1. Why do Criminal Profilers fail to catch serial offenders?
The Thirty Year Hunt for the BTK Murderer
Professor Craig A. Jackson Birmingham City University
Jo Yeates case and parallels with BTK case
My experiences of meeting serial Murderers
Explore how to stop serial killers
3 on loose in uk at anyone time

2. Questioning Offender Profiling
Wilson D, Jackson CA, Kaur-Rana B. Against the Medical-Psychological Tradition of Understanding Serial Killing by Studying the Killers. Amicus Journal, 2010; 22: 8-16.
Jackson CA, Wilson D, Kaur-Rana B. The usefulness of criminal profiling. Criminal Justice Matters, 2011; 84: 6-7.
Lynes A, Wilson D, Jackson CA. Zola and the Serial Killer: Robert Black and La Bête Humaine. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2012; 1(1):
Received nasty s form Profilers and academics
Railway rapist(s)
Show me evidence
Tea leaves and psychics

3. BTK serial murderer in
Wichita, Kansas

4. The Crimes of the BTK Serial killer in Kansas active from 1974 to 2005
Murdered 10 people from 1974 – 1991 (caught in 2005)
Victims
1974 Killed Joe Otero, Julie Otero, and 2 children Jo jr & Josephine
1974 Killed Kathryn Bright and wounded her brother Kevin
1977 Killed Shirley Vian
1977 Killed Nancy Fox
1985 Killed Marine Hedge
1986 Killed Vicki Wegerle
1991 Killed Dolores Davis (last confirmed victim of BTK)

5. The Victims of the BTK
Serial killer in Kansas active from 1974 to 2005
Murdered 10 people from 1974 – 1991 (caught in 2005)

6. BTK's MO and Signatures Cuts phone wires outside house
Entered houses while occupier is out, and waits OR
Forced way inside with false ID and .22 revolver
Talked victims to compliance "Escaped prisoner on the run…"
Victims allowed themselves to be tied up
Strangled them several times before killing
Sometimes masturbated at the crimescene
Stole tokens / souvenirs (ID badges, jewelery)
Hit kit

7. Kathryn Bright murder scene 1974
19 yr old Shirley bright
Tied with panties
Blood stain
Stabbed 16 times
Police had physical description from Kevin
Did not link to Otero murders as MO different - view that SKs don't change

8. Shirley Vian murder scene 1977
Telephone call

9. Shirley Vian murder scene 1977
Venetian blind cord

10. Vicki Wegerle murder scene 1986
Last murder
Sloppy entry - cinder block

11. Dolores Davis murder scene 1991
Last murder
Sloppy entry - cinder block

12. BTK's First Letter to the Police 1977
1974 three years in
After nancy fox
Annoyed he did not get coverage he wanted in press

13. The Taunting Begins 3 letters from BTK to media (1 was a poem)
"Oh Death to Nancy"
A letter sent to a potential victim who accidentally evaded him
in 1979, Anna Williams
"Oh Anna why didn't you appear"
A recording of his voice calling for an ambulance after killing
Nancy Fox
Witnessed by an off-duty fireman
Own logo

14. “ ” "Oh Anna Why Didn't You Appear"
T'was a plan of deviant pleasure so bold on that Spring nite
My inner feeling hot with propension of the new awakening season
Warn wet with inner fear and rapture, my pleasure of entanglement
Like new vines so tight
Oh Anna why didn't you appear ”

15. Supercop Press Conferences
Several press conferences
Thinking BTK would be watching
Richard LaMunyon & Lt Kenny Landwehr would talk down the camera lens.
Talking direct to the BTK
Foster a relationship with BTK

16. Subliminal Blipvert in Press Conferences

17. Subliminal Blipvert in Press Conferences

18. Subliminal Blipvert in Press Conferences

19. A Gift for the Profilers
Two teams of FBI profilers assessed all case details
1979 The Hot Dog squad
1985 The Ghostbusters
Used best known Profilers from FBI
Profiles were so varied as to be useless
Contradictory
Vague
Non-Specific

20. Unhelpful Criminal Profiles
“Look for an American male with a possible connection
to the military. His IQ will be above He will like to
masturbate, and will be aloof and selfish in bed. He will
drive a decent car. He will be a ‘now’ person. He won’t
be comfortable with women. But he may have women
friends. He will be a lone wolf.
But he will be able to function in social settings…he will
be either, never married, divorced or married, and if he
is married his wife will be younger or older. He may or
may not live in a rental, and might be lower class, upper
lower class, lower middle class or middle class. And he
will be crazy like a fox, as opposed to being mental.” Malcolm Gladwell (2007)

22. 6220 indepence

23. BTK Went Quiet
From BTK was silent - no murders, no letters
Was BTK dead?
Was BTK in prison?
Was BTK bored of killing?
Was BTK too old or not fit?

