• September 05, 2005
• Vol. 64
• No. 10

Confronting BTK

By Alex Tresniowski

After Hearing Grisly Testimony Detailing Their Loved Ones' Murders, Victims' Relatives Finally Have Their Say at Dennis Rader's Sentencing

They came in search of some earthly justice, and for what meager solace that might bring. But first the horrors had to be relived—and the unspeakable spoken in open court.

On Aug. 17, at the sentencing of BTK killer Dennis Rader in the Sedgwick County Courthouse in Wichita, Kans., the relatives of his victims listened as detectives described the monster's methods: how Rader referred to the 10 people he killed between 1974 and 1991 as "projects," how he kept trophies like rings and lingerie, how he strengthened his hands with a squeeze ball so he could more easily strangle his victims and, perhaps most chilling of all, how he had planned an 11th murder before he was captured on Feb. 25.

Through it all—even through sickening accounts of how he kept some victims alive so he could continue to torment them—Rader sat impassively. "I was looking forward to staring him down," says Jeff Davis, whose mother, Dolores, was Rader's final known victim, in 1991, and who learned during the hearing that she had pleaded for her life, "but he wouldn't look at any of us."

Then came time for his victims, speaking through the loved ones they left behind. Twelve in all—sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and husbands—stepped forward to address the man who shattered their lives. "We all carry a common cross," says Davis, 54, a former police officer who sank into a depression so deep after his mother's murder that "I really didn't care if I lived or died. It started the downward spiral of my marriage." Davis spent weeks honing the words he wanted Rader to hear, finally memorizing his 10-minute speech. When he was through, Rader wiped away tears. "You can't undo the damage he did," says Davis, who is looking forward to getting married again this fall. "Closure would be if my mom comes back. But now it's resolved."

Rader, too, got his chance to speak and delivered a rambling statement in which he complained about several aspects of his case and said he will now "start my new chapter in life." He was then sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences, the harshest punishment available. "The animal is going to be caged forever," says Davis. "God doesn't make very many mistakes, but he made one in Dennis Rader."

Alex Tresniowski. Lauren Comander in Wichita and Memphis

• Contributors:
• Lauren Comander.

More From This Article

Btk's Mementos

A grisly array of evidence sealed Rader's fate

Before sentencing, prosecutors displayed such items from the BTK case as handcuffs, a mask found near one victim, and a T-shirt from the Otero crime scene.

Investigators also reviewed an unsigned letter (far left) sent to Jeff Davis in 1996. Davis believes Rader himself sent it as a way to relive the thrill of killing Davis's mother five years earlier.