“I should have gone to college and gone into real estate and got myself an aquarium, that's what I should have done.” –Jeffrey Dahmer
Dahmer was born May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His mother was known to be greedy for both attention and pity, and argumentative with her husband and their neighbors It has been claimed that Dahmer was deprived of attention as an infant.
Dahmer had been an "energetic and happy child" but became less energetic after double hernia surgery shortly before his fourth birthday. At elementary school, Dahmer was regarded as quiet and timid; one teacher said she sensed he felt neglected. In grade school, Dahmer did have a small number of friends. From an early age, Dahmer had an interest in dead animals. He collected small dead animal and dismembered these animals either at home or in nearby woodland. In one instance, Dahmer decapitated the carcass of a dog before nailing the body to a tree and impaling the skull.
Dahmer and his family later moved to Ohio. In high school he was seen as an outcast .At 14 he began drinking alcohol in school; he told a classmate it was his "medicine". Dahmer was seen by staff as polite and highly intelligent but with average grades. Dahmer discovered he was gay he did not tell his parents. Dahmer began fantasizing about dominating and controlling a completely submissive male partner. When he was about 16, Dahmer conceived a fantasy of rendering unconscious a particular male jogger he found attractive, and then making sexual use of his body. On one occasion Dahmer concealed himself in bushes with a baseball bat to lay in wait for this man; however, he did not pass by on that particular day. Dahmer later said this was his first attempt to attack someone.
In 1977, his father and mother got a divorce, and his father moved out of the house.Later on, his mom and brother moved out the house as well. Dahmer had just turned 18 and remained in the family home.
His first murder:
On June 18, 1978 Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Mark Hicks, who was almost 19. Dahmer lured the youth to his house on the pretext of the two young men drinking alcohol together. Hicks, who had been hitchhiking to a rock concert agreed to accompany Dahmer to his house. According to Dahmer, after several hours drinking and listening to music, Hicks wanted to leave and Dahmer didn’t want him to.
In response, Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks and when he fell unconscious, Dahmer strangled him to death with the bar of the dumbbell, then masturbated as he stood above the corpse.
College and Army service :
Six weeks after the murder of Hicks, Dahmer's father and his fiancée returned to his home, where they discovered Jeffrey living alone at the house. That August, Dahmer enrolled at Ohio state university (OSU), Dahmer dropped out of OSU after just three months.
In January 1979, Dahmer enlisted in the army. Two soldiers attest to having been raped by Dahmer while in the Army. Due to Dahmer's alcohol abuse, his performance deteriorated and, in March 1981, he was deemed unsuitable for military service and was later discharged from the Army.
After his return to Ohio, Dahmer initially resided with his father which did not last long due to his alcohol problems. His father thought of sending him to live with his grandmother as Dahmer loved her. Initially, it went well, he managed to get a job but then he was laid off and lived unemployed for two years.
In January 1985, Dahmer was hired as a mixer at the Milwaukee Ambrosia Chocolate Factory. Shortly after Dahmer found this employment he began to familiarize himself with Milwaukee's gay bars.
During his sexual encounters, he became frustrated at his partners' moving during the sexual act. Following his arrest, he stated: "I trained myself to view people as objects of pleasure instead of [as] people". Beginning in June 1986, he sedated his partners, then raping their unconscious bodies.
“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.”-Jeffrey Dahmer
His following murders
On November 20, 1987, Dahmer—at the time residing with his grandmother --encountered a 25-year-old Steven Tuomi, at a bar and persuaded him to return to the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee, where Dahmer had rented a room for the evening. According to Dahmer, he had no intention of murdering Tuomi, but rather intended to drug and rape him as he lay unconscious. The following morning, however, Dahmer awoke to find Tuomi lying beneath him on the bed, his chest "crushed in" and "black and blue" with bruises. Blood was also seeping from the corner of his mouth, and Dahmer's fists and one forearm were extensively bruised. Dahmer stated he had no memory of having killed Tuomi.
To dispose of Tuomi's body, Dahmer purchased a large suitcase in which he transported the body to his grandmother's residence. He severed the head, arms, and legs from the torso, then filleted the bones from the body before cutting the flesh into pieces small enough to handle. Dahmer then placed the flesh inside plastic garbage bags. He wrapped the bones inside a sheet and crushed them with a sledgehammer. Dahmer retained the victim's head wrapped in a blanket. After two weeks, Dahmer boiled the head in a mixture of bleach in an effort to retain the skull, which he then used for masturbation. Eventually he disposed of the skull.
Following the murder of Tuomi, Dahmer began to actively seek victims, most of whom he encountered in or close to gay bars, and whom he typically lured to his grandmother's home. There, he drugged them before or shortly after engaging in sexual activity with them. Once he had rendered the victim unconscious with sleeping pills, he killed them by strangulation.
