BTK Killer | Dennis Rader

Last Updated on July 4, 2026

Dennis Rader, aka the BTK killer, is an American serial killer who killed ten people between 1974 and 1991.

He sent letters to the police and newspapers with details of the killings.

The BTK meaning is Bind, Torture, Kill, and it is a nickname that Rader gave himself.

The letters stopped but resumed in 2004, which led to his arrest in 2005.

Dennis Rader was convicted later and is currently serving ten life sentences in a correctional facility in Kansas.

His crimes are covered in great detail in The BTK Murders: Inside the “Bind, Torture, Kill” Case That Terrified America’s Heartland (AD*)

BTK Victims

1974 to 1977

The first victims of Dennis Rader were the Otero family.

They were killed after Rader cut the phone lines and forced his way into their home on January 15th, 1974.

He suffocated both Joseph Otero and Joseph Otero Jr with plastic bags.

Rader strangled Julie Otero with a length of rope and hanged Josephine Otero with a rope in the basement.

He stole a watch and a radio from the home and also left semen at the scene.

The Otero murders were later discovered by Charlie Otero, who had been at school at the time of the killings.

After the Otero family murders, Dennis Rader’s next victim was Kathryn Bright.

Dennis killed Kathryn on 4th April 1974 after he waited in her apartment for her to come home later.

She was strangled and stabbed three times in her abdomen.

She was able to phone for an ambulance, but later died in the hospital.

Her brother Kevin was forced to tie up his sister by gunpoint, and afterwards was shot twice.

Kevin Bright survived BTK and was able to give police a description of the shooter.

Shirley Vian was tied up and strangled with a length of rope in her home on March 17th, 1977.

Rader had entered the house pretending to be a detective and locked her children in the bathroom.

Nancy Fox was killed by BTK on December 8th, 1977, in her own home.

Rader strangled her with a belt. After the killing, he called the police to report the killing.

1984 – 1991

Eight years later, Dennis Rader killed his neighbourMarine Hedge.

On April 27th, 1985, he strangled her to death with his bare hands in her home.

Dennis later moved her body to his church, where he posed her and took photographs.

Her body was not discovered until May 5th and had been left in a ditch at the side of the road.

Dennis had prepared for the crime by storing black plastic at his church.

Vicki Wegerle was killed by Dennis Rader on September 16th, 1986.

She was strangled in her home with a nylon stocking.

She was not formally confirmed as a BTK murderer victim until 2004, and the investigation had gone cold.

There was DNA evidence under her fingernails, and this was tested against 1300 collected samples.

The final victim of Dennis Rader was Dolores E. Davis.

She was strangled with a pair of pantyhose in her home on January 19th, 1991.

Dolores was later discovered on February 1st.

Near Misses

Dennis Rader had planned further killings, but luckily for various reasons, he was unable to commit these crimes.

One such plan was to kill Anna Williams.

Dennis Rader had broken into her home, but she was late returning home.

Dennis was obsessed with her and was angry when she did not return home and left.

He wrote her a letter to tell her that he had been there.

Rader said in police interviews that there were a lot of lucky people.

This suggested that he had planned other murders.

At the time of his arrest, he had planned another killing.

He had even been inside the intended victim’s home.

BTK Letters – 1970s

BTK wrote letters containing details of the killings.

Some letters from the BTK strangler were sent to newspapers.

Some were sent to the police, and some were hidden in public places.

A BTK killer letter detailing the killings of the Otero family was hidden in a book in the Wichita Public Library in October 1974.

It was given to a local newspaper.

He warned in this letter that he would strike again and signed the letter as BTK.

Dennis Rader sent a letter to the local television station KAKE.

In the letter, he claimed responsibility for the killings of the Otero family, Kathryn Bright, Shirley Vian and Nancy Fox.

He would often send poems with his BTK letters.

With the above letter, he also enclosed a poem called “Oh! Death to Nancy” based on a folk song.

He had also sent a letter to a local newspaper after he killed Shirley Vian.

Dennis wrote a letter denying involvement in the killing of the Fager family in 1988.

The letter was filled with praise for the real killer.

Dennis Rader wore a mask and sent photographs of himself wearing it.

In the photos, he was bound and wearing female clothing stolen from his victims.

