Murder of the Otero Family
Defendant: On January 15, 1974, said: I maliciously, intentionally and (with) premeditation killed Joseph Otero. Count Two—
Court: All right. Mr. Rader, I need to find out more information. On that particular day, the fifteenth day of January, 1974, can you tell me where you went to kill Mr. Joseph Otero?
Defendant: Mmm, I think it’s 1834 Edgemoor.
Court: All right. Can you tell me approximately what time of day you went there?
Defendant: Somewhere between seven and seven-thirty.
Court: This particular location, did you know these people?
Defendant: No. That’s—[Off-the-record discussion between the defendant and Ms. McKinnon, his lawyer.] No, that was part of my—I guess my what you call fantasy. These people were selected.
Court: All right. So you—
[Off-the-record discussion between the defendant and Ms. McKinnon.]
Court:—You were engaged in some kind of fantasy during this period of time?
Court: All right. Now, where you use the term fantasy, is this something you were doing for your personal pleasure?
Defendant: Sexual fantasy, sir.
Court: I see. So you went to this residence, and what occurred then?
Defendant: Well, I had—did some thinking on what I was going to do to either Mrs. Otero or Josephine, and basically broke into the house—or didn’t break into the house, but when they came out of the house I came in and confronted the family, and then we went from there.
Court: All right. Had you planned this beforehand?
Defendant: To some degree, yes. After I got in the house it— lost control of it, but it—it was—you know, in back of my mind I had some ideas what I was going to do.
Court: Did you—
Defendant: But I just—I basically panicked that first day, so—
Court: Beforehand did you know who was there in the house?
Defendant: I thought Mrs. Otero and the two kids—the two younger kids were in the house. I didn’t realize Mr. Otero was gonna be there.
Court: All right. How did you get into the house, Mr. Rader?
Defendant: I came through the back door, cut the phone lines, waited at the back door, had reservations about even going or just walking away, but pretty soon the door opened, and I was in.
Court: All right. So the door opened. Was it opened for you, or did someone—
Defendant: I think one of the kids—I think the Ju—Junior—or not Junior—yes, the—the young girl—Joseph [sic] opened the door. He probably let the dog out ’cause the dog was in the house at the time.
Court: All right. When you went into the house what happened then?
Defendant: Well, I confronted the family, pulled the pistol, confronted Mr. Otero and asked him to—you know, that I was there to—basically I was wanted, wanted to get the car. I was hungry, food, I was wanted, and asked him to lie down in the living room. And at that time I realized that wouldn’t be a really good idea, so I finally—The dog was the real problem, so I—I asked Mr. Otero if he could get the dog out. So he had one of the kids put it out, and then I took them back to the bedroom.
Court: You took who back to the bedroom?
Defendant: The family, the bedroom—the four members.
Court: All right. What happened then?
Defendant: At that time I tied ’em up.
Court: While still holding them at gunpoint?
Defendant: Well, in between tying, I guess, you know.
Court: All right. After you tied them up what occurred?
Defendant: Well, they started complaining about being tied up, and I re—reloosened the bonds a couple of times, tried to make Mr. Otero as comfortable as I could. Apparently he had a cracked rib from a car accident, so I had him put a pillow down on his—for his—for his head, had him put a—I think a parka or a coat underneath him. They—You know, they talked to me about, you know, giving me the car or whatever money. I guess they didn’t have very much money, and the—from there I realized that, you know, I was already—I didn’t have a mask on or anything. They already could ID me, and made— made a decision to go ahead and—and put ’em down, I guess, or strangle them.
Court: All right. What did you do to Joseph Otero Sr.?
Defendant: Joseph Otero?
Court: Yeah, Joseph Otero Sr. Mr. Otero, the father.
Defendant: Put a plastic bag over his head and then some cords and tightened it.
Court: This was in the bedroom?
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court: All right. Did he in fact suffocate and die as a result of this?
Defendant: Not right away, no sir, he didn’t.
Court: What happened?
