Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer – (May 28, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer. He claimed the lives of 17 victims. Dahmer is mostly known for cannibalizing his victims. His nickname is ‘The Milwaukee Monster’.

 

Name:                        Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
Nickname:               The Milwaukee Monster
Born:                          May 28, 1960
Died:                          November 28, 1994 (aged 43)
Cause of death:      Murdered in jail, by another inmate.
Penalty:                    Life imprisonment
Convictions:            Child molestation
                                    Indencent exposure
                                    Murder
                                    Public intoxication
Victims:                     17

Early life:

When Jeffrey was six years old, he and his family moved to Ohio. In 1968 Dahmer was sexually molested by his neighbour, this incident may play a role in understanding Dahmer’s behavior. Besides this, his parents also fought a lot. Later, Dahmer’s parents divorced.

 

At the age of 10, Dahmer showed behavior of a future serial killer. Dahmer had an obsession for dead animals and he loved to experiment with them. Animal abuse is one of the biggest warning signs with serial killers.

 

When Dahmer was just 18 years old he killed his first victim. At this time he lived alone and his parents were separated, neither one thinking to take Jeffrey with them. His first victim was a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks. Dahmer took him home for a few drinks. When Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer crushed his skull, strangled him to death and dismembered and buried his body.

 

After his fist murder Dahmer took a shot at college, he then signed up for a six-year military service. But the army discharged him after two years for his drinking problem.

 

In 1982 Dahmer moved to his grandmother’s house in Wisconsin. That august Dahmer was arrested for indecent exposure at the state fair. He received a one-year sentence but he got out after ten months. On September 25, he was arrested for sexual assault with a thirteen-year-old boy. He, again, served ten months of a one-year sentence.

 

The Killings:

September 15, 1987 – Steven Tuomi vanished. The mystery was unsolved until Dahmer admitted to killing him in 1991.

January 1988 – Two victims.

 

Dahmer’s ‘experiments’ got too much for his grandmother and he was asked to move out. Dahmer found an apartment in Milwaukee on September 25. Just one day after he moved in, Dahmer lured a boy to his flat. The police was called and Dahmer was charged with sexual assault.

 

After moving in into his new apartment, Dahmer killed eight more men. Dahmer’s MO (modus operandi) was very strange. He wanted to create zombies, who would be his slaves. He would drill holes in his victim’s skulls and pour caustic solutions into the holes to make them unconscious. The method didn’t work but it did succeed in killing each victim.

 

On May 30, 1991, fourteen-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, the younger brother of the boy who sexually assaulted, was wandering around naked under the influence of drugs. Dahmer convinced the police that they were drinking together and got in an argument. The police believed Dahmer, Sinthasomphone didn’t speak English, and they handed him over. Later that night, Dahmer killed and decapitated him, keeping his skull as a souvenir.

 

By the summer of 1991, Dahmer was murdering approximately one person every week. His luck ran out after Tracy Edwards. According to the ‘’would-be victim’ Dahmer had troubles putting handcuffs on him. He escaped with the handcuffs still hanging from one hand, he ran to the police and Dahmer was arrested. One police officer searched Dahmer’s house. He found several photos of murdered victims and human remains.

 

On January 30, 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer faced fifteen counts of murder. His trial began in 1992. The evidence against him was overwhelming but Dahmer pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The court found Dahmer guilty and sentenced him to fifteen life sentences, 957 years in prison.

 

On November 28, 1994, Jeffrey Dahmer, together with another inmate, was murdered in jail.

 

Quotes:

‘There’s a fucking head in the refrigerator!’ – Police officer during the investigation of Dahmer’s apartment.

‘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 [jail]. This is the grand finale of a life poorly spend 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 don’t know.’

‘I really really screwed up this time.’ Dahmer, to his father.

‘I think in some way I wanted it to end, even if it meant my own destruction.’

‘I should have gone to college and gone into real estate and got myself an aquarium, that’s what I should have done.’

‘I wish I hadn’t done it.’

‘If I was killed in prison. That would be a blessing right now.’

‘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.’

 

Sources:
Philbin, T., & Philbin, M. (2009), The Killer Book of Serial Killers. Canada: Sourcebooks, Inc
Newton, M. (2006), The encyclopedia of Serial Killers Second Edition. New York: Checkmark Books