The Arrest
After 31 years of mystery, the 59-year-old, bald, bespectacled face of Dennis Rader is confirmed to be the BTK killer. On Friday 25th February 2005, the police stop him at a traffic light near his home. Like most of his kills, his arrest is during the day. Police had believed BTK might have inserted himself into the investigation or even might be from within their own ranks.
During his first interview, Rader reveals himself to be a wannabe police officer, desperate to ingratiate himself with the detectives interviewing him, and almost unaware of the situation he’s in. One of his concerns is his future jail accommodation. “Am I going to be in a special section of the jail or am I going to be thrown in with a bunch of loonies?".
Rader compares the good cop/bad cop routine they try to the way he would make his victims acquiesce to his wishes. Confronted with the computer disk and the DNA, he says, "There’s no way I can weasel out of that or lie". Falling for the false camaraderie with which the police present him, he spends hours and hours confessing. During this, he seems genuinely upset that the police lied to him about the computer disk information.
It will take him some time to realise that he has been played and, on his lawyer’s advice, he stops co-operating. It’s discovered that when he was arrested, he had other "projects" targeted and was preparing to execute them. Police never reveal the names of these nearly victims. His bail is set at $10million.