Defendant: Well, after that I—I did Mrs. Otero. I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn’t know how much pressure you had to put on a person or how long it would take, but—
Court: Was she also tied up there in the bedroom?
Defendant: Yes, uh-huh. Yeah, both their hands and their feet were tied up. She was on the bed.
Court: Where were the children?
Defendant: Well, Josephine was on the bed, and Junior was on the floor—
Court: All right.
Defendant:—At this time.
Court: So we’re—we’re talking, first of all, about Joseph Otero. So you had put the bag over his head and tied it.
Defendant: I don’t know. I have no idea. Just—
Court: What happened then?
Defendant: I got the keys to the car. In fact, I had the keys I think earlier before that, ’cause I wanted to make sure I had a way of getting out of the house, and cleaned the house up a little bit, made sure everything’s packed up, and left through the front door, and then went there—went over to their car, and then drove to Dillons, left the car there. Then eventually walked back to my car.
Court: All right. Now, sir, from what you have just said, I take it that the facts you have told me apply to both Counts One all of Counts One, Two, Three, and Four; is that correct?
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court: Now, Mr. Rader— And he did not die right away. Can you tell me what happened in regards to Joseph Otero?
Defendant: He moved over real quick like and I think tore a hole in the bag, and I could tell that he was having some problems there, but at that time the—the whole family just went—they went panicked on me, so I—I—I worked pretty quick. I got Mrs. O—
Court: All right. What did you—You worked pretty quick. What did you do?
Defendant: Well, I mean, I—I—I strangled Mrs. Otero, and then she out, or passed out. I thought she was dead. She passed out. Then I strangled Josephine. She passed out, or I thought she was dead. And then I went over and put a—and then put a bag on Junior’s head and—and then, if I remember right, Mrs. Otero came back. She came back and—
Court: Sir, let me ask you about Joseph Otero Sr.
Defendant: Senior.
Court: You indicated he had torn a hole in the bag.
Defendant: Mm-hmm.
Court: What did you do with him then?
Defendant: I put another bag over it—or either that or a—if I recollect, I think I put a—either a cloth or a T-shirt or something over it—over his head, and then a bag, another bag, then tied that down.
Court: Did he sub—Did he subsequently die?
Defendant: Well, yes. I mean—I mean, I was—I didn’t just stay there and watch him. I mean, I was moving around the room, but—
Court: All right. So you indicated you strangled Mrs. Otero after you had done this; is that correct?
Defendant: Yeah, I went back and strangled her again.
Court: All right.
Defendant: And that—And that—that finally killed her at that time.
The Murder of Kathryn Bright
Court: All right, Mr. Rader. We will now turn to Count Five. In that count it is claimed that on or about the fourth day of April, 1974, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, that you unlawfully killed Kathryn Bright, maliciously, willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation, by strangulation and stabbing, inflicting injuries from which she did die on April 4, 1974. Can you tell me what happened on that day?
[Off-the-record discussions between Mr. Osburn and the defendant.]
Defendant: Well, the—I don’t know how to exactly say that. I had many what I call them projects. They were different people in town that I followed, watched. Kathryn Bright was one of the next targets, I guess, as I would indicate.
Court: How did you select her?
Defendant: Just driving by one day, and I saw her go in the house with somebody else, and I thought that’s a possibility. There was many, many places in the area, College Hill even. They’re all over Wichita. But anyway, that’s—it just was basically a selection process, worked toward it. If it didn’t work I’d just move on to something else, but in the—in the—my kind of person, stalking and strolling [sic]—You go through the trolling stage and then a stalking stage. She was in the stalking stage when this happened.
Court: All right, sir. So you identified Kathryn Bright as a potential victim.
Court: What did you do here in Sedgwick County then?
Defendant: Pardon?
Court: What did you do then here in Sedgwick County?
Defendant: On this particular day?
Court: Yes.
Defendant: I broke into the house and waited for her to come home.
Court: How did you break into the house?
Defendant: Through the back door on the east side.
Court: All right. And you waited for her to come home.
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court: Where did you wait?
