WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - BTK suspect Dennis Rader pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of first-degree murder, admitting to a series of slayings that terrorized the city beginning in the 1970s.

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Rader, 60, of Park City, entered the guilty pleas as his trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

Prosecutors had said before the hearing that no plea deal had been made. Rader was arrested four months ago.

The onetime president of the church council at Christ Lutheran Church and Boy Scout leader, Rader admitted killing 10 people in the Wichita area between 1974 and 1991. The serial killer known as BTK _ the self-coined nickname that stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" _ taunted media and police with cryptic messages.

No sentencing date was immediately set. Rader will not face the death penalty because the crimes were committed before the state adopted a new capital punishment law.

Rader, wearing a beige coat and dark tie, told District Judge Gregory Waller that he understood the charges against him and that he was waiving his right to a jury trial.

"The defense worked with me real well," Rader said. "We went over it. I feel like I'm pretty happy with them."

Asked by Waller if he was pleading because he was guilty, Rader answered, "Yes, sir."

The earliest crimes linked to the BTK strangler date to Jan. 15, 1974, when Joseph Otero, 38, and his 34-year-old wife, Julie, and their 11- and 9-year-old children were found dead in their home.

BTK's next three known victims were young women found strangled in their homes: Kathryn Bright, 21, in April 1974; Shirley Vian, 24, in March 1977; and Nancy Fox, 25, in December 1977.

After years of silence, the killer resurfaced last year with a letter to The Wichita Eagle that included photos of the 1986 strangulation of Vicki Wegerle and a photocopy of her missing driver's license. Her case had not been linked to BTK until then.

The messages became increasingly frequent in the months before Rader's arrest on Feb. 25.

That letter was followed by several other cryptic messages and packages. The break in the case came after a computer diskette the killer had sent was traced to Rader's church.

Rader also is charged with the killings of Marine Hedge, 53, who was abducted from her Park City home on April 27, 1985, and found dead along a dirt road eight days later, and Dolores Davis, 62, who was abducted from her Park City home Jan. 19, 1991. Those deaths were not linked to BTK until Rader's arrest.