WEBVTT

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Okay, let's unpack this. Imagine, if you will,

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the ultimate contradiction. It's the thing, you

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know, it keeps us awake at night just staring

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at the ceiling. You look at your neighbor. The

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guy who mows his lawn every Saturday at 8 .30

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a .m. sharp. Always. Like clockwork. The guy

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who puts on the uniform to run the local Cub

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Scout troop. The guy who gets elected president

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of the church council because he's just so dependable.

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He's the pillar of the community. The guy you

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trust with your spare key when you go on vacation.

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The guy who waves when you drive by every single

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morning. Exactly. You trust him because he's

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boring. You trust him because he follows the

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rules. But what we're exploring today is the

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terrifying. reality that sometimes that boring

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adherence to rules is actually a mass. A very

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rigid one. A rigid, carefully constructed dam

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holding back a reservoir of absolute sadism.

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We are talking, of course, about Dennis Rader.

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To his family and neighbors in Park City, Kansas,

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he was the blue book man. A compliance officer

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so obsessed with city ordinances, he, and this

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is true, he'd measure your grass with a tape

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measure to see if it was a quarter inch too tall.

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Unbelievable. But to the rest of the world, he

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was the monster hiding in the dark. He was the

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man who bound, tortured, and killed men, women,

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and children, and then bragged about it to the

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media under a moniker he gave himself. BTK. Bind.

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torture, kill, even just saying the words feels

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heavy. And I think that's where our mission lies

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for this deep dive. We aren't just going to recite

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a timeline of crimes here. No, this is different.

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We have a massive stack of source material, psychological

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evaluations, court transcripts, police reports,

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and even his own. his own twisted journals. And

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we need to answer a specific question. How? How

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does a human mind compartmentalize this? That's

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the core of it. How do you strangle a neighbor

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in the afternoon and then lead a church meeting

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in the evening without the mask even slipping?

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That is the factor X, as Rader himself called

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it. And to understand it, we have to look past

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the sensational headlines. We have to look at

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the banality of his evil because Rader wasn't

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a genius. No, Phil. He wasn't Hannibal Lecter.

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He was a bumbling, narcissistic bureaucrat. who

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got lucky for 30 years. That's a key distinction

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I want to nail down right away. We so often mythologize

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these guys as these evil geniuses playing 4D

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chess with the police. Right, the supervillain

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trope. But looking at the sources, Raider seems...

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Kind of pathetic. Incredibly so. And that's what

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makes him so dangerous. He's not a movie monster.

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He's the petty tyrant at the DMV who also happens

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to be a serial killer. He's the guy who needs

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to feel superior, whether that's by citing you

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for a zoning violation or by taking a life. So

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buckle up. We are going to unpack the psychology

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of that mask, the devastating failures of the

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investigation, the hiatus that wasn't really

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a hiatus, and the sheer dumb luck and massive

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ego that eventually led to his downfall. Let's

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dive in. Let's start at the very beginning. 1945,

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Pittsburgh, Kansas. Dennis Lynn Rader enters

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the world. Now, if we look at his childhood,

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are we seeing the classic serial killer starter

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pack? You know, the kind of stuff we see in so

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many other cases. It's interesting because in

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some ways, yes, and in other ways, not at all.

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Usually, when we look at these profiles, we see

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horrific abuse. Right. Broken homes, total chaos.

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Right. But Rader. He grew up in Wichita. His

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dad, William, was a Marine who later worked for

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the Kansas Gas Service. His mom, Dorothea, was

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a bookkeeper. So on paper, it's a stable, middle

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-class American family. Exactly. By all accounts,

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it was a strict, God -fearing Midwestern home.

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There wasn't the kind of overt physical or sexual

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abuse we see in the backgrounds of someone like,

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say, John Wayne Gacy or Aileen Wuornos. But Rader's

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own recollection highlights something else. He

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talks about a deep sense of neglect. Neglect

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is a tricky word, though. I mean, you could argue

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a lot of kids in the 40s and 50s had parents

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who worked hard and just weren't emotionally

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available. Sure, that was sort of the name. They

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didn't all grow up to hang people in basements.

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So that's where the internal pathology comes

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in. Rader felt ignored. He felt his mother was

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always working on her books. His father was distant.

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He resented the attention his younger brothers

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got. So it's his perception of neglect, not necessarily

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the reality. It's his reality. And this feeling

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of invisibility for most people that leads to

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insecurity or, you know, acting out. For Rader,

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it curdled into this deep resentment and. more

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importantly, into fantasy. This is what he later

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called his driving force, Factor X. Factor X.

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It sounds like a bad sci -fi movie title. It

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really does. It was his attempt to externalize

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his evil. He wanted to believe there was some

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supernatural element, a demon or a force, that

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drove him. So he wasn't responsible, Factor X

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was. Precisely. He linked himself to Jack the

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Ripper, to Son of Sam, claiming they all had

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the same affliction. But clinically. When you

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look at the evidence, you see the dark seeds

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were planted very, very early. You've probably

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heard of the McDonald triad. It's the homicidal

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triad, right? Bedwetting, fire starting, and

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animal cruelty. That's the one. It's a predictive

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model that criminologists sometimes use to spot

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potential violent offenders in childhood. Now,

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it's not a perfect science, but Rader ticks the

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animal cruelty box with a terrifyingly bold marker.

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He engaged in what's known as zeucidism. Zeucidism.

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That is a heavy term. Break that down for us.

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What does that actually look like for a young

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Dennis Rader? It's not just, you know, pulling

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wings off flies or being mean to the family dog.

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The sources describe him trapping small animals,

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cats, dogs, strays, and hanging them. Hanging

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them. Hanging them, strangling them. He was rehearsing.

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See, for a sexual sadist. The thrill isn't just

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the death. It's the process of dying. It's the

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control over the breath, the struggle. He was

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learning how long it takes for a life to fade.

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He was learning the mechanics of suffering on

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helpless animals. That is absolute nightmare

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fuel. And he's doing this while, on the surface,

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appearing to be a completely normal kid. He hid

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it well. But he had other secret behaviors going

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on, too. Voyeurism. He was a peeping Tom, spying

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on female neighbors, and he was stealing women's

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underwear. Okay, another classic sight. But he

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wasn't just stealing it to look at it. He was

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wearing it. He was engaging in cross -dressing

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and, crucially, autoerotic asphyxiation. Okay,

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let's pause on autoerotic asphyxiation. For the

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listener who might not know or who only knows

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it from pop culture jokes, what are we really

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talking about here? It's the practice of restricting

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your own oxygen supply. Literally choking yourself

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or using ligatures, ropes, belts to heighten

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sexual arousal. Rader would bind himself. often

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in women's clothing he'd stolen, and restrict

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his breathing. So he's basically treating his

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own body as a test subject for what he wants

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to do to others. Exactly. He's experiencing the

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panic, the loss of control, and then the euphoria

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of release. He's internalizing the mechanics

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of the bind. He knows exactly how the knots feel.

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He knows exactly how the rope burns. So when

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he later applies this to the Otero family or

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Nancy Jo Fox, he isn't guessing. He's an expert

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in the sensation he's inflicting. And despite

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all this swirling darkness, on paper, he's still

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ticking all the normal boxes. He drops out of

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college initially at Kansas Wesleyan, but then

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he joins the Air Force in 1966. Spends four years

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there, stationed in Alabama, Turkey, Greece,

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Japan. He's an antenna installer. He even gets

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a good conduct medal. A good conduct medal. That

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time in the Air Force is incredibly significant.

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Rader later credited the military with, and this

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is a quote, teaching him about sex. But perhaps

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more importantly, it taught him about structure,

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knots, discipline. Right. Military is all about

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procedure, checklists, chain of command, order.

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And Dennis Rader, the blue book man, he loved

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that. It gave him a framework for his chaos.

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It gave him the mask. It gave him the professional

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cover. He learned to inspect antennas, to tie

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professional knots, to follow a rigid schedule.

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He took that bureaucratic discipline and he applied

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it to murder. He didn't just kill people. He

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had projects. He did reconnaissance. He treated

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stalking like a military operation. So the Air

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Force completely unwittingly trained BTK on the

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logistical side of his crimes. In a logistical

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sense, absolutely. They taught him how to blend

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in and how to plan meticulously. When he gets

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his honorable discharge in 1970, he returns to

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Wichita, not as a chaotic kid who hangs cats,

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but as a disciplined man ready to begin what

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he called his work. And he builds the life. He

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marries Paula Dietz in 1971. They have two kids,

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Carrie and Brian. He goes back to college, Wichita

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State, and gets a degree in. Administration of

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Justice. The irony is just suffocating. He's

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studying the very justice system that is actively

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hunting for him. It speaks to his staggering

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arrogance. He believed he was smarter than the

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professors, smarter than the cops. He's sitting

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in a criminal justice class learning about evidence

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collection. And he's probably thinking, I know

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more about this than you do because I'm actually

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doing it. Let's talk about his work history,

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because this is where the mask becomes really,

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truly terrifying. He worked at the Coleman Company

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for a bit, and he actually worked alongside two

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of his future victims there, though that connection

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wasn't made until much, much later. A chilling

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coincidence. But his main career, the one that

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defines this period, was with ADT Security Services

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from 1974 to 1988. Let's just think about that

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timeline for a second. The mid to late 70s was

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the absolute peak of his reign of terror. People

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in Wichita were terrified. They were buying deadbolts,

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they were buying dogs, and they were buying alarm

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systems. Specifically because they were afraid

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of BTK. And who shows up at their door to install

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the alarm system? The killer himself, Dennis

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Rader. The man standing in their hallways explaining

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how to secure their windows, checking their motion

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sensors, was BTK. It gave him access to homes,

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detailed knowledge of security layouts, and this

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profound sense of superiority. He was securing

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them against himself. It's a level of psychological

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dominance that is just hard to comprehend. And

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his co -workers called him the Blue Book Man.

