BTK suspect charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder

WICHITA, Kan. -- Dennis Rader, the churchgoing family man and Cub Scout leader accused of leading a double life as the BTK serial killer, was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

Rader made his first court appearance by videoconference from his jail cell. During the brief hearing, Rader stood behind a podium, his hands folded at times, at others leafing through a copy of the charges against him. He told the judge he is married and was employed with the city of Park City, and said "Thank you, sir" at the end of the hearing.

About a dozen family members of victims were in the courtroom, but they did not speak to reporters. Rader was accompanied by a temporary attorney, and the judge appointed the state's public defender office to represent him.

The BTK killer, whose nickname stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill," was suspected of eight deaths beginning in 1974, but authorities said they had linked two additional victims to the serial killer.

It appears unlikely Rader will face the death penalty. He has yet to be charged with a slaying that occurred after 1994, when Kansas passed its capital punishment law. Additionally, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that law unconstitutional in December over a provision on how juries weigh evidence for and against execution.

Authorities have declined to say what led them to the 59-year-old Rader, a married father of two, scout leader and active member of a Lutheran church.

However, there were indications a computer disk BTK sent to the television station KSAS provided a key piece of evidence that led police to Rader.

Scott Robertson, an assignment editor for the station that produces KSAS' news broadcast, told The Associated Press a package the station received Feb. 16 contained the disk as well jewelry that may have been from one of the victims.

Pastor Michael Clark of Christ Lutheran Church -- Rader's church -- also said police asked him for a list of people who had access to the church computer. On Friday, he provided 10 or 15 names, including Rader's, he said.

Rader has asked for Clark to visit him in jail, but he hasn't been able to arrange a meeting, the pastor said.

Meanwhile, investigators with the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office spent another day using metal detectors along a road in Park City. Sheriff Gary Steed said they are looking for evidence connected to new information developed by the task force investigating the BTK killings. He declined to specify the information.

New details of the investigation also emerged from Michigan. The Wichita Eagle and The Daily Oakland Press of Pontiac, Mich., reported Tuesday that FBI agents had visited the Farmington, Mich., home of Rader's 26-year-old daughter, Kerri, on Friday to get a DNA sample.

The timing indicated she was not visited until after her father had been arrested that same day in Kansas, the Eagle said, suggesting her DNA helped confirm his identity but was not the original break in the case as some initial reports had suggested.

Charles Nebus, police chief in Farmington, said the FBI told him they were conducting an interview Friday in the city in connection with the BTK case. Nebus told The Associated Press that he didn't tell the newspapers a DNA test was being conducted.

Jeff Rader told The Wichita Eagle that no one in the family believes his older brother is the BTK serial killer.

"I don't think my brother is BTK," he said. "But if he is -- if that's the truth -- then let the truth be the truth. And may God have mercy on his soul."

A preliminary hearing was set for March 15.

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Associated Press writer Roxana Hegeman contributed to this report.