Case Study 1: BTK In 2005, serial killer Dennis Rader, also known as BTK (bind, torture, and kill), was arrested and convicted of murdering 10 people in Kansas between the years of 1974 and 1991. Rader sent numerous notes to the police, but they couldn’t prove for sure that he was the one committing the murders. In 2004, he began sending things to the police once again. However, this time Rader sent a document created in Microsoft Word on a floppy disk. Digital forensics was used to identify Rader as a suspect through the use of EnCase software. EnCase is a computer forensics software that’s usually used by law enforcement. It is widely used and is fundamental in forensics. It collects data from a computer and can also detect if the data …show more content…
He was an unusual serial killer. Rader’s killings weren’t as frequent as most serial killers. “Unlike most serial killers, however, Rader went on a spree that lasted an unusually long time. He started killing in 1974, when he was 29, and was planning another murder at the time of his arrest, when he was 59 (Hansen, 2006).” “Also unusual for a serial killer, according to Hazelwood, was the amount of time that passed between his crimes (Hansen, 2006).” Dennis Rader used psychology and criminology to his advantage. He would give clues, send letters through the media, as well as other things but would never do it in a way in which he could be caught. “Rader sent 19 messages in all, 10 of them in the 11 months before his arrest. Most serial killers do not communicate with the authorities, and when they do it is hardly ever to the extent that Rader did (Hansen, 2006).” If he had never said anything, I don’t think he would’ve been caught. Without the evidence contained on the floppy disk, Rader wouldn’t have been considered as a person of interest yet again. Rader tried to delete any information that would identify him from the disk. “But he made the fatal mistake of taking the disk to his church to print out the file because the printer for his home computer wasn’t working (Hansen, 2006).” Rader wanted fame and attention for the crimes he
Dennis Rader was famously known as the BTK killer. He took the lives of ten people in the Wichita, Kansas area between the year of 1974 and 1991. During the murders he often left clues to insult the law enforcement officers. The first murder of Dennis Rader was on the 15th of January 1974whereby he strangled to death four members of the Otero family in their Wichita home. After killing the family he left with a radio and a watch.
He continued with his infamous killings until when he was arrested in 2005 (Anderson, 2013). Dennis Radar killed at least 10 people in his crime life. All through, he had an excuse that he had a demon inside that got into him when a while before he started with his serial killing behavior, and he could do nothing about it. He thought that, maybe, the psychologists could cure the
In 1971, Rader married a woman by the name of Paula. In 1974 he came to work for ADT Security Services. (Biography.com) Working for ADT ultimately helped show Rader how to enter the homes of his victims without being noticed. In the same year of 1974, Rader also committed his first set of murders (Crime and Investigation).On January 15th, Rader killed Joseph and Julie Otero and two of their children, Josephine and Joseph Jr. Rader murdered the four victims by strangulation.
They had found a book with a note it in. The letter they have found was put in the newspaper and aired on the news. Everybody had an idea, and he said “ it's hard to control myself.” Rader was arrested on February 25, 2005, and later charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder. Some neighbors and members of his church, where he served as president of the church council, were stunned by the news and could not believe that the man they knew was the serial killer that had haunted the area for so long.
All activity from Rader seemed to stop in the early 90s. However, starting a couple of years before he was caught, he felt cocky and started talking to the police again using notes, explaining his kills and taunting the police. Dennis Rader was so egotistical and wanted attention so badly, that he got himself caught 13 years after his murders stopped. Rader became so arrogant that he asked the police if they could trace him if he communicated using a floppy disk. The police answered saying that they could not track a floppy disk, but little did Rader know, they could.
Dennis Lynn Rader born March 9, 1945 is an American serial killer with 10 confirmed murders murdered of people Sedgwick County in and around Wichita, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991. He was known as the BTK killer, which stands for "bind, torture and kill" that describes his modus operandi. 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, he resumed sending letters in 2004, leading to his 2005 arrest and subsequent conviction. Dennis showed signs of irregular behavior even as child he would torture animals.