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Why that name? Because he was rigid. He was obsessed

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with the rules in the company's blue manual.

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He would scold people for making small talk or

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wasting time. He was the guy who would report

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you for a minor infraction. A total stickler.

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And later, when he became a compliance officer

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for Park City in 1991, that behavior ramped up.

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Neighbors described him as overzealous and a

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bully. One neighbor recalled him measuring their

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grass with a tape measure to see if it was too

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long. Another claimed he killed her dog for no

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reason. He especially enjoyed harassing single

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women under the guise of enforcing city ordinances.

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So it's like he sought out any position that

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gave him a little bit of power, a little bit

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of control over other people's lives. Exactly.

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Whether it was being church council president,

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a Cub Scout leader, or a compliance officer,

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he craved authority. He wanted to impose his

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will on the world. If he couldn't kill you, he

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would fine you. But the ultimate authority, in

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his mind, was the power over life and death.

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So let's unpack that power. The reign of terror

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really begins on January 15, 1974, with the Otero

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family. This wasn't just a murder. This was a

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massacre that changed the city of Wichita forever.

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It was the inciting incident, and it established

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his M .O. immediately. He targeted the Otero

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family, Joseph Sr., Julia, and their two children,

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Joseph II, who was only 9, and Josephine, who

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was 11. And this wasn't random. Not at all. He

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had been stalking them. He later said he spotted

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Julia taking the kids to school one day and just...

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decided. He watched their house for weeks. He

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learned their schedule. The details of this crime

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are just gruesome, but we need to go through

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them to understand what we're dealing with here.

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He parked his car, walked to the house, and the

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first thing he does is cut the phone lines. A

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classic tactic he'd use again and again. It isolates

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the victims. Then he forces his way in gunpoint

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after confronting the son, Joey, in the backyard.

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And once inside, he uses manipulation. He doesn't

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just start attacking. No, this is key. He told

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them he was a wanted man from California, just

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needed money, food, and a car. It's a ruse to

00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:08.080
ensure compliance. If the victims think it's

00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:10.679
just a robbery, they cooperate. They think, if

00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:12.700
I just do what he says, he'll leave and we'll

00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:14.539
be okay. He gets them to lie down in the living

00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:17.559
room. He binds them. That's the B in BTK. And

00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:20.480
the cruelty. It's layered. Justice Senior complained

00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.679
of a cracked rib, so Rader puts a pillow under

00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:24.980
him. It's this moment of faux kindness, this

00:12:24.980 --> 00:12:27.539
bizarre display of concern right before the ultimate

00:12:27.539 --> 00:12:29.460
violence. It's about control. Total control.

00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:33.019
Rader wanted them calm. He didn't want chaos.

00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:36.440
He wanted to savor the moment and the killing.

00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:40.120
It was slow. He didn't shoot them. He used ropes.

00:12:40.220 --> 00:12:42.639
He used plastic bags. He wanted to watch the

00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.940
life leave their eyes. He wanted to be the last

00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.500
thing they saw. And with 11 -year -old Josephine.

00:12:48.009 --> 00:12:50.389
This is the part that is just the hardest to

00:12:50.389 --> 00:12:52.590
read. He took her to the basement. He separated

00:12:52.590 --> 00:12:54.490
her from her family. He hanged her from a sewer

00:12:54.490 --> 00:12:57.149
pipe. And we know from his later confessions

00:12:57.149 --> 00:13:00.169
in sickening detail that this wasn't just murder

00:13:00.169 --> 00:13:03.649
for him. It was a profound sexual event. He watched

00:13:03.649 --> 00:13:05.909
her struggle. He derived intense pleasure from

00:13:05.909 --> 00:13:08.809
her terror. This was Factor X fully, completely

00:13:08.809 --> 00:13:11.110
unleashed. And then the coolness of it all. After

00:13:11.110 --> 00:13:13.210
killing four people, he steals the family car,

00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:15.870
drives to a Dillon's grocery store parking lot.

00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.700
realizes he dropped a knife at the scene, and

00:13:18.700 --> 00:13:20.879
he drives back. He returns to the house. He returns

00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:22.960
to the house with four dead bodies inside just

00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:25.019
to retrieve his knife. That's the risk -taking

00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:27.480
behavior. It shows you his mindset. He was getting

00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:30.299
a high, not just from the killing, but from the

00:13:30.299 --> 00:13:32.240
proximity to getting caught and getting away

00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.440
with it. And then notice what happens afterward.

00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:38.919
Three brothers initially confess to these murders.

00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.000
False confessions. Right, which happened when

00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.200
police put intense pressure on vulnerable suspects.

00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.080
But Rader couldn't stand that. He needed the

00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:49.559
credit for his work. So in October 1974, nine

00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:51.700
months later, he writes a letter to the Wichita

00:13:51.700 --> 00:13:54.639
Eagle. He stuffs it inside an engineering textbook

00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.500
at the public library. And what does it say?

00:13:56.700 --> 00:13:58.960
It gives details only the killer would know.

00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:02.240
He proves it was him. And he says, quote, I did

00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.539
it by myself and no one's help. He was establishing

00:14:05.539 --> 00:14:08.500
his brand from the very beginning. The BTK brand.

00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:10.820
He actually suggested a few names in his early

00:14:10.820 --> 00:14:13.740
communications, the Wichita Strangler, the Asphyxiator.

00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.899
But BTK was the one that stuck. It was a marketing

00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:19.340
campaign for fear. He wanted a catchy, terrifying

00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:22.500
acronym. And he didn't stop there. In April 1974,

00:14:22.980 --> 00:14:25.659
just a few months after the Oteros, he targets

00:14:25.659 --> 00:14:28.860
Catherine Bright. This one, though, it didn't

00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:31.659
go exactly to plan for him. No, and this is a

00:14:31.659 --> 00:14:34.879
crucial case because we have a survivor. Catherine

00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:37.779
Bright was 21 years old. Raider was waiting in

00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:39.799
her home. He broke in through a sliding glass

00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.379
door. When she arrived with her brother, Kevin,

00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.840
Raider used the same ruse. I'm wanted. I just

00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.480
need money. The same script. He forces Kevin

00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.919
to tie up his own sister. Then Raider ties up

00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:53.080
Kevin. But Kevin wasn't as subdued as Raider

00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.620
hoped. He fought back. Raider tried to strangle

00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:58.000
Kevin, but Kevin managed to struggle. So Raider

00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.799
shoots him. Twice. Once in the forehead, once

00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.820
in the face. Miraculously, Kevin plays dead.

00:15:04.509 --> 00:15:06.250
The moment Rader leaves the room to deal with

00:15:06.250 --> 00:15:08.309
Catherine, Kevin gets up and runs. He escapes.

00:15:08.429 --> 00:15:11.769
He survives. A hero. An absolute hero. And that

00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:14.509
panic, that loss of total control, it caused

00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:17.210
Rader to change his plan with Catherine. He couldn't

00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:19.149
strangle her as he intended because she was fighting

00:15:19.149 --> 00:15:21.230
too hard and he was pressed for time, knowing

00:15:21.230 --> 00:15:23.490
Kevin might bring help any second. So he stabbed

00:15:23.490 --> 00:15:26.529
her. Repeatedly. It was messy. It wasn't the

00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:28.350
clean, controlled project he had envisioned.

00:15:28.570 --> 00:15:31.289
He called it Project Lights Out. But for him,

00:15:31.330 --> 00:15:33.659
it was a failure in execution. The fact he calls

00:15:33.659 --> 00:15:36.539
them projects, it's so clinical. It just strips

00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:38.580
all the humanity away from the victim. That's

00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:41.559
the point. To him, there were tasks to be completed,

00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:44.940
items on a checklist, not people. Then in 1977,

00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:48.639
three years later, he strikes again. Shirley

00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.240
V. Nrelford. And this one. This one involves

00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.080
children again in a way that is just stomach

00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:57.639
-turning. This was a random victim in the sense

00:15:57.639 --> 00:15:59.659
that his intended target, another woman he'd

00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:02.279
been stalking, wasn't home, though he went hunting.

00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:04.860
He saw Shirley's five -year -old son walking

00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:06.659
down the street. And he approaches the child.

00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:09.480
Yes. He plays the role of a detective, shows

00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.379
the boy a picture of a woman, it was actually

00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:13.960
a picture of Rader's own wife, and asks if the

00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:17.240
boy recognizes her. He uses the child to gain

00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.399
entry into the home. He tricks a five -year -old

00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:21.240
into letting him in the door. Once he's inside,

00:16:21.379 --> 00:16:23.399
he realizes there are three kids there. He locks

00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.970
them in the bathroom. And he'd give them toys.

00:16:26.250 --> 00:16:28.509
Toys? He barricaded them in the bathroom with

00:16:28.509 --> 00:16:30.730
toys and blankets to keep them comfortable while

00:16:30.730 --> 00:16:34.049
he murdered their mother in the bedroom. It's

00:16:34.049 --> 00:16:36.730
that bizarre, sickening juxtaposition of the

00:16:36.730 --> 00:16:39.789
rule -following, polite persona and the monster.

00:16:40.190 --> 00:16:42.909
So he binds Shirley. Puts a bag over her head

00:16:42.909 --> 00:16:45.909
and strangles her. He later admitted he intended

00:16:45.909 --> 00:16:48.309
to kill the children too, but the phone rang.

