Dolores Davis' house

On January 19, 1991, serial killer Dennis Rader murdered Dolores Earline Davis at 6226 North Hillside Street in Park City, Wichita.

The house was demolished between 2012 and 2019.

Davis was Rader's final victim. The 62-year-old had recently retired as a corporate secretary for the Lario Oil & Gas Company in Wichita.

Stalking

Rader selected Davis as a target because she lived 1.5 miles east of his home on Independence Street. This proximity allowed him to observe her movements.

While stalking her, Rader gave Davis the nickname "Project Dogside" because her house was beside a dog kennel.

Rader scouted the home before the murder but struggled to find a way to enter the property without alerting Davis.

On one occasion, he attempted to sneak inside through a patio door. However, he retreated when her cat noticed him and started hissing, as he feared Davis might hear the commotion.

Murder

On the night of January 18, 1991, Rader attended the Trappers Scouts' annual "dead of winter" outing at Harvey County Park West. After setting up camp, he fabricated a story to excuse himself and drove to his parents' home, where he changed out of his Scout uniform.

He parked at Park City Baptist Church on East 61st Street North before heading toward Davis' home on foot.

Because of the severe cold and his earlier failed attempts to gain entry, Rader deviated from his usual pattern of sneaking inside.

Instead, he waited until Davis turned off her lights before throwing a cinder block through a sliding glass patio door on the eastern side of the property.

Believing a car had hit her house, Davis emerged from her bedroom and found Rader standing in her living room. He claimed to be a wanted fugitive who needed food, warmth, and her car. When she told him to leave, he threatened her with a gun and handcuffed her.

While Davis was restrained, Rader spoke with her to calm her down before walking around the kitchen and pretending to gather items.

After convincing her that he was leaving, he removed the handcuffs and bound her wrists with rope.

However, instead of exiting the house, he strangled her with a pair of pantyhose:

"I handcuffed her and talked to her. I told her that I would like to get some food and the keys to her car. Kind of rest assured, talked with her a little bit, calmed her down a little bit. Then eventually I checked out where her car was. Simulated getting some food, odds and ends in the house, kind of like I was leaving. Then I went back and removed her handcuffs and tied her up and then, eventually, strangled her."

Aftermath

Following the murder, Rader loaded Davis' body into the trunk of her vehicle and drove two miles south before placing her remains in a wooded area near the intersection of Hillside Street and 45th Street North.

Once her body was concealed among the trees, he drove the car back to her house.

Rader then walked to Park City Baptist Church, retrieved his vehicle, and returned to collect Davis' remains.

He drove to the intersection of 117th North and Meridian, where he concealed her underneath the Jester Creek Bridge.

The following day, Rader returned to the site to place a mask on Davis' face and photograph her remains.

On February 1, 1991, a 15-year-old boy discovered the body while walking his dog.

Rader went silent for more than a decade after the killing. In March 2004, he resumed contact with the media.

These renewed communications ultimately led to his arrest on February 25, 2005.

Rader subsequently pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder, including the death of Dolores Davis.

On August 18, 2005, he was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

During the sentencing hearing, Davis' son, Jeff, delivered the following victim impact statement:

"For the last 5,326 days, I have wondered what it would be like to confront the walking cesspool that took my mother's precious life."

Highlighting Rader's need for attention, Jeff said that total isolation was the ultimate punishment:

"For a consummate narcissist and sociopath like him, being locked down and alone is its own form of torture and hell, because he can't be the show, he can't be in control. He now will be nothing."