Kerri Rawson, the Daughter of Serial Killer BTK: Fast Facts You Need To Know

Kerri Rawson is the daughter of the infamous Bind-Torture-Kill serial killer, Dennis Rader, and an advocate for abuse, trauma and crime victims.

Rawson, who lives in Michigan with her husband, two children and two cats, according to her biography, wrote a book about her life growing up as Rader’s daughter before and after his crimes were discovered.

Rader killed ten people in Wichita, Kansas, including two small children, between 1974-1991. He also sent taunting messages to the police before he was caught and confessed in 2005.

Rawson is featured on the Investigation Discovery’s Nine at 9 Series.

Here’s what you need to know:

Rawson’s Childhood Was Mostly Normal

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In interviews, Rawson has said that her childhood was fairly normal. “We were pretty much an all-American family,” she told a CTV News reporter, describing how he was mostly a good father and as a family, they would attend church every Sunday.

Growing up, Rawson said Rader was very protective, CBC Radio reported. She said he taught her to make people prove who they were by showing their identification, be wary of strangers and hold her keys between her fingers while walking alone at night.

She also said that he helped her build a treehouse and taught her outdoor survival skills, according to CBC Radio. “We camped, we fished, we hiked, I walked the dog with him,” she said in her CTV News interview.

However, Rawson said that her father also occasionally showed his more sinister side:

In hindsight, now, we can see where he had flashes of anger, he was controlling, he could be verbally abusive at times and there were two incidents of physical violence against my brother when he was older. I’m afraid my family dismissed it and just thought that was the worse we would ever have from my father. And we didn’t really ever address it or talk about it.

Rawson Was 26 When She Discovered Her Father Was A Serial Killer

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Rawson said she learned the news about her father on February 25, 2005, from a man who had been parked outside her apartment in Farmington, Michigan for an hour, CBC Radio reported.

When he came to the door and announced that he was an FBI agent, a suspicious Rawson asked to see his ID, CBC Radio reported. After she let him in, she was standing in the kitchen staring at a chocolate bundt cake when the agent told her that her father — a stamp collecting Cub Scout leader — had been arrested in Kansas and was accused of being the serial killer, BTK.

Rawson told Esquire that the news came as a shock:

My mom and I have both said, early on, if we had known, we would’ve gone screaming out the door, running to the police. It’s not like you’re going to sit there and make dinner for the guy after finding out he’s murdered 10 people. [We] didn’t know we were living with a psychopath. They’re really good at hiding… I mean, my mom lived with him for 34 years, and 90, 95 percent of the time, he was a good, loving father and husband.

She told the magazine that the last time she saw her father was during the holidays, when she gave him a hug and inhaled the scent of Old Spice. After the agent left the home, Rawson said she took down a family photo of him that had been on their wall and stored it in her closet because she couldn’t bear to look at her father.

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