Experts: Serial killers crave power
 |  Dennis Rader of Park City, Kansas, is suspected of killing 10 people since 1974. |
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|  VIDEO |
 A man police say is the BTK killer worked as the local dog-catcher.
 Neighbors describe living near BTK suspect to CNN affiliate KAKE
 CNN's David Mattingly takes an in-depth look at the BTK killer case.
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(AP) -- Experts who study serial killers say many resort to violence to achieve power that has eluded them in their professional or personal lives.
Killers such as the one who called himself BTK are "basically losers" who never distinguished themselves except through brutality, according to James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist and author of the book "Extreme Killing."
"There's a lot of people that are obsessed with power, dominance and control, but they satisfy that through their jobs," Fox said. "What's true about serial killers is that they're basically losers. In their own mind, they have never distinguished themselves in the way they'd like to."
The suspect in the Kansas slayings, Dennis Rader, held a degree in criminal justice and worked for the Wichita suburb of Park City, where his job allowed him to issue citations for minor infractions such as unkempt lawns.
"Almost all of them have a very large need for control or power," said Eric Hickey, a criminal psychologist at California State University-Fresno who wrote the book "Serial Murderers and Their Victims."
"It makes them feel like they're the big man in the community."
Many serial killers share other similarities: dysfunctional backgrounds, feelings of abandonment and rejection, and a desire for recognition, experts said.
BTK -- the killer's self-coined nickname that stands for "Bind, Torture, Kill" -- first struck in 1974 and stoked fears throughout the 1970s in Wichita. He went silent for 25 years until last March, when he sent a letter to the Wichita Eagle.
Hickey said BTK may have wanted attention again, after his killings were eclipsed by those of a Washington, D.C.-area sniper and the Oklahoma City bomber, among others.
"He wanted to start the game again, and he knew the stakes were high," Hickey said of BTK's cat-and-mouse tactics with police.
Experts are divided over whether BTK really wanted to be caught, or simply wanted more attention while continuing to evade police.
Tomas Guillen, a Seattle University professor who has written about serial killers, including BTK, said BTK's actions sent a message more riveting than any of his communiques to authorities and the media.
"The killers are among us," Guillen said. "They're not coming in the dark where we don't see them. That's where they get their confidence."
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