Lady Laurel
03-01-2005, 02:54 PM
He looks like anybodys neighbor next door. This guy is truly spookey.
WICHITA, Kansas (CNN) -- Dennis Rader, the man suspected of being the infamous BTK killer, appeared via a video link Tuesday as a judge read 10 first-degree murder charges against him.
District Judge Greg Waller read the charges and asked Rader if he understood.
"Yes sir," Rader replied.
The suspect was dressed in an orange jumpsuit on the video signal from the Sedgwick County Jail, a common practice in initial court hearings for murder suspects.
Waller also formally set the bail for Rader at $10 million and appointed a public defender to represent him at the next hearing, scheduled for March 15.
"Thank you, sir," Rader said at the conclusion of the five-minute hearing.
Rader is charged a string of murders that terrorized the region across three decades attributed to the self-named BTK killer, whose signature was a preference to bind, torture and kill his victims. The earliest was in 1974; the last linked to BTK was in 1991.
Prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty because it was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, three years after the last known BTK killing.
The 59-year-old city employee, who is president of his Lutheran church council, has not made a public statement.
Until his arrest Friday in what authorities said was a routine traffic stop, Rader worked as a compliance supervisor for Park City in charge of animal control, nuisances, inoperable vehicles and general code compliance. He is married with two grown children.
Rader has a degree from Wichita State University in administration of justice and worked for a home security company from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s -- a job that involved going into people's homes. It was not known whether any homes Rader entered for work became the sites of BTK killings.
Some who know Rader described him as affable and pleasant. But several of his neighbors said he was arrogant and petty. (Full story)
WICHITA, Kansas (CNN) -- Dennis Rader, the man suspected of being the infamous BTK killer, appeared via a video link Tuesday as a judge read 10 first-degree murder charges against him.
District Judge Greg Waller read the charges and asked Rader if he understood.
"Yes sir," Rader replied.
The suspect was dressed in an orange jumpsuit on the video signal from the Sedgwick County Jail, a common practice in initial court hearings for murder suspects.
Waller also formally set the bail for Rader at $10 million and appointed a public defender to represent him at the next hearing, scheduled for March 15.
"Thank you, sir," Rader said at the conclusion of the five-minute hearing.
Rader is charged a string of murders that terrorized the region across three decades attributed to the self-named BTK killer, whose signature was a preference to bind, torture and kill his victims. The earliest was in 1974; the last linked to BTK was in 1991.
Prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty because it was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, three years after the last known BTK killing.
The 59-year-old city employee, who is president of his Lutheran church council, has not made a public statement.
Until his arrest Friday in what authorities said was a routine traffic stop, Rader worked as a compliance supervisor for Park City in charge of animal control, nuisances, inoperable vehicles and general code compliance. He is married with two grown children.
Rader has a degree from Wichita State University in administration of justice and worked for a home security company from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s -- a job that involved going into people's homes. It was not known whether any homes Rader entered for work became the sites of BTK killings.
Some who know Rader described him as affable and pleasant. But several of his neighbors said he was arrogant and petty. (Full story)