Monster: BTK - The Trial [9]

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Dennis Rader prepares to stand trial for his many crimes. But he's staying quiet. How will he plead on the stand?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. He was a freaking crazy man. He was my father, and I had no idea about any of this until now. Crook County is available now. Listen for free on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This season on Very Scary People. Christine Belford reports her three young daughters missing. She has no idea where they are, but she knows who took them. Her ex-husband has teamed up with her former in-laws to do whatever it takes to have total control of the girls, including stalking, harassment, and even murder. Listen to Very Scary People wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremorchi. And I'm Holly Frey. Together, we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical

true crime. Each season, we explore a new theme from poisoners to art thieves. We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching. And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It was big news. I mean, white girl gets murdered, found in a cemetery.

Big, big news. I mean, white girl gets murdered, found in a cemetery, big, big news. A long investigation stalls until someone changes their story. I like saw what they were happening. An arrest, trial and conviction soon follow. He did not kill her. There's no way. Is the real killer rightly behind bars or still walking free? Did you kill her? Listen to The Real Killer, Season 3,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to Monster BTK, a production of iHeart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV. Listener discretion is advised. revised. One afternoon in 2005, we noticed everything went very quiet at the police department. No one would return our calls. No one would even talk to us. And I remember talking to our police reporter and she said, something's up. And I thought exactly the same thing. And in a few minutes, we heard traffic in Park City,

that they had stopped a car in Park City, Kansas. And every detective from the Wichita Police Department was out there. So obviously we went out there. And sure enough, it was Dennis Rader, aka BTK. And that's when the story exploded in Wichita. The networks flew their powerful anchors and reporters in. Everybody wanted to interview Dennis Rader, including me. And it was kind of a free-for-all, and it was just crazy.

And all of the stories that I like to cover on wonderful people doing wonderful things, that was all put by the wayside. And now it was BTK all the time every day. As he's incarcerated in the Sedgwick County Detention Center, I, like every other reporter, wrote to him and said, I want to interview you. Please let me interview you. Well, we all wanted an interview, but that wasn't going to happen. But I did write to him and I gave him my phone number and I said, if you can, call me.

This is my home phone. Give me a call. Now he's incarcerated. He's not going to come after me. This is my home phone. Give me a call. Now he's incarcerated. He's not going to come after me. And one Saturday morning he called me and the operator said, I have a collect call from the Sedgwick County Detention Center. Will you accept the charges? And you go, wow, yes I will. And on the other end he said, Larry, this is Dennis Rader.

Okay, here we go. I had my phone already set up to be able to record audio. And the problem was the phone in the jail is terrible. You talk about bad audio, this was bad audio, pops and buzzes and beeps and I have no clue how many people were listening on it. I said well I appreciate you calling me I have 30 years of questions and he said I have 20 minutes. I said okay. So I started asking him questions and one of the questions that I asked him and I will never forget this I said how could you kill two children?

And he said, oh, well, they were just collateral. Just collateral. I will never forget that. And he spoke about it as you would speak to the baker as you pick up a dozen donuts at the bakery without feeling, without excitement. They were just collateral and I found that stunning. And then a few months later the trial began in the Sedgwick County District Court.

Someone killed four members of a family. Hedge vanished from her home suddenly last weekend. Her phone lines had been cut, her door left open. You see the victims laying there with plastic bags over their heads strangled. You could tell there was a planned scenario. While police have said no more about the contents of the letter, it does contain some sort of threat and implies the killer may strike again. He's going to play with these victims.

He'd get them to the point of death and then bring them back. And then brings them back to the point of death. From My Heart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV, I'm Susan Peters, and this is Monster BTK. On February 28th, 2005, just three days after he was arrested, Dennis Rader was charged with 10 counts of first degree murder. During his initial interrogation,

Rader had revealed that he was responsible for two murders the police hadn't known he was connected to, those of Maureen Hedge and Dolores Davis. While awaiting trial, Rader was held in the Sedgwick County Detention Center. Meanwhile, prosecutors were starting to build their case. It was assigned to Nola Folston, the Sedgwick County District Attorney. And working with her was Kevin O'Connor, who at the time was the Deputy District Attorney. Their first goal was to keep Rader in jail.

