He was a serial killer. He was beaten to death by a fellowinmate in Columbia Correctional Institution on 11-28-94.
Dahmer was born Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960to a fundamentalist family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At age eight,his family moved to Bath, Ohio, near Akron. He was always painfullyshy and suffered from low self-esteem. As a child he was molestedby a neighbor. First his father left the home. Then after a bitterdivorce, his mother took his brother, and left Dahmer with hisfather. His parents weren't speaking and Dahmer didn't even knowhow to contact his mother and brother. Dahmer's history ofabandonment left him with feelings of loss and rejection.
When young, impaled the heads of animals he killed on stakes inhis yard. He collected dead animals and had necrophilia desires.His stepmother Shari Dahmer said, "When he was young, he liked touse acid to scrape the meat off dead animals." She recalled duringthe late 1980s, an odor emanated from the basem*nt and garageprompting Lionel, Jeffrey's father, a chemist, to investigate. Hefound "bones and the residue in the containers." Jeffrey told himhe stripped flesh from an animal he found. "
As a teen, he had fantasies of killing and mutilating men. Aftergraduating from high school at age 17 he was left alone at home,without money, or food and a broken refrigerator. It is believed bysome that this experience, abandonment, and mental illness, gavehim the justification he needed to commit crimes. However his ownhistory shows that he had serious problems long before thisevent.
His stepmother Shari Dahmer said he was a gentle person until hegot drunk, then it took four policemen to hold him down.
In 1978, he committed his first murder in Bath Township, Ohio,at age 18. He killed a young hitchhiker, Stephen Hicks, he invitedto his house, where he killed him with a barbell, then smashed hisbones with a hammer because he "didn't want him to leave." Hewouldn't kill again for another nine years. He did not do well incollege. Encouraged by his father, he joined the military where hebecame an army medic. He was discharged for drunkenness. Jeffreylived in West Allis, Wisconsin with his grandmother for six years.Eventually he got a factory job in Milwaukee. He discovered gaybars and picked up Steven Toumi, 24, his second victim in 1987.
In 1988, he was arrested for sexually fondling a 13-year oldboy. He served 10 months incarcerated and was required to registeras a sex offender. His father would later write that when Jeffreywas convicted of child molestation, it him that he would "never bemore than a liar, an alcoholic, a thief, an exhibitionist, amolester of children."
Dahmer killed another 15 young men; by July 1991 he was claimingone victim a week. His fantasy was for a compliant sexual partner,and necrophilia. Most of Dahmer's all male victims were minorities,usually African Americans. Dahmer was not really a racist, he chosepredominantly black and other minority victims because he lived ina predominantly ethnic area.
In gay bars, he offered young hom*osexual and bisexual malesmoney to pose for photos or to watch videos and drink beer at hisplace. He drugged victims into a deep sleep with spiked drinksbefore strangling or stabbing them to death, having anal sex withthe cadaver, and then dismembering them with a hacksaw. Their headsand genitalia were kept as trophies, biceps and other muscles werefrozen for future consumption. Dahmer said human flesh "tasted likebeef." The remainder was boiled with chemicals and acids beforebeing washed down the drains. He conducted lobotomies some victims.Most died instantly, he poured acid into a hole drilled in hisvictim's skull; the victim lived and functioned in zombie state forseveral days, according to Dahmer.
In the early morning hours of May 27, 1991, three policeofficers were routed to a 911 call from a rundown Milwaukee suburb.Sandra Smith, 18, and Nicole Childress, 18 her cousin witnessed anincoherent Asian boy running around naked, and bleeding. Eventhough he couldn't speak English it was obvious that he wasfrightened of the white man following him out into the streettrying to get him to return to the apartment. Dahmer, 31, toldpolice the boy was his 19 year old lover, and they having had alover's quarrel. After police escorted the child to Dahmer'sapartment, they left him to die, despite the concerns of the twowomen who reported the incident. His calm demeanor hid the mind ofa psychopath. Dahmer strangled Konerak, abused his body beforedismembering it, to keeping some parts to eat and his skull as atrophy. If the police had run an identity check on Dahmer theywould have learned he was on probation for a child molestationconviction. Instead Konerak and four more young males had todie.
