The American Serial Killer Guidebook

Season 2 Episode 6 - BTK Strangles Marine Hedge Then Drives Her Nude Body to His Church for a Photoshoot - Murders Vickie Wegerle Then Passes Her Husband in Her Car a Block Away.

Dennis Rader lived in a modest home at 6220 Independence Street in a quiet neighborhood in Park City, Kansas. It’s a neighborhood like any other, with the exception that a serial killer lived there, raising a family and enjoying what many would consider an everyday life. Rader was a friendly, outgoing person who sometimes took walks and would wave and say hello to his neighbors as he passed by, and it was on one of these evening strolls that he spotted Marine Hedge, who lived only six doors down from where he and his family called home.

Over the years, Rader would enjoy his evening strolls, and he often saw 53-year-old Marine Wallace Hedge working in her yard, but she was never too busy to throw him a friendly “Hello” as he and his daughter walked by. Although Dennis Rader and Marine Hedge lived on the same block, he never knew her name until seeing it on the news after he killed her. He often referred to her as “Marie” anytime his wife mentioned her working in her yard. Marine worked as the second-shift supervisor at a coffee shop at Wesley Medical Center, where Rader had seen her a few times, so he dubbed her “Project Cookie.”

On the afternoon of April 26th, 1985, Dennis Rader took his son and Cub Scout pack on an overnight camping trip. It was on this trip that Rader slipped away, drove into town, and took the life of his neighbor of over 30 years. After her death, it took almost a year and a half before BTK would strike again.

At the time, Dennis Rader worked for the security company ADT, and when he wasn’t on a job site, he liked to use his time and company vehicle to cruise the neighborhoods in what he called his “trolling phase,” looking for potential victims. It was one of these afternoon excursions on a warm day in June of 1986 when Rader spotted Vickie Wegerle exiting her gold 1978 Monte Carlo and walking into her house. He took to her instantly and decided to pay her another visit many weeks later.

On a hot evening near the middle of July, Rader parked a few blocks away and took a summer stroll past her house, but as he passed by, he could hear music coming from the open windows. Once he came even to the house, he saw her through the front window sitting at her piano, playing what he considered some of the most beautiful music he had ever heard. At this moment, all other potential projects were put on hold, and BTK made “Project Piano,” as he referred to Vickie Wegerle, his main priority.

Two months later, on September 16th, 1986, around 11 am, Rader, dressed as a telephone repairman, visited Vickie Wegerle’s neighbors, telling them he would be working on the phone lines in the area. He then went to Vickie’s house, where she played piano while her 2-year-old son played in the playpen.

Rader knocked, and after checking on her son, she walked up to the open screen door. He told her he was working on phone lines in the neighborhood, and thinking him legitimate, she let him in. After showing him to the phone near the dining room, Rader pretended to test the line before pulling out his .357 Magnum. Vickie told Rader her husband was on his way home for lunch, so he quickly strangled her before escaping in her car.

Only one block away, while driving home for lunch with his wife and son, Vickie Wegerle’s husband, Bill, noticed an unknown man pass him in his wife’s car.

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