jeffrey dahmer full biography

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Jeffrey Dahmer

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• University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository - The Romance of Revenge: An Alternative History of Jeffrey Dahmer's Trial
• Academia - Jeffrey Dahmer
• The Guardian - Rock's last great star
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Micro Disasters: The Case of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer (born May 21, 1960, Milwaukee , Wisconsin , U.S.—died November 28, 1994, Portage , Wisconsin) was an American serial killer whose arrest in 1991 provoked criticism of local police and resulted in an upsurge of popular interest in serial murder and other crimes.

Dahmer committed his first murder in Bath township, Ohio , in 1978. A second murder followed in 1987, and during the next five years he killed—mostly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin—another 15 boys and young men, who were for the most part poor and African American, Asian, or Latino. Although other serial murderers had claimed far more victims, Dahmer’s crimes were particularly gruesome, involving cannibalism and necrophilia. In February 1992 Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms; a 16th consecutive life sentence was added in May for the murder he committed in 1978. Dahmer was murdered by a fellow inmate in a Wisconsin prison in 1994.

The circumstances of the crimes became the subject of much controversy. Some claimed that the fact that Dahmer had escaped detection for so long showed that Milwaukee police attached a low priority to investigating the disappearance of victims who were homosexual or members of racial minority groups.

Dahmer’s life and crimes and the controversy engendered by his arrest were discussed in several books, including The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough: The Secret Murders of Milwaukee’s Jeffrey Dahmer (1992; reissued 2011), by Anne E. Schwartz.

Jeffrey Dahmer

By most accounts Dahmer had a normal childhood; however he became withdrawn and uncommunicative as he got older. He began showing little to no interest in hobbies or social interaction as he entered adolescence, turning instead to examining animal carcasses and heavy drinking for entertainment. His drinking continued throughout high school but did not stop him from graduating in 1978. It was just three weeks later that the 18-year-old committed his first murder. Due to his parents’ unfolding divorce that summer, Jeffrey was left in the family home alone. He seized the opportunity to act on the dark thoughts that had been growing in his mind. He picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and offered to take him back to his father’s house to drink beer. But when Hicks decided to leave, Dahmer hit him in the back of the head with a 10 lb. dumbbell. Dahmer then dissected, dissolved, pulverized, and scattered the now imperceptible remains throughout his back yard, and later admitted to killing him simply because he wanted Hicks to stay. Nine years would pass before he killed again.

Dahmer attended college that fall but dropped out due to his alcoholism. After that his father forced him to enlist in the army, where he served as a combat medic in Germany from 1979 to 1981. However, he never kicked the habit and was discharged that spring, moving back home to Ohio. After his drinking continued to cause problems, his father sent him to live with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin. By 1985 he was frequenting gay bathhouses, where he would drug men and rape them as they lay unconscious. Although he was arrested twice for incidents of indecent exposure in 1982 and 1986, he only faced probation and was not charged for the rapes.

Steven Tuomi was his second victim, killed in September of 1987. Dahmer picked him up from a bar and took him back to a hotel room, where he woke up the next morning to Tuomi’s beaten dead body. He later stated that he had no memory of actually murdering Tuomi, implying that he had committed the crime on some sort of blacked out impulse. The killings occurred sporadically after Tuomi, with two victims in 1988, one in 1989, and four in 1990. He continued to lure unsuspecting men from bars or solicited prostitutes, whom he then drugged, raped, and strangled. At this point though, Dahmer also began carrying out particularly disturbing acts with their corpses, continuing to use the bodies for intercourse, taking photographs of the dismemberment process, preserving with scientific precision his victims’ skulls and genitals for display, and even retaining parts for consumption.

During this period, Dahmer was arrested for an incident at his job at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, where he drugged and sexually fondled a 13-year-old boy. For this he was given a sentence of five years’ probation, one year at a work release camp, and was required to register as a sex offender. He was released two months early from the work program and subsequently moved into a Milwaukee apartment in May of 1990. There, despite regular appointments with his probation officer, he would remain free to commit four murders that year and eight more in 1991.

Dahmer began killing around one person each week by the summer of 1991. He became infatuated with the idea that he could turn his victims into “zombies” to act as youthful and submissive sexual partners. He used many different techniques, such as drilling holes into their skull and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into their brains. Soon, neighbors began to complain about strange noises and awful smells coming from Dahmer’s apartment. On one occasion, a lobotomized victim left unattended even made it out onto the street to ask several bystanders for help. When Dahmer returned, however, he successfully convinced the police that the irrational young man was simply his extremely intoxicated boyfriend. The officers failed to run a background check that would have revealed Dahmer’s sex offender status, allowing him to narrowly escape his fate for a little while longer.

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer lured Tracy Edwards into his home with the promise of cash in exchange for his company. While inside, Edwards was then forced into the bedroom by Dahmer with a butcher knife. During the struggle, Edwards was able to get free and escape out into the streets where he flagged down a police car. When the police arrived at Dahmer’s apartment, Edwards alerted them to the knife that was in the bedroom. Upon entering the bedroom, the officers found the pictures of dead bodies and dismembered limbs that allowed them to finally place Dahmer under arrest. Further investigation of the home led them to find a severed head in the refrigerator, three more severed heads throughout the apartment, multiple photographs of the victims, and more human remains in his refrigerator. A total of seven skulls were found in his apartment as well as a human heart in the freezer. An altar was also constructed with candles and human skulls in his closet. After being taken into custody, Dahmer confessed and began divulging the gruesome details of his crimes to the authorities.

Dahmer was indicted on 15 murder charges and the trial began on January 30, 1992. Even though the evidence against him was overwhelming, Dahmer pled insanity as his defense due to the nature of his incredibly disturbing and uncontrollable impulses. Following two weeks of trial, the court declared him sane and guilty on 15 counts of murder. He was sentenced to 15 life terms, for a total of 957 years in prison. In May of the same year, he entered a guilty plea for the murder of his first victim, Stephen Hicks, and received an additional life sentence.

Dahmer served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. During his time in prison, Dahmer expressed remorse for his actions and wished for his own death. He also read the Bible and declared himself a born-again Christian, ready for his final judgment. He was attacked twice by fellow inmates, with the first attempt to slice his neck open leaving him with only superficial wounds. However, he was attacked a second time on November 28, 1994, by an inmate as they cleaned one of the prison showers. Dahmer was found still alive, but died on the way to the hospital from severe head trauma.

Additional information : Oxygen’s Dahmer on Dahmer: A Serial Killer Speaks

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Biography of Jeffrey Dahmer, Serial Killer

Dahmer Was Known as the "Milwaukee Monster"

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Jeffrey Dahmer (May 21, 1960–November 28, 1994) was responsible for a series of gruesome murders of 17 young men from 1988 until he was caught in Milwaukee on July 22, 1991.

Fast Facts: Jeffrey Dahmer

• Known For : Convicted serial killer of 17 people
• Also Known As : Milwaukee Cannibal, Milwaukee Monster
• Born : May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Parents : Lionel Dahmer, Joyce Dahmer
• Died : November 28, 1994, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin
• Notable Quote : "The only motive that there ever was was to completely control a person; a person I found physically attractive. And keep them with me as long as possible, even if it meant just keeping a part of them."

Jeffrey Dahmer was born May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. From all accounts, Dahmer was a happy child who enjoyed typical toddler activities. It was not until the age of 6, after he underwent hernia surgery, that his personality began to change from a jubilant social child to a loner who was uncommunicative and withdrawn. His facial expressions transformed from sweet, childish smiles to a blank, emotionless stare —a look that remained with him throughout his life.

Pre-Teen Years

In 1966, the Dahmers moved to Bath, Ohio. Jeffrey Dahmer's insecurities grew after the move and his shyness kept him from making many friends. While his peers were busy listening to the latest songs, Dahmer was collecting road kill, stripping animal carcasses, and saving the bones.

Other idle time was spent alone, buried deep inside his fantasies. His non-confrontational attitude toward his parents was considered an attribute, but in reality, apathy toward the real world made him appear obedient.

High School and Army Service

Jeffrey Dahmer continued being a loner during his years at Revere High School. He had average grades, worked on the school newspaper , and developed a dangerous drinking problem. His parents, struggling with issues of their own, divorced when Jeffrey was almost 18. He lived with his father who traveled often and was busy nurturing a relationship with his new wife.

After high school, Jeffrey Dahmer enrolled at The Ohio State University and spent most of his time skipping classes and getting drunk. He dropped out and returned home after two semesters. His father issued him an ultimatum: get a job or join the Army .

In 1979, Jeffrey Dahmer enlisted for six years in the Army, but his drinking continued and in 1981, after just two years, he was discharged due to his drunken behavior.

Jeffrey Dahmer's First Kill

Unknown to anyone, Jeffery Dahmer was mentally disintegrating . In June 1978, he was struggling with his homosexual desires, mixed with his need to act out his sadistic fantasies. Perhaps this struggle is what pushed him to pick up a hitchhiker, 18-year-old Steven Hicks. Jeffrey Dahmer invited Hicks to his father's home and the two drank alcohol. When Hicks was ready to leave, Dahmer bashed him in the head with a barbell and killed him.

Dahmer then cut up the body and put it in garbage bags, which he buried in the woods surrounding his father's property. Years later he returned to dig up the bags, crush the bones, and disburse the remains around the woods. As insane as Jeffrey had become, he had not lost sight of the need to cover his murderous tracks. Later, his explanation for killing Hicks was simply that he didn't want him to leave.

Prison Time

Jeffrey Dahmer spent the next six years living with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin. He continued drinking heavily and often got into trouble with the police. In August 1982, he was arrested after exposing himself at a state fair. In September 1986, Dahmer was arrested and charged with public exposure after being accused of masturbating in public. He served 10 months in jail  but was arrested soon after his release after sexually fondling a 13-year-old boy in Milwaukee . He was given five years probation after convincing the judge that he needed therapy.

His father, unable to understand what was happening to his son, continued to stand by him, making certain he had good legal counsel. He also began to accept that there was little he could do to help the demons that seemed to rule Jeffrey Dahmer's behavior. He realized his son was missing a basic human element: a conscience .

Over the years, there was speculation that Jeffrey Dahmer may have been involved in the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh , son of TV personality John Walsh.

Murder Spree

In September 1987, while on probation on the molestation charges, Jeffrey Dahmer met 26-year-old Steven Toumi and the two spent the night drinking heavily and cruising gay bars before going to a hotel room. When Dahmer awoke from his drunken stupor, he found Toumi dead.

Dahmer put Toumi's body into a suitcase, which he took to his grandmother's basement. There, he discarded the body in the garbage after dismembering it, but not before gratifying his sexual necrophilia desires.

Unlike most serial killers , who kill then move on to find another victim, Dahmer's fantasies included a series of crimes against the corpses of his victims, or what he referred to as passive sex. This became part of his regular pattern and possibly the one obsession that pushed him to kill.

Killing his victims in his grandmother's basement was becoming increasingly difficult to hide. He was working as a mixer at Ambrosia Chocolate Factory and could afford a small apartment, so in September 1988, he got a one-bedroom apartment on North 24th Street in Milwaukee.

Dahmer's killing spree continued and for most of his victims, the scene was the same. He would meet them at a gay bar or a mall and entice them with free alcohol and money if they agreed to pose for photographs. Once alone, he would drug them, sometimes torture them, and then kill them usually by strangulation. He would then masturbate over the corpse or have sex with the corpse, cut the body up, and get rid of the remains. He also kept parts of the bodies, including the skulls, which he would clean—much like he did with his childhood roadkill collection—and often refrigerated organs , which he would occasionally eat.

Known Victims of Jeffrey Dahmer

• Stephen Hicks, 18: June 1978
• Steven Tuomi, 26: September 1987
• Jamie Doxtator, 14: October 1987
• Richard Guerrero, 25: March 1988
• Anthony Sears, 24: February 1989
• Eddie Smith, 36: June 1990
• Ricky Beeks, 27: July 1990
• Ernest Miller, 22: September 1990
• David Thomas, 23: September 1990
• Curtis Straughter, 16: February 1991
• Errol Lindsey, 19: April 1991
• Tony Hughes, 31: May 24, 1991
• Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14: May 27, 1991
• Matt Turner, 20: June 30, 1991
• Jeremiah Weinberger, 23: July 5, 1991
• Oliver Lacy, 23: July 12, 1991
• Joseph Bradeholt, 25: July 19, 1991

The Jeffrey Dahmer Victim Who Nearly Escaped

Jeffrey Dahmer's murdering activity continued uninterrupted until an incident on May 27, 1991. His 13th victim was 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, the younger brother of the boy Dahmer was convicted of molesting in 1989.

Early in the morning, the young Sinthasomphone was seen wandering the streets nude and disoriented. When police arrived on the scene there were paramedics, two women who were standing close to the confused Sinthasomphone, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer told police that Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old lover who was drunk and the two had quarreled.