00:16:48.590 --> 00:16:50.730
One of the kids shouted that it was someone who

00:16:50.730 --> 00:16:53.809
would be visiting soon. It spooked him. He fled.

00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.299
Those children survived because of a phone call.

00:16:56.500 --> 00:17:00.379
Later that same year, December 1977, Nancy Jo

00:17:00.379 --> 00:17:04.500
Fox. He called this one Project Fox Hunt. He

00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:06.799
had been stalking her for some time. He cut the

00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:10.039
phone lines, waited for her in her home. This

00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.220
murder demonstrated the ritualistic aspect he

00:17:12.220 --> 00:17:14.940
was developing. He used a belt. He told police

00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:16.900
later about the process of loosening and tightening

00:17:16.900 --> 00:17:19.240
the belt, bringing her to the edge of unconsciousness,

00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:22.500
and then back again. He was prolonging it. Prolonging

00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:24.900
the control, prolonging the terror. And then

00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:27.279
the next morning, he drives to a film booth and

00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.759
calls the police to report the homicide. He tells

00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.019
them exactly where to find the body. He wanted

00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:34.880
the headline. He needed it. This brings us to

00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.309
the game. Rader wasn't just killing in a vacuum.

00:17:38.509 --> 00:17:41.170
He was performing for an audience. He wanted

00:17:41.170 --> 00:17:43.789
the entire city of Wichita to know his name and

00:17:43.789 --> 00:17:47.089
fear it. He was an absolute narcissist. The killing

00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:50.789
satisfied a deep -seated sexual urge. But the

00:17:50.789 --> 00:17:54.049
letters, the communication, that satisfied his

00:17:54.049 --> 00:17:57.809
ego. In February 1978, he sends a letter to a

00:17:57.809 --> 00:18:01.329
local TV station. KKETV. And what's his message?

00:18:01.710 --> 00:18:04.230
He asks, and I'm paraphrasing, how many do I

00:18:04.230 --> 00:18:05.930
have to kill before I get a name in the paper

00:18:05.930 --> 00:18:08.769
or some national attention? He was jealous of

00:18:08.769 --> 00:18:10.609
the attention other serial killers were getting.

00:18:10.650 --> 00:18:12.549
He was jealous. He referenced Jack the Ripper,

00:18:12.650 --> 00:18:15.049
Son of Sam, The Hillside Stranglers. He complained

00:18:15.049 --> 00:18:17.390
that they got all the press and he claimed he

00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:20.569
was driven by Factor X. This supernatural compulsion

00:18:20.569 --> 00:18:23.069
trying to build his own myth. And the poems.

00:18:23.130 --> 00:18:25.549
Let's not forget the poems. Shirley Locks. Shirley

00:18:25.549 --> 00:18:29.230
Locks. About Shirley Relford. Oh. Death to Nancy,

00:18:29.450 --> 00:18:32.289
which was a twisted parody of an American folk

00:18:32.289 --> 00:18:35.029
song. They were crude, childish, nursery rhyme

00:18:35.029 --> 00:18:37.289
style parodies. It was pure taunting. He was

00:18:37.289 --> 00:18:39.630
mocking the victims, their families and the police

00:18:39.630 --> 00:18:41.250
who couldn't catch him. The police even tried

00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:44.130
to play his game, didn't they? They did. They

00:18:44.130 --> 00:18:47.990
flashed a subliminal message on TV in 1978. It

00:18:47.990 --> 00:18:50.650
was a message that said, now call the chief.

00:18:51.470 --> 00:18:53.920
They were hoping to trigger him. to get him to

00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.720
turn himself in or communicate directly. They

00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.180
even featured an upside -down pair of glasses

00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:01.440
found at the Fox a crime scene. Did it work?

00:19:01.740 --> 00:19:04.279
Not at all. Rader was watching, but he didn't

00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:07.019
bite. He saw it as a clumsy attempt at Phil Superior.

00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.339
There was a moment in 1979 that terrified him,

00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:12.839
though. The case of Anna Williams. Project Anna.

00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.420
This is a fascinating insight into his patience

00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:18.200
and also his rage. He broke into her home. He

00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.730
had his kit ready. And he waited. For how long?

00:19:20.869 --> 00:19:23.309
For hours. But Anna Williams, who was in her

00:19:23.309 --> 00:19:25.630
60s, stopped to visit friends after a square

00:19:25.630 --> 00:19:28.609
dance. She came home much, much later than usual.

00:19:28.809 --> 00:19:30.750
By the time she walked in her front door, Rader

00:19:30.750 --> 00:19:33.130
was gone. He just gave up and left. He left,

00:19:33.150 --> 00:19:36.349
but he was furious. Livid. He later sent her

00:19:36.349 --> 00:19:38.509
a letter saying, Oh, Anna, why didn't you appear?

00:19:38.930 --> 00:19:40.910
He sent her items he had stolen from her home

00:19:40.910 --> 00:19:43.109
during a previous break -in, like a scarf and

00:19:43.109 --> 00:19:45.509
some drawings he'd found. He was enraged that

00:19:45.509 --> 00:19:47.839
she had ruined his fantasy by being late. So

00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:50.099
Anna Williams survived simply because she stayed

00:19:50.099 --> 00:19:52.579
out late with friends. A simple, random twist

00:19:52.579 --> 00:19:55.720
of fate saved her life. It shows that despite

00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:58.559
all his meticulous planning, he was still subject

00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.319
to the whims of chance. And then silence. Or

00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:03.279
at least public silence. This is what became

00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:07.119
known as the hiatus. From 1979 to 2004, the letters

00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:10.220
stopped. The murders seemed to stop. People in

00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:12.559
Wichita thought maybe he died or went to prison

00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.259
for something else or just moved away. But the

00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:18.349
hiatus is a myth. He didn't stop being BTK. He

00:20:18.349 --> 00:20:20.509
just changed his methods for a while. He went

00:20:20.509 --> 00:20:22.809
underground. So what was he doing? The urges

00:20:22.809 --> 00:20:25.089
didn't just disappear. No, he was engaging in

00:20:25.089 --> 00:20:27.569
what criminologists call cooling off periods

00:20:27.569 --> 00:20:30.710
where he would relive his crimes. He took photographs

00:20:30.710 --> 00:20:33.470
of himself in bondage, wearing female masks he'd

00:20:33.470 --> 00:20:35.509
made, burying himself in the ground, pretending

00:20:35.509 --> 00:20:37.789
to be his victims. He continued to burglarize

00:20:37.789 --> 00:20:41.250
homes to steal trophies. Mostly underwear. He

00:20:41.250 --> 00:20:43.549
was feeding the fantasy, just not publicly. But

00:20:43.549 --> 00:20:45.730
he did kill again during this supposed quiet

00:20:45.730 --> 00:20:48.890
period. The timeline reveals he wasn't dormant

00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:52.569
at all. 1985, Maureen Hedge. This one is particularly

00:20:52.569 --> 00:20:55.950
brazen. Maureen Hedge lived on Raiders Street

00:20:55.950 --> 00:20:58.390
in Park City. She was his neighbor. His neighbor?

00:20:58.609 --> 00:21:00.809
She was the project cookie. And he used a Cub

00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:03.509
Scout outing as an alibi. He was a Scout leader,

00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:06.849
remember? He left the outing early, faked a headache,

00:21:07.049 --> 00:21:09.680
blamed it on the rainy weather. and went to kill

00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:13.380
her. And what he did with her body? He took her

00:21:13.380 --> 00:21:15.559
to his church. I mean, that just seems insane.

00:21:15.819 --> 00:21:18.079
He was president of the church council at Christ

00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:21.140
Lutheran Church. He had the keys. He took the

00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:22.880
corpse of his neighbor into the sanctuary of

00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:25.059
the church where he was a respected leader. He

00:21:25.059 --> 00:21:27.880
posed her body in various positions, took Polaroid

00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:29.960
photographs of her in the church, and then dumped

00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:32.480
her body in a ditch. It's the ultimate desecration.

00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:34.960
It shows that he felt he was godlike. Absolutely.

00:21:35.140 --> 00:21:37.019
He could bring his darkness into the holiest

00:21:37.019 --> 00:21:39.079
place in his life, the center of his community,

00:21:39.259 --> 00:21:41.619
and no one would ever know. It was the ultimate

00:21:41.619 --> 00:21:44.380
expression of his power and his contempt. Then,

00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:48.170
a year later, 1986, Vicki Weegrly. He called

00:21:48.170 --> 00:21:50.670
this project Piano. He used his ADT background

00:21:50.670 --> 00:21:54.029
here. He posed as a telephone repairman, using

00:21:54.029 --> 00:21:56.329
a hard hat and a Southwestern bell manual to

00:21:56.329 --> 00:21:59.349
look official. Vicki fought back hard. She scratched

00:21:59.349 --> 00:22:01.630
him. Rader later said he probably still had the

00:22:01.630 --> 00:22:03.910
scar from her. And this case is just tragic on

00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:06.309
another level because her husband became the

00:22:06.309 --> 00:22:09.430
prime suspect. For nearly two decades, the community,

00:22:09.630 --> 00:22:12.089
even some in law enforcement, looked at her husband

00:22:12.089 --> 00:22:15.309
with suspicion. It wasn't until Rader resurfaced

00:22:15.309 --> 00:22:18.660
in 2004. and sent photos of the crime scene that

00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:20.680
her husband was finally and completely cleared.

00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:23.859
Rader destroyed that family in more ways than

00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:27.299
one. And finally, his last known murder, Dolores

00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:31.880
Davis in 1991. Project Dogside. She was 62. This

00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.019
one was more brutal, less finessed. He threw

00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:35.920
a cinder block through her glass door to get

00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.240
in. He strangled her and dumped her body under

00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.500
a bridge. And then, as far as we know, the killing

00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:42.640
actually did stop. He became the compliance officer.

