BTK Killer Dennis Rader was married for decades to Paula Dietz and the duo have two children together. Details about his spouse and kids explored.
American serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader known as BTK, murdered 10 people, including two children, over a 17-year period.
Evil Rader managed to so spectacularly identify himself to the police several years after going on a murderous rampage from 1971 to 1991.
It took 30 years to catch serial killer ‘Evil’ Lynn Rader and he was caught by a floppy disk and DNA test of his daughter.
On September 2023, terrifying images emerged as police have reopened an investigation into unsolved cases that they believe could be linked to the BTK serial killer.
But what is known about the murderer’s family, especially, his spouse and kids. Read on for more.
Who is Dennis Rader?
Dennis Rader is a serial killer from Kansas, US.
He was arrested in 2005 for crimes committed between 1974 and 1991, and is serving ten consecutive life sentences at a Kansas prison.
Rader, who is now 78, called himself “The BTK”, which stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill”.
Rader served in the US Air Force for four years between 1966–1970.
Upon discharge, he took up a job in the meat department of the same supermarket where his mother was a bookkeeper.
From 1974 to 1988, Rader worked at the Wichita-based office of ADT Security Services where he installed security alarms as a part of his job – all while carrying out the killings.
Over the course of the following decade, he also worked as a census field operations supervisor, a dogcatcher and compliance officer.
Rader was a regular churchgoer and a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita and had been elected president of the church council. He was also a Cub Scout leader.
On March 2, 2005, the Park City council terminated Rader’s employment for failure to report to work or call in – it then emerged that he had been arrested for multiple murders five days earlier.
Who are Dennis Rader’s parents and family members?
Dennis Rader was born on March 9, 1945, in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States.
Rader’s parents are Dorothea Mae Rader (mother) and William Elvin Rader (father).
His mom, born on September 17, 1925, worked as bookkeeper while his dad, born on November 21, 1922, worked as Kansas Gas Service attendent.
Sadly, both of his parents are dead. He first lost his dad on December 27, 1996 and his mom also passed on October 14, 2007.
He has three siblings named Bill Rader, Jeff Rader and Paul Rader. He is the eldest of the four sons of his parents.
How was Dennis Rader’s childhood like?
He attended Wichita Heights High School, and later went to Kansas Wesleyan University; he received only mediocre grades and dropped out after one year.
He attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, earning an associate degree in Electronics Engineering Technology in 1973. He then enrolled at Wichita State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Administration of Justice.
While he was growing up, both parents were working long hours and paid little attention to their children, which Rader later said caused him to feel resentment towards his mother.
From a young age, Rader harbored sadistic sexual fantasies about torturing “trapped and helpless” women. He also exhibited zoosadism by torturing, killing and hanging small animals.
Rader acted out sexual fetishes for voyeurism, autoerotic asphyxiation, and cross-dressing; he often spied on female neighbors while dressed in women’s clothing, including women’s underwear that he had stolen, and masturbated with ropes or other bindings around his arms and neck.
Who is Dennis Rader’s wife?
Serial killer BTK was married to a woman named Paula Dietz. Rader and Dietz tied the knot on May 22, 1971, in Kansas, United States.
At the time of their marriage, the murderer was 26 years old while his spouse was 23.
The then couple lived a normal life and stayed as husband and wife for over 3 decades.
Paula Dietz, born on May 5, 1948, in Park City, Kansas, United States, is a homemaker.
After over three decades of marriage, Paula discovered that her husband was a serial killer who had murdered over ten people.
Of the many years of being his spouse, Paula knew nothing about Rader’s behavior of photographing himself while wearing women’s underwear or indulge in autoerotic asphyxiation.
What happened to Dennis Rader’s wife? After Dennis was arrested on July 26, 2005, Paula, 75, immediately filed for an ’emergency divorce’. The judge granted her the divorce that very same day. She did not wait the mandatory sixty days due to her circumstances.
