All language subtitles for BTK.Confession.of.a.Serial.Killer.S01E04.720p.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV_track3_[eng]

[uneasy music]

- People in Wichita had been

terrorized by this

Bind, Torture, Kill Individual

for 30 years.

- He said,
"If you become my project

and you have a routine,
you're in trouble."

- Rader then moved on
to a different project,

Project Blackout,
and again, no results.

- Dennis Rader,
he was the master manipulator.

- In 1991,
Rader was in his mid-40s.

By this time, he had
accomplished ten murders

without anyone suspecting him.

[intense musical buildup]

[brisk music]

♪ ♪

- When I was writing the book
about Dennis Rader,

the serial killer known as BTK,

one of the things he wanted me
to have to use to organize it

was his project list...

♪ ♪

Comprised of various people

he had identified
as potential victims,

and that meant
being very clear about

when he attempted
to kidnap somebody,

when he stalked somebody
and made contact.

- There were a number of young
women during that time

who he had picked out,

who were on his list,

who he was going to murder.

- The list had the project name,

the years, the dates,
the location--

All the details
he could think of

and fit onto this little chart.

So it gives a lot of sense
of his personality.

He liked things organized,
clear.

He liked to follow rules

because he wanted
other people to follow rules,

but that way,
he could then break the rules

but come back into
a safe, organized world.

Project 16 on the project list

was known as Project Blackout.

- My name is
Cheryl Gilmour Sarkozy,

and I'm a survivor of BTK.

And his name for me
was Project Blackout.

- Good morning.
- Hello, Dennis.

I'm Dr. Katherine Ramsland,

professor of forensic psychology

and the author of multiple books

about extreme offenders
like serial killers.

I've been corresponding
with Dennis Rader

to try to understand
what led him to become

one of the most notorious
serial killers in America.

This is the first time

that Rader has explored these
topics in-depth with anyone.

- The more information
we have about serial killers,

the more we understand
what makes them tick,

the easier it will be
to prevent them.

[dramatic musical sting]

♪ ♪

[uneasy music]

After the Dolores Davis murder,

Rader slips back
into a period of dormancy.

He continues to look
for projects,

but he doesn't act out.

What were you doing
in those years

when nothing
was really happening?

- Did you feel like you were
in control of your urges then?

- The planning for

any sexually compelled
serial killer

is definitely
part of the pleasure,

and Dennis Rader
is quite the organizer.

In the project list,
marked Project Blackout,

Blackout refers to a bar

near the campus
of Wichita State University

where Rader
would often go have a beer.

Rader writes, "Girl at bar,"
and indicates the year 1977.

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

- I was 26 years old
at that time.

One afternoon,
a girlfriend and I

decided to go
to the Blackout Bar,

and I started talking
to this man,

and he told me that he was
studying at the university.

It had to do with, like,
police work and law.

The bar got raided,

and everybody was told to leave.

And so he was walking with me
through the parking lot.

I said, "So, tell me,
do you know

if it's against the law
in Kansas to commit suicide?"

And he said,
"It is against the law."

And I said, "Well,
that's a shame because

"I think that anybody
that wants to commit suicide

should have that right."

And he reached over
and took my arm

and he squeezed it and he said,

"Oh, please don't say that."

And I thought,
"What a kind man."

By then I was at my car,
and I got in the car and left.

He was really sort of a
nondescript type of character.

He wasn't someone

that I gave a second thought
to after that,

but it turned out that
that was Dennis Rader.

[dark chords]

That particular day,

he had followed me home,

and then he started stalking me.

♪ ♪

- So I have a report
from a woman named Cheryl.

She said she talked with you
at the Blackout Lounge.

- Cheryl Gilmour Sarkozy's
neighbor

was Dennis Rader's
sixth murder victim,

Shirley Vian, who he killed
on March 17, 1977.

- The day Shirley Vian
was murdered,

I had a 4-year old son,

and he had come to work
with me that afternoon.

When he and I got home,

the whole neighborhood
was filled with police cars.

There was a knock on my door,
and this policeman came in

and he said
the woman a few doors down

has been murdered,

and her little boy has said

he saw the man
knock on your door,

so we feel that you might have
been the intended victim.

I can't imagine why anybody
would want to kill me.

It was a horrifying time
in my life,

and I nailed
all my windows shut.

