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Court Transcript of BTK's Confession - Page 5

The Murder of Kathryn Bright (Cont.)

By Charles Montaldo, About.com

Dennis Rader

Dennis Rader

Park City photo
The Court: All right.

The Defendant: Well, when I started strangling, the – either the garrote broke or he broke his bonds, and he jumped up real quick like. I pulled my gun and quickly shot him. It hit him in the head. He fell over. I could see the blood. And as far as I was concerned, he – you know, I thought he was down and was out, and then went and started to strangle Kath – or Kathryn. And then we started fighting, ‘cause the bonds weren’t very good, and so back and forth we fought.

The Court: You and Kathryn?

The Defendant: Yeah, we fought, uh-huh. And I got the best of her, and I thought she was going down, and then I could hear some movement in the other room. So I went back, and Kevin – No. No. I thought she was going down, and I went back to the other bedroom where Kevin was at, and I tried to restrangle him at that time, and He jumped up, and we fought, and – and he about – at that time about shot me, ‘cause he got the other pistol that was in my should here. I had my magnum in my shoulder. So – And really –

The Court: A shoulder holster?

The Defendant: Hmm?

The Court: Did you have it in a shoulder holster?

The Defendant: Yes, mm-hmm. I had the magnum in my shoulder holster. The other one was a .22.

The Court: All right.

The Defendant: And we fought at that point in time, and I thought it was gonna go off. I jammed the gun, stuck my finger in the – in there, jammed it; and I think he thought that was the only gun I had ‘cause once I eithr bit his finger or hit him or something, got away, and I used the .22 and shot him one more time, and I thought he was down for good that time.

The Court: All right. So you shot him a second time.

The Defendant: Yes, sir.

The Court: Went back to finish the job on Kathryn, and she was fighting. And at that point in time I’d been fighting her. I just – And then I heard some – I don’t know wheter I was lose – basically losing control. The strangulation wasn’t working on her, and I used a knife on her.

The Court: You say you used a knife on her.

The Defendant: Yes. Yes.

The Court: What did you do with the knife?

The Defendant: I stabbed her. She was stab – either stabbed two or three times, either here or here, maybe two back here and one here, or maybe just two times back here.

The Court: And you’re -- you’re pointing to your lower back and your – your –

The Defendant: Yeah, underneath the ribs.

The Court: -- and your lower abdomen.

The Defendant: Yeah, underneath the ribs, up – up under the ribs.

The Court: So after you stabbed her what happened?

The Defendant: Actually I think at that point in time – Well, it’s a total mess ‘cause I didn’t have control on it. She was bleeding. She went down. I think I just went back to check on Kevin, or at that basically same time I heard him escape. It could be one of the two. But all the sudden the front door of the house was open and he was gone, and – Oh, I tell you what I thought. I thought the police were coming at that time. I heard the door open. I thought, you know, that’s it; and I stepped out there, and he – I could see him running down the street. So I quickly cleaned up everything that I could and left.

The Court: All right. Now, Mr. Rader, you indicated that at the Oteros you did not have a mask on. Did you have a mask on at the Bright’s?

The Defendant: No. No I didn’t, huh-uh.

The Court: All right. So what happened then?

The Defendant: I tried – I had –already had the keys to the cars, and I thought I had the right key to the right car. I ran out to their car, what – I think it was a pickup out there. And I tried it, didn’t work; and at that point in time I was – he was gone, running down the street. I thought well, I’m in trouble, so I tried it, didn’t work. So I just took off, ran. I went down – went east and then worked back toward the WSU campus where my car was parked.

The Court: All right. So you had parked your car at the Wichita State University –

The Defendant: Yes, sir.

The Court: -- campus?

The Defendant: The campus, uh-huh.

The Court: How far away were – was the Brights’ residence?

The Defendant: Oh, I parked – What is that? 13th? And their – I want to say their – I parked by that park, and then I walked to 13th to the Brights’ residence. So I basically ran back.

The Court: All right. So you were able to get to your car and get away.

The Defendant: Yes, sir.

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