Serial killer Dennis Rader had an unquenchable need for attention.

And in the end it was Rader's yearning for notoriety that led to his capture - more than a decade after slaying his last victim, and seemingly free of police suspicion.

Nearly all serial killers are given a nickname by the media, but not Rader. He was desperate to choose his own name. He anointed himself the BTK Killer, an acronym for Bind Torture Kill. It was shorthand for the violent way he assaulted and slaughtered his victims. The name stuck.

Dennis Rader was a churchgoing, married father of two. He was also the BTK serial killer, responsible for 10 murders between 1974 and 1991. (AAP)

Rader had predilections for sadism, bondage and women's underwear. He revealed them in packages and secret signs he sent to police and the media, taunting those who sought to bring him to justice.

Between 1974 and 1991, Rader terrorised the city of Wichita, Kansas, with 10 murders. Rader began his murderous spree by killing an entire family of four, including two young children.

He went on to slay six more women - often years apart - mostly strangling his female victims with ropes, stockings or a belt.

Then suddenly the killing stopped. Rader went quiet for more than a decade. But enslaved to his vanity, he could not stay silent.

Around 2004 an article was published in a Kansas newspaper suggesting the public had forgotten about the BTK killer.

His ego bruised, Rader fell back into his old habits and again began writing and communicating with police and the media.

Convicted serial killer Dennis Rader walks into the El Dorado Correctional Facility with two Sedgwick County sheriff's officers. Rader, the self styled BTK killer, admitted killing 10 people in a 30 year span and sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms. (AAP)

In March 2004, the Wichita Eagle received a mysterious letter with information relating to the unsolved 1986 killing of Vicki Wegerle.

Bundled up with the letter was Ms Wegerle's driving license and several photos of her body. The letter was signed Bill Thomas Killman - initials BTK. Kansas police were alerted.

After sending the Wichita Eagle package, Rader continued his cat and mouse game with the media. Some of Rader's letters contained sketches of crime scenes, mock chapters of a killer's biography, sick montages cut from magazines and bound-up children's play dolls.

Rader liked to bind his victims and pose their bodies for trophy photographs. When police raided his house in 2005, they also discovered a disturbing collection of selfies snapped by Rader.

In the photographs, Rader was dressed up in his victim's clothing and had posed himself in various bondage positions. He'd used a tripod and had carefully choreographed the scenes. Rader was a stickler for detail and control.

One of the selfies police found inside Dennis Rader's home. Rader liked to dress up in his victim's clothing and underwear, bind himself with bondage restraints and take photographs of himself. (Oxygen)

A serial killer whisperer talks to Rader

Australian true crime writer Amanda Howard experienced Rader's traits first-hand when she tried contacting the serial killer at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas.

With no death sentence in Kansas at the time of his killings, a judge hit Rader with ten consecutive life sentences, totalling a minimum of 175 years. Rader, now 74, will die behind bars.

"You have to jump through several hurdles and talk to his lawyer before [Rader] will agree to speak with you," Howard told nine.com.au .

"He is very savvy."

Howard explained how Rader had sent her an application form comprised of many questions which she completed "at great length".

Twelve months later, she got a response from Rader's lawyer.

"He didn't like my answers to his questionnaire and so he refused me."

Wichita Police Detective Sam Houston shows a mask, which was used in one of the crimes, during Dennis Rader's 2005 sentencing hearing in Wichita, Kansas. Rader of Park City, Kansas pleaded guilty to the 10 killings dating back to 1974. (Getty)

Howard has written to a number of notorious killers, including Ivan Milat and Charles Manson as part of her research. The practice has earned her the name "the serial killer whisperer".

She describes Rader a "true psychopath".

"Even before [Rader] started killing he wanted to be one of the most prolific serial killers, and he definitely proved that," she said.

One of the most curious aspects about Rader was the long gap between his final killing, the 1991 murder of 62-year-old woman Delores Davis, and his arrest – 14 years later, in 2005.

Howard believed after killing Davis he had effectively "retired". Rader was getting older. His methods involved overpowering a victim, and manoeuvring her body around.

"I don't think he would have killed again," she said.

But the idea of sliding into obscurity rankled Rader. He sent a package to the press, giving up important souvenirs and trophies.

"It was to prove he was still alive and still out there. He didn't want people to start thinking he was dead or in prison for something else," Howard said.

A Kansas police officer guards the front door of Dennis Rader's home in Park City. Rader, who pleaded guilty last month to killing 10 people in the Wichita area from 1974 to 1991, called himself BTK, for "Bind, Torture, Kill," in messages to media and police about the crimes. The house was auctioned off for US $90,000 in 2005. (AAP)

How did Dennis Rader 'the BTK Killer' get caught?

A forgotten Microsoft word document led police to Rader's door.

In February 2005, Rader sent a floppy disk to Fox TV news station KSAS-TV in Wichita. The disk contained more of Rader's peacocking.

But when police computer experts examined the disk they discovered metadata from an old word document Rader had deleted, unaware of the digital fingerprint he had left behind.

The metadata revealed the name of the church where Rader worked, the Christ Lutheran Church. Detectives were also able to establish the name of the last user to have modified the document, a person called "Dennis".

A quick search of the Internet showed a man named "Dennis Rader" was listed as president of the Christ Lutheran Church council.

Suddenly the cold case was burning hot. Police built a damning file of circumstantial evidence against Rader.

Their case was bolstered by analysing the DNA from a pap smear Rader's daughter had taken while studying at a university in Kansas.

Analysis showed it closely matched DNA evidence taken from the fingernails of woman Rader had killed in 1986.

Who were the victims of Dennis Rader 'the BTK Killer'?

Joseph Otero, 38, January 15, 1974

Julie Otero, 33, January 15, 1974

Joseph Otero Jr, 9, January 15, 1974

Josephine Otero, 11, January 15, 1974

Kathryn Bright, 21, April 4, 1974

Shirley Vian, 24, March 17, 1977

Nancy Fox, 25, December 8, 1977

Marine Hedge, 53, April 27, 1985

Vicki Wegerle, 28, September 16, 1986