Btk Killer Dennis Rader

Dennis Rader, BTK Killer

There are few things in society today that horrify or fascinate us as much as serial killers. Murderers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer fill us with fear while also inspiring us to study them and use them as subjects of fiction. Indeed, fictional serial killer Dexter Morgan has millions of fans across the world. When examining the lives an actions of these killers, it is always interesting and shocking to see how easily they blended into their social contexts before their actions were know. A common reaction to the exposure and capture of such a serial killer is often one of disbelief, accompanied by cries to the effect that "he was such a quiet, nice person." This was also the case with Dennis Lynn Rader, a serial killer who committed his first murder in 1974, but was only caught, convicted, and incarcerated in 2005.

Rader was born in 1945 in Wichita, Kansas. At school, nothing particularly set him apart from his classmates. He was an average pupil, a Boy Scout, and attended church regularly. Rader claimed that he was dropped on his head as a young child, but there is no substancial proof for this claim (CI Network, 2013). Rader also mentioned that it was during his school years that he developed urges to bind and kill people. He lived out these urges by beginning to strangle stray cats and dogs (CI Network, 2013).

When he graduated from high school, Dennis Rader joind the Air Force, after which he took a number of unspectacular jobs. It was during this time, during the late 1960s, that Rader met the woman who would become his wife, Paula Dietz. Interestingly, he was always gentlemanly and attentive towards her. They were married in 1971. It is also during this year that he started night school for a degree in Administration of Justice, which he took in his pursuit of his desired career in the police (CI Network, 2013). He was, however, a poor student and took six years to obtain the degree (Blanco, n.d.). It was within this time, during 1974, that he committed his first murders.

According to his biographical information, Dennis Rader murdered his victims in pursuit of sexual satisfaction. I also think, however, that there must be an aspect of power. It appears that Rader enjoyed seeing his victims helplessly bound up and knowing he had the power to do what he wanted with them. This appears to correlate with the types of work he most desired. He deeply desired to be a police officer, which would give him a sense of power over the public, for whom he would enforce the law. He also rose to a supervising position at ADT Security, where he oversaw the installation of alarms (Blanco, n.d.). This position also gave him access to homes, which must have fed his fantasies of power. He was fired from ADT in 1988. After this, he worked for the Census Bureau for a while, which was another position to give him access to people's homes and potential "projects," as he came to refer to his murders. In 1991, he once again found steady employment as compliance and animal control officer for Park City. This position was the closest he came to his ideal of police officer. It also gave him the opportunity to exercise authority over others, which he reportedly took very seriously (Blanco, n.d.).

For this reason, I believe that the power he was able to exert by binding, torturing, and killing (BTK) them, was so appealing to him that it gave him sexual pleasure. The fame he sought by contacting the police and writing notes about his exploits is also a type of power he could hold over the police force and the public: He was a murderer and nobody could catch him.

I am not sure that there are biological factors involved in Rader's behavior. From the "nature" point-of-view, there is very little known about Rader's home or family life. Certainly, there must be a shortcoming in his brain, since most of the literature identify him as a psychopath, lacking any empathy for the pain or suffering of others. He displayed no remorse when pleading guilty to his crimes, for example (Mann, 2013). Many believe that this tendency is due to the biological composittion of the brain. On the other hand, no conclusive proof has been offered for this.

In terms of biology, however, an interesting study was conducted by Dr. David Buss (Bryant, 2005), which suggested that the drive to kill might be an evolutionary aspect in all human beings. The study suggested that most people would kill in certain given conditions. The threat of incarceration and public shame, however, serves as one of the biggest deterrents against giving in to this urge. What Buss therefore suggests is that serial killers like Rader's murdering behavior is somewhat "usual" in terms of human evolution, even if what motivates him to do so is not. The biology question, however, remains open and uncertain.

Much greater certainty can be attached to Rader's psychology. Again, the clouded information relating to his childhood and home life make it difficult to determine what factors may have influenced his early development. Nevertheless, the fact that he craves power, finds this in torture and murder, and regards this as "projects" to be proud of and share with the world, certainly stamps him as psychologically unwell in his current state (Mann, 2013).