BTK suspect 'confesses to six murders'
The man suspected of 10 murders attributed to the "BTK" serial killer confessed to at least six of the killings, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation said today.
Investigators in Kansas now believe Dennis Rader may have been responsible for as many as 13 killings – including at least one that occurred after the death penalty was enacted in the state, the source told The Associated Press news agency.
"BTK" stands for the killer’s self-coined nickname - “Bind, Torture, Kill”.
Rader made the confession on Friday, the day of his arrest, according to the source. “The guy is telling us about the murders,” the source said.
Police spokeswoman Janet Johnson declined to comment.
Rader was being held on a €8m bond over the deaths of 10 people in Wichita between 1974 and 1991. Police had long linked the BTK killer to eight murders, but added two more after Rader’s arrest.
Now police suspect the BTK killer of the deaths of two Wichita State University students, as well as a woman who lived down the street from another known victim of BTK.
Prosecutors had said initially they could not pursue the death penalty against Rader because the 10 murders linked to BTK occurred before Kansas state law allowed capital punishment.
Rader, 59, could appear in court as early today, but was more likely to be postponed until tomorrow, the district attorney’s office said.
Rader would stand in front of a judge on video while prosecutors recite yet-to-be-filed criminal charges against him. The judge would also review Rader’s bond and set a permanent amount.
It was unclear whether Rader had a lawyer.
Police were confident Rader’s arrest last week would bring to an end 30 years of fear about the BTK strangler. But as they pored over news of a suspect’s capture, many residents were left with an unsettling feeling – that he had been hidden among them all along.
Charlie Otero, whose parents and two siblings were BTK’s first victims in 1974, said he was “waiting with anticipation” to learn more about the DNA evidence credited with helping to crack the case.
Otero believes his family was targeted, although the rest of BTK’s victims were likely chosen at random. He was not sure why the family was targeted but said it was interesting that Rader and his father served in the US Air Force at the same time in the 1960s. “I’m sure this will all come out during the trial,” he said.
Rader, a married father of two, a Cub Scout leader and an active member of a Lutheran church, was anything but a recluse.
His job as a municipal enforcement supervisor required daily contact with the public and he even appeared on television in 2001 in his tan city uniform for a story on vicious dogs running loose in Park City.
Before becoming a council employee, Rader worked for a home security company, where he held several positions that allowed him access to customers’ homes, including a role as installation manager. He worked for ADT Security Systems from 1974 to 1989 – the same time as a majority of the BTK killings.
Mike Tavares, who worked with Rader at ADT, described him as a “by-the-books” employee who would often draw diagrams of houses and personally make sure technicians installed systems correctly.
While Rader was known as a blunt person and rubbed some people the wrong way, it never struck co-workers as anything other than businesslike.
“I’ve spoken to some co-workers who were around then, and everybody is very numb,” said Tavares, who left the company in 2001.
At his church and around the town, many expressed shock that Rader was accused of being the BTK killer.
“Disbelief, absolute disbelief,” said a tearful Carole Nelson, a member of Christ Lutheran Church, where Rader was an usher and the president of the church council. “I never would have guessed in a million years.”
The church’s pastor, Michael Clark, said Rader’s wife, Paula, was in a state of shock when he visited the family.
Just days before his arrest, Rader brought spaghetti sauce and salad to a church supper, even though he was unable to attend himself, church member Paul Carlstedt said.
“The guy that walked in here was not the face of evil,” said Bob Smyser, an usher at the church.
Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius told AP that DNA evidence was the key to cracking the case. It was unclear whether BTK’s letters helped lead to the arrest. Police have said they obtained semen from the crime scenes even though the killer did not sexually assault his victims.
Wichita television station KAKE, citing sources it did not name, reported that DNA from Rader’s daughter, Kerri, was instrumental in his capture, though KAKE anchor Larry Hatteberg said it did not appear the daughter turned her father in.