And I couldn't sleep for months.

Had I been home that day,

it would have been me
instead of Shirley Vian.

- It certainly was possible

that Rader would have had
a number of other victims

had things gone
a little bit differently,

had someone come home
when he expected them to,

had he figured out a routine
of somebody in the right way.

♪ ♪

From the project list
Rader shared with me,

we can see that he continued
stalking a number of people

during the period of 1991
to 2005,

but he just didn't succeed.

At the same time,

Rader worked as a park
city compliance officer...

- The dogs are somewhat
territorial...

- A job that once again
gave him cover

to stalk and troll
in his own backyard.

- the reporting parties
of where the sheep were killed.

- A compliance officer is like
a law enforcement equivalent

which is
"Your grass is overgrown,"

"Your dog is off the leash,"

"Your house needs painting."

He can kind of
lord it over people

and actually could carry a gun
as part of the job.

- Did you like being
a compliance officer?

- Serial killers who aspire
to become cops

typically
had delusions of power.

- As I recall,
several citizens called

and made complaints about

his being strict or rude,

confrontational
and that type of behavior.

- As a compliance officer,
he didn't like it

if somebody did something
he thought they shouldn't.

So in his world, it was okay
for him to break the rules,

but he needed that safety
of that regimented world

so everyone else around him
had to stay within their lane.

January 2004
marked the 30th anniversary

of Dennis Rader's first
murders, the Otero family.

It was 25 years
since his last correspondence

with police or the media,

and it had been 13 years

since he'd killed his
last victim, Dolores Davis,

although no one had yet
linked BTK to her murder.

- When you have anniversaries,

news departments
do stories on it,

so it was on the front page

that a guy was writing
a book about BTK.

Well, BTK did not like that.

He is so arrogant

that he wanted
to tell his story.

- When Dennis Rader

learned that an attorney
wanted to write a book

about the unsolved BTK crimes

and he was going
to cover seven victims,

and Rader knew there were more,

so he didn't want a book written

that would be his legacy

that would really not
get the story right.

- My administrative assistant
goes up to the mail every day,

and she had gotten a letter
that had a photocopy

of what appeared to be
an old Polaroid.

It looked like a woman's body
on the floor

and a copy of a woman's
driver's license.

The driver's license
was Vicki Wegerle's.

Her murder had never
been tied to BTK.

- Investigators believe
the letter is from BTK

because it has information
about a 2-decade-old homicide

linked to BTK that only
the killer would know.

BTK claims in the letter

that Vicki Wegerle
was his eighth victim.

- No photographs had been
taken of the victim

at the scene by the police,
by anybody,

because Vicki Wegerle had
been removed from the scene

by an ambulance crew.

So if there were any doubts
in anybody's mind

that this guy
was the real thing,

it stopped right there.

It regenerated the fears
of the citizenry

there in Wichita.

In your gut you felt like,
"Oh, my God, whoever he is

and wherever he lives,
we gotta stop this."

- A letter received by KAKE TV

was turned over to us
last Wednesday,

and we are treating it
as possibly being sent by BTK.

♪ ♪

- In 2004,
after the re-emergence of BTK,

the Wichita Police Department,

under the leadership
of Kenny Landwehr,

who was the homicide
lieutenant at that time,

formed a task force made up
of Wichita police detectives,

FBI agents, KBI agents.

I mean, I said,
"We're gonna get this guy.

I don't care what it takes."

- BTK is back because

he wants to see
his name in the paper.

He wants to see him talked about

on the television station.

- BTK is communicating again.

- BTK is back.
- BTK--

- BTK--

- This is one of the most
challenging cases

that I've ever been
involved with,

and I find that the individual
that is doing this

would be very interesting
to talk to.

- Early on in the investigation,

a couple of profilers
from the FBI were brought in,

and one of the greatest
guidances that they provided

was the creation
of the communications

that Kenny Landwehr
would release

in these various media events.

It all looked fairly natural,
the way Kenny delivered it,

but these were scripted
for the intent

and sole purpose
of keeping BTK communicating.

If we could keep him
communicating,

that was the key
to catching him.

Eventually he would slip up.

- When Ken Landwehr did
a press conference about you,

what was that like for you?

- The strategy
that Ken Landwehr adopted

was to personalize this,

to address whoever BTK was.