In September 1988, Dahmer's grandmother asked him to move out because of his habit of bringing young men to her house late at night and the foul smells emanating from both the basement and the garage. Dahmer found a one-bedroom apartment on North 25th Street and moved into his new residence. That September 1989, Dahmer had 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, 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. On May 14, 1990, Dahmer moved out of his grandmother's house and into 924 North 25th Street, Apartment 213.
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 drilling into victims' skulls while they were still alive and injecting them with some kind of acid.
By 1991, fellow residents of the Oxford Apartments had repeatedly complained to the building's manager, of the foul smells emanating from Apartment 213, in addition to the sounds of falling objects and the occasional sound of a chainsaw. She did contact Dahmer in response to these complaints on several occasions, although he initially excused the odors emanating from his apartment as being caused by his freezer breaking, causing the contents to become "spoiled.
On the afternoon of May 26, 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 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
“The killing was a means to an end. That was the least satisfactory part. I didn’t enjoy doing that. That’s why I tried to create living zombies with uric acid in the drill [to the head], but it never worked “Jeffrey Dahmer
Arrest:
“For what I did, I should be dead” –Jeffrey Dahmer.
On July 22, 1991, Dahmer lured another man, Tracy Edwards, into his home. According to the would be victim, Dahmer struggled with Edwards in order to handcuff him, but ultimately failed to cuff his wrists together. Wielding a large butcher knife, Dahmer forced Edwards into the bedroom, where Edwards saw pictures of mangled bodies on the wall ,a videotape of The Exorcist III was playing and noticed the terrible smell coming from a large blue barrel; the barrel was filled with potent acid which dissolved human bodies to sludge for disposal via the apartment toilet. Edwards punched Dahmer in the face, kicked him in the stomach, ran for the door and escaped. Running through the streets with handcuffs still hanging from one hand, Edwards waved for help to a police car driven by Robert Rauth and Rolf Mueller of the Milwaukee police department. Edwards led police back to Dahmer's apartment, where Dahmer at first acted friendly to the officers. However, Edwards remembered that the knife Dahmer had threatened him with was in the bedroom. When one of the officers checked the bedroom, he saw the photographs of mangled bodies and called for his partner to arrest Dahmer. As one officer subdued Dahmer, the other opened the refrigerator and found a human head. Further searching of the apartment revealed three more severed heads, multiple photographs of murdered victims and human remains, severed hands and penises, and photographs of dismembered victims and human remains in his refrigerator
“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
Confession
He readily admitted to having murdered 16 young men in Wisconsin since 1987, with one further victim—Steven Hicks—killed in Ohio back in 1978.
Most of Dahmer's victims had been rendered unconscious prior to their murder, although some had died as a result of having acid or boiling water injected into their brain. Dahmer readily admitted to engaging in necrophilia with several of his victims' bodies, including performing sexual acts with their body parts as he dismembered their bodies in his bathtub. In addition, Dahmer confessed to having consumed the hearts, livers, biceps, and portions of thighs of several victims killed within the previous year.
“killing was not the objective. I just wanted to have the person under my complete control, not having to consider their wishes, being able to keep them there as long as I wanted.” Jeffrey Dahmer
Trial :
Dahmer's trial began on January 30, 1992. Defense experts argued that Dahmer was insane due to his necrophilic drive , his compulsion to have sexual encounters with corpses. The prosecution rejected the defense's argument that Dahmer was insane.
The trial lasted two weeks.On February 14, Defense attorney Gerald Boyle argued first. Repeatedly harking to the testimony of the mental health professionals—almost all of whom had agreed Dahmer was suffering from a mental disease .Boyle argued that Dahmer's compulsive killings had been a result of "a sickness he discovered, not chose” Boyle portrayed Dahmer as a desperately lonely and profoundly sick individual "so out of control he could not conform his conduct any more.”
Following the defense counsel's 75-minute closing argument, Michael McCann delivered his closing argument for the prosecution, describing Dahmer as a sane man, in full control of his actions, who simply strove to avoid detection. McCann argued that the act of murder was committed in hostility, anger, resentment, frustration, or hatred, and that the 15 victims for whose murder he was tried "died merely to afford Dahmer a period of sexual pleasure." McCann further argued that by pleading guilty but insane to the charges, Dahmer was seeking to escape responsibility for his crimes.
On February 15, the court reconvened to hear the verdict: Dahmer was ruled to be sane and not suffering from a mental disorder at the time of each of the 15 murders for which he was tried.
On the first two counts, Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison as the death penalty was not an option for Judge Gram to consider at the penalty phase, as Wisconsin had abolished capital punishment in 1853.
