Full BTK news coverage

By Roxana Hegeman

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Evil incarnate. A demon. A depraved predator. So evil that Stephen King couldn't have created a more monstrous character.

BTK serial killer Dennis Rader was ordered to serve 10 consecutive life terms Thursday at a hearing that allowed family members to unleash decades of pent-up anger at the man who stabbed and strangled their loved ones while terrorizing the Wichita area starting in the 1970s.

"As far as I'm concerned, Dennis Rader does not deserve to live. I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer," said Beverly Plapp, sister of victim Nancy Fox. "This man needs to be thrown in a deep, dark hole and left to rot. He should never, ever see the light of day ... On the day he dies, Nancy and all of his victims will be waiting with God and watching him as he burns in hell."

The two-day hearing also included rambling, sometimes-tearful testimony from Rader, who apologized to his family and victims, thanked the police, and offered Biblical quotes. Some family members walked out of court during Rader's half hour of testimony, saying they did not want to give him the time of day.

"A dark side is there, but now I think light is beginning to shine," Rader said, his voice choking at times. "Hopefully someday God will accept me."

Rader also went through the list of his 10 victims one by one, drawing comparisons between him and them. He talked about victims who liked dogs when they were kids _ just like him. He talked about how one of his child victims reminded him of his kids. He talked about how one victim went to his high school, albeit at a different time.

"I know the victim's families will never be able to forgive me. I hope somewhere deep down, eventually that will happen," he said.

Jeff Davis, whose mother was strangled by Rader, called Rader's speech a "pathetic, rambling diatribe."

"It's beyond comprehension. It was that pathetic," he said at a news conference with other family members. "He just nauseates me. I just want them to put the cockroach away."

Rader, 60, a former church congregation president and Boy Scout leader, called himself BTK for "bind, torture and kill" during his taunting killing spree that started in 1974 and ended in 1991. He was arrested in February and pleaded guilty in June.

The sentence _ a minimum of 175 years without a chance of parole _ was the longest possible that Judge Gregory Waller could deliver. Kansas had no death penalty at the time the killings were committed.

The sentence was in many ways a formality because Rader was virtually guaranteed to serve a life sentence, but it allowed family members to confront him for the first time in court. The hearing also featured graphic testimony from detectives who outlined Rader's crimes in grisly detail.

"The past couple days the court, the news media and the general public knows what kind of person he is," said Bill Wegerle, husband of BTK victim Vicki Wegerle. "The vicious, cruel individual he is. It's all in the light now. There's no punishment that you can exact upon him that will satisfy our needs."

Capt. Sam Houston of the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office testified about Rader's last known killing _ the strangulation of 63-year-old Dolores Davis in 1991. Rader, who handcuffed Davis and tied her with pantyhose, told police it took two or three minutes for her to die and that fueled his torturous fantasies for years.

"It was this moment that victim was tied and bound," Rader wrote in a journal, according to testimony Thursday by Houston. "He could live in that moment for years."

After Davis was dead, Rader tossed her body under a bridge where it decomposed and apparently was fed on by animals. The defendant returned later to take Polaroid photographs of her wearing a feminine mask Rader himself had worn for his own bondage fantasies.

"I can think of nothing but savoring the bittersweet taste of revenge as justice is served upon this social sewage here before us today," Jeff Davis said.

Investigators also testified that Rader kept hundreds of pictures from magazines and circulars mounted on index cards, with details of the warped sexual fantasies he dreamed of carrying out.

Lt. Ken Landwehr, who coordinated the Wichita police department's investigation into BTK, said the index cards were some of the evidence of Rader's long history of terror that was found at the defendant's office, camper and small suburban home. Landwehr said the cutouts ranged from a little girl posing in a swimsuit to actress Meg Ryan.

Rader's files also included copies of nearly all his messages to police and the media, documents Landwehr said the killer had planned to eventually scan and digitally store, Landwehr said.

Containers kept in a closet and elsewhere at his home also held what Rader called "hit kits" bags with rubber gloves, rope, tape, handcuffs and bandanas.

Rader, sitting through his second day of a sentencing hearing, appeared angry and mumbled at one point during Landwehr's testimony, although Rader's words couldn't be heard.

Defense attorney Steve Osburn told reporters the sentencing hearing served no purpose, calling it "grandstanding" by prosecutors. The defense had agreed to the stiffest sentence at the time he pleaded guilty.

"It is one of the most miserable experiences in my life and I am glad it is over," Osburn said, adding the case was disruptive to his personal and professional life.

Deputy District Attorney Kevin O'Conner said that to suggest the hearing was grandstanding was disingenuous. "The defense is whining," he said.

The community has been listening to Rader for 30 years, and prosecutors had two days, said deputy district attorney Kim Parker.

BTK resurfaced in 2004 after years of silence with a letter to The Wichita Eagle that included photos of a 1986 strangling victim and a photocopy of her missing driver's license. That letter was followed by several other cryptic messages and packages. The break in the case came earlier this year after a computer diskette the killer had sent was traced to Rader's church, where he once served as president.

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