Dennis Rader - Post-arrest Notoriety and Profit

Post-arrest Notoriety and Profit

• On July 22, 2005, a controversy erupted on CNN's Nancy Grace show over a poem that Dennis Rader had written that was passed on to someone who then sold it on an auction site that specializes in serial killer memorabilia. The poem was titled "Black Friday," an ode to the day he was arrested. The poem expressed Rader's unhappiness about being caught, with one of the verses proclaiming, "The dark side of me has been exposed."
• On August 12, 2005, Dateline NBC aired Confessions of BTK.

Massachusetts psychologist Robert Mendoza, who had been hired by Rader's court-appointed public defenders to conduct the psychological evaluation earlier in the case to determine if an insanity-based defense might be viable, conducted an interview after Rader pled guilty on June 27. NBC claimed Rader knew the interview might be on TV, but that was a false statement according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Department. Rader mentioned the interview during his sentencing statement. On October 25, 2005, the Kansas attorney general filed a petition to sue Robert Mendoza and Tali Waters, co-owners of Cambridge Forensic Consultants, LLC, for breach of contract, claiming they intended to benefit financially from the use of information obtained from involvement in Rader’s defense. On May 10, 2007, Mendoza settled the case for $30,000 with no admission of wrongdoing. The Kansas Attorney General's office arranged for the settlement money to be distributed to families of the victims.