He called himself a monster, but in 31 years of hunting the serial killer known as B.T.K., Wichita police made it clear they were searching for a man who appeared in every way ordinary. On Saturday, they announced they had finally caught him. Dennis Rader, 59, a church-going family man, a Cub Scout leader, a dog-catcher for the trim suburb of Park City, is in custody on suspicion of torturing and killing seven women, one man and two children from 1974 through 1991 —— including two victims linked only this week to B.T.K. Authorities would not discuss the specifics of their investigation into B.T.K. (a name the killer called himself to describe his method: bind, torture, kill). But they have compared Rader’s DNA with the semen that B.T.K. left at several crime scenes. They said they are confident that Rader is the man who terrorized this industrial city for decades, taunting detectives with poems, word puzzles and boastful letters —— including one in which he declared that there was ‘‘no help, no cure’’ for his sadism, ‘‘except death or being caught and put away.’’ Rader’s name had surfaced on a list of possible suspects in the late 1970s .Rader, who is married with two grown children, works as the animal control officer in Park City, a working-class suburb of ranch homes and fast-food restaurants barely 10 minutes north of downtown Wichita. He is also responsible for citing residents who violate municipal codes. While some of his neighbors said he was friendly —— and he was well-respected enough to serve as president of his church council —— others called him mean and arrogant. Police said Rader was arrested as he was driving through a suburb just before noon on Friday.
