Serial killers do not want to be caught. They feel they cannot be.

What does the FBI report say about killers wanting to be caught?

The FBI report says offenders gain experience and confidence with each new offense. As a series continues without capture, killers can become empowered, feeling they will never be identified, and may begin to take shortcuts. That often causes them to take more chances, leading to identification by law enforcement. The report’s point is confidence, not a wish to be caught.¹

The FBI published its report on serial murder in 2008.^2,3 Its seventh and last myth is headed “Myth: Serial killers want to get caught.”^1,2

The report starts with experience. Offenders committing a crime for the first time are inexperienced, it says, and they gain experience and confidence with each new offense.¹ Most serial killers plan their offenses more thoroughly than other criminals, but the learning curve is still very steep.¹ They must select, target, approach, control and dispose of their victims.¹

Then confidence turns into error. As serial killers continue to offend without being captured, the report says, they can become empowered, feeling they will never be identified.¹ They may begin to take shortcuts, which often causes them to take more chances, leading to identification by law enforcement.¹ The section ends: “It is not that serial killers want to get caught; they feel that they can’t get caught.”¹

The FBI’s July 2008 story on the report put it in plainer words.³ Over time, it said, as they kill without being discovered, they get careless during their crimes.³

Who was killed in Wichita, and when did contact resume?

Joseph Otero, Julie Otero, Josephine Otero, Joseph Otero Jr., Kathryn Bright, Shirley Vian, Nancy Fox, Marine Hedge, Vicki Wegerle and Dolores Davis were killed in and around Wichita, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991.^1,4,5 Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to their murders in June 2005.^6,7

The FBI report gives the record of his communications. From 1974 until 1988, it says, he sent five communications to the media, citizens and the police, and then abruptly stopped.¹ He re-emerged in 2004 by sending a new communication to the media.^1,8

In March 2004, a letter about the 1986 killing of Vicki Wegerle reached a Wichita newspaper, and police linked it to the series.^9,10 The FBI report counts eleven communications to police and the media during the eleven-month investigation that followed.^1,11

How did a computer disk identify him?

In the weeks before his arrest in February 2005, Dennis Rader asked police whether a floppy disk was traceable to a computer. Police answered through a newspaper classified ad, as he had instructed, indicating it would be safe. Hidden data on the disk he then mailed led police to his church, where he was president of the congregation.^7,11,12,13

The FBI report describes how investigators answered him. FBI behavioral analysts gave the task force a media strategy, it says: the lieutenant in charge of the investigation issued written press releases at critical times, 15 in all.^1,7 During his interrogation, Rader spoke positively about the press releases and his perceived relationship with that lieutenant.¹

In the weeks before his arrest, Rader asked police whether a floppy disk was traceable to a particular computer.^7,13 Police answered with a classified ad in the local newspaper, as he had instructed.^7,11 The answer was a deliberate deception, and Rader later expressed shock that police had lied to him.^7,13

A disk reached a Wichita television station by mail a few weeks later.^7,8,11,12 Hidden data on it led police to a computer at Christ Lutheran Church, and investigators found the name Dennis on it.^7,11,12 An internet search showed that Dennis Rader was president of the congregation.^7,11

DNA testing confirmed the identification.^7,11 Rader was arrested on February 25, 2005.^7,8

Does the disk show he wanted to be caught?

A former Wichita police chief thought so. After the arrest, he said he believed the ultimate goal was for the killer to be caught, and that the pattern at the end was to get himself identified.^8,10

The record points the other way. Rader asked whether a disk was traceable before he sent one.^7,13 The lieutenant who led the task force said Rader had taken pains to delete identifying information from it.⁷ Rader was also planning to kill again.^7,11

The same lieutenant said that sending the disk is what cracked the case.⁷ After the sentencing, the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Rader’s arrogance helped catch him.¹¹ A 2006 account of the investigation reported that nobody who knew the case believed he wanted to get caught. If he had, they pointed out, he had 31 years to turn himself in.⁷

Why does the myth survive?

The FBI report traces the myths to the rarity of serial murder, inaccurate and anecdotal information, and fictional portrayals of serial killers.¹ Much of the public’s knowledge, it says, is a product of Hollywood productions, with story lines created to heighten the interest of audiences rather than to portray serial murder accurately.¹ Law enforcement, it says, is subject to the same misinformation from a different source: anecdotal information.¹ An investigator’s experience may be based upon a single murder series, with the factors in that case extrapolated to other serial murders.¹

The FBI’s 2008 story on the report described the screen version: on television and the silver screen, serial killers are usually white males and dysfunctional loners who really want to get caught.³ A man who mails a disk to a television station fits that story. This disk came from a man who had first asked whether it was traceable.^7,13