So there was a process in deciding how to charge it. You charged the 10 murders. I remember Judge Waller asking what kind of bond we wanted. So there was a process in deciding how to charge it. You charge the 10 murders. I remember Judge Waller asking what kind of bond we wanted. And I think I said something to the effect of, I mean, Judge, I don't know, 10, a gazillion million? I don't know if there is a number that you could ask for on bond.

The next question was, what sentence would the prosecutors seek? There was a lot of discussion at the time, a lot of thoughts about whether or not he should get the death penalty. Kansas didn't have a death penalty during the years that he was committing these crimes. Kansas has one now, but didn't then. And so you had a lot of confusion about why the death penalty wasn't being sought. you had a lot of confusion about why the death penalty wasn't being sought. The death penalty had been banned in Kansas up until 1994 when it was officially reinstated.

But this was long after Raider's last murder, which took place in 1991. Therefore, prosecutors had no choice but to instead seek life without parole. We couldn't seek the death penalty. It wasn't an available punishment. At the time he was committing these murders, the sentence was life. But sentencing Kansas, the life sentence meant 15 years. So for each of Raider's 10 murders, he would receive 15 years in prison if found guilty. The last murder of Dolores Davis occurred in 91, where there was a hard 40 is what it was called. And that would mean that you got a life sentence, but you couldn't be paroled until you served 40 years.

And you had to have a sentencing hearing on that. Remember, Rader was 59 years old. So this hard 40 rule effectively meant that if he was successfully convicted, Rader would spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance at parole. It seemed like Dennis Rader had his work cut out for him, but apparently he didn't want any part of it. He didn't find a lawyer or speak much at all after his initial interrogation, even though many attorneys had tried to represent him. I remember getting a call from the jail saying that a local attorney was trying to get access to Dennis Rader. And I remember running from my office over to the jail because that attorney wasn't entitled to have contact with him.

He hadn't requested an attorney at that time. But the jail had let him have access and after that, he decided he didn't want to talk anymore. We don't know what happened that made Rader choose to stay quiet after that interaction, but he wouldn't talk again until months later. At one press conference, Nola Folston and Kevin O'Connor were asked if there would be any talks of a plea deal with Rader. I mean, in my opinion, you can't plea negotiate a Dennis Rader BTK case. In the conclusion to the state's summary of the evidence, the district attorney's office echoed this sentiment.

Dennis Rader did not suffer from any mental disease or defect. He was not the victim of any psychological, physical, or sexual abuse. Rader murdered with premeditation and deliberation. He killed methodically and systematically, uninhibited by any moral concerns or considerations. Dennis Rader killed because he wanted to kill. The evil depravity of his deeds are beyond human comprehension. The time has come to hold Rader accountable, to punish him for his atrocities. Rader deserves the harshest punishment allowed by law. Rader's first court appearance was March 1, 2005, just a few days after his arrest.

Steve Osborne and Sarah McKinnon were appointed as public defenders. They hired two people from Cambridge Forensic Consultants to perform a psychological assessment on Raider to determine his competency to stand trial. Competency evaluations are not comprehensive mental health examinations. They focus only on the present mental ability to participate in the various parts of the legal process. It was Dr. Robert Mendoza who performed the examination. Here is an excerpt from Confession of a Serial Killer describing Mendoza's findings as read by a voice actor.

Mendoza noted that there was no history of mental illness or drug abuse and no medical conditions. He examined the journals and drawings that Rader had made and the crime scene photos. He also watched the videotape of Rader's police interrogation and examined medical, school, and prison records. During the evaluation, Rader was depressed, even tearful. His level of attention had declined. He had lost weight and he was anxious. He said he had considered suffocating himself in his cell, but despite his circumstances, he wanted to live.

