Bright [3]

Summary

Monster: BTK – Episode "Bright [3]" Detailed Summary

Release Date: January 13, 2025
Produced by iHeartPodcasts and Tenderfoot TV

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Introduction

In the third episode of the "Monster: BTK" series, hosted by Susan Peters and featuring contributions from Kevin O'Connor, the narrative delves deeper into the gruesome crimes of Dennis Rader, infamously known as BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill). This episode focuses on the aftermath of his initial murders, his evolving methods, and the escalating terror he inflicted upon the Wichita community.

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The Otero Family Murders

The saga begins with the brutal killing of the Otero family on January 15, 1974. Dennis Rader meticulously details his first murder, revealing the flawed execution that marked the beginning of his spree.

• Susan Peters: "In episode one, we covered the brutal and tragic murders of the Otero family..."
• Dennis Rader ([04:15]): "On January 15, 1974, BTK broke into the Otero home on Edgemoor Drive in Wichita, Kansas. He tied up the parents, Joseph and Julie, before strangling them. Then he strangled their young son Joey and hanged their daughter Josephine."

This initial act, though horrific, was riddled with mistakes. Rader had not anticipated the parents' presence, limiting his intended target to his daughter Josephine, and revealing his inexperience.

• Rader ([04:25]): "It hadn't gone smoothly. The killer made many mistakes. He hadn't known the parents would be home. His only intended target was young Josephine."

BTK's Obsession and Subsequent Crimes

Following the Otero murders, Rader's obsession with his dark urges intensified. He confesses to becoming physically fit and honing his methods, inspired by media portrayals of serial killers.

• Dennis Rader ([05:19]): "I saw in a movie about a minotaur serial killer. Toughening up the hands... It's like playing in quicksand. There's fear and excitement, but then you're stuck."

Driven by the thrill of his actions and a desire to perfect his methods, Rader began planning his next move, leading to the tragic case of Catherine Bright.

The Catherine Bright Case

In April 1974, just three weeks after the Otero murders, Rader targeted Catherine Bright, a Wichita State University student. His attempt to murder her and her brother Kevin unfolded disastrously.

• Susan Peters: "Her name was Catherine Bright. Raider eventually discovered that she lived nearby at 3217 East 13th Street, less than two miles from the Otero home."

• Kevin O'Connor ([09:13]): "My sister should have died. I was afraid that she didn't suffer very much, you know, those last hours I don't know."

During the attack, Rader's lack of preparation led to chaos. Without rope, he improvised with Catherine's pantyhose, resulting in a messy and blood-soaked crime scene.

• Dennis Rader ([12:09]): "I had no intention of stabbing anyone, but it happened because I lost control. That created a mess of blood everywhere, on my hands, pants, shoes."

Despite Rader's attempts to maintain anonymity, Kevin Bright's survival became pivotal in the ensuing investigation.

Investigations and BTK's Letters

As police grappled with the complexity of the Bright case, Rader seized the opportunity to manipulate the investigation. Discontent with false confessions from the Sebring brothers, Rader crafted a letter that would cement his moniker as BTK.

• Dennis Rader ([27:13]): "Those three dudes you have in custody are just talking to get publicity... I did it by myself and with no one's help."

This letter not only introduced the BTK acronym but also taunted law enforcement, asserting his continued presence and threat.

• Dennis Rader ([28:55]): "The code words for me will be bind them, torture them, kill them, BTK they will be on the next victim."

The police, initially hesitant to publicize the letter, eventually released it after thorough analysis, heightening community fear and urgency in the investigation.

BTK's Psychology and Double Life

BTK's ability to lead a double life fascinated forensic psychologists. Rader maintained his facade as a devoted family man and church president while nurturing his murderous alter ego.

• Forensic Psychologist Katherine Ramsland ([43:59]): "He could easily live this double life because the more intense, exciting experience was murdering people... he thought of it as that's what I need to do for myself. That's my little secret."

His daughter, Carrie Rawson, provides a personal perspective on her father's duality, emphasizing the seamless transition between Dennis Rader and BTK.

• Carrie Rawson ([43:37]): "The two versions of my dad are just sides of the same coin. And one side comes out when it needs to."

Impact on Wichita Community

The revelation of BTK's existence plunged Wichita into a state of fear and vigilance. Residents took extraordinary measures to secure their homes and protect their families, while police faced immense pressure to capture the elusive killer.

• Police Chief Floyd Hannon ([37:49]): "I think we've taken one hell of a risk with the release of this letter. He might have to go out and commit this offense again to prove he committed this offense."

Community initiatives emerged, such as neighbor-watch programs, aiming to deter BTK's potential future attacks.

• Kevin O'Connor ([38:21]): "The city actually came together. Neighbor watching neighbor... Everybody trying to watch out for each other."

Conclusion and Ongoing Investigation

As BTK's reign of terror continued, Rader's meticulous nature kept him one step ahead. His eventual disappearance in the late 1970s left the case unresolved for decades, cementing his legacy as one of America's most notorious serial killers.