00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.819
He became the church president. He settled into

00:22:44.819 --> 00:22:47.019
being the blue book man full time. For a while.

00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:50.099
So why come back? Why, in 2004, after getting

00:22:50.099 --> 00:22:52.180
away with it for 30 years, does he start writing

00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:54.579
letters again? What was the trigger? It was two

00:22:54.579 --> 00:22:58.660
things, really. Boredom and ego. In January 2004,

00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:02.839
the Wichita Eagle ran a story for the 30th anniversary

00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:05.519
of the Otero murders. They called it a cold case.

00:23:05.660 --> 00:23:10.069
They implied BTK was history. A ghost. And Rader

00:23:10.069 --> 00:23:12.089
couldn't stand that. He read that and took offense.

00:23:12.309 --> 00:23:15.109
He felt irrelevant. Forgotten. He wanted the

00:23:15.109 --> 00:23:17.069
world to know he was still there, still watching.

00:23:17.349 --> 00:23:19.809
He said later in his confession that he was kind

00:23:19.809 --> 00:23:23.130
of bored. His kids were grown. His life was routine.

00:23:23.230 --> 00:23:25.730
He missed the thrill. Yeah, so he wakes the sleeping

00:23:25.730 --> 00:23:28.230
giant himself. He starts leaving packages all

00:23:28.230 --> 00:23:30.529
over town. He does. He leaves a letter proving

00:23:30.529 --> 00:23:33.450
he killed Vicky Weigel, sending those Polaroid

00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:35.789
photos only the killer would have. He leaves

00:23:35.789 --> 00:23:37.890
packages at the library taped to stop signs.

00:23:38.009 --> 00:23:40.410
He included a sketch he drew labeled the sexual

00:23:40.410 --> 00:23:43.230
thrill as my bill. He leaves it all, bound and

00:23:43.230 --> 00:23:45.210
gagged in a cereal box in the back of a pickup

00:23:45.210 --> 00:23:47.230
truck. He was playing the game again. But the

00:23:47.230 --> 00:23:50.000
world had changed. Technology had changed profoundly

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.960
since the 1970s. And this is where it gets almost

00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:56.000
funny if it weren't so dark. Rader is a nearly

00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.059
60 -year -old man in 2005. He's not a digital

00:23:59.059 --> 00:24:02.359
native. And he sends a letter to the police asking

00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:06.180
a very, very stupid question. He asks, can a

00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:09.079
floppy disk be traced? A floppy disk. This is

00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:12.200
the pivotal moment. The police, realizing they

00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:14.579
have a direct line of communication. place an

00:24:14.579 --> 00:24:16.700
ad in the classified section of the newspaper

00:24:16.700 --> 00:24:19.579
addressed to Rex, which was a code they were

00:24:19.579 --> 00:24:23.160
using with him. The ad said, Rex, it will be

00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:26.400
okay. It was a lie. A brilliant lie. They told

00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:28.599
him, no, a floppy disk cannot be traced. Go right

00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:30.700
ahead. Now, for the listeners who are tech savvy,

00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:32.500
they're screaming at their speakers right now.

00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:35.220
But for everyone else, explain why this was such

00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:37.480
a fatal, catastrophic error for Rader. What is

00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:39.400
on a floppy disk that gave him away? It's called

00:24:39.400 --> 00:24:42.029
metadata. Think of it like a digital fingerprint

00:24:42.029 --> 00:24:44.210
or an invisible sticky note attached to every

00:24:44.210 --> 00:24:46.829
file you create. When you make a Word document,

00:24:47.029 --> 00:24:49.650
you aren't just typing words. The program is

00:24:49.650 --> 00:24:52.269
secretly recording data in the background. Who

00:24:52.269 --> 00:24:55.690
created the file? When it was created? On which

00:24:55.690 --> 00:24:58.769
computer? And, critically, who the software is

00:24:58.769 --> 00:25:01.450
registered to. Even if you delete the text of

00:25:01.450 --> 00:25:04.170
the document, that background data, the metadata,

00:25:04.529 --> 00:25:07.400
often remains hidden in the file structure. So

00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:10.339
Raider grabs a Popo Memorex floppy disk. He thinks

00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:12.880
he's being clever. He deletes an old file and

00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.140
saves his new message for a TV station on it.

00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:18.279
Yeah. He assumes the old file is just gone. Right.

00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:21.960
But he didn't wipe the disk properly. The police

00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:25.279
forensic team recovered the deleted data. And

00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.839
deep in that code, they found the author field.

00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:31.539
It didn't say BTK. It said Dennis. Ouch. And

00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:33.880
it gets so much worse for him. The software used

00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:35.839
to create the original document was registered.

00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:37.740
You know how when you install a program, it asks

00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:39.700
for your name and your organization? Sure. The

00:25:39.700 --> 00:25:41.880
registration listed the organization as Christ

00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:44.839
Lutheran Church. Oh, no. So the police have Dennis

00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:46.500
and Christ Lutheran Church. It wouldn't take

00:25:46.500 --> 00:25:48.980
a supercomputer to connect those dots. It took

00:25:48.980 --> 00:25:51.400
a quick Internet search. They found Dennis Rader,

00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:53.299
president of the church council. They started

00:25:53.299 --> 00:25:56.160
surveillance. They saw a black Jeep Cherokee

00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:58.869
at his home. The same type of vehicle seen on

00:25:58.869 --> 00:26:01.309
security footage at one of his package drop sites.

00:26:01.589 --> 00:26:03.329
But that's all circumstantial. They needed something

00:26:03.329 --> 00:26:06.250
concrete. They needed DNA. Right. The circumstantial

00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:08.410
evidence isn't enough for a conviction of this

00:26:08.410 --> 00:26:11.450
magnitude. So they went to his daughter. Unbeknownst

00:26:11.450 --> 00:26:14.710
to her. Completely. Carrie Rawson was a student

00:26:14.710 --> 00:26:17.190
at Kansas State University at the time. She had

00:26:17.190 --> 00:26:19.049
visited the medical clinic there for a routine

00:26:19.049 --> 00:26:21.940
pap smear. The police, through a court order,

00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:24.220
obtained that sample from the clinic. And they

00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:27.220
tested it against what? They tested her DNA against

00:26:27.220 --> 00:26:29.900
the DNA found under Vicky Weigel's fingernails

00:26:29.900 --> 00:26:33.480
from when she fought back in 1986. It was a familial

00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:36.259
match. The killer was Kerry Rawson's father.

00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.099
They had him. February 25, 2005. The arrest.

00:26:40.579 --> 00:26:42.460
Rader is driving home from work. He sees the

00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:44.779
police lights behind him. The officer walks up

00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:46.980
to his car and asks, Mr. Rader, do you know why

00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:50.420
you're going downtown? And Raider, ever the arrogant

00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:53.240
narcissist, doesn't panic. He calmly replies,

00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:56.240
oh, I have suspicions, why? He wasn't panicked.

00:26:56.299 --> 00:26:58.839
He was almost relieved. The game was finally

00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:01.700
ending, and he was the star of the show. His

00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:05.660
behavior in custody is just. It's bizarre. He

00:27:05.660 --> 00:27:07.180
immediately starts asking if he's going to get

00:27:07.180 --> 00:27:09.240
the death penalty. He asks if he'll be housed

00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:12.000
with the loonies in prison. And get this, he

00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:15.140
asks the officer to label his water cup. BTK

00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:17.440
instead of his name before they put it in the

00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:19.839
evidence fridge. He was proud of the brand. He

00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:22.579
wanted the recognition. He was BTK. And when

00:27:22.579 --> 00:27:25.119
it came to the courtroom, that pride was on full,

00:27:25.220 --> 00:27:29.900
horrifying display. On June 27, 2005, he played

00:27:29.900 --> 00:27:31.980
guilty to 10 counts of first -degree murder.

00:27:32.180 --> 00:27:34.519
But it wasn't a somber confession. No, it was

00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:37.160
a lecture. He stood there and described the murders

00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:40.339
in chilling graphic detail, but with zero emotion.

00:27:40.859 --> 00:27:42.400
It was like he was reading a grocery list. He

00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.599
called them projects. And he kept correcting

00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:47.059
the judge. If the judge got a minor detail wrong

00:27:47.059 --> 00:27:49.240
about a specific weapon or how a knot was tied,

00:27:49.579 --> 00:27:51.740
Rader would interrupt to correct the record.

00:27:51.880 --> 00:27:53.720
He wanted the history books to get his story

00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:56.420
right. And the so -called apology at his sentencing.

00:27:56.619 --> 00:27:59.960
A rambling 30 -minute monologue. The prosecutor

00:27:59.960 --> 00:28:02.660
aptly compared it to an Academy Awards acceptance

00:28:02.660 --> 00:28:05.559
speech. He thanked people. He talked about his

00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:08.400
life. It was completely and utterly devoid of

00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:11.480
remorse. What was the official diagnosis? Dr.

00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:13.900
Robert Mendoza, who evaluated him for the defense,

00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:17.500
diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder,

00:28:18.059 --> 00:28:21.180
antisocial personality disorder, and obsessive

00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:23.980
-compulsive personality disorder. The rigidity

00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:27.059
of the blue book man and the cruelty of BTK were

00:28:27.059 --> 00:28:29.400
all wrapped up in that clinical diagnosis. He

00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:31.859
was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms. That's

00:28:31.859 --> 00:28:34.980
175 years minimum. Kansas didn't have the death

00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:36.559
penalty for the crimes committed during that

00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:39.420
period, so he sits in solitary confinement at

00:28:39.420 --> 00:28:41.720
El Dorado Correctional Facility to this day.

