What It’s Like Being the Daughter of the BTK Killer, According to Kerri Rawson

Between the years of 1974 and 1991, Dennis Rader, best known as the BTK Killer, ravaged Wichita and Park City, Kan., killing almost a dozen people and leading police on a wild chase for his identity.

After a decade-plus hiatus, he resumed sending letters in 2004, which led to his eventual arrest and prosecution the following year.

Aside from the tragic number of victims Rader left through his killings, another victim of his actions is his daughter, Kerri Rawson, who was left traumatized by the revelation that her father is a serial killer.

So, where is Rader's daughter now, and is she still working to unpack the complex feelings his conviction brought about? Here's what we know.

The revelation that her father was a serial killer absolutely shook Kerri's life to the core. In a July 2019 interview with ABC, she said that she is in an "extended period of trying to recover," which included the release of a memoir in early 2019 and the relocation of her entire family.

"Our family has moved, embracing a new start for all of us. I still have ongoing battles with PTSD, but am hopeful that I can continue to heal with time and peace," Kerri explained to the network.

She also added that she received a letter from her father in February 2019 saying that he had seen a promo for her memoir, but maintains that she didn't keep in contact with him afterward.

In October 2025, Netflix released a documentary based on Kerri's memoir. Titled My Father, the BTK Killer, it shows Kerri's ongoing struggle with her family's past.

"I don’t know who my father is, what he was hiding," she says in the documentary. "Was he using my family to hide? Was he using us that whole time? It’s hard to know who I am if every moment in my life was a lie."

Beyond the kind of trauma that most people couldn't possibly understand, Kerri also had health issues. On a GoFundMe, a friend revealed that Kerri likely has long COVID, which resulted in a lengthy hospital stay.

They are hoping to raise $6,500 to help with medical expenses. It's worth noting that Kerri doesn't let her father's actions define her.

"I’m a mom ... I’m a normal person. And most days I don't even really think about who my dad is," she says in the documentary.

Kerri explained to ABC that her mother had reached out once her memoir was published.

"She said even though she knew what was coming while reading it, she didn’t want to put it down, but had to at times, due to trauma," she recalled. "She was proud of me, and only wished she had known how much I was suffering... Reading my book helped her and has also helped my family continue to deal with the trauma of the past 14 years."

The author said that when she initially found out that her father had been arrested as the BTK Killer, she couldn't fathom that it was true.

A lone FBI agent came to tell her that he had been arrested, and only after some serious mental unpacking was she able to begin the healing process that she is still undergoing today.