Police transcripts show the officers joked and laughed about theincident with the dispatcher. "Intoxicated Asian, naked male wasreturned to his sober boyfriend," the cop reported adding hispartner "is going to get deloused." Glenda Cleveland, whosedaughter and niece reported Sinthasomphone to the police, latercalled the police asking repeatedly what was done with the "child."An officer from the scene responded, "It wasn't a child, it was anadult . . . It is all taken care of . . . It's aboyfriend-boyfriend thing."
They didn't check the boy's ID. They didn't note the drill holesin his head. They didn't notice the stench of the decaying bodiesat the apartment, and hey made discriminatory jokes about"hom*osexual lovers" and about "getting deloused."
The 13th of Dahmer's 17 victims was 14-year-old KonerakSinthasomphone, a Laotian teenager, the older brother of the boy hewas convicted of molesting in 1988.
Two cops were driving through Dahmer's neighborhood late on July22, 1991, when they saw a dazed black man with a single handcuff onhis wrist. Tracy Edwards, 32, told them about watching a video witha "weird dude," and being drugged, handcuffed, and threatened witha knife. He had fought back and escaped from the apartment. Thecops had him take them to the apartment.
Dahmer answered the door and explained that he lost his job at achocolate factory, (true), got drunk and lost his temper. When hewent to get the handcuff key to from his bedroom, a cop followedhim in. The stench of death and rotting flesh was overwhelming. Hespotted Polaroid photos of dismembered bodies and skulls in arefrigerator. He went into the kitchen and the refrigerator coveredwith Polaroids of mutilated men. He screamed when he opened thedoor. A human head sat on a refrigerator shelf.
"There's a goddam head in here," he screaend to his partner.
Dahmer's fought back hard as they handcuffed him. Edwardsrecalled Dahmer's threats to "cut out your heart and eat it." Threemore heads and human meat were in the freezer, were in the freezer.Hands from several victims and a penis were in a stockpot in aclose. Two boiled skulls painted grey were on a bedroom closetshelf. Male genitalia were also found preserved in formaldehyde. Abottle of chloroform was found that which had been used to drug thevictims. There were hundreds of photos of victims before, duringthe murders, and after death.
There was an altar of candles and human skulls in his closet. Heplanned to create a shrine using skulls, human trophies and astatue of a griffin he owned to honor evil. He said it would givehim "special powers and energies to help him socially andfinancially."
Dahmer told Detective Patrick Kennedy during questioning:
"I have to question whether there is an evil force in the worldand whether or not I have been influenced by it. Although I am notsure if there is a God or if there is a Devil, I know that as oflately I've been doing a lot of thinking about both."
He was held for trial on a $1 million bond.
Dahmer admitted to his crimes. He made no excuses and blamednobody but himself. Wisconsin does not have capital punishment.After being charged with fifteen counts of murder, he entered aplea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Beyond the sheer Horrorof his killings and gruesome evidence found in his house, thepublic were stunned by the well-spoken seemingly intelligent man.On February 17, 1992, the court rejected his insanity plea andsentenced Dahmer to fifteen consecutive life sentences, a minimumof 936 years. May 16, 1992, a consecutive life sentence was addedfor a 1978 murder.
On November 28, 1994, Dahmer was murdered in a Portage,Wisconsin by another inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institute.Inmate Christopher Scarver, a double murderer, beat Dahmer andinmate Jesse Anderson to death with a broom while all three werecleaning a bathroom. Scarver said he was the "son of God" acting onhis "father's" command to kill. Shortly before death, Dahmer wasrebaptized into Christianity. His father would not grant permissionfor his brain to be studied on religious grounds.
Citizens complained that Dahmer escaped detection because policemade investigating disappearances of hom*osexuals and racialminorities a low priority. The three cops who returned youngSinthasomphone to Dahmer were terminated from the Milwaukee PoliceDepartment. After they appealed their termination they werereinstated with back pay. They were honored as "officers of theyear" by the police union for a "righteous" battle to reclaim theirjobs.
In 1996, the city of Milwaukee raised more than $400,000 to buyDahmer's tools, photographs, and refrigerator and incinerated itall. The apartment building was torn down.
