My Boss was the BTK Killer: I was the Next Victim

by Mary Capps, Jim Dobkins (Contributor)

Mary Capps worked 6-1/2 years under the supervision of Dennis Rader in the Compliance Department for the City of Park City, Kansas. Rader was her boss until his arrest in February 2005 as the BTK (Bind Torture Kill) serial killer, confessing ten brutal murders, over 17 years, 1974 to 1991. The realization that he had targeted her as his eleventh victim, sent her into Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

She reveals things about Dennis Rader not previously made public, including the time her aunt, and another Park City employee, saved his life; how he terrorized her on the job; how he might have been poisoning her; and documents why she believes she was Project Broadwater - Dennis Rader's intended eleventh murder victim.

Capps reveals why Park City Management unfailingly sided with her supervisor instead of her when she filed grievances about her boss' erratic, intimidating behavior towards her. She interweaves the despicable acts of Rader with events happening simultaneously in her life; from little girl daydreams to tormenting nightmares. Capps gives a unique insight into the man and monster before his exposure as BTK.

Mary Capps began having horrible nightmares, and premonitions of impending danger, during the final months she worked under Rader's supervision. Those nightmares intensified when she realized he had been planning to murder her. It was her own Nightmare on Elm Street -- she desperately needed sleep but was afraid to sleep because she knew what awaited her.

And what about the physical symptoms she experienced many times during the afternoons . . . after feeling fine when she went to work? The leg cramps. The sudden trouble breathing. The unexpected loss of memory -- all symptoms like those caused by a certain illegal date rape drug. Was her boss poisoning her? Mary gives two plausible ways he could have done so. Was it a miracle when all of the symptoms cleared up immediately after her last day of working with him? Mary does not think so.

Genres: True Crime

Paperback

First published June 15, 2007

Reviews

[Brenna]

Only Mary Capps could have written this book.

Part memoir, part thriller, this book combines the most unlikely of the two genres. Mary "Mary Nova" Capps worked under Dennis "BTK Killer" Rader, the notorious Kansas serial killer, as a compliance officer. Throughout her six and a half year tenure, she felt as if Rader had singled her out for death. One year, for Christmas, Rader gave her an ornament of a snowman wearing a hat and scarf. "I look back on certain incidents," Mary Capps writes, "and wonder how close Dennis [Rader:]was to choking the crap out of me."

(Fortunately for her, the killer was arrested before he ever got the chance to choke the crap out of her.)

Mary Capps has bad dreams, and recounts several of them for posterity to demonstrate how her subconscious was warning her of the impending doom. Mary Capps has circumstantial evidence to show that Rader was poisoning her Diet Pepsi with "tranq" (the substance used by compliance officers to tranquilize aggressive dogs). Mary Capps would also come home to find her front porch light regularly unscrewed. And once, Rader stood in front of her office door in a menacing manner. All of this leads to her case that Mary Capps was hand-chosen by Rader as his eleventh victim. Indeed, she has her mother's assent on this point.

"No, I wasn't murdered," Mary Capps admits, "but I sure in hell am a surviving victim." In fact, he even gave her a negative work performance review prior to his arrest - a review the municipality of Park City allegedly refuses to expurge from its files.

But this book isn't entirely about Dennis Rader and his crimes against Mary Capps. Mary Capps also shares some of her own biography with readers: she grew up with "Happy Days" on television, and listened to Bruce Springsteen in 1978 (after growing weary of Paul McCartney's Wings). She went through several serious relationships, and other personal crises. And as a treat for the reader, she delves into some intimate personal moments between her and her three children: "Our joke between my boys and myself is that I tell them, 'Don't make me get a ladder so that I can slap you.' And then we bust up laughing. One, because of the joke; and two, because I probably only ever struck my three children once or twice in their lifetime, but I can yell! That's another joke between the boys. I won't hit them, but I can sure scare the hell out of them when I raise my voice, that's when they know I mean business."

And with this book, Mary Capps truly does "mean business."

Although tormented on a daily basis by her psychotic boss, Mary Capps also takes the time to share a little seen side of Dennis Rader: his perceived sense of humour. In one instance, when Mary Capps was ordered to condemn a home which was soiled with "three inches of cat poop on the stove, and on the floor in every room," Rader acknowledged her efforts with a bumper sticker that read: SO MANY CATS, SO FEW RECIPES.

One criticism I have read of this book is that Mary Capps delves into her own history as well as into the specifics of the case. While it is true that there is a lot of focus on the author, perhaps an answer can be found between the lines: "In short," Mary Capps writes, "Dennis Rader is all about Dennis Rader."

Why, then, should Mary Capps be all about Dennis Rader, and not herself to some extent? Too many people have called her crazy in her lifetime - and finally Mary Capps has the means to show them who the crazy one really is.

[Jane Doe]

I felt at times that the author did ramble a bit too much about her personal life, but I do recognize this is her story.

This book really opened my eyes to the corruption within the Park City police department that I priorly wasn’t aware of and it also affirmed stories I have heard from those I know about their experiences with BTK.

BTKs actions and behavior towards this woman is not much different to the stories I’ve been told by people around me who knew him. Which to hear the way she was treated really put it deeper into perspective for me the kind of person he was.

I also liked that some of the transcripts from the court videos that are many hours long have been included in this book. I find they give you an idea of his mens operandi and how he viewed many of his victims.

I definitely would recommend this book.

[Franquis Vegas]

The police and FBI informed the final victim (PJ Broadwater) that they were the intended target, and they also contacted anyone he stalked previously - desperately trying to find a body (while hoping not to find one) after the death penalty came back into affect. I don't know why this person feels she was PJ Broadwater when nothing here says she was informed of such by the investigators on the taskforce.

[Robin Santley]

A quick read. The story is compelling (which is what kept me from DNF-ing it) but the book is very poorly structured and full of grammar and spelling errors. Also, huge chunks of it are merely regurgitating conversations. You are given very few details (and not until close to the end of the book) about why the author believes she was to be "victim 11" of BTK. Based on the little information she gives, it's very likely true that he planned to m*rder her, but it's hard to know for sure.

[Elisha R]

A bit whiny and long winded at times, but overall it was super interesting! It gave a little inside look at BTKs personal life and behaviours from someone that actually worked with him. As a fan of true crime, I was satisfied with this read.

[Vanessa]

Reads like someone mad at their work..with good reason...but a lot of her btk stuff is circumstantial.

[Dee Carter]

I loved this look from someone who worked with BTK. It was another way at looking into this. I enjoyed the timeline showing between reader and the BTK incidents.

[Caylee]

I have no idea how she worked with this man for 6 and 1/2 years.