Showtime’s Dexter featured several terrifying serial killers, but the most memorable was season 4’s Trinity Killer, who was also inspired by the real-life BTK Killer. Dexter follows Dexter Morgan, a vigilante serial killer who daylights as a blood-spatter analyst for a Miami police department. While Dexter has to constantly cover up his secret life as a murderer, he also uses his own skills to track down the other serial killers hunted by the Miami Metro Police Department each season.

The first season of Dexter is largely pulled directly from the novel Darkly Dreaming of Dexter, whereas the rest of the show only loosely takes from the subsequent books in the book series. By season 4 Dexter received its own evil villain, who happened to become the most well-received antagonist on the series, while actor John Lithgow won an Emmy for his performance in the role. The Trinity Killer is a seemingly normal family man who is a secret killer who has gone undetected for 30 years as he performs ritualized murders, something Dexter tries to achieve himself.

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Arthur Mitchell, AKA The Trinity Killer, is hunted by FBI Agent Frank Lundy in Miami, uncovering his yearly ritual murders that mirror the tragedies from his own family. He begins by abducting and killing a 10-year-old boy, murdering a woman in a bathtub, making a woman commit suicide by jumping off a building, and bludgeoning a man to death. While the actual murders don’t reflect a real-life murderer, the life of Arthur Miller is based on that of the notorious BTK serial killer Dennis Rader, who also led a normal life with an unsuspecting family and was heavily involved with his church and community.

Dexter begins to see Arthur as a mentor to learn from, someone who can somehow lead a family life while also secretly killing dozens of people. The Trinity Killer is a member of his church and leader of his Christian Four Walls charity that builds homes, like Habitat for Humanity. This concept is also pulled from BTK, who was voted president of his Christ Lutheran Church council and was a Cub Scout leader. Similar to Dennis Rader’s cover life, Dexter also gives Arthur a wife, son, and daughter who don’t know about his secret life.

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Trinity being identified as Arthur by the police is also similar to the circumstances that led Wichita police to Rader. Although Dexter found out about Mitchell’s identity early, Miami Metro got around to identifying Trinity after discovering the connection to his charity builds from a drawing by a boy he abducted. BTK was discovered after a document sent to police by Rader unknowingly had a Word document with “Christ Lutheran Church” on the file and that was last edited by “Dennis.” It’s no wonder Dexter’s best villain was so terrifying; he was based on a seemingly relatable, polite figure that was a real-life threat for multiple decades.

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Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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