In August 2023, BTK once again made headlines worldwide when he was named the prime suspect in an Oklahoma teen’s 1976 disappearance and a Missouri woman’s killing in 1990. The investigation started with the reexamination of the disappearance of Cynthia Kinney, a 16-year-old cheerleader last seen at a laundromat in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden decided to investigate a possible link between Rader and Kinney's disappearance when he learned that Rader had included the phrase “bad laundry day” in his writings.The investigation includes other unsolved murders and missing persons cases, including the death of 22-year-old Shawna Beth Garber, whose body was discovered in December 1990 in McDonald County, Missouri. She had been raped, strangled and restrained with different bindings. As part of the investigation, police conducted a dig near Rader's former Kansas property in Park City.
Through jailhouse visits, telephone calls, and written correspondence, Dr. Katherine Ramsland, the renowned professor of forensic psychology and author worked with Rader himself to analyze the layers of his psyche. Using his drawings, letters, interviews, and Rader’s unique codes, she presents in meticulous detail the childhood roots and development of one man’s motivation to stalk, torture, and kill. She reveals aspects of the dark motivations of this most famous of living serial killers that have never before been revealed. With exclusive conversations with Rader himself, comprehensive interviews, and access to Rader's drawings and coded diaries all paired with Dr. Ramsland's expertise, we get to know the man behind the moniker, the truth behind the headline and a glimpse at the secrets Rader is still holding onto. BTK-Dr. Katherine Ramsland