Thursday, August 18, 2005

Hide in plain sight

The killer that terrorized Wichita, Kansas and called himself BTK has now delivered his confession. He's plead guilty to 10 counts of murder. He's being sentenced this week.

What's most intriguing about this story is the absolute normality of this guy's life. We have an easier time swallowing the tattooed, satanic, drug using biker as a killer. But the Ted Bundy, the Dennis Rader, the next door neighbor, the guy we see at church dressed exactly like everyone else... that's much harder to accept. This guy's a killer? No way.

Imagine the compartmentalization that had to be going on in Dennis Rader's mind. How do you "act naturally" when you're at home with your wife and kids when you're planning to murder your neighbor? How do you kiss your kids good night when you carry the memory of killing kids their same ages? How do you put those twisted fantasies aside while you mow your yard, wash your car, do the dishes, pay the bills?

I see people sometimes and I think... "something's not right." I think what's scariest is that there are plenty of people who don't set off the internal alarms... and there really is something hiding inside them.

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