Warning: This article contains discussion of topics which some readers may find distressing.
The BTK killer has become a topic of discussion over two decades after his capture thanks to a new Netflix documentary about the horrific serial killer.
Called My Father, The BTK Killer, the true crime documentary follows the serial killer’s daughter, Kerri Rawson.
Rawson’s father Dennis Rader was convicted of ten separate murders and is thought to have killed even more, murdering predominantly women between 1974 and 1991.
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BTK stands for bind, torture, kill, and was taken from Rader’s own taunting letters he sent to law enforcement and the press bragging about his crimes.
After watching the documentary focused on his daughter however, some fans on Reddit were left asking how it was that Rader was caught.
The road that led to the BTK Killer’s capture began in 2004 when he began sending letters again after news reports stating that the serial killer could be dead.
A floppy disk sent to the media was tracked back to a church where Rader worked, leading investigators to connect his DNA to evidence at the crime scene.
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Police used a medical sample of Rawson’s from her college health centre without her knowledge, leading them to confirm that Rader was the horrifying serial killer they were after.
Whilst explained in the documentary, one fan on Reddit had a key question, posting: “How did police confirm Dennis Rader?
“I just watched [the Netflix documentary] … but im confused as to how/why police confirmed Dennis Rader was BTK after cross-checking his daughter's DNA.
“They cross-checked with what? Was there his DNA left on items or victims?”
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It is not surprising however that the reality of this was left out of the documentary which focuses more on the bizarre realisation of Rawson’s that her father was a serial killer rather than his horrific crimes.
Police confirmed after his arrest that, though Rader did not sexually assault any of his victims, they had found his semen at crime scenes.
This was due to the fact that he would often masturbate after committing his horrific acts.
Rader’s motivation behind his crimes was predominantly sexual, stating after his arrest that he derived pleasure from asphyxiation and women being helpless in bondage situations.
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The more Rader spoke about his motives and actions after his arrest, the more horrifying it gets, with specific details disturbing even the most fanatic of true crime fans.
One of these that was most disturbing is that Rader would frequently use an exercise squeeze ball to work on his grip strength to strangle his victims.
Rader is serving ten consecutive life sentences for his crimes and will serve a minimum of 175 years behind bars.
Rawson, speaking in the Netflix documentary about her father, admitted that she spent ’10 years rotting inside after he was arrested’.
My Father, the BTK Killer is available to watch on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, TV and Film, Film, Documentaries, Crime
Michael Slavin