Defendant: In the house there, probably close to the bedroom. I walked through the house and kind of figured out where I’d be if they came through.
Court: All right. What happened then?
Defendant: She and Kevin Bright came in. I wasn’t expecting him to be there. And come to find out, I guess they were related. That time I approached them and told them I was wanted in California, needed some car—basically the same thing I told the Oteros. Kind of eased them, make them feel better, and proceeded to—I think I had him tie—I think I had him tie her up first, and then I tied him up, or vice versa. I don’t remember right now at that time.
Court: Let—Let me ask—
Defendant: Mm-hmm.
Court: You indicated that you had some items to tie these people with. Did you bring these items, both the Oteros and to this location?
Defendant: The Oteros I did. I’m not really sure on the Brights. There were some—I—When I had—In working with the police there was some conserversy [sic] on that. Probably more likely I did, but if—if I had brought my stuff and used my stuff Kevin would probably be dead today.
Defendant: I’m not bragging on that. It’s just a matter of fact. It’s the bond had tau—row [sic]—tied him up with that he broke them, so that—
Court: All right, sir.
Defendant: It may be same way with—same with Kathryn. It was—They got outta—got outta hand.
Court: All right. Now, you indicated you believe you had Kevin tie Kathryn up.
Defendant: Mm-hmm.
Court: Tell me what happened then.
Defendant: Okay. I moved—Well, after—I really can’t remember, Judge, whether I had her tie him up or she tied him up; but anyway, I moved basically I moved her to another bedroom, and he as already secure there by the bed. Tied his feet to the bedpost—one of the bedposts so that he couldn’t run. Kind of tired her in the other bedroom, and then I came back to strangle him, and at that time we had a fight.
Court: Were you armed with a handgun at that time also?
Defendant: Yes, I had a handgun.
Court: All right. What happened when you came back?
Defendant: I actually had two handguns.
Court: All right.
Defendant: Well, when I started strangling, the—either the garrote broke or he broke his bonds, and he jumped up real quick like. I pulled my gun and quickly shot him. It hit him in the head. He fell over. I could see the blood. And as far as I was concerned, he—you know, I thought he was down and was out, and then went and started to strangle Kath—or Kathryn. And then we started fighting, ’cause the bonds weren’t very good, and so back and forth we fought.
Defendant: Yeah, we fought, uh-huh. And I got the best of her, and I thought she was going down, and then I could hear some movement in the other room. So I went back, and Kevin—No. No. I thought she was going down, and I went back to the other bedroom where Kevin was at, and I tried to restrangle him at that time, and he jumped up, and we fought, and—and he about—at that time about shot me, ’cause he got the other pistol that was in my shoulder here. I had my magnum in my shoulder. So—And really—
Court: A shoulder holster?
Defendant: Hmm?
Court: Did you have it in a shoulder holster?
Defendant: Yes, mm-hmm. I had the magnum in my shoulder holster. The other one was a .22.
Court: All right.
Defendant: And we fought at that point in time, and I thought it was gonna go off. I jammed the gun, stuck my finger in the— in there, jammed it; and I think he thought that was the only gun I had ’cause once I either bit his finger or hit him or something, got away, and I used the .22 and shot him one more time, and I thought he was down for good that time.
Court: All right. So you shot him a second time.
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court: Went back to finish the job on Kathryn, and she was fighting. And at that point in time I’d been fighting her. I just—And then I heard some—I don’t know whether I was lose—basically losing control. The strangulation wasn’t working on her, and I used a knife on her. You say you used a knife on her.
Court: What did you do with the knife?
Defendant: I stabbed her. She was stab—either stabbed two or three times, either here or here, maybe two back here and one here, or maybe just two times back here.
Court: And you’re—you’re pointing to your lower back and your—your—
Defendant: Yeah, underneath the ribs.
Court:—And your lower abdomen.
Defendant: Yeah, underneath the ribs, up—up under the ribs.
Court: So after you stabbed her what happened?