This report also identified narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Neither of these diagnoses rose to the level of a major mental illness for Rader, and so they did not affect his competency to stand trial. And thus, the prosecuting attorneys sought to finalize a trial date. They did not want Raider to get away with a plea deal. We wanted to have that hearing. A lot of people criticized the district attorney thinking

that she was a media hound. You know, she just wanted the media attention. I can tell you in being in those meetings with her that the goal was to make all the information a public record. As you all may know that police reports are not public information, but things that are presented in open court are. So the ideal was is we're going to put it all out in open court so any member of the public, any journalist, would have access to that information and be able to describe who Dennis Rader really was. Just an evil, sadistic murderer. That's all he was. They got their wish. Rader's first public hearing was scheduled for June 27th, 2005. It takes one guy out there to say,

who's that f***ing Kyle who thinks he can just get on a f***ing microphone on a podcast and start publicizing this s***? From iHeart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit. And that was my mission, to snuff the f-ck life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic

for the Chicago Fire Department. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Torn between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing. He was a freaking crazy man. We don't know who he is, really. He is my father. And I had no idea about any of this until now.

Welcome to Crook County. Series premiere February 11th. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you want to know what it's like to hang out with MS-13 El Salvador? How the Russian mafia fought battles all over Brooklyn in the 1990s. What about that time I got lost in the Burmese jungle hunting the world's biggest meth lab? Or why the Japanese Yakuza have all those crazy dragon tattoos?

I'm Sean Williams. And I'm Danny Golds. And we're the hosts of the Underworld Podcast. We're journalists that have traveled all over reporting on dangerous people and places. And every week we'll be bringing you a new story about organized crime from all over the world. We know this stuff because we've been there. We've seen it, and we've got the near misses and embarrassing tales to go with it. We'll mix in reporting with our own experiences in the field, and we'll throw in some bad jokes while we're at it.

The Underworld Podcast explores the criminal underworlds that affect all of our lives, whether we know it or not. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Kate Case. Each previous hearing built with mystery, this is no different. No one really knows what is going to happen except for Dennis Rader himself. June 27, 2005 was one of the wildest days of my life. I led the coverage from the Kate studios that morning, as my colleagues reported from outside the courthouse. The front steps were flooded with national media, cameras, tents, and microphones everywhere. It was about 8.30 a.m. when the families of the victims started to appear. We have some live pictures now from the courthouse. These are family members arriving at the courthouse, victims of family members.

It looks like Charles Bright is there. I see him. The big question this morning was whether Dennis Rader would change his plea. At a previous hearing, Rader refused to speak at all or enter into any formal plea. So by default, the judge entered him into a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

But things had changed since then, and there were rumors that Rader planned to flip his plea. There's really been a last minute decision that's being made that they kept all their cards together and they're going to evaluate things as late as this morning and figure out what's going to happen. And I also get the feeling that Dennis Rader is very much in charge of that final decision. I know for a fact that the families wanted Rader to plead guilty. They wanted an end to this nightmare. And a guilty plea would move things much faster than a lengthy trial. Still, all of us were in suspense

as to what Raider's choice would eventually be. At about 8.40 a.m., the attorneys entered the courtroom. According to many sources, Raider's defense attorneys appeared nervous. These attorneys have been working with Rader since the very, since the first appearance when they were assigned. There have been some rumors that there

is some discord amongst them with or between them and Rader. Finally, after everyone else was settled, Dennis Rader entered the courtroom. There he is. There's Dennis Rader walking into court. He does have a bulletproof vest on, it appears. Let's listen in to the proceedings. Thank you. Please be seated. All right, at this time, comes on before the court,

case captioned, the state of Kansas plaintiff versus Dennis L. Rader, defendant. After going through the standard introductory remarks, Judge Gregory Waller asked Rader the question everyone was waiting for. How would he plead? Your Honor, at this time, Mr. Rader, waive his right to a jury trial

and enter a plea of guilty to all 10 counts. Sir, I have been advised, as your desire, to enter a plea of guilty in this case. Is that correct? Yes, sir. At perhaps the last minute, Dennis Rader chose to plead guilty to all 10 counts of murder, and thus avoid a trial. Then Judge Waller prompted Rader to explain how he murdered his victims.

