Inside the Mind of BTK

Meeting BTK: An Exclusive Interview 291
Across the top of the pages, he’d listed the names Ted Bundy, Son
of Sam, Ed Kemper, Steven Pennel (Delaware’s first serial killer, a case
I was called in to work due to my expertise in the field of torture), the
fictional killer Buffalo Bill from the movie Silence of the Lambs, and
Gary Heidnik, a serial killer from Philadelphia who kept women in his
cellar in a pit filled with water, and electrocuted them. Rader also
included a column for BTK.
Extending down the left side of the page, he’d listed a smorgasbord
of biographical and psychological traits, then answered yes or no
beside each killer’s name, depending on whether or not they possessed
that specific quality. I found it interesting that beside the entry for
“overbearing mother,” he scrawled “ 1 ⁄2 .” I assumed that this meant she
was only half overbearing and made a note to ask him about this if I
got the chance during our interview.
Next to the entries for “Arrogance,” “Self Centered,” and “Inside
voices,” he wrote “No.”
Yet when he pondered the question of whether or not he was
“Intelligent,” he decided that the answer was yes.
In fact, he concluded that each of the serial killers on his chart—
with the exception of Berkowitz and the fictional Buffalo Bill (both of
whom he wasn’t sure about)—also possessed what he considered to
be intelligence.
In a note above the final page of his chart, he wrote: “KEY: Predator
don’t care what happens to victims as long as he gets what he
wants.”
These words were perhaps the most honest Rader had ever written,
cutting straight to the heart of who he was and what he stood for.
I couldn’t imagine a better epitaph for this heartless killer.
It was just after 8 A.M. when I climbed into my rental car to begin
the drive to El Dorado, steering north on I-135 past Park City, past the
off-ramp that Rader took to get to his house.
It was green and lush this time of year in Kansas. In two short
months, most of these fields would be baked golden brown by the
fierce Kansas sun. It was Sunday morning. Every cemetery I drove past
had American flags fluttering in the warm morning breeze.
Since Rader’s transfer to this state facility following his sentencing
in August 2005, the only family member to visit him was his
youngest brother, Paul, the same one Dennis used to defend in grade