The police escorted Dahmer and the boy back to Dahmer's apartment, much against the protest of the women who had witnessed Sinthasomphone fighting off Dahmer before the police arrived.

The police found Dahmer's apartment neat and other than noticing an unpleasant smell, nothing seemed amiss. They left Sinthasomphone under Dahmer's care.

Later, police officers John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish joked with their dispatcher about reuniting the lovers. Within hours, Jeffrey Dahmer killed Sinthasomphone and performed his usual ritual on the body.

His Killings Escalate

In June and July 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer's killing escalated to one each week until July 22 when Dahmer was unable to hold captive his 18th victim, Tracy Edwards.

According to Edwards, Dahmer tried to handcuff him and the two struggled. Edwards escaped and was spotted at around midnight by police with the handcuff dangling from his wrist. Assuming he had somehow escaped from the authorities, police stopped him. Edwards immediately told them about his encounter with Dahmer and led them to his apartment.

Dahmer opened his door to the officers and answered their questions calmly. He agreed to turn over the key to unlock Edwards' handcuff and moved to the bedroom to get it. One of the officers went with him and as he glanced around the room, he noticed photographs of what appeared to be parts of bodies and a refrigerator full of human skulls.

The officers decided to place Jeffrey Dahmer under arrest and attempted to handcuff him, but his calm demeanor changed and he began to fight. With Dahmer under control, the police began their initial search of the apartment and quickly discovered skulls and other various body parts, along with an extensive photo collection Dahmer had taken documenting his crimes.

The Crime Scene

Details of what was found in Dahmer's apartment were horrific, matching only to his confessions as to what he did to his victims.

Items found in Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment included:

• A human head and three bags of organs, which included two hearts , were found in the refrigerator.
• Three heads, a torso, and internal organs were inside a free-standing freezer.
• Chemicals, formaldehyde , ether, and chloroform , plus two skulls, two hands, and male genitalia were found in the closet.
• A filing cabinet that contained three painted skulls, a skeleton , a dried scalp, male genitalia, and various photographs of his victims.
• A box with two skulls inside.
• A 57-gallon vat filled with acid and three torsos.
• Victims' identification.
• Bleach used to bleach the skulls and bones.
• Incense sticks. Neighbors often complained to Dahmer about the smell coming from his apartment.
• Tools: Clawhammer, handsaw, 3/8" drill, 1/16" drill, drill bits.
• A hypodermic needle .
• Various videos, some pornographic.
• Blood-soaked mattress and blood splatters.
• King James Bible .

The Jeffrey Dahmer Trial

Jeffrey Dahmer was indicted on 17 murder charges, which were later reduced to 15. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Much of the testimony was based on Dahmer's 160-page confession and from various witnesses who testified that Dahmer's necrophilia urges were so strong that he was not in control of his actions. The defense sought to prove he was in control and capable of planning, manipulating, and covering up his crimes.

The jury deliberated for five hours and returned a verdict of guilty on 15 counts of murder. Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life terms, a total of 937 years in prison. At his sentencing, Dahmer calmly read his four-page statement to the court .

Jeffrey Dahmer apologized for his crimes and ended with:

"I hated no one. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness, and now I have some peace. I know how much harm I have caused...Thank God there will be no more harm that I can do. I believe that only the Lord Jesus Christ can save me from my sins...I ask for no consideration."

Life Sentence

Dahmer was sent to the Columbia Correctional Institute in Portage, Wisconsin. At first, he was separated from the general prison population for his safety. But by all reports, he was considered a model prisoner who had adjusted well to prison life and was a self-proclaimed born-again Christian. Gradually, he was permitted to have some contact with other inmates.

Jeffrey Dahmer Death

On November 28, 1994, Dahmer and inmate Jesse Anderson were beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver while on work detail in the prison gym. Anderson was in prison for killing his wife and Scarver was a schizophrenic convicted of first-degree murder . For reasons unknown, the guards left the three prisoners alone for 20 minutes. They returned to find Anderson dead and Dahmer dying from severe head trauma . Dahmer died in the ambulance before reaching the hospital.

In Dahmer's will, he requested upon his death that his body be cremated as soon as possible, but some medical researchers wanted his brain preserved so it could be studied. Lionel Dahmer wanted to respect his son's wishes and cremate all remains of his son. His mother felt his brain should go to research. The two parents went to court and a judge sided with Lionel. After more than a year, Dahmer's body was released from being held as evidence and his remains were cremated.

• “ Jeffrey Dahmer .”  Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 18 Jan. 2019.
• “ Jeffrey Dahmer | Crime Library | Serial Killers .”  Crime Museum .
• Jenkins, John Philip. “ Jeffrey Dahmer .”  Encyclopædia Britannica , 11 Feb. 2019.
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Jeffrey Dahmer Biography: The Cannibal Killer

Undoubtedly one of modern history’s most notorious and abhorrent killers — his crimes are the stuff of nightmares. Over the course of 13 years, he prowled for men and lured them back to his house before drugging and strangling them. In all he took the lives of 17 men between 1978 and 1991. But simply killing his victims wasn’t enough for Jeffrey Dahmer. He never wanted them to leave him so he saved “trophies” — including severed heads. Eventually, he ate parts of his victims.

Dahmer was captured in 1991 and sentenced to 16 life terms. He was killed by fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994. Today let’s take a look back on the serial killer’s life.

Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. He was described by his mother as a beautiful baby, and both parents considered him to be a normal child. His teachers saw him differently. At least one — his first grade teacher — wondered if Jeffrey was neglected at home and noted he was a reserved child on his report card. It’s true, both of Jeffrey’s parents didn’t spend a lot of time with him. When Jeffrey was young, his father was in college earning his chemistry degree and Jeffrey’s mother was often bedridden recovering from illnesses. Jeffrey’s parents had a tumultuous marriage that he later described as “extreme tension” from the constant arguing at home. Yet, there was no doubt Lionel and Joyce Dahmer loved their son and tried to do the best for him. When he was six years old, worried Jeffrey might not take well to a new baby brother, they let him pick out his name. Jeffrey named his younger brother David. The Dahmer family moved a few times before eventually settling in Bath, Ohio in 1968.

If there were any red flags that indicated future violence in the young Jeffrey, it was his fascination with animal bones and how they “fit together.” The interest in carcasses began when he was four years old. One day, Jeffrey was helping his father clear animal remains from under the house and Jeffrey was “oddly thrilled” by the sound of the bones dropping into the metal bucket. He later started collecting them; searching in ditches and along streets for roadkill. He began dismembering the bodies behind the house in a patch of wooded area and stored the various body parts in jars in the family’s woodshed. On one occasion, Jeffrey decapitated the corpse of a dog before nailing the body to a tree. When he was ten years old, over dinner, Jeffrey asked his father what would happen if chicken bones were placed in bleach. Lionel, a chemist, interpreted his son’s question as mere scientific curiosity and he took the opportunity to teach his son about the proper way to clean and preserve his collections.

Jeffrey later admitted at the age of 14 he began experiencing sexual “compulsions.” He desired boys, not girls, and the sexual fantasies involved submission, violence, and death.

He began drinking as a teenager to suppress his urges and didn’t talk to anyone about the disturbing thoughts he was having. At the age of 16, he fantasized about raping a jogger he saw regularly and planned to attack the man. One day Jeffrey lay in wait with a baseball bat in the bushes along the man’s regular route. The man didn’t come by that day, and Jeffrey never attempted to carry it out again.

At Revere High School, most of his classmates thought of Dahmer as an outcast with a few friends; some were troubled by his heavy drinking. He drank both beer and liquor while at school by smuggling it inside the lining of his army fatigue jacket. His grades were average and then took a dive as his drinking spun out of control in 1977. He played clarinet briefly in band, and was a decent tennis player. Overall, his teachers observed Jeffrey as polite and quiet. Although he was awkward, he regularly amused his classmates by staging pranks such as acting out seizures, knocking over items, and making loud, obnoxious noises. The pranks were so popular, similar behavior was referred to as “doing a Dahmer.”

By the end of his high school, Dahmer’s parents’ troubled marriage finally came to an end after an unsuccessful attempt at counseling. In early 1978, Lionel moved out of the house. Dahmer graduated in May the same year.

A few weeks after graduation, Dahmer committed his first murder when he picked up a hitchhiker. Eighteen-year-old Steven Mark Hicks was on his way to a rock concert when Dahmer lured him back to his house to hang out and drink a few beers before the show. By now, Dahmer lived alone at his parents’ house — his mother had moved out with younger brother David while his father took up residence at a local motel. Hicks and Dahmer spent a few hours together listening to music and drinking. When Hicks was ready to leave, Dahmer didn’t want him too, so he struck him in the head with a 10 lb. dumbbell and strangled him to death while Hicks was unconscious. He then masturbated over his body, moved him to the crawl space under the house and dissected his body before burying it in a shallow grave. Several weeks later, Dahmer unearthed Hicks’ body, pared the flesh from the bones and dissolved it in acid. He crushed Hicks’ bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them all in the woodlot behind the house.

A short time later, Dahmer’s father visited his son and learned he was living alone. He moved back in the house and convinced Dahmer to enroll in college. Dahmer spent three months at Ohio State University before dropping out. In early 1979, at the urging of his father, he joined the U.S. Army. Dahmer served as a combat medic in Germany but his performance deteriorated due to his drinking. He was honorably discharged in March of 1981. At least two soldiers later attested Dahmer raped them while in the service — one repeatedly over the course of 17 months and the other once after Dahmer drugged him.

Killing Spree

“The only motive that there ever was was to completely control a person; a person I found physically attractive. And keep them with me as long as possible, even if it meant just keeping a part of them.”

Following his discharge, Dahmer returned home to Ohio but stayed only a brief time. He was arrested for disorderly conduct which prompted his father to arrange for Dahmer to live with his grandmother in Wisconsin. His alcoholism continued and he was arrested for indecent exposure. He was arrested again in 1986 when two boys accused him of masturbating in front of them.

In September of 1987, Dahmer took his second victim, Steven Tuomi. According to Dahmer, he has no memory of killing Tuomi — they had checked into a hotel room together and drank heavily…when Dahmer woke in the morning he discovered Tuomi’s dead body, with blood on his hands. Dahmer bought a large suitcase to transport Tuomi’s remains to his grandmother’s basement, where he dismembered and masturbated on the corpse before disposing of the remains. Only after Dahmer killed another two victims at his grandmother’s home did she tire of her grandson’s late nights and drunkenness — although she had no knowledge of his other activities — and she forced him to move out of the premises in 1988.

“It’s hard for me to believe that a human being could have done what I’ve done, but I know that I did it.”

That September 1989, Dahmer had an extremely lucky escape: An encounter with a 13-year-old Laotian boy resulted in charges of sexual exploitation and second-degree sexual assault for Dahmer. He pleaded guilty, claiming that the boy had appeared much older. While awaiting sentencing for his sexual assault case, Dahmer again put his grandmother’s basement to gruesome use: In March 1989, he lured, drugged, strangled, sodomized, photographed, dismembered and disposed of Anthony Sears, an aspiring model.

At his trial for child molestation in May 1989, Dahmer was the model of contrition, arguing eloquently, in his own defense, about how he had seen the error of his ways, and that his arrest marked a turning point in his life. His defense counsel argued that he needed treatment, not incarceration, and the judge agreed, handing down a one-year prison sentence on “day release” — allowing Dahmer to work at his job during the day and return to the prison at night — as well as a five-year probationary sentence.

Years later, in an interview with CNN, Lionel Dahmer stated that he wrote a letter to the court that issued the sentence, requesting psychological help before his son’s parole. However, Jeffrey Dahmer was granted an early release by the judge, after serving only 10 months of his sentence. He briefly lived with his grandmother following his release, during which time he does not appear to have added to his body count, before moving back into his own apartment.

Over the following two years, Dahmer’s victim count accelerated, bringing his total from four to 17. He developed rituals as he progressed, experimenting with chemical means of disposal and often consuming the flesh of his victims. Dahmer also attempted crude lobotomies, drilling into victims’ skulls while they were still alive and injecting them with muriatic acid. He was careful to select victims on the fringes of society, who were often itinerant or borderline criminal, making their disappearances less noticeable and reducing the likelihood of his capture. As the murders piled up, Dahmer was still unsatisfied, he said later:

“I was completely swept along with my own compulsion. I don’t know how else to put it. It didn’t satisfy me completely, so maybe I was thinking, ‘Maybe another one will. Maybe this one will.’ And the numbers started growing and growing and just got out of control, as you can see.”

On May 27, 1991, Dahmer’s neighbor Sandra Smith called the police to report that an Asian boy was running naked in the street. When the police arrived, the boy was incoherent, and they accepted the word of Dahmer — a white man in a largely poor African-American community — that the boy was his 19-year-old lover. In fact, the boy was 14 years old and a brother of the Laotian teen Dahmer had molested three years earlier.