Dennis Rader the serial killer that shocked the world with killing lots of people and making America scared of a killer. Dennis Rader was Birth by his mother dorethea Rader in Kansas on March 9, 1945 and his father’s name was William Rader. As a young boy Dennis moved to Wichita Kansas to move to a better place from what he was living in. Dennis joined a youth boy scouts when he was a boy and then soon joined a church. Dennis attended Riverview elementary school where he was said to be an average student by his elementary school teachers.
Dennis Lynn Rader was born March 9, 1945, and between 1974, and 1991 killed ten people before he went dormant (Sylvester, R., 2005). He is known as the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) killer, and terrorized Wichita, Kansas for over three decades (Murphy, H., 2016). The BTK killer as many other serial killers had a past of torturing small animals, but one aspect of him that eludes many to this day is why did he go dormant for so many years (biography.com & Communications). The first victims of the BTK killer was the Oteros Family that was comprised of four, a son, daughter, mother, and father (Sylvester, R., 2005). His fifth victim was Kathryn Bright, sixth victim was Shirley Vian Relford, seventh victim was Nancy Fox, eighth victim was Marine Hedge,
Regardless of the many lives of women that he would take, he would not be discovered as a serial killer for almost eight years. This is because even though he would kill many, he would be careful about the way he would do it. He would kill women in different jurisdictions and even states. He didn't perform sexual acts with his victims, so it was hard to get DNA results for a suspect. His crimes were also not sexually motivated, and he didn't seem to hold any closeness or involvement with the victims.
In the BTK case, Rader killed many people throughout the years without being caught because of the scientific capabilities in the U.S. as the years went by, the technical field became more and more progressive when it came DNA and profiling victims and even criminals. The fact the Rader was so sure he wasn’t going to get caught any time soon, led to him sending out a digital disk and even a letter written with his own hand writing was incredible. It’s as if he wanted to get caught and gave investigators and law enforcement every opportunity but the capabilities just didn’t allow it at that time. Rader’s daughter’s DNA somehow got obtain by the hands of law enforcement years later and led to investigators being able to link her to her
Organized and Disorganized Killers Organized Killers Organized killers, such as Dennis Rader, are people we may see or know. They are our neighbors, family members, friends, co-workers. They are mostly highly intelligent with above average skills they use to plan the murder and its stages. Their methodical plans stand out when investigators are piecing the puzzle left by the serial killer. (Canter, Alison, Alison, & Wentink 2004)
Serial Killers are normally people who had been doing atrocities since an early age this people have probably been through rough patches on their lives. The famous BTK was born on March 9,1945 in Kansas. Rader was actually the elder sibling from his family. When he was a child he used to be participating in church activities also he was an average student at Riverview Elementary School. Mostly of his classmates describe him as a polite guy that always used to keep his business to himself,quiet and with not a sense of humour.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a notorious serial killer who liked to pick up men in bars telling them he was a photographer and he wanted to take their picture. Once at his place he would offer alcohol and drug them so they could not get away. Dahmer was a sadistic sexual serial killer who liked to have control over his victims even after they were dead. Dahmer who would dismember his victims’ bodies often saving their skulls or other body parts also practiced necrophilia and cannibalism.
“Society can be thankful that there are ways for people like me to relieve myself at times by daydreams of some victim being tortured and being mine.” (Nicolaos, “What Did BTK Killer Letters Say?” Refinery 29) Dennis Rader was a notorious serial killer. From an outside view, he lived a normal life, but with secret sexual fantasies, he was a dangerous killer at night. Even as a young child, Rader was filled with strong sexual feelings when seeing animals being murdered and tortured.
Explanation 1. Identification of digital evidence At this stage all the evidence supporting the investigation collected. The investigation began with the identification of where the evidence is located, where it is stored, and how to simplify storage investigation. Digital media that can be used as evidence include a computer system, storage media (such as flash disk, pen drive, hard disk, or CD-ROM), PDAs, mobile phones, smart cards, SMS, e-mail, cookies, source code, windows registry, web browser bookmarks, chat logs, documents, log files, or even a series of packet switching in computer networks.