BTK Suspect Pleads Not Guilty to 10 Counts of Murder
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, "Bind, Torture, Kill": The BTK serial killer, Dennis Rader, pleads not guilty to 10 murders that we know of. And tonight, we need your help. A missing college student, 22-year- old Patrick Welsh, last seen April 15 at a train station headed for New York City. Patrick, where are you? And we go live to California and the Michael Jackson child sex trial. Testimony that Jackson`s ex-wife labeled Jackson a sociopath. Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. Thank you for being with us tonight. Sociopath, that is how Michael Jackson`s ex-wife described Jackson, says a detective under oath. So why did Debbie Rowe change her story? Plus, college student Patrick Welsh is missing tonight. Patrick, last seen at a train station in Pennsylvania two weeks ago, headed to New York City. But first, BTK, "Bind, Torture, Kill," it`s a not guilty plea. BTK serial killer suspect Dennis Rader entered by the judge. The former dog catcher set for trial on multiple murders. With us tonight from Memphis, Tennessee, Jeff Davis. You remember Jeff. His mother believed to have been a BTK murder victim in 1991. Also, in Denver, defense attorney Lisa Wayne; in West Palm Beach, Florida, defense attorney Michelle Suskauer; in New York, psychotherapist Lauren Howard. But first, let`s go to Wichita, Kansas. KAKE-TV reporter Larry Hatteberg is with us. Hi, friend. Bring us up-to-date.</s>LARRY HATTEBERG, KAKE-TV REPORTER: Well, I`ll tell you what happened in court today. Dennis Rader stood mute and the judge entered the plea of not guilty today. And there`s one other thing that happened in court that was very interesting, Nancy. For the first time in any of Dennis Rader`s court appearances, as he walked into the courtroom, as the video you showed just a few seconds ago would indicate, as he walked into the courtroom, for the first time, he looked at the gallery and acknowledged the people in it. He`s never done that in court before. You saw that little nod right there. And I was sitting on the front row there in court and caught his eye, and for just a moment, that`s a very -- it`s a very momentous feeling when that happens. Kind of little scary feeling. But that`s the first time that he`s ever acknowledged the people who were looking at him.</s>GRACE: Larry Hatteberg, I think you`re holding back. People that were in the courtroom said he looked at you specifically and nodded.</s>HATTEBERG: Some people have said that. I will tell you that we did make eye contact. Whether or not he was looking at me, I think we would have to ask Dennis Rader that particular question. But we did make eye contact. And then I think his eyes slid past me, perhaps to see who else was in the gallery there, perhaps looking at some of the relatives of some of the victims who were sitting over to my left. But whether or not he made eye contact with me, I think that`s a question we still have to ask Dennis Rader.</s>GRACE: Larry Hatteberg, for our viewers that are not familiar with BTK, "Bind, Torture, Kill," why have police decided on Rader? Why do they believe Rader is the serial killer?</s>HATTEBERG: Well, through a series of things that happened. They caught pictures of his truck at a Home Depot, this following a package being left there that contained parts from another murder. They also traced in his last communication -- they traced a floppy disk to the church where he was president of his church. Plus, they had a DNA sample from his daughter. And that matched in the familia segment. And so all these things put together, they were apparently able to use those to trace and go directly to Dennis Rader. Big story in...</s>GRACE: Larry, if you could describe for us the method of the BTK`s killings. We know of 10 killings that span several decades. Describe.</s>HATTEBERG: Well, bind, torture, kill. That`s what he liked to be known as, and that`s exactly what he did. What he liked and what he enjoyed most of all, this man we call BTK, was the power that he held over the victim. As he was killing the victim, he had incredible power over them. And he certainly enjoyed using that power. And that gave him some sort of sexual satisfaction, to the best of our knowledge, as when he killed. He was a ritual killer. He would go through a little ritual before he actually made the killing. And one of the people who he admired was a guy by the name of Harvey Glatman who was a serial killer who was executed in the 1950s. Harvey Glatman used to take pictures before...</s>GRACE: Oh, God.</s>HATTEBERG: ... before, during and after.</s>GRACE: You know what, Larry? I almost wish I hadn`t asked you. But I know I had to. To Lauren Howard, psychotherapist, does that fit hand-in-glove with the way Rader acted in court today? Walking in and looking out to see what press was there, who was there, what family members of his alleged victims were there watching him?</s>LAUREN HOWARD, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, you have this dichotomy between someone who is enacting this power play, which can only happen from someone who feels completely disempowered. So it`s not surprising to me that he wants to make eye contact. He wants you to see him. In fact, the behavior of a serial killer of this nature is someone who wants to be seen, which is why he`s been sending these packages and notices to the newspaper. He wants to be seen. He screaming out, "See me. Contain me. Find me. Stop me."