Trapping the BTK Killer

Summary

48 Hours: Trapping the BTK Killer

Podcast by CBS News
Air Date: October 9, 2025

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Overview

This episode of 48 Hours explores the chilling case of the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader—one of America’s most notorious serial murderers. Through revealing interviews with survivors, family members, investigators, and the district attorney, the episode navigates the decades-long hunt for the killer and the devastating impact he had on his community and victims' families. The narratives of those wrongfully suspected, specifically the Wegerly family, offer a profound look at how the shadows of suspicion can haunt the innocent. The episode uncovers the psychological complexity of both the perpetrator and those affected by his crimes, culminating in Rader’s eventual capture and confession.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Wegerly Family’s Ordeal and BTK’s Shadow

• Bill and Vicki Wegerly’s Story: Bill recounts meeting Vicki in high school and building a loving family together ([00:39], [04:06]). Their sense of normalcy is shattered when Vicki is murdered in 1986.
• Bill's Discovery: Bill describes coming home to find their son, Brandon, alone and Vicki missing, then discovering her body ([01:11]-[01:38], [06:04]).
• Immediate Suspicion: Police suspect Bill due to failed polygraphs, causing a cloud of suspicion for nearly two decades ([02:00]-[02:20], [06:54]).
  • Quote: “No, it made them more suspicious. … I failed both of them.” — Bill Wagerly ([02:15]-[02:17])
• Enduring Rumors and Pain: The Wegerly children describe growing up stigmatized by their mother’s murder and the suspicion on their father ([07:22], [07:49]).
  • Quote: “My friends would tell me on the playground that … your dad did it.” — Stephanie Wagerly ([07:22])
  • Quote: “Me and my dad were bad people. … My dad killed my mother.” — Bill Wagerly as Brandon ([08:01])

2. The History and Methods of BTK

• A Pattern of Violence: The episode quickly establishes BTK’s modus operandi: binding, torturing, killing, and seeking attention ([02:44]-[10:26]).
• Timeline of Murder:
  • Otero family (1974)
  • Catherine Bright (1974)
  • Shirley Vian (1977)
  • Nancy Fox (1977) — BTK called police himself
• Public Panic & Police Response: Detective Arlan Smith describes the intense fear in Wichita ([11:26]-[11:32]).

3. BTK’s Reemergence and the Unmasking of the Killer

• Chilling Letters and Taunting: After years of silence, BTK resumes sending taunting letters in 2004, including evidence only the killer could know—such as Vicki Wegerly’s driver’s license ([14:07]).
  • Quote: “We do not have photographs … the only person who could have was the killer.” ([14:15])
  • Quote: “This monster come into my home and took my wife from me, … changed us as people for the rest of our lives.” — Bill Wagerly ([14:47])
• Rise and Fall: BTK sends increasingly bizarre packages with dolls symbolizing his crimes, and a cereal box as a pun on “serial killer” ([16:11]-[16:30]).
  • Quote: “He’s perverted. He’s a sexual offender. He is a pedophile.” — Nola Folston ([16:25])
• Critical Mistake and Capture:
  • The killer asks if a computer disk can be traced, sends one anyway.
  • Forensic analysis traces the disk to Dennis Rader, church president and city dog catcher ([17:53]-[18:24]).
  • Quote: “I looked at this picture and I went, you have got to be kidding me.” — Nola Folston ([18:16])

4. Confession: Breaking Down BTK

• The Interrogation:
  • At first, Rader denies involvement. When confronted with DNA evidence, “the dam had broken” ([21:05]).
    • Quote: “Then it was like the dam had broken. … You could not shut this guy up.” — Nola Folston ([21:05])
  • Rader is fixated on his “rapport” with investigators, expressing indignation over being “lied to” about the disk’s traceability ([21:25]).
    • Quote: “We had such a good thing going, you and I had that rapport.” — Rader, as described by investigator ([21:48])
• Exposing the Monster’s Dual Life:
  • Investigators find “souvenirs” (driver’s licenses, communication, trinkets) neatly catalogued in his workspace; at home, sexual fantasy cards he crafted ([22:22]-[23:10]).
    • Quote: “He had all the original communications. … all very neatly stored, all in binders.” ([22:40])
  • Rader leveraged his job installing alarm systems for ADT to scout victims ([23:39]).
• Community Shock: Friends and coworkers struggle to reconcile the dog catcher, church leader, and father with the serial killer they never suspected ([24:37]-[24:56]).
  • Quote: “The Dennis that came to church every Sunday … didn’t make any sense.” — Paul Karlstad ([24:41])

5. The Psychology of Dennis Rader

• Early Signs and Obsessions:
  • Rader claims a “normal childhood” but describes being aroused by animal killings as a boy, idolizing serial killer Harvey Glatman, and fantasizing about famous women ([31:00]-[31:20]).
    • Quote: “He first became aroused … when they would kill chickens for feeding the family.” — Nola Folston ([31:00])
• Hidden Fetish and Fantasies:
  • Rader meticulously hid his sexual fantasies and trappings of murder from his family.
  • His wife Paula and daughter, both “wonderful people,” were completely unaware ([35:54]-[36:15]).
    • Quote: “I’ve talked to that woman … totally devastated by the actions of this man. They had no idea.” ([35:57])
  • Some theorize he planned to eventually reveal himself as BTK ([37:28]).

