The Netflix documentary, debuting October 10th, focuses on Kerri Rawson, whose father, the BTK killer, was responsible for the murders of 10 individuals in the Wichita, Kansas, region from 1974 to 1991, leading to his arrest in 2005.

Rader often employed the phrase “bind, torture, kill” in correspondence sent to local news outlets, challenging them to pursue him, thereby acquiring the moniker “the BTK killer.” His capture ultimately occurred when law enforcement tracked a floppy disk that he mailed to a news station in 2005 back to a Lutheran church where he served in a leadership role. During the search for additional family members, investigators acquired Rawson’s DNA from a Pap smear she underwent at a Kansas hospital; this sample corresponded with Rader’s genetic profile.

Rader is currently serving ten consecutive life sentences for his 10 murder convictions. The documentary expands upon a 2019 memoir authored by Rawson, incorporating discussions with reporters and police officials involved in her father’s case.

This provides Rawson’s account of her upbringing with Rader as her father, along with insight into how she has discovered renewed purpose by assisting law enforcement in identifying other potential victims of Rader.

Finding out the truth

In February 2005, Rawson, then a 26-year-old substitute teacher enjoying a day off, was confronted by police at her residence who inquired if she was aware her father was the notorious “BTK” killer. 

Following her father’s arrest, she recalls her family sharing Kentucky Fried Chicken around a table, with her mother remarking that it felt as though her father had passed away and they were holding a post-funeral gathering.

Initially, subsequent to Rader’s arrest, Rawson informed those curious about her childhood that she was alienated from her father, maintaining discussions as brief and superficial. However, she states in the documentary, “I was suffering immensely inside,” she says in the documentary. “I was concealing my pain. I spent nearly a decade internally decaying after his apprehension.” 

She recollects her thoughts from that period: “I have no idea who my father truly is. What secrets was he keeping? Was he leveraging my family as a cover? It’s challenging to understand myself if my entire existence was built on deception.”

What it’s like to be the daughter of a serial killer

Rawson notes that her father’s disposition appeared to shift after his 1973 layoff from Cessna, yet he successfully maintained the image of an affectionate parent, encouraging her tomboyish nature and involvement in his interests. “He allowed you to be mischievous and get messy,” she states in the film.

Concurrently, a darker aspect of Dennis Rader existed, and his killing spree was just commencing. In January 1974, he suffocated four family members, two of whom were children, within their residence. Several months later, he unlawfully entered a 21-year-old woman’s home and fatally stabbed her. In subsequent crimes, he would collect keepsakes from his victims, such as their undergarments.

Rawson mentions in the documentary that, as a child, she experienced night terrors, enuresis, and a phobia of sleeping in darkness, contemplating if it “was connected to a malevolent presence in the household, akin to a home invasion. That’s what he inflicted upon victims; I never understood its origin. I believe my subconscious was attempting to communicate it to me from a young age, signaling, ‘beware, there’s a dangerous individual’ in my home.”

Given her father’s “bind, torture, kill” mantra, she understood he harbored sexual fantasies he sought to realize with his victims. Following Rader’s arrest, she discovered a notebook from the early 1980s where he described a bathtub bondage scenario involving her name, prompting another troubling inquiry for Rawson: “Did my father sexually abuse me in the bathtub when I was around three?” she probes in the film.

Concurrently, she composed a letter to her father, which she read aloud in the documentary: “I, like everyone else, remained unaware until the police arrived at my door. I attempted to convey to them what a remarkable man you are, what an excellent father you are… but they paid no heed. We do not recognize that other persona, but we cherish the husband and father, the man we know intimately. I pondered if some event occurred to you in your youth and if you wished to discuss it.” Rader promptly replied with a letter, largely evading her inquiries but reiterating his profound affection for her.

Within the documentary, she recounts a disheartening prison visit with him in 2023, lasting over two hours, after an 18-year hiatus. She inquired if additional victims existed, but he declined to answer, asserting his desire for a typical father-daughter conversation. When pressed to clarify the notes he made concerning her and a bondage game, he dismissed them as mere fantasy and insisted he never acted inappropriately towards his family members.

Kerri Rawson’s life now

The documentary concludes with Rawson committing to avoid any future contact with her father. In its closing moments, she is shown having dinner with childhood friends—her inner circle of confidantes.

She remarks, “Everyone is eager to exploit my story—’can we correspond with your father?’—there are only a handful of individuals I can trust now who genuinely wish to connect with me,” she says.

For an extended period, she rejected media requests, dedicating herself to motherhood, preparing meals for her children, and directing a women’s ministry. Despite avoiding interviews, she encountered numerous hostile communications through email and social media, including death threats. Online detractors on Twitter claimed she would have neither a personal life nor a professional one.

Nevertheless, she remains dedicated to championing the cause of crime and trauma victims. Although no further murder indictments have been brought against Rader, she collaborates with law enforcement whenever they probe his potential involvement in other homicides. “If my father has perpetrated additional killings, then it is imperative that we uncover the full truth, and we must do so before my father’s demise.”

However, on most days, she claims she doesn’t dwell on her father’s identity, finding relaxation in watching television and playing fetch with her dog. “I am simply myself,” she declares.