Hi, everybody, and welcome back to chukremin Headlines with Jewels and Jen. Hi. I'm your host today. I'm Jeles, and I want to welcome you to part two of the two part series about the BTK Strangler. Hi. Shall we just dive right into it? Let's go. We left you in nineteen seventy nine with Anna and Williams escaping the possibility of a brutal death all because she made an unplanned stop at her daughter's house on the drive home. We're going to fast forward five years to nineteen eighty four because things with BTK have been quiet. In fact, there haven't been any suspected BTK committed crimes or even any communication from BTK himself in five years. And here we are in nineteen eighty four, where an officer named ken Land where heads up a task for us created solely to track down BTK. This task force will be named Ghostbusters after the popular movie which was also released in nineteen eighty four. One of their goals is while they are trying to locate BTK, they're also organizing all the evidence, so the notes, voice recordings, articles of clothing he left behind. Recall, there are items with his bodily fluid, which we will later know to be seminal fluid. And remember, anything BTK does, from the trolling, to the stalking to the killing, is all to fuel his sexual fantasies. His sexual fantasy is the BTK, the bind, torture, and kill sick. I know. Actual penetration of his victims, however, does not appear to occur in most cases. Well that's just from what we know of thus far. Shortly after the Ghostbuster's Task Force is created, another victim is strangled to death on April twenty seven, nineteen eighty five. But first, let me introduce you to family man Dennis Raider. Dennis Raider, a forty year old Boy Scout leader, devout church member, involved, father of two son Brian and daughter Carrie, and the loving husband, was in a Boy Scout meeting with his son. It's then that he tells the group. He has a headache and he has to return home. However, instead of going home, he pulls into a gas station, buys a beer, and ensures he is seen by onlookers as he lets the beer spill out of his mouth all over his clothes. He then proceeds to stumble around and eventually calls a cab to bring him home. As far as anyone knew Dennis was drunk, many people witnessed it, the cab driver could smell it. He has the driver drop him off at Park City, a Wichita suburb, in front of a woman's home named Marine Hedge. Marine Hedge fifty was Dennis Raider's neighbor for thirty years. She was said by those who knew her to be kind, loving, and wonderful to know. She lived alone as she was a widow. So when Dennis Rader arrives at her home and sees her car is there, but it doesn't look like she is home, he doesn't walk to the door to knock, you know, like a neighbor would typically do. Nor does he really sense any fear for his neighbor, for any type of killer on the loose. No, Dennis Raider does not fear the local serial killer BTK because this forty year old boy scout leader, church leader, father, and loving husband is BTK. He cuts the phone lines and quietly enters her home. Realizes she isn't actually there, so he hides in the closet and awaits her return. Marine does return later, but she unexpectedly has a man with her. This man had driven them home and was bringing Marine home. Dennis Raider AKABTK stays quite in her bedroom closet until the man leaves and Marine readies for bed around one am. It's then that Dennis Raider exits the closet to bind, torture, and kill innocent Marine Hedge. After he has murdered her, he takes her body to her car and puts her in the trunk. He then proceeds to drive to his church and then drags her body into the basement. Of his church. To prevent anyone from looking in, he places black tarp in the windows. What he does next is actually not surprising given the magnitude of demented this individual monster is. He takes photos of miss Hedge and many different compromising positions. Then he again drags her body up the church basement steps and puts her back in the trunk of her own car, and proceeds to drive back near the suburb of Wichita in Park City, and continues to show his monster instinct by dumping Marine Hedge's body into a ditch near their homes. Marine's body is discovered eight days later and her cause of death was reported to be strangulation, but the police do not connect her murder to BTK, and I am curious is this because this is the first instance where BTK has removed the body from the home from the scene of the crime. Has his mo O changed? Was he becoming more sloppy, desperate or chaotic since it's been five years since his last killing. Allegedly he's older now as well, now he's forty. Here I'll read Donnis Raider's own words that were transcribed from his confession in court and conversation with the judge. Just to remind everybody first person narrative can never be trusted, so listen and believe what you will or what you will not. Here we are quote well actually kind of like the other she was chosen. I went through the different phases, you