Inside the Mind of BTK

334 INSIDE THE MIND OF BTK
Of course, back in the 1970s, that wasn’t how things were done. Police
kept a tight lid on case information, releasing it only when absolutely
necessary. But now we know differently, and I’m convinced that if the
authorities had taken a more proactive approach, disseminating very
specific details about BTK to the public, someone who was acquainted
with Rader might have recognized him and tipped off police that they
knew of someone who seemed to fit the description of the man they
were seeking.
What sort of details would have allowed the public to make this connection?
First, it would have been crucial to let the community know
what sort of pre- and post-offense behavior someone like BTK would
have exhibited. Second, his interest in detective magazines and bondageoriented
porn and his “gift” of drawing people, particularly women,
would have been a useful bit of information to release. Another useful
data point that should have been shared with the public involved
BTK’s fascination with law enforcement and the likelihood that he
might have attended Wichita State University. Finally, the likelihood that
he practiced autoeroticism should have been circulated to the community.
We now know that Paula caught her husband hanging himself on
at least two occasions, but she was never quite clear on what he was actually
doing and how it could have connected Dennis to the BTK murders.
Paula Rader had been a loyal and loving wife. But if she had somehow
received more detailed information about the behavioral traits
of the UNSUB terrorizing her community, I believe she would have
notified law enforcement, telling them everything she knew—even if
she had done so anonymously.
But that was then, and this is now. Since 1974 we’ve learned volumes
from the Dennis Raders of the world. There will always be violent
offenders, but today law enforcement has a much better
understanding of the motives and the minds of violent offenders.
One of our greatest and most underused tools is the FBI’s Violent
Criminal Apprehension Program, known as VICAP. What this computer
analysis does is determine, for example, if two cases that
occurred years apart and in different areas of the nation might have
been perpetrated by the same offender.
In 1985, I was present when French Smith, then the U.S. attorney
general, cut the ceremonial ribbon, launching VICAP. Over two decades
later, the program still depends on departments voluntarily submitting
their unsolved cases for review and analysis.