6. Sentencing and Survivors’ Voices

• Victims’ Family Impact Statements:
  • Families speak directly to Rader, expressing pain, loss, and a longing for justice ([41:41]-[43:55]).
    • Quote: “My mother begged for her life, yet he showed no remorse.” — Stephanie Wagerly ([43:31])
    • Quote: “30765 days I have wondered what it would be like to confront the walking cesspool that took my mother’s precious life.” — Charlie Otero ([42:29])
    • Quote: “I want him to suffer for the rest of his life.” — Steve Relford ([43:01])
• No Closure, No Remorse:
  • Rader offers an apology, but families and the DA find it hollow ([44:10]-[44:34]).
    • Quote: “It’s pitiable for Mr. Raider … Well, what else do you say after you kill 10 people?” — Nola Folston ([44:34])
  • Rader receives a sentence of 175 years ([44:52]-[45:04]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is one of the most sensational crimes ever to explode in Hollywood.” — District Attorney Nola Folston, framing the scale ([00:02], repeated [02:44])
• “For 18 years, it cleared Bill Wegerly and exposed BTK as the real killer.” — Narrator ([14:33])
• “It was so emotional … it was like this son of a bitch is gone. He is out of here.” — Nola Folston, on Rader’s arrest ([19:41])
• “The devil comes in an angel’s disguise.” — Bill Wagerly quoting a detective ([27:35])
• “He just fits the profile. He’s everyman.” — Nola Folston on Rader ([18:46])
• “It’s like a war has ended and there’s not really a victory, but the war is over.” — Bill Wagerly ([39:21])
• “If the families get their way, Dennis Raider and BTK will just fade into the past.” — Narrator ([45:04])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |----------------|------------------------------------------------| | 00:39-04:06 | Wegerly family background, Vicki’s murder | | 06:04-08:02 | Bill discovers Vicki, suspicion on him | | 11:03-11:53 | History of BTK killings | | 14:07-16:37 | BTK’s 2004 letters, Wegerly exoneration | | 17:33-18:24 | BTK sends disk, forensic breakthrough | | 21:05-22:53 | Rader breaks down in confession | | 23:10-24:56 | Discovery of souvenirs, double life emerges | | 31:00-31:20 | Rader’s childhood obsessions revealed | | 35:54-36:15 | Rader’s family had no idea | | 41:41-43:55 | Family impact statements at sentencing | | 44:10-45:12 | Hollow apology, sentencing of Rader |

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Closing Reflection

Trapping the BTK Killer is a harrowing account of the devastation wrought by Dennis Rader: on his victims, their families, the wrongly accused, and an entire city haunted by fear and unanswered questions. The episode offers a multi-angled portrait of evil both ordinary and incomprehensible, a community’s resilience, and the long shadow of trauma and suspicion that persists even after justice is served.

Transcript

[Narrator]

This is one of the most sensational.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Crimes ever to explode in Hollywood.

[Celicia Stanton]

In 1989, Beverly Hills Police found Jose and Kitty Menendez gunned down in their mansion. And the killers? They're two sons.

[Bill Wagerly]

Why did you kill your parents? Because we were afraid.

[Celicia Stanton]

But were Lyle and Eric cold blooded murderers or victims? No one believed. I'm Celicia Stanton and my new series on the Menendez brothers is out now. Listen to Truer Crime wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bill Wagerly]

I met Vicki in high school. It was like we were just meant to be. We had so much in common. Pretty Woman, that was my favorite song. And to this day I'll crank it up in the car if I hear. Just says something about, I guess, kind of like the way I thought of her. Maybe.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

There was never, never a doubt in my mind how much my mom and my dad loved us.

[Bill Wagerly]

My name is Bill Wagerly. I was coming home for lunch. I was working on that side of town. I figured, well, I'd hurry and get home for lunch. I found Brandon by himself. I thought that was unusual for her not to be there with him. I kind of looked around, I think for her and didn't find her normal life. You don't expect something bad to be happening.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

She died by strangulation. There were a number of ligature marks around her neck.

[Celicia Stanton]

Why?

[Stephanie Wagerly]

Why her? You know, what did she do? What did we do?

[Bill Wagerly]

He's there for 50 minutes, probably before discovers the body. There were definitely police officers that thought that Bill Wagerly killed his wife.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Could that person be involved? You know who else would have killed the wife?

[Narrator]

Did they ask you to take a polygraph?

[Bill Wagerly]

Yeah, I took a polygraph for them. And I also took one privately.

[Narrator]

And did that make them less suspicious?

[Bill Wagerly]

No, it made them more suspicious.

[Narrator]

Why?

[Bill Wagerly]

I failed both of them.

[Narrator]

So Bill waggerly for 18 years had to live under the cloud of suspicion that he killed his wife.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I don't think they put two and two together that this had anything to do with a serial killer.

[Bill Wagerly]

This is btk. This is him.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

He killed my mom.

[Bill Wagerly]

Out of the shadows.

[Narrator]

For three decades, Wichita, Kansas has lived with a murder mystery. Ten victims strangled without mercy, and a faceless killer who called himself btk.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I dealt with very, very cold blooded killers, but none who have such a tremendous memory over this many years, I've never dealt with anybody like this. Hello, everybody.

