BTK: Bind. Torture. Kill.

1. Episode 01 — “The Boy in the Barn”

1 min. 17 sec.

A quiet man in a quiet town killed ten people over thirty-one years — and nobody around him ever suspected a thing. BTK:…

A quiet man in a quiet town killed ten people over thirty-one years — and nobody around him ever suspected a thing. BTK: Bind. Torture. Kill. traces the double life of Dennis Rader, a Kansas husband, father, Cub Scout leader, church council president, and compliance officer who secretly stalked, bound, and murdered his neighbours while installing their home alarm systems for a living. Told entirely through narration across twenty episodes, this micro-drama series follows Rader from his disturbed childhood fantasies through his methodical first kills, his decades of hiding in plain sight, his fatal need for public recognition, and the two words buried in a floppy disk's metadata that ended everything. No dramatised dialogue. No sensationalism. Just the facts of how an ordinary-looking man became one of the most chilling serial killers in American history — and how his own ego delivered him to justice.

2. Episode 02 — “Factor X”

1 min. 16 sec.

As a teenager, Rader gives his dark impulses a name — Factor X — and treats them like a separate entity living inside hi…

As a teenager, Rader gives his dark impulses a name — Factor X — and treats them like a separate entity living inside him. He indexes his fantasies into 'projects,' collects bondage imagery, and graduates high school without anyone noticing. After a brief college stint he joins the U.S. Air Force and spends four years overseas, letting Factor X grow quietly behind a military uniform.

3. Episode 03 — “The Wife”

1 min. 24 sec.

In 1971, Rader marries Paula Dietz, a devout Christian woman, and settles into a small ranch house in Park City, Kansas.…

In 1971, Rader marries Paula Dietz, a devout Christian woman, and settles into a small ranch house in Park City, Kansas. He takes a factory job, enrols in a criminal justice degree at Wichita State, and begins attending Christ Lutheran Church every Sunday. Behind the new-husband routine, he is already following women in his car at night and selecting targets. Paula is three months pregnant when he commits his first murder.

4. Episode 04 — “The Otero House”

1 min. 12 sec.

January 15, 1974. Rader cuts the phone line at 803 North Edgemoor Street and walks into the home of the Otero family — r…

January 15, 1974. Rader cuts the phone line at 803 North Edgemoor Street and walks into the home of the Otero family — recently arrived from Panama. Armed with a pistol and his pre-assembled 'hit kit,' he ties up Joseph, Julie, nine-year-old Joseph Jr., and eleven-year-old Josephine, then kills them one by one. He photographs the youngest victim before leaving through the back door into a quiet Wichita morning.

5. Episode 05 — “Bind. Torture. Kill.”

1 min. 10 sec.

A clinical breakdown of what happened inside the Otero house. Joseph fights through a plastic bag and nearly breaks free…

A clinical breakdown of what happened inside the Otero house. Joseph fights through a plastic bag and nearly breaks free. Julie begs for her children. The two youngest are bound and killed in separate rooms. Rader poses Josephine's body in the basement and takes photographs. He walks out with a wristwatch and a radio. The older Otero brothers come home from school and find everything. Wichita police have no leads.

6. Episode 06 — “The Brother Who Lived”

1 min. 17 sec.

Three months later, Rader breaks into the apartment of twenty-one-year-old Kathryn Bright — but her nineteen-year-old br…

Three months later, Rader breaks into the apartment of twenty-one-year-old Kathryn Bright — but her nineteen-year-old brother Kevin is unexpectedly home. Kevin fights back and is shot twice in the head but survives, becoming the only living eyewitness to BTK during a kill. Rader stabs and strangles Kathryn before fleeing. Kevin's description — 'psychotic eyes' — becomes the first physical profile of the killer.

7. Episode 07 — “He Named Himself”

1 min. 23 sec.

Nine months after the Otero murders, Rader hides a letter inside a library textbook and calls the Wichita Eagle to tell…

Nine months after the Otero murders, Rader hides a letter inside a library textbook and calls the Wichita Eagle to tell them where to find it. The letter describes the killings in detail only the murderer could know and introduces the name he has chosen for himself: Bind. Torture. Kill. — B.T.K. He has branded his own identity as a serial killer, then goes home to his wife and Cub Scout meetings.

8. Episode 08 — “The Kids in the Bathroom”

1 min. 10 sec.

March 1977. Rader breaks into the home of twenty-six-year-old Shirley Vian Relford while her three young children — ages…

March 1977. Rader breaks into the home of twenty-six-year-old Shirley Vian Relford while her three young children — ages five, six, and eight — are present. He locks the children in the bathroom with toys and snacks, then slowly strangles their mother in the next room. When the phone rings he panics and runs. The eight-year-old breaks the bathroom door open and finds his mother's body.

9. Episode 09 — “The Phone Call”

1 min. 13 sec.

December 1977. Rader breaks into the home of twenty-five-year-old Nancy Fox while she is at work and waits for her insid…

December 1977. Rader breaks into the home of twenty-five-year-old Nancy Fox while she is at work and waits for her inside. He strangles her with her own belt, takes her driver's licence, then walks to a payphone and dials 911 to report his own crime. The flat, calm recording of his voice is played on local news. His own mother hears it and tells him it sounds like him. He laughs it off.

10. Episode 10 — “The One Who Wasn't Home”

1 min. 25 sec.

April 1979. Rader breaks into the home of sixty-three-year-old Anna Williams and waits in the dark for hours with his bo…

April 1979. Rader breaks into the home of sixty-three-year-old Anna Williams and waits in the dark for hours with his bondage kit. She never arrives — her car has broken down and she stays with a friend. Weeks later, she receives a letter from BTK describing exactly what he had planned for her, with a piece of her own jewellery enclosed as proof. Anna Williams moves away from Wichita and lives another thirty years.