Virtually twenty years after Dennis Rader was incarcerated, his daughter, Kerri Rawson, mustered the braveness to fulfill him face-to-face.
In 2023, this mom of two was approached by investigators to assist decide if the person, who had as soon as instilled worry in Wichita, Kansas, and mocked regulation enforcement throughout a 17-year killing spree, could be linked to different unsolved instances. Confronting the daddy who dubbed himself BTK — standing for “bind, torture, kill” — represented the ultimate severance of an already fractured relationship as a result of his heinous acts.
At 46, Rawson, who has publicly mentioned her father’s crimes through the years, is featured in a brand new Netflix documentary titled “My Father, the BTK Killer.” This movie delves into her wrestle to reconcile the affectionate father she as soon as adored with the brutal killer unmasked by the authorities.
Kerri Rawson shares her story within the documentary, “My Father, the BTK Killer.” (Picture courtesy of Netflix)
“Confronting her father was extremely difficult for Kerri,” director Skye Borgman shared with Fox Information Digital. “She describes leaving the jail visibly shaken after addressing points she had suppressed for years. Her personal reactions throughout the dialog had been additionally stunning to her.
“She recounts moments the place she witnessed him oscillate between two personas — her dad and BTK. At occasions, he appeared like the daddy she knew, however when she posed questions he disliked, he morphed into BTK.”
Convicted serial killer Dennis Rader is escorted by deputies into the correctional facility in El Dorado, Kansas, on Aug. 19, 2005. He confessed to 10 homicides and was given a life sentence for every case. (Jeff Tuttle/Wichita Eagle/Pool)
“Having the information that she is aware of now about his crimes, she was in a position to see that extra,” Borgman shared. “It was extremely onerous for her. However on the similar time, I believe it gave her an ending to a chapter. She’s OK with not seeing him once more. She’s OK with not speaking to him once more. Whereas earlier than, there was a query mark there — do I wish to see him? And now, the query is answered.”
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Rawson and two different investigators had been hoping to see if Rader, now 80, may provide details about chilly instances for the Osage County Sheriff’s Workplace.
“If my father has dedicated extra murders, then we actually must resolve the reality, and we have to get to it earlier than my father passes away,” Rawson mentioned throughout filming.
Kerri Rawson wrote a memoir, “A Serial Killer’s Daughter,” in 2019. (Courtesy of Netflix)
Within the documentary, Rawson questioned whether or not she could have been sexually abused by Rader as a baby. She had learn one in all his notebooks from the Nineteen Eighties, the place he wrote a couple of bondage recreation in a tub. It included her identify.
Dennis Rader — referred to as the BTK Killer — was arrested on Feb. 25, 2005, in Park Metropolis, Kansas. (Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Workplace by way of Getty Photographs)
Investigators warned her to not ask Rader about her suspicions, fearing he would shut down and refuse to reply questions.
“He’s frail, he’s in a wheelchair, and he was actually crying, so comfortable to see me — like, over the moon to see his child,” Rawson recalled within the movie.
Wichita Police Det. Sam Houston reveals a masks, which was utilized in one of many crimes, throughout Dennis Rader’s sentencing listening to on Aug. 18, 2005, in Wichita, Kansas. (Bo Rader-Pool/Getty Photographs)
When Rawson requested him in regards to the chilly instances throughout their three-hour dialog, he advised her, “What are you speaking about? Can’t we simply reminisce? Can’t we simply have a father-daughter — can’t we simply have recollections?”
In line with the documentary, Kerri Rawson went to go to her father in jail for the primary time in practically 20 years. (Courtesy of Netflix)
Then, he “turned on a dime,” mentioned Rawson. When she requested him about his journal entry, Rawson mentioned he advised her, “That was only a fantasy. I by no means touched the household. You’re simply making stuff up about me to be well-known.”
Rawson described unleashing “a blast of 45 years of anger” at Rader as she went “fully off script.”
Kerri Rawson mentioned within the documentary that she and her household had been blindsided when Dennis Rader was lastly arrested. (Courtesy of Netflix)
“He was actually gaslighting me, manipulating me, mendacity to me, 5 toes from me,” she mentioned. “It was like I wasn’t speaking to my dad. It was like I used to be speaking to a subhuman. What everyone talks about — him being a psychopath and a narcissist and never desirous to be round him — I had nonetheless been capable of finding humanity in him. After which, I wasn’t in a position to.”
Not one of the family members of Dennis Rader’s victims, seen right here in courtroom on Could 3, 2005, in Wichita, Kansas, participated within the movie. (Larry W. Smith/Getty Photographs)
Borgman advised Fox Information Digital that the expertise left Rawson so shaken that she by no means needs to see or converse to Rader once more.
“I believe Kerri thinks about her dad as two completely different males,” Borgman defined.