Surprisingly, Rader was more than happy to oblige. On January 15th, 1974, I maliciously, intentionally and premeditation killed Joseph Sopotaro. Had you planned this beforehand? To some degree, yes. After I got in the house, I lost control of it. But it was, you know, in the back of my mind, I had some ideas of what I was going to do. Rader spared none of the graphic details, shedding not an ounce of remorse

or betraying any emotion. I put a plastic bag over his head and then some cords and tightened it. After that, I didn't miss this Otero. I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn't know how much pressure you had to put on a person or how long it would take. This went on for 45 minutes straight. Raider going through each murder, not only admitting to them,

but excitedly explaining his every move. My colleague Larry Hattaberg was stunned. The judge asked Dennis Rader to take him through all the killings in the courtroom, live on TV. That was absolutely amazing. And here was Dennis Rader, and he was like the ringmaster in the center ring, and the spotlight was on him. And he was having the time of his life, recounting in detail how he killed 10 people. It was extraordinary. Unbelievable, really, because he told it in the same method that he had talked to me on the phone.

Without feeling, without remorse, just very matter of fact. Well, I tied her up this way, and then I strangled her here, thought about cutting her throat. And it's just like somebody talking about picking up their laundry. Many of the family members present simply couldn't stand to listen to this, including Steve Relford, surviving son of Shirley Vian.

I got up and walked out. Everybody fucking followed me. I didn't hear, I didn't want to hear what the son surviving son of Shirley Vian. All the other victims' families walked out with you. But you were the first one to get up. Why didn't you want to stay in court? I didn't want to hear what he fucking had to say. What did you want to do? It's not allowed on here. Not allowed, huh? So you didn't want to give him the satisfaction of...

Is that why you walked out? And everyone else walked out too, do you think? Pretty much. What do you think he was doing that day? Self-pity. I mean, he went on and on about each murder. What do you think he was doing that day? Well, I forget what to call it, but glorifying what he's done.

And the only fucking remorse he had was for himself. I won't hear his shit. I won't hear none of it. When Rader was done, Judge Waller formally declared the conviction. I will accept these pleas of guilty and I judge you, Dennis L. Rader, guilty of murder in the first degree

and count one a Class A felony. It was a moment of mixed emotions. On one hand, it was a triumphant relief. Dennis Rader had been found guilty on all charges. On the other hand, it was a moment of quiet sadness. leave, Dennis Rader had been found guilty on all charges. On the other hand, it was a moment of quiet sadness. The way Rader described his murders in grave detail left everyone shaken. People shuffled out of the courtroom silently.

It was a bittersweet day, even though justice had prevailed. Following his guilty plea and verdict, Rader was sent back to the Sedgwick County Detention Center to await his sentencing. The date of the sentencing hearing was set for August 18. Meanwhile, Larry Hattabberg was determined to interview him again. You heard about his phone interview with Rader at the top of the episode. But this time, Larry wanted to see him in person. And so I asked before he was sent to prison,

I said, I'd like to talk to you in person. Is that possible? And I got permission to talk to you in person. Is that possible? And I got permission to talk to him in person. Didn't have much time, about 15 minutes with him. And I went up with one of the other anchors from Cape TV. I was nervous about shaking his hand. Because when you go up there and talk to him, you have to do a prison handshake. He's on one side of the plexiglass, I'm on the other.

He puts his hand up here like this, then I put my hand up here like this, and we basically, that's a prison handshake. My son-in-law, guy who married my daughter, is a federal agent here in Wichita, and I was talking to him about this, and I said, I don't wanna do it. I just simply don't want to do it. And he looked at me and he said well how bad do you want the information? If you don't shake his hand he's going to take that

as an insult and he's going to shut up and not say anything. So I reluctantly did it and I still regret it to this day. But we had a conversation, you know, and he told me he was looking forward to prison. I said, why are you looking forward to prison? And he said, well, I'm going to learn things, you know, how to burn a building down, you know, how to do this, how to do that, how to commit a crime. He was really looking forward to it. He was unbelievable in that he had no soul. He just, he didn't care about other people, particularly women.

My impression was that after the June 27th hearing, Raider was feeling pretty good about himself. The way he talked about his murders in such a detailed and nonchalant manner tells me that he was ready to tell his story on his terms. Here he was on national TV with the world watching, and he got to read what was essentially his manifesto out loud for everyone to hear. His attitude leaving the courtroom that day appeared to be one of success.

But what Rader wasn't prepared for is that he would soon get his due. At the August 18th sentencing hearing, the family members of his victims would finally get their chance to speak up and address Raider directly. or a bubble spy if you did. From iHeart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit.

And that was my mission, to snuff the life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Torn between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing.

