After killing Marine Hedge in 1985 and Vicki Wegerle in 1986, Dennis Rader vanished into suburban normalcy for almost twenty years—leading Cub Scouts, serving as church president, and installing home alarms for terrified neighbors. While the task force chased ghosts, he privately curated scrapbooks and fantasized about new victims. In 2004, stung by a newspaper article implying BTK had died or lost his nerve, Rader resurfaced with letters, crime-scene photos, and a floppy disk he believed was untraceable. Digital metadata and his own daughter’s DNA ended the longest cat-and-mouse game in Kansas history, exposing the monster who had hidden in plain sight all along.

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Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eTYeCoYyxm58DXXdoFbHQyWHlWbcH9iKGIefFcQToW4/edit?tab=t.0

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