• Dennis Rader ([40:40]): "I acted normal when Paula was present... I became overly defensive. I watched the road outside and had a loaded gun ready."

The episode concludes by highlighting the enduring mystery surrounding BTK and the profound impact of his crimes on victims' families and the Wichita community.

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Notable Quotes

• Dennis Rader ([12:09]): "I had no intention of stabbing anyone, but it happened because I lost control."

• Kevin O'Connor ([09:13]): "My sister should have died... It still haunts him to this day that he could not save his young sister's life."

• Forensic Psychologist Katherine Ramsland ([43:59]): "He could easily live this double life because the more intense, exciting experience was murdering people."

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Final Thoughts

This episode of "Monster: BTK" provides an in-depth exploration of Dennis Rader's early crimes, his psychological manipulation of the investigation, and the pervasive fear he instilled in Wichita. Through personal accounts, expert analysis, and firsthand testimonies, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of BTK's complex personality and the lasting scars of his atrocities.

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For more episodes and detailed examinations of true crime cases, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Susan Peters]

To have a murder as gruesome as.

[Dennis Rader]

Jay Beasley's doesn't happen very often down.

[Susan Peters]

Here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Dennis Rader]

I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty.

[Kevin O'Connor]

They've never found a weapon.

[Susan Peters]

Never made sense.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Still doesn't make sense.

[Susan Peters]

She found out she was pregnant in jail. The person who did it is still out there. Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or where you get your podcasts.

[Dennis Rader]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is a second term we can all get behind. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Susan Peters]

Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarke. And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime. Each season we explore a new theme.

[Kevin O'Connor]

From poisoners to art thieves.

[Susan Peters]

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails.

[Susan Peters]

And mocktails inspired by each story. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dennis Rader]

You're listening to Monster BTK, a production of iHeart podcasts and Tenderfoot TV. Listener discretion is adv.

[Kevin O'Connor]

We were trying to do our job as journalists, but then we became part of the story. And I think for a journalist that's a terrible place to be is part of the story. But there was no way to get out of it because he enjoyed communicating with Kake tv. Kake TV was his favorite station. He had watched it since he was a child. I have a postcard talking about the communications which he wrote to Kake and.

[Dennis Rader]

It says, I write this letter to you for the sake of the taxpayer as well as your time. Those three dudes you have in custody are just talking to get publicity for the Otero murders. They know nothing at all. I did it by myself and with no one's help. P.S. since sex criminals do not change their M.O. or by nature cannot do so, I will not change mine. The code words for me will be bind them, torture them, kill them, BTK they Will be on the next victim.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Someone killed four members of a family.

[Susan Peters]

Hedge vanished from her home suddenly last weekend.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Her phone lines had been cut, her door left open. You see the victims laying there with plastic bags over their heads, strangled. You could tell it a planned scenario.

[Susan Peters]

While police have said no more about the contents of the letter, it does contain some sort of threat and implies the killer may strike again.

[Dennis Rader]

He's going to play with these victims.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He'd get them to the point of.

[Dennis Rader]

Death and then bring them back.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And then brings him back to the point of death.

[Susan Peters]

For my heart podcasts and Tenderfoot tv. I'm Susan Peters and this is is Monster btk. In episode one, we covered the brutal and tragic murders of the otero family. On January 15, 1974, BTK broke into the Otero home on Edgemoor Drive in Wichita, Kansas. He tied up the parents, Joseph and Julie, before strangling them. Then he strangled their young son Joey and hanged their daughter Josephine. It was BTK's first murder, and it hadn't gone smoothly. The killer made many mistakes. He hadn't known the parents would be home. His only intended target was young Josephine. He feared he would be caught. But the police were seemingly not on his trail. In the months following the Otero murders, Dennis Raider obsessed over his work. He reveled in the success of not getting caught. And he realized just how much he enjoyed the thrill of killing. He started training for his next kill. In the book Confession of a serial Killer, Rader says he started to get in shape and he was inspired once again by something he saw on tv.

[Dennis Rader]

I saw in a movie about a minotaur serial killer. Toughening up the hands. I had a sports ball at home, work in a vehicle to practice and exercise my hands. Exercise with a handball helps blood circulation and to keep the hands fit. There was excitement in trying something dangerous. Then it happens, and afterward you wish it hadn't. It's like playing in quicksand. There's fear and excitement, but then you're stuck.

[Susan Peters]

Raider was hungry. He wanted to try again. He thought he could get it right next time. So he started to prowl for his next project.

[Dennis Rader]

I believe in February or March, the hunt began again. I found it exciting to prowl it day or night. It was very easy for me to spend a little time after classes to prowl or day drive. Going to classes worked well for me as a cover. I could say I was at the library or I could use that time to prowl or stalk.

[Susan Peters]

After looking around the Wichita State campus for weeks, Raider finally found his next target.

