The grisly story of the deranged killer who inspired characters in such films as Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Ed Gein made chairs and lampshades out of human skin, cut soup bowls from human skulls, and wore a female torso as he wandered his property on moonlit evenings. His crimes became a case study in media frenzy, psychoanalysis, and criminal profiling.
He terrorized the Wichita, KS community in a killing spree that began over 30 years ago. After taunting investigators through the press, the BTK Killer dropped out of sight. But in early 2004, his own ego tripped him up. Now we know that the BTK Killer is Dennis Rader, a regular churchgoer and member of that same community he terrorized for decades. In an unprecedented courtroom confession, the infamous serial killer described 10 of his murders in dispassionate detail. But who is the man behind the BTK Killer, and what made him do it? Through interviews with investigators and experts, people who knew Rader and his victims, and through the words of Rader himself, this special will reveal insights into what drove Rader to become a killer, and how he evaded capture for so many years. Bill Kurtis hosts.