know, the stalking and since she lived down the street for me, I could watch her coming and going quite easily. On that particular day, I had another commitment, came back from that commitment, parked my car over at Woodlawn in twenty first Street, and I was a bowling alley at the time. Before that, I dressed into I had some of the clothes on I changed clothes. I went to the bowling alley. I went in there under the precepts of bowling, called a taxi, had a taxi take me to Park City, had my kit with me. It was a bowling bag. End quote. The judge then asked Dennis Raider how he knew Marine Hedge, and he proceeds to tell him that he would wave when passing by and do the neighborly chats, that this here was nothing personal, they were just neighbors. On September sixteenth, in nineteen eighty six, Bill Weggirl's life will be forever changed for the worst. His high school sweetheart and wife, Vicki Wegggirl then just twenty eight and mother to Stephanie ten and two year old son Brandon, was murdered. Bill was driving home to have lunch with Vicki's son Brandon when he sees his wife's car on the road, but it's not his wife driving instead, it's someone he doesn't recognize. He continues onto his home, and upon entering, he observes toddler Brandon playing alone on the floor in the middle of the home. Bill begins to search the home for his wife and finally finds her. She's in their bedroom, on the floor behind their bed, and she's still alive, you guys. She's rushed to the hospital, but she is ultimately pronounced dead. And for the next eighteen years, Bill will remain the main suspect in his wife's murder. His kids would continue to hear whispers at school about how your dad is a murderer, your dad is a killer, and Bill would continue to proclaim his innocence, all while grieving his wife's murder, dealing with the trauma of discovering her, raising his kids as a widower, and continuing on with his life as best as this man good. The man driving his wife's car in the road was Dennis Raider, and when Bill passed him, it was Dennis aka BTK, who was disposing any evidence from that murder. So how did Vicky become Btk's next proclaimed PJ you know the project? Well, according to BTK, he just happened to walk by her home often and would hear her playing the piano from inside her home. It's then that he meticulously thought about how he would kill her. Around ten am, after her husband had left for work and her daughter was at school, the killer cut her phone line sticking you know with his usual mo o. He then dressed as a telephone repair man and knocked on her door. She believes him when he tells her that you know he's here to fix her phone, and she lets him into her home. He rushes her by gunpoint into her bedroom and tries to first bind her, but she fights back, and she fights back so tough that she leaves marks on his body. He cannot control her enough to tie her up, so he quickly strangles her to get her to stop fighting back. It's then that he again takes photos of her, posing her in different positions before he takes her car and takes off, And thus it's then that Vicki's innocent husband drives past her car and soon arrives just moments after his wife's killer has fled. And it won't be until five more years later on January nineteenth, nineteen ninety one, when Dennis Raider AKABTK kills for his final time allegedly, and again he chooses an ulner victim, as he has come to realize they appear to be more vulnerable and easily overpowered, and again he doesn't branch out very far from his family home neighborhood. His last victim is a woman named Delores Davis. Now Dolores Davis was living on her own just a mile and a half away from Dennis Raider. He had first noticed her when he saw her outside and then. He marked her for his next PJA project. Dennis Writer was again on a Boy Scout event trip with his son. This time it's a camping trip and it's July nineteenth, nineteen ninety one, and Dennis has to come up with an excuse to plan to leave to execute his final killing. Once he leaves the troop, he then drives to his own parents' house and it's there that he changes out of his boy Scout uniform and puts on what he calls his hit clothes. And what we will see during the final killing is the duplicity of BTK as a quote family man end quote, and then as a killer. He was in middle of being an involved father to doing what he calls as cubing aka flipping into his BTK persona. Now this is coming from his own description. He then drives his car to the local church and he parks it there, which wouldn't be out of the ordinary to be seen at a church, as he was a church leader as well. That's right, he was a leader for the church in that community. He continues his plan on foot by walking to Dolores's home. He waits patiently outside her home, hiding stocking, for Dolores to show signs that she's gone to bed, and once he believes she has done so, the killer uses a brick to break into her home. Now this does cause a lot of noise, and Dolors quickly comes out of her bedroom