The Twisted Saga of Notorious Serial Killer Dennis Rader: "The BTK Killer"

His identity remained a mystery for more than 30 years. The BTK killer murdered families and taunted police and media for decades until his arrogance and need for attention led to his identification

Depiction of Dennis Rader “The BTK Killer”

Background

In 1974, four members of the Otero family–their father, Joseph, mother, Julie, and two youngest children–were found dead in their Wichita, Kansas home.

Police were immediately alarmed by the crime scene. It had all the hallmarks of a meticulous killer with a military background–and disturbing sexual undertones, including traces of semen in the basement near where the Otero’s youngest daughter had been hung from a pipe.

Over the following 17 years, the killer, who called himself BTK (an acronym for his modus operandi: Bind, Torture, Kill), went on to murder at least six more people.

By the early 2000s, the murders had stopped, and the case went cold.

However, the killer would resurface when he began communicating with local media, sending them taunting letters that included details that only the killer could have known.

It wasn’t the murders themselves but rather the coded messages BTK distributed to local media channels and police that c…