Xiangsu

At this point we now know that Dennis Rader is in fact the man we know as the BTK. He has confessed to the crimes and has even shown pictures. So for those of you worrying whether or not he was innocent, fear no more.

This man will not get the death penalty however. Due to the fact that there was no death penalty in Kansas at the time his murders were committed.

Its sad, but I think it will be more torture for him to go to prison. Its a shame what he did and its disgusting, but I have a small feeling of hope for him. When the families of the victimes testified he was very emotional and appeared to feel remorse for his crimes. Its really sad, for everyone. I feel sorry for him because it is sad that someone could get like that. Now if we could just catch the Zodiac Killer.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/11996841.htm

Guilty

Rader calmly describes 10 BTK murders

Eagle staff

Dennis Rader pleaded guilty this morning to being Wichita's notorious BTK serial killer. In an extraordinary hearing, Rader said he killed because he wanted to fulfill sexual fantasies. He described the killings in detail in a voice devoid of emotion.

He started by telling how he killed four members of the Otero family. After cutting the phone lines at the house, he nearly lost his nerve and left, he said, but "the door opened, and I was in."

Thirty minutes into the hearing, he was still describing how he murdered the Oteros -- two adults and two children.

In a matter-of-fact way throughout the proceeding, he talked of struggling with frantic victims, strangling them and photographing their bodies.

He said he had "hit kits" to help him commit the crimes; in at least one case he carried supplies in a bowling bag.

He also wore "hit clothes" -- items of clothing he could dispose of when he was done with the crime.

Rader said he at times tried to comfort his victims in the midst of their murders.

After victim Shirley Vian Relford threw up, he gave her a glass of water and tried to calm her.

At times he left with items, such as a car, jewelry or watch.

He said he chose Vian Relford at random.

Others were "projects" -- people he chose and watched, learning more about them so he would feel more comfortable, Rader said.

"If one didn't work out, I just moved to another one," he said.

He did this with Marine Hedge, who lived down the street from him, he said.

At times, Rader posed as a telephone repairman or a criminal on the run needing a getaway car.

He studied people.

He learned where victim Nancy Fox worked.

Before killing Marine Hedge, he waited about an hour for a man visiting her home to leave before strangling her with his hands as opposed to cords, as he had used in other murders.

His "sexual fantasy" continued, Rader said.

He stripped her body and transported her to the parking lot of the old Christ Lutheran Church, where he took poloroid photos of her in different bondage positions, he said.

"The police probably have them," Rader said.

He said he heard piano music streaming from Vicki Wegerle's home when he arrived to kill her.

Monday's events gave Wichitans some of the answers they have been seeking for 31 years.

The family of the victims gathered earlier this morning at the courthouse, as well as media from across the nation and overseas, who had set up tents on the courthouse's front lawn.

The killer nicknamed himself BTK for "bind, torture and kill" in a series of letters and rambling poems sent to the public and police, beginning in 1974 and ending in February with Rader's arrest.

Rader appeared this morning wearing a bulletproof vest under a light-colored suit. He appeared relaxed, occasionally smiling and swishing water in his mouth.

Before the hearing began at 9 a.m., the courtroom was silent in the gallery. District Attorney Nola Foulston joked with her assistant, Georgia Cole. Lead investigator Lt. Ken Landwehr laughed.

Rader gave a nod as he entered the courtroom and took his seat by the defense counsel. He asked for a glass of water.

Prosecutors remained standing. Foulston whispered to Chief of Police Norman Williams.

Rader whispered to Sarah McKinnon, one of his public defenders. The air conditioning whirred and a few people coughed.

As Rader listened to each charge, answering that he understood each accusations by saying, "Yes, your honor," or "Yes, sir."

Landwehr watched intently.

Kelly Otis, another lead investigator, leaned forward with his head bowed and eyes closed.

Some members of the victims' families wiped tears from their eyes.

Rader hung his head for a moment at times while Sedgwick County District Judge Greg Waller read charges, including the names of the victims and the dates of their deaths.

After Waller read the 10th charge -- Jan. 18 to Jan. 19, 1991 -- Rader said he wanted a correction to Jan. 19, 1991.

Waller asked Rader if he understood that if there is a trial the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rader is guilty and that he does not have to prove that he is not guilty.

"Yes, sir," Rader answered.

The Eagle has published an extra edition covering today's dramatic events. You can pick up your copy at major Wichita grocers, convenience stores and some coin racks. Continue to visit kansas.com for updates throughout the day and read Tuesday's Eagle.

Relatives Call BTK Killer a 'Monster'

By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 1 minute ago

BTK serial killer Dennis Rader is a "monster" who caused indescribable pain to the families of his victims, tearful relatives testified Thursday at his sentencing hearing. Rader himself expressed remorse in a rambling statement.

