Editing Jeffrey Dahmer

|Image = Dahmer.jpg

|alias = Dahmer<br>Milwaukee Cannibal<br>Milwaukee Monster<br>Jeff<br>

|occupation = [Former] Student<br> [Former] Ambrosia Chocolate Factory worker<br>[Former] Military recruit

|skills = Manipulation<br>Covering up his murders<br>Preserving and dissolving body parts

|hobby = Serial Killing<br>[[Necrophilia]]<br>Preserving his victims' remains

|goals = To create "living zombies" from his victims (failed)

|crimes = [[Serial murder]]<br>1 Count of Attempted [[murder]]<br>[[Necrophilia]]<br>Molestation<br>[[Cannibalism]]<br>[[Torture]]<br>[[Kidnapping]]<br>[[Rape]]<br>[[Dismemberment]]<br>[[Pederasty]]<br>Mutilation<br>[[Misandry]]<br>[[Ephebophilia]]<br>[[Hebephilia]]<br>[[Cruelty to animals]]

'''Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer''' (May 21, 1960 - November 28, 1994) also known as the '''Milwaukee Cannibal''', was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the [[rape]], [[murder]] and [[dismemberment]] of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with many of his later murders also involving [[necrophilia]], [[cannibalism]] and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton skeletal structure].

On November 28^th, 1994; Dahmer was beaten to death by [[Christopher Scarver]], a fellow inmate at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Correctional_Institution Columbia Correctional Institution], where he had been incarcerated.<ref name = killed></ref>

Dahmer was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, the son of Joyce Annette (née Flint) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer, an analytical chemist. Seven years later, his brother David was born. Joyce Dahmer reportedly had a difficult pregnancy with her elder son.

When Jeffrey was eight years old, he moved with his family to Bath, Ohio. Dahmer grew increasingly withdrawn and uncommunicative between the ages of 10 and 15, showing little interest in any hobbies or social interactions. He biked around his neighborhood looking for dead animals, which he dissected at home (or in the woods near his home).<ref>[https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/jeffrey-dahmer-childhood-serial-killer-cannibal-bones Jeffrey Dahmer's Childhood: A Pail of Animal Bones Was His Toy Rattle], ''A&E''</ref> In one instance, he put a dog's head on a stake. Though fundamentally an outcast at Revere High School, Dahmer nonetheless became something of a cult figure among some students due to his impressions of his mother's interior decorator, who suffered from cerebral palsy. Dahmer began drinking in his teens and was an alcoholic by the time of his high school graduation.

In 1982, Dahmer moved in with his grandmother in West Allis, where he lived for six years. During this time, his behavior grew increasingly strange. His grandmother once found a fully dressed male mannequin in his closet; Dahmer had stolen it from a store. On another occasion, she found a .357 Magnum under his bed. Terrible smells came from the basement; Dahmer told his father that he had brought home a dead squirrel and dissolved it with chemicals. He was arrested twice for indecent exposure, in 1982 and 1986; in his second offense, he masturbated in front of two boys.<ref>[https://thetab.com/uk/2022/09/26/jeffrey-dahmer-previous-convictions-sexual-offences-arrests-275327 All the previous convictions Jeffrey Dahmer had before he was arrested for his murders], ''The Tab''</ref>

Dahmer committed his first murder in the summer of 1978, at the age of 18. His father was away on business and his mother had moved out, taking his brother with her; Dahmer was left behind, alone. That June, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Stephen Hicks and offered to drink beer with him back at his father's house, planning to eventually have sex with him. When Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks to death with a 10 lb. dumbbell, striking the back of his head, later saying he had committed the crime because "the guy wanted to leave and [he] didn't want him to." Dahmer buried the body in the backyard.<ref>[https://www.the-sun.com/news/6318611/who-was-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-steven-hicks/ DAHMER'S FIRST VICTIM Who was Jeffrey Dahmer victim Steven Hicks?], ''The Sun''</ref> Nine years passed before he killed again; in September 1987, Dahmer picked up 26-year-old Steven Tuomi at a bar and killed him on impulse; he later said he had no memory of committing the crime.<ref>[https://www.vizaca.com/steven-tuomi/ Steven Tuomi: The Untold Truth Revealed Behind His Murder], ''Vizaca''</ref>

After the Tuomi murder, Dahmer continued to kill sporadically: two more murders in 1988, and another in early 1989, usually picking up his victims in gay bars and having sex with them before killing them. He kept the skull of one of his victims, Anthony Sears until he was caught.<ref>[https://www.deseret.com/1991/7/28/18933287/dahmer-lured-victims-to-his-apartment-from-gay-bars-shopping-malls DAHMER LURED VICTIMS TO HIS APARTMENT FROM GAY BARS, SHOPPING MALLS], ''Deseret News''</ref>

In May 1990, he moved out of his grandmother's house for the last time and into an apartment that later became infamous: Apartment 213, 924 North 25^th Street, Milwaukee.<ref>[https://www.thecrimemag.com/jeffrey-dahmers-apartment/ A Curious Look Inside Jeffrey Dahmer’s Apartment], ''True Crime Magazine''</ref> Dahmer picked up the pace of his killing: four more murders before the end of 1990, two more in February and April 1991, and another in May 1991.

