The BTK Killer was the inspiration behind one of the characters in a ‘terrifying’ Stephen King thriller, an admission that led to the serial killer’s daughter to hit out at the famed horror novelist.
The BTK Killer, and particularly his daughter Kerri Rawson, have seen a renewed degree of interest this past week due to the recent Netflix documentary My Father, the BTK Killer.
Dennis Rader killed at least ten people and is thought to have murdered more, with him only being caught almost 30 years after he first began his sick killing spree.
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Rader’s serial killer name stood for bind, torture, kill, and Stephen King admitted to taking inspiration from his crimes.
This was for a novella adapted into a 2014 film called A Good Marriage.
A Good Marriage follows a woman who, after 27 years of marriage, discovers that her husband is secretly a serial killer.
Starring Joan Allen and Anthony LaPaglia, King wrote the screenplay for the film as well as the book of the same name.
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Writing on his website about the inspiration for the novella, King admitted that it came to him after reading an article about Rader, aka the BTK killer.
Rader is known to have killed people in the US between 1974 and 1991, but wasn't caught until 2005.
King spoke about how people in the local Wichita area did not believe the fact that his wife, Paula Rader, was able to be married to him for 34 years without knowing, as she and his children have all stated that they never knew.
King said: “I did believe [that Paula could not know] – I do believe – and I wrote this story to explore what might happen in such a case if the wife suddenly found out about her husband’s awful hobby.
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"I also wrote it to explore the idea that it’s impossible to fully know anyone, even those we love the most."
Despite stating he did believe Paula, Kerri Rawson was less than impressed with King’s admission.
Speaking to the Wichita Eagle, she said: “He’s exploiting my father’s 10 victims and their families.
"He’s just going to give my father a big head, and he absolutely does not need that... Any money King makes off this story should go either to abused children, battered wives, or police."
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Specifically speaking about her family, Rawson said: “We feel exploited… We consider ourselves the 11th victim family. Stephen King has the right to tell a story, but why bring us into it?
“Why couldn’t he just find inspiration for another good story, but leave out where it all came from.”
The daughter of the killer has also spoken about how the incident led her to feel the need to ‘tell her story’, something which culminated in the new Netflix documentary.
She said in the Netflix doc that she had spent '10 years rotting inside after he was arrested'.
LADbible has contacted King's reps for comment.
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My Father, the BTK Killer is available to watch on Netflix now. A Good Marriage is available to watch on Prime Video now in the UK, and on Peacock or Tubi in the US.
Michael Slavin