[Narrator]

District Attorney Nola Folston is prosecuting Dennis Rader, the man behind the initials which stand for bind, torture and kill.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

We have torture devices.

[Bill Wagerly]

He commented to me at one Point. I'm sorry.

[Narrator]

I know this is a human being.

[Bill Wagerly]

But I'm a monster.

[Narrator]

You'll learn how Raider became that killer. And the untold story of one family's horrific encounter with btk.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Bill Wagerly was victimized and tortured in this whole episode. From the day that his wife died, the day that she was killed. It not only killed him, it put him under suspicion for a long period of time.

[Narrator]

Bill Weggerly and his children have been silent about what happened to them for 19 years. They speak for the first time.

[Bill Wagerly]

I remember seeing her across the hallway in school and just thinking, you know, wow.

[Narrator]

Bill met his wife Vicki when they were 16.

[Bill Wagerly]

She was just tall and slender and attractive. Well kept. I mean, she was quiet.

[Narrator]

And you got married when we were 17? Young, yeah.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

Sometimes it seemed like they were just, you know, two kids in love.

[Narrator]

When they were just 18, Bill and Vicki had a daughter, Steve, Stephanie. What do you remember of your mom?

[Stephanie Wagerly]

To me it seemed like she was always happy and bubbly and, you know, easy going and life was. Life was good.

[Narrator]

Eight years later, a son, Brandon, was born.

[Bill Wagerly]

My life revolved around her and her life revolved around the kids and me and her family too. Those were the important things to us.

[Narrator]

Then came a day so surreal that even 19 years later, Bill Wegerly still seems in shock. When was the last time you saw Vicki?

[Bill Wagerly]

When I left for work that morning, probably about 8 o'. Clock.

[Narrator]

The date? September 16, 1986.

[Bill Wagerly]

And I just remember kissing her goodbye, which normally I didn't take the time to do that, but that morning I did.

[Narrator]

While Bill was at work and Stephanie at school, Vicki was home. At one point that morning she was heard playing the piano. She was also taking care of Brandon, who was then two.

[Bill Wagerly]

I was coming home for lunch just to see her and Brandon. I passed my car on my way home.

[Narrator]

Did you know it was your car?

[Bill Wagerly]

Yeah, I was sure it was my car.

[Narrator]

And could you see who was driving it?

[Bill Wagerly]

I saw a person driving it, yes.

[Narrator]

But not your wife?

[Bill Wagerly]

No.

[Narrator]

What happened when you got home?

[Bill Wagerly]

I found Brandon sitting on the floor by himself.

[Narrator]

Were you worried at that moment?

[Bill Wagerly]

I was concerned, yeah. I didn't know exactly what was going on, why Brandon would be there by himself. That's very unusual.

[Narrator]

What did you do at that point?

[Bill Wagerly]

I eventually went into the bedroom and discovered her on the floor.

[Narrator]

Vicki had been tied up and strangled.

[Bill Wagerly]

Then you start to put things together that the person that was in my car probably, I'm sure did this. And I immediately called 911.

[Narrator]

But when police arrived and started putting things together themselves, they came to a different conclusion. Did they believe you?

[Bill Wagerly]

I don't think they did.

[Narrator]

That's because Bill failed those two lie detector tests.

[Bill Wagerly]

The individual that I hired to take the polygraph, he said he believed what I was saying was true. He said it's just the stress that I was under.

[Narrator]

Did you think it was possible you might be charged?

[Bill Wagerly]

It got to a point, yeah. I was fearful of that.

[Narrator]

Police never had enough evidence to actually charge Bill or anyone else. But the rumors persisted for years.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

I remember going back to school and my friends would tell me on the playground that, you know, my mom and dad said that your dad did it.

[Narrator]

That was tough, wasn't it?

[Bill Wagerly]

Mm.

[Narrator]

What would you say to them?

[Stephanie Wagerly]

I didn't say anything. We knew what the truth was, so it just made me more aware of who I was friends with.

[Narrator]

What about you, Brandon?

[Bill Wagerly]

Yeah. I had a teacher, I think, in middle school that had relayed to her younger son who had told me that me and my dad were bad people in a. Stay away from us.

[Narrator]

Why?

[Bill Wagerly]

Because my dad killed my mother.

[Narrator]

As you two got older, did you wonder what had happened to your mom?

[Bill Wagerly]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

What would you think?

[Bill Wagerly]

Well, I can remember from probably age 7 or 8. My grandma told me that she thought I was BTK, but at that age, you know, that meant nothing to me. So.

[Narrator]

Btk, Those initials and this symbol haunted Wichita, representing a phantom killer who had never been caught. Although it had been nine years since his last known murder, Vicki's brutal death seemed to carry his trademark. She had been bound and strangled like all the others before her. January 1974. Four members of the Otero family are tied up and strangled, including two children, 9 year old Joseph and 11 year old Josephine, who is hanged from a basement pipe. April 1974. 21 year old Catherine Bright, tied up, strangled and stabbed to death. October 1974. In a note left at the Wichita public library, the killer took credit for the Otero murders and gave himself a name. BTK, for bind them, torture them, kill them. March 1977. Another strangling, and this time a witness, six year old Steve Relford. What do you remember that day? Remember every time Steve was walking home from the store with soup for his sick mother when he was confronted by a stranger?

