Dennis Rader - Personal Life

Personal Life

Rader attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, earning an associate degree in electronics in 1973. He then enrolled at Wichita State University and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in administration of justice. He married Paula Dietz on May 22, 1971, and they had two children.

Rader worked as an assembler for a camping gear firm and then, from 1974 until 1988, he worked at a Wichita-based office of ADT Security Services, a home security company. He installed alarms as a part of his job, and many of his clients had booked the company to stop BTK from ever entering their homes, unaware that BTK himself was installing them. Rader was a census field operations supervisor for the Wichita area in 1989, prior to the 1990 federal census. He then became a dogcatcher and supervisor in the Compliance Department at Park City. In this position, neighbors recalled him as sometimes overzealous and extremely strict; one neighbor complained that he euthanized her dog for no reason. On March 2, 2005, the Park City council terminated Rader's employment for failure to report to work or to call in. He had been arrested for the murders five days earlier.

Rader was a member of Christ Lutheran Church and had been elected president of the Congregation Council. He was also a Cub Scout leader. On July 26, 2005, after Rader's arrest, Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost waived the usual 60-day waiting period and granted an immediate divorce for his wife, agreeing that her mental health was in danger. Rader did not contest the divorce, and the 34-year marriage was ended. Paula Rader said in her divorce petition that her mental and physical condition has been adversely affected by the marriage.