2005: BTK Killer Dennis Rader Sentenced to 175 Years for Ten Murders
Dennis Rader, a church council president and compliance officer from Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced to ten consecutive life terms totalling 175 years in prison for a killing spree that began in 1974 and claimed ten lives over three decades. Methodical and media-savvy, he bound, tortured, and killed his victims, earning the acronym BTK. He stalked neighbours, executed families, and kept trophies, all while living an unremarkable suburban life.
Rader had evaded capture for thirty years before his own need for notoriety led to his undoing. In 2004 he resumed contact with police and local media after a long silence. A floppy disk he sent to a television station was traced back to his church computer, and he was arrested in February 2005. He pleaded guilty to all ten murders in June 2005 and was sentenced in August of that year, using his final court appearance to describe each killing in cold, methodical detail.
