The BTK Killer—His Motives and Desires

An interesting case to examine is that of Dennis Rader, the notorious BTK Killer (Bind/Torture/Kill) who terrorized Wichita, Kansas, in the late 70s and early 80s. The interesting thing about Rader as a serial killer is that he was able to stop himself from killing. In 1991, Rader got a job as a compliance officer for the county Board of Zoning Appeals.  Apparently this job gave Rader enough power over others to satisfy his desire to dominate people.  The ability to go measure the grass in his neighbors’ yards and issue citations and warnings was sufficient to feed his appetite for power. As strange as it may seem, this job was just enough power to satisfy Rader’s lust for dominating others. Some years later, Rader was captured after sending a message to taunt the police and newspapers (thus allowing himself to relive his glory days of terrorizing the city). His message, left on a computer disk, was traced back to the Lutheran Church where Rader was President of the Congregation Council and a Cub Scout leader.

Based on events, it seems likely that Rader derived intense pleasure from binding and torturing and killing, but his primary motivation for killing his victims was to cover up his crimes. I think it would be interesting to know how many “Dennis Rader”-types live in the average city. These are people who enjoy enough power to make satisfy their lusts—just by dominating and torturing their employees, co-workers, & families—but without having to go to the extreme of actual physical torture and murder. Rader was clearly a psychopath by nature and a serial killer out of necessity. The murders extended the range of his power, and the media coverage served as a reminder and a kind of trophy for his murderous career. It is an open question how many sadistic people there are who would like to torture others, but are only restrained by the idea of being caught.               

In the modern world the true psychopath is fairly rare.  They are basically predatory animals who stand on two legs and try to mimic the behaviors of humans.  The psychopath has the same basic needs for food, shelter, and sexual contact, but what we call the higher-order desires are basically foreign to them. His main goal is to pursue physical pleasure, usually by dominating the weaker and more psychologically damaged people who have the misfortune to meet him and fall under his influence. To call him “human” is to denigrate humans everywhere.

The sociopath, on the other hand, is a more subtle and amiable creature.