euthanized her dog for no reason."

Not only was Rader an member of Christ Lutheran Church, but he was elected president of the church council and served as a Cub Scout leader.

Rader nervously entered the home expecting to find Julie, 33, and possibly her two young children, Joe Jr., 9, and Josephine, 11. Unexpectedly, he also found Joseph Otero, 38, also at home, along with the family dog. He suffocated all four members of the family in the master bedroom before taking Josephine to the basement where he hung her and ejaculated on her bound, dead body. Their bodies were found later that same day by the Oteros' 15-year-old son, Charlie.

Eventually, the DNA samples he left at the scene of this crime and others would be use in court.And while the murders of the Otero family did not go as smoothly as he had planned, they did establish his pattern of behavior: Binding, torturing, and killing.

4. His desperate need for attention is particularly noteworthy.

"In October 1974, Rader placed a letter in a public library book in which he took responsibility for killing the Oteros. The letter ended up with a local newspaper, and the poorly written note gave authorities some idea of who they were dealing with. Rader wrote, 'It's hard to control myself. You probably call me 'psychotic with sexual perversion hang-up.' He warned that he would strike again, noting, 'The code words for me will be bind them, torture them, kill them, B.T.K.' The initials stuck, and the murderer came to be known by