to investigate. It's then that Dennis Writer resorts to his original intruder m O. He was a convict, he needed money, he needed car, et cetera. He proceeds to bind her, torture her, then kill her. Just like his last victim, he puts Delareus in the trunk of her own car. He then proceeds to bind her, torture her, and then kill her. And just like a victim Pryor, he puts the Laurus in the trunk of her own car. He then drives her to her nearby lake, still within the same park City suburb of Wichita, and leaves her body under some trees slightly covered. He then drives her car back to her house cleans the surfaces to erase any evidence, and walks back to the church. He changes back into his scout uniform and rejoins his son and the troop for the remainder of the camping trip. The next evening, however, the killer returns to where he left Dolores, and it's then that he takes photos of her. Now he does use a polar raid, and he did keep all the photos, so it's assumed that the photos are still in states custody and we're used as evidence in the case against Dennis Raider. And here we find ourselves from nineteen ninety one to two thousand and four without hearing a word from BTK. No calls to police, no letters, no sick poems, and no killings which would resemble BTK style. That is, you guys, until January in two thousand and four, when Dennis Raider sees a thirty year anniversary article Special and the Killings of the Otero Family in his local paper, The Wichita Eagle. The article contains information on BTK and recounts all that transpired. The seemingly reignites Dennis Rider to enter his BTK role, or as he called it, to Cube and Just two months later, in March of two thousand and four, BTK announces that the BTK serial killer has returned. Dennis Raider was born in Kansas and raised in Wichita with his mother and father and three younger brothers. As far as appearances go, he seemingly had a fairly normal upbringing and family, and both of his parents were long hours and so the kids were often alone from long periods of time. He does report as a young child he would secretly hang in strangle straight animals, knowing boy Scouts, which you recall he was very later heavily involved with as an adult with his son's troop. But the whole leaving the Boy's Scouts trip to commit murder thing is just something that it's hard for us to wrap our minds around, obviously. But Dennis was also not a stellar academic student in school. It was reported by the website Psychology Today that Dennis was average to below average and that quote exhibited and introverted and withdrawn personality end quote. Young Dennis was also very involved with his family's local church, a Lutheran denomination. This is also a theme which carries out into adulthood. You know, you guys, it appears that he leans into places a familiarity to hide in plain sight. We've got boy Scouts, his family, a church, the suburbs. In fact, the only type of social interactions that Dennis participated in as a child was through church or boy Scouts. Boy Scouts would also likely offer Raider a place of familiarity and confidence. He gained skills in trying multiple different types of notts, which was a skill he continued to carry later on into his crimes. Once Dennis Raider was arrested, a forensics pschologist named Tony Rhrit conducted Dennis Rader's initial assessment Psychology. Today shares what mister Tony Rohrett concluded about Dennis's childhood quote. If Rader was completely honest, which he is not, I am sure that he would find some sort of childhood event that Rader immediately associated with feelings of sexuality. Somehow. Very early on, Rider encountered an event where he immediately leaked sexual pleasure with watching a living creature suffer and die. And after that first encounter, Rader probably began to work very hard to nurture those feelings. End quote. I know we've previously talked about how Dennis Rader is very open and honest about his killings, but that wasn't until he was in court having played guilty, and he was confessing his crimes to the judge. And that's only the crimes that he did confess to. We still believe he is responsible for more killings, which we will dive into in our next episode. However, by multiple accounts, Dennis Rader would be concerned or to pathological liar. How could he not be in order to live this duplicitous life. Is it possible he doesn't. Remember a type of trauma which occurred, or could he have just been born this way? By Dennis's own admission, he says that he actually began to have sexual fantasies of dominance, bondage, and torture from a young age, as young as elementary school. He goes on to explain that by puberty, who's fully envisioning acting out those fantasies in his mind. When he graduates high school in nineteen sixty four, he goes on to attend college, where he actually doesn't do too well, not surprisingly, but continuing with the theme of achieving mediocre grades, he does end up dropping out a few years later, and when he's twenty one, he joins