"Nancy's death is a like a deep wound that will never, ever heal," Beverly Plapp, sister of victim Nancy Fox, testified. "As far as I'm concerned, Dennis Rader does not deserve to live. I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer."

"This man needs to be thrown in a deep, dark hole and left to rot," she said. "He should never, ever see the light of day."

Those who spoke called him a coward, and they quietly sobbed.

"No remorse, no compassion — he had no mercy," said Kevin Bright, the brother of victim Kathryn Bright, who himself was shot but managed to flee. "I think that's what he ought to receive."

Rader appeared saddened during the hearing and wiped away tears. His voice choked as he made a rambling address to the courtroom, saying he had been dishonest to his family and victims and selfish.

"I know the victim's families will never be able to forgive me. I hope somewhere deep down, eventually that will happen," he said.

"I brought the community, my family, the victims, dishonor." he said. "It's all self-centered."

He admitted he tracked his victims "like a predator."

Said his lawyer, Steve Osburn: "To judge Mr. Rader as a human being, as a man, is beyond this court's jurisdiction, and that's something that Mr. Rader will have to face at a later time in front of a higher being."

Rader, 60, a former church congregation president and Boy Scout leader, led a double life, calling himself BTK for "bind, torture and kill." The slayings terrorized the Wichita area until Rader was arrested in February. He pleaded guilty in June to 10 murders committed from 1974 to 1991.

The sentencing hearing, which began Wednesday, was in many ways is a formality, with the only issue before the judge whether Rader will serve his 10 life sentences consecutively or concurrently. Kansas had no death penalty at the time the killings were committed.

Testimony earlier in the hearing focused on Rader's gruesome fantasies. Earlier Thursday, Capt. Sam Houston of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office said those fantasies were often fueled by the final moments of his victims' lives.

"He could live in that moment for years," Houston said.

Rader's last known victim was 63-year-old Dolores Davis, whom he handcuffed and tied with pantyhose before he choked her to death in 1991. The killer told police it took two or three minutes for her to die.

Rader tossed Davis' body under a bridge. He returned later to take Polaroid photographs of her wearing a feminine mask Rader himself had worn for his own bondage fantasies.

Prosecutors flashed a photograph of Rader wearing the mask, tied to a chair and donning a woman's blond wig. They also showed other pictures the killer took in which he had bound himself and was wearing a dress he had taken from Davis' house — apparently reliving the ecstasy of the murder.

On Wednesday, Detective Clint Snyder testified that Rader told investigators he used a squeeze ball to strengthen his grip after finding his hands numbed during strangulations.

In describing one killing, Rader told Snyder: "I'm sorry. I know this is a human being, but I'm a monster."

Kansas Bureau of Investigation special agent Larry Thomas testified that after Rader killed Josephine Otero's parents and brother in 1974, he took the 11-year-old girl to the basement and told her: "Well, honey, you're going to be in heaven with the rest of your family."

Rader then hanged the girl and masturbated over her body.

**update** Rader has now been sentenced to 140 years or so in prison. If there is a god, let him help his soul.

Lasereth

I don't have any hope for this guy. Screw forgiveness. Anybody that could kill that many people is a sick fuck that deserves the worst of the worst. He even got the victim's hope's up by comforting them, then killed them anyway. Just reading what he did to the victims makes me hate this guy without have ever heard of him before today. He deserves no mercy and no forgiveness.

-Lasereth

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Xiangsu

He is a monster and he realizes that. There is something wrong with him, whether its some sort of chemical inbalance (wonder what Tom Cruise would say to that), or something to do with the way he was raised. Either way, I do feel pity for him. He is a flawed human being and needs to be kept under control, IE prison, or erased from this earth, the chair.

maleficent

Well... least we know he'll never see daylight again, but life in prison doesnt seem enough (Yeah, i know bloodthirsty american...) taxpayers are on the hook now for taking care of this guy for the rest of his life... especially imprisoning him at his age...

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cellophanedeity

Lets hope he never gets solitary confinement.

Always in a room with the largest of evil lonely men who had some respect at all for human life.

This almost makes me cry.

Glory's Sun

I doubt we'll have to take care of him for very long. I don't expect him to live more than 5 years in prison.

MSD

It's more than an imablance, and definitely not upbringing. A socioopathic brain that can function without any negative emotion, even while recounting murders he committed, is probably structured differently. It's probably a "crossed wire" type of thing that prevents the mind from processing guilt, compassion, and remorse. There's no way that a normal person could be made to do that simply due to an imbalance or upbringing.

cowlick

Yuck... read some of those transcripts last night. Kept me from sleeping.

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"It's a long story," says I, and let him up.