00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:44.759
And initially, he was granted privileges, TV,

00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.000
radio, art supplies. The prosecutors argued against

00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:50.119
it, saying he would just use the news to relive

00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:52.099
his fantasies, but he was granted them for good

00:28:52.099 --> 00:28:53.960
behavior. Let's talk about the wreckage he left

00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:56.779
behind, his family. His wife, Paula, was granted

00:28:56.779 --> 00:28:59.079
an emergency divorce almost immediately. She

00:28:59.079 --> 00:29:01.579
was completely blindsided. The community helped

00:29:01.579 --> 00:29:04.200
them demolish the family home in Park City to

00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:07.480
erase the stigma. But his daughter, Carrie, she's

00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:09.539
had an incredible journey. She wrote a book,

00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:12.380
right? A Serial Killer's Daughter. She did. And

00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:15.180
she has been very open about the trauma. She

00:29:15.180 --> 00:29:17.819
described him as a normal, loving dad in many

00:29:17.819 --> 00:29:20.599
ways. He taught her to fish. They went on hikes.

00:29:21.019 --> 00:29:23.940
Which makes the betrayal so much deeper. She

00:29:23.940 --> 00:29:26.319
initially forgave him. citing her Christian faith,

00:29:26.460 --> 00:29:30.059
but later, darker truths came out. Such as? She

00:29:30.059 --> 00:29:32.200
found journal entries suggesting he may have

00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.700
abused her as a child, or at least had very dark

00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:37.420
fantasies about it. It completely complicates

00:29:37.420 --> 00:29:40.920
that good father, bad man dichotomy. The darkness

00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.319
was always there, even at home. And the story

00:29:43.319 --> 00:29:45.849
isn't quite over, is it? Even as recently as

00:29:45.849 --> 00:29:48.170
2023, there were new developments. That's right.

00:29:48.230 --> 00:29:50.410
Rader is a prime suspect in other cold cases.

00:29:50.569 --> 00:29:52.809
The disappearance of Cynthia Dawn Kinney in Oklahoma

00:29:52.809 --> 00:29:56.390
in 1976. She was 16 last seen leaving a longer

00:29:56.390 --> 00:29:58.430
man. What's the connection? Possible trophies

00:29:58.430 --> 00:30:01.589
of hers were found buried at Rader's former property

00:30:01.589 --> 00:30:05.569
in 2023. And there are clear links to his ADT

00:30:05.569 --> 00:30:08.799
work near where Kinney vanished. A bank. across

00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:10.839
the street from the laundromat was having ADT

00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:12.819
alarms installed right around that time. So he

00:30:12.819 --> 00:30:15.279
was there. He was there. He denies these, of

00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:17.519
course, but authorities believe he's only denying

00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:19.819
them because Oklahoma has the death penalty and

00:30:19.819 --> 00:30:22.440
Kansas does not. He doesn't want to risk execution.

00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:24.900
It's a chilling thought that there could be more

00:30:24.900 --> 00:30:27.059
victims we don't even know about. Rader once

00:30:27.059 --> 00:30:29.960
told police there are a lot of lucky people out

00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:33.230
there. He implied he had many more projects planned,

00:30:33.470 --> 00:30:36.769
victims he stalked, homes he broke into, but

00:30:36.769 --> 00:30:39.190
he aborted the plans because a car drove by or

00:30:39.190 --> 00:30:41.970
a phone rang or the person just wasn't home on

00:30:41.970 --> 00:30:44.170
time. That is the thought that keeps you up at

00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:47.250
night, that randomness. It is. It's the banality

00:30:47.250 --> 00:30:49.690
of evil. Rader wasn't a supernatural monster

00:30:49.690 --> 00:30:52.390
from a movie. He was a bureaucratic bully who

00:30:52.390 --> 00:30:54.930
treated murder like a checklist. And he's currently,

00:30:55.069 --> 00:30:57.210
as his daughter described after a visit in 2023,

00:30:57.670 --> 00:31:00.190
rotting and unhappy in a wheelchair in prison.

00:31:00.569 --> 00:31:02.829
A pathetic end for a man who thought he was a

00:31:02.829 --> 00:31:06.250
god. So what does this all mean for us? For the

00:31:06.250 --> 00:31:08.789
listener, what's the takeaway here? It means

00:31:08.789 --> 00:31:10.650
we have to understand that the mask is real.

00:31:11.230 --> 00:31:13.589
We often look for monsters to look like monsters.

00:31:13.730 --> 00:31:16.990
We want them to be obvious. But sometimes the

00:31:16.990 --> 00:31:19.809
monster is the guy measuring your grass, the

00:31:19.809 --> 00:31:21.950
guy handing out communion, the guy installing

00:31:21.950 --> 00:31:24.809
your alarm system. The capacity for the human

00:31:24.809 --> 00:31:28.130
mind to compartmentalize is capable of terrifying,

00:31:28.230 --> 00:31:30.190
terrifying things. And it leaves us with that

00:31:30.190 --> 00:31:33.230
final provocative question. How many of us have

00:31:33.230 --> 00:31:35.890
crossed paths with a project that never happened?

00:31:36.410 --> 00:31:39.630
How many times has a simple twist of fate? A

00:31:39.630 --> 00:31:41.529
delay in traffic, a last -minute phone call,

00:31:41.670 --> 00:31:43.990
a barking dog, many only things standing between

00:31:43.990 --> 00:31:45.990
a normal day and an absolute nightmare. It's

00:31:45.990 --> 00:31:48.930
a question without an answer. And that is perhaps

00:31:48.930 --> 00:31:51.190
the scariest part of the entire Dennis Rader

00:31:51.190 --> 00:31:53.410
story. On that note, we're going to wrap up this

00:31:53.410 --> 00:31:56.509
deep dive. Stay curious, stay safe, and I guess

00:31:56.509 --> 00:31:59.349
always trust your instincts. Goodbye. See you

00:31:59.349 --> 00:32:02.769
next time. Welcome to The Debate. Today, we are

00:32:02.769 --> 00:32:06.700
opening the case file on a man who... really

00:32:06.700 --> 00:32:09.640
fundamentally changed the way America looks at

00:32:09.640 --> 00:32:12.740
the neighbor next door, Dennis Rader. To the

00:32:12.740 --> 00:32:14.839
public, he was the president of the church council,

00:32:15.059 --> 00:32:18.059
a Cub Scout leader, a compliance officer who

00:32:18.059 --> 00:32:20.180
would, you know, measure your grass height to

00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:25.400
the inch. But to history, he is BTK, bind, torture,

00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:28.880
kill. Yeah, it's a case that, you know, it keeps

00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:31.079
criminologists up at night. And not just because

00:32:31.079 --> 00:32:33.380
of the brutality. I mean, 10 murders between

00:32:33.380 --> 00:32:37.460
1974 and 1991. but because of the timeline. He

00:32:37.460 --> 00:32:39.819
operated in the shadows of Wichita, Kansas for

00:32:39.819 --> 00:32:43.819
30 years. And that duration is really the crux

00:32:43.819 --> 00:32:46.539
of our disagreement today. When we look at a

00:32:46.539 --> 00:32:49.519
criminal career that spans three decades without

00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:53.740
capture, the natural inclination is to assume

00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:56.640
we're dealing with a genius, a Hannibal Lecter

00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.200
figure who outsmarted the system at every turn.

00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:02.500
My position is that this is exactly what Rader

00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:06.720
was. a sophisticated, disciplined, and psychologically

00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:09.819
compartmentalized mastermind who manipulated

00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:12.980
law enforcement and the media to maintain a perfect

00:33:12.980 --> 00:33:15.920
double life. And I'm here to tear that myth down.

00:33:16.140 --> 00:33:18.420
I believe that when you strip away the scary

00:33:18.420 --> 00:33:21.400
nickname and the self -aggrandizing letters,

00:33:21.619 --> 00:33:24.400
what you find is not a genius, but a bumbling,

00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:27.619
disorganized narcissist who is just phenomenally

00:33:27.619 --> 00:33:30.930
lucky. I argue that Dennis Rader didn't evade

00:33:30.930 --> 00:33:33.750
capture because he was brilliant. He evaded capture

00:33:33.750 --> 00:33:36.369
because police work in the 1970s was limited

00:33:36.369 --> 00:33:38.970
and because he eventually stopped killing before

00:33:38.970 --> 00:33:42.109
DNA forensics could really catch up. He was a

00:33:42.109 --> 00:33:44.710
lucky amateur who eventually talked himself into

00:33:44.710 --> 00:33:47.089
a life sentence because of his own stupidity.

00:33:47.190 --> 00:33:50.150
I think you're vastly underestimating the discipline

00:33:50.150 --> 00:33:53.190
required to hold back a compulsion like that

00:33:53.190 --> 00:33:57.349
for so long. But let's lay out the case. I'll

00:33:57.349 --> 00:34:00.160
start. My argument for Rader as a mastermind,

00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:03.140
it really rests on his methodology. This wasn't

00:34:03.140 --> 00:34:05.980
some drifter killing in a fit of rage. This was

00:34:05.980 --> 00:34:08.960
a man who treated murder like a corporate project.

00:34:09.260 --> 00:34:11.280
In fact, that's exactly what he called them.

00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.219
He referred to his victims as projects. When

00:34:14.219 --> 00:34:16.639
he targeted Nancy Jo Fox, he dubbed it Project

00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:19.519
Fox Hunt. For Vicky Wagergold, it was Project

00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:22.500
Piano. He engaged in weeks of surveillance, learning

00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:25.500
schedules, tracking movements, and documenting

00:34:25.500 --> 00:34:28.210
everything in files. Look at his background.

