Trivia
NAME: JEFFREY DAHMER
BORN: May 21, 1960 milwaukee, u.s.
died: november 28, 1994 (age 34) blunt head trauma inflicted in prison.
number of victims: 17
span of killing: june 18, 1978- july 19, 1991
sentence: 16 life terms.
modus operandi: luring young men/boys into his home. cannibalism. necrophilia. dismemberment.
"I made my fantasy life more powerful than my real one."
- Jeffrey Dahmer
Early twenties and beginning of the murders
In the summer of 1978 at the age of 18, Dahmer committed his first murder. His father had moved to a local hotel after divorcing Jeffrey's mother and his mother moved to a house near Chippewa Falls with his little brother. It was during this summer, right after Dahmer turned 18, that he picked up Steven Mark Hicks.
Hicks was hitchhiking near Dahmer's house, and Dahmer lured him into his home under the notion that they would drink together. After hours of drinking and listening to music, Hicks expressed that he wanted to leave. Dahmer could tell Hicks was becoming increasingly nervous and bludgeoned him in the back of the head with a 10 lb. dumbbell.
After that, Dahmer strangled him and performed sexual acts over his body. He then proceeded to dismember him and bury him in a shallow grave in the backyard. He later dug up his body and dissolved his remains in acid.
Due to Dahmer's continued alcohol abuse he started to flounder. After one unsuccessful semester at Ohio State University, he tried moving back with his dad and step mom. After a brief stay with them, his father and stepmom urged Dahmer to be with his grandmother, the only person he showed any affection to.
Late twenties and continued murders
In December 1987 Dahmer was living with his grandma at this time. He picked up a 25 year old man named Steven Tuomi at a bar and convinced him to come back to the Ambassador Hotel with him.
Dahmer said that he had no intention of killing Tuomi and was very shocked he did. He went in with the idea of drugging his drink and raping him. The next morning when he woke up Tuomi's chest was beat in and he was blue. Dahmer was bruised from the incident but had zero recollection of doing it.
He dismembered Tuomi's body and severed his head. He beat down the bones with a hammer and placed the severed head in a Soilex (acid) solution to retain the skull. He later realized this didn't work and threw the skull in the garbage.
It was after Tuomi's murder that Dahmer started to actively prey on young boys. He would frequently visit gay bars where he would drug their drinks in hopes of luring them back to his apartment.
One of his victims during this time included a 24 year old male model Anthony Sears. Sears would be the only victim that Dahmer would permanently keep his remains. The two met at a local gay bar and Dahmer was just intending to leave that night but he said that Sears "just kept talking to me."
The two went back to Dahmer's grandmother's house where they engaged in sexual activities. Dahmer then strangled Sears to death and put his body in his grandma's bathtub where he severed his head and attempted to flay his body. His cut off Sear's genitalia, placing it in acetone, and stored it in his work locker.
924 north 25th street
The murders continued as Dahmer would lure young men into his apartment and lace their drinks. On one particular instance in 1990, Dahmer wanted to experiment with a 22 year old victim's remains after he had strangled a man named Edward Smith to death.
He placed Smith's skull in his freezer with the hopes that it would not retain moisture and rot. His experiment failed and after placing the skull in the oven it exploded and he lost any remains of Smith. He later told the police that he felt rotten about this incident because he pretty much killed him for nothing.
His fascination for preserving corpses with acidic solutions increased. In later interviews after his arrest he explained how he wanted to create "zombies" and preserve the corpses for as long as he could. In fact, on one occasion after he had lured a 19 year old Errol Lindsey to his apartment he drugged Lindsey and started to drill a hole in his head. Dahmer then proceeded to fill the hole with a hydrochloric solution. During this Lindsey woke up and complained of a headache. Dahmer then strangled and dismembered his body.
Arrest
In July of 1991, Dahmer approached three men on the street offering to pay them to pose nude for him. One of the three, 32-year-old Tracy Edwards, agreed to go back to his apartment with him.
Upon arriving at his apartment Edwards noticed a foul odor and many boxes of hydrochloric acid on the floor. Dahmer pointed to his aquarium pointing out his fish and when Edwards turned his head Dahmer cuffed him. Panicked, Edwards asked what he was doing and Dahmer forced him into his bedroom so they could take the nude photos.
Entering the bedroom Edwards noticed that there was an intense odor coming from a 57-gallon drum in the corner, nude photos all over the wall, and a videotape of the Exorcist playing. In addition to this Edwards noticed the open drawer of Dahmer's nightstand that contained Polaroid photos of bodies in different stages of dismemberment.
At this point Edwards was panicking and asked Dahmer if they could drink beer in the living room. Dahmer consented and once they were there, Edwards knocked Dahmer down and ran out the front door which was still unlocked.
Edwards flagged down two Milwaukee police officers and told them that a "freak" had cuffed him. When the police officer's discovered that their key didn't work on the cuffs they followed Edwards back to Dahmer's apartment.
Upon their arrival Dahmer allowed the officers into his apartment showing no resistance and acknowledged that he had cuffed Edwards but didn't explain why. The officers immediately noticed a foul odor and started questioning Dahmer. Dahmer at this point knew he had been caught. He said that "I didn't say anything I pointed towards the bedroom."
Officer Rolf Mueller walked towards the bedroom and opened the lid to the 57-gallon drum discovering the decomposing body inside. Dahmer said that he heard the officer yell "Cuff him!"
Dahmer met his demise in prison after receiving his verdict of a life sentence. A group of inmates banded together and beat him to death. Even though some may be interested in Dahmer's story. Let us not forget the victims and their families who endured emotional devastation due to Dahmer's murders.
Below is a video of the sister of one of Dahmer's victims, who demonstrated this by emotionally lashing out at Dahmer during her testimony.
- Dahmer worked at a Milwaukee chocolate factory during the majority of his murders. He even kept a severed head of one of his victims in his locker.
-He claimed the reason he started eating his victims was so that "they could be a part of him forever."
- His father, Lionel Dahmer, expressed that he had a fascination with blowing things up in his younger years. This may give some insight as to where Jeffrey's affliction came from.
- He would watch The Godfather Part I and The Exorcist to gain inspiration before he went out looking for victims.
- Many tenants in his apartment building complained of foul odors coming from his apartment to management.
- 924 North 25th Street was demolished after the discovery of the murders in the building. Many tenants were rightfully upset.
Trivia
Home video of Jeffrey taken by his father Lionel, discussing his eating habits. This was recorded during the peak of his murders.