Defendant: Actually I think at that point in time—Well, it’s a total mess ’cause I didn’t have control on it. She was bleeding. She went down. I think I just went back to check on Kevin, or at that basically same time I heard him escape. It could be one of the two. But all the sudden the front door of the house was open and he was gone, and—Oh, I tell you what I thought. I thought the police were coming at that time. I heard the door open. I thought, you know, that’s it; and I stepped out there, and he—I could see him running down the street. So I quickly cleaned up everything that I could and left.
Court: All right. Now, Mr. Rader, you indicated that at the Oteros’ you did not have a mask on. Did you have a mask on at the Brights’?
Defendant: No. No I didn’t, huh-uh.
Court: All right. So what happened then?
Defendant: I tried—I had—already had the keys to the cars, and I thought I had the right key to the right car. I ran out to their car, what—I think it was a pickup out there. And I tried it, didn’t work; and at that point in time I was—he was gone, running down the street. I thought well, I’m in trouble, so I tried it, didn’t work. So I just took off, ran. I went down—went east and then worked back toward the [Wichita State University] campus where my car was parked.
Court: All right. So you had parked your car at the Wichita State University—
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court:—Campus?
Defendant: The campus, uh-huh.
Court: How far away were—was the Brights’ residence?
Defendant: Oh, I parked—What is that? Thirteenth? And their—I want to say their—I parked by that park, and then I walked to Thirteenth to the Brights’ residence. So I basically ran back.
Court: All right. So you were able to get to your car and get away.
Defendant: Yes, sir.
The Murder of Shirley Vian
Court: Now let’s turn to Count Six. In that count they claim on March 17, 1977, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, that you unlawfully killed Shirley Vian, maliciously, willfully, deliberately and with premeditation, by strangulation, inflicting injuries from which she did die on March 17, 1977. Can you tell me what you did on that day?
Defendant: As before, Vian was a—Actually on that one she was completely random. There was actually someone that across from Dillons was potential target. I had project numbers assigned to it. And that particular day I drove to Dillons, parked in the parking lot, watched this particular residence, and then got out of the car and walked over to it. It’s probably in the police report, the address. I don’t remember the address now. Knocked. Nobody—Nobody answered it. So I was all keyed up, so I just started going through the neighborhood. I had been through the neighborhood before. I know of knew a little— little of the layout of the neighborhood. I’d been through the back alleys, knew where some—certain people lived. While I was walking down Hydraulic I met—a young boy and asked him if he would ID some pictures, kind of as a russ [sic], I guess, or ruse as you call it, and kind of feel it out, and saw where he went, and I went to another address, knocked on the door. Nobody opened the door, so I just noticed where he went and went to that house and we went from there.
Court: Now, you—you call these “projects.” Were these sexual fantasies also?
Defendant: Potential hits. That—In my world, that’s what I called them.
Court: All right. So you—
Defendant: They were called projects, hits.
Court: All right. And—And why did you have these potential hits? Was this to gratify some sexual interest or—
Defendant: Yes, sir. I had—There—I had a lot of them, so it’s just—if one didn’t work I’d just move to another one.
Court: All right. So as I am to understand it then, on [March 17], 1977, you saw this little boy go into a residence.
Defendant: Mm-hmm.
Court: And you tried another residence?
Defendant: Sir?
Court: No one was there? You tried another residence. No on was there, so you—
Defendant: Right, right, right, right. Yeah.
Court:—Went to the residence with the little boy—
Defendant: And I watched—I watched where he went.
Defendant: After I tried this once, the residence, nobody came to the door. I went to this house where he went in, knocked on the door and told ’em I was a private detective, showed ’em a picture that I had just showed the boy and asked ’em if they could ID the picture; and that time I—I had the gun here and I just kind of forced myself in. I just, you know, walked in—just opened the door and walked in and then pulled a pistol.
…
Court: What happened then?