In the early morning hours of May 27^th, 1991, 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone (the younger brother of the boy whom Dahmer had molested in 1988) was discovered on the street, wandering naked, heavily under the influence of drugs and bleeding from his rectum. Two young women from the neighborhood found the dazed boy and called 911. Dahmer chased his victim down and tried to take him away, but the women stopped him. Dahmer told John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish, police officers dispatched to the scene, that Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old boyfriend, and that they had an argument while drinking. Against the protests of the two women who had called 911, who recognized him from the neighborhood and insisted that he was a child and couldn't speak English, the officers turned him over to Dahmer. They later reported smelling a strange scent while inside Dahmer's apartment but did not investigate it. The smell was the body of Tony Hughes, Dahmer's previous victim, decomposing in the bedroom. The officers did not make any attempt to verify Sinthasomphone's age or identity, nor locate someone who could communicate with him, and failed to run a background check that would have revealed Dahmer being a convicted child molester still under probation. Later that night, Dahmer killed and dismembered Sinthasomphone, keeping his skull as a souvenir.<ref>[https://www.ranker.com/list/story-of-boy-police-gave-back-to-jeffrey-dahmer/amandatullos The Terrifying Tale Of The Boy The Police Delivered Back To Jeffrey Dahmer's Doorstep], ''Ranker''</ref>

By summer 1991, Dahmer was murdering approximately one person each week. He killed Matt Turner on June 30, Jeremiah Weinberger on July 5^th, Oliver Lacy on July 12^th, and finally Joseph Brandehoft on July 19. Dahmer got the idea that he could turn his victims into "zombies" — completely submissive, eternally youthful sexual partners – and attempted to do so by drilling holes into their skulls and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into the frontal lobe area of their brains with a large syringe, usually while the victim was still alive.<ref>[https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/9519966/jeffrey-dahmer-experiment-pouring-acid-brains-zombie-state/ SICK IN THE HEAD Inside Jeffrey Dahmer’s chilling ‘zombie experiments’ where he would drill holes in skulls and pour acid in brains], ''The Scottish Sun''</ref> Other residents of the Oxford Apartments complex noticed terrible smells coming from Apartment 213, as well as the thumps of falling objects and the occasional buzzing of a power saw. Unlike many serial killers, Dahmer killed victims from a variety of racial backgrounds.

On July 22^nd, 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 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.<ref>[https://www.grunge.com/929735/inside-the-horror-show-of-jeffrey-dahmers-refrigerator/ INSIDE THE HORROR SHOW OF JEFFREY DAHMER'S REFRIGERATOR], ''Grunge''</ref>

The story of Dahmer's arrest and the inventory in his apartment quickly gained notoriety: several corpses were stored in acid-filled vats, and implements for the construction of an altar of candles and human skulls were found in his closet. Accusations soon surfaced that Dahmer had practiced necrophilia and cannibalism. Seven skulls were found in the apartment. A human heart was found in the freezer.<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cannibal-and-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer-is-caught Cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is caught], ''History Channel''</ref>

Dahmer was indicted on 17 murder charges, later reduced to 15. Dahmer was not charged in the attempted murder of Edwards. His trial began on January 30^th, 1992. With evidence overwhelmingly against him, Dahmer pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial lasted two weeks.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/11/us/dahmer-pleads-not-guilty-to-charges-of-killing-15.html Dahmer Pleads Not Guilty to Charges of Killing 15], ''The New York Times''</ref>

The court found Dahmer sane and guilty on 15 counts of murder and sentenced him to 15 life terms, totaling 957 years in prison, which was the maximum penalty available as Wisconsin abolished capital punishment in 1853.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/02/18/dahmer-is-sentenced-to-15-life-terms/1c3c3176-2199-4393-84b5-5a6723c5360e/ Dahmer is sentenced to 15 life terms], ''The Washington Post''</ref> At his sentencing hearing, Dahmer expressed remorse for his actions and said that he wished for his own death. In May of that year, Dahmer was extradited to Ohio, where he entered a plea of guilty for the murder of his first victim, Stephen Hicks.

Dahmer served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, where he ultimately claimed a born-again Christian. Roy Ratcliff, a local preacher from the Churches of Christ, met with Dahmer and agreed to baptize him.<ref name = Christian>[https://christianchronicle.org/did-jailhouse-religion-save-jeffrey-dahmer/ Did ‘jailhouse religion’ save Jeffrey Dahmer?], ''The Christian Chronicle''</ref>

Dahmer was attacked twice in prison, the first time in July 1994. An inmate attempted to slash Dahmer's throat with a razor blade while Dahmer was returning to his cell from a church service in the prison chapel. Dahmer escaped the incident with superficial wounds. While doing janitorial work in the prison gym, Dahmer and another inmate, [[Jesse Anderson]], were severely beaten by fellow inmate [[Christopher Scarver]] with a broomstick handle on November 28^th, 1994. Dahmer died of severe head trauma while on his way to the hospital in an ambulance. Anderson died two days later from his wounds.<ref name = killed>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jeffrey-dahmer-murdered-in-prison Jeffrey Dahmer murdered in prison], ''History Channel''</ref>

* Dahmer was at one point suspected in the kidnapping and murder of 6-year old Adam Walsh, though [[Ottis Toole]] (who had been a long-time suspect in the case himself and had both admitted and recanted to committing the murder several times) was later confirmed to be Adam's killer.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/adam-walsh-killer-john-son-jeffrey-dahmer-b2194793.html Did Jeffrey Dahmer kill the son of America's Most Wanted host John Walsh?], ''The Independent''</ref>

* While in prison, Dahmer converted to Christianity and made regular visits to the prison's chaplain. In a 1994 interview for NBC's ''Dateline'', 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."<ref name = Christian></ref>

* After he was killed, Dahmer's will stated that no services to be conducted and that he wished to be cremated.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/18/us/body-of-wisconsin-serial-killer-is-cremated.html Body of Wisconsin Serial Killer Is Cremated], ''The New York Times''</ref>