Age, Biography, and Wiki
- Full Name: Dennis Lynn Rader
- Date of Birth: March 9, 1945
- Age (as of 2025): 80 years old
- Place of Birth: Pittsburg, Kansas, U.S.
- Nickname: BTK Killer (for Bind, Torture, Kill)
- Criminal Status: Convicted serial killer and rapist, serving ten consecutive life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility.
Dennis Rader murdered at least ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, primarily targeting women. He was known for sending taunting letters to police and media, detailing his crimes. After a long hiatus, Rader was ultimately caught in 2005 after providing police with a computer disk that led to his identification.
| Occupation | Serial Killers |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 9 March 1945 |
| Age | 80 Years |
| Birth Place | Pittsburg, Kansas, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Pisces |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Publicly available information does not specify Dennis Rader’s height, weight, or body measurements. His physical appearance, while noted in criminal case files during his trial, has not been widely reported in the context of celebrity or public figure profiles.
From a young age, Rader harbored sadistic sexual fantasies about torturing "trapped and helpless" women. He also exhibited zoosadism by torturing, killing and hanging small animals. Rader acted out sexual fetishes for voyeurism, autoerotic asphyxiation and cross-dressing, often spying on female neighbors while dressed in women's clothing, including women's underwear that he had stolen. He also masturbated with ropes or other bindings around his arms and neck.
Rader allowed Fox to go to the bathroom after she assured him that she could not escape. Rader ordered Fox to come out of the bathroom partially undressed. Rader began to undress and he ordered her to lay down when she emerged from the bathroom. Fox resisted when Rader tried to remove her remaining clothing. Rader then began putting handcuffs on Fox, to which she protested and questioned the need for. Rader told her, "that's part of my deal. I got to have them or it won't work." Rader then began to crawl on top of Fox, and wrapped his belt around her neck. He would repeatedly loosen and tighten the belt, allowing her to come close to unconsciousness and then bring her back, before eventually killing her.
| Height | |
| Weight | |
| Body Measurements | |
| Eye Color | |
| Hair Color |
Dating & Relationship Status
Prior to his arrest, Dennis Rader was married and had two children. He was known to be active in his community, serving as a Boy Scout leader and church council president. Since his incarceration, there have been no reports of any relationships or marriage. His marriage effectively ended after his arrest and conviction.
His parents were bookkeeper Dorothea Mae Rader and Kansas Gas Service worker William Elvin Rader. He was the eldest of four sons. Growing up in Wichita, Rader later recalled feeling ignored by his mother. Both of his parents worked long hours and paid little attention to their children at home.
After graduating from Wichita Heights High School, Rader attended Kansas Wesleyan University. He received only mediocre grades and dropped out after one year. Rader served in the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1970. On discharge, he moved to Park City, a suburb of Wichita, where he worked in the meat department of an IGA supermarket where his mother was employed as a bookkeeper.
On July 26, 2005, after Rader's arrest, his wife was granted an emergency divorce, waiving the normal sixty-day waiting period. In an interview with ABC News in 2019, his daughter Kerri stated she writes to her father and has now forgiven him, but still struggles to reconcile her "normal" childhood with the knowledge that she was raised by the BTK killer. However, at the 2024 Crime Con in Nashville, Tennessee, Kerri revealed excerpts from her father's journal that revealed he had sexually abused her as a young girl.
After the rest of the family was murdered, Rader took Josephine down to the basement. Rader undressed Josephine and tied a noose around a sewer pipe in the basement. Rader asked Josephine if her father had a camera so he could take pictures, to which she responded no. Rader then hung the girl in the basement and masturbated as he watched her struggle on the rope. On the way out of the house, he got in the Otero family car and drove it to the parking lot of a Dillons grocery store. He realized that he had dropped a knife in the backyard of the Otero home, so he drove his car back to the house to retrieve it.
On March 17, 1977, Rader had a different victim planned for the day, but the victim was not home. He was frustrated by this and decided to find a random person to kill instead. While looking for a potential victim, he came across Shirley's son, Steve (6), walking down the street. Rader approached Steve, claiming to be a detective, and asked him if he could identify individuals in a photo. Rader showed Steve a photo of his wife and daughter, who Steve mistakenly identified as his mother and sister. He then followed Steve back to his mother's house.
At the Relford residence, Rader asked Shirley if she could identify the same photo. During this interaction, Rader pulled a gun and forced his way into the home. He claimed that he was a wanted man, and that they were being robbed. Rader attempted to tie up the three Relford children but struggled to do so, leading him to force the children into a bathroom, which he barricaded with Shirley's assistance. Rader reported giving the kids toys and supplies to keep them "comfortable" while he murdered their mother. He threatened to shoot the children if they broke free. After this, Rader took Relford to the rear bedroom. Relford vomited before being tied to her bedpost by her legs and handcuffed. Rader strangled her with rope after placing a plastic bag over her head. During the murder, Shirley was sick and asked for water, which Rader provided prior to strangling her.