[Dennis Rader]

So it was the day after classes or in between. I spotted Bright arriving home with a friend. Another female. Female, Maybe a sister. She was at her mailbox. She fit my fantasy profile. A co ed dishwasher, blonde, small. I saw her go in the house and I thought, that's a possibility.

[Susan Peters]

Her name was Catherine Bright. Raider eventually discovered that she lived nearby at 3217 East 13th street, less than two miles from the Otero home. He named her project Lights out. Here again are Raider's words.

[Dennis Rader]

She became a true detective. Horror magazine hit fantasy. Her bedroom appeared to be in the center east. I was planning on tying her up on the bed, either half naked or totally. Then I would strangle her or suffocate her. Her hands would be bound in front and tied to her neck like a true detective model I had seen. I used to fantasize about women on the COVID Showing terror in their eyes, bound hand up near her neck, a man with a threatening knife overhead.

[Susan Peters]

Just 79 days after the Otero murders, Dennis Raider approached Bright's home April 4th of 1974.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This was a scene which isn't necessarily.

[Susan Peters]

One that you would automatically assume that.

[Kevin O'Connor]

It was connected to the Oteros. My name is Kevin O'Connor. I'm an assistant district attorney in Johnson county now. I was the deputy district attorney in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, during the Dennis Raider investigation.

[Susan Peters]

He was constantly trying to trip the police up.

[Kevin O'Connor]

So he was trying to not connect it to the Oteros. Raider will break into the house by smashing a window on the back, gaining entry. He cleans up and he waits.

[Susan Peters]

Raider's plan was to force his way into Bright's home by acting as a Wichita State student needing a quiet place to study. But as Kevin O'Connor says, there was just one problem.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He is not anticipating that Katherine's brother Kevin will be with her. Kevin Bright spent the night before with his sister and there was snow, so he didn't go home.

[Susan Peters]

Raider panicked. He improvised a fake story about how he was a criminal on the run. They come back surprised by a man.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Telling him that he is on the run. He needs money in a car, he needs a little bit of food. He will tell them they have to tie him to control them, that they're not going to be hurt. This crime goes to hell in a handbasket pretty quickly. He loses control of the situation.

[Susan Peters]

Raider thought Catherine would be alone and easy to control. For that reason, he brought no rope with him. He had been planning to tie her up using pantyhose from her dresser drawer. Pointing his gun at the siblings, he marched them into the bedroom. In a rare CNN interview from 2005, Kevin Bright went into detail about what happened next.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Then he forced me to tie my sister up in the front bedroom. And then he took me into the other bedroom and tied me up and laid me down on the floor on my stomach. He had a stocking, knotted up stocking and started strangling me. And I fought and broke loose and jumped up on my feet. He pulled a gun from his waistband and I knew he was going to shoot me. And I grabbed a hold of his hand and arm and pushed it back into his stomach and got my hand on the gun and the trigger and pulled it twice. And it didn't go off. For some reason, he jerked it away from me and shot me. First time there and then I went to the ground. And anyway, he lay it for a while.

[Susan Peters]

With Kevin Bright seemingly dead, Raider went back for Katherine, who was tied up in the other room. He tried to strangle her, but she fought back. Once again, Raider was losing control of the situation. Meanwhile, Kevin Bright had to listen as his sister was being strangled to death in the other room.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Then he came back and grabbed a hold of me and he started strangling me again. And I fought him again and he shot me the second time. I played like I was dead. And he left again. And then I looked around the room to see if there was any kind of weapon that I could use against him. And there wasn't anything there. And I just decided I'd go for help. So I was about 15ft from the front door and I got up and I went out the front door. And there's two guys across the street, two men. And one of them took me to the hospital and the other one called the police.

[Susan Peters]

After Kevin escaped, Raider panicked. He started stabbing Catherine with a knife over and over to make sure she was dead. The police reports say she was stabbed 11 times. Here are Raider's words from confession of a serial killer.

[Dennis Rader]

I had no intention of stabbing anyone, but it happened because I lost control. That created a mess of blood everywhere, on my hands, pants, shoes. I made a vow if I ever again had to confront, to kill. There would be no knife. It was a total mess because I didn't have control over it.

[Susan Peters]

Raider had to move quickly after stabbing Catherine.

[Dennis Rader]

Since Kevin could ID me. It wouldn't make a difference if she was dead. I was afraid the police would catch me or stop me. On Holyoke, I recall that I ran so hard and fast that my lungs hurt for a day or two afterward from breathing the cold air.

[Susan Peters]

Raider ran back to his car parked by the Wichita State campus where Catherine tried calling for help.

[Kevin O'Connor]

She's able to get to the phone. It's a wall unit and the phone will be off the hook.

[Susan Peters]

That police report describing her and how.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That police officer found her is heartbreaking as he describes her and trying to breathe, begging the police officer to help her.

[Susan Peters]

The police report states that Officer Dennis Landon arrived at the bright home at 2:08pm here's an excerpt read by a voice actor.

