Where Is Charlie Otero Now? Inside the BTK Killer Survivor's Life 51 Years After the Serial Murderer Killed His Parents and Younger Siblings By Caroline Blair and Johnny Dodd

Charlie Otero was 15 years old when his family was brutally murdered by Dennis Rader, a.k.a. the BTK Killer.

In January 1974, while Charlie and two of his siblings were at school, his parents, Joseph and Julia Otero, were at their home in Wichita, Kan., with their youngest children, daughter Josie and son Joey. Rader had been stalking the family, and ultimately carried out the cruel murders on Jan. 15.

Seven months after the four Otero family members were murdered, Rader used the BTK pseudonym — which stands for “bind, torture, kill” — for the first time in a letter to The Wichita Eagle, in which he took credit for the murders.

The Otero family murders went cold for nearly three decades before Rader was caught after he sent another letter about the Otero murder to The Wichita Eagle in 2004. After finding DNA evidence and securing a familial match, Rader was arrested for 10 murders — including the Oteros — on Feb. 25, 2005. He pleaded guilty to all charges later that year and was sentenced to 10 consecutive life sentences, according to The Washington Post.

Since the brutal murders took place, Charlie has spoken about the traumatic incident, including detailing how he found his deceased parents. Although he hit a brief rough patch when he went to prison for aggravated battery in the early 2000s, per The Topeka Capital-Journal, Charlie has since focused on his passion for motorcycles and motivational speaking.

Here’s everything to know about where Charlie Otero is now, 51 years after four of his family members were murdered by Dennis Rader, a.k.a. the BTK Killer.

Rader killed four members of the Otero family

On Jan. 15, 1974, Rader committed his first-known murders when he carried out the killings of four members of the Otero family. Prior to the murders, he stalked the family for weeks to learn their behaviors and routines, as he revealed in the 2022 docuseries, BTK: Confession of a Serial Killer.

Rader approached the home thinking only the mother, Julia, was home with her two youngest children, but he later discovered that Joseph was also home. Before entering the house, Rader climbed a fence and cut off the family’s phone lines, per a CNN transcript from court. He walked through the backyard and confronted 9-year-old Joseph, who let him in the house after Rader threatened him with a gun.

Rader then bound Joseph, Julia, Joey and their 11-year-old daughter Josie with a rope. He suffocated Julia, Joseph and Joey in the bedroom before taking Josie to the basement and hanging her.

Charlie and his siblings found his parents murdered in their home

Charlie and his younger siblings, brother Daniel and sister Carmen, discovered his parents’ bodies after the brutal murders. He explained to 20/20 in 2019 that he immediately knew something was off when their dog was waiting in the backyard all alone.

“I went to the back door of the kitchen entrance and opened it up and walked inside, and I looked at the stove. And my mom’s purse was on the stove, flipped up and disheveled, stuff thrown everywhere,” he recalled. “That wasn’t typical of my mother at all. She was a very tidy person and the kitchen never looked like that. So I yelled out. I said, ‘Is anybody home?’ ”

Charlie and his siblings ventured upstairs when they noticed their dad was lying on the floor and his mom was on the bed.

“I ran down the hall, went in their bedroom and saw my mother on the bed, my father on the floor, and my heart just got ripped out of my chest,” he shared. “My life changed instantly. When I looked at my mother, she was tied up. It didn’t even look like my mother. My dad, he had a belt wrapped around his neck.”

Charlie described how it felt finding his mom to PEOPLE in October 2025, “It physically felt like somebody grabbed my chest, ripped it open, and pulled my heart out. It hurt. It hurt. And it stayed empty forever.”

The three older siblings called the police from their neighbor’s house, and the police found Joey’s body in another room and Josie’s body in the basement.

“I thank God every day for the fact that I didn’t find Joey and Josie, because I don’t know how I would have handled it,” he said, while adding that they found out about their siblings’ deaths later from the police.

Charlie and two of his siblings were at school during the murder

At the time of Julia, Joseph, Joey and Josie’s murders, the oldest three siblings — Charlie, Danny and Carmen — were at school. Charlie was 15 years old and in 10th grade at Southeast High School at the time of the slayings, according to The Wichita Eagle.

Although the three siblings escaped death, the murders took an intense toll on them.

“PTSD kicked in my first semester at college,” Charlie told 20/20. “[I] started drinking, using drugs, trying to get the memory out of my head, trying to get the visions out of my head [and] just trying to deal with the grief and the anger that I had going on inside me.”

Charlie, Danny and Carmen all appeared at Rader’s sentencing hearing in 2005, where Carmen directly addressed the killer. In October 2025, Charlie told PEOPLE that he loves his siblings but they aren’t close, as the trauma of their family’s murders took a toll.

Charlie became passionate about motorcycles after his dad’s murder

While Charlie struggled with his grief, he turned to one of his dad’s passions, motorcycles. He explained to KAKE ABC in 2021 that his dad was the person who got him interested in motorcycles and bought him his first bike when he was 11 years old.

“He gave me a bike and said, ‘Here you go, you know, you keep it running.’ So I learned how to fix it and just continued from there,” Charlie shared.

He went on to work at a motorcycle repair shop — which is located only a few miles away from the prison housing Rader — for 40 years before he had to take a break in 2021 after two separate injuries.

“He’s in there, and I’m out here. He’s locked up and will never get out, and I’m free and will never go back,” he told The Wichita Eagle of working close to Rader in 2019.

Charlie has spoken about his experience in documentaries and has become a motivational speaker

More than 50 years after his parents and two siblings were murdered, Charlie has not given up talking about their legacy while also trying to help others as a motivational speaker. Charlie pivoted his career towards speaking engagements and has shared his story at universities, churches, prisons, schools and businesses.

“I offer a message of hope and strength and my love for the Lord, who without Him, I would not be the man I am today,” he shared in his LinkedIn profile.

Charlie told PEOPLE in October 2025, “I figured if I could keep one guy from getting out of prison and going and killing a bunch of people, then I’ll have done what I promised God I would do.”

During his talks, Charlie sheds light on finding his parents deceased while explaining how it affected him for decades.

“When I saw them, I hated God. I lost my religion,” he said in one 2019 speech, per The Wichita Eagle. “I’m an orphan. I can’t explain to you how intense my emotions were at the time.”

Charlie went into detail about how he initially wanted to hurt Rader at his 2005 sentencing, but he changed his mind after learning that his son had gotten into an accident. Instead of physically confronting Rader, he developed a relationship with his son and focused on that.

In addition to his motivational speaking, Charlie has also discussed his trauma in several docuseries and documentaries. He recalled the events for the 2012 documentary, I Survived BTK, where he shared his side of the story and emotions about that fateful day.

Charlie had plans to make his own podcast, Zero Degrees of Separation, in 2025.