The police escorted Dahmer and the boy home and, clearly not wishing to become embroiled in a homosexual domestic disturbance, took only a cursory look around before leaving. Once the police left the scene, Dahmer killed the boy and proceeded with his usual rituals. Had they conducted even a basic search, police officers would have found the body of Dahmer’s 12th victim, Tony Hughes. Before he was finally arrested, on July 22, 1991, he killed four more men.

The Crime Scene

Dahmer’s killing spree ended when he was arrested on July 22, 1991. That day, two Milwaukee police officers picked up Tracy Edwards, a 32-year-old African American man who was wandering the streets with a handcuff dangling from his wrist. They decided to investigate the man’s claims that a “weird dude” had drugged and restrained him. They arrived at Dahmer’s apartment, where he calmly offered to get the keys for the handcuffs.

Edwards claimed that the knife Dahmer had threatened him with was in the bedroom. When the officer went in to corroborate the story, he noticed Polaroid photographs of dismembered bodies lying around. Dahmer was subdued by the officers. Subsequent searches revealed a head in the refrigerator, three more in the freezer and a catalog of other horrors, including preserved skulls, jars containing genitalia and an extensive gallery of macabre Polaroid photographs of his victims.

Dahmer’s refrigerator and Polaroid photographs became inextricably associated with his notorious killing spree.

In 1996, following Dahmer’s death, a group of Milwaukee businessmen raised more than $400,000 to purchase the items he used for his victims — including blades, saws, handcuffs and a refrigerator to store body parts. They promptly destroyed them in an effort to distance the city from the horrors of Dahmer’s actions and the ensuing media circus surrounding his trial.

Trial and Imprisonment

Jeffrey Dahmer’s trial began in January 1992. Given that the majority of Dahmer’s victims were African American, there were considerable racial tensions and so strict security precautions were taken, including an eight-foot barrier of bulletproof glass that separated him from the gallery. The inclusion of only one African American on the jury provoked further unrest, but was ultimately contained and short lived. Lionel Dahmer and his second wife attended the trial throughout.

Dahmer initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, despite having confessed to the killings during police interrogation, but he eventually changed his plea to guilty by virtue of insanity. His defense then offered the gruesome details of his behavior, as proof that only someone insane could commit such terrible acts. Dahmer later said in an interview, “It’s hard for me to believe that a human being could have done what I’ve done, but I know that I did it.”

The jury chose to believe the prosecution’s assertion that Dahmer was fully aware that his acts were evil and chose to commit them anyway. On February 15, 1992, they returned after approximately 10 hours’ deliberation to find him guilty, but sane, on all counts. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison, with a 16th term tacked on in May.

“It is now over. This has never been a case of trying to get free. I didn’t ever want freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself. This was a case to tell the world that I did what I did, but not for reasons of hate. I hated no one. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness, and now I have some peace. I know how much harm I have caused… Thank God there will be no more harm that I can do. I believe that only the Lord Jesus Christ can save me from my sins… I ask for no consideration.”

Dahmer reportedly adjusted well to prison life, although he was initially kept apart from the general population. He eventually convinced authorities to allow him to integrate more fully with other inmates. He found religion in the form of books and photos sent to him by his father, and he was granted permission by the Columbia Correctional Institution to be baptized by a local pastor.

On November 28, 1994, in accordance with his inclusion in regular work details, Dahmer was assigned to work with two other convicted murderers, Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver. After they had been left alone to complete their tasks, guards returned to find that Scarver had brutally beaten both men with a metal bar from the prison weight room. Dahmer was pronounced dead after approximately one hour. Anderson succumbed to his injuries days later.

In 2015, Christopher Scarver spoke to the New York Post about his reasons for killing Dahmer. Scarver alleged that he was disturbed not only by Dahmer’s crimes, but by a habit Dahmer had developed of fashioning severed limbs from prison food to antagonize other inmates. After being taunted by Dahmer and Anderson during their work detail, Scarver said that he confronted Dahmer about his crimes before beating the two men to death. He also claimed that prison guards allowed the murders to happen.

In Dahmer’s will, he had requested upon his death that his body be cremated as soon as possible, but some medical researchers wanted his brain preserved so it could be studied. Lionel Dahmer wanted to respect his son’s wishes and cremate all remains of his son. His mother felt his brain should go to research. The two parents went to court and a judge sided with Lionel. After over a year Dahmer’s body was released from being held as evidence and the remains were cremated as he had requested.

In August 2012, nearly two decades after his death, it was reported his childhood home in Bath, Ohio — where he committed his first murder in 1978, and buried his victim’s remains — was on the market. Its owner, musician Chris Butler, stated that the property would make a great home, as long as the buyer could “get past the horror factor.”

In March 2016, Butler put the house up for rent for $8,000 for the week of the Republican National Convention. As of July 2017, the house was no longer listed on the market, according to Zillow.com.

Jeffrey Dahmer Video Biography

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Jeffrey Dahmer Killed 17 Young Men And Boys — Then Defiled Their Corpses In Unspeakable Ways

Serial killer jeffrey dahmer murdered 17 victims in and around milwaukee, wisconsin between 1978 and 1991, then collected and cannibalized their remains..

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Getty Images Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders came to an end after his capture by police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 23, 1991.

On the morning of May 27, 1991, Milwaukee police responded to an alarming call. Two women had encountered a naked boy on the street who was disoriented and bleeding. But as the police arrived at the scene, a handsome blond man approached and assured them all was well. But that man was the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Dahmer calmly told the police officers that the boy was 19 years old and his lover. In reality, Konerak Sinthasomphone was just 14. And he was about to become Dahmer’s latest victim.

But the officers believed Jeffrey Dahmer. Although the women tried to object, they were told to “shut the hell up” and “butt out” of this “domestic” dispute. On their way back to the station, the officers joked about the gay “lovers” — completely unaware that they’d just allowed a murder to happen.

It was but one of 17 murders that Jeffrey Dahmer would commit between 1978 and 1991. Before long, the 31-year-old Dahmer was arrested and charged with murdering Sinthasomphone, along with other men and boys. Tragically, Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims were often young, ranging in age from 14 to 31.

This is the disturbing story of history’s most notorious cannibalistic serial killer — and how he finally got caught red-handed.

Jeffrey Dahmer: A Little Boy Fascinated With Death

Wikimedia Commons Jeffrey Dahmer’s high school yearbook photo.

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960, to a middle-class family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At a young age, he became fascinated with all things related to death and began collecting the carcasses of dead animals.

Eerily, Dahmer’s father Lionel noted how his son was “oddly thrilled” by the sounds of clanking animal bones.

By the time Dahmer was in high school, his family had moved to Bath Township, a sleepy suburb of Akron, Ohio. There, Dahmer was an outcast who quickly became an alcoholic. He drank heavily at school, often hiding beer and hard liquor in his army fatigue jacket.

To fit in, Dahmer would often pull practical jokes, like pretending to have seizures. He would do this so frequently that pulling off a good practical joke became known around the school as “doing a Dahmer.”

During this time, Jeffrey Dahmer also realized that he was gay. As his sexuality blossomed, so too did his increasingly abnormal sexual fantasies. Dahmer began fantasizing about raping men and became aroused by the idea of completely dominating and controlling another person.

As Dahmer’s violent fantasies grew stronger, his control weakened. Just weeks after he graduated high school, Dahmer committed his first murder.

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Jeffrey Dahmer’s Murders Begin

Public Domain Eighteen-year-old Steven Mark Hicks, Jeffrey Dahmer’s first known victim.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s parents divorced the same year he graduated high school. Dahmer’s brother and his father decided to move into a nearby motel, and Dahmer and his mother continued living at the Dahmer family home . Whenever Dahmer’s mother was out of town, he had full control of the house.

On one such occasion, Dahmer took advantage of his newfound freedom. He picked up 18-year-old hitchhiker Steven Mark Hicks, who was on his way to a rock concert in nearby Lockwood Corners. Dahmer convinced Hicks to join him at his house for some drinks before he went to the show.

After hours of drinking and listening to music, Hicks attempted to leave , a move that enraged Dahmer. In response, Jeffrey Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks from behind with a 10-pound dumbbell and strangled him to death. He then stripped Hicks naked and masturbated on his lifeless corpse.

Then, Dahmer brought Hicks down to the crawl space of his house and began dissecting the body. Afterward, Dahmer removed the bones, smashed them to powder, and dissolved the flesh with acid.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders had begun. But on the surface, Dahmer seemed to be a normal young man who was struggling to figure his life out.

Public Domain The first mugshot of Jeffrey Dahmer, taken in Bath, Ohio.

He briefly attended Ohio State University but dropped out after one term due to his drinking. He also served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army for two years before his alcoholism became a problem.

After being honorably discharged, he returned to his grandmother’s house in West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It would later come to light that Dahmer had drugged and raped two other soldiers.

As a civilian, Jeffrey Dahmer’s violence continued. He committed numerous sex crimes, including masturbating in front of children and drugging and raping men at gay bathhouses. In September 1987, Dahmer escalated back to murder when he killed 25-year-old Steven Tuomi.

Dahmer met Tuomi at a bar and convinced the young man to go back to his hotel room with him. Dahmer later claimed that he had just intended to drug and rape the man, but awoke the next morning to find his hand bruised and Tuomi’s bloodied corpse underneath his bed.

Dahmer’s “Incessant And Never-Ending Desire” For Murder

Jeffrey Dahmer’s murder of Steven Tuomi was the catalyst that sparked Dahmer’s true killing spree. After that heinous crime, he began actively seeking out young men at gay bars and luring them back to his grandmother’s house. There, he would drug, rape, and kill them.

YouTube Steven Tuomi, one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s 17 victims.

Dahmer killed at least three victims during this time. He was also arrested for the molestation of a 13-year-old boy. Due to that charge, Dahmer would serve eight months in a work camp.

Still, the idea of killing consumed him. “It was an incessant and never-ending desire to be with someone at whatever cost,” he later said. “Someone good looking, really nice looking. It just filled my thoughts all day long.”

But murder alone wasn’t enough. Jeffrey Dahmer also began to collect grotesque trophies from his victims. This practice began with the murder of a 24-year-old aspiring model named Anthony Sears.

Public Domain Before Jeffrey Dahmer was captured in 1991, the “Milwaukee Cannibal” brutally murdered at least 17 boys and young men in Ohio and Wisconsin.

Sears struck up a conversation with the seemingly innocent Dahmer at a gay bar. After going home with Dahmer, Sears was drugged, raped, and eventually strangled. Dahmer would then preserve Spears’ head and genitals in jars filled with acetone. When he moved into his own place downtown, Dahmer brought the dismembered pieces of Sears with him.

Over the next two years, Dahmer committed the bulk of his 17 murders. He would lure young men back to his home, often offering them money to pose nude for him before killing them.

The Horrors Of Jeffrey Dahmer’s Murders Grow Even Worse

As Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders continued, his depravity deepened.

After taking photos of the corpses and dissolving their flesh and bones, Dahmer would regularly keep the skulls of his victims as trophies. He also began experimenting with various techniques to preserve these grisly mementos. He once even accidentally exploded the head of one of his victims, Edward Smith, when he tried to dry it out in the oven.

Around the same time, Dahmer began to dabble in cannibalism. He kept body parts in the refrigerator so that he could feast on them later.

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He also raped some of his victims and cannibalized their bodies.

But even that wasn’t enough to satisfy Dahmer’s sickening urges. He also began drilling holes into the heads of his victims while they were drugged and still alive. He would then pour hydrochloric acid onto his victim’s brain, a technique that he hoped would put the person in a permanent, unresistant, and submissive state.

He attempted this procedure with numerous victims, including Konerak Sinthasomphone . That’s why, along with being drugged, the boy was unable to communicate with the police and ask for help.

Dahmer’s most violent fantasies had slithered from nightmares to reality. But he hid it well. His parole officer didn’t suspect a thing. And Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims often didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.

The Escape Of His Last Would-Be Victim Leads To Dahmer’s Capture

CBS/KLEWTV Jeffrey Dahmer’s last attempted victim, Tracy Edwards, in 1991.

On July 22, 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer went after 32-year-old Tracy Edwards . Like he did with many of his victims, Dahmer offered Edwards money to pose for nude photos in his apartment. But to the shock of Edwards, Dahmer handcuffed him and threatened him with a knife, telling him to undress.

Dahmer then taunted Edwards, telling him that he was going to eat his heart. Dahmer placed his ear against Edwards’ chest and rocked back and forth.

Terrified, Edwards attempted to appease Dahmer, telling him that he was his friend and that he would watch TV with him. While Dahmer was distracted, Edwards punched him in the face and ran out the door — escaping the fate of becoming another one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s murder victims.