[Dennis Rader]

Officer Landon approached the address of 2317 E. 13th St. And knocked at the screen door. The front door was open. After receiving no response, Officer Landon looked in through the open door and saw a female lying in a pool of blood. The young woman was found clutching a telephone in her hand. She was asked what happened but was unable to respond. When asked if she was hurt, she pulled up a blouse, exposing her abdomen. The young woman said she did not know her attacker. She was able to give her name before beginning to pass out. Officer Raymond Fletcher arrived and assisted in attending to Bright. Upon his arrival, Officer Fletcher noticed that Bright was covered in blood. In addition to the pool of blood underneath her waist, Bright had blood on her hands, in her hair, and on her face. Officer Fletcher noted that she was bleeding from her left nostril and her face was badly bruised. Bright grabbed Officer Fletcher's arm and repeated, I can't breathe.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Help me.

[Susan Peters]

Both Kevin and Katherine were taken to Wesley Medical Center. Kevin survived his gunshot wounds. However, his sister Katherine didn't survive the attack. She died of her stab wounds just a few hours later. Katherine was yet another innocent victim of BTK's malice. This one has always been difficult for me to wrap my head around. Catherine was just a college student looking forward to the next phase of her life. To have that life cut short is a merciless injustice. And for Kevin, the horror of remembering that dreadful day was almost too much to bear. Even though he was younger than his sister, he felt he should be the protective brother. And when I was the first to interview him 30 years later, the tears in his eyes were instant. It still haunts him to this day that he could not save his young sister's life. Last night, you and your dad are talking, and 30 years later, you're still talking about what ifs. Yeah, there's a reason for that.

[Dennis Rader]

Yeah.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Because my sister should have died. I mean, I was afraid that she didn't suffer very much, you know, those last hours I don't know. And just pray for all the families that they can have healing. God knows every movement you're making and knows that you're going to answer one day and that he offers, offers every one of us salvation.

[Susan Peters]

For Katherine Bright it was a terrible and tragic end to a budding life. But for Raider, it was just the beginning. Following the murder of Katherine Bright, Raider planned his next move. To have a murder as gruesome as Jake Beasley's doesn't happen very often down here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Dennis Rader]

I am confident that Julie Begley is guilty.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This case, the more I learned about it, the more I'm scratching my head.

[Dennis Rader]

Something's not right.

[Susan Peters]

I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco Murder on Songbird Road dives into the conviction of a mother of four who remains behind bars and the investigation that put her there. I have not seen this level of corruption anywhere. It's sickening.

[Kevin O'Connor]

If you step sleep that many times.

[Susan Peters]

You have blood splatter words to change clothes. She found out she was pregnant. In jail, she wasn't treated like she was an innocent human being at all, which is just horrific. Nobody has gotten justice yet and that's what I wish people would understand. Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever.

[Kevin O'Connor]

You get your podcasts.

[Dennis Rader]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kevin O'Connor]

It was big news.

[Susan Peters]

I mean, white girl gets murdered, found in a cemetery.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Big, big news. When a young woman is murdered, a desperate search for answers takes investigators to some unexpected places. He believed it could be part of a satanic cult. I think there were many individuals present. I don't know who pulled the trigger. A long investigation stalls until someone changes their story.

[Susan Peters]

I like saw something that happened.

[Kevin O'Connor]

An arrest, trial and conviction soon follow.

[Susan Peters]

You just saw his body just kind of collapsing.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Two decades later, a new team of lawyers says their client is Innocent.

[Susan Peters]

He did not kill her.

[Kevin O'Connor]

There's no way is the real killer rightly behind bars or still walking. Are you capable of murder?

[Susan Peters]

I definitely am not.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Did you kill her? Listen to the real Killer, Season 3 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Susan Peters]

Project Lights out had been a disaster. Dennis returned home and tried to resume his normal family life. But he couldn't shake the paranoia that his mistakes would cost him. Here again are his words from the book, Confession of a Serial Killer.

[Dennis Rader]

When I saw the news releases about Bright, I knew Kevin was now a survivor and able to tell Catherine had died. Kevin had described me. I was worried about Kevin. He was Catherine's brother. I learned. I thought of maybe trying to hit on Kevin at some point. I never could come up with the perfect plan.

[Susan Peters]

On April 23, 1974, just three weeks after the attack on the Brights, police released a facial composite of the suspect based on Kevin's description. This is former Wichita Police Chief Richard Lemonyon.

[Kevin O'Connor]

All he could tell us was a male, a white male, but he could not describe the individual. He was very cooperative. We had professional psychiatrists, psychologists work with him. But again, I really think he gave us all the information he had because I don't think he really had an opportunity to even see what was going on.

[Susan Peters]

Raider, however, felt differently about Kevin's recollection.

[Dennis Rader]

He did give a fairly good description of me, and I thought the picture in the newspaper was uncomfortably close to me. But no one ever came for me.

[Susan Peters]

According to Lamunion, police had a hard time connecting this crime to the Otero murders. Both were so messy and strange. The Bright killing was clearly so poorly planned that it was tough to make heads or tails of.

