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Born in Pittsburg, Kansas
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Rader returns to Wichita (where he grew up) and marries his wife, Paula.
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Rader began work for an outdoor supply company.
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Began work as an ADT Security Services employee.
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Rader goes public by placing a letter inside a library book and placing it in the public library. Rader takes responsibility for the Otero murders/confesses in the letter, signing the note with the initials B.T.K. These initials stuck, standing for "Bind them, Torture them, and Kill them".
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Rader strangled four members of the Otero family in their Wichita home (parents, Joseph and Julie, and their children Josephine and Joseph Jr.-other child, Charlie, found the bodies upon return to the home later that day).
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Strangles/stabs Kathryn Bright and shoots her brother, Kevin Bright (twice). Kevin survives.
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Rader and his wife, Paula, have their first son in 1975, and daughter in 1978.
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Rader ties up and murders Shirley Vian (after locking her children in the bathroom) through strangulation
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Rader strangles Fox and reports the homicide after, anonymously calling the police station.
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Rader graduates from Wichita University with a degree in administration of justice.
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Rader sends a poem to a local newspaper, describing the Vian killing; several weeks later, Rader sends a letter to a local TV station taking responsibility for the Vian, Fox, and another unknown killing.
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BTK goes into an elderly woman's home but leaves before she arrives. Later, he sends a note to her indicating "BTK was there". Authorities release the 1977 recording of the BTK's call, hoping that someone can recognize the voice.
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Rader kills his neighbor, Marine Hedge, and dumps her body on the side of the road.
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Rader kills Vicki Wegerle in her home.
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Rader begins to work as a compliance supervisor in Wichita, while simultaneously being a Boy Scout Troop leader and president of his Church Council.
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Rader takes a job as a dog catcher in Park City (capturing stray animals and euthanizing them).
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Rader murders his last known victim, after she was taken from her home (1/19/1991).
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With the 30 year anniversary of the Otero murders, media coverage resurfaced regarding the BTK killer; Rader responds by sending letters to local media outlets and police stations (with items, information about the crimes, pictures, evidence, an outline for the "BTK Story", and a word puzzle). The disk he sent lead authorities to find Rader's church and security footage that caught his white van on camera. (Showed package drop-off areas and was linked with DNA evidence from his daughter)
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BTK is arrested and charged with 10 counts of 1st degree murder.
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Rader pleads guilty to all 10 counts of murder and is tried in court.
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Judge Waller finds BTK guilty and sentences him to a minimum of 175 years. BTK is still serving the 10 life-sentences (as he committed the crimes before the death penalty was reintroduced in Kansas in 1994).