[Bill Wagerly]

He stops me, approaches me, shows me a picture, asks me did I know who it was? I said, no, sir, I don't know who this is.

[Narrator]

Steve ran home, but moments later there was a knock on the door.

[Bill Wagerly]

Me and my brother rushed to the door. I beat my brother. I left the BTK in my house.

[Narrator]

BTK gave Steve and his two siblings a blanket and some toys. Then he locked them in the bathroom. The terrified children watched through a crack at the top of the door as their mother, Shirley Vian, was tied to her bed and strangled. What do you remember of him? Was he tall?

[Bill Wagerly]

Ma', am, I remember how tall. I don't remember how short, but I remember what his face looked like.

[Narrator]

It sounds like you feel guilt that you ever let him in your house.

[Bill Wagerly]

That'll be for the rest of my life.

[Narrator]

How could you feel guilty about it, Steve? You didn't have anything to do with this.

[Bill Wagerly]

Yeah, I did. I answered the door.

[Narrator]

December 1977, BTK bound and strangled 25 year old Nancy Foxx. And added a twist, he reported the murder to police himself.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Yes, Bradshaw.

[Bill Wagerly]

Yes. You will find a homicide at 843 S. Pershington.

[Narrator]

Nancy Fox. Then the killer sent a chilling letter to a local TV station that read in part, how many do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention?

[Bill Wagerly]

He apparently was pretty irritated by the lack of news coverage.

[Narrator]

Former Wichita police detective Arlan Smith says the city was in a panic.

[Bill Wagerly]

We worked it with a sense of urgency because nobody knew how long it was going to be before he killed somebody else.

[Narrator]

But then in 1979, BTK seemed to disappear. So when Vicki Wegerly was killed seven years later, police focused on the most logical suspect. Her husband.

[Bill Wagerly]

I knew there was an individual out there that did this, but to me, it just seemed like they weren't looking for anybody else.

[Celicia Stanton]

This is one of the most sensational.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Crimes ever to explode in Hollywood.

[Celicia Stanton]

In 1989, Beverly Hills Police found Jose and Kitty Menendez gunned down in their mansion. And the killers, they're two sons.

[Bill Wagerly]

Why did you kill your parents? Because we were afraid.

[Celicia Stanton]

But were Lyle and Eric cold blooded murderers or victims no one believed? I'm Celicia Stanton, and my new series on the Menendez brothers is out Now. Listen to truer crime wherever you get your podcasts.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

All the pain and the heartache and just miss her.

[Narrator]

What do you miss about her?

[Celicia Stanton]

Everything.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

I mean, even at 10 years old, you know, she was my best friend.

[Bill Wagerly]

I don't think people understand that. The difficulties that I had and the fears of just raising two kids, it was like Stephanie was my second mother. She stepped in and kind of took over.

[Narrator]

The Wegerly children not only lost their mother, Vicki, they also had to endure the whispers and rumors about their father. For 18 years. Was there ever a time, Stephanie, that you thought your dad might have been responsible for your mom's death?

[Stephanie Wagerly]

Oh, no. Absolutely not. Never.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

There's kind of a cloud that rests over your head and, oh, there's Bill Wakerly. His wife was killed, and nobody's ever found the killer. Hmm.

[Narrator]

And then on a March Day in 2004, everything changed. It started with a letter to reporter Hurst Laviana.

[Bill Wagerly]

This is a copy of the envelope.

[Narrator]

Inside the envelope, a copy of Vicki Wegerly's driver's license and what appeared to be crime scene pictures of her body.

[Bill Wagerly]

I looked at the crime scene photographs and realized they weren't routine crime scene photographs.

[Narrator]

They weren't routine because police didn't take them. The only person who could have was the killer.

[Bill Wagerly]

We do not have photographs for it. Scene because she was transported, because it came in as a medical call. So EMS gets there, transports her out before police have arrived.

[Narrator]

For Lt. Ken Landwehr, who ran the BTK task force, the letter was a huge breakthrough. After 18 years, it cleared Bill Wegerly and exposed BTK as the real killer.

[Bill Wagerly]

This monster come into my home and took my wife from me, you know, took my life, our whole lives away from us as we knew it and changed us as people for the rest of our lives.

[Narrator]

For the Wegerlys and all the families that lost loved ones to btk, the horror came rushing back.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

We had gone on, you know, with our lives all these years, and then to have all of it come up again and to have to live through it all again was pretty hard.

[Narrator]

The return of BTK also shocked Wichita's district attorney, Nola Folston. Like everyone else in town, her life and career had been haunted by the faceless killer.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I was the same as anybody else with locking my doors, checking my phone, living in the same fear that everyone else was living with.

[Narrator]

Good evening. A new letter and new clues, possibly from Vicki Weberly's driver's license, was only the beginning. Throughout 2004, there was a frenzy of chilling BTK communiques as the killer scattered clues from past crimes all over the city. Teasing, puzzling and frightening.

[Bill Wagerly]

Kfdi, the FBI is now checking out a package that was found in a Wichita park.

[Narrator]

There were doll grams, little dolls, one with a noose around its neck. The killer posed the doll to represent the murder of 11 year old Josephine Otero, who was hanged.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

He's perverted. He's a sexual offender. He is a pedophile.

