I thought my dad was a ‘good guy Boy Scout leader’ but he was a secret monster who killed women & kids with plastic bags

IT was a typical day for Kerri Rawson until she got a knock on the door from an FBI officer and her life would change forever.

Confused, she opened the door and let him in when he asked ‘do you know who the BTK is?’

Kerri Rawson had a normal childhood, until she found out her dad was a serial killer[/caption]

Kerri pictured fishing with her dad, also known as the BTK[/caption]

Dennis Rader admitted to killing at least 10 people, including women and children[/caption]

Kerri had heard of the monstrous serial killer terrorising the Kansas area for 30 years, where she grew up, but had no idea who it was until the officer told her that her own dad had been arrested for the murders.

“I grabbed at the wall jutting out near the stove. I was shaking all over,” she wrote in her book A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming.

“The room turned red. Dark splotches came into view. I was falling into a black hole, with no idea of how I was ever going to get out.”

For years, her dad, Dennis Rader, went under the radar as he murdered women and children, giving himself the nickname BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill).

Her dad’s rampage began in January 1974 with the murders of four members of the Otero family.

The victims, Joseph, 38; Julie, 33; Joseph Jr, 9; and Josephine, 11, were discovered by the family’s three other children – Charlie, Danny, and Carmen Otero, teenagers at the time.

A month after the crime, he wrote to the newspaper Wichita Eagle, describing details of the crime only the killer would know.

In the letter, Rader grappled with his urges, calling his murderous alter ego “the monster.”

At the end of the letter, Rader cemented his image in the public eye, the “BTK Killer,” which stands for “bind, torture, kill.”

“P.S. Since sex criminals do not change their M.O. or by nature cannot do so, I will not change mine. The code word for me will be… Bind them, torture them, kill them, B.T.K., you see he’s at it again,” he said.

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

He went on to kill six more, his last being in 1991 before taking a decade long hiatus.

The sadistic killer would bind his victims before suffocating them with a plastic bag.

During this time Dennis seemed to have a normal life, he had a wife, government job, was a director at the Christ Lutheran Church, a Cub Scout leader and had two children.

He was widely recognised in his community as a “normal,” “polite,” and “well mannered” individual.

Kerri was in her mid-twenties when police came knocking on her door in 2005 and at first, she didn’t believe the man she called dad could be capable of such horrific crimes.

“I was like, my father’s a good guy. He’s a Boy Scout leader, president of the church,” she told ABC’s 20/20 True Crime Vault podcast.

“You’ve got the wrong man, because you don’t believe it’s true, and you don’t want it to be true. You know, the father, you know, is not capable of any of [that].”

Those who knew Dennis said he was a ‘normal’ and ‘polite’ guy[/caption]

REIGN OF TERROR ENDS

Despite running wild for three decades, Dennis finally got himself caught when a newspaper printed an article suggesting people had forgotten about the BTK, which is said to have irritated him.

13 years after his last murder, Dennis began to communicate with police again.

He asked Lieutenant Ken Landwehr if it was possible to send a floppy disc to police without them being able to trace where the disc came from.

Landwehr lied, and assured the killer that it would be untraceable.

Police were able to decipher hidden metadata on a computer disk addressed to him by the BTK killer.

The disk is to have been used by a “Dennis” at Christ Lutheran Church and Park City Library.

Officials matched DNA from the BTK killer to Rader’s daughter, Kerri, who was in the hospital for a pap smear.

On February 25, 2005, Rader was pulled over by several police vehicles trailing him and was taken into custody.

He confessed to the murders after being confronted with the DNA evidence.

Dennis skipped a jury trial after admitting to the murders[/caption]

THE AFTERMATH

Kerri revealed that learning the truth about her father made her feel that “every moment of [her] whole life was a lie, even back to before [she was] born.”

When asked if she was worried her mother had been involved in the crimes, Kerri said: “No, I never imagined that my mom was involved in anything bad.

The key to surviving life with dad? Watch the pot closely, turn down the heat, and know when to get out of its way before it blows.

Kerri Rawson

“I was very worried about her, and wanted to call her and let her know I was okay, and I wanted to know how my brother was doing. 

“He was stationed in Connecticut with the Navy and so I wasn’t able to talk to my mom or my brother for six or seven hours after the arrest.”

Kerri’s mum was granted an emergency divorce after her husband’s crimes came to light.

It took Kerri and her family more than ten years to come to terms with what happened.

“It took more than 10 years before I could even sit across from someone and even talk about this,” she told PEOPLE magazine.

“Nobody wants to believe their father could be capable of such monstrous things.

“If my mother, brother or I ever had any inkling, we would’ve gone screaming to the police.”

Kerri says that during her childhood, Dennis was your average dad, but did on occasion let his mask slip and show a violent temper.

“The key to surviving life with dad? Watch the pot closely, turn down the heat, and know when to get out of its way before it blows,” she said.

LIFE NOW

Despite the trauma, Kerri, now 47, has gone on to use her relationship with her dad, now 80, to help solve cold cases.

In January 2023, Kerri became aware of new cold cases linked to her father through the investigation into the disappearance of Cynthia ‘Cyndi’ Dawn Kinney, a 16-year-old cheerleader who was last seen in 1976.   

Now Kerri uses her expereince to help solve cold cases[/caption]

That same year, she also found the unsolved case of Shawna Garber, whose remains were found near Pineville, MO, in December 1990, which motivated her to volunteer to help investigators.

The cases were reopened and Kerri was enlisted to help get her dad to talk after he initially denied the murders.

She flew out to see her dad twice in 2023, and was stunned by just how fragile he now was.

I know in the bottom of my heart, my father loved and cared for us and protected us, but he also, I know, in the bottom of my heart, committed murder.

Kerri Rawson

“His eyesight is really bad and he couldn’t tell who I was right away, but he was shocked,” she said. “He’s in a wheelchair, but he could still give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was like a reunion.”

Unfortunately, her dad refused to give her answers, and brushed her off.

“He’s still sharp as a tack,” she said, despite his ill health. “He was coming up with alibis, I mean he could tell I was there for answers. It was surreal.”

Kerri has also gone on to meet families who have experienced similar life-changing situations like her.

She met with Long Island’s serial killer, Rex Heuermann‘s now ex-wife and daughter in a Peacock documentary titled The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets.

Speaking on conflicting feelings that Kerri and Victoria Heuermann have on their dads, she said: “Her and my reality is we’re never gonna be able to separate ourselves from our fathers…”

“I know in the bottom of my heart, my father loved and cared for us and protected us, but he also, I know, in the bottom of my heart, committed murder,” Kerri added.

“You’re never ever gonna be able to wrap your head completely around it. I just can’t.”