remember last year's history projects?.?.?.?...

On August 15, 2005 a local of Witchita, Kansas was sentenced to 175 years in prison, a guaranteed death sentence. The husband of 33 years was the president of his Lutheran church and worked for ADT, an alarm security system company. Police have searched for the man since1974 and not until recently have they been able to discover his identity. This Great Plains native is the serial killer known as his self-appointed nickname, BTK, “Bind, Torture, Kill". Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to the murder of ten people from 1974 to 1991, including the entire Otero family. The police were finally able to capture Rader after viewing an article announcing the 30th anniversary of his first killing. The families were able to confront BTK at the trial, while Rader blamed "Factor X" for his actions.

A century before BTK, another murderer is infamous for his ability to dodge police with his torturous killings, Jack the Ripper. As the idol of many serial killers, Jack the Ripper murdered several women known to be prostitutes in 1888 and to this day remains anonymous. Rader and Jack the Ripper would both leave notes for police at the crime scenes. Although Dennis Rader did not limit his killings to women, he did believe that the girls he killed would rejoin him in heaven as his sex slaves. To aid the men in their ventures, both valued connections within their jobs that allowed them to kill their victims. Rader used the information he gathered at his job with ADT security systems to break into his victim’s homes, while he used his title at church for security. Jack the Ripper is suspected to have been a doctor, or a profession that requires medical knowledge, because of the state of his victim's bodies. Although the killers’ patterns are not identical, the numerous similarities show the common interests and techniques between the two men.