I’ve always been absolutely fascinated by serial killers. Their total disregard for social norms, lack of a moral compass, inability to discern right from wrong, and ability to hide in plain sight are qualities about them that I have always found intriguing. They are masters are deceiving people, especially those closest to them, and absolute experts at creating an air of flamboyance that makes them quite charming to others.
There are some famous ones out there that are wonderful examples of the perfect psychopath, like my personal favorites Dennis Rader, Ted Bundy, or Richard Kuklinski. Of all my favorites, I feel that Dennis Rader was definitely the perfect psychopath. If you’re looking for the perfect serial killer, Dennis Rader is your man. He was ingenious, deceitful, manipulative, and he hid in plain sight. Also known as the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader wins my award for serial killer of the week. He even coined his own name because he became friends with the police officer assigned to his case and made sure he had a public name that would give him credit for his killings. If there was any better example for a grandiose sense of self, Rader is definitely in my list of top 3 for that reason only. He chose the name “the BTK Killer” because of the way he would kill: Bind, Torture, Kill.
Rader not only exhibited this grandiose sense of self quality, he was also quite deceitful and had his own family believe that he was a “great father and husband.” He was the leader of a boy scout troop and was president of Christ Lutheran Church. He was in the public eye and for 30 years, avoided justice. Of course like any smart serial killer, he would space out his killings and would make sure they weren’t in constant succession. One thing that I can’t get over was how he was a pretty geographically stable killer. Most serial killers tend to be more “transient” and will move from place to place to kill so they’re not killing where they live too often. Dennis Rader lived in Wichita, Kansas and he killed in Wichita, Kansas.
He was an active member of the community and was a family man, and he still got away with torturing and killing his victims for decades in the same city he lived in. Probably the most intriguing thing about Dennis Rader is the fact that he tortured and killed his victims, including a family of 2 parents and a little boy and a little girl, and when he confessed his crimes, showed absolutely no remorse for his crimes.
Finding a serial killer to fit the mold of a psychopath is as satisfying as those children’s toys where you select the correct triangle prism to go into the triangle shaped slot. America loves a good serial killer story when it hits the media, but doesn’t realize just how chilling it is that a serial killer could be hiding right in your neighborhood. Dennis Rader was a church member, Boy Scout troop leader, and family man. People would have never suspected him to be a serial killer, and after 30 years of monstrous crimes against people, confessed to his crimes with no remorse. The next serial killer that ends up on the news could likely hold the same background. It would be easy to spot these types of people if they had a giant sticker on their foreheads that warned people against them, but it doesn’t work that way. The best serial killers hide right in plain sight and get away with it for years.
