Dennis Rader Quotes

Dennis Rader quoted Harvey Glatman as saying, 'It was all about the rope.' What exactly does that mean? The rope symbolized total control. The ultimate fantasy would be to keep these victims alive and dominated indefinitely, although both men knew that wasn't possible.

Even though their crimes were completely different, the one thing the maladjusted genius Ted Kaczynski and the sadistic but banal underachiever Dennis Rader shared was a monumental sense of ego. Neither one of them could bear to let his brilliance go unrecognized by the public, and that was their downfall in both cases.

I actually think I may be possessed with demons. I was dropped on my head as a kid.” Notorious Serial Killer Dennis Rader, aka BTK

For Dennis Rader, life was good—both of them.

«The last part, and most dangerous, is how we can blend into society with no apparent outstanding characteristics. That is what makes a serial killer so dangerous and hard to detect.»

In any discussion of serial killers, a few notorious names—those of the most prolific killers—always get mentioned. Ted Bundy admitted to killing thirty women, but it could well have been more. Gary Ridgeway, also known as the Green River Killer, was convicted of murdering forty-eight, but later confessed to others. John Wayne Gacy was convicted of killing thirty-three people. Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted of murdering and partially ingesting fifteen people. David Berkowitz, New York City’s “Son of Sam,” shot and killed six people. Less well known but significant are Dennis Rader, who killed ten people in Wichita, Kansas, and Aileen Wuornos, portrayed by Charlize Theron in the film Monster, who killed six men. Wayne Williams was convicted of killing only two men, but he is believed to have killed anywhere from twenty-three to twenty-nine children in Atlanta. Robert Hansen confessed to four murders but is suspected of more than seventeen. Juan Corona was convicted of murdering twenty-five people. Their crimes are all horrific, and the number of victims is heartbreaking. But all these most notorious serial killers stand in the shadow of Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Strangely, Gosnell appears in no list we have found of known U.S. serial killers, though he is the biggest of them all. In reality, Kermit Gosnell deserves the top spot on any list of serial murderers. He’s earned it.

The code word for me will be....Bind them, torture them, kill them, B.T.K.” – Dennis Rader

But he knew from reading true crime books about mistakes that other killers had made and he was not about to join that club. He finished in time to greet his wife as she came home from work. To her, he acted the same as usual. But he knew he had crossed a significant threshold—the "death path.

But he knew from reading true crime books about mistakes that other killers had made and he was not about to join that club. He finished in time to greet his wife as she came home from work. To her, he acted the same as usual. But he knew he had crossed a significant threshold(—the "death path.

Even though their crimes were completely different, the one thing the maladjusted genius Ted Kaczynski and the sadistic but banal underachiever Dennis Rader shared was a monumental sense of ego.

He was a desperately lonely and introverted man whose killing was not the end but rather a means to an end. For Dahmer, it was about obtaining attractive male bodies for sex and then having the company of their corpses. Dahmer was also noted for taking responsibility for his crimes, unusual among killers who often hold back information in an effort to frustrate and confuse investigators, or in an attempt to hold on to some power over authorities by playing games. There are also the publicity-seeking narcissistic serial killers who write letters to the press before they are caught, such as Dennis Rader (the BTK Killer), and David Berkowitz (the Son of Sam), or who leave manifestos behind if they plan to kill themselves, be killed, or get away. If anything, Dahmer did all he could to avoid drawing attention to himself, obviously in order to avoid detection, but also because he was ultimately not one who really craved fame and attention. Like Ted Bundy, most serial killers blame others, maintain their innocence, and try to minimize their culpability at every opportunity. Dahmer told an Inside Edition interviewer in January 1993, “The person to blame is the person sitting across from you. Not parents, not society, not pornography. Those are just excuses.