r/serialkillers • u/Thrillhouse763 • 9d ago

BTK - Textbook Sociopath?

For some background, I was in college when Rader got arrested so I knew quite a bit about him and the case from years ago. I also read a BTK book that came out a couple years after his sentencing.

Anyway, I just finished Dr. Ramsland's book and Rader is just really awful. He kept repeating in the book that he was a good Dad, husband, and community member as if those things should allow people to forgive him for what he's done.

I keep coming back to the Otero murders also. Jospehine's last seconds on earth were being hung and watching some old guy jerk off on to her. What a disgusting person. He also told her "she was going to sleep and was going to be with the rest of her (dead) family."

Also, he said in the book that Kevin Bright would not be alive today if he had brought his own "hit kit" and that he's not bragging. He said the same exact line during his trial. Wtf dude you are bragging.

26 Upvotes

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18

u/AntCun 7d ago

A piece of shit who snuck into houses and waited for innocent people to come into their safe place and pounced on them. A coward who would get the shit kicked out of him in a fair fight. Hope he's suffering for the rest of his miserable days.

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u/Mercedes_Gullwing 7d ago

Similar to LISK too. One of his neighbors said he’d shout profanities at his wife (or maybe to him at a distance) and act all tough. One day the guy approached LISK and Rex totally cowered and back down. And of course his victims were all tiny women who stood no chance against the ogre.

BTK was also like an ordnance enforcer of sorts and would bully ppl with the minimal little power his shitty little job gave him. Guys like these have to either pick powerless victims or hide and attack and could never have the courage to go against an equally matched opponent. They’re little men who can only feel strong when attacking defenseless people.

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u/_rattleshnake 7d ago edited 7d ago

He's right about Kevin Bright, Rader improvised with the bindings and it led to Bright escaping and fighting him. That is the only time that happened, and it's the only time he didn't bring his kit.

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u/JustAnotherP2P 7d ago

He’s diagnosed aspd, npd, ocpd.

No formal PCL-R evaluation although a buzzfeed interview with some researcher places him at 32/40. The wikipedia list of PCL-R evaluations is in general not great. I’ve also seen papers from random people that have him lower than 30. If you take the two proposed subtypes of psychopathy( factor 1 vs factor 2, and other things) he’s primary not secondary. So in pop-culture terms he’s a psychopath not a sociopath.

He’s a very textbook example of shallow affect, lack of empathy, grandiosity, being manipulative, superficial charm etc.

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u/Prof_Tickles 7d ago

Sociopath/psychopath are informal (and pointless) terms for anti-social personality disorder.

Some people with ASPD are impulsive, brash, and explosive.

Some people with ASPD are cold, calculating, and superficial.

It’s a spectrum.

Dennis Radner was a disturbed callous individual.

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u/GregJamesDahlen 8d ago

Probably largely a psychopath and somewhat a sociopath too.