JUNE 29 - JULY 5, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
BTK
This image from video provided by the television POOL shows BTK suspect Dennis Rader describing one of the 10 killings to which he pleaded guilty June 27 in Wichita. Rader pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder, admitting in a chillingly matter-of-fact voice to a series of slayings that terrorized Wichita beginning in the 1970s.
Defendant pleads guilty to 10 murders
BY ROXANA HEGEMAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA — The man accused of being the BTK serial killer pleaded guilty June 27 to 10 murders that spread fear across Wichita beginning in the 1970s, recounting with a chilling, almost professorial air how he "trolled" for victims and then shot, stabbed or strangled them.
Dennis Rader, a 60-year-old former code inspector and church president with a wife and children, said he killed to satisfy his sexual fantasies.
In an account utterly devoid of emotion, Rader described how he used a "hit kit" consisting of guns, rope, handcuffs and tape in a briefcase or a bowling bag. He described his killings as "projects" and his victims as "targets." He talked of his first four victims almost as animals, saying he decided to "put them down." And he said he offered one victim a glass of water to calm her down before putting a bag over her head and strangling her.
An unfailingly courteous Rader helpfully corrected the judge on some matters, clarified others, and at one point launched into an almost scholarly discourse on the mind and habits of a serial killer.
"If you've read much about serial killers, they go through what they call different phases. In the trolling stage, basically you're looking for a victim at that time," he told the judge. "You can be trolling for months or years, but once you lock in on a certain person, you become a stalker."
sentinel person, you become a man.
The man who called himself BTK — for his preferred method, "Bind, Torture, Kill" — cannot get the death penalty because the killings occurred before Kansas adopted capital punishment, but he almost certainly will go to prison for the rest of his life. Each count carries up to life in prison. The guilty pleas came
on the day that his trial was supposed to start. Sentencing is Aug. 17.
Those who watched or listened to him in court on Monday were struck by how utterly ordinary he looked — a balding figure in a tie and jacket, with a neatly trimmed goatee and gold wire-rimmed glasses — and by the air of detachment with which he recounted his grisly crimes.
"He was so cold about it," said 19-year-old Jared Noble of Wichita, who listened on the radio. "The way he described the details — heartless — with no emotion at all."
For the families of Rader's victims, the grisly confession answered questions that had haunted them for decades.
Most of the victims' relatives in court stared silently, though one wiped away tears during Rader's nearly one hour in front of the judge. After the hearing, they were asked by prosecutors to avoid reporters.
"Today in court, for the first time, our community and the nation have now heard Dennis Rader reveal that he has committed those homicides," District Attorney Nola Foulston said. "Today we have some resolution."
The BTK killer taunted media and police with cryptic messages during a catand-mouse game that began after the first murder. in 1974. BTK resurfaced in 2004 after years of silence with a letter to The Wichita Eagle that included photos of a 1986 strangling victim and a photocopy of her missing driver's license.
Rader did not reach a plea bargain with prosecutors. Defense attorney Steve Osburn said the evidence against Rader included a confession, DNA and "personal trophies" taken from his victims.
After Rader pleaded guilty, the Rev. Michael Clark, pastor of Rader's church, said: "That's what I hoped he would do."
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