Edwards flagged down a police car and led the officers to Dahmer’s apartment. There, a policeman discovered photos of dismembered corpses — which were clearly taken in the same exact apartment that they were now standing in. “These are for real,” said the officer who uncovered the photos, as he handed them to his partner.

Public Domain A 57-gallon drum of acid found in Jeffrey Dahmer’s room. He often used this drum to disintegrate his victims.

Though Dahmer attempted to resist arrest, he was quickly detained.

Upon closer inspection of the apartment, the police found four severed heads in the kitchen and a total of seven skulls, many of them painted. In the fridge, they found numerous body parts, including two human hearts.

In the bedroom, they found a 57-gallon drum — and quickly noticed an overpowering odor emanating from it. When they looked inside, they found three dismembered human torsos dissolving in an acid solution.

The apartment was filled with so many human body parts that were stored and arranged with such care that the medical examiner later said, “It was more like dismantling someone’s museum than an actual crime scene.”

When The Tables Turned: The Murder Of Jeffrey Dahmer

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images Jeffrey Dahmer’s murder trial shocked and horrified the nation.

After Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested, it didn’t take long for him to admit to all 17 of his murders. But despite his unspeakable crimes, Dahmer was found to be sane during his 1992 trial.

Some disagreed with the declaration of sanity — including at least one other serial killer. When John Wayne Gacy was asked what he thought of Dahmer, he said, “I don’t know the man personally, but I’ll tell ya this, that’s a good example as to why insanity doesn’t belong in the courtroom. Because if Jeffrey Dahmer doesn’t meet the requirements for insanity, then I’d hate like hell to run into the guy that does.”

At Dahmer’s trial, he pled guilty to 15 of the charges against him and was given 15 life sentences plus 70 years. He would spend the next three years imprisoned at Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institution, where he would be interviewed by the media multiple times as journalists, doctors, and pundits tried to figure out who Dahmer was deep down. Unsurprisingly, he quickly became infamous as one of the worst serial killers in modern history.

Steve Kagan/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images The Milwaukee Sentinel reports on Dahmer’s death. November 28, 1994.

During his time in prison, Dahmer had constant thoughts of suicide — but he would never get the chance to take his own life. On November 28, 1994, a fellow inmate and convicted murderer named Christopher Scarver beat Dahmer to death with a metal bar in the prison bathroom along with fellow inmate Jesse Anderson .

According to Scarver, Jeffrey Dahmer neither fought back nor made a sound during the attack, but instead appeared to accept his fate.

“If he’d have had a choice, he’d have let this happen to him,” Dahmer’s mother told the Milwaukee Sentinel soon afterward. “I always asked if he was safe, and he’d say, ‘It doesn’t matter, Mom. I don’t care if something happens to me.'”

“Now is everybody happy?” Joyce Dahmer asked. “Now that he’s bludgeoned to death, is that good enough for everyone?”

After learning about Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders, read up on history’s most infamous serial killers and learn how they were finally caught. Then, check out serial killer quotes that will chill you to the bone.

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Case Study of Jeffrey Dahmer | The Biography of The Milwaukee Monster

In this blog, we will write about Jeffrey Dahmer, his early life history, experiences, crimes, arrest and conviction. He was one of the most notorious serial killers in the crime history of the USA.

The American criminal justice system has witnessed the emergence of many notorious serial killers from the period of 1960s to 1990s. Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted sex offender and serial murderer. He killed and sexually violated 17 young males between 1978 and 1991. He was known as The Milwaukee Cannibal or The Milwaukee Monster.

Life History Of Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer aka Jeffrey Dahmer was born on 21 st May 1960. His birthplace was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents were Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. He had a dysphoric family where his mother was suffering from depression and even attempted suicide. His father was a Chemist and he hardly gave him any time. At the age of four, he was suffering from a double hernia. He underwent surgeries to cure it. This brought a change in his life. He was a happy, curious, and energetic child. After this surgery, he became a loner.

Jeffrey Dahmer enjoyed collecting dead animals from the roadsides and dissecting them during his childhood. After dissecting those animals, he destroyed their body with chemicals. He had a hut in the backyard of their house where he used to dissect animals and collect their bones. He had access to chemicals from his father’s chemistry lab.

Jeffrey’s parents got divorced when he graduated from high school. His parents had an acrimonious relationship. He has seen parental negligence from a very young age. This has affected his personality development.

Jeffrey Dahmer was an alcoholic. His alcohol consumption was out of his control. He dropped out from Ohio State University due to his alcohol addiction. Later he joined the army in 1978 and he was posted in Germany. He was discharged from the army in 1981 due to his drinking issues. He then returned to Ohio. Meanwhile, his father remarried and sent him to live with his grandmother. His father tried to send him to rehabilitation centers. But nothing could reduce his alcohol addiction.

There is a movie about his life story called My friend Dahmer. Here’s the trailer.

In the year of 1978, Jeffrey Dahmer started to spread his reign of terror in the Ohio state of the USA. The Milwaukee Cannibal or Monster killed 17 young males in a short span of time. Jeffrey Dahmer brutally murdered his victims by strangling them. After killing them he raped the corpses.

His first victim was a hitchhiker, Steven Mark Hicks. In 1978 he killed him by strangulation then he masturbated on his corpse. In September 1987 he killed his second victim, Steven Tuomi. They were staying in a hotel together and Jeffrey made him unconscious by using drugs. Later, he dismembered his body after masturbating on the corpse at his grandmother’s basement. When he was living with his grandmother, he had a male mannequin in his room. His grandmother was very disturbed about his behaviors. In 1988, his grandmother forced him to leave her house. He targeted Anthony Sears in 1989. He was an aspiring model. He sodomized, strangled, and dismembered his body.

He used to lure men from gay bars, clubs, shopping malls, etc. He mostly targeted African-American young men. He used to drug young men in order to have sex with their unconscious bodies. He had brutally dissected and dismembered his victims’ bodies. He was a cannibal and he collected the skulls and bones of his victims. He even kept some organs or parts of victims’ bodies as a souvenir. When police raided his apartment, they got a refrigerator full of human organs, limbs, and parts. The degree of brutality he showed through his crime commission knows no bound. He even gave some of his victims’ lobotomies.

You can watch his interview here.

Arrest and Conviction

Jeffrey Dahmer faced sexual assault charges in September 1989. He pleaded guilty and was convicted with second-degree sexual assault. He argued before the court in his own defense at his trial. He was given five years probationary sentence and judges ordered that he needed treatment. He was permitted to work during the day. His reign of terror finally ended when Tracy Edward, his last victim, escaped alive in 1991. He was finally arrested by the cops. He was sentenced to 16 life imprisonment. He was murdered by a fellow inmate (Christopher Scarver) at Wisconsin State Prison in 1994.

The experts who studied him defined him as a sadistic sociopath . He was diagnosed with the anti-personality disorder. From a very young age, he became a heavy drinker. He was a necrophiliac and a pathological loner. He had a compulsive obsession with control and dominance over his victims. He always wanted a submissive company. He used to get sexually stimulated by torturing and killing his victims.

Dahmer’s mental illness, dysfunctional family, and lonesome have shaped his human personality. On the other hand, drinking addiction has caused damage to his mental death. Due to his sexual preferences, he was often neglected in society. Although nothing can justify his brutal crimes. Perhaps, if he would have been sent to mental health treatment at his earlier age, he could not become a serial killer.

Read other serial killers biography in the Criminology playlist.

Read Ted Bundy’s here .

Read David Berkowitz here .

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Who was Jeffrey Dahmer? The Notorious Serial Killer from Netflix's New Crime Series

“dahmer - monster: the jeffrey dahmer story,” netflix's new series, depicts the life of a wisconsin serial killer. here's what to know about the case, published september 22, 2022 • updated on september 22, 2022 at 4:37 pm.

Jeffrey Dahmer, a notorious Milwaukee-based serial killer and sex offender, is the latest subject of the Netflix documentary team in a 10-episode series titled “Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”

The series was released Wednesday and stars Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer. Peters rose to fame as a key member of the American Horror Story cast and has also made appearances in the X-Men franchise and One Tree Hill. He is joined in the cast by Richard Jenkins and Molly Ringwald, who play Dahmer’s dad and stepmom. 

Here’s a look at Jeffrey Dahmer ahead of the 10-episode series.

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Who was Jeffrey Dahmer?

Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer who murdered seventeen men and boys from 1978 to 1991. 

Dahmer was born in Milwaukee but moved with his parents to Doylestown, Ohio -- a suburb of Akron -- at the age of 6. His brother, David, was born shortly after. 

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While there are conflicting reports about family life in the Dahmer household, Jeffrey’s childhood was marked by his mom’s struggle with depression, his dad’s prioritization of work and frequent moves around the Akron area.

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Did jeffrey dahmer suffer from alcoholism.

By early high school, Jeffrey was regularly drinking in school and grew increasingly withdrawn, despite maintaining a penchant for pranks and earning a bit of a reputation as a class clown. He was also coming to terms with his sexuality as a gay man.

Jeffrey reportedly developed sexual fantasies throughout high school, that later involved cannibalism and dissection, a practice he had learned through scientific conversations from his dad, a chemist. 

Who was Jeffrey Dahmer’s first victim?

Three weeks after his high school graduation, Jeffrey Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks who became his first murder victim. 

Over the course of the next decade, Jeffrey bounced from different environments -- including a brief stint as a student at Ohio State and in the U.S. Army -- while slipping deeper into alcohol dependency and eventually returning to Milwaukee to live with his grandma. 

When did Jeffrey Dahmer murder his second victim?

On Nov. 20, 1987 -- almost a decade after killing Hicks -- Jeffrey committed his second murder, which then sparked a four-year stretch of 15 more murders. 

When was Jeffrey Dahmer caught?

On July 22, 1991, one of Jeffrey’s potential victims escaped his home and flagged down police nearby. An investigation revealed countless body parts and images of victims throughout his Milwaukee house. 

Over the course of the next two weeks, Dahmer confessed to all 17 murders -- 16 in Milwaukee and one (Hicks) in Ohio. In 1992, he was convicted of 16 counts of murder -- all serving life sentences. 

He wasn’t charged for his first Milwaukee murder as he claimed to have no recollection of the killing and prosecutors didn’t feel like they could prove his involvement beyond a reasonable doubt.

Is Jeffrey Dahmer still alive?

Following sentencing, Dahmer was transferred to Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisc. Despite concerns for his safety as a notorious serial killer, Dahmer was integrated into the general prison population.

Dahmer was killed on Nov. 28, 1994 by a fellow inmate, two and a half years after his final conviction. 

What other movies or TV shows have been made about Jeffrey Dahmer?

Netflix isn’t the first to document Dahmer’s crimes. 

Countless books, shows and movies have been produced regarding Dahmer’s life, including a number of high profile interviews and biographical movies prior to Dahmer’s death. Most recently, Ross Lynch and Alex Wolff starred in the 2017 biopic “ My Friend Dahmer,” based on the book by Jack Backderf, one of Dahmer’s high school classmates.

“Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is available to stream on Netflix. 

The Untold Truth Of Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested at his Milwaukee apartment in 1991, and when the full extent of his crimes came to light, everyone was shocked — even the FBI , who described his apartment as "what could have been the set of a horror movie — numerous body parts belonging to multiple victims." It wasn't until 1992 that prosecutors charged him with 15 murders. Remains of 11 of those victims were still in his apartment at the time of his arrest. Dahmer would ultimately be sentenced to life in prison before being shipped off to Ohio, where he was convicted of one additional murder.

After his conviction, Dahmer spoke about what drove him to kill. He once told Inside Edition (via Oxygen ), "It's a process, it doesn't happen overnight, when you depersonalize another person and view them as just an object. An object for pleasure and not a living, breathing human being. It seems to make it easier to do things you shouldn't do." Dahmer explained at his trial he had always known what he was doing "was sick or evil," and continued — "Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness and now I have some peace."

Jeffrey Dahmer remains one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history. So what was never revealed until much later ... and how much has the world forgotten?

The unspeakable crimes of Jeffery Dahmer

At the heart of the horrors is, of course, Jeffrey Dahmer himself. When it came time for experts to determine if he was fit to stand trial, forensic psychiatrist Dr. George Palermo spent more than 12 hours interviewing him, and concluded (via the Chicago Tribune ) he was "highly intelligent, emotionally tranquil, and his thinking processes were logical and rational." And somehow, that makes what they found in his apartment more terrifying.

When The Associated Press picked up the story of Dahmer's arrest from The Milwaukee Sentinel in July 1991, they reported law enforcement "found 11 skulls scattered in a file cabinet, a closet, a refrigerator, and a freezer, and three headless torsos in a vat in the man's bedroom." That vat, says History , was a 57-gallon drum filled with chemicals that were contributing to the slow decomposition of the bodies inside. There were three heads in the refrigerator, and "evidence" some of the victims had been cannibalized. When police started emptying the apartment, they took out "boxes filled with body parts," and as neighbors started to realize what was happening, the "sounds of sawing [that came] from the apartment at all hours" and the smells became clear. Dahmer's neighbor, Ella Vickers, said, "We've been smelling odors for weeks, but we thought it was a dead animal ... We had no idea it was humans."