24. BTK Returned Resumed taunts in 2004
14 years after last killing in 1991
14 letter drops
Wrote to Chief Detective
Kenny Landwehr via local papers
Began leaving packages and notes in parks, libraries
and car parks
Local lawyer announced was going to write book
Prompted btk to write to detectives and offer his manuscript

25. BTK Returned

26. The Taunting Resumes

27. The Taunting Continues
Jodie otero

28. New Victims Selected

29. Pen Pals again with SuperCop
“COMMUNICATION. Can I communicate with Floppy and not be traced to a computer. Be honest. Under Miscellaneous Section, 494, (Rex, it will be OK) run it for a few days in case I’m out of town-etc. I will try a floppy for a test run some time in the near future – February or March.”
Super cop on tv
One to one correspondence
Seduced btw
Personal relationship

30. At the End of it All BTK sent the floppy disk to detectives
Contained a word processed letter
Metadata of the disk showed the following words
"Dennis“
"Christ Lutheran Church“
"Park City Community Library"

31. Who was BTK? Dennis Lyn Rader Married father of two Heterosexual
ADT home security installer (1980s)
Scout Leader
Church Minister
City dog warden (1990s)

32. Who was BTK?

33. Who was BTK? Bondage BDSM Violent sexual fantasist
Combined offending with his job

36. Questions about BTK? Why undetected by wife and children?
Why so long between kills?
How evaded Police for so long?
Why correspond with police and journalists?
Why not stay undercover – 14 years after his last kill?
Any more kills after 1994?

37. Psychopathology of BTK?
Military service (Japan)
The “chicken” story (barns)
True detective magazines
Mouseketeer Annette Funicello
50 other “projects” ongoing when arrested

39. Rader today

41. Sources
Televised confession on June 27, This is the complete, unabridged version.
Rader interview with forensic psychologist, Dr Robert Mendoza pre-trial.
ABC interview – why profiling does not work.
Interview with Dr Katherine Ramsland, author of “Confessions of a Serial Killer: the untold story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer”. Based on 5 years of correspondence with Rader.

42. References
Canter, D.V., Alison, L.J., Alison, E. and Wentink, N. (2004), ‘The organized/disorganized typology of serial murder: Myth or model?’, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 10, pp
Douglas, J. and Dodd, J. (2007), Inside the Mind of the BTK: The True Story behind the Thirty Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Douglas, J., Ressler, R., Burgess, A. and Hartman, C. (1986), ‘Criminal profiling from crime scene analysis’, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 4, pp
Gibson, DC. (2005), BT.K. Strangler versus Wichita Police Department: The significance of serial murder media relations. Public Relations Review –65
Jackson, CA., Wilson, D., Kaur-Rana, B. (2011). The usefulness of criminal profiling. Criminal Justice Matters, 84: 6-7.
Keppel, R.D. and Walter, R. (1999), ‘Profiling killers: A revised classification model for understanding sexual murder’, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 43, pp
Snook, B., Cullen, R.M., Bennell, C., Taylor, P.J. and Gendreau, P. (2008), ‘The criminal profiling illusion: What’s behind the smoke and mirrors’, Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, pp
Snook, B., Eastwood, J., Gendreau, P., Coggin, C. and Cullen, R.M. (2007), ‘Taking stock of criminal profiling: A narrative review and metal-analysis’, Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34, pp
Trager, J. and Brewster, J. (2001), ‘The effectiveness of psychological profiles’, Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 16, pp
Wilson, D., Jackson, C.A. and Rana, B. (2010), ‘Against the medical-psychological tradition of understanding serial killing by studying the killers: The case of BTK’, Amicus Journal, 22, pp