Posted on 06/27/2005 8:56:58 AM PDT by GPBurdell
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago
BTK suspect Dennis Rader pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of first-degree murder, admitting in a chillingly matter-of-fact voice to a series of slayings that terrorized the city beginning in the 1970s.
Rader, 60, of Park City, entered the guilty pleas as his trial was scheduled to begin Monday.
Referring to his victims as "projects," Rader laid out for the court how he would "troll" for victims on his off-time, then stalk them and kill them.
"I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn't know how much pressure you had to put on a person or how long it would take," he told the court in describing his first killings in 1974, a couple and two of their children.
Most of the victims' relatives who were in the courtroom sat silent and stared at Rader, although one woman wiped away tears.
Prosecutors had said before the hearing that no plea deal had been made. Rader was arrested Feb. 25.
The onetime president of the church council at Christ Lutheran Church and Boy Scout leader, Rader admitted killing 10 people in the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991. The serial killer known as BTK — the self-coined nickname that stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" — taunted media and police with cryptic messages.
Sentencing was set for Aug. 17. Rader will not face the death penalty because the crimes were committed before the state adopted a new capital punishment law. But it's likely he'll never leave prison because each count carries a possible life sentence.
Rader, wearing a beige coat and dark tie, told District Judge Gregory Waller that he understood the charges against him and that he was waiving his right to a jury trial.
"The defense worked with me real well," Rader said. "We went over it. I feel like I'm pretty happy with them."
Asked by Waller if he was pleading because he was guilty, Rader answered, "Yes, sir."
The earliest crimes linked to the BTK strangler date to Jan. 15, 1974, when Joseph Otero, 38, and his 34-year-old wife, Julie, and their children Josephine, 11, and Joseph II, 9, were found dead in their home.
"The whole family just panicked on me. I worked pretty quick," he said. "I strangled Mrs. Otero. She passed out. I thought she was dead. I strangled Josephine. She passed out. I thought she was dead. Then I went over and put a bag on Junior's head."
He later said about Mrs. Otero: "I went back and strangled her again."
BTK's next three known victims were young women found strangled in their homes: Kathryn Bright, 21, in April 1974; Shirley Vian, 24, in March 1977; and Nancy Fox, 25, in December 1977.
After years of silence, the killer resurfaced last year with a letter to The Wichita Eagle that included photos of the 1986 strangulation of Vicki Wegerle and a photocopy of her missing driver's license. Her case had not been linked to BTK until then.
That letter was followed by several other cryptic messages and packages. The break in the case came after a computer diskette the killer had sent was traced to Rader's church.
Rader also is charged with the killings of Marine Hedge, 53, who was abducted from her Park City home on April 27, 1985, and found dead along a dirt road eight days later, and Dolores Davis, 62, who was abducted from her Park City home Jan. 19, 1991. Those deaths were not linked to BTK until Rader's arrest.
He described to the court how he chose his victims.
"If you've read much about serial killers, they go through what they call different phases. In the trolling stage, basically, you're looking for a victim at that time. You can be trolling for months or years, but once you lock in on a certain person, you become a stalker. That might be several of them but you really hone in on one person. They basically become the ... that's the victim. Or at least that's what you want it to be."
Rader had called the Wichita area home almost his entire life, earning a criminal justice degree at a local university. He worked in suburban Park City as a compliance officer, handling code violations and stray dogs. He had been married for 34 years and has two grown children.
The Rev. Michael Clark, pastor of the Christ Lutheran Church, said after the hearing, "That's what I hoped he would do."
Victim families left the courtroom, escored by officials into another building, and did not speak to reporters.
"I just don't see how he can be so dispassionate about what he's done"
That's what a psychopath is. They don't have the ability to empathise.
Yes apt description.
I think I do remember a movie.
This is a reminder to me that if anyone trys to physically hurt me, I will not try and play nice and plead and/or reason with them, I will immediately gouge their eyes out and use my stilettos to mush their brains or puncture their jugular vein.
i'm small and female but im a pitbull when it comes ot defending myself.
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