[Kevin O'Connor]

We assumed at that particular moment that that's probably just boyfriend love triangle, who knows what it is. But it was interrupted. So it was not connected at the time to the Otero murders. In those days, we probably had a homicide rate, 40, 45 a year. So no, homicides were not unusual and we would clear 90% of them. So a homicide like this would not have drawn a serial killer type mentality back to it.

[Susan Peters]

While police were struggling, Raider was relishing in the chaos and confusion.

[Dennis Rader]

As I gathered the news clippings on Catherine Bright, I taped a picture from a detective magazine to one of my hidey hole folders, the one that showed the girl with her hands in front the way I had wanted to do with Bright. I kept Bright's clippings inside and even wrote a story. I believe Possibly of a fantasy of her. The months slipped away, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be caught for a lineup.

[Susan Peters]

Raider had all sorts of these hidey holes in his home where he would keep tokens from his victims or store his crude drawings and newspaper clippings. In July, six months after the Otero murders, four people in their early 20s were killed following a small dispute. It was the second quadruple homicide that year. All of Wichita was shaken up. 1974 had thus far been a hard year for violent crime. Police were scrambling to piece it all together. Police finally got a breakthrough in the Otero case in October of 1974.

[Kevin O'Connor]

We had arrested a couple of brothers named Sebring who admitted that they had killed the Oteros.

[Susan Peters]

Gary Sebring was arrested on charges for an unrelated sexual offense. While being questioned, Sebring started spewing about the Otero murders. According to the book Inside the Mind of BTK by John Douglas, Sebring would go on to tell police, if I.

[Dennis Rader]

Was doing the Oteros, this is how I would have done it. It would have been with my brother, and we would have tied them all up, and my buddy Thomas Myers would.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Have been with us.

[Susan Peters]

This raised a few eyebrows, and the two brothers were brought in as suspects in the Otero case.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Of course, the news media picks up on it and we've arrested the Otero murders and all things like that.

[Susan Peters]

The people of Wichita were ecstatic. They believed the Otero murderer had been brought to justice. Sebring had a criminal history involving the sexual assault of a minor. On the surface, it seemed very plausible that he was the killer. But police were skeptical of Sebring's knowledge of the case. Investigators had Gary and his brother Ernest go through intense psychological evaluations, and they determined both men were mentally unstable, prone to lying and inventing false scenarios. Additionally, Police Chief Floyd Hannon determined that neither brother could be placed at the scene of the Otero crime. And neither of them fit the description of the man who was seen leaving the Otero home. As for the friend, Thomas Myers, police had trouble locating him at first. But after a week, Myers was brought into custody and also taken in for a mental evaluation. Once again, the conclusion was clear. These men were not responsible.

[Kevin O'Connor]

The Sebring brothers were just pedophiles is what they were. And they had other problems that they had. They weren't murderers.

[Susan Peters]

Raider saw the false confession on the news, and he was not happy about.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This development Once the media picked up on it, and then they started putting information out that we Had a suspect in custody for it. That's what prompted it all. He didn't want someone else taking credit for his job.

[Dennis Rader]

Since I was in the mood of highness and attention as the newspaper ran the story on the three men, I added it to my hidey hole folder on the Oteros. I wanted credit, not someone else. I also wanted taxpayers not to spend endless dollars on false leads.

[Susan Peters]

A few days after the Wichita Eagle published its story about the Sebring brothers, Dennis Raider called the front desk and asked to speak to Eagle columnist Don Granger. Here's what Granger remembers hearing over the phone.

[Dennis Rader]

Listen, and listen good. I'm only gonna say this once. There is a letter about the Otero case in a book in the public library.

[Susan Peters]

Granger was freaked out. He immediately called the Wichita police. He told them that the caller had the voice of a timid Midwestern man. But he couldn't make out anything else. Wichita PD Officer Bernie Drawski went to the library that very day. He discovered a peculiar letter stuffed into a book titled Applied Engineering Mechanics. The letter was riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. Here is what it said, edited for clarity.

[Dennis Rader]

Those three dudes you have in custody are just talking to get publicity. They know nothing at all. I did it by myself with no one's help. I'm sorry this happened to the society. It's hard to control myself. You probably call me psychotic with sexual perversion. Hang up. Where this monster enter my brain, I will never know. But it's here to stay. How does one cure himself? If you ask for help that you've killed four people, they will laugh or hit the panic button and call the cops. I can't stop it. So the monster goes on and hurt me as well as society. Society can be thankful that there are ways for people like me to relieve myself. At times by day dreams of some some victim being tortured and being mine. It's a big complicated game, my friend of the monster play. Putting victims down, following them, checking up on them. Waiting in the dark. Waiting, waiting. The pressure is great. And sometimes he run the game to his liking. Maybe you can stop him. I can't. He has already chosen his next victim or victims. I don't know who they are yet. The next day after I read the paper, I will know. But it will be too late. Good luck hunting.