Dennis Rader is proven on this pool video feed as he pleads responsible on June 27, 2005, to 10 murders over 30 years within the Wichita, Kansas, space. (KRT Photograph Pool)
“She talked about him being two completely different males. In her personal phrases, she mentioned she had a superb childhood. They explored, they went locations, they camped collectively, that they had nice household holidays. So these recollections of her father, I believe, she was in a position to hold onto them as a result of she was in a position to separate that man from BTK. However so far as I do know, they’re not talking. She obtained to the purpose the place she knew she wanted to separate herself from him to proceed on her therapeutic journey.”
Kerri Rawson is working with investigators to see if Dennis Rader may very well be linked to different chilly instances. (Courtesy of Netflix)
“They’re not talking anymore,” Borgman shared. “I believe plenty of that communication was her making an attempt to get data out of him. She realized that most likely was not going to occur.”
Rader performed a cat and mouse recreation with investigators and reporters for many years earlier than he was arrested in 2005, The Related Press reported. The previous church chief and animal management officer confessed to murdering 10 individuals between 1974 and 1991 in and round Wichita. He’s now serving one life time period for every of the ten individuals he was convicted of killing.
Kerri Rawson is seen right here together with her longtime pal, Andrea Rogers. Right this moment, Rawson serves as an advocate and mentor for individuals whose family members are violent offenders. (Courtesy of Netflix)
Family members of the victims declined to take part within the documentary. Borgman mentioned she made positive her movie featured their voices prominently.
This March 2005 picture reveals Dennis Rader’s dwelling in Park Metropolis, Kansas. (Carl De Souza/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
“We discovered the explanations for them not desirous to take part are very completely different,” mentioned Borgman. “They’ve been reached out so many occasions, particularly over the past 20 years. However the movie reveals the ripple results of a criminal offense like this. I hope the victims’ households really feel represented. It was at all times our intention to make them equal individuals on this story.”
Borgman mentioned that when wanting again, Rawson puzzled if her father’s sudden bursts of anger had been glimpses into his double life. Rawson is conscious she could by no means know the reality. All through the movie, Rawson careworn that she and her household had no thought about her father’s crimes and had been blindsided when it got here to gentle.
Charlie Otero (second left) and different members of the Otero household hearken to testimony that described the 1974 murders of 4 of their family members on the primary day of the sentencing of Dennis Rader, the admitted BTK serial killer, on the Sedgwick County Courthouse, circa 2005. (Bo RaderAFP by way of Getty Photographs)
“When she was somewhat woman, Dennis would have these outbursts,” mentioned Borgman. “She simply thought, ‘Nicely, that’s my dad. He can get indignant every now and then. He had a nasty day at work, or the dishes weren’t cleaned when he got here dwelling.’ I believe in wanting again, she has extra perspective in regards to the surrounding circumstances that will have gotten him to be that manner.”
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Kerri Rawson remains to be grappling with the truth that her father, Dennis Rader — as soon as a doting mum or dad — is a convicted serial killer. (Courtesy of Netflix)
“It might be much like how Kerri views her father as two completely different males,” mentioned Borgman. “I believe he was in a position to separate himself and give you these lies the place he had been in a position to sneak away. I believe it offered one thing in him that he was in a position to conceal when he got here again dwelling. And look, I’m not a psychologist. I can’t diagnose him, however I do suppose he obtained one thing out of this — that it offered one thing that he wished and wanted. And as soon as he was in a position to get that, he was in a position to return to his position as a household man, a father determine.”
Right this moment, Rawson is an advocate and mentor for individuals who have found that their relative is a violent offender. Borgman mentioned the expertise has been “a double-edged sword” for Rawson, who needs to be acknowledged for extra than simply being Rader’s daughter.
Kerri Rawson, seen right here throughout filming, nonetheless has unanswered questions on her childhood. (Courtesy of Netflix)
“The investigation with Osage County hasn’t actually produced any proof,” mentioned Borgman. “[But] it’s required Kerri to dive into her father’s crimes. I believe what’s more healthy for her is when she’s working with different households and bringing perspective on what it’s prefer to be the daughter of a serial killer. She will converse to what a household could also be going by means of and the way onerous that’s, how the backlash and violence thrown on the household is an actual factor.”
Kerri Rawson, a married mom of two, lives in Michigan. (Courtesy of Netflix)
Within the movie, Rawson shared that since talking out, she’s estranged from her mom and brother. Nonetheless, she stays hopeful about her future.
“I believe that’s one thing she feels extremely devoted to doing — serving to different households in related circumstances,” mentioned Borgman. “If she will ease anyone else’s ache, she’s going to do this, even when it causes her ache. And I believe it’s largely as a result of she needs to do one thing good simply to remove somewhat little bit of the unhealthy her father did.”
“My Father, the BTK Killer” is now obtainable for streaming.