Just how many humans it was ... that was documented in a dresser drawer full of Polaroids.

The harrowing life-and-death struggle that led to Jeffrey Dahmer's arrest

Jeffrey Dahmer's arrest wouldn't have happened ... if it weren't for a few Polaroid pictures carelessly left in plain sight. It wasn't until officers got a glimpse of those that they realized something was deeply wrong, as they doubted the man who fled to them for help.

Dahmer was originally arrested in 1988, on charges of (via Time ) "fondling a 13-year-old Laotian boy." After 10 months in jail, he regularly met with his probation officer who, in turn, never checked his home. That freedom, History says, coincided with Dahmer the first of the victims later found in his apartment, who had vanished in March 1989. Just two months after that disappearance, Dahmer was before a judge — and promised his child-molesting ways were behind him.

Fast forward to July 22, 1992. That's when Tracy Edwards escaped from Dahmer's apartment, and he later testified (via the Los Angeles Times ), "He put his head on my chest, was listening to my heart, and said he was going to eat my heart." After watching "Exorcist III," Edwards was able to hit — and flee from — a distracted Dahmer. Heading out into the city, Edwards found a police car and told officers what had happened — and showed them the handcuffs still around his wrist. When he took the doubting officers back to the apartment, Dahmer originally tried to explain the incident away as a "domestic dispute," but that's when officers spotted the pictures. Dahmer was arrested without incident.

Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood was destroyed by a single incident

A 2005 study published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology found childhood abuse — including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse — was present in the history of a high percentage of those people who grew up to become serial killers. When it comes to Jeffrey Dahmer, his case is a little unique in that his father wrote a book about raising his son — and the problems he saw from a young age (via Regis University ).

In interviews his parents gave after his arrest, they described Dahmer as a toddler: "[He was] a happy young boy who loved animals and nature." But things started changing when Dahmer was just 4 years old and had surgery to repair a double hernia. Afterwards, he became convinced his genitals had been removed. His father has suggested that was connected to his later habit of castrating his victims, and he's also pointed the finger at other elements of his son's childhood that may have had some severely negative impacts on him.

That includes being witness to the side effects his mother suffered from after starting anti-anxiety medication, along with abandonment issues stemming from parents that largely left him — and later, his little brother — to fend for themselves. Father Lionel Dahmer would later write, "It is a portrayal of parental dread ... the terrible sense that your child has slipped beyond your grasp, that your little boy is spinning in the void, swirling in the maelstrom, lost, lost, lost."

The fetal pig

Research done by Regis University suggests Jeffrey Dahmer's fascination with death started at about the same time as his hernia surgery — and an incident recounted by his father. Lionel Dahmer says 4-year-old Jeffrey was fascinated with a pile of bones under their home, and while Lionel noticed it, he didn't do anything about it — and Jeffrey's interest in the dead and dying only increased.

When Jeffrey Dahmer was in the ninth grade, he was given a biology assignment that might sound familiar to those of a certain age: the dissection of a fetal pig. He not only happily completed the assignment but kept the skeleton — and that kicked off an obsession with collecting others. At first, those came from along the roadside; Dahmer spent much of his formative years collecting dead animals and mutilating them further. 

The Miami Herald says Dahmer also killed the pets of his neighbors, mounting their heads on sticks. Today, animal cruelty is considered one of the warning signs a child might escalate in adulthood. The FBI started maintaining a database to track instances of animal cruelty in 2016, and stress that instances of abuse need to be reported.

'Somebody else's problem'

John Backderf says he occasionally wondered what happened to his old school chum Jeffrey Dahmer, but it wasn't until 1991 headlines that he learned what his buddy had been up to. Backderf told The Independent , "There was always a darkness about him that was really kind of repellent ... I was OK with hanging out with him, if there was other people around. I was never going to be alone with him. And I'm pretty happy I had that instinct, because that could have well been me chopped up in the trunk of his car."

Backderf was already an established artist when he decided to tell his story in the form of the graphic novel "My Friend Dahmer." The 2012 work — which was turned into a movie — tried to shine some light on what it was like going to school with him. Dahmer, he says, started acting out in high school: He would fake seizures, and mock locals with disabilities. Backderf and his friends jokingly formed the Dahmer Fan Club. Backderf wrote: "All those things he perfected when he was very young through our goofball antics, he used them when he was a monster. That's a little hard to live with."

And it's also led him to wonder where the adults were. "They didn't care," Backderf says. "They just ... figured, 'Well, next year he'll be somebody else's problem.' And of course he was somebody else's problem."

The first victim

Jeffrey Dahmer's parents finalized their divorce on July 24, 1978 (via the Los Angeles Times ). About a month prior to that, he killed his first victim. Steven Hicks had been hitchhiking to a concert, says The New York Times , and when he didn't come home, his parents didn't think anything of it. They reported him missing six days later, but he was already dead.

Months passed ... then years. It wasn't until 1991 that law enforcement connected Hicks' disappearance with Dahmer, and it was also then they started taking a close look at Dahmer's 1978 home in Ohio. Hours into the search , they "found more than 50 bone fragments," along with a "'substantial quantity of blood' and a bloody handprint in the crawl space" of the home.

That would quickly escalate to 500 bone fragments, and Dahmer would eventually confess to picking up Hicks, inviting him home for a drink, and smashing him first with a barbell, then destroying his remains with a sledgehammer. And he was nearly caught . Dahmer was pulled over by police when he was disposing of Hicks' body, and officers asked him why he had plastic bags in his car. He convinced them he was just getting some air — and, distraught over his parents' impending divorce — he was taking the garbage to the dump while he was out. Officers let him go.

Jeffrey Dahmer's time in the military

In 2013, The Independent did a profile on those who had been victims of sexual assault while in the military, and among those were two men who had been victimized by Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer enlisted and was sent to Germany in 1979, where he was attached to a medic unit. One of the other men in the unit, Preston Davis, says he was drugged then sexually assaulted by Dahmer: "I was raped by Jeffrey. I am just thankful to be alive to tell the story."

After Davis left the Baumholder garrison, he was replaced by a soldier named Billy Joe Capshaw. After being sexually assaulted multiple times, Capshaw jumped from a third-story window, survived, and reported the assaults. Superior officers returned him to the barracks where the abuse continued, and after he left the military, he spent five years locked in his own room. After years of therapy — and a friendship with Dahmer's other victim — he was finally able to talk about what happened. 

Davis says (via The Wrap ) Dahmer liked to boast about how he'd killed a man — Hicks — when he was drunk, and he was ultimately discharged because of his alcohol abuse. Davis continued: "I don't consider myself a victim. I'm a survivor."

The boy that raised the alarm

St. Mary's University says Konerak Sinthasomphone was among the 11 victims whose remains were discovered at Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment, and his story starts years prior. The 13-year-old boy Dahmer had been convicted of molesting in 1988 was Konerak's older brother, Keison. The family was told Dahmer was "put away for good," but in 1991, he lured Konerak Sinthasomphone to his apartment with promises he'd pay him for posing for a few photos. Dahmer drugged him, drilled a hole in his skull, and injected him with hydrochloric acid.

He was still unconscious when Dahmer left for the store, and Dahmer was still gone when he woke. Sinthasomphone was running down the street when he came across Nicole Childress and Sandra Smith. They called police, but by that time, Dahmer was on the street again to reclaim his victim. Dahmer claimed the boy was his "houseguest," and was ultimately released by police — who escorted them both back to Dahmer's apartment, then threatened to arrest Smith for her continued insistence that something was deeply wrong. Sinthasomphone was dead half-an-hour later. 

In spite of the fact that Dahmer already had another body in his apartment, the officers testified (via The New York Times ) they believed the two had "a caring relationship." Officer Joseph Gabrish said, "We're trained to be observant ... I've been doing this for a while, and usually if something stands out, you'll spot it. There just wasn't anything there."

Jeffrey Dahmer's desire for 'zombie sex-slaves'

Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes weren't actually driven by anything as straightforward as a need to kill and cannibalize; there was something much more complicated at work.

When he confessed, it was in a 145-page missive (via Psychology Today ) where he shared the fact that unresponsive bodies and dismembering the dead "aroused him." That was just the beginning. Autopsies (via Acad Forensic Pathol ) performed on the remains recovered from his apartment revealed he'd drilled holes in the skulls of his victims — while they were alive, based on signs of healing. When detectives confronted Dahmer, he admitted he had been experimenting — by varying the number and size of drill holes, and the liquids he then injected into his victims' brains, he'd hoped to turn them into "zombie sex-slaves."

At his trial, jurors were presented with the idea that Dahmer did what he did because he didn't want to be alone (via the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University ): The creation of his zombie slaves would mean he had "people who would be there for him," and he claimed it was a similar need that drove him to keep the skulls and eat parts of his victims. That way, they "would become alive again in him."

Here's what his parents thought

Jeffrey Dahmer's parents have spoken out about their son, and his father — Lionel — even wrote a book in an attempt to make sense out of what had happened. In it (via  Oxygen ), he said he "blamed himself for Jeffrey's (severe) flaws," particularly his own "negligent" nature. 

Jeffrey's mother, Joyce Flint, said in 1993: "I wake up every morning and for a split second, I don't know I'm Jeffrey Dahmer's mother, and then it all floods in." She later told Hard Copy, "I still love my son. I've never stopped loving my son." Flint died of breast cancer in 2000, and in reporting her death, Deseret says she spent much of her life working as a case manager for the Central Valley AIDS team. She also founded an HIV community center called The Living Room, and associates described her as "just this wonderful person."

Jeffrey Dahmer's stepmother, Shari, has also spoken about her infamous stepson. She says (via In Touch Weekly ), "He was very vulnerable. He needed love and he needed attention." She adds that they did try to get him psychiatric help after he left the military, and when asked why they hadn't changed their names, she adds: "I didn't feel ashamed. We were not guilty ... Because we were not involved, we didn't feel ashamed in that respect."

Here's how much Jeffrey Dahmer made while in prison

After Jeffrey Dahmer's confession and conviction, came jail — and while he was there, he started receiving a ton of fan mail. His father wrote (via Oxygen ) that he was baffled by it: "Clearly, some of these people believe that in some bizarre way, my son could rescue them from lives in which they felt trapped. It demonstrated a level of sympathy and pity that I simply could not reach."

In 1994, The Associated Press reported that Dahmer had already received a shocking $12,000 in letters that were sent to him from across the globe. Some sent him money to spend on creature comforts, while others sent donations as gifts — with at least one woman hoping that the $350 she sent him would encourage him to learn about Christ. 

The New Statesman took a look at some of the so-called serial killer fandoms and found a secret Facebook group filled with Dahmer fans. As a play on his cannibalism, they called themselves "McDahmer's," and when the paper spoke with one member (49-year-old "Geri"), she revealed that she felt connected to Dahmer because they shared "a great hobb[y]" of dissecting animals. She explained, "It's not that I agreed with what he did, but I understood the triggers. Society has a lot to answer for in terms of how people turn out."

Why Christopher Scarver killed Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer was ultimately sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms, says Biography , and at first, he spent some time in protective custody. After a year in jail, he asked to be returned to a more communal area, and he started to spend time — sometimes, unsupervised — with other prisoners. That's where things went sideways.

There was an attempt on his life in 1994, at a chapel service the newly-baptized Dahmer was attending. Then, on November 28, 1994, Dahmer was bludgeoned to death by another inmate named Christopher Scarver. Scarver later talked to the NY Post and explained why he'd done it, saying: "He crossed the line with some people — prisoners, prison staff. Some people who are in prison are repentant — but he was not one of them." Scarver wasn't the only one unnerved by Dahmer, he said. Dahmer was well-known for hanging up signs for "Cannibals Anonymous," and reminding guards and fellow inmates alike that, "I bite." He made severed limbs out of his food while in the mess, added ketchup for blood, and taunted those around him.

Scarver said that he had gone out of his way to avoid Dahmer, but then he found himself on bathroom-cleaning duty with him. He was poked in the back, and when he confronted Dahmer with his crimes — and Dahmer confirmed that he was guilty — Scarver said, "He ended up dead. I put his head down."