00:34:28.409 --> 00:34:30.969
Staff Sergeant in the U .S. Air Force, a Bachelor

00:34:30.969 --> 00:34:32.670
of Science in the Administration of Justice.

00:34:32.889 --> 00:34:35.610
He worked for ADT Security Services from 1974

00:34:35.610 --> 00:34:39.449
to 1988, the exact peak of his killing spree.

00:34:39.730 --> 00:34:42.250
His co -workers called him the Blue Book Man.

00:34:42.590 --> 00:34:45.630
The Blue Book Man. Yes, because of his obsession

00:34:45.630 --> 00:34:48.869
with the employee manual, the Blue Book. He was

00:34:48.869 --> 00:34:52.110
rigid, obsessed with procedure. He'd scold people

00:34:52.110 --> 00:34:54.130
for talking about their weekends during work

00:34:54.130 --> 00:34:57.159
hours because it violated company time. And he

00:34:57.159 --> 00:34:59.619
applied that same professional rigidity to his

00:34:59.619 --> 00:35:02.579
crimes. Look at the Otero family murders in 1974.

00:35:03.219 --> 00:35:06.199
This is his first strike, and he takes out four

00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:10.380
people, Joseph, Julia, and two children simultaneously.

00:35:11.139 --> 00:35:13.780
He cut the phone lines exterior to the house.

00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:16.940
He brought pre -cut ropes. He managed the crowd

00:35:16.940 --> 00:35:20.159
control of a terrified family at gunpoint. That

00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:23.820
isn't luck. That is a tactical operation executed

00:35:23.820 --> 00:35:27.349
by a man. who had total control over his environment.

00:35:27.630 --> 00:35:30.329
He then went home and successfully played the

00:35:30.329 --> 00:35:33.030
role of the suburban father for 30 years. You

00:35:33.030 --> 00:35:35.050
don't manage that kind of psychological split

00:35:35.050 --> 00:35:38.809
without a terrifyingly organized mind. See, you

00:35:38.809 --> 00:35:41.530
look at the Otero orators and see tactical brilliance.

00:35:41.730 --> 00:35:44.690
I look at the exact same crime scene and I see

00:35:44.690 --> 00:35:46.610
a comedy of errors that should have ended his

00:35:46.610 --> 00:35:49.510
career on day one. Yes, you mentioned he controlled

00:35:49.510 --> 00:35:52.829
the family. Yes, tragically he did. But look

00:35:52.829 --> 00:35:56.010
at the exit. He was so flustered after the killings

00:35:56.010 --> 00:35:58.269
that he realized, only after leaving the house,

00:35:58.369 --> 00:36:00.989
that he had left a knife in the backyard. A murder

00:36:00.989 --> 00:36:03.909
weapon. Just sitting in the grass. He didn't

00:36:03.909 --> 00:36:06.769
just walk back. He had to drive the Otero family's

00:36:06.769 --> 00:36:09.110
car back to the scene, risking being seen by

00:36:09.110 --> 00:36:11.769
neighbors or responding officers just to retrieve

00:36:11.769 --> 00:36:14.369
his mistake. That is not the cool, calculated

00:36:14.369 --> 00:36:18.150
behavior of a mastermind. That's panic. My position

00:36:18.150 --> 00:36:20.769
is that Rader's entire career is defined by these

00:36:20.769 --> 00:36:23.650
near misses. He wasn't the blue book man of murder.

00:36:23.809 --> 00:36:26.550
He was a fumbler. Take the attempted murder of

00:36:26.550 --> 00:36:29.909
Anna Williams in 1979. He did his stalking. He

00:36:29.909 --> 00:36:32.070
did his project planning. He broke in and waited

00:36:32.070 --> 00:36:34.309
for her. But simply because she stayed out later

00:36:34.309 --> 00:36:37.329
than usual, a basic variable he failed to account

00:36:37.329 --> 00:36:40.449
for, he got bored and angry. He described himself

00:36:40.449 --> 00:36:43.530
as absolutely livid. He didn't adapt. He just

00:36:43.530 --> 00:36:46.309
left. He lacked the patience of a true professional.

00:36:46.690 --> 00:36:48.849
And we cannot talk about his intellect without

00:36:48.849 --> 00:36:51.710
talking about his end. The man asked the police,

00:36:51.869 --> 00:36:54.590
in writing, if a floppy disk could be traced.

00:36:54.829 --> 00:36:57.130
The police put an ad in the paper effectively

00:36:57.130 --> 00:36:59.989
saying, no, Rex, it's fine. And he believed the

00:36:59.989 --> 00:37:02.269
people hunting him. He handed them the digital

00:37:02.269 --> 00:37:05.050
evidence that put him away because he had a God

00:37:05.050 --> 00:37:08.170
complex that blinded him to reality. That isn't

00:37:08.170 --> 00:37:10.869
a mastermind. That is a gullible fool who believed

00:37:10.869 --> 00:37:13.630
his own press. I think characterizing the Anna

00:37:13.630 --> 00:37:17.210
Williams incident as boredom is, well, it's a

00:37:17.210 --> 00:37:19.619
bit reductionist. Aborting a mission when the

00:37:19.619 --> 00:37:22.400
parameters change is actually a sign of risk

00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:25.340
management, not incompetence. A disorganized

00:37:25.340 --> 00:37:27.920
killer waits until he gets caught. A disciplined

00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:31.139
one cuts his losses. But let's dig into the actual

00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:33.880
mechanics of the crimes. This is our first area

00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:36.760
of debate. Operational security and planning.

00:37:37.099 --> 00:37:40.380
You say he was sloppy. I say he was a pioneer

00:37:40.380 --> 00:37:43.659
in what we now call social engineering. Social

00:37:43.659 --> 00:37:45.780
engineering. You mean lying to get through the

00:37:45.780 --> 00:37:49.349
door? Well, it's more than just lying. It's using

00:37:49.349 --> 00:37:52.690
the social contract against the victim. Look

00:37:52.690 --> 00:37:55.530
at the Shirley V. Ann Rolford case. Rader didn't

00:37:55.530 --> 00:37:58.309
kick the door down. He approached her son, Stephen.

00:37:58.610 --> 00:38:01.409
He showed the boy a picture of his own family,

00:38:01.530 --> 00:38:05.110
his wife, his child, using them as props to establish

00:38:05.110 --> 00:38:08.289
trust. He pretended to be a detective. He got

00:38:08.289 --> 00:38:10.190
the child to identify the people in the photo,

00:38:10.329 --> 00:38:13.730
built a rapport and walked right in. Or look

00:38:13.730 --> 00:38:16.570
at Vicky Wagle. He utilized his actual professional

00:38:16.570 --> 00:38:19.309
background. He dressed as a telephone repairman.

00:38:19.449 --> 00:38:22.550
He wore an ADT hard hat. He carried a Southwestern

00:38:22.550 --> 00:38:25.389
bell manual. He knew that in the 1980s, if a

00:38:25.389 --> 00:38:27.449
man in a uniform showed up with a clipboard,

00:38:27.510 --> 00:38:30.909
you let him in. He weaponized his day job. He

00:38:30.909 --> 00:38:33.690
was installing alarms for people terrified of

00:38:33.690 --> 00:38:37.030
BTK, using that knowledge to bypass the security

00:38:37.030 --> 00:38:39.590
of his victims. That is a level of integration

00:38:39.590 --> 00:38:41.849
and planning that is undeniably sophisticated.

00:38:42.670 --> 00:38:45.190
I'll grant you the ruses were effective, but

00:38:45.190 --> 00:38:47.610
that's low -hanging fruit. I mean, anyone can

00:38:47.610 --> 00:38:49.889
buy a hard hat. When the pressure was actually

00:38:49.889 --> 00:38:52.989
on, when the violence started, his planning usually

00:38:52.989 --> 00:38:55.550
just fell apart. Let's look at the murder of

00:38:55.550 --> 00:38:58.809
Catherine Bright in 1974. This is the counter

00:38:58.809 --> 00:39:01.429
-argument to your tactical control theory. He

00:39:01.429 --> 00:39:04.090
was hiding in the home, waiting, but before anything

00:39:04.090 --> 00:39:07.170
even happened, his gun went off. Why? Because,

00:39:07.250 --> 00:39:09.710
as he admitted later, it had a delicate trigger,

00:39:09.809 --> 00:39:12.469
and he was clumsy. He panicked because he thought

00:39:12.469 --> 00:39:14.710
the gunshot would alert the neighbors. Then,

00:39:14.889 --> 00:39:16.670
when Catherine and her brother Kevin arrived,

00:39:17.190 --> 00:39:19.610
Rader completely lost control of the room. He

00:39:19.610 --> 00:39:22.190
tried to strangle Kevin. It didn't work. He shot

00:39:22.190 --> 00:39:24.869
Kevin in the face. Kevin Bright, who had just

00:39:24.869 --> 00:39:27.090
been shot in the head, still managed to play

00:39:27.090 --> 00:39:29.690
dead, wait for an opening, and then bolt out

00:39:29.690 --> 00:39:31.949
of the house to flag down help. Rader was left

00:39:31.949 --> 00:39:34.570
scrambling. And as a Skype? He tried to steal

00:39:34.570 --> 00:39:37.010
Catherine's truck. Couldn't get it started. He

00:39:37.010 --> 00:39:39.670
had to run on foot back to his own car. which

00:39:39.670 --> 00:39:41.969
he had foolishly parked at Wichita State University,

00:39:42.349 --> 00:39:45.050
a public place with witnesses, if the police

00:39:45.050 --> 00:39:47.769
had been five minutes faster or if Kevin Bright

00:39:47.769 --> 00:39:49.590
had been conscious enough to give a description

00:39:49.590 --> 00:39:54.130
immediately, Rader is caught in 1974. He survived

00:39:54.130 --> 00:39:56.690
that night through sheer luck and the resilience

00:39:56.690 --> 00:39:59.949
of a victim, not because of his skill. The Bright

00:39:59.949 --> 00:40:02.969
case was a mess, I agree, but that was early

00:40:02.969 --> 00:40:05.130
in his development. You have to look at the trajectory.

