A n arrest is made.
After over three decades, police arrested 59 year old Dennis L. Rader (see sidebar) on February 25, 2005 based partly on "DNA evidence". Rader, a city worker in nearby Park City for over 14 years, was arrested by Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams. Rader's home was searched and computer equipment seized. He was accused of killing 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Rader confessed to some (at least 6) of the killings. Details on the DNA evidence are sketchy by it is assumed that the DNA evidence (obtained from the crime scenes, recent letters, and DNA samples from Rader's daughter), a traceable electronic communication (from a floppy diskette - see sidebar for details) that was traced to Rader's church, and publicity resulting from the recent letters received from the BTK killer, allowed the police to pry enough details from the general public to pinpoint Rader as the culprit. Police note that since the latest known killing was 1991, the death penalty, which was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, would not apply (unless they can tie a cold-case murder committed after 1994 to him - and there is at least one murder where Rader could be a suspect).
I
n
what had to be a surreal realization, Police also noted that Rader
had previously served in the Air Force as a Telephone Specialist and
had also worked for ADT Security Systems as an installation manager.
During his tenure with ADT, Rader had extensive knowledge of all the
home security installations that his company conducted and even drew
circuit diagrams to make sure workers installed the systems
correctly. This tied in closely with several of the cases where it
appeared the victims may have known or trusted their killer and also
proves notable given that phone lines had been cut to at least one of
the victim's homes. The tenure of Rader with ADT Security Systems
ran from 1974 through 1989 - during the peak of the BTK killings.
That a serial killer can begin a killing spree, stop for many years, resume killing again, and years later continue taunting the police is the most troublesome characteristic of BTK.