Inside the Mind of BTK

Meeting BTK: An Exclusive Interview 335
The fact that VICAP isn’t a mandatory program not only saddens
me but sometimes keeps me awake at night. Our nation has more than
seventeen thousand different law enforcement agencies operating
within its borders. For whatever the reason, precious few communicate
with one another, nor do many feel compelled to share information.
This needs to change—and fast. We desperately need a
mandatory VICAP program in this country. It won’t eradicate serial
violent offenders, but it will allow the authorities to intercept them
much earlier in their criminal careers.
Shafts of white sunlight shone down on the fields dotted with
alfalfa rolled up in tractor-sized clumps resembling giant pieces of
shredded wheat. The odor of skunk hung in the air. Warm blasts of
highway wind slammed against my elbow as I drove with it jutting out
the window. In the distance, that dark bank of clouds I’d first spotted
hours earlier in Rader’s backyard loomed closer. Their color reminded
me of a deep, painful bruise.
I was trying to put Dennis Rader far behind me, but couldn’t. I
was too tangled up inside my head, sifting though the past few days.
It isn’t wrong for us to be interested in heartless predators like Rader,
I thought to myself. What is wrong and pathetic is the deep, powerful
craving we have to get inside their skin.
People often ask me why I want to write books about inhuman
monsters like Dennis Rader. My answer is always the same: I’ve always
believed that by taking the sensationalism out of the crimes, I can
destroy the myth. I describe the gory details of their crimes, but never
try and sensationalize their actions.
By recounting the story of the coward and loser that Rader—and
every other serial killer—really is, I hope to cut the “legend” down to size.
Most of all, I believe that by explaining how the mind of a serial
killer works, I can begin to help readers understand how to avoid ending
up as a victim of violent crime.
Another hour had passed. I’d been so lost inside my head that I
hadn’t noticed the sky. It had turned the darkest shade of black I’d ever
seen. I pulled over to the side of the highway, realizing that everything
around me was illuminated by a greenish glow.
My heart began pounding. I killed the engine and climbed out of
the car. Such stillness. The air felt dead. Nothing moved. I stared at the
iridescent black sky above, trying to remember the last time I’d seen