Dennis Rader wrote a four-page letter and labeled it as "From the Desk of: Dennis L. Rader." The handwritten letter contained his first public comments on the crimes he committed and the aftermath that followed when he was sent to prison nine years ago.
Dennis Rader was a former church leader and Park City code compliance officer. In his letter, he explained why he didn't talk much about his crimes and why he decided to cooperate with an author who is writing a book that talks about his story.
"I can never replace their love ones, my deeds too 'dark' to understand, the book or movies, etc. is the only way to help them," wrote Dennis Rader whose BTK moniker stood for 'bind, torture, kill.' "I mean to burn no bridges and hope someday to open up. People like me, need to be understood, so the criminal professional field, can better understand, the criminal mind. That would be my way helping debt to society."
The author of the book who was corresponding with Rader is identified as Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology and program director of the masters program in criminal justice at DeSales University in Pennsylvania.
Ramsland has written 54 nonfiction books which are mostly academic. The book that she's currently working on about Rader is said to be academic and nonsensational. She hopes that it can help criminologists and investigators to understand killers such as Rader.
Following the arrest of Rader, several of the victims' relatives sued him and secured a settlement which said that Rader can never profit from his crimes or from any coverage of them.
"We can't control the facts of the case, so much of all that went into the public domain," said James Thompson, a Wichita lawyer and one of the attorneys that represent most of Rader's victim families. "But we can stop him from doing some things. Making any kind of a profit, for example."
Thompson adds that the settlement does not prevent Rader from cooperating with someone working on a book project that would involve the victims' families.
Rader also wrote that his wife, Paula Rader, did not know that he was the BTK serial killer. He said that that he has kept that secret in him for 31 years until he got arrested.
His daughter, Kerri Rader Rawson, said in an interview that she thought the author Stephen King was "exploiting" her family when he wrote a novel that talks about a wife who finds out that her husband is a serial killer. The novel is now made into a movie and is released on Friday.