the United States Air Force. It's there that he spies on women getting dressed, and he also does a string of break ins to steal women's undergarments. He goes on to stay in the United States Air Force from nineteen sixty six through nineteen seventy and just one year after he is back home, he meets a woman named Paula Deets and marries her in nineteen seventy one. Born to an engineer and a librarian, Paula was also raised in Kansas in a religious household, and she went on to graduate within a counting degree in nineteen seventy and it's shortly after that when she meets Dennis Raider. They were not together very long, you guys. It's actually less than a year from when they met to when they actually got married in nineteen seventy one, and just two years later, in nineteen seventy three, Dennis graduates from a community college with an associate's degree in electronics, which does help him in his job as an ADT security install man installing security systems in homes. Now. He would have that job from nineteen seventy four through nineteen eighty eight, and it's not lost on us that Dennis Ritter was installing many of the home security systems for Wichitav residents who were scared about the BTK killer entering their homes. Also in nineteen seventy three, Dennis and Paula Raider would welcome their child together, a son named Brian. And that is bringing us back to the beginning a Dennis Raider's time as a bind, torture and kill serial killer. As just a few months after the birth of his first child, you guys, Dennis Raider would commit his first murders, the Ottero family murders Julie, Josephine Joseph and Joey Junior in January of nineteen seventy four, while his wife cared for their three month newborn. Dennis Rader would carry out his sex sickening fantasies in real life. From nineteen seventy four through nineteen seventy seven, Dennis Rader was continuing his work as the ADT security installer. Now during this time, Dennis Raider os BTK killed the four Otto family members and then he killed Catherine Bright in nineteen seventy four and it's not until seventy seventy kills again taking the lives of Shirley Van and Nancy Fowo. Now he goes dormant as BTK until nineteen eighty five. So what was he doing during that dormant time We have nineteen seventy eight through nineteen eighty five where we don't hear a thing from BTK. Well, Dennis and Paula would go on to welcome a second child in nineteen seventy eight, a daughter named Carrie. You guys, he was busy with two young children, and he decides to go back to college in nineteen seventy nine, he graduates with a bachelor's degree in administration of Justice. In nineteen eighty five he takes the life of Marine Hedge and in nineteen eighty nine Dennis changes jobs and he is now working as a census field operations supervisor and just a few short years later, just two years later, he takes on another job of authority as a Park City compliance officer. Remember Park City is a suburb of Wichita where he lives with his family, and he also becomes a dog catcher. And it's also in nineteen ninety one that Dennis Raider kills his final victim, Delores Davis, allegedly now. When reading about this case, the time in between Raider's killings are often referred to as dormant times. However, an oxygen dot com article quotes a professor of psychology named Katherine Ramslin. She wrote the book Confession of a Serial Killer, The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer, by saying, quote, they were detailed lists when names of projects, states, location, circumstances that would have happened to people had he had the full amount of time that he needed and they were home. She said, It's not like he was inactive during those periods of time. It's that he didn't have all the right circumstances to go forward with doing something. End quote. Dennis also would bind himself. He would dress in women's garments and strangle himself with rope, oftentimes tying him self up and taking photos of himself. It was reported that he was trying to emulate his victims and this brought on sexual pleasure for him in between killings. These photos, along with his kill kit items, souvenirs, and victim photos, would all go on to be discovered in different locations, as a later told authorities a multiple hiding spots to find each item. He does, however, admit that he had so many hiding spots that he couldn't even recall where everything was. Now, you guys, recall this is a span of three decades. Rolling Stone Magazine reports that quote he kept them in hiding places throughout the county, some in his home and church, others buried or taped to bridges. He called them hide holes. And while investigators uncovered many of the souvenirs he took from his victims, even Raider doesn't remember exactly where all of them are anymore. End quote. You know, guys, what I find most disturbing is that he kept so many items in his own home, under the floor of his home, and in his own family garage. Professor of psychology Catherine Ramslin explains