Defendant: I told Mrs.—Miss Vian that I had a problem with sexual fantasies, that I was going to tie her up, and that—and I might have to tie the kids up, and that she would cooperate with this—cooperate with me at that time. We went back. She was extremely nervous. Think she even smoked a cigarette. And we went back to the—one of the back—back areas of the porch, explained to her that I had done this before, and, you know, I think she—at that point in time I think she was sick ’cause she had a night robe on, and I think, if I remember right, she was—she had been sick. I think—I think she came out of the bedroom when I went in the house. So anyway, we went back to the—her bedroom, and I proceeded to tie the kids up, and they started crying and got real upset. So I said, oh, this is not gonna work, so we moved ’em to the bathroom. She helped me. And then I tied the door shut. We put some toys and blankets and odds and ends in there for the kids, make them as comfortable as we could. Tied the—We tied one of the bathroom doors shut so they couldn’t open it, and we shoved—she went back and helped me shove the bed up against the other bathroom door, and then I proceeded to tie her up. She got sick, threw up. Got her a glass of water, comforted her a little bit, and then went ahead and tied her up and then put a blag [sic]—a bag over her head and strangled her.
Court: All right. Was this a plastic bag also?
Defendant: Yes, sir. I think it was.
Defendant: But I could be wrong in that.
Court: You put a bag or—
Defendant: It was something—I’m sure it was a plastic bag, yeah.
Court: Now, you say you put a bag over her head and strangled her. What did you strangle her with?
Defendant: I actually—I think on that I had tied—tied her legs to the bedposts and worked up with the rope all the way up, and then what I had left over I looped over her neck.
Court: All right. So you used this rope to strangle her?
Defendant: Yes, uh-huh. I think—I think it was the same one that I tied her body with, mm-hmm.
Court: All right. What happened then?
Defendant: Well, the kids were really banging on the door, hollering and screaming, and—and then the telephone rang, and they had talked earlier that the neighbor’s gonna check on ’em, so I cleaned everything up real quick like, and got out of there, left and went back in—to my car.
Court: Now, when you say you cleaned everything—
Defendant: Well, I mean put my stuff—I had a briefcase. Whatever I have laying around, ropes, tape, cords, I threw that in there, my—you know, whatever, you know, that I had that I brought in the house.
Court: Had you brought that to the Bright residence also or—
Defendant: Yeah, there is some—There—I—I think there’s some basic stuff, but I don’t remember bringing total stuff like I did to some of the others.
Court: Was this a kit that you had prepared—
Defendant: Yeah. I—
Court:—Beforehand?
Defendant: Yes. I call it my hit kit.
Court: All right, sir. You left the Vian residence, and had you parked your vehicle near there?
Defendant: Yeah, still in the same parking lot there at
Dillons—
Court: All right.
Defendant:—At Hydraulic and—What is that? Harry? Lincoln. Lincoln, yeah. Lincoln and—Lincoln and Hydraulic.
The Murder of Nancy Fox
Court: All right. In Count Seven it is claimed that on the eighth day of December, 1977, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, that you unlawfully killed a human being, that being Nancy Fox, maliciously, willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation, by strangulation, inflicting injuries from which the said Nancy Fox did die on December 8, 1977. Can you tell me what you did on that day here in Sedgwick County?
Defendant: Nancy Fox was another one of the projects. When I was trolling the area I noticed her go in the house one night. Sometimes I would—And anyway, I put her down as potential victim.
Court: Let me ask you one thing, Mr. Rader. You’ve used that term when you were patrolling the area. What do you mean by that?
Defendant: It’s called stalking or trolling.
Court: So you were not working in any form or fashion. You were just—
Defendant: Well, I don’t know, if—you know, if you read much about serial killers, they go through what they call the different phases. That’s one of the phases they go through is a—as a trolling stage. You’re lay—Basically you’re looking for a victim at that time, and that can either be trolling for months or years. But once you lock in on a certain person then you become stalking, and that might be several of them, but you really hone in on that person. They—They basically come the—That’s— That’s the victim, or at least that’s what you want ’em to be.
Defendant: No, no. I wasn’t working sir.
Court: All right.
Defendant: No, this was—No, this was off—off—off my hours.