[Susan Peters]

It was in this letter that the name BTK was born. A three letter moniker that came to haunt Wichita police.

[Dennis Rader]

You yours truly. Guilty. P.S. since sex criminals do not change their M.O. or by nature cannot do so I Will not change mine. The code words for me will be bind them, torture them, kill them, btk they will be on the next victim.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He considered himself to be among the elite serial killers and so he named himself btk.

[Susan Peters]

This is Katherine Ramsland, the forensic psychologist who wrote a book with and about Dennis Raider.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He did not want to leave his name to chance and get something stupid. He wanted a powerful name and it wasn't the only one. He gave them a few ideas, but because he had created an image for the BTK name as well, he stuck with that. He's one of the few who told police and journalists, here's what you should call me. And he enjoyed that. He enjoyed that kind of cat and.

[Dennis Rader]

Mouse game by using BTK torture, fantasy, writing, drawing and what I had planned to do. I wrote my own criminal epithet. If caught, those words would hang me.

[Susan Peters]

Carrie Rawson, Dennis Raider's daughter, talks about her father's lust for notoriety. He feeds off the fear because he wanted to be remembered and known for what he had done. And he talks about Ted in California.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And he's talking about son of Sam.

[Susan Peters]

Well, he's in a smaller medium market so he wasn't getting the coverage that Bundy where Sam was.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He wanted to be known and he.

[Susan Peters]

Didn'T like that these guys were taking.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Credit and making it sound one way.

[Susan Peters]

When he knew the truth.

[Kevin O'Connor]

So he writes into the eagle, it.

[Susan Peters]

Puts it in a library book in the public library where him and I.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Used to hang out all the time.

[Susan Peters]

Later on, Dennis Raider had the authority's attention. His plan was working.

[Kevin O'Connor]

So he literally is like giving them evidence because he's such a narcissist and he's enjoying that game.

[Susan Peters]

For Raider, the game was just getting started. To have a murder as gruesome as Jake Beasley's doesn't happen very often down here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Dennis Rader]

I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty.

[Kevin O'Connor]

This case, the more I learned about it, the more I'm scratching my head.

[Dennis Rader]

Something's not right.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'm Lauren Bright.

[Susan Peters]

Pacheco. Murder on Songbird Road dives into the conviction of a mother of four who remains behind bars and the investigation that put her there. I have not seen this level of corruption anywhere. It's sickening.

[Kevin O'Connor]

She stabbed somebody. How many times you have blood splatter. Where's the change clothes?

[Susan Peters]

She found out she was pregnant. In jail, she wasn't treated like she was an innocent human being at all, which is just horrific. Nobody has gotten justice yet, and that's what I wish people would understand. Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever.

[Kevin O'Connor]

You get your podcasts.

[Dennis Rader]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kevin O'Connor]

It was big news.

[Susan Peters]

I mean, white girl gets murdered, found in a cemetery.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Big, big news. When a young woman is murdered, a desperate search for answers takes investigators to some unexpected places. He believed it could be part of a satanic cult. I think there were many individuals present. I don't know who pulled the trigger. A long investigation stalls until someone changes their story.

[Susan Peters]

I like saw whole thing that happened.

[Kevin O'Connor]

An arrest, trial and conviction soon follow.

[Susan Peters]

He just saw his body just kind of collapsing.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Two decades later, a new team of lawyers says their client is innocent.

[Susan Peters]

He did not kill her.

[Kevin O'Connor]

There's no way is the real killer rightly behind bars or still walking free. Are you capable of murder?

[Susan Peters]

I definitely am not.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Did you kill her? Listen to the real Killer, Season 3 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Susan Peters]

The news was settling on the police department. For the first time in history, Wichita was dealing with a bona fide serial killer.

[Kevin O'Connor]

In the first phase of this, I'm thinking to myself, what kind of a screwball is this? The fact is he's hurting people. He's actually killing innocent people in our community. Our job is to put him away, get him off the street. And as you read these things, this is like a movie script, except it's not a movie. It's real. People are dying. How can we resolve this? This is going to be a long process and it's going to take a lot of help.

[Susan Peters]

Police were initially unsure about what to do with BTK's letter. They thought if they went public with it, the city might go into a frenzy and then it might embolden BTK to kill again.

[Kevin O'Connor]

None of us had ever dealt with this. We reached out to departments that had dealt with serial killers. We reached out to the FBI, getting advice, suggestions as to how we might proceed. We reached out to professionals here in Wichita and in the region, psychologists, psychiatrists, to get advice, to get direction as to what they had done, what worked best for them and what we might do in the future.

[Susan Peters]

It wasn't until a few days later that police came up with a plan to respond to btk. The response came in the form of a personal ad in the Witchita Eagle on October 27, calling on BTK to reach out.

[Kevin O'Connor]

BTK help is available. Call 646-63-121 before 10pm but the hotline never rang.