00:40:05.469 --> 00:40:08.630
He learned. He adopted. He stopped making those

00:40:08.630 --> 00:40:11.829
ballistic errors. You mentioned the blue book

00:40:11.829 --> 00:40:14.570
mentality. Well, he applied that to his mistakes.

00:40:14.889 --> 00:40:17.869
By the time we get to the 1980s, he isn't having

00:40:17.869 --> 00:40:20.449
guns go off accidentally. He started studying

00:40:20.449 --> 00:40:23.170
police procedure. Look at the Dolores Davis murder

00:40:23.170 --> 00:40:26.889
in 1991. It was the dead of winter. His original

00:40:26.889 --> 00:40:29.389
plan likely involved a stealth entry, but it

00:40:29.389 --> 00:40:31.989
was freezing. So he assessed the situation and

00:40:31.989 --> 00:40:34.219
threw a cinder block through the window. Now,

00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:36.500
you could call that impulsive, but he weighed

00:40:36.500 --> 00:40:38.739
the risk of noise against the risk of exposure

00:40:38.739 --> 00:40:42.159
and hypothermia. He then took her body, and later

00:40:42.159 --> 00:40:44.159
he discarded her keys on the roof of her house.

00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:46.679
Why? Because he had read in the newspaper that

00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:49.139
during the Otero investigation, police looked

00:40:49.139 --> 00:40:51.940
for keys on the roof. He was reading the opposition's

00:40:51.940 --> 00:40:54.000
playbook and adjusting his behavior to confuse

00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:57.380
them. I interpret the Dolores Davis entry differently.

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:00.119
Throwing a brick through a plate glass window

00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:03.239
in a quiet neighborhood isn't a tactical adjustment.

00:41:03.769 --> 00:41:06.929
It's impatience. It's, I'm cold and I want to

00:41:06.929 --> 00:41:09.929
get inside. And let's talk about the Marine Hedge

00:41:09.929 --> 00:41:13.809
murder in 1985. This is well into his so -called

00:41:13.809 --> 00:41:16.769
experienced phase. He kills her in her home.

00:41:16.829 --> 00:41:19.909
But then, driven by this bizarre fantasy, he

00:41:19.909 --> 00:41:22.670
puts her body in the trunk of her car and drives

00:41:22.670 --> 00:41:26.110
her to the Christ Lutheran Church. He had keys

00:41:26.110 --> 00:41:29.110
because he was on the council. He drags a corpse

00:41:29.110 --> 00:41:32.380
into the sanctuary. He sets up lights. He takes

00:41:32.380 --> 00:41:34.760
Polaroids of the body in various positions in

00:41:34.760 --> 00:41:36.940
the church. I mean, think about the liability.

00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:39.860
This is a public building. If a janitor comes

00:41:39.860 --> 00:41:42.920
in, if a parishioner needs a hymnal, if a cop

00:41:42.920 --> 00:41:45.679
drives by and sees a light on, he is caught red

00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:48.500
-handed with a body. And then, he dumps the body

00:41:48.500 --> 00:41:50.719
in a ditch. This isn't operational security.

00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:54.320
This is a man whose fantasy life completely overrode

00:41:54.320 --> 00:41:57.090
his survival instinct. He was taking massive,

00:41:57.170 --> 00:42:00.110
stupid risks because he got a thrill out of defiling

00:42:00.110 --> 00:42:01.949
the holy space he was supposed to be protecting.

00:42:02.269 --> 00:42:06.090
And yet, he wasn't caught. That's the scoreboard,

00:42:06.190 --> 00:42:09.090
isn't it? He cleaned the scene. He removed the

00:42:09.090 --> 00:42:11.449
black plastic sheets he used to block the windows.

00:42:11.530 --> 00:42:15.389
He left no forensic trace in that church. It

00:42:15.389 --> 00:42:18.369
was risky, yes, but the fact that he pulled it

00:42:18.369 --> 00:42:20.889
off suggests he knew the cleaning schedules,

00:42:21.190 --> 00:42:23.849
the patrol routes, and the risks better than

00:42:23.849 --> 00:42:28.099
anyone else. It reinforces his control over his

00:42:28.099 --> 00:42:31.300
environment. But this brings us to the second

00:42:31.300 --> 00:42:33.460
pillar of the debate, which I think is even more

00:42:33.460 --> 00:42:36.639
fascinating. The psychology of the double life.

00:42:37.119 --> 00:42:40.179
Or the mask of sanity, as Cleckley would call

00:42:40.179 --> 00:42:43.239
it. Exactly. We are talking about a man who was

00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:47.320
married to his wife, Paula, since 1971. They

00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:50.320
raised two children, Carrie and Brian. Rader

00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:53.579
had trophies in his house. Polaroids. Jewelry.

00:42:54.010 --> 00:42:57.969
hidden in floorboards and sheds. Yet, for three

00:42:57.969 --> 00:43:01.929
decades, his wife had zero clue. His children

00:43:01.929 --> 00:43:05.349
had zero clue. We aren't just talking about hiding

00:43:05.349 --> 00:43:09.150
a smoking habit. He was hiding a monster. And

00:43:09.150 --> 00:43:12.130
he didn't just hide, he integrated. He was a

00:43:12.130 --> 00:43:14.750
census supervisor. He was a compliance officer

00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:17.210
for Park City. He was the president of the church

00:43:17.210 --> 00:43:21.090
council. Most disorganized killers, the bumblers

00:43:21.090 --> 00:43:23.840
you describe. They can't maintain steady employment.

00:43:23.980 --> 00:43:27.260
They drift. They act on impulse. Rader showed

00:43:27.260 --> 00:43:30.980
up to work on time for 20 years. And consider

00:43:30.980 --> 00:43:34.820
the hiatus. He stopped killing between 1991 and

00:43:34.820 --> 00:43:38.019
2004. Serial killers are driven by compulsion.

00:43:38.280 --> 00:43:41.059
Rader claimed he substituted the killings with

00:43:41.059 --> 00:43:43.659
autoerotic asphyxiation and fantasy scenarios

00:43:43.659 --> 00:43:46.579
he photographed. But he stopped the physical

00:43:46.579 --> 00:43:50.800
act of murder to... put a pause on that type

00:43:50.800 --> 00:43:54.360
of pathology for over a decade shows a level

00:43:54.360 --> 00:43:56.480
of willpower and mental compartmentalization

00:43:56.480 --> 00:44:01.219
that is clinically rare. I challenged the idea

00:44:01.219 --> 00:44:04.460
that the mask was perfect. I think the mask was

00:44:04.460 --> 00:44:07.059
cracking all over the place. People just didn't

00:44:07.059 --> 00:44:09.539
want to see what was underneath. As a compliance

00:44:09.539 --> 00:44:12.619
officer, he wasn't just steady. He was a tyrant.

00:44:13.019 --> 00:44:15.579
Neighbors described him as a bully. He would

00:44:15.579 --> 00:44:17.820
measure their grass with a tape measure to see

00:44:17.820 --> 00:44:20.260
if it violated city ordinance by half an inch.

00:44:20.380 --> 00:44:23.260
He allegedly euthanized a neighbor's dog for

00:44:23.260 --> 00:44:25.840
no good reason. This isn't a man keeping a low

00:44:25.840 --> 00:44:28.219
profile to protect his secret identity. This

00:44:28.219 --> 00:44:30.820
is a man with a desperate pathological need for

00:44:30.820 --> 00:44:33.760
petty power. After his capture, psychologist

00:44:33.760 --> 00:44:36.599
Robert Mendoza diagnosed him with narcissistic,

00:44:36.639 --> 00:44:39.079
obsessive -compulsive, and antisocial personality

00:44:39.079 --> 00:44:42.980
disorders. Mendoza noted a grandiose sense of

00:44:42.980 --> 00:44:46.159
self. That narcissism is the opposite of the

00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:48.360
gray man theory. He wasn't hiding because he

00:44:48.360 --> 00:44:50.639
was smart. He was hiding, but he was screaming

00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:53.280
for attention in every other way. Bullying neighbors,

00:44:53.539 --> 00:44:56.739
dominating the church council. He was an unbearable

00:44:56.739 --> 00:44:59.400
person to be around, which actually explains

00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:02.039
why he was caught. He couldn't help but reach

00:45:02.039 --> 00:45:04.780
out. But that abrasiveness worked as camouflage.

00:45:04.980 --> 00:45:08.039
That's the irony. Who suspects the annoying guy

00:45:08.039 --> 00:45:10.800
with the tape measure is a serial killer? You

00:45:10.800 --> 00:45:13.280
expect the killer to be the quiet loner. not

00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:16.739
the over -involved bureaucrat. It's the banality

00:45:16.739 --> 00:45:20.239
of evil in its purest form. And regarding the

00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:22.940
need for attention, that brings us to the final

00:45:22.940 --> 00:45:26.659
and perhaps most controversial aspect, the communications

00:45:26.659 --> 00:45:30.079
and his ultimate downfall. You see his letters

00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:33.400
as stupidity. I see them, at least initially,

00:45:33.659 --> 00:45:37.500
as psychological warfare. I see them as a desperate

00:45:37.500 --> 00:45:44.489
plea for validation. He wrote to the Wichita

00:45:44.489 --> 00:45:47.570
Eagle detailing the Otero murders to prove he

00:45:47.570 --> 00:45:50.210
was the real deal dispelling false confessions.

