of 3 by strangling them. As with most of the BTK'S murders, Dennis preferred to strangle or suffocate his victims, or in one case hang them. Dennis was a notorious stalker, as he stalked many women throughout his criminal career, and killing most of them. Many individuals got no justice and thought that the BTK killer was never going to be caught, however, on February 25, 2005, Dennis Rader was detained and accused of the BTK killings. Due to heavy amounts of circumstantial evidence that was given by Dennis himself, after believing that no information could be extracted from floppy discs, the police had looked up all of the information, and reasonable circumstantial evidence to take BTK down and put on trial. Dennis pleaded guilty to the various murders. Dennis would face 10 consecutive life sentences, and would be eligible for parole 175 years later in 2180. Dennis was not given the death sentence because the death sentence was not instated at the time of his crimes, therefore, Denis would serve these life sentences in El Dorado Correctional Facility.