The hope was that
that would make the killer

feel as if they were buddies,

which is exactly
what did happen.

Rader really enjoyed it.

So what started as an attempt
to control his story

turned into this game
with law enforcement

that he thought they were
having as much fun as he was.

- He has communicated with us
since the '70s,

and it continues today.

- Shortly after that,

KAKE TV got a letter
that had one page

the BTK story--
Chapter one, chapter two,

chapter three, chapter four--

Went all through the chapters.

- He suggests chapter names
in talking about BTK.

What killer does that?

He wanted to give us a guide
on how we cover him, basically.

- But the scariest thing
was the very last chapter

was just a question:
"Will there be more?"

Taunting police and Wichita.

Who was going to be
the next victim?

Scared us all to death.

♪ ♪

- Why did you decide to send

the BTK's story
to the TV station?

- We would get sent information.

Obviously, we'd read it,
we'd do a story about it,

but immediately hand it over
to the police department

hoping that maybe
this will lead to his capture.

- In May of 2004, Dennis Rader
sent a word puzzle

comprised of random letters
and numbers to KAKE TV.

It was obviously a word search,

and the idea
was that in this puzzle

there might be clues
to his identity.

- Our responsibility
was to find the words

in the word puzzle.

One was victim.

One was serviceman.

One was ruse.

So we were in the newsroom
looking at this puzzle going,

"Oh, my gosh."

- Hello, Susan.
- So nice meeting you,

Dr. Ramsland,
and thank you so much

for shedding light
on these puzzles.

- Well, he loved codes.

That was his big thing,
he loved codes

and communicating through codes,

with just the idea of,
"Now you have to figure me out.

You have to be thinking of me."

Why he chose these words,
why some are backwards,

some are forwards,
what's this number,

which actually should have
the zero to it

because that's his address.

- Oh!

Wait a minute.
Where's his address?

- 6220.

If you saw that an O,

you wouldn't know that's a zero.

- Exactly! First of all,
we didn't know at the time...

- Right, of course.
- Obviously.

But the 622 and then the 0...
- Yeah, who would do that?

- Was his address.
- Right, who would do that?

- Here it was here all the time.

And then he puts address
right down there.

- But that's the cat-and-mouse
nature of it.

The fun of it is he's going to
take some risk

in order to have some delight

over how confusing
this is going to be,

and then he'll see
that you won't get it,

so he'll feel superior.

- Which... I'm sure he did.

He sent KAKE TV most of the
clues and the correspondence.

Why do you think
he sent it to KAKE TV?

- He knew he was going
to get publicity

if he sent this to KAKE.

And he loved the station
because he watched it as a kid.

He loved you particularly.

- I remember responding to one
correspondence in particular

where he said,

"I hope Susan's and Jeff's
cold gets better."

Two nights before
I had just said on the air,

"Jeff and I have a cold, Jay.

Can you give us
some warm weather?"

Why do you think he did that?

- Rader wanted you to know
he was watching you.

He was aware of you,
alert to you,

and he wants you
to feel his eyes on you.

- That's so frightening.
- Definitely.

I was wondering,
because you were

so attuned to media
at that time,

whether you ever considered
a media person as a project?

- Okay.

- He's having fun because he is
watching this hit the news,

be talked about on TV,

but he forgets
you are a serial killer.

This cat-and-mouse game
is about real people

that you killed.

You're acting as if the police
are playing a game with you

and everybody's
having a good time at it,

and that is not
what's happening.

- We were all concerned
because we didn't know

what was going to happen--
We didn't know

if all of a sudden
in the middle of the night

the BTK was going to
go show up in our bedroom.

- Throughout 2004
into the beginning of 2005,

Dennis Rader sent correspondence

and items of evidence
from his crimes

to the media and police.

He enjoyed the publicity,

and he wanted to tell
his story in his own way.

- KAKE received another message
from BTK about a cereal box

that he had deposited
at a home-improvement store

that wasn't that far
from KAKE TV.

- We sent--immediately sent
detectives to Home Depot,

and they looked,
didn't see anything,

talked to all the employees

about any packages
they had found.

- Investigators posted a message

in the employee lounges

asking if anyone
saw anything suspicious.

