New documentary series on BTK serial killer

[Pcdunn]

"BtK: Confessions of a Serial Killer" has started airing now in the United States on A&ETV. It is based on material compiled from the decade-long correspondence and phone interviews with Dennis Rader, currently serving 10 life sentences in prison.

I thought this would interest some of you, as it is often mentioned how some serial killers can be both family men and vicious murderers. Their psychology is inscrutable to the rest of us.

Edited to add link: https://www.aetv.com/shows/btk-confe...-serial-killer

[Herlock Sholmes]

Thanks for that Pat. No doubt it will arrive over here soon.

[c.d.]

"BtK: Confessions of a Serial Killer" has started airing now in the United States on A&ETV. It is based on material compiled from the decade-long correspondence and phone interviews with Dennis Rader, currently serving 10 life sentences in prison.

I thought this would interest some of you, as it is often mentioned how some serial killers can be both family men and vicious murderers. Their psychology is inscrutable to the rest of us.

Edited to add link: https://www.aetv.com/shows/btk-confe...-serial-killer

Yeah, I believe I watched that or another similar show. It was chilling how in court the described some of the murders in a tone like he was describing how he made coffee in the morning. An incredibly evil person. Too bad he didn't get the death penalty (Kansas had no death penalty at the time of the murders).

c.d.

[Abby Normal]

thanks pc
an example of a serial killer who appeared normal on the outside, and average joe, married and had kids. also an example of a serial killer who wrote letters and engaged in the cat and mouse with the police and press, which led to his eventual down fall thank god.

[Pcdunn]

I don't see how a female journalist could stand to have such a interview correspondence with someone like that for so many years, knowing his crimes. Not to mention speaking to him on the phone.

[jmenges]

I don't see how a female journalist could stand to have such a interview correspondence with someone like that for so many years, knowing his crimes. Not to mention speaking to him on the phone.

Ramsland wrote a book based on this correspondence.

Here’s the tail end of my review from Ripperologist:

Neither the police investigators who worked the BTK case, nor Dennis Rader’s family, are at all happy that this book has been published. Rader’s daughter Kerri insists that some of the incidents he writes about are wholly fabricated. “Dad has told many lies. He said different things when he was arrested, different things when he was in court, different things after he went to prison. He’s a psychopath,” she says. “You can’t take anything he says as truth.” Rader, writing to Ramsland from his segregated prison cell (or “cave” as he calls it) seems to admit that the material he is providing her contains fantasies and exaggerations when he states “I want the train to deliver a good story that may help you and others”. Katherine Ramsland, for her part, does not seem to view his words with skepticism at all, which could pose an issue for any reader who is familiar with books written by murderers.

While the story of the BTK murders, told from the killer’s perspective, is very interesting, I did have the uneasy feeling throughout that what I was reading could be exactly what Kerri Rader claims the book is when she says “Dad is clearly enjoying himself here. Playing up his stories. Feeding his narcissism.” One does get the sense after finishing this book that Dennis Rader IS having fun with us, and using Ramsland to do so. I was left with theunsettling feeling that Rader is not imprisoned for his life 10 times over as punishment for his crimes, as he seems to have adapted quite well, but rather to protect the rest of us from having any chance of ending up as one of his “Projects”. I would recommend Confessions of a Serial Killer for those who wish to go in depth into the BTK case, with the obvious caveat that this disturbing book’s primarysource is, as are most serial killers, a notorious liar and egomaniac.

JM

[Pcdunn]

Many thanks for the information, JM. Coming across the announcement of the documentary was the first I had heard of this book., so this is very useful. Thank you for the caveat about trusting Rader's narration *too* much!

Pat D.

[Pcdunn]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/02/us/btk-drawings-serial-killer-investigation/index.html

New evidence recenrly found at site of Rader's now-demolished home may help link him to unsolved cases. Investigators try to locate barns and silos depicted in drawings by Rader of other murder locations. Daughter assists law enforcement in solving additional cases because "there's too many murdered in the Midwest, and I'm done."