Netflix has a new true-crime doc, but it is not another greatest-hits reel for a serial killer. My Father, the BTK Killer centers the person who had the most to lose when Dennis Rader was unmasked: his daughter, Kerri Rawson.
What the film actually follows
Rader was arrested in 2005. The world was stunned; Kerri was newly married, pregnant with her first child, and suddenly learning her dad was the BTK killer. The documentary sticks with her as she revisits that shock, sifts through the strange memories of her childhood, and tries to build a life that is not defined by the worst thing her father ever did.
Over the years, Kerri has tried to turn pain into something useful. She worked with investigators to help tie possible cold cases to Rader. But the doc makes it clear she is closing the door on being the public translator of her father’s crimes. This film is her final word on it.
The prison visit that changed everything
One of the film’s heaviest stretches follows Kerri’s visit to Rader behind bars. Things escalated when she pressed him about whether he might be connected to additional crimes. In the documentary, she calls their relationship fraught and constantly shifting, but that visit pushed her to set hard boundaries.
Director Skye Borgman told Netflix’s Tudum that after filming wrapped, Kerri has kept her father at arm’s length and stepped back from serving as a go-between for law enforcement. That choice is less about cases and more about survival — her healing cannot depend on whatever he does or does not decide to share.
"Since that visit, she’s kept the relationship at a distance. She has chosen not to maintain contact."
Borgman also frames the film as a true endpoint for Kerri — a way to move forward without carrying Rader’s shadow into every part of her life.
How the filmmakers earned the story
Borgman, who also directed Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and American Murder: Laci Peterson, says the project started with trust. Kerri has lived with her father’s crimes hovering over every conversation for years, so Borgman focused on transparency, listening, and respecting Kerri’s limits. The goal was to give Kerri control over her own narrative instead of letting it be shaped by everyone else in the room. As Borgman puts it, her job was to build a careful, ethical framework around a story that has too often been told by others.
A quick refresher on BTK
- Dennis Rader murdered 10 people in and around Wichita, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991.
- He taunted the media and police with cryptic messages, then went quiet in the early 1990s.
- In 2004, the communications started again.
- One of those messages came on a floppy disk that was traced back to his church computer, which led to his identification.
- He was arrested in 2005.
Why this one matters
Plenty of true-crime pieces obsess over the mechanics of the crimes. This one is about the collateral damage. Borgman keeps the focus on Kerri’s point of view and gives it the care it deserves. The result is difficult, personal, and, by design, final.
My Father, the BTK Killer is now streaming on Netflix.