00:45:50.409 --> 00:45:54.130
He sent the Shirley Locks poem. He sent the Odeff

00:45:54.130 --> 00:45:58.190
to Nancy parody. In 1978, he sent a letter to

00:45:58.190 --> 00:46:02.110
KAKE, Van TV, demanding they communicate with

00:46:02.110 --> 00:46:05.510
him via a subliminal message on the news. He

00:46:05.510 --> 00:46:08.309
wanted them to flash a visual signal, and the

00:46:08.309 --> 00:46:11.400
police did it. They flashed a split -second graphic

00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:14.420
saying, now call the chief during the evening

00:46:14.420 --> 00:46:17.119
news. He was puppeteering the investigation.

00:46:17.480 --> 00:46:21.800
He made the police dance to his tune. That is

00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:24.880
a position of power. It was a game, but it was

00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:28.500
a game played by a child. He resurfaced in 2004

00:46:28.500 --> 00:46:30.840
not because he had a master plan, but because

00:46:30.840 --> 00:46:34.090
he was bored and insecure. The Wichita Eagle

00:46:34.090 --> 00:46:36.929
ran a story on the 30th anniversary of the Otero

00:46:36.929 --> 00:46:40.170
murders implying BTK was dead or in prison. His

00:46:40.170 --> 00:46:42.929
ego couldn't handle being forgotten. And let's

00:46:42.929 --> 00:46:45.250
look at the quality of these mastermind communications

00:46:45.250 --> 00:46:48.409
in the 2000s. He leaves a package taped to a

00:46:48.409 --> 00:46:51.590
stop sign. He leaves a cereal box, a literal

00:46:51.590 --> 00:46:54.369
cereal box, in the back of a pickup truck at

00:46:54.369 --> 00:46:56.510
a Home Depot. The owner of the truck thought

00:46:56.510 --> 00:46:59.239
it was trash and threw it away. Rader had to

00:46:59.239 --> 00:47:01.320
write another letter asking, hey, what happened

00:47:01.320 --> 00:47:04.679
to my cereal box? It's slapstick comedy. It's

00:47:04.679 --> 00:47:10.139
pathetic. The cereal box was clumsy. I will concede

00:47:10.139 --> 00:47:13.639
that. He was rusty. But he was trying to reestablish

00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:16.880
the brand. He was trying to get caught. And this

00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:19.340
is the smoking gun for the lucky amateur theory.

00:47:19.559 --> 00:47:22.500
The floppy disk. We have to explain this for

00:47:22.500 --> 00:47:24.139
the listeners because in the age of the cloud,

00:47:24.380 --> 00:47:27.199
this seems ancient. Rader wanted to send digital

00:47:27.199 --> 00:47:29.860
files to the police. So he sent a letter asking,

00:47:30.039 --> 00:47:33.619
can a floppy disk be traced? Now, a mastermind

00:47:33.619 --> 00:47:36.320
assumes the police lie. A mastermind understands

00:47:36.320 --> 00:47:39.360
that digital files have metadata, hidden information

00:47:39.360 --> 00:47:42.559
about who created the file and where. Rader didn't

00:47:42.559 --> 00:47:44.940
know this. The police put an ad in the paper.

00:47:45.340 --> 00:47:48.900
Rex, it will be okay. They lied to him. And he

00:47:48.900 --> 00:47:52.130
bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. He sent a

00:47:52.130 --> 00:47:56.469
purple Memorex floppy disk to KSAS -TV. The police

00:47:56.469 --> 00:47:58.550
popped it into a computer. They looked at the

00:47:58.550 --> 00:48:01.110
metadata of the Word document. It said the file

00:48:01.110 --> 00:48:03.510
was last modified by a user named Dennis and

00:48:03.510 --> 00:48:06.110
referenced Christ Lutheran Church. It took them

00:48:06.110 --> 00:48:08.630
about 15 minutes to find him. He wasn't caught

00:48:08.630 --> 00:48:10.730
by Sherlock Holmes. He was caught because he

00:48:10.730 --> 00:48:13.530
put his name on the evidence. It was a catastrophic

00:48:13.530 --> 00:48:17.289
failure of technological literacy. Absolutely.

00:48:18.239 --> 00:48:21.179
Rader was a man of the 70s trying to operate

00:48:21.179 --> 00:48:25.460
in 2005. But I have to ask, does one mistake

00:48:25.460 --> 00:48:29.119
at the very end erase the success of the previous

00:48:29.119 --> 00:48:31.920
30 years? He trusted the police in that moment

00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:35.960
because he had beaten them for so long. He had

00:48:35.960 --> 00:48:38.920
sent letters in the 70s that were traced to a

00:48:38.920 --> 00:48:41.980
photocopier at Wichita State University and they

00:48:41.980 --> 00:48:44.719
still couldn't find him. He developed a sense

00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:47.599
of invincibility. It was arrogance, yes, but

00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:50.079
it was arrogance earned through decades of evading

00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:53.280
the dragnet. It wasn't just tech illiteracy.

00:48:53.400 --> 00:48:57.360
It was a fundamental lack of common sense. Even

00:48:57.360 --> 00:49:00.139
when he was arrested, he was driving his black

00:49:00.139 --> 00:49:03.480
Jeep Cherokee, the same car seen on surveillance

00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:06.539
footage at the Home Depot drop site. He wasn't

00:49:06.539 --> 00:49:08.679
switching cars. He wasn't hiding his tracks.

00:49:08.980 --> 00:49:11.440
He was just living his life, assuming he was

00:49:11.440 --> 00:49:14.320
untouchable. When the police asked him during

00:49:14.320 --> 00:49:16.849
the interrogation, why did you lie to me about

00:49:16.849 --> 00:49:19.510
the floppy disk? Rader actually looked hurt.

00:49:19.690 --> 00:49:23.369
He said, I thought we had a rapport. He genuinely

00:49:23.369 --> 00:49:25.949
thought the police were his friends in this game.

00:49:26.409 --> 00:49:28.909
That is delusional. He was delusional at the

00:49:28.909 --> 00:49:30.969
end, but he was also the man who sat in a courtroom

00:49:30.969 --> 00:49:33.670
and described the murders in graphic detail without

00:49:33.670 --> 00:49:36.329
a shred of emotion. We're running out of time,

00:49:36.349 --> 00:49:40.829
so let's try to synthesize this. I stand by the

00:49:40.829 --> 00:49:42.869
assertion that Dennis Rader was a formidable

00:49:42.869 --> 00:49:45.690
operator. You can call him lucky, but luck is

00:49:45.690 --> 00:49:48.969
a queen flip. You don't flip heads 10 times in

00:49:48.969 --> 00:49:52.650
a row over 30 years without some skill. His ability

00:49:52.650 --> 00:49:56.050
to lead a completely bifurcated life, devout

00:49:56.050 --> 00:49:58.469
church leader by day, serial killer by night,

00:49:58.570 --> 00:50:02.210
demonstrates a terrifying capacity for compartmentalization.

00:50:02.550 --> 00:50:05.510
He manipulated the media. He frustrated the police

00:50:05.510 --> 00:50:07.750
for decades. And the only reason he was caught

00:50:07.750 --> 00:50:10.219
is because he came out of retirement. and just

00:50:10.219 --> 00:50:12.840
didn't understand modern technology. And I maintain

00:50:12.840 --> 00:50:15.760
that Rader has been mythologized far beyond his

00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:19.300
capabilities. He was a blue book bureaucrat with

00:50:19.300 --> 00:50:22.420
a God complex. He left knives at crime scenes.

00:50:22.599 --> 00:50:25.340
He shot victims he was trying to strangle. He

00:50:25.340 --> 00:50:28.219
let witnesses escape and he relied on the limitations

00:50:28.219 --> 00:50:31.760
of 1970s forensics to survive. He didn't get

00:50:31.760 --> 00:50:34.059
caught earlier because he stopped, not because

00:50:34.059 --> 00:50:36.440
he was brilliant. And the moment he tried to

00:50:36.440 --> 00:50:39.019
be clever in the digital age, his own vanity

00:50:39.019 --> 00:50:41.380
and gullibility led him directly into a cell.

00:50:41.599 --> 00:50:44.300
He wasn't a mastermind. He was just a narcissist

00:50:44.300 --> 00:50:47.400
who got away with it for too long. It's a disturbing

00:50:47.400 --> 00:50:50.780
case regardless of the label we apply. The terrifying

00:50:50.780 --> 00:50:53.800
reality is that whether he was a genius or a

00:50:53.800 --> 00:50:56.260
fool, he walked among the community in Wichita

00:50:56.260 --> 00:50:59.800
for decades unnoticed. Exactly. And perhaps that

00:50:59.800 --> 00:51:02.929
is the scariest lesson. The monster wasn't hiding

00:51:02.929 --> 00:51:05.250
in a cave. He was leading the Cub Scout troop

00:51:05.250 --> 00:51:07.769
and running the church council meeting. We encourage

00:51:07.769 --> 00:51:10.570
our listeners to read the source material and

00:51:10.570 --> 00:51:15.030
decide for themselves. Was BTK a mastermind or

00:51:15.030 --> 00:51:19.329
a lucky bungler? Or perhaps just a banal evil

00:51:19.329 --> 00:51:22.469
man who got lucky until he didn't. Thank you

00:51:22.469 --> 00:51:24.289
for joining the debate. Good night.