[Narrator]

There were cereal boxes. BTK's sick play on the words serial killer.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

He's got to be really twisted to have to manufacture these pictures. He is sexually benefiting as he's drawing this stuff.

[Bill Wagerly]

Sure.

[Narrator]

Why would he reappear after years of silence?

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Okay, are you ready?

[Narrator]

Police believe it was because of a writer named Bob Beatty.

[Bill Wagerly]

Hi.

[Narrator]

Excellent book. And the publicity surrounding his new book about the murders.

[Bill Wagerly]

This guy always wrote because he wanted attention. He writes to a television station and says, how many do I have to kill before I get some attention?

[Narrator]

Soon enough, the killer, seemingly jealous of Beatty, submitted his own body to police. And then he made a mistake. Inside another cereal box, he sent a note asking if he could send police a computer disk and still stay anonymous.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

So he wrote and he said, be honest with me. His words, be honest with me. If I send you a disc, will it be traceable? You know, put it in the newspaper, it'll be okay, Rex. And send it under this code number.

[Narrator]

Police placed an ad in the paper just as BTK instructed. He in turn sent in a disk.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

And was trapped when it reached its destination. Immediately it was forensically examined.

[Narrator]

In no time, computer experts traced the disc to a local church and a user named Dennis. A Google search did the rest, turning up a Dennis Raider, president of the Christ Lutheran Church.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

And I looked at this picture and I went, you have got to be kidding me.

[Narrator]

The ghost who had terrified Wichita for 30 years finally had a face. And what a face it was. BTK was, of all things, a dog catcher. A suburban family man with two grown kids and a tidy little house. It all seems so normal.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

And then it was kind of like, he fits. He just fits. He fits the profile. He's everyman.

[Narrator]

Everyone's gut said Dennis Raider. But police wanted the case airtight. They wanted DNA. They secretly obtained a sample from Raider's daughter.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

It was taken while she was in college.

[Narrator]

And blood.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

No pap smear.

[Narrator]

The daughter's DNA was compared to semen left at some of BTK's crime scenes. And it was a close match. On February 25, three decades after the BTK murders began, it all ended. One of the most notorious murders in American history. Was arrested it in the most routine way as he headed home for lunch.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

It was so emotional. I can't tell you how emotional it was. It was so great. It was like this son of a bitch is gone. He is out of here.

[Bill Wagerly]

This is ptk and her job is to get a compassion from him. He needs to say what he did.

[Narrator]

Wichita Police Lt. Ken Lamweir spent his entire career preparing for this one. Moment confronting the man he believed to be the serial killer.

[Bill Wagerly]

BTK I wanted to clear all the homicides. I just didn't want to clear two or three. I wanted all of them.

[Narrator]

As Lamweir sat down to interrogate Dennis Rader, District attorney Nola Folstein watch from the next room. What was your first reaction?

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I thought he was a geek. I know that sounds terrible, but he was just. He was so full of himself.

[Narrator]

For the first few hours, Raider admitted nothing. Then Lamweir took him by surprise and told Raider there was DNA evidence connecting him to six of the murders, including Vicki Wegerly's. Raider's skin was found under her fingernails.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Then it was like the dam had broken. You could not shut this guy up.

[Narrator]

What was the most surprising part of.

[Bill Wagerly]

The confession, the one that I will never forget, is the fact of when he asked me the question, ken, why did you lie to me, surely?

[Narrator]

And what's he talking about when he asks you, why did you lie?

[Bill Wagerly]

He's looking at the floppy disk. He didn't think we could trace a floppy disk because he asked me that. Why'd you lie to me if you wouldn't have lied to me? I wouldn't have sent it to you because I was trying to catch you. And when I told him I was trying to catch you, he says, but we had such a good thing going. You and I had that rapport.

[Narrator]

He really thought that they would be honest with him.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Can you believe that they could have sold him the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Narrator]

From that point on, Raider eagerly spent the next 30 hours reviewing the last 30 years of his life. As he proudly confessed to murder after murder, Raider revealed a darker nature than anyone could have imagined.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Nauseating. He'd start going on, on and on about each and every one of his conquests.

[Narrator]

While Raider was confessing, investigators began turning up physical evidence against him. In his city hall office, they discovered in plain sight a cabinet full of souvenirs from the killings, all neatly filed away. Raider called the stash his mother lode.

[Bill Wagerly]

He had all the original communications. He had all the evidence, all the trinkets, driver's licenses, all those things were all very neatly stored, all in binders.

[Narrator]

Inside Raider's tiny 900 square foot house. Investigators found another stash, a container in his closet full of what Raider called slick ads, sexual fantasy cards he made using magazine photos of women and young girls.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

What is wrong with this guy?

[Bill Wagerly]

His mind was totally fantasy driven.

[Narrator]

Police theorized these fantasies allowed Raider to go years without killing and were key to his elaborate double life. A life in which the normal activities of Dennis Raider fed the ghoulish appetites of btk. For instance, he told police he used a former job installing burglar alarms to enter homes and troll for victims.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

He always felt like he was very busy and you know, whatever you got, just whatever you need, let him know because he's got things to do. Very busy man.

