
Dennis Lynn Rader, an American serial killer, was born on March 9, 1945, and between 1974 and 1991, he killed 10 people in Sedgwick County (in and around Wichita, Kansas). According to his method of operation, he was referred to as the “bind, torture, and kill” killer (or “BTK strangler”). During the time that the murders occurred, he wrote boastful letters to the police and to local media outlets outlining the specifics of the killings. He stopped sending letters for a while in the 1990s, but started up again in 2004, which resulted in his 2005 arrest and subsequent conviction.
Personal life
Rader graduated with an associate’s in electronics from Butler County Community College in El Dorado in 1973. That fall, he started classes at Wichita State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice there in 1979. On May 22, 1971, he wed Paula Dietz; they had a son and a daughter.
Like two of his first victims, Rader worked as an assembler for the Coleman Company from 1972 to 1973. In 1973, he then briefly worked for Cessna. Rader worked for ADT Security Services, a Wichita-based company that sold and installed security systems for commercial buildings, from November 1974 until he was fired in July 1988. He worked in a number of roles, including installation manager. There, it was thought, he learned how to trick home security systems.
Prior to the 1990 federal census, Rader oversaw the field operations for the census in the Wichita region in 1989.
Neighbors recalled him as occasionally overzealous and extremely strict; one neighbor complained that he euthanized her dog without cause. Rader was hired in 1991 to be supervisor of the Compliance Department at Park City, a two-employee, multi-functional department in charge of “animal control, housing problems, zoning, general permit enforcement and a variety of nuisance cases.” Rader was fired by the Park City Council on March 2, 2005, for failing to show up for work or call in; he had been detained for the murders five days earlier.
Rader was a member of the Sedgwick County Animal Control Advisory Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals (appointed in 1996 and resigned in 1998). He also belonged to Christ Lutheran Church, a small congregation of 200 Lutherans close to his old high school. He had been a member for about 30 years and was now the Congregation Council’s president. He led Cub Scouts as well. His son earned the Eagle Scout rank. In agreement that Rader’s wife’s mental health was in danger, Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost waived the customary 60-day waiting period and granted an immediate divorce for her on July 27, 2005, following her arrest. The 33-year marriage was ended because Rader did not object to the divorce. In her divorce petition, Paula Rader claimed that the marriage had negatively impacted both her physical and mental health.
Modus Operandi
Rader casually referred to his victims as his “projects” and once compared the killing of his victims to the killing of animals by saying that he “put them down.” He also used personal slang for his murderous tools.
Guns, tape, rope, and handcuffs were all part of Rader’s “hit kit,” a briefcase or bowling bag that he used to carry out murders. Additionally, he brought along “hit clothes” that he planned to wear only for the crimes and then throw away.

For his murders, Rader established a pattern. Until he discovered a potential victim, he would roam the city. After that, he would stalk the target until he understood how they lived and when it would be most advantageous to attack. In order to continue the hunt in case one victim didn’t work out, Rader frequently stalked multiple victims at once. Rader would break into the home, disconnect the phone lines, and hide until his victim returned from work.
The alias BTK, which Rader gave himself, also guided his actions. Rader bound, tortured and killed his victim. Once his victims had regained consciousness, Rader would let them breathe again before strangling them once more. He would keep up the pattern, putting them in near-death situations while getting arouse at the sight of their pain and grief. When they were dead, Rader would strangle them and then masturbate until ejaculate on the corpse.
Arrest and conviction
The BTK Killer’s case had been closed by 2004. Then, Rader wrote to the police to take responsibility for a murder that had not yet been linked to him. The victim’s DNA was taken from beneath her fingernails, and it gave the police previously undiscovered evidence. In an effort to identify the serial killer, they then started testing the DNA of hundreds of men. A total of 1100 DNA samples would be collected.
To gain the trust of the BTK Killer (Rader), the police communicated with him. Then, during one of his communications with the police, Rader enquired as to whether information from floppy disks could be tracked. In response, the police department claimed that there was no way to determine what computer a particular disk had been used on, even though there were ways to do so. The police department was immediately notified of Rader’s message and floppy, and they quickly reviewed the Microsoft Word document’s metadata. They discovered from the document’s metadata that a man by the name of Dennis had created it. A connection to the Lutheran Church was also discovered.
The police were able to identify a suspect—Dennis Rader, a Lutheran deacon—after conducting an Internet search for “Lutheran Church Wichita Dennis” and discovering his family name. Furthermore, BTK’s black Jeep Cherokee was known to the police. When the detectives passed Rader’s residence in their car, they noticed a black Jeep Cherokee parked outside.
Although the police had solid circumstantial evidence against Rader at this point, they still lacked enough concrete proof to hold him. To test the DNA of a Pap smear Rader’s daughter had taken at the University of Kansas medical clinic while she was a student there, they controversially obtained a warrant. The killer was closely related to Rader’s daughter because the DNA from the Pap smear and the sample from the victim’s fingernails were nearly identical. The police required this proof in order to make an arrest.