Court: All right. So you basically identified Nancy Fox as one of your projects. What happened then?
Defendant: At first she was spotted, and then I did a little homework. I dropped by once to check the mailbox to see what her name was, found out where she worked, stopped by there once at Helzberg, kind of sized her up. I had—The more I know about a person the—the more I felt comfortable with it,
so I did that a couple of times; and then I just selected a night, which was this particular night, to try it, and it worked out.
Court: All right. Can you tell me what you did on the night of December 8, 1977?
Defendant: About two or three blocks away I parked my car and walked to that residence. I knocked at the—knocked at the door first to make sure, see if anybody was in there ’cause I knew she arrived home at a particular time from where she worked. Nobody answered the door, so I went around to the back of the house, cut the phone lines. I could tell that there wasn’t anybody in the north apartment. Broke in and waited for her to come home in the kitchen.
Court: All right. Did she come home?
Defendant: Yes, she did.
Court: What happened?
Defendant: I confronted her, told here there—I was a—I had a problem, sexual problem, that I would have to tie her up and have sex with her.
Defendant: She was a little upset. We talked for a while. She smoked a cigarette. While the—While we smoked a cigarette I went through her purse, identifying some stuff, and she finally said, Well, let’s get this over with so I can go call the police. I said, Yes. She went to the bathroom and came—and I told her when she came out to make sure that she was undressed. And when she came out I handcuffed her, and don’t really remember whether I—
Court: You handcuffed her?
Defendant: Sir?
Court: You handcuffed her? You had a pair of handcuffs?
Defendant: Yes, sir, uh-huh, mm-hmm.
Court: What happened then?
Defendant: Well, anyway, I had her—I handcuffed her, had her lay on the bed, and then I tied her feet, and then I—I—I—was also undressed to a certain degree, and then I got on top of her, and then reached over, took either—either—either her feet were tied or not tied, but anyway, I took—I think I had a belt. I took the belt and then strangled her with the belt at that time.
Court: All right. All right. After you had strangled her what happened then?
Defendant: Okay. After I strangled her with the belt I took the belt off and retied that with pantyhose real tight, removed the handcuffs and tied those with—with pantyhose. Can’t remember the colors right now. I think I maybe retied her feet, if they hadn’t already—they were probably already tied, her feet were, and then at that time masturbated, sir.
Court: All right. Had you had sexual relations with her—
Defendant: No.
Court:—Before?
Defendant: No, no. I told her I was, but I did not.
Court: All right. So you masturbated. Then what did you do?
Defendant: Dressed and then went through the house, took some personal items, and kind of cleaned the house up, went through and made—checked everything and then left.
Court: All right.
The Murder of Marine Hedge
Court: All right, sir. Let’s turn to Count Eight. In Count Eight it is claimed that on or about the twenty-seventh day of April, 1985, to the twenty-eighth day of April, 1985, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, it is claimed that you unlawfully killed a human being, Marine Hedge, maliciously, willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation, by strangulation, inflicting injuries from which Marine Hedge did die on April 27, 1985. Can you tell me what occurred on that day?
Defendant: Well, actually, kind of like the others. She was chosen. I went through the different phases, stalking phase, and since she lived down the street from me I could watch the coming and going quite easily. On that particular date I—I had a—a other [sic] commitment. I came back from that commitment. Parked my car over at Woodlawn and Twenty-first Street at a bowling alley there at the time. Before that I dressed into—I had some other clothes on. I changed clothes. I went to the bowling alley, went in there under the pretense of bowling, called a taxi. Had a taxi take me out to Park City. Had my kit with me. It was a bowling bag.
Court: All right. Now, is Park City in Sedgwick County, Kansas?
Defendant: Yes, sir, uh-huh, mm-hmm.
Court: All right. You had the taxi take you to Park City. What happened then?
Defendant: There I asked—I—I pretended that I was a little drunk. I just took—I just took some beer and washed it around my mouth, and the guy could probably smell alcohol on me. I asked—told him to let me out so I could get some fresh air, and I walked from where the taxi let me off over to her house.