[Narrator]

Denise Mattek shared an office with Raider at the home security company ADT in the 1980s. Vicki Weggerle was killed in the middle of the day when he was working at ADT and when you were working with him, which means he had to leave in the middle of the day and then come back after killing a woman. And brutally killing a woman. When Raider admitted to the 1985 strangling of Maureen Hedge, a woman who lived on his own block, he told police he took the body to his church where he posed and photographed was the same church where he appeared to be so devout he was elected president of the congregation.

[Bill Wagerly]

We just couldn't believe that they were talking about the Dennis Raider that we knew.

[Narrator]

Paul Karlstad has known Dennis Rader for 30 years.

[Bill Wagerly]

The dentist that came to church every Sunday, the dentist that was there to help in whatever way we wanted him to help. It just didn't make any sense.

[Narrator]

Raider also revealed that he slipped away from a boy scout camping trip in 1991 to strangle 62 year old Dolores Davis. It was Raider's last murder.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

His fantasy is to take her to a barn, string her up and then do some sexual bondage things with this dead body and photograph her.

[Narrator]

But Raider got caught in a snowstorm and dumped the body under a bridge instead.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

And it isn't until a couple of weeks later that her body's actually located underneath this bridge out in the county. And they find with it a mask, a plastic mask that's been painted, decorated with some eyelashes and lipstick and painted face on it.

[Bill Wagerly]

What made him think he had the right to take somebody that meant the world to me?

[Narrator]

So unjust. For Dolores Davis son Jeff, learning the identity of his mother's killer is a fresh outrage.

[Bill Wagerly]

What sick, perverted pleasure can you possibly get enjoying looking into somebody's terrified eyes as you strangle the life out of them.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

The BTK suspect will be back in court in about a half an hour. A court proceeding is scheduled at 09:00'.

[Celicia Stanton]

Clock.

[Narrator]

Finally, Raider was forced to appear in public for the first time since his arrest.

[Bill Wagerly]

Sir, I have been advised that your desire to enter a plea of guilty in this case, is that correct? Yes, sir.

[Narrator]

On June 27, in a Wichita courtroom, he pleaded guilty to all 10 murders.

[Bill Wagerly]

I used a ruse as a telephone repairman to get in their house.

[Narrator]

Raider's casual, cooperative tone in the courtroom seems strangely at odds with the brutal murders he described.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

I was still kind of in a fog, I think, you know, it just didn't seem real that this person could do these things. And then for me, it really hit home when he said he walked up to the door and heard the piano.

[Bill Wagerly]

As I approached it, I could hear a piano sound.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

That's when I knew that, you know, yeah, that was my mom that he heard playing.

[Narrator]

Is that the first time you realized this really was the killer? But even as he was admitting what he did, Dennis Rader failed to answer the biggest question question of all, what made him do it?

[Bill Wagerly]

I remember one of the detectives saying, the devil comes in an angel's disguise.

[Celicia Stanton]

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[Bill Wagerly]

My name's Jack Wagner, host of Otherworld, a podcast featuring real people who experience something paranormal, supernatural, or unexplained. I have no idea how I got there. I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks like this.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

It felt like electric stars on fire.

[Bill Wagerly]

I started Otherworldly to take a grounded approach to the paranormal, help people tell their own stories, and encourage more to come forward. I certainly don't have the answers, but maybe one day we will. Join me as we explore our world's greatest mysteries. Listen to Otherworld now for free. Wherever you get your podcasts, this episode.

[Celicia Stanton]

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[District Attorney Nola Folston]

N rakuten.com it just still doesn't seem.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

It still doesn't seem 100% real to me. Why not that this normal look, you know, normal, average guy that's married, has two kids, does all the normal stuff that he could do such horrible things to so many innocent people.

[Narrator]

We know Dennis Raider did do these horrible things. The only question is why. I was able to speak with him by phone and I met with him twice in jail. Cameras, however, were banned. This is what Raider told me. He says he grew up like any other child in a loving family and insists he was never abused. In fact, Raider's court appointed attorney Steve Osborne admits he tried to find something, anything from Dennis Raider's past that could somehow explain btk.

[Bill Wagerly]

We talked to the family some and you know, we didn't see anything that jumped out at us as abnormal. No trauma, no big event that would scar him or cause, you know, something like this to happen.

[Narrator]

Yet as young as 7 or 8 years of age, Raider told me and investigators, he became fascinated with inflicting pain on living things. He started with animals as a young boy.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

He first became aroused when he was at his grandparents farm and they would kill chickens for feeding the family. And he became very fixated on the death of those animals.

[Narrator]

And it gets stranger. While other boys of his generation looked up to baseball players, Raiders says his hero was Harvey Glatman, a serial killer who targeted young single women in Hollywood. He was executed in 1959 when Raider was just 14. But Glatman became an inspiration for the boy who would grow up to terrorize Wichita. Remember Annette Funicello? Vicky Mouse? Rader told detectives, quote, she was my favorite fantasy hit target when she was on the Mouseketeers. Rader imagined how he would kidnap the star Mouseketeer and, quote, do sexual things to her in California. Raider told me that as he got older, he collected detective pulp magazines depicting women in bondage. That the act of tying up a human body became an obsession. An obsession that he managed to keep secret from everyone he knew, even when he began killing at the age of 29. For all these years, he seemed just like anybody else here. He might have been someone you talked to. You might have been standing next to him here in the library.