He committed crimes in his grandmother's basement

Though much of the focus of Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes center around his Milwaukee apartment, this residence was not the only place where he committed them. His second victim, Steven Tuomi, was killed by Dahmer at the Ambassador Hotel, his remains disposed of in trash bags (via USA Today ). Living with his grandmother at the time, Dahmer began taking his prey back to her home. The murders of James Edward Doxtator, Richard Guerrero, and Anthony Sears all took place here (via Biography ) with Dahmer dismembering and disposing of the bodies. " Jeffrey Dahmer — Serial Killer and Cannibal — More Murders, More Arrests " revealed that though the murders took place in her basement without her having any knowledge of them, his grandmother was growing weary of Dahmer's rampant alcoholism and male company. In one instance, a would-be victim of Dahmer's narrowly escaped death as Dahmer's grandmother surprised him by coming home earlier than expected. Already drugged, the Associated Press reports that Ronald Flowers, Jr., woke up in a hospital the day after an encounter with Dahmer. Dahmer later admitted to investigators after his eventual arrest for murder that he only let Flowers live because he thought that his grandmother had seen him.

In 1994, NBC's  "Dahmer and Dahmer" (via Yahoo News ) reported that Dahmer was admittedly gay, something that he struggled to reveal to his family. His grandmother was especially conservative and became motivated to expel him from her home when she discovered him with a "partially naked man."

Was he planning to create an altar made of bones?

Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment was full of ghastly discoveries when police were called there in July 1991. Along with the murder weapons and various instruments used to dissect his victims, investigators discovered multiple body parts stashed in locations throughout apartment 213.

Among the relics Dahmer had collected from his victims was a crude set of hand-drawn plans for a shrine made with human skulls. Fox News reports that Dahmer's plans revealed a black table, illuminated with overhead blue lighting that would shine on the painted skulls that he collected from his victims. The shrine would be guarded on either side by two human skeletons, also painted. 

For Dahmer's plan to come to full fruition, many more victims would have been required. And Dahmer had no plans on discontinuing his cruel and morbid hobby. In a 1993 prison interview with Inside Edition , Dahmer was asked if he would still be committing murder. His chilling response was "There's no doubt I probably would be. I can't think of anything that would have stopped me."

What did Dahmer do for work?

When Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in July 1991, he had last been working at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory in Milwaukee (via The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ). He had been fired from his position four days after he murdered his 16th victim, 24-year-old Oliver Joseph Lacy. Biography details how his poor attendance led to his termination, but this news didn't do anything to slow his killing spree. The very day he was let go, Dahmer killed his final victim, 25-year-old Joseph Bradehoft. 

Before his days at Ambrosia, Dahmer held a variety of jobs, though he didn't keep them for very long. After dropping out of college in 1979, Dahmer joined the military where, according to The Akron Beacon-Journal , he wanted to become a military police officer. Assigned instead to the role of a combat medic, Dahmer was assigned a station in Germany. His severe abuse of alcohol led to his discharge a mere two years into his enlistment.

Deemed unfit for military duty, Dahmer moved to the Miami, Florida, area so that he could be in a warm climate. He moved into a motel and took a job in a sandwich shop. The Galveston Daily News tells us that he soon moved to the Milwaukee area to live with his grandmother. Dahmer worked at the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Center as a phlebotomist, admitting to police that he drank blood from a vial while employed there (per USA Today ). Ambrosia hired Dahmer as a night laborer in 1985.

He once brought a human head to his job at a chocolate factory

You can probably imagine the running jokes about a cannibal being employed in a chocolate factory that were tastelessly made (no pun intended here) when Jeffrey Dahmer's most recent vocation was revealed after his 1991 arrest. No doubt, these attempts at humor were woven into a fabric of real horror that was being exposed after Dahmer was brought to justice and throughout his 1992 sanity trial. 

Biography reveals that Dahmer began to collect trophies from his victims, in the form of body parts that he harvested from them after they were viciously murdered. The first time Dahmer admitted to doing this was with the body of his fifth victim, Anthony Sears. The 24-year-old man was lured to Dahmer's grandmother's house where he was strangled to death and dismembered. Dahmer carefully removed Sears' head and genitals, storing them inside a wooden box.

This box was brought to work at Ambrosia by Dahmer, who kept the box and its contents in his work locker.

What happened to Dahmer's body after his death?

In some instances, the remains of a convicted killer go unclaimed and are buried without much fanfare in a prison cemetery. In the case of Jeffrey Dahmer , he had several family members who stayed in close contact with him throughout his incarceration and wanted to take possession of his body after he was murdered in a prison shower in November 1994 (per History ). But the trial against Dahmer's killer, Christopher Scarver, delayed any final action being taken on his body. 

According to the Associated Press, Dahmer's body was finally allowed to be cremated in September 1995, an option that his father and mother opted for so that they could save on storage costs while the court ruled on the fate of Dahmer's preserved brain. Though his parents agreed to split his ashes, they were on opposing sides as to the fate of the organ. Dahmer's father wanted the brain to be cremated along with the rest of his body, while his mother wanted it to be studied by scientists. The  Associated Press  (via NBC 5 News Chicago) reported that eventually Dahmer's father got his way and the brain was cremated.

His apartment building was demolished

Those wanting to drive by and sneak a peek at the apartment building that Jeffrey Dahmer lived in while he committed the majority of his murders will be disappointed to discover that it hasn't been standing in 30 years. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the structure at 924 N. 25th Street was demolished in 1992, a little over a year after the remains of multiple victims were recovered from Dahmer's home. 

The building was purchased by The Campus Circle Project, in conjunction with Marquette University. Though some discussions were had about what to do with the property over the years, nothing has come to fruition. Newsweek reports that after the buyers helped the existing residents of the building acquire new housing, they deliberated on using the now-vacant lot for a memorial garden for victims, a neighborhood park, and other projects. Three decades later, the grassy lot still sits undeveloped behind a fence.

The decision to purchase and raze the dwellings where brutal murders have occurred is not uncommon. The high levels of publicity might be a dominant motivating factor in this move, as it keeps curiosity seekers from bothering neighboring property owners. Over time, true crime aficionados have seen the homes of the Kansas City Butcher , John Wayne Gacy , and others destroyed so that adjacent residents can move on with their lives (per The Pitch KC and Chicago Business Journal , respectively).

What happened to Dahmer's estate?

After Jeffrey Dahmer's 1991 arrest, his Milwaukee apartment was thoroughly searched by investigators who made countless grisly discoveries. After Dahmer was sentenced, a civil trial was underway, brought into the court by surviving members of Dahmer's many victims. The Orlando Sentinel reports that they were awarded $80 million, an amount that Dahmer was unable to pay. These parties decided to auction off the various items belonging to Dahmer, hoping to raise as much as $1 million, the proceeds of which would be split among them (via CNN ). 

The items that were to be auctioned were the only remnants of Dhamer's estate and included an estimated 300 objects. Included in the proposed sale were ghastly items, like the vat that he used to boil away his victim's flesh, the refrigerator that held the remains of some of his victims, the hypodermic needles he used to inject his prey, and the tools he used to carve away their flesh. Also included were seemingly mundane articles, like the convicted cannibal's toothbrush (via Newsweek ). 

A group of Milwaukee businessmen organized in opposition to the auction and petitioned the court to turn over the contents of Dahmer's estate over to their Milwaukee Civic Pride Fund. The Associated Press tells us that the fund's organizer, Joseph Zilber, was granted the right to purchase the contents from victims' family members. Zilber managed to raise more than $400,000, which was split between the families. After gaining possession of the articles owned by Dahmer, they were destroyed.

He had a reason for taking his glasses off in court

Amid Jeffrey Dahmer's trial in 1992, his father and stepmother sat down with TV's "Inside Edition" in an exclusive interview (per Deseret News ). During the session, Shari Dhamer pointed out that her stepson was not wearing his prescription glasses in the courtroom. Not wanting to be able to see the jury or onlookers in the chamber, he sat through the legal proceedings without them. She stated, "He's not wearing glasses so that he can't see people. He panics." Whether this feeling was from guilt or regret, she did not speculate. 

On February 17, 1992, Dahmer stood before the court once more after the jury found him legally sane two days prior. Facing multiple life terms for having been found guilty of 15 counts of first-degree murder, Dahmer found himself listening to multiple statements from the family members of many of his victims (via CBS News ). After sitting silently throughout some very passionate and emotional testimony to the court, Dahmer was given the opportunity to address the judge and those in attendance. 

Deseret News reports that the only time that Dahmer wore his glasses was during this sentencing hearing.

Jeffrey Dahmer (Serial Killer Biography)

Even if you are not into true crime, you probably know the names of a few serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. These serial killers, particularly Jeffrey Dahmer, have been the center of television shows, documentaries, and even the lyrics in pop songs. 

Why does his name and story pop up everywhere? It’s not because he killed the most people out of any serial killer or is the “first” serial killer.

Who Was Jeffrey Dahmer? 

Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991. But he didn’t just kill them. After they were dead, Dahmer dismembered and even ate the bodies. What’s more, Dahmer was a timid man who didn’t endure the abuse or trauma that other serial killers may use as an “excuse” for their crimes. 

In interviews, Jeffrey Dahmer gave clear, straightforward answers about his horrific crimes, in some cases admitting his wrongdoing. The story of Jeffrey Dahmer is a wild ride, and it’s more squeamish than many stories of serial killers. Get ready to hear the real story of one of the most infamous serial killers and cannibals of all time. 

When Was Jeffrey Dahmer Born?

Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in Wisconsin. His parents lived comfortably. While most serial killers have a record of surviving abuse or other traumatic experiences, there’s not much to say about Dahmer’s childhood that could point to his later crimes. Dahmer claimed that he was never abused or molested throughout his lifetime. Although his mother suffered from mental illness and likely took prescription medication that affected Dahmer’s development, all appeared normal throughout his early life. 

Jeffrey Dahmer Childhood

Jeffrey Dahmer was a shy child, but his interest in taxidermy and dead animals may have pointed to his later crimes. Violence against animals, setting fires, and persistent bed-wetting are all common signs among serial killers. Other strange behaviors in his teenage years, including drinking alcohol in class, pointed to issues, but they were largely ignored by friends, classmates, and family. At age 17, his parents divorced and his mother left his father and Jeffrey while taking his younger brother with him. 

Jeffrey Dahmer's First Kill 

Inside, Dahmer started to have fantasies that involved sexual control and dominance. Not knowing how to act on these desires, he began to use violence. At age 18, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker who was on his way to a rock concert. The two spent some time at Dahmer’s house - when the hitchhiker wanted to leave, Dahmer killed him. 

After Dahmer dismembered the body, he put the hitchhiker into a garbage bag and drove to take him to a dumpster. Along the way, he was stopped by police - but he was let go. He scattered the bones of his first victim in the woods near his home. 

By this time, Dahmer’s father and stepmother noticed that he was acting out. They unsuccessfully tried to enroll him in college, took him to psychiatrists, and eventually encouraged him to join the military. During this time, Dahmer didn’t commit any homicides, although multiple roommates claimed that he drugged, sexually assaulted, and tortured them. He was discharged from the army due to excessive drinking, and ended up moving in with his grandmother. 

Jeffrey Dahmer's Victims

During this time, Dahmer tried various methods to suppress his urges and bizarre fantasies. He kept a mannequin in his bed, exposed himself to women and children, and started drugging men at bath houses throughout the Chicago and Milwaukee area. After giving one of the men too much of the drugs that he used, he was banned from the bath houses. 

Around this time, Dahmer got a job at a chocolate factory. 

Shortly after, he brought a man to a hotel and drugged him. The next morning, the man was dead, beaten to death by Dahmer. He claimed he had no recollection of killing the man, and hadn’t planned on killing him when the man was brought home. From then on, he started going on a wild killing spree that would later label him a “serial killer.”

He took two victims in 1988. During this year, he also moved out of his grandmother’s house. His family members were disturbed by some of the smells coming from the basement, but assumed it had to do with Jeffrey’s old habit of experimenting with roadkill. They didn’t suspect that he was actually disposing of multiple bodies. 

After sexually assaulting a 13-year old boy in 1989, Dahmer was arrested and convicted of second-degree sexual assault. Due to delays in his sentencing, Dahmer was sent to live at his grandmother’s home for a period of months. During that time, he took another victim. The victim’s head and genitals were preserved after Dahmer disposed of the body. Shortly after, he was sentenced to five years’ probation. His sentencing included work release and mandatory time in counseling due to his remorse in front of the judge.

In 1990, Dahmer moved into an apartment and killed an additional four men. All of these men had come to Dahmer’s home voluntarily, and didn’t anticipate the violence that would take place when they arrived. He had already developed a ritual where he would watch “The Exorcist” before killing his victims.” During this year, he started to change the way he treated his victims after he killed them. He photographed their bodies, storing their bones in a filing cabinet and other parts of the body in a freezer. If not stored, the body parts were placed in vats of acid. 

Dahmer planned to build a “memorial” to these victims in the form of an altar. Sketches of this altar showed his desire to paint their skeletons and lay out their skulls on the altar. This bizarre “connection” to his victims grew into even more sickening rituals as he began to cook and eat the remains of his victims. Dahmer would go so far as to look at pictures of his victims while he ate their bodies. 

