September 22, 2005
Contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) At a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Chairman Larry Craig announced that he will introduce legislation to close a loophole that allows convicted murderers to be buried in the national cemeteries created for veterans and those killed in action.

Craig also said that he will also introduce a stand-alone bill which will grant authority to remove the remains of a double-murderer which were recently placed at Arlington National Cemetery.

"The non-partisan Congressional Research Service reports that Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK serial killer, as an honorably discharged veteran of the Air Force, is probably eligible for burial in a national cemetery. That is simply unacceptable and the legislation I will introduce will close that loophole," Sen. Craig (R-Idaho) said. "I am also going to introduce legislation to remove the remains of Russell Wagner, a double-murderer whose ashes were recently placed at Arlington National Cemetery."

(To see photos from today's hearing, click on: Hearing September 22 2005.  To watch the hearing - which starts 28 minutes into the recording - click on: View Hearing.)

The BTK killer, Dennis Rader, was sentenced in August to a minimum of 175 years in prison for the horrific murders of ten people in Kansas. Despite the fact that he will die in prison, the Kansas Department of Corrections lists a parole eligibility date for Rader of February 26, 2180. Other lawyers contend that the serial killer could be eligible for parole 85 years from now, in 2090.

It is the parole aspect of his sentencing that makes Rader eligible to be honored with burial among those who have served our country with distinction. In 1997 Congress passed a law to prohibit those convicted of capital crimes from being interred in our nation's military cemeteries, but the law allowed continued eligibility to those who could be paroled.

"If the 1997 law cannot prevent the interment of a notorious serial killer, then what good is it?"

Craig said.

"One thing is certain already ? the parole loophole must be closed."

The law was originally created to prevent Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh from being buried with military honors. It came under scrutiny last month when the press reported that the ashes of a double-murderer had recently been inurned at Arlington National Cemetery. That murderer, Russell Wagner, was convicted of the brutal 1994 murders of Daniel Davis, 84, and Wilda Davis, 80, and had been sentenced to two life terms. Had he lived, he would have been eligible for parole.

 

 

 

Vernon Davis, whose parents were murdered by Wagner, testified at the hearing. With a bushy white beard, he explained that he plays Santa Claus each Christmas, and then told of how Wagner bound his parents on Valentines Day in 1994, placing pillowcases over their heads, and then stabbing them "14 or 15 times."

"On Februray 14, 1994, my mother and daddy was getting ready for bed. My mother was talking to my sister. There as a knock come on the door," Davis said. It was Russell Wagner ? the killer whose ashes Craig seeks to remove.

Dennis Cullinan, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, speaking on behalf of the VFW, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America, expressed support at the hearing for closing the loophole.

"This is clearly something that this Congress should address and rectify," Cullinan said.

Craig said he will work with VA officials and veteran's organizations to craft a sensible change.

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