[Bill Wagerly]

Right? Right.

[Narrator]

Author Robert Beatty.

[Bill Wagerly]

They were looking for crazy Charles Manson. Somebody with a history of crime, sex crimes, mental disorders. You get on the elevator with Charles Manson, you're going to move the other side of the elevator. So you get on the elevator with btk, you're going to smile and nod and have a conversation. You're never going to suspect this guy.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I trusted this man. I mean, I really trusted him.

[Narrator]

During the time that Denise Maddox shared an office with Raider at ADT, you will find a homicide. That 14 second phone call reporting Nancy Fox's homicide was replayed repeatedly on television. Denise, you worked with him for 11 years.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I did.

[Narrator]

And you didn't recognize his voice on that?

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I didn't Fung.

[Bill Wagerly]

Mr. Raider, would you please stand with counsel?

[Narrator]

She also never connected the killer's behavior with a Dennis Raider. She knew he was polite and even protective of women.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I was working around all these guys, sharing a restroom with them. I was the only woman. And he always wanted to make sure that they put the lid down and no dirty jokes. He painted the bathroom for me because I thought it was a. It was really gross.

[Bill Wagerly]

Well, no, I mean, they were.

[Narrator]

We know from Raider's own letters to police that he admired famous murderers like Jack the Ripper and Son of Sam. But what isn't widely known is how much he borrowed from his hero, serial killer, Harvey Glatman.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

A warning.

[Narrator]

What you are about to see may be very disturbing. Back in the 1950s, Glatman's victims were beautiful young models. He would lure them with the promise of a photo shoot. Glatman bound, gagged, and then photographed them in the moments before he strangled them. Raider told me that's where he got the idea. These are the pictures. Dennis Raider took this of his last killing.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

He shows her laying on the bed, gagged.

[Narrator]

Raider even sketched a drawing of that same victim.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

It was with her eyes open and a very horrified look on her face. And actually reinforcing that she knew of her impending death.

[Narrator]

Raider is proud to take credit for all of this. But what he didn't want the public to know was how far he took his obsession with bondage. This is Raider. He took these photographs of himself. This one in an open grave. He dug for a victim.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Dennis Raider did not want that evidence to come out. He did not want people to see him in a negative light. He wanted people to see him as some gentleman serial killer. We believed that that was totally inappropriate.

[Narrator]

The killing, the stalking, the fantasy world. Somehow Raider managed to hide it all, even from the woman who thought she knew him best. His wife of 33 years Paula Rader, a bookkeeper. They appeared to be a devoted couple, regularly attending church together. Is it possible that his wife, who lived with him for all those years, truly had no idea he was connected to this?

[Bill Wagerly]

I'm convinced of it.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

No.

[Narrator]

What makes you say that?

[Bill Wagerly]

I've talked to that woman. That woman, to be honest, is a very, very nice woman, a saint. She is totally devastated. I've talked to his daughter, a wonderful, wonderful young woman, totally devastated by the actions of this man. They had no idea.

[Narrator]

How would his wife not have any idea that she was living with a serial killer?

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

In a 30 year period. He disappeared for 10 nights in a 30 year period period. Probably less than a lot of men in America.

[Narrator]

But he hid so much stuff in the house.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

He was pretty neat. He kept it neat, he kept it orderly. A lot of this stuff was at his workplace. He's such a control freak. Maybe that's the relationship he had with his wife. Don't be touching my things.

[Narrator]

Why didn't Raider target his wife? He looked shocked when I asked him that question. He said he didn't kill anyone. He knew that his victims were just objects. He did say, however, that his wife was terrified of BTK and that he once reassured her by telling her to keep all the windows and doors locked. I wasn't really worried, he told me, since I knew I was the one doing all the killing.

[Bill Wagerly]

I'll take care of that for you.

[Narrator]

Steve Osborne believes that even if no one had discovered his well kept secret, Dennis Raider, dog catcher, scout leader, church president, was planning to one day take credit for becoming btk.

[Bill Wagerly]

I think this was his life's work and he wanted basically to take a bow for it. I mean, this is who he was, this is what he did. I don't think that he was going to go to the grave without taking a vow for this.

[Narrator]

What do you hope happens to Dennis Rader at this point?

[Bill Wagerly]

I hope he's incarcerated for the rest of his life, which he will be. And that we never have to hear from him again.

[Celicia Stanton]

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[Bill Wagerly]

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[Narrator]

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[District Attorney Nola Folston]

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[Bill Wagerly]

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[District Attorney Nola Folston]

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[Narrator]

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[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Are you playing me off?

[Bill Wagerly]

That's what's happening, right? Okay, give it a try.

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[Bill Wagerly]

It is some person within our community suffering from a mentality disorder.

[Narrator]

Leaning toward the fetish. For those in Wichita who lived through three decades of fear and grief.

[Bill Wagerly]

It'S like a war has ended and there's not really a victory. But the war is over.

[Narrator]

Today is a day they never thought they'd see. Dennis Rader is about to be sentenced for his crimes.

[Bill Wagerly]

I could see it in his eyes and his face. This guy's an animal and he's a monster.

