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16-09-2013 11:01 AM |
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Dennis Lynn Rader (born March 9, 1945) is an American serial killer who murdered ten people in Sedgwick County (in and around Wichita, Kansas), between 1974 and 1991.
He is known as the BTK killer (or the BTK strangler). "BTK" stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill," which was his infamous signature. He sent letters describing the details of the killings to police and to local news outlets during the period of time in which the murders took place.
After a long hiatus in the 1990s through early 2000s, Rader resumed sending letters in 2004, leading to his 2005 arrest and subsequent conviction. He is serving 10 consecutive life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas, with an earliest possible release date of February 26, 2180.
Arrest
The BTK killer's last known communication with the media and police was a padded envelope that arrived at FOX affiliate KSAS-TV in Wichita on February 16, 2005. A purple 1.44-MB Memorex floppy disk was enclosed in the package. Also enclosed were a letter, a photocopy of the cover of a 1989 novel about a serial killer (Rules of Prey), and a gold-colored necklace with a large medallion.
Police found metadata embedded in a deleted Microsoft Word document that was, unbeknownst to Rader, on the disk. The metadata contained "Christ Lutheran Church," and the document was marked as last modified by "Dennis." A search of the church Web site turned up Dennis Rader as president of the congregation council. Police began surveillance of Rader.
Sometime during this period, police obtained a warrant for the medical records of Rader's daughter. A tissue sample seized at this time was tested for DNA and provided a familial match with semen collected at an earlier BTK crime scene. This, along with other evidence gathered before and during the surveillance, gave police probable cause for an arrest.
Rader was stopped while driving near his home and taken into custody shortly after noon on February 25, 2005. Immediately after, law enforcement officials, including a Wichita Police bomb unit truck, two SWAT trucks, and KBI, FBI, and ATF agents, converged on Rader's residence near the intersection of I-135 and 61st Street North. Once in handcuffs, he was asked by an officer, "Mr. Rader, do you know why you're going downtown?" to which he replied, "Oh, I have my suspicions, why?" Police searched Rader's home and vehicle, collecting evidence, including computer equipment, a pair of black pantyhose retrieved from a shed, and a cylindrical container. The church he attended, his office at City Hall, and the main branch of the Park City library were also searched that day. Officers were seen removing a computer from his City Hall office, but it is unclear if any evidence was found at these locations.
He stated he chose to resurface in 2004 for various reasons, including David Lohr's feature story on the case on the Court TV (now Tru TV) Crime Library Web site and the release of the book Nightmare in Wichita:
On February 26, 2005, The Wichita Police Department announced in a press conference that they were holding Rader as the prime suspect in the BTK killings.
Rader was formally charged with the murders on February 28, 2005.
Legal proceedings
Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994. The last known BTK killing was in 1991, making all known BTK murders ineligible for the death penalty. Even if later murders are linked to the BTK killer, it was originally unclear whether the death penalty would come into play, as the Kansas Supreme Court declared the state's capital punishment law unconstitutional on December 17, 2004. However, that ruling was reversed by the United States Supreme Court on June 26, 2006, in the case of Kansas v. Marsh, and the Kansas death penalty statute was upheld. The Sunday after his arrest, Associated Press cited an anonymous source that Rader had confessed to other murders in addition to the ones with which he was already connected. Asked about the reported confessions, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said, "Your information is patently false," but she refused to say whether Rader had made any confessions or whether investigators were looking into Rader's possible involvement in more unsolved killings. On March 5, news sources claimed to have verified by multiple sources that Rader had confessed to the 10 murders he was charged with, but no additional ones.
On February 28, 2005, Rader was formally charged with 10 counts of first degree murder. He made his first appearance via videoconference from jail. He was represented by a public defender. Bail was continued at $10 million. On May 3, District Court Judge Gregory Waller entered not guilty pleas to the 10 charges on Rader's behalf, as Rader did not speak at his arraignment.
On June 27, the scheduled trial date, Rader changed his plea to guilty. He unemotionally described the murders in detail and made no apologies
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The full footage of the court confessions of the BTK (Bound, Torture, Kill) killer. The nonchalance with which he describes what he did is quite unreal.
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