He was a freaking crazy man. We don't know who he is, really. He is my father. And I had no idea about any of this until now. Welcome to Crook County. Series premiere February 11th. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you want to know what it's like to hang out with MS-13 El Salvador? How the Russian mafia fought battles all over Brooklyn in the 1990s.

Or what about that time I got lost in the Burmese jungle hunting the world's biggest meth lab? Or why the Japanese yakuza have all those crazy dragon tattoos? I'm Sean Williams. And I'm Danny Golds. And we're the hosts of the Underworld Podcast. We're journalists that have traveled all over, reporting on dangerous people and places. And every week, we'll be bringing you a new story about organized crime from all over

the world. We know this stuff because we've been there. We've seen it and we've got the near misses and embarrassing tales to go with it. We'll mix in reporting with our own experiences in the field and we'll throw in some bad jokes while we're at it. The Underworld Podcast explores the criminal underworlds that affect all of our lives, whether we know it or not. Available wherever you get your podcasts. available wherever you get your podcasts. On August 18th, Raider's sentencing hearing began. The family members of the victims would each have a chance to speak.

But first, investigators were given the floor to tell their side of the story and present all the evidence they had uncovered. The police, they wanted everything my dad had done on record. They wanted it in public record because most of the details were not known at that point still. Like all the case materials, weapons, times, dates, a lot of that was not public. This is Dennis Rader's daughter, Carrie Rosson. They wanted it all in the record.

So they went through all of that. They brought in like the knife he used for Katherine. Brought in all of this stuff just to put it under the record. They brought in the Polaroids. If you remember, Dennis Rader at some point took Polaroid pictures of himself, where he would dress up in women's clothing and reenact his murders. The police had confiscated all of these when they searched the Rader household. Now, were they trying to humiliate my dad on the stand? I don't know.

My dad was not expecting that. He was pretty lividly pissed. How did he react? Just angry. You can see him trying to be under control in the videos of him just trying to like maintain composure of these guys mocking him in court. But he's exposed now? He's exposed and known for what he is. He's exposed and known for what he is. Carrie says that her father was visibly shaken by this barrage of evidence from the prosecutors. He was not expecting that and he's completely thrown.

And you see him trying to maintain control and he's trying to hold those outer protective layers. And he's just sort of disintegrating my guess would be inside. You see his voice change. He clicks his mouth like he's acting like he's like bored. He's just trying to keep control. And you can see it, he's almost tearing up. He's so upset, he's almost tearing up and then he's also like really mad. Of course, this was also the Rader family's first time hearing about Dennis' evil deeds. My family did not know about the bondage.

We didn't know about my dad and the women's lingerie. We didn't know, like, my dad dressed up in victim's clothing and took Polaroids in his parents' basement. Basically, he was recreating Josephine Otero's murderer. I didn't know any of that. So I'm finding this out with the rest of the world. And I was mad. I was mad at the police for not trusting us enough to tell us or prepare us.

I think they were trying to protect us, but obviously, no, it's just all at once. Finally, the family members of the victims had a chance to speak, and Dennis Rader had no choice but to listen. Now it was my turn. He had the spotlight for a long time. Now it's going to be my turn. I was going to call him everything that I could possibly do away with calling him on network TV. This is Jeff Davis, son of Dolores Davis.

He gave one of the longest and most comprehensive victim impact statements. I did a pretty good job of it. I was pretty creative with stuff that I came up with. I did it because I knew he was watching and every interview was focused directly at him. When I looked at the person I was interviewing, I wasn't looking at him, I was looking at him. And I wanted him to know that it was my turn

and now it's get even time. And now I'm the one pointing bars in your direction and tell me how much you like a smart boy. And I knew that I was getting under his skin and I loved every minute of it. For the last 5,326 days I have wondered what it would be like to confront the walking cesspool that took my mother's precious life. Throughout that time, I always envisioned this day as being one for avenging the past. I could think of nothing but savoring the bittersweet taste of revenge as justice is served upon this social sewage here before us today.