Rader cut the phones line to Hedge's home and managed to break into the home without damaging it too much. He then hid in a closet. After some waiting, Hedge came home with her boyfriend, leading Rader to wait even longer in the bedroom closet until he left, and for Hedge to get into bed. After he was confident Hedge was in bed, he crept out of the closet and quickly flipped on the bathroom light switch. Hedge woke up and began screaming. Rader subdued and handcuffed Hedge before strangling her to death. Rader then wanted to remove her from the house to "tie her up and take pictures of her." After finding her car keys and collecting mementos, Rader stripped Hedge and dragged her out to her car. He drove her to the Christ Lutheran Church, where he was a long-time member and keyholder. He dragged Hedge's body into the building and covered the windows before turning on the lights, ensuring no light would be visible from the outside. He then began positioning the body in the church and taking photographs of the corpse.
Wegerle told Rader that her husband would be home soon, but he persisted. Rader forced her in to the bedroom, where Wegerle broke free of her bonds and fought back. She scratched Rader's face hard enough that, at the time of his confession 20 years later, Rader testified that he "probably still ha[d] the scratch somewhere ... if you looked." The struggle upset the Wegerles' dogs, who began barking. Rader grew nervous, because the windows were open and he did not know when Wergele's husband would be home. Rader did not have much time but he took pictures after he killed her for "sexual purposes."
Rader fled with the Wegerle car, and passed Vicki's husband on the way out. Rader parked the car in a grocery store parking lot, and drove back home in his car. As he passed the Wegerle home, he saw EMS responding.
Rader used a Trappers Scout outing as cover for the murder. On January 18, 1991, the Trappers were having their annual "dead of winter" outing at Harvey County Park West. Rader went to the park and set up camp before fabricating a story and leaving. Rader then drove to his parents' house and got undressed out of the trapping scout clothes. Rader then drove to Park City Baptist Church, to which he had a key to the church because of his Boys Scouts duties. Rader left the church, walking through wheat fields and cutting through a cemetery to get to Davis's home. The severe cold drove Rader to break-in by smashing the window rather than trying to break in more quietly.
| Parents | |
| Husband | |
| Sibling | |
| Children |
Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth (2025): Dennis Rader has no public net worth as of 2025. He is serving multiple life sentences, and any prior career earnings or assets were likely reallocated following his arrest, legal proceedings, and incarceration.
- Salary: During his working years, Rader held jobs such as a factory worker with the Coleman Company and later as a compliance officer for the city of Park City, Kansas. According to available records, municipal compliance officers in Kansas typically earn modest salaries, often in the $30,000–$50,000 range per year before Rader’s era. There are no indications that Rader accrued significant wealth or investments during his lifetime.
Career, Business, and Investments
- Early Career: Worked briefly as a factory worker for the Coleman Company in the 1970s.
- Security Field: Rader worked for ADT, a home-security company.
- Municipal Employment: He became a compliance officer for Park City, Kansas, in 1991, enforcing local codes and regulations.
- Community Involvement: Served as a Boy Scout troop leader and president of his church council.
- Investments: No evidence suggests that Dennis Rader had any significant business interests or investments.
Rader initially worked as an assembler for the Coleman Company, an outdoor supply company. He then worked at the local Wichita office of ADT Security Services from 1974 to 1988, where he installed security alarms. Ironically, many of his clients were concerned homeowners seeking security from his own killings as BTK. Rader was a field operations supervisor for the Wichita area for the 1990 federal census.
In May 1991, Rader became a dogcatcher and compliance officer in Park City. In this position, neighbors recalled him as being sometimes overzealous and extremely strict, as well as taking special pleasure in bullying and harassing single women. Two women he stalked in the 1980s, and one whom he stalked in the mid-1990s, filed restraining orders against him; one of these women also changed her address to avoid him. One neighbor complained that Rader killed her dog for no reason. Rader was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita, and at one point was elected president of the church council. He was also a Cub Scout leader.
On September 16, 1986, Rader used one of the company's hard-hats, and a Southwest Bell manual to act as a repairman or technician for the telephone company. Rader first gained entry into Wegerle's neighbor's house, and pretended to do telephone work, before leaving and knocking on Wegerle's door. He did this to make her less suspicious. Once in the house, Rader told Wegerle he had to check the "telephone terminals." Wegerle directed him to the phone near the dining room table. Rader made small talk with Wegerle as he pretended to check the phone. After declaring the phone line looked okay, Rader pulled a gun on Wegerle and instructed her to go to the bedroom.
