In 1979, he waited for a victim who never came home, and he communicated this to a television station. After that, there were no more letters -- leaving some to believe he had moved or died. But last year, on the 30th anniversary of the first killings, when commentators speculated that BTK was dead, he began a barrage of communications to prove them wrong.
BTK first sent a package to the Wichita Eagle containing photographs of one of the bodies and later left a package wrapped in plastic containing the driver's license of another.
Dennis L. Rader was a compliance officer in Park City, Kan.
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BTK Timeline
Jan. 15, 1974: Joseph Otero, 38, and his wife, Julie, 34, are strangled in their home along with two of their children, Josephine, 11, and Joseph II, 9.
April 4, 1974: Kathryn Bright, 21, is stabbed to death in her home. Police later conclude she was a BTK victim.
October 1974: The Wichita Eagle-Beacon gets a letter from someone taking responsibility for the Otero family killing and including crime scene details.
March 17, 1977: Shirley Vian, 24, is found tied up and strangled at her home.
Dec. 8, 1977: Nancy Fox, 25, is found tied up and strangled in her home. The killer's voice is captured on tape when he calls a dispatcher to report the crime.
Jan. 31, 1978: A poem referring to the Vian killing is sent to the Wichita Eagle-Beacon.
Feb. 10, 1978: A letter from BTK is sent to KAKE-TV claiming responsibility for the deaths of Vian, Fox and an unnamed victim. Police Chief Richard LaMunyon says a serial killer is at large and has threatened to strike again.
Aug. 15, 1979: Police get more than 100 tips in the first day of radio and TV broadcasts that repeat the voice of the BTK strangler from the 1977 recording.
April 28, 1979: BTK waits inside a home but leaves before the 63-year-old woman who lives there returns. He later sends her a letter letting her know he was there.
Sept. 16, 1986: Vicki Wegerle, 28, is strangled in her home.
March 19, 2004: A letter arrives at the Wichita Eagle containing a photocopy of Wegerle's driver's license and photos of her body. Police link it to BTK.
Feb. 26, 2005: After receiving several more letters, authorities announce the arrest of BTK. Police identify him as Dennis Rader, 59, a municipal worker in nearby Park City.
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For his last surreptitious communication, in February, BTK tried something new: He sent a Wichita television station a necklace, the cover of "Rules of Prey" -- a 1989 novel about a serial killer named "maddog" -- and a purple computer disk. The disk was immediately traced to Christ Lutheran Church.
If Rader is ultimately convicted of the BTK slayings, then he may have been undone by the very sanctuary that gave him decades of cover: his church.
Clark said it was apparently clear to investigators that the disk had been used in the church's computer. Clark recalled recently showing Rader how to print an agenda for the church council meeting. Rader's was among the names of people with access to the computer that Clark provided to police.
Little has emerged about Rader's wife, Paula, and his children. Paula Rader was a founding member of the church and sings in the choir. Rader's daughter, Kerri, is married and earned a degree in education from Kansas State University. His son, Brian, is in the Navy undergoing submarine training. Neither went to Wichita last week to see Rader, and Paula Rader has left town, Clark said.
Police have denied reports that Rader's daughter, who lives in Michigan, turned him in. But she reportedly gave her blood for a DNA test after Rader was arrested, and it matched DNA that was found at some of the crime scenes.
On the modest street of A-frame homes where the family lived, some neighbors said they despised Rader. He would harangue them for tall grass, loose dogs, branches piled in a driveway and once because a woman mistakenly brought her trash cans out front on the wrong day.
Two neighbors said that he was particularly hard on a woman dying of cancer, an arthritis sufferer. He repeatedly wrote her warnings and costly citations for not keeping her lawn properly cut.
"He knew my mother couldn't get around, and he would come down the street and measure her grass, and if it was a little bit over he'd write her a warning or a citation," said Joshua Thomas, who moved into the house after his mother died.
Neighbors' Perspective
"What little power he had, he abused. He was a very petty man," Reno, another neighbor, said. "It's kind of curious that dogs that were in back yards suddenly came loose when he was around, and then there he was to write the ticket."
Margaret Farmer said her daughter's garage burned down a few years ago, and within a day Rader was demanding she pay to have the debris hauled off. "I don't know anyone on the street that didn't despise him," she said. "He acted like his word was the only law. Everyone else was supposed to do exactly as he said and when he said."
Stuart, the Park City mayoral candidate, said last week that her friend who had the run-ins with Rader was on the verge of quitting when Rader was arrested. Citing the ongoing investigation, Park City Mayor Emil Berquist declined in an interview to name the woman or discuss complaints that may have been filed against Rader.
Meanwhile, Rader, who turns 60 this week, sits in a county jail in lieu of $10 million bond. On Saturday, the Wichita Eagle reported that Rader had confessed to the killings. On Wednesday, the City Council voted to fire him for not showing up to work. He has consulted with his public defenders and received a visit from his pastor, after leaving a voice mail for Clark. Clark reported that Rader seems to be "holding up pretty well" considering the circumstances.
"I told Dennis that I will not abandon him," Clark said. "I told him that I will stand by his side as long as he wants me to. And people just don't want to hear that right now. We are no different than Dennis in our journey in life. Regardless of who we are, we are all sinners and we will all be judged."
Research editor Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