Court: All right. Where does she live?
…
Defendant:—North Independence.
Court: All right. When you walked over there what happened next?
Defendant: Well, as before, I was going to have sexual fantasies, so I brought my hit kit, and lo and behold, her car was there. I thought, gee, she’s not supposed to be home. So I very carefully snuck into the house, she wasn’t there. So about that time the doors rattled, so I went—went back to one of the bedrooms and hid back there in one of the bedrooms. She came in with a male visitor. They were there for maybe an hour or so. Then he left. I waited till wee hours of the morning. I then proceeded to sneak into her bedroom and flip the lights on real quick like, or I think the bathroom lights. I just—I didn’t want to flip her lights on, and she screamed, and I jumped on the bed and strangled her manually.
Court: All right. Now, were you wearing any kind of disguise or mask at this time?
Defendant: No. No.
Court: You indicated this woman lived down the street from you. Did she know you?
Defendant: Casually. We’d walk by and wave. She—She liked to work in her yard as well as I liked to work, and it’s just a neighborly type thing. It wasn’t anything personal, I mean, just a neighbor.
Court: All right. So she was in her bed when you turned on the lights in the bathroom?
Defendant: Yeah, the bathroom, yeah, just to—so I could get some light in there.
Court: All right. What did you do then?
Defendant: Oh, I manually strangled her when she started to scream.
Court: So you used your hands?
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court: And you strangled her? Did she die?
Defendant: Yes.
Court: All right. What did you do then?
Defendant: After that, since I was in the sexual fantasy, I went ahead and stripped her and probably went ahead and—I’m not for sure if I tied her up at that point in time, but anyway, she was nude, and I put her on a blanket, went through her purse, some personal items in the house, figured out how I was gonna get her out of there. Eventually moved her to the trunk of the car. Took the car over to Christ Lutheran Church—This is with the older church—and took some pictures of her.
Court: All right. You took some photographs of her. What kind of camera did you use?
Defendant: Polaroid.
Court: All right. Did you keep those photographs?
Defendant: Yes. The police probably have them.
Court: All right. All right. What happened then?
Defendant: That was it. I went—I took—She went through— I tied—She was already dead, so I took pictures of her in different forms of bondage, and that’s probably what got me in trouble is the bondage thing. So anyway—That’s probably the—the main thing. But anyway, after that I moved her back out to the car, and then we went east on Fifty-third.
Court: All right. What occurred then?
Defendant: Sir?
Court: What happened then?
Defendant: Oh, trying to find a place to hide her, hide the body.
Court: Did you find a place?
Defendant: Yes. Yes, I did.
Court: Where?
Defendant: Couldn’t tell you without looking at a map, but it was on Fifty-third, between Greenwich maybe—maybe— What’s—What’s the other one between Green—Greenwich and Rock?
Mr. Osburn: Webb.
Defendant: Webb. Between—I think between wed [sic] and— Webb and Greenwich I found a ditch, a low place on the north side of the road, and hid her there.
Court: All right. You say you hid her there. Did you—
Defendant: Well, there were some—there were some trees, some brush, and I laid that over the top of her body.
Court: All right. So you removed the body from the car, put her in the ditch, then laid some—some brush over the body.
Defendant: Yes, sir.
The Murder of Dolores E. Davis
Court: Now, sir, let’s turn to Count Ten. In that count it’s claimed that on or about the eighteenth day of January, 1991, to the [nineteenth] day of January, 1991, in the County of Sedgwick, State of Kansas, that you did then and there unlawfully kill a human being, that being Dolores E. Davis, maliciously, willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation, by strangulation, inflicting injuries from which the said Dolores E. Davis did die on January 19, 1991. Mr. Rader, please tell me what you did here in Sedgwick County, Kansas, on that day that makes you believe you’re guilty.