BTK’s wife did not go to any of her ex-husband’s hearings and has never written to him or even visited him in prison.
How many children does Dennis Rader have?
Dennis Rader is a father of two. He has two children – an adult daughter and a son.
The names of his kids are Kerri Rawson and Brian Rader.
Kerri Rawson was born in 1978 in Wichita, Kansas, USA.
Brian Rader was born on November 30, 1973 in Manhattan, Kansas, USA.
The murderer lived with his wife and two children before going on to earn two degrees.
Who is Brian Rader? He is the son of serial killer Dennis Rader. By profession, Brian is an actor best known for Glacier Falls (1999), Speed Deal (2003) and Ocha Cups for Christmas (2002).
During his father’s 2005 arrest, Brian was reportedly stationed at a sub base in Connecticut. From 2004 to 2009, Brian served on Navy submarines. He was enrolled in college in 2016 then ventured into acting.
He has been interviewed multiple times by journalists and trustworthy crime writers
Who is Kerri Rawson? She is the daughter of Dennise Rader. By profession, Rawson is a New York Times bestselling author and a passionate advocate for victims of abuse, crime, and trauma.
In 2003, she got married to her husband Darian Rawson. She has also appeared in the movies BTK: A Killer Among Us
In an interview with ABC News in 2019, Rader’s daughter Kerri said she still writes to her father and has now forgiven him, but still struggles to reconcile him with the BTK killer, stating her childhood seemed normal and they were a “normal American family.”
Dennis Rader’s daughter Kerri Rawson speaks on his newly discovered drawings of his victims
Horrifying ‘art’ has been newly unearthed by authorities that show drawings of ‘bound and gagged females’ pertaining to be BTK’s victims.
These sketches are leading investigators to look into possible connections to other murders in the area.
The Osage County Sheriff’s Office shared a set of the recovered drawings that depict three separate victims of horrific torture.
Sheriff Eddie Virden described the images to CNN, pointing out some of the details that may be pertinent to the investigation.
Rader’s daughter, Kerri Rawson, has been speaking with investigators in hopes of helping solve more crimes that may be linked to her father.
She told DailyMail.com that the newly released images were privately held by law enforcement up until this weekend.
“Osage County Sheriff’s Department were trying to find out were these actually women that were victims and murdered or what my dad fantasized about,’ she explained.
“We have no idea right now on a timeline or missing person information on them that is why we released them on a missing person’s poster yesterday with a partner,” she said.
Rawson believes that her father’s drawing could have been a “secret hobby,” and he may have sketched the girls between binding and torturing them.
How did Dennis Rader get caught?
The BTK Killer was on the loose from 1974 until 2004, which obviously left Wichita in a constant state of fear and panic.
He continuously taunted police about the killings, which later led to his downfall.
Serial killer Evil Dennis Lynn Rader was caught by a floppy disk he left behind.
Initially, the police received a postcard one month later that led them to another note that read, “Can I communicate with Floppy [disk] and not be traced to a computer. Be honest.” Rader ended up sending the floppy disk, and officials were able to use metadata from the documents to reveal him as the BTK Killer.
Law enforcement handed the disk to computer forensic specialists and traced it back to Rader’s church computer. This along with familial DNA evidence from disk convicted Rader.
Investigators obtained a warrant to recover genetic material from Kansas State University Hospital for Rader’s daughter, where she had been a student. The recovered material was a five-year-old pap smear that investigators submitted for DNA analysis.
Detectives claimed that Rader showed much pride in his crimes and even shared many details about the tortures he planned to inflict on the 11th victim.
Rader was arrested in February 2005. He pleaded guilty in June 2005 to 10 murders from 1974 to 1991 in Wichita and Park City.
Where is the BTK killer now?
He was charged with 10 counts of first degree murder and sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences with a minimum of 175 years in prison.
Rader is serving his life sentences in the El Dorado Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Kansas.
He is in solitary confinement, allowed one hour of exercise per day, and has some limited access to television, radio and magazines.