[Narrator]

To make sure Raider is put in prison for life, the state must present evidence of his killings.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

After we had heard what she had went through, I know for me, that's when I decided that I could be strong enough for her to sit through. Through everything that I had to to get to the end of it. That's the least I could do for her.

[Narrator]

For Steven Ralford, it is a memory he has tried so hard to forget.

[Bill Wagerly]

I see the same thing all my life. My mom laying there on that bed. Me looking over that door.

[Narrator]

Until now. This is the only way Steve Relford could release the anger and grief he has known since his mother was killed by Raider in 1977. Will it be over after the sentencing for you?

[Bill Wagerly]

No. It will never, never be over, ma'. Am. Never until this son of a bitch is dead. My mom was my life, man. He took it from me. Good morning. What is satisfying for you?

[Celicia Stanton]

And then how you guys feeling this morning?

[Narrator]

With the sentencing about to begin, Ralford and the other families arrive to finally confront the man who caused them all so much pain.

[Bill Wagerly]

I've waited 14 years. I want him to hear my statement. I want him to hear what I have to say.

[Narrator]

District Attorney Nola Folston hopes to expose the real man behind the killer who was invisible and once seemed invincible.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

This is a man who is twisted. And the community needed to see that.

[Narrator]

All right, thank you.

[Celicia Stanton]

Please be seated.

[Narrator]

It Is a day and a half of mind numbing testimony.

[Bill Wagerly]

He strangled her by tying the rope tightly around her neck. Put a plastic bag over her head.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

Did Mrs. Davis put up any resistance or fight?

[Bill Wagerly]

There was nothing that she could do. He stated that it took approximately two to three minutes for her and she felt no more pain. Finally, my name is Charlie Otero.

[Narrator]

My name is Beverly Platt. The families get their chance to speak.

[Bill Wagerly]

I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer.

[Narrator]

Although we have never met, you have seen my face before. It is the same face you murdered over 30 years ago. The face of my mother, Julio Taro.

[Bill Wagerly]

For the last 5,326 days, I have wondered what it would be be like to confront the walking cesspool that took my mother's precious life. If I had your devil nature, I would delight in the fact that your congregation has turned its back on you. That your wife has divorced you. That your own children have disowned you. You have now lost everything. And you will forever remain nothing. Thank you, you, Honor. My name's Steve Relford. Shirley Vianne was my mother.

[Narrator]

After waiting 28 years for this moment.

[Bill Wagerly]

I'd just like for him to suffer for the rest of his life.

[Narrator]

Words fail, Steve Relford.

[Bill Wagerly]

And you know I don't.

[Narrator]

So.

[Bill Wagerly]

Your Honor, my name is Bill Waggerly.

[Narrator]

Bill Waggerly too is overwhelmed as his daughter speaks from her broken heart.

[Stephanie Wagerly]

It's been almost 19 years now that my brother and I had the most important woman in our lives taken from us. It's not fair that we had so little time with her. It's not fair that she doesn't get to see me with her grandchildren. My mother begged for her life, yet he showed no remorse.

[Narrator]

If the families hoped to see that remorse from Dennis Raider today, they didn't get it. Some of them weren't even willing to sit and hear him speak. And simply walked out.

[Bill Wagerly]

Can you or. Okay. No. The victims families won't ever be able to forgive me. I hope somewhere deep down eventually way that'll happen.

[Narrator]

When he finally apologizes.

[Bill Wagerly]

I final apologize to the victim's families. There's no way that I can ever repay him.

[Narrator]

His closing words ring hollow.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

It's pitiable for Mr. Raider to stand here looking all pale and pasty and say how sorry he is. You know, Gosh, I'm really sorry. Well, what else do you say after you kill 10 people?

[Narrator]

At the time of the murders, Kansas had no death penalty.

[Bill Wagerly]

You, Dennis L. Raider be taken by the sheriff of Sedgwick. County.

[Narrator]

So the judge gave Raider the maximum sentence, 175 years.

[Celicia Stanton]

They're coming down the road.

[Bill Wagerly]

They're now on prison property.

[Narrator]

And if the families get their way, Dennis Raider and BTK will just fade into the past.

[Bill Wagerly]

I hope that people will not correspond with him, have anything to do with him. That would probably be a greater suffering to him than if he was put to death or tortured or whatever else.

[Narrator]

This is one of the most sensational crimes ever to explode in Hollywood.

[Celicia Stanton]

In 1989, Beverly Hills Police found Jose and Kitty Menendez gunned down in their mansion. And the killers? They're two sons.

[Bill Wagerly]

Why did you kill your parents? Because we were afraid.

[Celicia Stanton]

But were Lyle and Eric cold blooded murderers or victims? No one believed. I'm Celisia Stanton, and my new series on the Menendez brothers is out. Now listen to Truer Crime wherever you get your podcasts. The secret's out, man.

[Bill Wagerly]

I speak freely.

[District Attorney Nola Folston]

I prefer English.

[Bill Wagerly]

The Naked God is now streaming on Paramount Plus. I've seen it a hundred times times. It's a return to comedic glory.

[Narrator]

A little lower.

[Celicia Stanton]

A return to comedic glory.

[Bill Wagerly]

That's awesome.

[Celicia Stanton]

The naked cockpit of PG13 now streaming on Paramount Plus.