Defendant: That particular day I had some commitments. I left those, went to one place, changed my clothes, went to another place, parked my car, finally made arrangements on my hit kit, my clothes, and then walked to that residence. After spending some time at that residence—It was very cold that night. Had reservations about going in ’cause I—I had cased the place before, and I really couldn’t figure out how to get in, and she was in the house, so I finally just selected a—a concrete block and threw it through the plate glass window on the east and came on in.
Court: All right. Where is this residence located?
Defendant: It’s on Hillside, but I couldn’t give the address. I know it’s probably 61—probably 62 something. I don’t know. 62 something.
Court: North or South?
Defendant: North. North Hillside.
Court: All right. So you used a concrete block to break a window?
Defendant: Mm-hmm, plate glass window, patio door, mm-hmm.
Court: All right. What happened then?
Defendant: Noise. I just went in. She came out of a bedroom and thought a car had hit her house, and I told her that I was—I used a—the ruse of being wanted. I was on the run; I needed food, car, warmth, warm up, and then I asked her—I handcuffed her and kind of talked to her, told her that I would like to get some food, get her keys to her car, and kind of rest assured, you know, walked—talked with her a little bit and calmed her down a little bit. And then eventually I checked—I think she was still handcuffed. I went back and checked out where the car was, simulated getting some food, odds and ends in the house, kind of like I was leaving, then went back and removed her handcuffs and—and then tied her up and then—and then eventually strangled her.
Court: All right. You say “eventually strangled her.”
Defendant: Well, after I tied her up. I went through some things in the room there and then—and then strangled her.
Court: All right. You say you went through. Were you looking for something?
Defendant: Mm-hmm. Well, some personal items, yes. I took some personal items from there.
Court: Did you take personal items in every one of these incidents?
Defendant: I did on the Hedge. I don’t remember anything in Vicki’s place. The Oteros we got the watch and the radio. I don’t think I did any in Brights’. Vian’s, no, I don’t think so. Fox, yes. I took some things from Fox. It was hit and miss.
Court: All right. But in regard—
Defendant: Prob—Probably if it—if it—if it was a controlled situation where I had more time I took something, but if it—if it was a confusion and other things I didn’t ’cause I was trying to get out of there.
Court: All right. So in regard to the Davis matter, you went around the room, took a few personal things. What did you do then?
Defendant: Strangled her.
Court: What did you strangle her with?
Defendant: Pantyhose.
Court: All right. What happened then? Did she die?
Defendant: Kind of like Mrs. Hedge. I already figured out my—I had a, you know, plan on leaving and put her in a blanket and drug her to the car, put her in the trunk of the car.
Court: So you were able to strangle her to death with these pantyhose.
Defendant: Yes, sir.
Court: All right. You put her in your car.
Defendant: In her car.
Court: Or in a car.
Defendant: Her car.
Court: Her car or trunk.
Defendant: Uh-huh, the trunk of her car, uh-huh.
Court: What happened then?
Defendant: I really had a commitment I needed to go to, so I moved her to one spot, took her out of her car. This gets complicated. Then the stuff I had, clothes, gun, whatever, I took that to another spot in her car, dumped that off. Okay. Then took her car back to her house. Left that. Let me think now. Okay. In the interim—I took her car back to her house. In the interim I realized that I had lost one of my guns. I dropped it somewhere. So I was distraught trying to figure out where my gun was. So I went back in the house, realized I had dropped it when I went in the—when I broke the plate glass window. It dropped. It fell on the floor right there, and I found it right there. So that solved that problem. Anyway, I went back out, threw the keys—checked the car real quick—quick like and threw the keys up on top of the roof of her house, walked from her car back to my car, took my car, drove it back, and I either dropped more stuff off or I picked her up and put ’em in my car, and then I drove northeast of Sedgwick County and dropped her off underneath a bridge.
Court: All right. So all of these incidents, these ten counts, occurred because you wanted to satisfy a sexual fantasy; is that correct?
Defendant: Yes, mm-hmm.
Court: Does any party desire any further matters to be put on the record at this time?
Mr. Osburn: No, your Honor.
Court: All right. You may be seated, Mr. Rader.
