Dennis Rader: The BTK Killer

Dennis Rader, most commonly known as the BTK killer, lived an intensely normal and ordinary life. Little did everyone know that his life was much more than him being a Boy Scout leader, a compliance officer, and a church leader (Davey). Rader was born in Pittsburg, KS on March 9th, 1945. He’s the oldest of four sons, and seemed to enjoy a pretty normal childhood. As a child, Rader did activities that most children at that age would never do. For example, he would hang stray animals as a source of entertainment, but no one ever had any idea that he did it. While his childhood didn’t include a lot of violence or trauma, his father was pretty strict. His odd behavior and strict family would lead into a future of killings and mystery.

After Rader finished high school, he enrolled into college, but ended up dropping out and joining the U.S. Air Force in the mid-1960s (A&E Television). After he returned, he married his wife, Paula, in 1971. He began working for an outdoor supply company and also worked for ADT Security Services. The beginning of 1974 would mark the start of

In April of 1979, he tried to kill an elderly woman, but left before she had returned home. He later on, sent a letter letting her know that BTK had been to her residency. While they released the phone call from him, no one was able to recognize his voice well enough to identify him. Years after the crimes had happened, the surname ‘BTK’ would eventually disappear and Rader would continue to live his life as a compliance supervisor in 1991. As the 30th anniversary of the Otero murders came around, he left various packages with puzzles and a computer disk that led to his hometown church. The case had finally been closed when Rader’s daughter obtained a DNA sample, and compared it to semen left at some of BTK’s crime scenes. Eventually, they would successfully identify the ‘BTK’ killer as Dennis