BTK Serial Killer Pleads Guilty

BTK serial killer suspect Dennis Rader Monday pleaded guilty to 10 counts of murder, including that of Delores Davis, a 62-year-old woman who was abducted from her home in 1991 and found nearly two weeks later strangled under a bridge.

Rader, 60, of Park City, had been accused of killing 10 people in the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991. Davis' murder was the last one attributed to the BTK Killer.

There was no plea deal.

BTK stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill." In messages to the press and police, the serial killer used the initials to describe how he treated his victims: Bind them, torture them, kill them.

Rader's trial for the Davis murder had been scheduled to begin Monday, but aside from an early routine defense motion for discovery of evidence, the court record on the case against BTK suspect Dennis Rader had been unusually silent.

Despite the scheduled start Monday of what could arguably be the most notorious, well-publicized case in Kansas history, no additional jurors were requested and defense attorneys did not ask for more time to prepare their case.

In fact, none of the typical defense strategies were filed, said Jim Pratt, a Wichita criminal defense attorney who has watched the case. No motion for a change of venue was on record and there were no motions to suppress evidence — or even for a detailed juror questionnaire.

Last month when Rader was arraigned, he stood mute as District Judge Gregory Waller entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Rader is scheduled to be sentenced on August 17, reports CBS News Correspondent Erin Moriarty. He can't get the death penalty, because there wasn't one when he committed these murders, but the prosecutor may try for something known as the "Hard 40." If she can show at sentencing that the Davis murder was a particularly horrific crime, Rader will get 40 years with no chance of parole, guaranteeing a life in prison.
Rader was a scout leader well-known in the Wichita area: When caught, he was working as a dog catcher and compliance officer. Before that, he was a census taker and a security system installer.

"Our gut feeling was that he was somebody that hid in plain sight, that he was not somebody that his neighbors would necessarily suspect," former Wichita detective Arlyn Smith, who worked on the case in the late 1970s, told CBS News.

"I'll bet you any amount of money he was in her home chit-chatting," said the victim's son, Jeff Davis.

After Davis' murder, BTK disappeared for 13 years, until last fall when he inexplicably began sending messages again.

"What right did he have to play God with Mom or any of them?" asked Jeff Davis.