Now that it has arrived, surprisingly, I realize that this day is not just about avenging past crimes. Sitting here before us is a depraved predator, a rabid animal that has murdered people, poisoned countless lives, and terrorized this community for 30 years, all the while relishing every minute of it. As such, there can be no justice harsh enough or revenge bitter enough, in this world at least, to cause the pain and suffering which a social malignancy like this has coming. He wouldn't look at me. It was a four-minute 37-tire race. He would not look at me one time. He didn't have the guts to look at me.

All I could think about was revenge, revenge. Get my hands on him. This is Charlie Otero, eldest brother of the surviving Otero family members. He says that this hearing was the first time he heard certain details about the murder of his parents. I had no inside information or anything about how my family had died. I didn't know any of that stuff that he said. When he said that my mom's last words were, may God forgive you, I knew that that's something my mom would probably have said, because that's how she was. And it just broke my heart again,

that feeling I had in my chest being tore open in my heart, it just all came back to me. I knew that if I acted up then, I would never get a chance at him. So I had to maintain to wait for my chance. Dad and the world's sitting there, and my brother and my sister, and once again, the big brother,

macho thing comes in, I gotta be strong in front of them. Then, like Jeff, Charlie gave his own victim impact statement. That's what I had to be good for. I had to get my impact statement and I couldn't screw up. I wanted to make that statement. But I also planned this was going to be my chance to get my hands on him.

So I was prepared to go all the way with my revenge plans. What happened was we left for a lunch break and I had a couple beers right away. I'm getting my strength up, my courage up, and then I plan to get my hands on him, and as we were walking to the metal detector, I got stopped by my filmmaker. We made a documentary, and the filmmaker was there filming,

and he said, Charlie, you have a phone call. It was the mother of my son who I had never seen before. He was named Joseph. He's the same name as my brother and my dad. It was Annette. Annette says, Charlie, there's been an accident. Jules has been hit by a car. He's and the phone went dead. And I'm like, he's what? He's what? He's dead. He's alive? He's what? He's dead? He's alive?

He's okay? I call Lynette again. I call her back and she says, Charlie, Joseph's been hit by a car. He's in a coma. And I'm like, what? Is it an induced coma? They said, no, he's in a coma.

And he's got brain injuries. He's got shaken baby syndrome from being hit by the car. I start thinking about this, I'm thinking, how can I ask God to save my son if I am going to go do a dastardly deed? Why would he save my son? So it's hard to describe it, but in that instant, I got my religion back. I got my faith back because all desire for that revenge Went away instantly truly went away and all I could think about was saving my son. I Said God save my son. I'll give you my life. I'll do anything you want. You can take me right now

Just save my son. So when we went back in there, the opportunity came. They took him out one door, and the family's out another door, and they screwed up, and there was nobody between me and him. There might have been people next to him and stuff, but he was... I looked right at him with nobody between me and him. All desire that I had to get my hands on him was gone.

Because I knew the prison would take care of it. Because that's what they do to child molesters and child killers and stuff. I walked out the door, I went outside, and some people started sticking microphones in my face. Somebody said, Charlie, the world's praying for you. And I said, no, no, no, don't pray for me. Pray for my son.

He's been hit by a car and he needs prayer right now. He's in a coma. Lo and behold, months later, weeks, weeks, and weeks later, he wakes up. A newborn child. I believe the Lord gave me back my son. Steve Ralford was also given the chance to give a statement. And when I got up to speak, I was so close. I got piled over everybody. I couldn't talk.

All I seen was fucking anger. At that point, I really didn't give a fuck what anybody thought. I knew what I thought. I knew I couldn't do it. Steve was simply too upset to say much of anything. For him, the difficulty of that day was nearly impossible to bear. But he wasn't alone. He was comforted by the fact that others, like Jeff Davis and Charlie Otero shared in his anger. My emotions was pure, unadulterated rage. Now, as I knew they would, they had six of the biggest sheriff's offices I've ever seen in my life.

They had three on each side of him, shoulder to shoulder, because it wasn't just me who wanted him. Charlie O'Terrell wanted him, Steve Relford wanted him. There was a bunch of us that wanted a piece of him, and we knew we couldn't do it, obviously. But I know I was so filled with rage that I was sitting there, and you know how when you stare at somebody just right they can feel you're staring at him? He knew, he knew that I was burning a hole in the back of his head but he wouldn't turn around look at me because he doesn't have the guts. One of the service officers came over to me and he told me he said you need to sit back and relax and he he said, you look like you're

getting ready to jump over that rail and go after him. He said, if the judge tosses you out of here, you won't get back in. So I was physically almost like I was ready to spring. I knew I couldn't do it, but I was just that tense that I just was grabbing on to the rails and just, I was probably white and knuckled by magic. So I had to calm myself down and sit back down before I got myself into trouble.

