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'20/20 on ID Investigates: My Father BTK': Release date, plot and all you need to know about the special on Dennis Rader

The uncovering of Dennis Rader as the BTK killer was shocking, especially to his daughter, Kerri Rawson

Between 1974 and 1991, a serial killer who dubbed himself the "BTK killer" killed ten people in the Wichita, Kansas metro area. BTK stood for the killer's modus operandi -- "bind, torture, and kill."

For many years, the identity of the BTK killer remained unknown, but a seemingly innocent piece of paper caught between pages of an engineering textbook at the Wichita Public Library in 1974 proved to be the start of a cat-and-mouse hunt of the self-dubbed BTK Killer, Dennis Rader. A portion of the letter said, "I can't stop it so the monster goes on and hurts me as well as society. ... It's a big complicated game my friend the monster play, putting victims number down, follow them, checking up on them, waiting in the dark, waiting, waiting…” When the killer resumed sending letters in 2004 to the police and the newspapers after a decade-long hiatus, Rader's time was finally up.

The uncovering of Rader as the BTK killer was shocking, especially to his daughter, Kerri Rawson. In the latest special from Investigation Discovery, Rawson comes to terms with her father's horrific crimes. Read on to know more details.

Release date

'20/20 on ID Investigates: My Father BTK' will air on Investigation Discovery on May 30 at 9/8c. This special is a part of ID PRESENTS: NINE AT 9, with new premieres running nightly at 9 pm ET on Investigation Discovery.

Plot

Kerri Rawson had an idyllic life growing up in Wichita, Kansas, with her father, mother, and brother. During her childhood, a serial killer going by the name “BTK” was terrorizing the Wichita community. The moniker came from the way the killer would murder his victims. He broke into their homes where he would bind, torture, and kill his victims. Kerri remembers her father assuring her that the serial killer taunting their hometown would not hurt her.

Years later, a knock at the door and a visit from the FBI would lead Kerri to learn that the man who raised her was engulfed in a horrifying double life. Her father, Dennis Rader, was positively identified as the BTK Killer. This special installment of '20/20' features Kerri as she comes to terms with the horrific truth about her father.

Cast

The special features Dennis Rader's daughter, Kerri Rawson.

If you like this, you'll like:

'I Survived BTK'

'BTK: A Killer Among Us'

'Serial Killer Culture'

'Mindhunter'

'The Hunt for the BTK Killer'