[Susan Peters]

On Oct. 31, Eagle columnist Don Granger ran his own article trying to get BTK's attention.

[Kevin O'Connor]

For the past week, Wichita police have tried to get in touch with a man who has important information on the Otero murder case. A man who needs help badly. You may have noticed the classified ad that ran at the top of our personal column Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It read, btk help is available. There really is a btk. Police cannot say how they know, but they are convinced BTK has information about the murder of Joseph Otero, his wife and two of his children. If for any reason BTK doesn't want to talk to police, this newspaper's secret witness procedure is available. I will go further. If BTK wants to call me at home, I can be reached.

[Susan Peters]

Granger's phone never rang either. On Dec. 11, Wichita sun reporter Kathy Hinkle published the BTK letter after getting her hands on it from an un named source. Finally, the words of this bizarre killer were out there for everyone to see. Police Chief Floyd Hannon had this to say in a Witchita beacon article about BTK's letter going public.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I think we've taken one hell of a risk with the release of this letter. He might have to go out and commit this offense again to prove he committed this offense. He's a sick man who needs help. When this hit the news and it started picking up, the whole community is afraid. I personally even had a sister in law who was a single female. She's an adult, but she's single and she came out and lived with us. She would not stay at her own home.

[Susan Peters]

In fact, it was like this all across Wichita. People were installing heavy locks on their doors. Women stopped going out alone. Everyone was scared.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I mean, it was a scary time for the community and of course the department. I mean, you're getting all kinds of heat. What are they trying to do to resolve this, and we're doing everything that we possibly can, but it's a fear factor. How do you reconcile that? If you're afraid of something, you perceive you're afraid of it. I can't give you enough reassurance that you're okay because you're not going to believe it. The city actually came together. I mean, it really did. Neighbor watching neighbor, Everybody trying to watch out for each other. A neighbor would come home and call their other neighbor and say, hey, I'm home. You know, I'm locking up. And we got a lot of calls, suspicious character type calls. And of course, the beat officers are in tune with this. They're doing their absolute best. They're stopping people. If you're in the neighborhood and you're out somewhere, we don't know who you are, you're going to get stopped.

[Susan Peters]

Police were under a ton of pressure. They knew they had to catch this guy and fast. And the fact that he had communicated was a good thing, albeit terrifying. The letter meant they had a real avenue to find finding him.

[Kevin O'Connor]

The theory that we had was that if we can communicate with him, he communicated with us. Obviously, he's searching for identification. He wants to be identified. The idea was that if we can keep him communicating because we know he's fantasizing about what he's already done, and if we can keep him occupied with that, perhaps there won't be another victim.

[Susan Peters]

But raider was starting to realize he had put himself at serious risk. He saw the newspaper article where the btk letter went public. He saw that law enforcement were actively pursuing him, and he got spooked. So at the end of 1974, he cut off all communication and he decided to lay low. Here are his words from confession of a serial killer.

[Dennis Rader]

I acted normal when Paula was present. I watched the news with interest, but not overly. I read the paper, but I did not cut out the articles until later. I also became overly defensive. I watched the road outside and had a loaded gun ready. I made sure our locked windows were secure. Probably like everyone else in Wichita.

[Susan Peters]

In the summer of 1975, with the BTK paranoia still abuzz, Wichita police found a strange note left at a crime scene. An elderly couple, John and Emma foster, were found stabbed to death in their home. The mystery note left behind set off alarm bells. Police chief Floyd Hannon held a press conference just 24 hours later. The following excerpt comes from a Wichita Eagle article dated July 29, 1975.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Hannon said that the note was left.

[Susan Peters]

At the scene, but police don't know who Wrote it.

[Dennis Rader]

He emphasized there was no reason to believe there was any connection between the note's writer and the person who wrote a letter to the Eagle Beacons secret, secret witness program.

[Susan Peters]

In other words, this murder had nothing to do with btk. But it shows that everyone in Wichita was on edge about the next BTK murder. They feared that any similar incident might be his handiwork. Every new murder or sexual assault was met with the question, could this have been btk? But in truth, Raider had started a new line of work. Becoming a father. His first child, a boy, was named Brian Raider. But for Dennis, being a normal dad seemed impossible. In his mind, existing just as an average family man was unthinkable. He was different and he knew it. As he himself admitted, I love to hunt.

[Dennis Rader]

Prowling the streets looking for fair game, the cat and mouse game gave me an adrenaline rush or high.

[Susan Peters]

As he built one identity, the other started to fester underneath, almost like Jekyll and Hyde. This was Dennis Rader, the so called normal suburban dad versus btk, the serial killer. BTK is really more just another mask, using that to power into rage and anger and controlling that into murder then.

[Kevin O'Connor]

To release that because it makes him.

[Susan Peters]

Feel better about who he is. Kerry Rawson Daughter of Dennis Raider she says the two versions of her dad are just sides of the same coin. And one side comes out when it needs to. Not like a bipolar thing. He's always this, he's always Dennis Rader, he's always dad, he's always btk.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And then he just cubes and flips.

