25

The BTK Serial Killer

In the mid-afternoon of 15 January 1974, 15-year-old Charlie Otero arrived home from school in Wichita, Kansas, where he lived in a quiet neighbourhood with his devout Catholic parents and four siblings. Inside he came across the dead bodies of his mother and father in their bedroom. His father Joseph, 38, was lying face down on the floor at the foot of the bed with his wrists and ankles bound together and a plastic bag tied over his head. Charlie’s mother, 34-year-old Julie Otero, was tied up on the bed where she had been gagged and strangled. Charlie fled to a neighbour’s house to get help, not realising that he had only witnessed the half of the horror. There was more to come.

The neighbour tried to call the police but the Otero home phone line had been cut. He went home and rang the police while Charlie waited outside. When the police arrived and searched the house they found Charlie’s brother, nine-year-old Joseph Jr, face down on the floor in his bedroom. The boy’s wrists and ankles were also bound and there were three plastic bags over his head. In the basement police discovered the dead body of Charlie’s 11-year-old sister, Josephine. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Joseph Otero’s watch was missing and Julie Otero’s purse had been rifled and dumped nearby. Outside of that there was no evidence of a break and enter, robbery, or any sort of a struggle. After the murders, the killer had brazenly driven off in the Otero family car and parked it to be found near Dillons grocery store, only a few blocks away.

With absolutely nothing to go on, police dug deep into Joseph and Julie Otero’s past. Joseph Otero was born in Puerto Rico and emigrated to the United States; he joined the military services, where he was a well-regarded flight instructor and mechanic. Joseph Otero was in peak physical condition and was an excellent boxer. He was a loving husband and father and well regarded in the community. The same could be said for his beloved wife Julie, who was a loving wife and devoted mother with lots of friends. Like her husband, she knew how to look after herself in the event of trouble after many years of training in judo.

So how could this possibly happen? Was it a contract hit? If so, why? There was no possible reason. Was it a random killing? If so, then why a whole family? To be carried out without so much as a living witness in broad daylight required surveillance, planning and precision timing. And how could one person subdue so many people who were skilled in martial arts? That’s if it was just the one killer.

But it was just the beginning. After the Otero family killings, over the next four years three more women were brutally tied up, tortured, asphyxiated and murdered, unmistakably by the same killer. And, as the death toll mounted, the killer taunted police with a barrage of appalling poems of death and letters complaining that his murders weren’t getting enough publicity. In the letters the killer said that he reasoned it was because he didn’t have a nickname like other multiple murderers, and seeing as the local police or paper wouldn’t give him one he would come up with one himself.

After giving police such alternatives as ‘the Wichita Strangler’, ‘the Poetic Strangler’, ‘the Wichita Hangman’ and ‘the Asphyxiator’, the serial killer settled on BTK as the nickname for himself. It stood for ‘bind, torture, kill’, as this was how he murdered his victims. And then, in 1978, with seven murders to his credit, BTK disappeared without a trace or the slightest clue as to who he may be.

Wichita police never gave up the hunt for BTK, but every new investigation came to nothing. Then in 2004, almost 26 years after his last murder, Wichita police received a letter from BTK containing information that only the killer could have known, about another murder in 1986 in nearby Park City, which investigators hadn’t connected with the BTK slayings.

Over the next 12 months BTK corresponded regularly with police and left packages all over town containing items that he had souvenired from each victim, along with graphic descriptions and Polaroid photos of each murder scene. Becoming more brazen as each week passed, BTK decided to use a computer for his correspondence and, in his ignorance of modern technology, in one of his letters asked the detectives if they would be able to read anything else on a disk other than the file he addressed to them, if he sent them a floppy disk. Naturally they said no in their response through the local newspaper’s classifieds.

When the disk arrived and the investigators saw what was on it, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Apart from the usual BTK diatribe of torture and death, there were other files relating to matters where the disk had originated from…the local Lutheran church. On 26 February 2005, Wichita police arrested 59-year-old Dennis L Rader, Wichita’s ordinance inspector and dog catcher, former Boy Scout leader and President of the Wichita Lutheran Church congregation. Rader was a happily married, highly respected member of the city’s religious community with two grown-up children. BTK had been living right there among them all of those years. Rader confessed to all of the BTK murders and another two murders in nearby Park City in 1985 and 1991, bringing his total to 10.

At the first day of his trial on Monday 27 June 2005, Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to the murder of 10 people. When Judge Waller asked if he had anything to say, such as apologising to the victims’ families or asking for forgiveness, it was as if this was Dennis Rader’s moment of glory and he wasn’t going to miss a beat.

