BTK serial killer's daughter concerned Idaho massacre suspect had contact with her father

Kerri Rawson, the daughter of Dennis Rader, the serial killer known as "bind, torture, kill" or BTK, said that Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of butchering four University of Idaho students in the early morning on November 13, "could definitely have had communication" with her father through a teacher of Kohlberg's, Dr. Katherine Ramsland.

News Nation's Brian Entin interviewed Rawson and said, "One of the most disturbing aspects of Bryan Kohberger's past is what he was studying, criminology, and who he was studying under at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, Dr. Katherine Ramsland, a serial killer expert, who had a close relationship with serial killer BTK, even writing his autobiography. 

Rawson said, "Personally, my first reaction was just like my stomach turned and I literally physically got ill knowing that there was now a connection back to Ramsland and she connects to my father."

Kohberger was arrested on Friday for the murders of 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle, and her boyfriend 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. BTK killed ten people in the years between 1974 and 1991.

Kohberger was a graduate student at Washington State University pursuing his PhD in criminology and had graduated from Pennsylvania’s DeSales University in June of 2022 with a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice. One of Kohberger’s professors at DeSales was Ramsland, 

Rawson told Entin, "Kohberger could definitely have had communication with my father. Well, obviously we know we studied my father in criminology classes. He probably studied heavier since he had Ramsland as a professor. But we need to find out if there's a deeper connection. It concerns me."

Ramsland wrote, "Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer" which was published in 2016 and, as Entin pointed out, has "appeared in more than 200 crime documentaries." When asked directly by Entin to comment on Kohberger, Ramsland said, "I cannot make media statements about him at this time." 

On Twitter, Rawson said that "Ramsland has, or did have a close academic relationship and friendship with my father" and added, "I have ongoing concerns, knowing how common it is for criminology students, true crime fans, and others to correspond regularly with my father."

Rawson said that her father, like Kohberger, studied criminology and Rader "graduated with a bachelors in Criminal Justice, from Wichita State University, making a mockery of this important field, using his college courses to study his own ongoing murders and get access to LE information in the 1970s."

Rawson added that she hopes justice is served in this case.