that Rader was so involved in the trolling, stalking, and meticulous planning that he required a big chunk of time to carry out his crimes against his list of pj's projects. Dennis Raider at one time reportedly had a list of over fifty five individuals whom he was looking to stalk, but just did not have enough time. Ramslin continues to analyze Rader by explaining how she believes that it was Raider's jobs with some type of authority which contributed to his ability to take long periods of breaks in between killings. His own photos of himself helped scratch that itch, all while he admits he never stopped trolley and all during this time, he is carrying out the facade of a good husband, a good employer, the rule follower and enforcer, and the deacon of the church. But was he. His own daughter? Carrie considers her father a psychopathic narcissist, although she recounts how she had great childhood and he taught her ethics, morals, and kindness. She goes on to explain that the way we can best learn about killers like her father is by studying them, which is a big reason why she wrote her own book titled A Serial Killer's Daughter, My Story of Faith, Love and Overcoming. And here we go, you guys, this is how BTK was caught. Now he was caught before he was able to execute the rest of his list of over fifty five names on his project, his PJ. List, So here we go. The Wichita Eagle publishes a thirty year anniversary article on the nineteen seventy four mass killing of the four Otero family murders, which includes extensive writings about BTK. And it's on March seventeenth, two thousand and four, that the Wichita Eagle receives a letter with the return address of the name Bill Thomas Kilmore with the initials BTK inside the letter where items seemingly included to prove that the correspondence was indeed coming from BTK himself. There were three photocopies of polaroid photos of the ones who took a Vicki Woo girl along with Vicky's driver's license, and to sign the envelope he did his symbol signature, which he has done in past correspondence. Of course, the letter get sent off to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where they in turn release information to the public via the media and the Internet about the BTK case gearing up once again. It's also noted that at the time of the Wichita thirty anniversary coverage of the Attaro family and the BTK hysteria, that a book reporting on BTK was also released. Now it was titled Nightmare in Wichita. The hunt for the BTK Strangler by lawyer Robert Beattie, and it was said to have angered BTK as he felt that people were telling his story for him and it was time for him to come back out to continue his story on his own. Now, is that the narcissism showing? About Seven weeks later, on May fifth, two thousand and four, the BTKK killer cannot stop himself from feeding into the fame resurfaced and proceeds to then send local news station kak ETV a puzzle. The puzzle included words that describe Dennis Raider's process, such as prol and also a list of what seemed to be disguises such as serviceman. What's even more odd is it even included four individual numbers, which they would realize after Raider is arrested are the actual numbers of his home address. CNN reported that assistant managing editor Timothy Rogers said, quote, it could be the killer's way of saying, Hey, it was all there in front of your face and you just didn't see it. End quote. Now fast forward seven more months to December of two thousand and four, when BTK starts amping up his public messages and packages he leaves a barbie doll which he has strangled and attached to a part of a PVC pipe, details which nod to the Otero murder of young Josephine, who was hanging from the pipes in the basement of. Her own home. He seems to be adding more and more clues for what to enjoy this cat mouse game with authorities. Perhaps does he possibly believe that they also enjoy it. BTK leaves a plastic bag wrapped in rubber bands in a local park. A man out walking finds it, takes it home and opens it out of curiosity. Inside is the driver's license of Nancy Fox. He delivers the package to kak ETV news station, who in turn rightfully turned it over immediately to the police. This is the confirmation that Nancy was btk's victim, and this was BTK actually corresponding with them. Just a few weeks later, in January of two thousand and five, BTK sends a postcard containing more clues. This time it was a postcard sent again to the new station with instructions unwhere to find the other packages. The police were able to locate the items, and inside the first package they found descriptions of the Otera murder that only the KI and the police would know. He also asked if they had found his other message he previously left at Home Depot will not knowing about this one, the police head over to Home Depot immediately, and after questioning employees, it came about that one worker found a cereal box in the bed of his truck. Assuming it was trash, he tosses it, but the police