Posted on 08/17/2005 6:15:26 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
WICHITA, Kan. -- It's been 31 years since Kevin Bright surprised the BTK serial killer when he accompanied his sister home in 1974.
Dennis Rader bound the siblings, but Kevin loosened his bonds and ran for help, despite being shot in the head. His sister, Kathryn, was strangled and stabbed and died later at a hospital.
At their Goodrich, Texas, home, Sharon Bright has watched her husband struggle to decide what, if anything, to say when he finally gets his chance. Rader's sentencing hearing, which begins Wednesday, will allow the families of his victims to confront him in court for the first time.
"If he showed any kind of remorse, you could feel sorry for him, but he shows none," Sharon Bright said. "He even thinks he is a Christian."
Unlike June's courtroom confession in which Dennis Rader pleaded guilty and then coldly delivered a lecture-style recitation of his killings, the sentencing is expected to be wrenching as investigators disclose explicit details of the sexually motivated crimes and the relatives describe their loss and pain.
Rader told KAKE-TV -- the Wichita station with which he had often communicated as "BTK" since the 1970s -* that he was working on an emotional statement for his sentencing.
BTK was the killer's own moniker for "Bind, Torture, Kill." In a haunting prophetic message sent to KAKE in the 1970s, BTK wrote: "There is no help, no cure, except death or being caught and put away."
Rader, 60, will almost certainly die behind bars for the murders committed in the Wichita area from 1974 to 1991.
Judge Gregory Waller must rule on whether he will serve his 10 sentences consecutively or concurrently.
Prosecutors want Rader to get the longest possible sentence - a minimum of 175 years without a chance of parole. To support that, they plan to present 10 or fewer witnesses, along with photos of the crimes and other evidence, said Georgia Cole, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.
The state had no death penalty when the crimes were committed.
Defense attorneys did not return calls seeking comment.
In his confession, Rader said sexual fantasies drove him to commit the killings, which he referred to as his "projects." Days after the confession, Rader called KAKE from prison and told them he had picked out an 11th victim before he was caught.
Rader, a former president of his church, blamed the killings on a "demon" that got inside him at a young age.
With the criminal case winding up, Rader now faces a series of lawsuits from the families of his victims seeking to keep him from profiting from his crimes. Rader's ex-wife, Paula, has filed a petition to intervene in those cases, primarily to protect proceeds from the recent sale of their home.
Also Court TV will cover the punishment phase. I always love it when these networks decide what I can see and what I cannot see. They at Court TV seem to have that amazing attribute. It just ticks me off.
Evidently, this is not a hearing you want your kids near by, it is going to very gruesome but at least the victims families have been told in advance. The last court appearance he revealed much more than anyone anticipated.
Finally this animal deserves to be on death row. He deserves to be put in the bowels of the prison never to have visitor's, TV or radio.
ping thanks FMC.
This animal deserves the electric chair. Unfortunately we will pay to house this piece of poop for the rest of his ugly life.
We need to bring back public stonings. Charge a buck a rock.
I hope he goes to the same place as the Carr brothers. Maybe they will take care of offing this guy!
Yes, put him and the Carr vermin in a ring and let them kill one another.
Even though they might never get executed, as long as they are in solitary confinement that sounds like a pretty brutal punishment. Maybe worse than death. Rader is a lot older but those other maggots have many more decades to look forward to behind bars.
I think I'd be afraid to go to Wichita, sorry to say. Seems like there is so much violent crime there, and in other parts of KS too.
I wish that Joe Arpio (sp?) could run all the jails in the nation. Solitary confinement? No problem.
The hot squat is too good for him.
...just a coincidence, maybe.
Call me out of touch with reality. Call me down right dumbfounded. This guy terrorized this area for years, decades and none of the local channels here in Leavenworth are carrying this hearing.
Even the cable news folks are choosing to avoid it. Oh, but I bet tonight it will be wall to wall Holloway, with a dash of this event.
Just sickened by our news source.
Violently sickened by this animal who sits there, with no emotion, cunning, soaking up all the attention and now the victim's families must endure this sick SICK.
BTK PING
The mind boggles watching this man sit there so calmly.....
...The mind boggles knowing he married and had two children while carrying out his sick acts.
I shudder to think what his own children, wife, mother, brother are feeling at this time.
Revulsion is too light a word.
From what I've read, his brother was/is high ranking in military....
..and his mother is still alive, though very elderly, and his children were college age.
What? And interrupt Regis and Kelly, Montel, or Tony Danza? Where are your priorities?
I vote for hanging.
Guennie..IIRC..I read somwheres that his wife had just divorced him..the house has been sold...she's moved..it was jointly-owned..not worth a lot, and she was allowed to keep it..that the victim's families would not file suit against his half interest in the home..nice gesture...
I believe that the Carrs are at the El Dorado Correctional Facility with the other inmates awaiting execution. Rader will probably go to Lansing which is the maximum security prison. Now when the Carrs do get the needle then they can wave at Rader on their way to the death chamber since executions are supposed to be held at Lansing.
..and I believe she didn't know, but how could one not know something????
Are some people really Jeckle/Hyde personalities.
Oh goodness you are right, and you know way to much of my viewing options. :)
Here is my thought, they will let the first 2 days of coverage go but when it is time for him they will cover it.
At least by goodness they should. But that Regis character, he's a cute little dog, excellent hair products, I mean that is the name of the company.
Thanks for the comment.
If anyone needs therpy, it's that poor lady..imagine sharing your bed with that..thing..for nearly 30 years..and his kids...
Public hanging and on TV
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