[Susan Peters]

To show you what he wants you to see. Forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland explains this phenomenon.

[Kevin O'Connor]

That is that whole cubing thing. It's a way to not be completely connected in your sense of morality. I think each situation in which he found himself was real to him. And he could easily live this double life because the more intense, exciting experience was murdering people. But he also had what he called social obligations. Family, church. He was president of his church congregation, his job. He had things that he had to look to as well. And he took those seriously. I think from the outside anybody might say, how seriously could that be given how he's really violating all of these things. I don't think he thought of it as pretense at all. I think he thought of it as that's what I need to do for myself. That's my little secret. I enjoy it when I can do it. Otherwise I do this other thing.

[Susan Peters]

In these early days of 1977, Rader was still learning how to balance all of these conflicting emotions. According to carey, he had trouble holding it all together. Little things like chores and hobbies Just weren't enough to keep his mind off his fantasies.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Later on, we learn he was literally throwing himself into stuff to distract him from murder.

[Susan Peters]

He needed to be outside. He could get, like, uptight and angry.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And difficult and controlling inside.

[Susan Peters]

While rader was struggling with his identity crisis, the people of wichita were wondering what happened to btk. Newly appointed police chief Richard lamonion was one of them.

[Kevin O'Connor]

In 1976, I was appointed as police chief. I was 36 years old. I was the youngest police chief in the history of the department. On major cases like this here, the investigators briefed me on everything that we had, and then I had a much better understanding of what evidence we did have, what was available to us, and where they were in their investigation. And at that particular time, they were pretty much at a dead end. We hadn't heard from him for a long time. And, you know, their thinking is, maybe he's gone. Maybe he's dead. Maybe he's in prison. They literally had followed every lead that they could humanly follow. And I remember we were getting advice from the FBI and others that if he was alive, he was still killing. If he wasn't still killing, then he was still fantasizing.

[Susan Peters]

It took him years, Years of waiting, planning, Thinking of ways to do it better. But finally, in 1977, three years since his last murder, Someone caught his eye.

[Dennis Rader]

She was completely random. There was actually someone across from Dylan's who might have been the potential. It was called project green or greenwood. I had met this girl, I think, at wsu. I knew where she lived.

[Susan Peters]

Dylan's was a nearby supermarket. He spotted her and followed her home multiple times. He decided he was ready. She was the one. On March 17, 1977, he approached her door, and something unexpected happened.

[Dennis Rader]

I knocked, but nobody answered. While I was walking away from the intended house, I saw a young boy coming back from dillon's. I figured he had a mother in the house. I watched where he went, and then I went to the door and knocked. The boy opened the door with his brother.

[Kevin O'Connor]

My name's Steve relford. I'm a BTK survivor. Dennis Rather murdered my mom in 1977.

[Susan Peters]

Next time on Monster BTK.

[Kevin O'Connor]

There's a crack in the door where I could look out. I could hear my mom pleading.

[Dennis Rader]

She told the kids to do whatever I said. I tied the door shut, but the kids were still yelling.

[Kevin O'Connor]

The big thing that weighs on you Is the fact that this is going to happen again.

[Dennis Rader]

He's going to determine whether or not you're going to live, when you're going to die.

[Kevin O'Connor]

He's going to play with these victims. There's no manual written on how to react when you become part of the story. When we announced the fact that we did have a serial killer, we had hundreds of tips. He's making your life uncomfortable. Like later we said it was like walking on eggshells at times with him.

[Dennis Rader]

Oh Anna, why didn't you appear? Monster BTK is a production of Tenderfoot TV and iHeart podcasts. The show is written by Gnomes Griffin, Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Our host is Susan Peters. Executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay alongside supervising producer Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on behalf of iHeart podcasts include Matt Frederick and Trevor Young alongside producers Gnomes Griffin and Jesse Funk and supervising producer Rima Il Keali. Marketing support by David Wasserman and Allison Wright at iHeart Podcasts and Caroline Orajema at Tenderfoot TV. Additional research by Claudia Dafrico original artwork by Kevin Mr. Soul Harp original music by Makeup and Vanity set. Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA and the Nord Group. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.

[Kevin O'Connor]

To have a murder.

[Susan Peters]

As gruesome as Jay Beasley's doesn't happen very often down here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Dennis Rader]

I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty.

[Kevin O'Connor]

They've never found a weapon.

[Susan Peters]

Never made sense.

[Kevin O'Connor]

Still doesn't make sense.

[Susan Peters]

She found out she was pregnant in jail. The person who did it is still out there. Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dennis Rader]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is the second term we can all get behind. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Susan Peters]

Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast.

[Kevin O'Connor]

I'm Maria Trimorki.

[Susan Peters]

And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime. Each season we explore a new theme.

[Kevin O'Connor]

From poisoners to art thieves.

[Susan Peters]

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching.

[Kevin O'Connor]

And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails.

[Susan Peters]

And mocktails inspired by each story. Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.