Anger, Relief Over BTK Confessions

Serial Killer's Guilty Plea, Clinical Descriptions Shock Wichita

(CBS/AP)  It was Rader's demeanor that haunted residents here. How he described his killings as "projects" and his victims as "targets," and the screening process as typically "trolling" followed by "stalking." How he carried supplies like rope and tape in a "hit kit," as he described a briefcase or bowling bag. How he talked of his first four victims almost as animals, saying he decided to "put them down."

"He's like a guy with a mission. You would think that he worked for some spy agency or something and these were hits that he was assigned because he methodically works towards his goal," psychologist Howard Brodsky, who was consulted by Wichita police, told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.

Brodsky called Rader a sociopath, and said it was amazing "that nobody was able to figure out that this guy had this secret life that he was hiding and that he was amazing in his ability to surround himself with people who just didn't ask the right questions, who were kind of naive as to what was going on."

Richard LaMunyon, a former Wichita police chief who ran the department during most of the BTK killings, said Rader's confession brought back the horror of his crimes.

"He just referred to these people like rag dolls, like they didn't exist," he said. "Each and every one of those people comes to your mind and you can see them and the agony and the pure terror that they went through. All this comes rushing back."

The BTK killer taunted media and police with cryptic messages during a cat-and-mouse game that began after the first murder in 1974. BTK resurfaced in 2004 after years of silence with a letter to The Wichita Eagle that included photos of a 1986 strangling victim and a photocopy of her missing driver's license.

That letter was followed by several other cryptic messages and packages. The break in the case came earlier this year after a computer diskette the killer had sent was traced to Rader's church, where he once served as president.

Those transfixed by the case must wait until Aug. 17 to hear Rader's fate, though he almost certainly will never leave prison because each count carries a possible life sentence.

The state had no death penalty when the crimes were committed.