Rader was arrested on February 25, 2005, not far from his Park City home, and he was charged with the BTK slayings. “The bottom line… BTK is arrested,” Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said at a press conference the following morning. Rader pleaded guilty to the killings on June 27, 2005, describing his crimes in graphic detail in court.
He was given 10 consecutive life sentences, one for each murder victim, on August 18, 2005. This included nine life sentences with the option of parole after 15 years each and one life sentence with a 40-year parole eligibility period. It implied that Rader would serve a total of 175 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. This outcome ensured that Rader would serve the remainder of his life behind bars without the chance of parole.
Because Kansas did not have a death penalty when Rader committed his crimes, he was not eligible for the death penalty. In 1994, Kansas’s death penalty laws were reinstated.

Albert Spaggiari: The Man Who Stole 45m Francs And Was Never Caught
In 1976, French gangster Albert Spaggiari was arrested after his gang stole 100 million francs worth of valuables from a bank. At his trial, he distracted the judge then jumped out of a window and fled on a motorcycle set up for him. He was never caught and died a free man.

Susan Kuhnhausen Killed the Hitman Sent to Kill Her
Susan Kuhnhausen's ex-husband hired a hitman to assassinate her. Susan "made a decision to live" in that terrifying moment.

Brazilian gang leader attempts to escape from Rio de Janeiro prison by dressing up as his daughter
In 2019, a Brazilian gang leader tried to escape from prison by dressing up as his daughter when she visited him behind bars and walking out of the penitentiary's main door in her place.

A woman finds her ex-boyfriend living in her attic 12 years after they broke up
Most people have heard of "things that go bump in the night," but for one South Carolina lady, that "thing" was her ex-boyfriend, whom she discovered living in her attic more than 12 years after they broke up.

The Birth of Stockholm Syndrome: The 1973 Bank Robbery That Changed Psychology
In 1973, a botched bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, led to a six-day hostage crisis, where captives began defending their captors—giving rise to Stockholm Syndrome. Strangely, one hostage later befriended a robber, and another raised money for their legal defense, baffling psychologists and law enforcement alike!

Andre Stander: The Police Officer Who Became a Bank Robber
Like scenes from a blockbuster movie, Andre Stander robbed Banks during his lunch breaks and returned to the scene as the lead investigating officer

Albert Einstein’s brain after it was stolen from his body
Albert Einstein's brain was taken by the opportunistic pathologist who performed his autopsy hours after he died and kept in two jars for 30 years. The stolen brain of Albert Einstein was preserved in a cookie jar for 30 years until being discovered by a journalist.

The Great Greek Swimming Pool Scandal: When Satellites Exposed a Tax Evasion Wave
Only 324 residents of a wealthy neighborhood in Athens admitted to owning swimming pools on their tax returns. To verify the truth, Greek tax authorities studied satellite photos of the area and found a total of 16,974 pools. The majority of people had simply lied about their assets to save on taxes.

Japanese man accidentally switched at birth grew up in poverty while other baby lived life on privilege
In 2013, a 60-year-old Japanese man found out that he had been accidentally switched at birth. His biological parents were wealthy, but he was given to a struggling, single mother. While the infant who took his place grew up with all the luxuries and became the president of a real estate company, he grew up poor and became a truck driver. He later sued the San Ikukai Hospital in Tokyo that made this awful mistake in 1953.

The truth behind the murder of Cara Knott
After the murder of Cara Knott in 1986, a local news station filmed a ride-along segment with a highway patrol officer named Craig Allen Peyer who talked about women’s safety and gave tips on what to do when stranded on the road. That same officer later turned out to be the “Knotts killer.” He was convicted of the crime in 1988.