- A guy came back from vacation
and said, "Well, yeah,

"I found this cereal box
in the back of my truck,

and it said 'BTK bomb.'"

[tense music]

Thought somebody
was just messing with him.

So he said, "I just
threw it in my burn barrel

when I got home.

It turns out
that was the communication

that Rader was referring to,
so when we got

the surveillance
of the parking lot,

that was our
actual first sighting

of what we believe was BTK
delivering that package.

- The video was blurry,
and he's far from the camera,

so police couldn't clearly see
what he looked like.

However, they did see

that he was driving
a dark-colored Jeep Cherokee.

What about driving into
the Home Depot parking lot?

Did you think they'd have
a surveillance camera?

- Dennis Rader has gotten away
with this for 30 years,

so there's a narcissism.

We actually call
this narcissistic immunity.

The immunity part is the sense
that he's so special

that no one can touch him,

but the narcissistic immunity
is kind of well-earned because

"I'm one
of the few serial killers

that they haven't identified
and never will," in his mind.

- He asked to communicate
with law enforcement directly.

He was trying to find a way
to do that

without giving himself away,

and so one of the things
he suggested

was to use a floppy disk.

So at one point,

he sent a message
through the media saying,

"Can I communicate
with you guys,

and can we use a floppy disk,
and you won't trace it?"

And then he specified,
"Be honest."

- If it was okay for Rader
to send the floppy disk

without being traced,

he instructed the police
to respond in code

through an ad in the newspaper
that said,

"Rex, it will be OK."

- We thought it so ironic
that a freaking serial killer

wants us to be honest.

Lieutenant Landwehr decided,
and the FBI,

they decided to go ahead
and place the ad

and see what happens.

- Treated as a possible--

- This letter is from BTK,
and we--

[uneasy music]

- Rader had this kind of
idealism he had developed

ever since he was a boy scout

and his hope
to become a police officer,

had this kind of John Wayne
thinking going on

that they're upholding the law,

so of course they're not
going to lie to him.

- He answered
with the floppy disk.

- The floppy,
was it just a test file on it,

or was there
anything else on it?

+- Okay.

- One of their IT guys

there at the Wichita
Police Department

loaded it into his computer.

He began pulling metadata files

showing prior users
of that disk.

Immediately
there was an indication

that it had been used

at Christ Lutheran Church
up in Park City,

but also the name Dennis
appeared.

- Real quick check--
The president of that church

was a guy named Dennis Rader.

That was a huge break.

- That was one of those moments
where you were just ecstatic.

We found an address
in Park City,

and the race was on--
We all wanted to get there.

[intense music]

- As soon as they get
the location

where Dennis Rader lives,

two of our detectives are on it,

and there sits the type
of vehicle that was used by BTK

to deliver the package
to Home Depot.

- We wanted to just
go knock doors down

and go in and get him.

The lieutenant, he said,
"We don't have his DNA

to confirm that this is
in fact the BTK Killer."

We didn't arrest him
at that point,

but he was placed under
surveillance 24-7

because the last thing
we wanted was for him to go out

and try to victimize somebody

after we had
already identified him.

- With DNA testing,

forensic scientists can link
criminals to crime scenes,

something that was
unavailable to police

when the BTK Killer first
terrorized Wichita, Kansas

in the mid-'70s.

- We had DNA from the Otero
case and several other cases.

At this point,
you've got DNA analysis.

When BTK was leaving
all that evidence behind,

it was worthless.

It couldn't be analyzed
back then,

but technology had caught up.

- Were you worried about

getting caught during this time,

that they might trace
something back to you?

- We began to mull over
the idea,

"How do we get his DNA?"

And I happen to notice
that his daughter

had gone
to Kansas State University.

Let's get a court order

and see
if they've got any records.

Sure enough,
they had records of her.

The records indicated
that she had had a Pap smear.

We're able to take possession
of that sample.

Then we began to wait
for the analysis.

I got a call that following
Monday from the examiner,

and she said,
"That sample you submitted,

that person
is the offspring of BTK."

Those were words
that I had waited

and hoped we would hear
eventually.

- That's pretty definitive
at that point.

It was very exciting.

I can only imagine
for the Wichita guys

who'd been living this case
every day and night

for months and years--
That had to feel incredible.

- Following the findings
of our forensic laboratory,

number one on that priority
was the arrest of Dennis Rader.

