Catching Killers Season 2: Why BTK Stopped Killing For So Long

Netflix’s serial killer docuseries Catching Killers season 2 begins with the return of BTK after 10 years of inactivity — but why did the killer stop in the first place? In an effort to get to the meat of the investigation, the docuseries glosses over the reasoning behind this very unusual inactive period. Here is the explanation for BTK’s dormant period that Catching Killers left out.

Dennis Rader, aka the BTK Killer — which stands for “bind, torture, kill” — murdered ten people in Kansas between 1974 and 1991. After he completed his murders, Rader would address taunting letters to the police detailing the crimes and explaining his thought process. It was these packages that eventually got Rader caught, as a floppy disk he’d given the police left a paper trail leading back to him; and, after DNA tied him to the murders in 2005, Rader confessed to all ten murders. BTK became an infamous serial killer, inspiring true-crime series such as Mindhunter. Rader is currently serving ten life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility.

Rader’s pattern of murder is certainly atypical. While serial killers tend to escalate and kill at a faster rate, BTK could go years between murders. There were multiple factors behind these time gaps, but one of the greatest was the fact that Rader’s daily life got in the way of his “projects,” as he called them. Rader was a husband, a father, a church member, and a scout leader — finding time and excuses to carefully get away from his obligations and pull off these murders was difficult. Rader was constantly planning and dreaming of his crimes during his off years, but the opportunities to follow through on his plans were few and far between. Because of this, as much as 8 years passed between some of BTK’s murders.

Netflix’s Catching Killers reveals that Rader’s increasing age also contributed to the growing gaps between BTK’s murders. By 1991, Rader was almost 50 years old. Combined with the pressure of maintaining his daily life, killing became more and more difficult for Rader. Over a decade passed between Rader’s last confirmed murder and the letters that got him arrested with no opportunity to pull off another murder — but that didn’t mean the desire was gone. Rader attempted one last murder in 2004, but was discouraged from following through due to a construction crew outside his victim’s home. Rader also participated in autoerotic habits that suppressed his desire to kill; he would stalk women, dress dolls in trophies from his victims, and create magazine collages of naked women to stave off BTK’s need to commit murder.

His age and lack of opportunity likely contributed to the BTK killer sending letters to the police once more; if he couldn’t get a thrill by pulling off new murders, he could relive past murders instead. Rader also confessed after he was arrested that the 30th anniversary of his first murders prompted him to return to the public’s eye once more. A desire for notoriety and hubris over not being caught in 30 years drove him to taunt the Wichita police, hoping to ensure his spot amongst America’s most famous serial killers. As shown in  Catching Killers season 2, it was this hubris that led to the BTK Strangler getting caught because the floppy disk that sealed his fate contained the autobiography he desperately wanted the world to read.

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