The troubled family of Rex Heuermann, accused of the Gilgo Beach murders, is receiving support from an unexpected source: Kelly Lawson, the daughter of the notorious “BTK Killer,” Dennis Rader.
“I know what it’s like to live with a psychopath,” Lawson shared in a recent Peacock documentary focused on the Gilgo Beach case. Rader, who is infamous for murdering ten people, adopted his “BTK” moniker—short for “Bind, Torture, Kill.”
“When Rex was arrested, it hit me hard. It triggered my PTSD, considering what my family went through,” she mentioned in the three-part series titled *The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets*.
Her thoughts quickly turned to Heuermann’s family, including his wife Asa and their two children, drawing parallels between their lives and her own experiences. “My father and I were the same age when he was caught in 2005,” Lawson reflected.
“I just felt immense sorrow for them. The similarities were shocking,” she added.
Rader, who had maintained a facade of normalcy, was arrested on February 25, 2005, after evading capture for decades, during which he murdered in the Wichita and Park City areas from 1974 to 1991.
“My father lived this double life,” Lawson explained. “He was hiding in plain sight for 31 years.”
The parallels between Rader and Heuermann’s allegations are chilling.
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect, stands accused of murdering seven sex workers and mutilating victims over a span of 30 years. He was arrested in July 2023, having two children at the time. Rader was also 59 when apprehended, with Lawson being 26 then, similar to Heuermann’s daughter Victoria who is now the same age.
Both men were caught due to DNA evidence linked to their victims.
While serving life in prison, Rader referred to Heuermann in correspondence with Fox News, calling him “my clone.”
Lawson, who has reached out to Heuermann’s wife Asa and visited their daughter Victoria, expressed her understanding of their trauma. “As a family, we bear the brunt of their actions,” she noted. “I wasn’t alive for most of my father’s victims, and I was only 12 when he was caught.”
“Why should society place this burden on Rex’s kids? They didn’t ask for this,” she questioned.
However, Lawson also perceives a certain denial in Asa. Throughout the documentary, she expresses skepticism about her loyalty to her husband amid such serious accusations.
“I’m observing Asa get caught in a cycle of excuses. He was here, he did this—it’s constant,” Lawson remarked.
She pondered whether Asa is simply in denial, lying, or detached from reality. “I understand why people would question her,” she concluded.