There were a number of people
in the arrest team--

All of the task force,

plus a couple
of uniformed officers.

We got word from
the surveillance team

that Dennis Rader, the BTK,
was on the move.

He was leaving his office
and was likely headed home,

and so we were set up
along his route home.

And the decision was made
that once he passes,

a uniform car will execute
a traffic stop on him.

When the uniform car
stopped Dennis Rader's truck,

I had kind of beat feet
as quickly as I could move

because Dennis
was coming out of his--

His door popped open
fairly quickly,

but before he was able
to get out,

I grabbed him and introduced
him to the concrete.

I was joined by several
of my colleagues

who had every kind of gun
in the world pointed at him.

They got him handcuffed,
and we stood him up.

When he turned to me,
we're maybe a foot apart,

looking eye to eye.

He looks at me and says,

"Would you mind telling my wife
I won't be home for lunch?

I assume you know where I live,"

just calm as calm can be,

And we escort him back
to a transport vehicle.

- He stuck his head in the door

and he says,
"Well, hello, Mr. Landwehr."

So that was all he said.

Immediate recognition
and knew who Kenny was.

We scooted him in the car.
I jumped in next to him,

and we took off
for our interview location.

- Let's talk about
when you did get caught.

It was a huge effort.

What was that like to be
in the middle of it?

- Right.

- One of the things
the FBI profiler

that was interviewing him
with Lieutenant Landwehr

made him say--very specific,
he said,

"Tell us who you are.

Tell us who you are, Dennis."

And eventually he would say,
"I'm BTK."

[dramatic chords]

[intense percussive music]

- During the initial
interview process,

Kenny Landwehr was in the room
with Dennis Rader

and laid the floppy disk on the
table just to get his reaction.

- When you asked them
to tell you

if the floppy could be traced,
why did you trust them?

- To this day when Rader
talks about that,

he still can't believe
the cops lied to him.

He got a degree
in administration of justice,

and he would know

that interrogators
use lies all the time

because they're trying
to catch the bad guys.

So there's an odd child-like
naivety at play here.

"How could you have ever
betrayed me like that?"

- Dennis even felt, you know,
that since he wore a badge

and a uniform that we were
kind of in the same group,

that we were all in the
law enforcement, that world.

- Why did you finally confess
during the interrogation?

- He cooperated
on all the cases,

including the two that
the county detectives had,

which were the Dolores Davis
and Marine Hedge,

who were disposed of in their
territory, their jurisdiction.

- For decades, it's been
speculated BTK was responsible

for more murders,

the 1991 murder of Dolores Davis

and the 1985 murder
of Marine Hedge.

[uneasy music]

- When Dennis Rader was asked

about the possibility
of his family

knowing that he was BTK,

he did not feel
that they ever had a clue.

- On the day that Dennis Rader
was arrested,

Detective Kelly Otis and
myself talked with his wife.

She was, of course in shock,
in complete denial,

complete denial.
She said, "No, no, no."

She said, "You've made
a horrible mistake."

She was not going
to believe this.

Although she was putting
on a brave face, you know,

that she had to be--

Her mind had to be
just whirling,

and wondering, and worrying,

and thinking back
over their marriage--

"Is this a possibility?"

- He was manipulative enough
to keep them in the dark.

As much as--
I'd say sick to my stomach,

I was sick to my heart.

I don't know that the Dennis
that I thought I knew exists.

- I did interview his son.

He said, "We lived the perfect
'Leave It To Beaver' Life.'"

He said, "We went on vacations.

Dad was involved in our sports,

and our activities
and the church.

We had a great time at home."
He said "There's nothing."

But the day he was arrested
is basically the day

he will mark forever
as the day he died.

- He was like my best friend
that I walked the dog with,

and I was very close to him.

And so when the FBI showed up
at my door, you know,

February of 2005,

like, I told them
they had the wrong guy.

I tried to alibi him, and I
just fell into physical shock.

My whole world
just fell out under me.

- When you were arrested,
did it occur to you

that people
who looked up to you,

how they were going
to feel about that?

- He never thought
he'd be caught,

so he really didn't think about
what it would be like for them

to find out their father

or their husband
was a serial killer.

So if you consider that love
is being able to

think about what benefits
the loved one,

then you would say Rader's love,

whatever it means,
does not run very deep.

