BTK: Speechless is the word

After over 30 years of living in terror and a frustrating and dangerous investigation, authorities in Wichita, Kansas, are confident they have the "BTK" serial killer. They've formally charged Dennis Rader with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

But he's the most unlikely candidate. He's a Boy Scout leader, an officer in the Lutheran Church, involved in town enforcement, and the married father of two.

PARK CITY, Kan. — Dennis Rader was a confusing and often frustrating man for many of his neighbors.

Most said the man now accused of being the BTK serial killer was a bureaucratic bully, an ordinance enforcement officer for this suburb 7 miles north of Wichita who, they said, often went out of his way to find reasons to give people citations.

One neighbor said his wife's grandmother once found Rader measuring grass in her front yard with a tape measure to see if it was too long. Another said he and his wife sometimes caught Rader filming their house, ostensibly documenting a possible violation.

And yet, there were hints at a pleasant side. He helped elderly neighbors with yard work, was active in his church and acted as a Cub Scout leader.

He was definitely two-sided," said Jim Reno, who has lived across the street from Rader and his wife for 16 years and has had several confrontations with him over what he considered Rader's "harassment."

Rader moved into the neighborhood almost 30 years ago. He graduated from Wichita State University with a degree in administration of justice in 1979. But he never became an officer, instead going into code enforcement, or what one critic called "a glorified dog catcher."

He lived with his wife, whose parents lived around the corner. No one answered the door at the residence Saturday afternoon. Public records indicate he has two adult children.

Many residents praised his wife and her family, saying the problem was Rader.

Bill Lindsay, 38, lived behind Rader and said something about the man unnerved him. Lindsay said his wife, Tina, caught Rader in their adjoining backyards filming the back of their house.

"He really acted really funny," said Lindsay, a truck driver. "I'd be on the road and my wife would tell me, 'Dennis has been out again, taking his pictures."'

And yet, Lindsay, as well as other neighbors interviewed, said they never thought that Rader was possibly something much darker.

This is the man authorities say slaughtered nearly an entire family on his (presumably) first round of murder, and who subsequently strangled several female victims. Other unsolved investigations have been reopened as a result of his capture. Officers are doing their best to keep details out of the media to ensure a fair trial, yet sources have managed to report that Rader has confessed to 6 of the killings.

So many questions go unanswered. Other than the obvious, "How could someone do such a thing?" to "How could he remain anonyous under the noses of investigators and family?"; there is the still more puzzling question: why did he wait 18 years between correspondence to police? Were I an investigator, I would start the questioning with his wife.

Rader’s younger brother, Jeff Rader, told The Wichita Eagle in Tuesday’s editions that no one in the family believes his brother is the BTK serial killer.

“I don’t think my brother is BTK,” he said. “But if he is — if that’s the truth — then let the truth be the truth. And may God have mercy on his soul.”