‘BTK’ suspect said to confess

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man suspected in a string of 10 slayings attributed to the “BTK” serial killer confessed to at least six of those killings, according to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Investigators now think Dennis L. Rader may have been responsible for as many 13 slayings — including at least one that occurred after the death penalty was enacted in Kansas, the source said yesterday on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Rader made the confession on Friday, the same day as his arrest, according to the source. “The guy is telling us about the murders,” the source said.

Police spokeswoman Janet Johnson declined to comment.

Mr. Rader was being held on a $10 million bond in the deaths of 10 persons between 1974 and 1991. Police had long linked the “BTK” killer to eight deaths, but added two more after Mr. Rader’s arrest.

Now police suspect the “BTK” killer in the deaths of two Wichita State University students, as well as a woman who lived down the street from another known victim of BTK, the killer’s self-coined nickname that stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill.”

Mr. Rader’s arrest was a shock to those who worshipped with him at Christ Lutheran Church.

“We feel dismay, anger, devastation, utter shock and disbelief. The very foundation of our faith is shaken,” Gerald Mansholt, bishop of the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America , said during yesterday’s service.

Bob Smyser, a fellow usher at Christ Lutheran, said his 5-year-old son recognized Mr. Rader’s photo when it was flashed on the TV screen at home. The boy looked up at his father and asked, “Daddy, he tricked us — didn’t he?”

“I am not sure what to tell him,” Mr. Smyser said. “I am not sure what to tell myself.”

Mr. Rader, a church member for 30 years and president of the church council, was arrested in suburban Park City, where he worked as a city codes-enforcement supervisor.

His job required daily contact with the public, and he even appeared on television in 2001 in his tan city uniform for a story on vicious dogs running loose in Park City.

Prosecutors said Mr. Rader’s first court appearance might come as early as today, but more likely would be tomorrow.

Police disclosed little about how they identified Mr. Rader as a suspect. But Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said DNA evidence was the key to cracking the case, and a Wichita TV station reported that DNA that authorities obtained from Mr. Rader’s adult daughter, Kerri, was instrumental in the suspect’s arrest.

Parts of a personality profile of “BTK” released earlier by police seemed to match Mr. Rader. Investigators said they thought the killer was familiar with a professor at Wichita State University. Mr. Rader graduated from the university in 1979. In the 1970s, Mr. Rader worked at a nearby Coleman camping-gear plant where two of the killer’s victims were employed.

The Wichita Eagle reported that Mr. Rader also once worked at ADT home-security company from 1974 to 1989, a job that allowed him access to customers’ homes.