Man dressed up as his dead mother to keep home, benefits
A 51-year-old man in Brooklyn named Thomas Parkin dressed up as his dead mother Irene for six long years since 2013 and collected her social security checks. He did other real estate frauds too that totaled up to $115,000.

Quaker Oats Fed Children with Radioactive Oatmeal
In the 1940s and 1950s, Quaker Oats and MIT conducted experiments on radioactive iron and calcium-containing cereal. The diet was part of a study to see if the nutrients in Quaker oatmeal traveled throughout the body. In January 1998, a $1.85 million settlement was reached for 30 victims who came forward.

The 1978 Lufthansa Heist: Unraveling the Mystery of America's Most Infamous Airport Robbery
During the 1978 Lufthansa heist, robbers infiltrated JFK Airport, restraining employees and holding a night guard hostage. They escaped with $5.9 million—worth over $27 million today. The crime, linked to the Lucchese crime family, remained unsolved for decades, with most suspects vanishing

Chilling Story Behind the Amber Hagerman’s Murder And The AMBER alert system
Amber Hagerman is the reason we have the Amber alert or a child abduction emergency alert system. As of April 2019, 957 children rescued specifically because of AMBER Alert. To this day, the Amber behind Amber alert is still waiting for justice.

In 2018, a 30-year-old survived a close-range gunshot thanks to silicone implant
In 2018, a 30-year-old woman from Toronto, Canada survived a close-range gunshot thanks to her silicone breast implant. Doctors believe that the implant deflected the bullet away from her vital organs, and her only injury was a fractured rib.

'Super obedient' lookout parrot trained by Brazilian drug dealers is seized by police
In 2019, police in Brazil seized a 'super obedient' lookout parrot trained by drug dealers. According to reports, the bird had been taught to alert criminals to police operations by shouting: "Mum, the police!" As soon as the police got close, he started shouting.

The Unsolved mystery of Bobby Dunbar's Disappearance
In 1912, a four-year-old boy named Bobby Dunbar went missing on a family trip, 8 months later he was found and reunited with his family. Nearly a century later, DNA testing of his descendants revealed that the child reunited with the Dunbar family was not Bobby, but rather a boy named Charles (Bruce) Anderson who resembled Bobby.

The great robbery: 300 million yen robbery
In 1968, a car driven by bank employees was pulled over by a motorcycle cop claiming the car had been rigged with a bomb. The cop got under the car to “defuse” the device. When the car started to smoke, everybody ran. Then the “cop” just drove the car away. The 300M Yen robbery remains unsolved

The story of Nike's famous tagline "Just do it"
Nike’s inspiration for their slogan “Just do it.” came from a man who was about to get executed, and his final words to the firing squad was “let’s do it!”

The Heartbreaking Story Of Robert Turner, The Boy Whose Mother Died Because 911 Failed Him
Five-year-old Robert Turner of Detroit witnessed his mother Sherrill die from a heart condition in February 2006, all because two 911 operators mistook his desperate calls for help for a prank.

Moondyne Joe: The story of Australia's most notorious prison escapee
A man named Joseph Bolitho Johns (A.K.A Moondyne Joe) broke out of Australian prisons so many times that the police were compelled to build a special cell just for him. He escaped from that as well.

Woman found guilty of murdering her husband after a parrot repeated the victim's 'last words'
In 2017, a woman named Glenna Duram shot her husband five times before attempting suicide. Soon after, the couple’s pet African Grey parrot, the only witness to the crime, started repeating the words “don’t f*****g shoot!” It is thought to have been the pair’s last exchange. Duram survived and was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Scientists separated triplets at birth for a controversial experiment and had no idea what they were doing
As part of an experiment, a set of triplets was intentionally separated at birth and given to three sets of parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds. It was discovered in 1980, when two of the triplets attended the same college.

The youngest person executed, George Stinney Jr was proven innocent
In 1944, George Stinney Jr. was 14 years old when he was executed in South Carolina. It took only ten minutes to convict him — and 70 years to exonerate him.

A woman accidentally tipped $7,723 for coffee and some cake and never get the money back
In 2018, a woman accidentally paid $7732 for a cup of coffee and a cake at a Swiss café after accidentally entering her PIN code as a tip. She never received a refund.