- Today is a very historic day.

The bottom line--
BTK is arrested.

[crowd cheering]

- The day Dennis Rader
was arrested,

I'm in a shopping center.
I hadn't gone into work yet.

My boss calls, and he goes,

"We're almost positive
BTK has been caught.

You need to
get into work right away."

No lie, the whole room,

the whole shopping center
started spinning.

The blood rushed from my head
down to my toes,

and I sat down and said,
"I'm going to faint."

And then I started crying.

I just cried
and cried and cried,

and I think I had much
the same reaction

as a lot of women
in Wichita had,

and that was such
a sense of relief.

- Glad they caught
the son of a bitch.

Now my mom can rest in peace.

[dark music]

- It was very, very tense time.

I didn't know how to feel.
I wanted revenge.

I wanted
to get my hands on this guy.

[intense musical buildup]

- Rader tells us he had most of

what he called
the mother lode of evidence

in a two-drawer file cabinet

located in his compliance
office at Park City.

When we were there,
it was unlocked.

There was a key to lock it up
on top, but it wasn't locked.

So he was pretty comfortable,
I guess,

that it was safe there.

He had everything categorized,
indexed,

and they were in order,

kept all the originals
of any correspondence,

of all the artifacts
that he was collecting.

He would mark them
with dates and times.

The level of organization
was remarkable.

♪ ♪

- At this time,
we're going to ask

how do you plead
to these ten counts?

- Guilty.
- All right.

Are you pleading guilty
because you are guilty?

- Yes, sir.
- All right.

Mr. Rader, I need to find out
more information.

- Well, I mean,
I strangled Mrs. Otero.

- He was sentenced to ten
consecutive life sentences.

The death penalty for his case
was not on the books,

and so we really
never had a discussion

about the death penalty
being possible.

He was fully aware

that he was never going
to see freedom again.

- I think that we in the media
and in the community

really fully understood
the damage he had done

when you could feel
that sense of relief

that he was off
the street forever.

- In the courtroom, families
of some of BTK's victims

got their first real look

at the man police believe
killed their loved ones.

- This changed
these young people's lives

30, 25 years ago

and they've lived
with that ever since.

- The criminal actions
of Dennis Rader

caused irreparable damage

to the very fabric
of my blood family.

He caused me
to challenge my faith,

changed my future forever,

yet I have never allowed
his actions

to send me to the dark side.

- Nancy Fox is my sister.

Nancy's death
is like a deep wound

that will never, ever heal.

- I'd just like for him
to suffer

for the rest of his life.

- I'm Jeffrey Davis,
son of Dolores Davis.

For the last 5,326 days,
I have wondered

what it would be like
to confront

the walking cesspool that took
my mother's precious life.

Not only were we united
as a family of survivors,

we were kind of representative

of the family of citizens
of the community

who had literally
lived in terror at times.

You have to live
with the cold reality

that while all of us here
will overcome your depravity,

you have now lost everything,

and you will forever
remain nothing.

- His wife requested
an emergency divorce,

and I think it's probably the
quickest divorce in history.

It was probably
less than five minutes.

I don't think
she's ever looked back.

I don't think she enjoys
being in the public.

She's never been interviewed.

- Paula and the kids
became Dennis' victims.

I can't imagine the price
that they paid.

My heart--I can't imagine.

♪ ♪

- This is now Dennis Rader,

no longer in a courtroom suit
but a prison uniform.

This is likely the last time

you'll ever see
the serial killer again.

- One of the things
I suspected about Rader,

there were things different
about him

than the typical things
we know about serial killers--

The fact that
he was a family man,

had a full-time job.

He seemed to be a regular guy
with an ordinary childhood.

It impressed upon me the
importance of studying people

who don't fit the mold,
who break the stereotypes.

We need to be very clear
that there are no formulas

because I think had we been
like that back then,

Rader would have
been caught sooner.

I think it's an irony

that everything
about Rader is control,

and yet he's in
a prison cell 24-7

with guards deciding
when he gets his meds

and his food and he gets
to have a shower, et cetera.

He's totally under our control,

and it's important that we
learn from people like Rader

by demystifying them,

decoding them,
and unmasking them.

Even though my work
with Rader is finished,

my research of extreme offenders

and how to prevent them
continues.