“Well, I had—did some thinking on what I was going to do to either Mrs. Otero or Josephine, and basically broke into the house –or didn’t break into the house, but when they came out of the house I came in and confronted the family, and then we went from there….After I got in the house it—lost control of it, but it—it was—you know, in back of my mind I had some ideas what I was going to do….I thought Mrs. Otero and the two kids—the two younger kids were in the house. I didn’t realize Mr. Otero was gonna be there….I came through the back door, cut the phone lines, waited at the back door, had reservations about even going or just walking away, but pretty soon the door opened, and I was in….Well, I confronted the family, pulled the pistol, confronted Mr. Otero and asked him to—you know, that I was there to —basically I was wanted, wanted to get the car.

I was hungry, food, I was wanted, and asked him to lie down in the living room. And at that time I realized that wouldn’t be a really good idea, so I finally—the dog was the real problem, so I—I asked Mr. Otero if he could get the dog out. So he had one of the kids put it out, and then I took them back to the bedroom….At that time I tied ’em up…they started complaining about being tied up, and I re—re-loosened the bonds a couple of times, tried to make Mr. Otero as comfortable as I could. Apparently he had a cracked rib from a car accident, so I had him put a pillow down on his—for his—for his head, had him put a—I think a parka or a coat underneath him. They—you know, they talked to me about, you know, giving the car whatever money. I guess they didn’t have very much money, and the—from there I realized that, you know, I was already—I didn’t have a mask on or anything. They already could ID me, and made—made a decision to go ahead and—and put ‘em down, I guess or strangle them. …He moved over real quick like and I think tore a hole in the bag, and I could tell that he was having some problems there, but at that time the—the whole family just went—they went panicked on me, so I—I—I worked pretty quick. …I strangled Mrs. Otero, and then she out, or passed out. I thought she was dead. She passed out. Then I strangled Josephine. She passed out, or I thought she was dead. And then I went over and put a—and then put a bag on Junior’s head and—and then, if I remember right, Mrs. Otero came back….”

Annotation

Describing the 1974 murder of four members of the Otero family. Courtroom confession of Dennis Rader, 6/27/05.

Tagged: Serial Killers, BTK
Appears In: Serial Killer Quotes

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