Bind, Torture, Kill Read Online Free Page B

went through her dressers, found bandannas, belts, nylons, T-shirts.
    Rader would learn later the man’s name was Kevin. Tie her hands, he told Kevin. Kevin did so. He walked them to the bedroom by the front door and told Kevin to lie down. He tied his hands together and tied his feet to a bedpost.
    So far, so good.
    Do you have any money? he asked.
    Kevin gave up three dollars from his right front shirt pocket. He had eight more in his wallet, but he didn’t tell the robber about that.
    Rader marched the girl back to the other bedroom. He sat her in a chair, tied her to it with nylon stockings, and bound her ankles. Rummaging through the house, he found another ten dollars. He called out that he had found the money. He wanted them to think that this was just a robbery, that they would survive if they behaved. Calm them , he thought. He got them to tell him where to find their car keys. He would need transportation after he finished.
    Time for a little music. He turned on her stereo, turned up the volume. He knew now, from Project Little Mex, that there would be strangling sounds, so he wanted to kill them in separate bedrooms. He did not want one of them to hear gagging noises and start thrashing. He decided to kill the man first, to put down the bigger threat. He had done the same in January. He looped a nylon around Kevin’s throat, and began to pull.
    And that’s when Project Lights Out fell apart. Kevin broke his leg bindings, jumped up, and charged, his hands still tied behind him.
    Rader pulled his .22 and shot Kevin in the head. He fell, and blood poured onto the floor. Rader stood amazed.
    He ran to the next room. The girl was struggling and screaming. “What have you done to my brother?”
    So that’s who the guy was.
    It’s all right, Rader told her. He was trying to fight, so I had to shoot him, but I think he’ll be all right. When I get out of here, I’ll call the police and tell them to come untie both of you.
    She kept struggling. Rader ran to the other bedroom and kicked Kevin to make sure he was dead. He wasn’t. Kevin leaped up, charged again, broke the bindings on his wrists, and grabbed at the gun. For a few moments, Rader thought he would die right there: Kevin got his hand on the trigger and tried to pull it. They fought, grunting and straining, until Rader broke free and shot Kevin in the face, dropping him again.
    Rader ran back to the woman. She was thrashing like a snared bird. He picked up a piece of cloth, looped it around her throat, and began to pull. She broke free from the chair. He wished he had brought his own rope.
    He felt terrified now. He punched her in the face, on the head, on the shoulders. She tried to fight, tried to get away.
    Someone probably heard those shots, he thought.
    He pulled a knife; she fought like a wild animal. Like a hellcat, he’d say later. He stabbed her in the back, once, twice, again, then spun her around and stabbed her in the gut, and still she fought. God, he thought, how much stabbing does it take? In the detective magazines they said to go up for the kidneys and lungs. He stabbed as they lunged around the room, smearing her blood on the walls. At last she went down.

    The chair in which Rader tied Kathy Bright with panty hose. She was stabbed eleven times. Note the bloody smears on the wall, at left.
    And he heard a sound…from the next room.
    Shit! he thought.
    Rader ran to where he had left the brother. The brother was gone.
    He ran to the front door; it was open.
    I’m dead meat, he thought. He stepped out, blood covering his hands and clothes, soaking into his suede shoes.
    He saw the brother running up the street.
    The game is up, Rader thought. I’m done for.
    He ran back to the woman.
    She lay groaning, blood coming out of eleven wounds. Should he shoot her? What difference did it make now? The brother was alive and loose and could identify him. Get out of here.

5
April–July 1974
    Lessons to Learn
    Kevin Bright ran to two neighbors,