Dahmer killed one more person in 1991 before he tried something new with his victims. With his next two victims, he attempted to make them “zombies,” somewhere between life and death. He did this to try and fulfill a sexual fantasy about having sex with a zombie. Both times, he failed and the victims died.  

When Was Jeffrey Dahmer Caught? 

In May 1991, he tried again. He attempted to drill a hole into the head of a 14-year-old boy. Dahmer didn’t know that this boy was actually the younger brother of a boy Dahmer had molested a few years earlier. But when Dahmer left his apartment to go buy beer, the boy escaped. An eyewitness called the police, who came to Dahmer’s home. Dahmer wasn’t fazed by the close encounter and told the police that the two were engaging in consensual, sexual activities. 

The police left the 14-year-old child with Dahmer in his apartment. They failed to look around and see that Dahmer’s previous victim was in the next room where they discussed Dahmer’s supposed relationship with the teenager. When neighbors inquired as to the age of the child and whether or not he was actually safe with Dahmer, police assured them that everything was “taken care of.” The day after this encounter, Dahmer killed the 14-year-old boy. Over the next two months, he killed another three victims. 

At this point, neighbors contacted their landlord to report on a foul smell coming from Dahmer’s apartment. Three times, he made excuses for the smell, including telling his manager that his fish had recently died. Eventually, these excuses stopped working for the manager, and Dahmer was told that he was going to be evicted. 

During this time before his eviction, Dahmer kills one more victim - his 17th. On July 22, 1991, three days after the man was killed, Dahmer would be arrested. 

The Arrest 

Dahmer took a man back to his home on July 22, 1991. Early in the encounter, he told the man that he was going to eat his heart. But Dahmer had run out of drugs to render the man unconscious, and only managed to get one handcuff on the man’s hand. The man was able to escape and ask the police about how to get the handcuff off.

The police were not able to get the handcuffs off, so they went to Dahmer’s apartment to look for the key. In plain sight, the officers saw the photographs that Dahmer had taken of his victims. These photos included evidence that Dahmer had killed and dismembered multiple victims. At this point, Dahmer was finally put in handcuffs and taken into custody for the murders. 

When investigators searched the house, they found all of the remains and evidence of Dahmer’s recent killings. 

Life In Milwaukee After Dahmer's Arrest

A Redditor on the Milwaukee subreddit asked users to share their close encounters with Jeffrey Dahmer. The stories are crazy, tragic, and haunting: 

• "When my husband was 16, he was taking the bus out to Mayfair with his best friend, John. During the 40-minute journey, a young blond man sitting nearby struck up a conversation with them. He introduced himself as Jeff. He was quite chatty, and made homophobic comments about how gay men made him sick. Two weeks later, my husband got a call from John. 'Turn on the news,' he said. 'It's that guy Jeff from the bus.'"
• "It was very surreal. I was about 23 years old and I remember the news breaking on the radio while I was driving over the high-rise bridge, and I got sick to my stomach when I heard about the severed heads in the fridge. My uncle owned a pizza joint near Dahmer's apartment, and his delivery driver was so distraught when he realized he had delivered many pizzas to him over the past couple of years."
• "My husband is a retired Milwaukee firefighter and worked with the firefighter who was on the scene. Apparently in one of the rooms in Dahmer's apartment was an altar with painted skulls, and the firefighter saw the severed heads in the fridge, one of which was propped up in a pair of hands. He also saw a couple of the blue barrels filled with sludgy acid. The cops and firefighters who saw that horror that day will never unsee it - first responder PTSD is very real."

Dahmer's Confession

The next day, Dahmer decided to give a complete confession to the police about everything he had done: murders, dismemberment, cannibalism, and all. 

Before the case went to trial, Dahmer gave a confession that lasted for over 160 pages. In this confession, he was willing to confess to every single detail of the killings and dismemberment that he could remember. He recalled it all with frightening accuracy - although he couldn’t remember the names of the men that he killed. Dahmer claimed to also not remember the night that he killed his second victim. 

When his trial started, Dahmer had been charged with 15 counts of murder. (One count of murder was charged in another state. Dahmer could not remember killing his second victim, and since there was no physical evidence of the killing at the time, he was not charged for the crime.) His parents attended the trial. Dahmer pleaded guilty but on the grounds of insanity, but he told the jury that he did not wish for any sort of freedom. He believed that he deserved the death penalty. 

The state of Wisconsin had abolished capital punishment over 60 years earlier, so Dahmer was not able to get the death penalty. He was, however, sentenced to 15 life sentences plus another 70 years. (He was sentenced to a 16th life imprisonment when he was convicted for his first murder in the state of Ohio.) 

While in prison, Jeffrey Dahmer spent his first year in prison in solitary confinement for the safety of his fellow inmates, but was eventually released to a less secure area. He became a born-again Christian, reading the Bible and visiting with a pastor frequently. He was even baptized. But even with the possibility of a new life ahead of him, Dahmer felt that he was ready to die for his crimes. 

How Did Jeffrey Dahmer Die? 

In 1994, Dahmer was working a shift in the Columbia Correctional Institution when he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate. The inmate took the lives of Jeffrey Dahmer and another prisoner, and received two consecutive life sentences for his crimes in addition to the sentence that he was already serving. This was not the first time that someone attempted to take Dahmer’s life in prison, but he did not seem resistant to these acts of violence against him. Dahmer’s body was cremated and his parents received his ashes. 

Infamy 

In the short years between his conviction and his death, Dahmer gave multiple TV interviews that have been broadcast on various news channels throughout the years. He’s been the subject of multiple documentaries, movies, and TV shows. 

There were plenty of times that correctional officers and the criminal justice system could have saved the lives of many by keeping Jeffrey Dahmer in jail. Red flags were everywhere. Police and authorities visited his apartment multiple times, even leaving a minor child with him. But his parents and those close to him were easy to deny that this timid, mild-mannered boy could be such a horrific criminal. Today, he remains one of the most notorious serial killers in modern history; not just for the crimes that he committed, but also for the timid manner and matter-of-fact confessions surrounding those crimes.

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• Luis Garavito (Serial Killer Biography)

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Jeffrey Dahmer

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Who Were Jeffrey Dahmer’s Victims? A Full Timeline Of His Murders, And Why He Took Polaroid Photos Of Them

He killed boys and men who ranged in age from 14 to 33.

Between 1978 and 1991, American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer targeted and murdered 17 men, dismembering, having sex with, and taking photos of their corpses. He kept gruesome souvenirs from the killings, as well as Polaroid photos, all of which only came to light after his arrest in 1991.

His victims lived rich lives and left behind loving family. Some, like Errol Lindsey, never got to meet his daughter, who was born six months after his murder.

Now, Netflix’s hit limited series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story , is retelling the chilling tale of Dahmer 's real-life crimes, and another new doc surrounding his trial came out on Oct. 7. While the first series is a fictionalized account of Dahmer's crimes, it’s based on the real , brutal murders he carried out for more than a decade without detection. And the doc, Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes , will go into even more depth with never-before-heard tapes with Dahmer's defense team.

Dahmer's terrible crimes held the nation in thrall , so it’s understandable to have questions about one of America’s most notorious serial killers and all the people he killed. Here’s everything to know about Dahmer’s victims, who they were, and a timeline of when their murders.

How many people did Jeffrey Dahmer kill?

Dahmer reportedly killed 17 men between 1978 and 1991, according to Biography . He preyed on mostly Black, Asian, or Latino men, per E ncyclopedia Britannica .

However, some people have linked him to other deaths that occurred in his vicinity during his active years. Dahmer has denied those other claims.

How did he kill them?

Dahmer was methodical in the way he sought his victims out and killed them. He often picked the victims up at gay bars, malls, and bus stops, according to Biography , and lured them back to his home with promises of money or sex.

Dahmer would then provide his victims with alcohol he'd laced with drugs , and kill them. After the victims died, Dahmer would have sex with their bodies and dismember them, sometimes keeping body parts, like their skulls or genitals, as souvenirs, Biography reported. He'd discard their bones in a 57-gallon drum bought for the purpose of disposing of the evidence, the New York Times reported.

One victim—19-year-old Errol Lindsey—died after Dahmer drilled a hole into his head and poured hydrochloric acid into it, The Sun says.

Who was his first victim?

Dahmer killed his first victim on June 18, 1978, soon after his high school graduation. He killed this victim using a barbell.

Dahmer told the police he had picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks, took him home for a beer, and then had sex with him, the New York Times reported.

"When Mr. Hicks wanted to leave, Mr. Dahmer smashed the back of his head with a barbell and then strangled him. He dragged the body into a crawlspace under the house, cut it into pieces and stored it in garbage bags," the paper said.

Hicks was last seen June 18, 1978, but his remains were not found until after Dahmer confessed to killing him in 1991, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Many more victims would follow after Hicks' death.

The complete timeline of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims:

In total, Dahmer confessed to murdering 17 men. The full list and timeline is below.

• June 18, 1978: Steven Hicks, 18
• November 20, 1987: Steven Tuomi, 24
• January 16, 1988: Jamie Doxtator , 14
• March 24, 1988: Richard Guerrero, 25
• March 25, 1989: Anthony Sears, 26
• May 20, 1990: Raymond Smith (also went by "Ricky Beeks"), 33
• June 1990: Edward W. Smith, 28
• September 1990: Ernest Miller, 22
• September 24, 1990: David C. Thomas, 23
• February 18, 1991: Curtis Straughter, 18
• April 7, 1991: Errol Lindsey , 19
• May 24, 1991: Anthony "Tony" Hughes , 31
• May 27, 1991: Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14
• June 30, 1991: Matt Turner, 20
• July 5, 1991: Jeremiah Weinberger, 23
• July 15, 1991: Oliver Lacy, 23
• July 19, 1991: Joseph Bradehoft, 25

Dahmer was finally arrested on July 22, 1991. At this time, the police found evidence of the multiple murders that took place in his apartment.

His victims left behind big plans, families, and children.

Steven Hicks , 18, had only recently graduated from high school and was hitchhiking to a rock concert when he was killed, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . His father described him as a “deeply caring person.”

Steven Tuomi, 24, grew up in Milwaukee and was a short-order cook at a restaurant in the city, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says. He was creative but quiet.

Jamie Doxtator , 14, was Dahmer's third victim. He ran away from home to escape an abusive stepfather, according to The Tampa Bay Times . His mother described Doxtator as “misunderstood,” but she added, “he had a lot of love...I loved him,″ AP News reported.

Richard Guerrero, 25 , came from a tight-knit family of Mexican descent. He would often babysit his sister's 2-year-old daughter, USA Today reported.

Curtis Straughter, 18, was a nursing assistant who planned on getting a high school equivalency certificate and attending modeling school, per USA Today .

Some of Dahmer's victims, like Anthony Sears, 26, and Oliver Lacy , 23, had big things planned. Sears’ family told the Sentinel that the model planned to get married to his girlfriend as soon as he had enough money. Lacy was engaged to be married. Additionally, Edward W. Smith, 28, had aspirations of becoming a professional model, according to USA Today .

Ernest Miller, 22 was heading off to college in Chicago and wanted to become a professional dancer. "He was a talented dancer. He was singing and performing when he was younger and used to sing at church," said his aunt, Vivian Miller, per USA Today .

Miller’s uncle, Stanley Miller, took the stand during Dahmer’s trail to confront the killer. “You took his life like a thief in the night. Rather than facing him and letting him fight for the things he [held] most dear, you took the coward’s way out,” he said, per The Guardian . “Did you ever stop to think that this is someone’s son? Did you ever stop to think that this was… Someone’s brother, nephew, uncle, cousin, grandson or just someone’s friend that’s missing him dearly?”

Rita Isbell also took the stand during Dahmer’s trial to discuss her brother, Errol Lindsey, 19 . During her victim impact statement, she screamed and charged at Dahmer, calling him “Satan,” per AP News. Isbell recently published an essay with Insider where she explained that she didn’t plan that speech, and shared for the first time that Lindsey has a daughter and granddaughter who are alive today.

Lindsey wasn’t the only one leaving kids behind. The Sentinel said Raymond Smith ( Ricky Beeks), 33, had a 10-year-old daughter, and David Thomas, 23, and Oliver Lacy, 23, both had 2-year-old children. Dahmer’s final victim, Joseph Bradehoft , 25, left behind a wife and three children.

Anthony “Tony” Hughes , 31, was a deaf, mute Black man whose mother, Shirley Hughes, described him as "outgoing, jolly, happy," per The Associated Press . She added that he always had a skill for making friends. Shirley also filed a lawsuit against Dahmer, per USA Today .

Konerak Sinthasomphone , 14, was a high school freshman when he was murdered, per the Sentinel . At the time of his death, Dahmer was still on probation for molesting Konerak’s brother, Somsack, The Tab reported.

Matt Turner, 20, lived in a halfway house before his death. "He was basically a good kid. He was bright and articulate," Debbie Hinde, director of the Teen Living Program at the time, told USA Today.

