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Kerri Rawson, daughter of Dennis Rader, known as the “BTK Killer,” revealed in an interview that several experts have informed her it is “very possible” her father sexually abused her.
Therapists, criminologists, and other experts had previously indicated the likelihood of abuse, but a journal entry discovered by the Osage County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma provided greater confirmation, according to Rawson.
Rawson mentioned that one of her father’s journal entries from “1981” included the notation “KERRI/BND/GAME,” with BND standing for “bondage.”
“We immediately realized it symbolized my father committing sexual abuse against me when I was around 2 or 2 1/2 years old,” Rawson stated during an interview at CrimeCon in Nashville, Tennessee.
Following trauma therapy, Rawson confronted her father with her discoveries during a visit, showing him a Polaroid he took dressed like a woman and strangling a doll.
“Seeing the photo this summer, I knew that’s what he had done to me,” Rawson said. “I’ve carried this image of something happening when I was little, and I’ve always had issues with my neck.”
Rader, however, denied ever harming his family, calling it a “fantasy.”
“But we know he strangled my brother twice as a young adult. I witnessed it,” Rawson said. “Given my trauma, disassociation, and night terrors, I’m 100% sure he harmed me when I was little.”
Rader, who coined the nickname “BTK,” standing for “Bind, Torture, Kill,” began his spree in 1974, terrorizing the Wichita, Kansas area through the 1970s. A former Air Force sergeant, Rader was married with two children and lived in Wichita for most of his life.
Convicted in 2005 for the murders of 10 people between 1974 and 1991, Rader led authorities and the media on a prolonged cat-and-mouse game. Authorities still believe several missing persons cases are connected to him. Rawson has been aiding law enforcement in their investigations and working as a victim advocate. She has authored two books: “A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love and Overcoming” and “Breaking Free: Overcoming the Trauma of My Serial Killer Father.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
