After the immense success of Monster season 3, which explored a fictionalised account of Ed Gein’s gruesome life, Netflix has once again captured audiences with another terrifying true-crime story — this time, without any embellishment. The new docuseries My Father, the BTK Killer delves into the chilling real-life crimes of Dennis Rader, better known as the BTK Killer, through the emotional perspective of his daughter, Kerri Rawson. But perhaps the most haunting part of this narrative is the story of his wife, Paula Dietz, who unknowingly lived beside one of America’s most sadistic murderers for more than three decades.
To everyone around her, Paula Dietz seemed to have built a perfect suburban life. Born in 1948 in Park City, Kansas, she was raised in a traditional, church-going household by an engineer father and a librarian mother. Gentle, soft-spoken, and deeply religious, Paula followed a modest path that revolved around faith, family, and community. After completing her degree in accounting from the National American University in Wichita, she met Dennis Rader at church in 1970. He appeared to be the picture of stability — polite, responsible, and grounded. The two married a year later, in 1971, and soon started a family, welcoming their son, Brian, in 1974, and daughter, Kerri, in 1978.
Their lives seemed ordinary and fulfilling. Dennis worked as an electrical technician and later as a compliance officer, while Paula managed the home, volunteered at church, and handled the family’s finances. Neighbours saw them as an ideal couple — active in the community, present in church every Sunday, and raising well-mannered children. What no one, especially Paula, knew was that while she slept beside him each night, Dennis Rader was leading a horrifying double life.
Just six weeks after the birth of their first child, in January 1974, Dennis began his killing spree. His first victims were the Otero family — Joseph, Julie, and their two young children — brutally murdered in their own home. Over the next 17 years, Rader continued to kill, targeting innocent victims across Wichita while meticulously hiding his crimes from everyone around him. During this entire period, Paula remained completely unaware of his dark secrets. She continued to see her husband as a loving father, often teasing him about his poor spelling — never realising that the police were receiving taunting letters from the same man she was married to. Once, when reading about the BTK Killer’s spelling errors, she even joked, “You spell just like BTK,” oblivious to the horrifying truth behind her words.
Everything changed on February 25, 2005. After years of cat-and-mouse games with the police, Dennis Rader was arrested at his workplace when investigators traced a computer disc he had sent to a local TV station back to his church computer. The revelation shattered Paula’s world in an instant. The man she had loved and built a life with turned out to be one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. She filed for an emergency divorce, which was granted within months, and completely cut ties with him.
My Father, the BTK Killer revisits this devastating chapter through the eyes of Rader’s daughter, Kerri Rawson, offering a deeply human perspective on the unimaginable — what it means to love someone who harboured such evil. At its heart, the series is not just about murder, but about deception, trauma, and the ripple effects of living in the shadow of a monster hidden in plain sight.