* Davis, Jeffrey M. The Shadow of Evil: Where Is God in a Violent World?. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1996. ISBN 0-7872-1981-9. (Davis is the son of BTK victim Dolores Davis.)
Social Network
Dennis Rader is not active on any social media platforms. He does not maintain a public online presence, especially as a convicted felon serving life imprisonment. Social media accounts claiming to represent him are unauthorized and not verified.
In May 2004, KAKE received a letter with chapter headings for the "BTK Story", fake IDs and a word puzzle. On June 9, a package was found taped to a stop sign at the corner of First and Kansas roads in Wichita, which contained graphic descriptions of the Otero murders and a sketch labeled "The Sexual Thrill Is My Bill." Also enclosed was a chapter list for a proposed book titled The BTK Story, which mimicked a story written in 1999 by Court TV crime writer David Lohr. Chapter One was titled "A Serial Killer Is Born." In July, a package dropped into the return slot at a public library contained more bizarre material, including the claim that BTK was responsible for the death of 19-year-old Jake Allen in Argonia, Kansas, earlier that month. This claim was false, and that death was ruled a suicide.
On February 28, 2005, Rader was charged with 10 counts of first degree murder. Soon afterward, the Associated Press cited an anonymous source alleging that Rader had confessed to other murders in addition to those with which he had been connected. However, the Sedgwick County district attorney denied the story, yet refused to say whether Rader had made any confessions or if investigators were looking into his possible involvement in more unsolved killings. On March 5, news sources claimed to have verified by multiple sources that Rader had confessed to the 10 murders he was charged with, but no other ones.
In 2019, Rader's daughter, Kerri Rawson, published her book A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming where she goes over her childhood and Rader's role.
Rader's daughter, Kerri, visited him in 2023 and reported him as "rotting" and "unhappy" reporting that "he's lost like 7 inches and he's in a wheelchair."
* Douglas, John E. Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind Thirty Years of Hunting for the Wichita Serial Killer. Jossey Bass Wiley, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7879-8484-7.
* Wenzl, Roy; Potter, Tim; Laviana, Hurst; Kelly, L. Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door. HC an imprint of HarperCollins, 2007. ISBN 978-0-06-124650-0.
Education
- High School: Attended local schools in Wichita, Kansas.
- Higher Education: Graduated from Wichita State University in 1979 with a degree in criminal justice.
Rader married Paula Dietz on May 22, 1971. They had two children, Kerri and Brian. He attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, earning an associate degree in electronics engineering in 1973. He then enrolled at Wichita State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in administration of justice.
On January 15, 1974, Rader murdered four members of the Otero family in Wichita. The victims were Joseph Otero Sr. (38), Julia Maria "Julie" Otero (33), Joseph "Joey" Otero II (9) and Josephine "Josie" Otero (11). Their bodies were discovered by the family's three older children, who had been at school at the time of the killings. On the morning of the murders, Rader parked his car and walked to the Otero home, scaled a fence, and cut the phone lines when in the backyard. It was after this that Joseph Jr let the dog out the backdoor to the backyard, and Rader confronted him and forced his way into the home at gunpoint. Initially, the family thought he was pulling a prank; Rader asserted that it was not a joke and clarified that he had a .22 hollow point pistol.
After his 2005 arrest, Rader confessed to the Otero murders. He claimed that he first targeted the family two months prior, when he spotted Julie leaving to take her children to school, and stalked them for 2–3 weeks.
When Rader reentered her room, Kathryn asked about the gunshots. Rader told Kathryn that he had shot her brother, at which point she fought back with gusto. Kathryn's resistance proved too strong for Rader to strangle her as planned, so Rader resorted to stabbing her repeatedly in the area under her ribcage. Rader heard Kevin call for help during the struggle. Once Kathryn was dead, Rader grabbed her keys, ran outside, and tried unsuccessfully to start Bright's truck. When it did not start, Rader ran to his car, which was parked at Wichita State University. Kathryn was alive when police arrived at her house, holding a telephone in her hands but partially verbally unresponsive. Bright died in emergency surgery from multiple stab wounds and strangulation.
Police obtained a warrant to test a pap smear taken from Rader's daughter at the Kansas State University medical clinic. DNA tests showed a "familial match" between the pap smear and the sample from Wegerle's fingernails; this indicated that the killer was closely related to Rader's daughter and, combined with the other evidence, was enough for police to arrest Rader.
Summary
Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer, is an 80-year-old convicted serial killer currently serving ten consecutive life sentences. He has no public net worth, did not accrue significant wealth, and had a modest career before his arrest. He is not active on social media and is not known to have any business or investment interests.