Shortly after completing his lengthy confessions in 1991, Dahmer had requested to he would be given a bible, and on May 1994, Dahmer was baptized.
Referring to his crimes in a 1994 interview on Dateline NBC Dahmer had stated: "If a person doesn't think that there is a God to be accountable to, then what's the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That's how I thought anyway”
Death
On the morning of November 28, 1994, Dahmer left his cell to conduct his assigned work detail. Accompanying him were two fellow inmates: Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver.The trio were left unsupervised in the showers of the prison gym for approximately 20 minutes. Dahmer was discovered on the floor of the bathrooms of the gym suffering from extreme head and facial wounds; he had been severely bludgeoned about the head .His head had also been repeatedly struck against the wall in the assault. Although Dahmer was still alive and was rushed to a nearby hospital, he was pronounced dead one hour later. Anderson had also been beaten with the same instrument, and died two days later from his wounds.
Scarver, who was serving a life sentence for a murder committed in 1990, informed authorities he had first attacked Dahmer with the metal bar as he (Dahmer) was cleaning a staff locker room, before attacking Anderson as he (Anderson) cleaned an inmate locker room. According to Scarver, Dahmer did not yell or make any noise as he was attacked. Immediately after attacking both men, Scarver returned to his cell and informed a prison guard: "God told me to do it”
Upon learning of his death, Dahmer's mother Joyce responded angrily to the media: "Now is everybody happy? Now that he's bludgeoned to death, is that good enough for everyone?"
Dahmer had stated in his will that he wished for no services to be conducted and that he wished to be cremated. In September 1995, Dahmer's body was cremated, and his ashes divided between his parents.
“I couldn't find any meaning for my life when I was out there, I'm sure as hell not going to find it in here. This is the grand finale of a life poorly spent and the end result is just overwhelmingly depressing... it's just a sick, pathetic, wretched, miserable life story, that's all it is. How it can help anyone, I've no idea.”-Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer’s full statement to the court after his trial :
Your Honor,
It is over now. 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. I tried to do the best I could after the arrest to make amends, but no matter what I did I could not undo the terrible harm I have caused. My attempt to help identify the remains was the best I could do, and that was hardly anything. I feel so bad for what I did to those poor families, and I understand their rightful hate. I now know I will be in prison for the rest of my life. I know that I will have to turn to God to help me get through each day. I should have stayed with God. I tried and failed and created a holocaust. 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 have instructed Mr. Boyle to end this matter. I do not want to contest the civil cases. I have told Mr. Boyle to try and finalize them if he can. If there is ever money I want it to go to the families. I have talked to Mr. Boyle about other things that might help ease my conscience in some way of coming up with ideas on how to make some amends to these families, and I will work with him on that. I want to return to Ohio and quickly end that matter so that I can put all of this behind me and then come right back here to do my sentence.
I decided to go through this trial for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was to let the world know these were not hated crimes. I wanted the world and Milwaukee, which I deeply hurt, to know the truth of what I did. I didn’t want unanswered questions. All the questions have now been answered. I wanted to find out just what it was that caused me to be so bad and evil. But most of all, Mr. Boyle and I decided that maybe there was a way for us to tell the world that if there are people out there with these disorders, maybe they can get help before they end up being hurt or hurting someone. I think the trial did that.
The judge in my earlier case tried to help me, and I refused his help, and he got hurt by what I did. I hurt those policemen in the Konerak matter, and I shall ever regret causing them to lose their jobs, and I only hope and pray they can get their jobs back because I know they did their best, and I just plain fooled them. For that I am sorry. I know I hurt my probation officer, who was really trying to help me. I am so sorry for that and sorry for everyone else I have hurt. I have hurt my mother, and father, and stepmother. I love them all so very much. I hope that they will find the same peace I am looking for.
Mr. Boyle’s associates, Wendy and Ellen, have been wonderful to me, helping me through this worst of all times. I want to publicly thank Mr. Boyle. He didn’t need to take this case. But when I asked him to help me find the answers and help others if I could, he stayed with me and went overboard in trying to help me. Mr. Boyle and I agreed that it was never a matter of trying to get off. It was only a matter of which place I would be housed for the rest of my life, not for comfort, but for trying to study me in hopes of helping me and learning to help others who might have problems. I know I will be in prison. I pledge to talk to doctors who might be able to find the answers.
In closing, I just want to say that I hope God has forgiven me. I think He has. I know society will never be able to forgive me. I know the families of the victims will never be able to forgive me for what I have done. But if there is a God in heaven, I promise I will pray each day to ask them for forgiveness when the hurt goes away, if ever. I have seen their tears, and if I could give up my life right now to bring back their loved ones, I would do it. I am so very sorry.”