To the court’s astonishment – and an audience in the tens of millions watching live on Court TV across America – Rader stood up and proudly described in horrific detail every murder he had committed, and the ones he almost had, which were equally as terrifying.

Prompted by the judge, Rader went on and on for hours with what must be the most extraordinary confession ever broadcast on live television anywhere in the world.

This is how Dennis Rader described the murders of the Otero family to the court:

 

The Defendant: On January 15th, 1974, I maliciously, intentionally and with premeditation killed Joseph Otero.

The Court: All right. Mr Rader, I need to find out more information. On that particular day, the 15th day of January, 1974, can you tell me where you went to kill Mr Joseph Otero?

The Defendant: Mmm, I think it’s 1834 Edgemoor.

The Court: All right. Can you tell me approximately what time of day you went there?

The Defendant: Somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30.

The Court: This particular location, did you know these people?

The Defendant: No, that was part of my – I guess my what you call fantasy. These people were selected.

The Court: All right.

The Court: You were engaged in some kind of fantasy during this period of time?

The Defendant: Yes, sir.

The Court: All right. Now, where you use the term ‘fantasy’, is this something you were doing for your personal pleasure?

The Defendant: Sexual fantasy, sir.

The Court: I see. So you went to this residence, and what occurred then?

The 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.

The Court: All right. Had you planned this beforehand?

The Defendant: To some degree, yes. After I got in the house it – lost control of it, but it – it was – you know, in the back of my mind I had some ideas what I was going to do.

The Court: Did you—

The Defendant: But I just – I basically panicked that first day, so—

The Court: Beforehand did you know who was there in the house?

The 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.

The Court: All right. How did you get into the house, Mr Rader?

The 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.

The Court: All right. So the door opened. Was it opened for you, or did someone—

The Defendant: I think one of the kids – I think the – Junior – or not Junior – yes, the – the young girl – Joseph opened the door. He probably let the dog out ’cause the dog was in the house at the time.

The Court: All right. When you went into the house what happened then?

The 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 [by the police], 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.

The Court: You took who back to the bedroom?

The Defendant: The family, the bedroom – the four members.

The Court: All right. What happened then?

The Defendant: At that time I tied ’em up.

The Court: While still holding them at gunpoint?

The Defendant: Well, in between tying, I guess, you know.

The Court: All right. After you tied them up what occurred?

The Defendant: Well, they started complaining about being tied up, and I re-loosened 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 the car 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.

The Court: All right. What did you do to Joseph Otero, Sr?

The Defendant: Joseph Otero?

The Court: Yeah, Joseph Otero, Sr. Mr Otero, the father.

The Defendant: Put a plastic bag over his head and then some cords and tightened it.

The Court: This was in the bedroom?

The Defendant: Yes, sir.

The Court: All right. Did he in fact suffocate and die as a result of this?

The Defendant: Not right away, no sir, he didn’t.

The Court: What happened?

The 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—

The Court: Was she also tied up there in the bedroom?

The Defendant: Yes, uh-huh. Yeah, both their hands and their feet were tied up. She was on the bed.

The Court: Where were the children?

The Defendant: Well, Josephine was on the bed, and Junior was on the floor.

The Court: All right.

The Defendant: —at this time.

The 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.

The Defendant: Mm-hmm.

The Court: And he did not die right away. Can you tell me what happened in regards to Joseph Otero?

The 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—

The Court: All right. What did you – you worked pretty quick. What did you do?

The 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—

The Court: Sir, let me ask you about Joseph Otero, Sr.

The Defendant: Senior.

The Court: You indicated he had torn a hole in the bag.

The Defendant: Mm-hmm.

The Court: What did you do with him then?

The 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.

The Court: Did he subsequently die?

The 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—

The Court: All right. So you indicated you strangled Mrs Otero after you had done this; is that correct?

The Defendant: Yeah, I went back and strangled her again.

The Court: All right.

The Defendant: And that – and that – that finally killed her at that time.

The Court: So this is in regards to Count Two. You had, first of all, put the bag over Joseph Otero’s head.

The Defendant: I don’t know. I have no idea. Just—

The Court: What happened then?

The 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.

 

You can watch all of Denis Rader’s confession on YouTube. Type in ‘Dennis Rader Confession’. Be warned. It is not for the faint-hearted. And remember as you watch it that he is completely sane.

After the confession, Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer, was taken away and locked up forever; he will die in jail. Although he would like visitors, no one comes, which surprises him as he feels as if he is a celebrity. The whole story of the BTK serial murders is available in the book Unholy Messenger by Stephen Singular. The movie The Hunt for BTK is available on DVD. Very scary stuff.