This shared hatred of Dennis Rader had the effect of bonding these men that day. They sat together in unison as they delivered their barbs to a cold-faced Dennis Rader. He said nothing and never looked them in the eyes, but they knew that their words had cut him. After they were finished, Rader was given 30 minutes to respond. Here is an excerpt of what he said as read by a voice actor. The dark side was there, but now I think the light is beginning to shine. And I appreciate the family and friends and who I can be thankful for. And I think that will keep me from finally going to the dark side or hell. And finally, a final apologize to the victims' families.

There's no way that I can ever repay you. Rader actually appeared to tear up during his final speech. The victims' families were convinced that Raider's tears were for himself. Jeff Davis and the other families had no desire to listen to his self-pity. So they decided once again to walk out. And I was the instigator. I'm the one whose idea was that when he stood up to talk, I'm the one that said, let's get out of here, let's walk out. And the minute he got up, before he could open his mouth, about eight of us got up and just walked out

of the courtroom and everybody said the look on his face was priceless. Because he's like, wait, I haven't had my say yet and you're leaving. Because I told all those people, I said, there isn't anything you can say that I want to hear. Everything out here is not so wide. So we just got up and walked out. It was great. It was the best building in the world. Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Fullston had this to say about Rader's words. It's pitiful for Mr. Rader to stand here looking all pale and pasty and say how sorry he is. Well, that's usually the culmination of what happens when defendants go to their last chance in order to convince a judge, you know, gosh, I'm really sorry.

Well, what else do you say after you kill 10 people? He doesn't have the ability to be arrogant today. After nearly three days of testimony, it was finally time. The judge called the court to order. He picked up a piece of paper and slowly, confidently, he read out loud, Dennis Rader's sentence to the courtroom and to the world. to the courtroom and to the world. Next time on Monster BTK.

I wanted to help him. Like I'm mad at you in one second, and I'm worried you're cold, and like I love you. I still love you. We'd write some letters. He wanted me to solve some codes. The reason I stay kind of involved in it is that we still do not know what caused BTK to become a murderer. I really wanted to go sleep in a prison to see who he is. The intensity of the anguish and the grief is still there. Raider said, you know, I have a fantasy that I wish I could have lived out.

I've always wanted to kidnap a female from a laundromat. Monster BTK is a production of Tenderfoot TV and iHeart Podcasts. The show is written by Gnomes Griffin, Trevor Young, and Jesse Funk. Our host is Susan Peters. Executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay, alongside supervising producer Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on behalf of iHeart Podcasts include Matt Frederick and Trevor Young,

alongside producers Gnomes Griffin and Jesse Funk, and supervising producer Rima Ilkayali. Marketing support by David Wasserman and Allison Wright at iHeart Podcasts, and Caroline Orogema at Tenderfoot TV. Additional research by Claudia D'Africo. Original artwork by Kevin Mr. Soul Harp. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set.

Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA and the Nord Group. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening. My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast, Crook County.

I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. He was a frickin' crazy man.

He was my father. And I had no idea about any of this until now. Crook County is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This season on Very Scary People, Christine Belford reports her three young daughters missing. She has no idea where they are but she knows who took them. Her ex-husband has teamed up with her former in-laws to do whatever it takes to have total control of

the girls, including stalking, harassment, and even murder. Listen to Very Scary People, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Criminalia podcast. I'm Maria Tremarchi. And I'm Holly Frye. Together, we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime. Each season, we explore a new theme

from poisoners to art thieves. We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching. And tune in at the end of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching. And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It was big news. I mean, white girl gets murdered, found in a cemetery. Big, big news.

A long investigation stalls until someone changes their story. I saw nothing that happened. An arrest, trial and conviction soon follow. He did not kill her. There's no way. Is the real killer rightly behind bars or still walking free? Did you kill her? Listen to The Real Killer, Season 3 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.