Kerri Rawson, the daughter of BTK serial killer Dennis Rader, has built a national profile as an advocate for survivors of abuse, writing a bestselling memoir and becoming a familiar presence in television interviews.
Now, however, Rawson is facing a domestic violence injunction of her own, according to records exclusively obtained by The Post.
The Florida restraining order petition, filed by her ex-husband, 48-year-old Darian Rawson, describes what he claimed were a series of alarming episodes that left him afraid for his safety and the safety of their children. In the filing, Darian alleged that Kerri, also 48, had “expressed statements multiple times that her kids are in immediate danger.”
A judge granted the petition, and Rawson subsequently lost custody of the couple’s two teenage children after allegedly making repeated warnings that they were about to be murdered.
According to the petition, Kerri asked Darian to meet her on Jan. 5, 2025, at a police station in Altamonte Springs, near her home. Once there, she allegedly told him “she had psychic powers and had detected that the kids were in immediate danger and would be murdered that morning.”
The incident occurred less than two years after the couple ended their nearly two-decade marriage in divorce.
The filing also claims Kerri told police that “people were coming to harm them” and later made a frantic 911 call reporting that “shots had been fired and three people were dead” — allegedly referring to her children and their father. Officers who responded found everyone unharmed.
“Rawson advised dispatch that there were approximately three to four active shooters at the apartments and three people down,” the police report stated.
“Police were able to locate Kerri at [Orlando International] airport and transported her to a local hospital where she voluntarily admitted herself into a hospital in Orange County.”
The petition says she was then taken into custody under Florida’s Baker Act for a mental health evaluation.
An incident report obtained by The Post showed police described Kerri as “an individual known to make inaccurate and fabricated statements about incidents that did not actually occur, due to mental health issues.”
A Florida judge ultimately granted a domestic violence injunction for protection until further court orders following a hearing and there have been no further updates since.
The order awards Darian temporary full custody of the couple’s two teen children and limited Rawson to electronic communication with them. It also prohibited her from going near their home, school or having contact with their family pets.
The following month, Darien reported to police Kerri had violated the no-contact order and made several phone calls to him on February 4 last year, records show. Darian did not return The Post’s calls for comment.
In one voicemail Kerri allegedly “asked for money,” according to the offense report.
In another, she was “asking about the children and makes reference to the protection order being in place and said ‘I don’t mean to break it with phone calling, I’m just trying to understand some things that have happened in the last month,” police alleged.
According to the report, Kerri also sent a Facebook message to a family member in which she “talks incoherently” and “starts by saying that she has to go undercover.
“Kerri also stated ‘Now I’m being told my kids are dead and have been since 1-5 [sic]. I tried to warn my family and went into PTSD mode to grizzly protect them’,” the report claimed.
“[Darien] is worried that Kerri has had a break from reality.”
Kerri — who could not be reached for comment — has spoken about the incidents publicly, but did allude to going through a tough time and sought donations in a Facebook post last Feb.
“It’s been a brutal few months on top of everything else,” she wrote. “If you are able to help please give support below.”
The post linked to a GoFundMe page which stated Kerri had been hospitalized with what organizers described as long COVID-related health issues. They said medical bills left her without stable housing, and the campaign eventually raised nearly $9,500.
Later that month, Kerri’s landlord launched legal proceedings to evict her over alleged failure to pay rent for January and February that year, court records obtained by The Post reveal.
A judge granted the order in March and Kerri was evicted from the property, the filing shows.
The revelations stand in stark contrast to Kerri’s public profile. Her father was unmasked as the notorious BTK killer — which stands for “bind, torture, kill” — and arrested in 2005, when Kerri was around 27.
Rader had terrorized the Wichita, Kansas, area, murdering 10 people, including two children, between 1974 and 1991. He did it all while a married and a father-of-two who worked as a code compliance officer and was a Cub Scout leader and a higher-up in the Christ Lutheran Church.
Since his conviction, Kerri has become a bestselling author, frequent media commentator, CrimeCon speaker and outspoken advocate for victims of violent crime and domestic abuse.
“What’s in my past is what it is; it can’t be changed — dad murdered 10 people and devastated countless lives,” she wrote in her book “A Serial Killer’s Daughter.”
“Yet on the days when I’m not wrestling with hard, terrible truths, I will tell you: I love my dad — the one I mainly knew. I miss him.”
She most recently appeared in Netflix documentary “My Father, the BTK Killer” — which premiered in October 2025. Just a few months earlier, she also gave an interview on Peacock’s documentary series, “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets.”
“My father lived a double life,” Kerri told the filmmakers.
“He was hiding in plain sight for 31 years.”
For decades, Rader’s murders baffled investigators, who initially failed to link many of his slayings. Craving the spotlight, Rader had mailed cryptic letters to local media revealing gruesome details from the crime scenes, taunting detectives and keeping an entire community on edge as fears mounted he would kill again until 1979 when he stopped. However, he did not stop killing, and later confessed to three more murders between 1985 and 1991.
After years of silence, Rader resumed contacting the media in 2004 in search of recognition for his crimes, identifying himself as “the BTK killer.” He asked police whether a floppy disk could be traced. They publicly replied that it could not and he mailed one in.
Investigators were able to recover metadata from the disk linking it to Christ Lutheran Church, where Rader was church council president, and to a computer used by “Dennis.” That evidence, combined with DNA from Kerri confirmed he was the BTK killer and ultimately led to his arrest.
Rader, 81, is serving 10 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
“My dad is a chameleon, you’d not think anything of him if you met him under everyday circumstances. He underwhelms,” Kerri wrote in a December 2024 Facebook post.
“He was also extremely deadly when he decided to be. He can turn it on and off like a switch. I and my immediate family only saw mere flashes. If we had seen more, we’d be dead.
“He also has the capacity to love, guide, and protect. No, he’s not rehab-able and he pathological lies like he breathes.
“Still, I know a good man also. And it wasn’t just a mirror or acting.
“I love him, and I miss him every damn moment even though he’s still alive.
“It’s beyond complicated.”