</s>GRACE: I want to go to a very special guest joining us tonight. Jeff Davis is joining us from Memphis, Tennessee. His mom, Dolores is believed to have been one of the victims of the BTK killer. Welcome, Jeff. Jeff, you know that he did not speak in court today. But he obviously was thrilled there were media there, that there were family members of the alleged victims there all looking at him. What do you have to say to that?</s>JEFF DAVIS, MOTHER KILLED BY BTK: Well, first of all, I`m not surprised that he didn`t say anything. I think it`s fitting. The one thing we know about that cockroach is that the one time he`s not telling lies when his mouth`s shut. So that really didn`t surprise me. I didn`t know that about trying to make some kind of quasi-eye contact with the audience. I would certainly like to have been there, because I have sure been thinking about making eye contact with him.</s>GRACE: You know, Jeff, the death of your mom affected your life in so many ways. Do you plan to go to the trial?</s>DAVIS: Oh, yes. I can`t go through the whole laborious, drawn-out process because I`m trying to manage a life and a career here, but I`ll be back there at least for her portion of the trial. And I`ll definitely be back to hear -- for him to hear my victim`s impact statement. I suspect it will be pretty powerful.</s>GRACE: To Lisa Wayne, defense attorney, joining us. Lisa, the reality is, under the law, when a defendant refuses to enter a plea in court, the judge will automatically enter a not guilty plea for them. This is not a death penalty case. The state cannot seek the death penalty in that jurisdiction for the crime that occurred at the time that it did. So what`s the point? What is the point? This is a mind game, Lisa. He`s just dragging it all out. He`s playing a big game with the victims` families because he doesn`t want to get shipped to the penitentiary. He wants to stay there in the county jail so his friends and his relatives can visit him until he gets a guilty verdict.</s>LISA WAYNE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, you have got to remember something, and this is the most important thing that we have in the Constitution and in our system, OK? That`s the presumption of innocence. So no matter how grizzly and ugly the facts are, how many alleged victims you may have out there, he is presumed to be innocent. And until and unless the state can prove him guilty, he has a right to a trial. So even as ugly and as horrendous as it may seem to us, this is a man who may be innocent. He may not have done all the things that he is alleged to do. And that`s why we have a trial, because we want those safeguards in place. And I know we don`t like it all the time. But that`s the best system in the world.</s>GRACE: Well, I`m certainly not fighting with the founding fathers of the Constitution. But Larry Hatteberg, let me ask you this. What is the evidence against him? I understand that there is DNA. He had possession of one of the victim`s driver`s license that he then sent to police about a decade later after it was taken. You know what that means, Larry? This guy held on to this dead victim`s driver`s license for all these years. And then, just torture the rest of us, or the victim`s family, sent the driver`s license to the cops.</s>HATTEBERG: Well, Nancy, I want to tell you, they have rooms full of evidence, not drawers, not boxes, but rooms full of evidence. Because, as you know, this case has been going on now for some 30 years in Wichita, Kansas. That`s been three decades. That`s an incredibly long time for any case to go on. So the prosecuting attorneys here, the district attorney, Nola Foulston, they have some powerful evidence at their disposal. The person who doesn`t have that evidence yet, of course, is the defendant, the attorney who`s been appointed as his public defender. It`s an uphill battle for him.</s>GRACE: Well, they will have the evidence under the discovery rule, so they`ll have all of the state`s evidence. Very quickly, Michelle Suskauer, we are headed to break, but, you know, this guy, Dennis Rader, had basically gotten away with murder, according to the police. Why make himself known now? Why use the church disk, for Pete`s sake, that fits in the church computer? Why send the driver`s license via the mail? They got DNA off the stamp on the mail. Why now?</s>MICHELLE SUSKAUER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, Nancy, again -- and I agree with Lisa -- that you know, we cannot convict him before his arraignment. He has just been arraigned here. He is presumed innocent.</s>GRACE: Yes. That`s not what I asked you. I asked you...</s>GRACE: ... known now, all these years later. He had beaten the rap.</s>SUSKAUER: You know, Nancy, I can`t get into his mind and say what he wants to do. But the killer, the real killer, whether it`s him or somebody else, always wanted publicity here. So if it was him, this is something that he was always seeking. He was always seeking publicity and was angry when he didn`t get it.</s>GRACE: OK, we are taking a quick break. As you know by now, "Bind, Torture, Kill," a serial killer that terrorized a community for three decades has now been brought to justice, according to police. Today, a not guilty plea in a court of law. Stay with us.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your honor, we have received a copy of the information. We will waive a formal reading. At this time, the defendant would stand mute as to the plea and ask the court to enter the appropriate plea and set the matter for trial.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very well. On the defendant standing mute, the court will enter a plea of not guilty. I will set this matter for jury trial on June 27th, 9 o`clock in the morning. Thank you very much.