An Average Beginning
Dennis Rader in the Air Force
Dennis Rader was born on March 9, 1945 in a quiet corner of Kansas, close to where Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri all meet. As a child, Dennis Rader appeared quite normal and rather unremarkable. He joined the Boy Scouts and participated in church youth group activities. Rader attended Riverview Elementary School, where he was an average student who tended to withdraw from his surroundings. He later admitted to having developed fantasies about bondage, control and torture from an early age while he was still in grade school. As he became sexual, he dreamed of tying girls up and having his way with them. He admits to having killed cats and dogs by hanging them as a youth. One friend said he completely lacked a sense of humor, focusing instead on his studies. In the summer of 1966, at age 21, Rader joined the US Air Force, apparently to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. On May 22, 1971, less than a year after his return to Wichita, Dennis Rader and Paula Dietz were married. In late 1973 he was let go by Cessna, a small aircraft manufacturer. He found himself in a low frame of mind, unemployed, unhappy, with time on his hands. He slipped deeper into the fantasy world he had known since childhood and wanted to know: what would it feel like to strangle somebody to death? He enjoyed "trolling", which consisted of driving or walking around certain neighborhoods or school campuses where there would be women to observe.