BTK Letters – 2004

After more than a decade of silence from BTK, a new series of letters was sent to the local media.

He wrote the letters after he was provoked by an article they wrote claiming he was dead or in prison.

In one letter, he claimed responsibility for the killing of Vicki Wegerle.

Rader included copies of photographs and of her missing driving licence.

Several packages were sent to the media or left in public in 2004.

They contained descriptions of the murders and suggested chapters for a book.

There were other bizarre items, including threats against investigators.

In one package, he claimed responsibility for the death of Jake Allen.

This was a false claim as his death was officially ruled a suicide.

In December 2004, a package was sent to the police by Dennis.

This contained the missing driving licence of Nancy Fox and a doll that was bound similarly to his victims.

In January 2000, he sent several postcards sent to the KAKE television station.

Another package containing another bound doll was found.

Investigation

The investigation at the time of the killings had very few leads.

There was DNA evidence, but after extensive testing, a match had not been found.

Kevin Bright was a BTK survivor and described her killer as “an average-sized guy, bushy moustache, ‘psychotic’ eyes”.

Police released the recording of his telephone call to the police, but this brought about a few leads.

As a result of the lack of evidence, the case was considered a cold case in 2004.

The case was reopened due to the letters BTK sent to local media in 2004.

After one failed package delivery, the police were able to ascertain that the BTK killer drove a dark Jeep Cherokee.

Police tricked Dennis Rader into sending his letters via floppy disk after he asked if they could be traced back to him.

Police received a floppy disk and, after analysis, were able to find a deleted document that mentioned both the Christ Lutheran Church and the name Dennis.

They ran a search and were able to link Dennis Rader to the church.

Dennis Rader became a suspect after they drove past his home and saw his black Jeep Cherokee parked outside.

As the police required further evidence to make an arrest, they obtained a warrant to test Dennis Rader’s daughter, Kerri’s, DNA against DNA from a BTK crime scene.

The result was a familial match to the semen collected from the Otero crime scene.

It allowed the police to issue an arrest warrant.

The FBI took a second sample from Kerri after Dennis’ arrest.

After the BTK killer was caught, the FBI and surrounding state police forces looked into their own cold cases.

They were unable to link any to Dennis Rader.

Rader’s Arrest

Dennis Rader was arrested close to his home on 25th February 2005.

He was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

BTK knew he was caught and why he was being arrested, and was cooperative with the police.

After the BTK arrest, Police searched Rader’s home, church and his office.

In his office, they found photos and Vicki’s original driving licence.

An unconfirmed source told the press that he had confessed to the BTK murders and other unsolved murders.

Trial and Sentencing

Initially, Dennis Rader pleaded not guilty before later changing his plea to guilty.

He described all of the murders with very little emotion and offered no explanation or apology.

At his sentencing trial on August 18th, Dennis Rader showed little emotion to the family’s statements.

He gave an apology speech that the prosecutor compared to a dramatic awards speech.

Dennis Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences, and he is to serve at least 175 years.

He was placed in solitary confinement shortly after arriving at the prison.

Personal Life

Dennis Rader’s young life was full of neglect from his parents.

He became obsessed with cross-dressing and had sick sexual fantasies.

During his childhood, Dennis Rader also killed and tortured small animals.

As an adult, Dennis Rader had a family and led from the outside a perfectly normal life.

Dennis Rader had a wife, Paula Dietz, and two children.

Rader’s son Brian Rader leads a private life after attending college.

Kerri Rawson published a book on being the BTK killer’s daughter called A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming (AD*)

Dennis Rader worked good, stable jobs.

He worked first as an alarm fitter for ADT and later as a Compliance Supervisor for the city.

Dennis was also a Church leader and a Boy Scout leader.

Media

Several books, BTK movies and documentaries were released about Dennis Rader.

Confession of a Serial Killer (AD*) was written by Katherine Ramsland.

It features a compilation of her correspondence with Rader.

The Hunt for BTK Killer and BTK were BTK killer movies about Dennis Rader.

He was also a character in the Netflix series Mindhunter.

In 2019, a new BTK Killer documentary, BTK: A Killer Among Us, was released.

One of the BTK drawings was found inside a book in 2017 and drew heavy media attention.

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