BTK killer’s daughter ‘sensed’ her father in the Idaho murders
Topics: Crime, News, US News, True crime
Gregory Robinson
Featured Image Credit: Sipa US / Tribune Content Agency LLC / REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Crime, News, US News, True crime
The daughter of a serial killer said she ‘sensed’ her father in the Idaho college murders.
Kerri Rawson followed the details of the Idaho college murders case last year - saying something 'nagged and bothered' her about the case.
She is the daughter of a convicted murderer Dennis Rader, who is also known as BTK or 'bind torture kill'.
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Rader killed 10 people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas between 1974 and 1991. He sent letters to the police and media with details of his crimes.
He resumed his taunting letters in 2004 and was eventually arrested in 2005 and entered a subsequent guilty plea.
Rawson has experienced ‘mental torment’ since he was arrested ‘out of the blue one day in 2005’.
He is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
After witnessing the investigation into the 2022 Idaho murders - in which Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were stabbed multiple times at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho - Rader said there was something she couldn't place about the horrific crime.
“I don’t know if maybe I just sensed my father to some degree. I honestly don’t know,” she told The Independent.
The suspect behind the Idaho killings Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old PhD student in Washington State University's department of criminal justice and criminology, is awaiting trial.
He had gained a Master’s degree in criminology in 2022 from Pennsylvania’s DeSales University. He was taught there by Dr Katherine Ramsland, who happens to be the leading academic authority on the BTK killings.
Rawson shared how her ‘stomach sank’ when she learned about the connection between her father and the Idaho suspect.
Dr Ramsland wrote the 2016 book Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. It was based on hundreds of hours of interviews and phone conversations with Rawson’s killer father.
The book delves into the disturbing details of Rader’s murders.
Rawson - who wasn’t alive between 1974 and 1977 when her father committed his first seven murders - said she refused to take part in the book.
Rawson said Kohberger’s academic background in criminology was disturbing.
She also believes it’s possible that her dad and Kohberger may have been in contact.
She said: “Did he have any contact with my father through letters or possibly phone calls? We don’t know right now. We’re going to need proof of that.”
Kohberger will next be in court on 26 June 2023.