are able to recover it from the man's trash. And is this message which will lead to Btk's capture? Well, what is this message? BTK asked the police if he would be able to communicate with them using a floppy disk without the police being able to trace it back to him, and for the police to reply to him by putting an ad in the paper if it's okay with the words rex, it will be okay. And this is why I'm left to wonder if Dennis Raider really did believe the police enjoyed the game of cat and mouse. You know, that same month, police take out an ad in the newspaper just as instructed, and on January twenty then undercover detective has a Wichita Eagle newspaper print the following ad rex it will be okay contact me pobox first four reference numbers at six seven two zero two and as suspected, Dennis rate Of replies to the ad within six days by again sending a lettered KAKATV confirming he did indeed see the message. And now they wait, could BTK truly send a floppy disc to them? Would this really happen? You know, they're waiting for this floppy disc which will hopefully be arriving from the serial killer BTK, which can absolutely be traced. It was just about three weeks after confirmation from BTK that on February sixteen, two thousand and five, a floppy disc arrives to police. They immediately hand it to their cybercops specialists, who gets to work to access the floppy disks metadata. Each disc has something called metadata, which is basically an identifier or users with the disc. The metadata on the disc was obtained and it said the last user was by a quote Dennis at Christ Lutheran Church at Park City Library end quote. The police were quick to discover that the church's president was a man named Dennis Raider. Within the next nine days, authorities work behind the scenes to gather as much information on Dennis Rader as they can. Now, you'll recall in the past parts of this episode we covered that the BTK Killer left behind physical DNA evidence, which was collected in stored securely throughout the years. The task force titled the Ghostbusters was ready to bring Dennis in after they confirmed matching DNA. So how did they do this without tipping Denis off that they knew who he truly was? How did they get his DNA? Okay, this park gets a bit controversial, and I'm curious to know your thoughts on this, but I'm just going to state the facts. The police attained a warrant to get medical records from BTK Dennis Raider's daughter's university. We're five years prior she had a PAP smear and it's on February twenty fifth, two thousand and five. BTK Killer is finally stopped. And that's not all they stopped. The subsequent capture of BTK Dennis Rader meant that they stopped any planned future projects. Those were stopped, Those people were saved. But did he do more murders? We don't know yet, but we're going to talk next week to somebody who thinks that she's cracked the two thousand and four word search that Dennis Raiders sent to the KAKETV news station, and what she has to say is gonna blow your mind. So make sure you come back next week, you guys. It's crazy. On June twenty seven, two thousand and five, Dennis Raider pleads guilty, and on August eighteenth, two thousand and five, Dennis is sentenced to ten consecutive life terms in prison, where he remains today. One common question which I often saw in my research for this case was how did the family just not know well? Btk's daughter Carrie, she recalls a time in her book looking back that there were some signs, but overall, she says he was ninety five percent an amazing dad and father. She does recount one time, though, when she came home to visit from college, they were all at the dinner table and her father lunged across at her brother during an argument and choked him until he turned white. Aside from that, she does not recall many signs. She says if anyone in her family believed he could have been the local BTK serial killer, they would have immediately told authorities. Carrie goes on to explain how hard it was to believe that BTK was the same man as her father. The trauma in PTSD that his daughter has shared about going through is immense, and she is living her life the best way she can amid the reality of the monster who she now knows was her father. She hopes that people will be able. To learn from her story and experience as a serial killer's daughter for one purpose, you guys. It's this to stop people like her father in the future and to end the murders of innocence people. Thank you for being here, guys. Thank you for caring, for always being open to learning, and for diving deeper into these cases, learning about the why, not just the how. This has been true Cremen Headlines. I'm your host, Jules Thorpe Jen Rivera. We'll be back with us next week and this concludes our coverage of Dennis Raider, the BTK Strangler serial killer. I'll see you guys next week, and don't forget. You're wanted, your loved, and your voice matters, so go ahead and use it. Baby Fireeyes Media
Season 2 - Part 1: Available Now
