As a member of the Wichita Police Department during the BTK serial killer's emergence, Baldwin Police Chief Mike McKenna calmly acknowledged that he approved of Thursday's significant events in the case.
After he confessed publicly in June to the brutal acts, Dennis Rader on Thursday learned his fate: nine life sentences and one of 40 years in prison without possibility of parole for the murders beginning in 1974 that left 10 dead and terrorized the Wichita area for decades.
"When my assistant called me in Washington, D.C., and told me that the sentence was handed down, in my personal feeling, I thought that it was appropriate," McKenna said Thursday night minutes after he returned to Baldwin from a law enforcement conference in the nation's capital.
McKenna served extensively in Wichita for 24 years, and he said he was personal friends with many investigators who testified during the two-day sentencing.
While the Baldwin chief said the punishment didn't surprise him, he hoped it could bring closure for the victim's families.
"The public got to see some of the types of things that went through this man's mind." McKenna said of the testimony from investigators.
As another area man who has followed the BTK case closely, Bob Basow from his Kansas University office Thursday said he was relieved after he scanned news coverage of the sentencing.
"In (Rader's) alleged apology, he expressed appreciation to the jailer, but he said what you thought he would say, describing a certain sense of accomplishment, not remorse," said Basow, a KU journalism professor and Wichita resident until he was 18.
Basow was the focus of a June 28 Journal-World report because he suspected Rader was connected to a December 1980 attack on his mother who was bound and robbed in her home.
Despite the suspicions, "I have no solid evidence that there was any connection between Dennis Rader and the attack on my mother," Basow said.
While he has not heard back from investigators, Basow has obtained archived copies of media reports of his mother's attack.
Becky Basow survived, though one finger was broken, and her rings were stolen. She freed herself and made it to the icy front yard to call for help, Basow said.
She described two attackers, but Basow had his own suspicions.
When Rader was arrested in February at his Park City house, Basow found his family's home was five miles from Rader's.
A Wichita native, Basow also said he hoped the victim's families could now gain closure. But if given a chance, he would dig deeper into his own mystery.
"If they ever let people look through Rader's collection, I'd like to see if my mother's rings are in his stash," Basow said.
And as an investigator once close to the case, the Baldwin Police Chief remembered a comment he made shortly after Rader was arrested that he only wanted to see Rader exit prison horizontally and in a box.
"I think that's the way he will now come out of prison," McKenna said.
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