BTK killer gets maximum life sentence

updated 7:53 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2005

WICHITA, Kan. - BTK serial killer Dennis Rader was sentenced Thursday to 10 consecutive life terms in prison, capping the decades-long investigation into slayings that had terrorized the city beginning in the 1970s.

The sentence — a minimum of 175 years without a chance of parole — was the longest possible that Judge Gregory Waller could deliver.

Kansas had no death penalty at the time the killings were committed.

The two-day sentencing hearing featured testimony from detectives who graphically detailed the 10 killings and tearful relatives of the victims who likened Rader to a “monster.” It culminated with rambling testimony from Rader, who said he had been dishonest to his family and victims and at times wiped his eyes.

Rader offered Biblical quotes, thanks to police and an apology to victims’ relatives before Waller sentenced him.

“A dark side is there, but now I think light is beginning to shine,” Rader said. “Hopefully someday God will accept me.”

Rader, 60, a former church congregation president and Boy Scout leader, led a double life, calling himself BTK for “bind, torture and kill.” He was arrested in February and pleaded guilty in June to the 10 murders from 1974 to 1991.

Deep, abiding pain
Earlier in Thursday’s hearing, relatives of the victims testified about the indescribable pain the killings cause them.

“Nancy’s death is a like a deep wound that will never, ever heal,” Beverly Plapp, sister of victim Nancy Fox, testified. “As far as I’m concerned, Dennis Rader does not deserve to live. I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer.”

“This man needs to be thrown in a deep, dark hole and left to rot,” she said. “He should never, ever see the light of day.”

"No remorse, no compassion -- he had no mercy," said Kevin Bright, the brother of victim Kathryn Bright, who himself was shot but managed to flee. "I think that's what he ought to receive."

Rader's voice choked as he made his half-hour address to the courtroom, saying he had been dishonest to his family and victims and selfish.

"I know the victim's families will never be able to forgive me. I hope somewhere deep down, eventually that will happen," he said. He also admitted he tracked his victims "like a predator."

Investigators testified that Rader kept hundreds of pictures from magazines and circulars mounted on index cards, with details of the warped sexual fantasies he dreamed of carrying out.

Lt. Ken Landwehr, who coordinated the Wichita police department’s investigation into BTK, said the index cards were some of the evidence of Rader’s long history of terror that was found at the defendant’s office, camper and small suburban home.

Call for restrictions in prison
Landwehr said the cutouts ranged from a little girl posing in a swimsuit to actress Meg Ryan.

Even up to Thursday, prosecutors remained concerned about Rader’s fantasies, urging the judge to issue an order denying Rader access to crayons and markers that might be used to draw human or animal forms and further Rader’s sexual fantasies.

“We believe that these sentences ought to be box-carred one after the other until there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The reason is that individuals who are predators, pedophiles, anti-social, who are individuals who have detachment disorder, psychological problems, who lead lives built around sexual perversions, just are not built like the rest of us,” Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston told the judge.

Rader’s files also included copies of nearly all his messages to police and the media, documents Landwehr said the killer had planned to eventually scan and digitally store, Landwehr said.

Containers kept in a closet and elsewhere at his home also held what Rader called “hit kits”—bags with rubber gloves, rope, tape, handcuffs and bandanas.

Chilling details
Rader, sitting through his second day of a sentencing hearing, appeared angry and mumbled at one point during Landwehr’s testimony, although Rader’s words couldn’t be heard.

Earlier Thursday morning, Capt. Sam Houston of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office testified about Rader’s last known killing -- the strangulation of 63-year-old Dolores Davis in 1991. Rader, who handcuffed Davis and tied her with pantyhose, told police it took two or three minutes for her to die and that fueled his torturous fantasies for years.

“It was this moment that victim was tied and bound,” Rader wrote in a journal, according to testimony Thursday morning by Houston. “He could live in that moment for years.”

After Davis was dead, Rader tossed her body under a bridge where it decomposed and apparently was fed on by animals. The defendant returned later to take Polaroid photographs of her wearing a feminine mask Rader himself had worn for his own bondage fantasies.

Prosecutors showed various photographs of Rader that he took of himself — hanging from a tree; lying in a grave; tied to a chair while wearing the mask and a woman’s blond wig; bound and wearing a dress he had taken from Davis’ house.

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