Confession of a Serial Killer

The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer

by Katherine Ramsland

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Pub Date Aug 30 2016 | Archive Date Sep 22 2016

University of New England Press/ForeEdge | ForeEdge

Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult)

Description

In 1974, Dennis Lynn Rader stalked and murdered a family of four in Wichita, Kansas. Since adolescence, he had read about serial killers and imagined becoming one. Soon after killing the family, he murdered a young woman and then another, until he had ten victims. He named himself “B.T.K.” (bind, torture, kill) and wrote notes that terrorized the city. He remained on the loose for thirty years. No one who knew him guessed his dark secret. He nearly got away with his crimes, but in 2004, he began to play risky games with the police. He made a mistake. When he was arrested, Rader’s family, friends, and coworkers were shocked to discover that B.T.K. had been among them, going to work, raising his children, and acting normal. This case stands out both for the brutal treatment of victims and for the ordinary public face that Rader, a church council president, had shown to the outside world. Through jailhouse visits, telephone calls, and written correspondence, Katherine Ramsland worked with Rader himself to analyze the layers of his psyche. Using his drawings, letters, interviews, and Rader’s unique codes, she presents in meticulous detail the childhood roots and development of one man’s motivation to stalk, torture, and kill. She reveals aspects of the dark motivations of this most famous of living serial killers that have never before been revealed. In this book Katherine Ramsland presents an intelligent, original, and rare glimpse into the making of a serial killer and the potential darkness that lives next door.

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Author Bio:

Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University, including graduate and undergraduate courses on criminal psychology and extreme offenders. She has published over 1,000 articles, stories, and reviews, and 59 books, including The Mind of a Murderer, The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds, The Forensic Science of CSI, Inside the Minds of Serial Killers, The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation, The Ivy League Killer, Inside the Minds of Serial Killers, and The Murder Game. Her book, Psychopath, was a #1 bestseller on the Wall Street Journal’s list. With former FBI profiler Gregg McCrary, she co-authored a book on his cases, The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators among Us, with Dr. Henry C. Lee, The Real Life of a Forensic Scientist, and with Professor James E. Starrs, A Voice for the Dead. She presents workshops to law enforcement, psychologists, coroners, judges, and attorneys, and has consulted for several television series, including CSI and Bones. She also writes a regular blog for Psychology Today called “Shadow-boxing” and consults for numerous crime documentary production companies. In addition, to Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer this year, she will also publish The Ripper Letter, a supernatural murder mystery based on Jack the Ripper lore. Her extensive writing on serial murder and her collaborations with several FBI profilers has given Ramsland much insight into the minds and motives of these extreme offenders. In addition, for The Mind of a Murderer, she looked at a dozen cases from the past hundred years in which specific mental health professionals focused exclusively on an extreme offender. Their approaches provided good models for what to do and what not to do when interviewing these dangerous people.

Author Bio:

Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University, including graduate and undergraduate courses on criminal psychology and extreme offenders...