BTK killer waives trial, admits 10 slayings

updated 5:24 p.m. ET June 27, 2005

WICHITA, Kan. - In a surprise move, Dennis Rader pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of first-degree murder before delivering a chilling matter-of fact account of the BTK slayings that terrorized the city beginning in the 1970s.

Rader, 60, of Park City, entered the guilty pleas as his trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

Referring to his victims as “projects,” Rader laid out for the court how he would “troll” for victims on his off-time, then stalk them and kill them.

“I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn’t know how much pressure you had to put on a person or how long it would take,” he told the court in describing his first killings in 1974, a couple and two children.

Prosecutors had said before the hearing that no plea deal had been made. Rader was arrested four months ago.

The one-time president of the church council at Christ Lutheran Church and Boy Scout leader, Rader admitted killing 10 people in the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991. The serial killer known as BTK — the self-coined nickname that stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill” — taunted media and police with cryptic messages.

Sentencing was set for Aug. 17. Rader will not face the death penalty because the crimes were committed before the state adopted a new capital punishment law.

Rader, wearing a beige coat and dark tie, told District Judge Gregory Waller that he understood the charges against him and that he was waiving his right to a jury trial.

Rader ‘happy’ with defense
“The defense worked with me real well,” Rader said. “We went over it. I feel like I’m pretty happy with them.”

Asked by Waller if he was pleading because he was guilty, Rader answered, “Yes, sir.”

He then described to the court how he chose his victims.

“If you’ve read much about serial killers, they go through what they call different phases. In the trolling stage, basically, you’re looking for a victim at that time. You can be trolling for months or years, but once you lock in on a certain person, you become a stalker. That might be several of them but you really hone in on one person. They basically become the ... that’s the victim. Or at least that’s what you want it to be.”

One family’s horror
The earliest crimes linked to the BTK strangler date to Jan. 15, 1974, when Joseph Otero, 38, and his 34-year-old wife, Julie, and their 11- and 9-year-old children were found dead in their home.

“The whole family just panicked on me. I worked pretty quick,” he said. “I strangled Mrs. Otero. She passed out. I thought she was dead. I strangled Josephine. She passed out. I thought she was dead. Then I went over and put a bag on Junior’s head.”

He later said about Mrs. Otero: “I went back and strangled her again.”

He later recounted in the same emotionless voice the killings of BTK's next three known victims: Kathryn Bright, 21, in April 1974; Shirley Vian, 24, in March 1977; and Nancy Fox, 25, in December 1977.

He said he told Fox he had “sexual problems,” forced her to strip, then handcuffed her and strangled her with a belt. After she was dead, he said, he removed the handcuffs from her body and masturbated over her.

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