Born in Puerto Rico, Jeremiah Weinberger, 23, worked as service rep at a video store. "He loved art and was very meticulous," said his roommate, Tim Gideon. "He always dressed nice and always worried about what he wore and how he looked," per USA Today .

Tracy Edwards managed to escape from Dahmer.

A final would-be victim, Tracy Edwards , was able to escape from Dahmer's clutches on July 22, 1991, just three days after Dahmer had killed Joseph Bradehoft. Tracy led the police back to Dahmer's apartment, where they found evidence of his other murders and arrested him.

In 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer was finally sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences for his multiple murders, and was beaten to death two years later by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institute, where he was serving his sentence, according to History .

He sexually assaulted at least three other people.

Dahmer was linked to at least three sexual assaults, including the older brother of one of his murder victims. Two other assaults allegedly occurred while he was serving in the army, per The Independent and Protect Our Defenders .

People have tried to link him to other mysterious deaths.

A few mysterious and unsolved deaths occurred in places where Jeffrey Dahmer was living, and some have tried to link them to the killer. But Dahmer never claimed any other victims.

The other mysterious deaths included:

• Dean Vaughn, Dahmer's neighbor (still considered a cold case ).
• Five unsolved murders involving mutilated victims that occurred in West Germany while he was stationed there with the Army, according to a study by Radford University's psychology department .
• Adam Walsh, 6, who was abducted and found decapitated in a Florida canal.

Dahmer specifically denied involvement in Walsh's murder, but the boy's father is convinced otherwise.

Why did he take Polaroid photos of his victims?

Dahmer took photos of his victims during the murder process, per The Sun .

When his crimes were discovered, authorities also found ″many Polaroid shot of males of different stages of dress, poses and surgical excisions,″ according to a report by Forensic Investigator Shirley Gaines, per AP News . The report also stated that he kept a photo diary.

One study from The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology said that Dahmer would pose the bodies "in sexually suggestive positions" because he "wanted to keep them as mementos to keep him company."

The families have spoken out about the series.

The victims' families are none too pleased with the limited series, and some have said that the creators of the show did not ask for permission before going ahead with the project.

Errol Lindsey's sister, Rita Isbell, said she had to relive all the emotions she experienced after a video of her court scene was reenacted in the series. She added that Netflix should give the money they make on the show to the victims' families. "The victims have children and grandchildren. If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn't feel so harsh and careless," she wrote in her essay for Insider .

Lindsey’s daughter, 31-year-old Tatiana Banks, also shared her thoughts about the Netflix show in an essay for Insider . "I feel like they should have reached out because it's people who are actually still grieving from that situation," she said. "That chapter of my life was closed and they reopened it."

In a tweet , Lindsey's cousin, Eric Perry, also called the show "retraumatizing," in response to the viral video that shows Rita's real court video.

Sabrina is an editorial assistant for Women’s Health. When she’s not writing, you can find her running, training in mixed martial arts, or reading.

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Lionel Dahmer Stood by His Son Jeffrey, Even After the Serial Killer’s Death

Lionel, who died Tuesday at age 87, tried to love and support Jeffrey after his son was sentenced to life in prison.

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Jeffrey Dahmer murdered at least 17 men between 1978 and 1991, becoming known by notorious nicknames like the “Milwaukee Monster” and the “Milwaukee Cannibal.” Despite this, his father, Lionel Dahmer, insisted that his son “was not born a monster” and tried to follow through on a promise to stick by Jeffrey no matter what.

Lionel, who died Tuesday at age 87 in Medina County, Ohio, didn’t shy away from speaking about his son’s heinous acts or the potential circumstances that might have compelled them. Although it’s clear he held compassion for Jeffrey up until his death, Lionel’s reflections suggest he also felt some degree of responsibility for his son’s crimes.

Lionel believed he might have missed warning signs

Lionel, a chemist, and his first wife, Joyce Flint, had no indication something might be wrong with their son Jeffrey, born May 21, 1960, until he underwent a double hernia operation at age 4. After that, the boy became increasingly withdrawn, particularly after the birth of his younger brother David.

A Father’s Story by Lionel Dahmer

In his 1994 book, A Father’s Story , Lionel questioned if his son’s shyness was an initial precursor to his future criminal behavior. Years later, he told television host Larry King , “One of the things I’d like to tell parents is don’t disregard shyness. Things can be fomenting in that young mind... talk deeply and intensely. It’ll come out, I think, eventually.”

Lionel also wondered if Jeffrey’s behavior was possibly hereditary. “As a scientist, [I] wonder if [the] potential for great evil... resides deep in the blood that some of us... may pass on to our children at birth,” he wrote in his book. Additionally, he worried prescription drugs Joyce had taken during her pregnancy might have affected Jeffrey’s brain development. According to March of Dimes , some medications can cause problems, including birth defects, low birthweight, preterm birth, and learning and behavior problems later in life.

In addition to his growing solitude, Jeffrey showed an unusual interest in the macabre. According to Brian Masters’ book The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer , he collected large insects and animal skulls and preserved them in jars of formaldehyde. Lionel later recalled in a 2022 interview that Jeffrey, then around 12 to 14 years old, began to exhibit unhealthy sexual fetishes around this time.

However, any immediate concern was overshadowed by Lionel and Joyce’s deteriorating relationship. According to Women’s Health , they underwent a tumultuous divorce in 1978, with neighbors sometimes calling police to break up their fights. While they feuded for custody of David, 18-year-old Jeffrey—who also had a drinking problem by this point—was eventually left to live by himself with no money, no food, and a broken refrigerator. It was around this time, shortly after he graduated high school, that Dahmer bludgeoned and strangled his first victim to death.

By the time he was arrested for good in July 1991, Jeffrey had committed at least 16 other murders. He was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms in prison the following year.

Looking back, Lionel eventually concluded that he operated on “a level of obliviousness, or perhaps denial, that was scarcely imaginable.”

Lionel felt Jeffrey “was just like me”

Jeffrey reportedly adjusted well to prison life at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. He was initially kept away from the general inmate population but eventually integrated more fully. According to Oxygen True Crime , Lionel and his second wife, Shari, were the only regular visitors Jeffrey had in prison.

In a video interview while Jeffrey was incarcerated, Lionel revealed he originally hoped his son would be placed in a psychiatric institution for treatment but changed his mind as he learned more about the facilities. He said their prison visits always started with a hug. “It seems like in the last year, he’s looked even more forward, he seems visibly pleased that we’re going to visit him,” Lionel said in the interview.

While this suggests their conversations were cordial, at various times Lionel also tried to gain a better understanding of his son’s motives and secrecy. “What’s been really puzzling me is how come I just didn’t know anything about this?” he once asked Jeffrey, according to audio tapes from the 2023 Fox Nation miniseries My Son Jeffrey: The Dahmer Family Tapes . “I pretty much was doing things in my own little world,” the killer responded.

Lionel also admitted to having “weird thoughts” in his childhood and asked his son if he experienced something similar. “You’re just like me, Jeff,” he concluded.

Lionel feared for his son’s safety in prison, and those concerns proved justified. On November 28, 1994, inmate Christopher Scarver killed Jeffrey and another prisoner with a metal bar, later claiming that “God told me to do it.”

Lionel went to court to honor Jeffrey’s final wishes

After Jeffrey’s death, Lionel fought to provide some degree of closure for himself and his son. Jeffrey’s body was placed in state custody pending the outcome of charges against Scarver. The latter pleaded no contest in May 1995 and was sentenced to a life term.

Per Jeffrey’s wishes, most of his remains were cremated that September, and the ashes were split between his parents. But according to The New York Times , the Dane County, Wisconsin, medical examiner’s office preserved the killer’s brain at his mother Joyce’s request. She wished to have the organ examined to determine if biological factors actually influenced Jeffrey’s crimes. “I want something useful to come from the nightmare,” she told the Associated Press . “This is the last and only thing I can do.”

Lionel, conversely, wanted to cremate the brain to honor his son’s wishes and put “the whole thing behind him.” The dispute went to court and was finally resolved in December 1995, as a Columbia County circuit judge ruled that Dahmer’s brain should also be cremated during an hour-long hearing.

Lionel reportedly stayed “very angry” about Jeffrey’s death

Lionel tried to live as much of a normal life as he could but even within the last two years couldn’t escape the enduring spotlight surrounding Jeffrey. In September 2022, Netflix released Dahmer— Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story , a dramatized retelling of Jeffrey’s life starring Evan Peters as the killer. The series was an immediate hit for the streaming service, surpassing 1 billion hours viewed in less than two months and garnering 13 Emmy nominations .

Following the show’s release, “hostile and aggressive” fans showed up at Lionel’s Ohio home, according to the New York Post . As a result, Lionel considered suing Netflix over the series as well as Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes , for which he claimed the streaming giant never requested permission to use tape recordings of his son. He also felt the two programs glamorized elements of his son’s life and strayed away from the facts.

Lionel also continued to mourn his son’s death. In an October 2022 interview, Lionel’s caretaker told The U.S. Sun that he became “very angry” every time he heard Scarver’s name. “As far as I know, and the last I talked to Lionel, he believes the guards looked the other way and and let [Jeffrey’s death] happen,” the caretaker, identified as Jeb, said.

Lionel’s frustrations were just one of the final examples of how he tried to keep his word from a 1994 interview with Oprah Winfrey . “I still love my son. I’ll always stick by him—I always have,” he said .

Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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Jeffrey Dahmer

• Born May 21 , 1960 · Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Died November 28 , 1994 · Portage, Wisconsin, USA (homicide)
• Birth name Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
• The Milwaukee Monster
• Height 6′ 0½″ (1.84 m)
• One of the USA's most notorious serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer was born and raised in Bath Township, Ohio, a middle-class suburb of Akron. Much has been made of his childhood tendencies -including cases of cruelty to animals- but to outward appearances, at least, he seemed to be a normal child. As an adult he was always gainfully employed and was perceived as quiet and polite by co-workers. At the time of his arrest he had been working at a chocolate factory in Milwaukee and living alone in a small one-bedroom apartment. Dahmer's home was searched on July 22, 1991, after a young man fled his apartment and flagged down a police car. An investigation revealed that the apartment contained the remains of 11 young men, most of them black, Hispanic, or Asian. The bodies had been dismembered, and Dahmer confessed that he had cooked and eaten some of the remains. Asked why he committed such heinous acts, Dahmer told police that he killed because he was "lonely" and did not want his victims to leave him. He explained that he would meet potential victims in bars, shopping malls, or adult bookstores, and invite them back to his apartment where, in exchange for money or beer, he would photograph them naked. He would then drug the beer and, once the victim was unconscious, strangle and dismember the body. Dahmer's victims ranged in age from 14 to 33. On February 15, 1992, Dahmer was found guilty on 15 murder counts in Wisconsin. He was subsequently convicted of another killing in his Ohio hometown. Charges linking him to other murders were dropped for lack of evidence. He was sent to prison in Wisconsin with 15 mandatory life sentences to serve. The first year of his sentence, Dahmer was isolated from the general prison population for his own protection. In 1994 he was sent to a maximum security facility in Portage and was allowed some contact with the other inmates. He died after a brutal beating to death late night November 28, 1994, by Christopher Scarver , a fellow inmate who claimed God had instructed him to murder Jeffrey Dahmer. Even after Dahmer's death, legal battles continue over his estate. Several families of his victims sued him and were awarded millions of dollars in restitution. Those families have since been trying to gain control of the contents of Dahmer's apartment, including a 55-gallon vat he used to decompose bodies and the refrigerator where he stored his victims' hearts. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
• Parents Lionel Dahmer Joyce Dahmer Shari Dahmer
• Relatives David Dahmer (Sibling) Catherine Dahmer (Grandparent)
• Long blond hair
• Menacing pale blue eyes
• Calm demeanor and every-man appearance
• Tall and slender frame
• Several sources claim that psychiatrists and legal experts estimated Dahmer's IQ to be around 145, which places him in the range of borderline genius. However, in the book "The Quest for the Nazi Personality" Dahmer's IQ is said to have been 121 (superior range).
• On the morning of 11/28/94 he was attacked and killed by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, Portage, WI.
• His favorite movies were The Exorcist (1973) , Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and The Exorcist III (1990) . One of his surviving victims recounts seeing him watch one of the films repeatedly, in a trance-like state.
• A resident in Dahmer's hometown was happy that he was killed. When she was interviewed, she said, "I'm gonna send him a thank- you card" (referring to the man who killed Dahmer, Christopher Scarver ).
• Tracy Edwards would have been his 18th victim but escaped on 7/22/91. His escape led to police arresting Dahmer and uncovering the murders he committed.
• When I was a little kid I was just like anybody else.
• I don't care if I live or die. Go ahead and kill me.
• If a person doesn't think there is a God to be accountable to, then-then what's the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That's how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing ...

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