'BTK: A Killer Among Us' Unmasks 'Normal Dad' Dennis Rader

WICHITA, KS — Beginning with the grotesque mass murder of the Otero family in 1974, a deranged serial killer would strike the otherwise tranquil city of Wichita, Kansas, in fits and starts over the next 17 years.

During that time, the murderer tormented authorities with letters and “trophies” he collected from his crimes and only got caught when his need for attention did him in — more than 30 years after his first atrocity.

In 1977, the Wichita murderer left a note near the body of college student Kathryn Bright, declaring his desire to “bind, torture, and kill.” From there, the monster continued his slow-burn reign of terror, often waiting years between strikes and then horrifically reminding his pursuers and potential victims that he was still on the loose.

While growing up with an uncaptured killer in her hometown, Kerri Rawson remembers her father continually reassuring her, “It’s okay, don’t worry. You’re safe.”

What her dad said was true — BTK would not target Kerri — because Dennis Rader, Kerri Rawson’s father, was himself the Bind-Torture-Kill murderer.

BTK: A Killer Among Us, a new ID documentary series, dives deeper than ever before into the methods and madness of Dennis Rader by way of interviews with those most directly intertwined with the case: law enforcement agents, victim’s family members, investigative journalists, and, yes, BTK’s own daughter, Kerri Rawson.

The show traces Rader’s twisted trail from his first mass murder until 2005, when BTK was undone by new technology.

Beyond the murders and the hunt for a suspect, BTK: A Killer Among Us also examines the double-life and the exposure of Dennis Rader — loving husband, dedicated dad, upstanding church council member — as one of history’s most diabolical psychos.

BTK: A Killer Among Us premieres Sunday, February 17, at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery!