biography about jeffrey dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer

Convicted serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He was killed in 1994 by a fellow prison inmate.

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Jeffrey Dahmer Now: Recordings Show He Intended to Keep Killing

• Who Was Jeffrey Dahmer?

Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer who took the lives of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Over the course of more than 13 years, Dahmer sought out his victims, mostly Black men, at gay bars, malls, and bus stops, lured them home with promises of money or sex, and gave them alcohol laced with drugs before strangling them to death. He would then engage in sex acts with the corpses before dismembering them and disposing of them, often keeping body parts as souvenirs. He frequently took photos of his victims at various stages of the murder process, so he could recollect each act afterward and relive the experience. Dahmer was captured in 1991 and sentenced to 16 life terms. He was killed by fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994.

Quick Facts

Childhood and family, first four victims, sexual assault charges and sentence, last 13 victims, dahmer’s arrest, trial and imprisonment, jeffrey dahmer’s house, pop culture depictions.

FULL NAME: Jeffrey Dahmer BORN: May 21, 1960 DIED: November 28, 1994 BIRTHPLACE: Milwaukee, Wisconsin ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Gemini HEIGHT: 6 ft. 0 in.

Jeffrey Dahmer was born in Milwaukee, on May 21, 1960, to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. He was described as an energetic and happy child until the age of 4, when a traumatic and painful recovery following surgery to correct a double hernia seemed to effect a change in the boy . Noticeably subdued, he became increasingly withdrawn following the birth of his younger brother and the family’s frequent moves. By the time, Dahmer was of school age, the family had moved to Ohio.

From a young age, Dahmer developed a fascination with animal bones and studied how to be clean and preserve them. As a child, he collected large insects and the skulls of small animals, preserved in jars of formaldehyde, according to the Brian Masters book The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer .

By his early teens, he was disengaged, tense, and largely friendless. Dahmer claims that his compulsions toward necrophilia and murder began around the age of 14, but it appears that the breakdown of his parents’ marriage and their acrimonious divorce a few years later might have been the catalyst for turning these thoughts into actions. His parents’ numerous arguments and the constant tension in the house made Dahmer question the solidity of his family and life, according to Masters.

Dahmer also started drinking at age 14, and by the time of his first killing at age 18, his alcohol consumption had spun out of control. He dropped out of Ohio State University after one quarter term, and his recently remarried father insisted that he join the Army. Dahmer enlisted in late December 1978 and was posted to Germany shortly thereafter.

His drinking problem persisted, and in early 1981, the Army discharged him. Although German authorities would later investigate possible connections between Dahmer and murders that took place in the area during that time, it is not believed that he took any victims while serving in the Armed Forces.

Following his discharge, Dahmer returned home to Ohio. An arrest later that year for disorderly conduct prompted his father to send Dahmer to live with his grandmother Catherine Dahmer in Wisconsin, but his alcohol problem continued, and he was arrested the following summer for indecent exposure. He was arrested once again in 1986 when two boys accused him of masturbating in front of them. He received a one-year probationary sentence.

Dahmer murdered 17 men between 1978 and 1991. He was careful to select victims on the fringes of society, who were often itinerant or borderline criminal, making their disappearances less noticeable and reducing the likelihood of his capture. He lured them to his home with promises of money or sex, then strangled them to death. He engaged in sex acts with their bodies and kept body parts and photos as souvenirs. His most popular nicknames—the Milwaukee Cannibal and the Milwaukee Monster—reflect his heinous crimes.

Dahmer’s first murder occurred just after graduating from Revere High School, in June 1978, when he picked up an 18-year-old hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and took him home to his parents’ house. Dahmer proceeded to get the young man drunk, and when Hicks tried to go, Dahmer said “I didn’t want him to leave.” Dahmer killed him by striking him in the head and strangling him with a barbell. Dahmer dismembered Hicks’ corpse, packed the body parts in plastic bags, and buried them behind his parents’ home. He later exhumed the remains, crushed the bones with a sledgehammer, and scattered them across a wooded ravine.

It wasn’t until September 1987 that Dahmer took his second victim, Steven Tuomi. They checked into a hotel room and drank, and Dahmer eventually awoke to find Tuomi dead, with no memory of the previous night’s activities. He later told police he intended to drug Tuomi but not kill him, and he “could not believe this had happened.” Dahmer bought a large suitcase to transport Tuomi’s body to his grandmother’s basement, where he dismembered and masturbated on the corpse before disposing of the remains. He kept Tuomi’s head, which was wrapped in a blanket, for weeks after the murder.

Dahmer later said that after Tuomi’s killing , his “obsession [with killing] went into full swing” and he “didn’t even try to stop it after that.” He killed two more victims at his grandmother’s house before she forced him to move out in 1988. She had no knowledge of his crimes but was tired of his drinking, his tendency to bring young men to her house, and the foul smells occasionally coming from her basement, according to Masters.

In September 1989, about a year after moving into his new apartment, Dahmer lured a 13-year-old Laotian boy to his house, claiming he wanted to take nude photos of him. This 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, sodomized, photographed, dismembered, and disposed of Anthony Sears, an aspiring model. Dahmer found Sears particularly attractive and later said he did not want to “lose him,” and so Sears became the first victim from whom Dahmer kept preserved body parts for a long period of time, mummifying his head and genitals, according to Masters.

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.

Years later, in an interview with CNN, Lionel Dahmer stated that he wrote a letter to the court that issued the sentence, requesting psychological help before his son’s parole. However, Dahmer was granted an early release by the judge, after serving only 10 months of his sentence. He briefly lived with his grandmother following his release, during which time he does not appear to have added to his body count, before moving back into his own apartment.

Over the next two years, Dahmer would kill 12 more people, bringing his total victim count to 17. His first victim during this time was a prostitute named Raymond Smith , whom Dahmer lured to his apartment for sex, gave a drink laced with sleeping tablets, and then strangled. Dahmer took photos of his body in suggestive positions before dismembering him. With his next victim Edward Smith, Dahmer accidentally destroyed his skull while trying to dry it in the oven, making it explode. He later told police he felt “rotten” about Smith’s murder because was unable to keep anything from his body, making it feel like a true waste, according to Masters.

Dahmer started developing rituals as he progressed with his killings, experimenting with chemical means of disposal and often consuming the flesh of his victims. Dahmer also attempted crude lobotomies: He drilled into the skull of his 11th victim, Errol Lindsey , while he was still alive and injected him with muriatic acid. Dahmer hoped this would place Lindsey into a permanent submissive state, but Lindsey awoke during the procedure and said, “I have a headache; what time is it?” so Dahmer strangled him.

On May 27, 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—a white man in a largely poor Black community—that the boy was his 19-year-old lover. In fact, the boy was 14 years old and was, unbeknownst to Dahmer, the younger brother of the Laotian teen Dahmer had molested three years earlier.

The police escorted Dahmer and the boy home. Clearly not wishing to become embroiled in a homosexual domestic disturbance, they took only a cursory look around before leaving. According to Dahmer, an officer “peeked his head around in the bedroom but didn’t really take a good look,” and then left after telling Dahmer to “take care” of the boy, according to Masters. Once they left the scene, Dahmer injected hydrochloric acid into the boy’s brain, killing him. Had the police conducted even a basic search, they would have found the body of Dahmer’s 12 th victim, Tony Hughes.

Dahmer killed four more men before he was finally arrested. One of his last victims was Oliver Lacy, 24, whose body Dahmer had sex with before dismembering the corpse. He kept Lacy’s head and heart in his refrigerator, and his skeleton in a freezer.

Dahmer’s killing spree ended when he was arrested on July 22, 1991. The body parts found in Dahmer’s refrigerator and Polaroid photographs of his victims became inextricably associated with his notorious killing spree.

Two Milwaukee police officers were led to Dahmer when they picked up Tracy Edwards, a 32-year-old Black man who was wandering the streets with handcuffs dangling from his wrist. They decided to investigate the man’s claims that a “weird dude” had drugged and restrained him. They arrived at Dahmer’s apartment, where he calmly offered to get the keys for the handcuffs.

Edwards claimed that the knife Dahmer had threatened him with was in the bedroom. When the officer went in to corroborate the story, he noticed Polaroid photographs of dismembered bodies lying around. Dahmer was subdued by the officers, after which he muttered the words, “For what I did, I should be dead,” according to Masters.

Subsequent searches revealed a head in the refrigerator, three more in the freezer, and a catalog of other horrors, including preserved skulls, jars containing genitalia, and an extensive gallery of macabre Polaroid photographs of his victims. Dahmer later said he had planned to built a private altar from his victims’ skulls, adorned with incense sticks and globe lights. He hoped the altar would be “A place where I could feel at home,” according to Masters.

Dahmer’s trial began in January 1992. Given that the majority of Dahmer’s victims were Black, there were considerable racial tensions, so strict security precautions were taken, including an eight-foot barrier of bulletproof glass that separated him from the gallery. The inclusion of only one Black person on the jury provoked further unrest but was ultimately contained and short-lived. Lionel Dahmer and his second wife attended the trial throughout.

Dahmer initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, despite having confessed to the killings during police interrogation. He eventually changed his plea to guilty by virtue of insanity. His defense then offered the gruesome details of his behavior, as proof that only someone insane could commit such terrible acts.

The jury chose to believe the prosecution’s assertion that Dahmer was fully aware that his acts were evil and chose to commit them anyway. On February 15, 1992, they returned after approximately 10 hours’ deliberation to find him guilty, but sane, on all counts. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison, with a 16th term tacked on in May.

Dahmer reportedly adjusted well to prison life at the Columbia Correctional Institution in south-central Wisconsin, though he was initially kept apart from the general population. He eventually convinced authorities to allow him to integrate more fully with other inmates. He found religion in the form of books and photos sent to him by his father, and he was granted permission by the Columbia Correctional Institution to be baptized by a local pastor.

Dahmer was killed on November 28, 1994, by his fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver.

In accordance with his inclusion in regular work details, Dahmer was assigned to work with two other convicted murderers, Scarver and Jesse Anderson. After they had been left alone to complete their tasks, guards returned to find that Scarver had brutally beaten both men with a metal bar from the prison weight room. Dahmer was pronounced dead after approximately one hour. Anderson died from his injuries days later.

A prison guard claimed that shortly after the murders, Scarver, who was believed to be schizophrenic, said “God told me to do it.” In 2015, Scarver spoke to the New York Post about his reasons for killing Dahmer. Scarver alleged that he was disturbed not only by Dahmer’s crimes but by a habit Dahmer had developed of fashioning severed limbs from prison food to antagonize other inmates.

After being taunted by Dahmer and Anderson during their work detail, Scarver said that he confronted Dahmer about his crimes before beating the two men to death. He also claimed that prison guards allowed the murders to happen by leaving them alone. Catherine Lacy, the mother of Dahmer’s victim Oliver Lacy, said his death brought her no closure : “The hurt is worse now, because he’s not suffering like we are.”

In 1996, following Dahmer’s death, a group of Milwaukee businessmen raised more than $400,000 to purchase the items he used for crimes, including blades, saws, handcuffs, and a refrigerator to store body parts. They promptly destroyed them in an effort to distance the city from the horrors of Dahmer’s actions and the ensuing media circus surrounding his trial.

In August 2012, nearly two decades after his death, it was reported that Dahmer’s childhood home in Bath, Ohio—where he committed his first murder in 1978 and buried his victim’s remains—was on the market. Its owner, musician Chris Butler, stated that the property would make a great home, as long as the buyer could “get past the horror factor.” The house was removed from the market is believed to still be owned by Butler, as of 2022 .

Several well-known books have been written about Dahmer including, The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: An American Nightmare (1991) by Donald A. Davis and The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer (1993) by Brian Masters. Dahmer was portrayed by Jeremy Renner in the film Dahmer (2002), which featured Bruce Davison as Dahmer’s father, Lionel. The film My Friend Dahmer (2017), starring Ross Lynch in the title role, was based upon a graphic novel by cartoonist John “ Derf” Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school.

The 2012 documentary The Jeffery Dahmer Files included fictionalized reenactments of Dahmer’s life (with Andrew Swant portraying him) along with real-life interviews with people involved with his cases. Several other documentaries have been produced about Dahmer as well. In September 2022, Netflix released a ten-part anthology series called Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . Co-created by American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy, the series starred Evan Peters as Dahmer and highlighted incidents in which Dahmer was nearly apprehended before his arrest, with a particular focus on how police incompetence allowed him to extend his killing spree.

A four-part docuseries called My Son Jeffrey: The Dahmer Family Tapes begins streaming on September 18, 2023, on Fox Nation. It includes never-before-released audio recordings of Dahmer, including phone conversations he had with his father, Lionel, while in prison. According to Court TV , Dahmer said in one recording that he fully intended to keep killing if he hadn’t been captured: “I was so wrapped up in what I was doing. I felt I was gonna continue doing that for the rest of my life.” In other recordings, Lionel asked if he has tried praying to God, and Dahmer replied he hadn’t because it made him “feel uncomfortable.”

• 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. I promise I will pray each day to ask for their forgiveness when the hurt goes away, if ever. I have seen their tears, and if I could give my life right now to bring their loved ones back, I would do it.
• I should have stayed with God. I tried, and I failed and created a holocaust.
• This has never been a case of trying to get free. I didn’t ever want freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself.
• I feel so bad for what I did to those poor families, and I understand their rightful hate.
• I take all the blame for what I did.
• I wanted to find out just what it was that caused me to be so bad and evil.
• The subtleties of social life were beyond my grasp. When children liked me, I did not know why. Nor could I formulate a plan for winning their affection. I simply didn’t know how things worked with other people. ... And try as I might, I couldn’t make other people seem less strange and unknowable. [from The New School Psychology Bulletin ; Volume 5, No. 1, 2007]
• What I’ve done has cut both ways. It’s hurt the victim, and it’s hurt me. ... I don’t know what I was thinking when I did it. [from The New School Psychology Bulletin ; Volume 5, No. 1, 2007]
• Maybe I was born too late. Maybe I was an Aztec. [from Albany Times Union ; published on February 5, 1992]
• [The] world already has enough misery in it without my adding more to it. [from Albany Times Union ; published on August 7, 1991]
• It was not a case of hating them. It was just the only way I knew of to keep them there and keep them with me. [from The Scotsman ; published on August 15, 2000]
• It gave me a sense of total control and increased the sexual thrill, I guess, knowing I had total control of them and that I could do with them as I wished. [from The Scotsman ; published on August 15, 2000]
• It’s hard for me to believe a human being could do what I have done, but I know I did it. [from Albany Times Union ; published on February 1, 1992]
• I do not blame the police, the courts, or the probation system. I failed the system, it did not fail me. [from Sunday Times ; published on July 28, 1991]
• I guess I’ve really done it this time, I’m sorry. [from Sunday Times ; published on April 17, 1994]
• God told me to do it. [from Albany Times Union ; published on December 16, 1994]

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Colin McEvoy joined the Biography.com staff in 2023, and before that had spent 16 years as a journalist, writer, and communications professional. He is the author of two true crime books: Love Me or Else and Fatal Jealousy . He is also an avid film buff, reader, and lover of great stories.

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Jeffrey Dahmer (May 21, 1960–November 28, 1994) was responsible for a series of gruesome murders of 17 young men from 1988 until he was caught on July 22, 1991, in Milwaukee.

Fast Facts: Jeffrey Dahmer

• Known For : Convicted serial killer of 17 people
• Also Known As : Milwaukee Cannibal, Milwaukee Monster
• Born : May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Parents : Lionel Dahmer, Joyce Dahmer
• Died : November 28, 1994 at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin
• Notable Quote : "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."

Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. From all accounts, Dahmer was a happy child who enjoyed typical toddler activities. It was not until the age of 6, after he underwent hernia surgery, that his personality began to change from a jubilant social child to a loner who was uncommunicative and withdrawn. His facial expressions transformed from sweet, childish smiles to a blank, emotionless stare —a look that remained with him throughout his life.

Pre-Teen Years

In 1966, the Dahmers moved to Bath, Ohio. Dahmer's insecurities grew after the move and his shyness kept him from making many friends. While his peers were busy listening to the latest songs, Dahmer was busy collecting road kill and stripping the animal carcasses and saving the bones.

Other idle time was spent alone, buried deep inside his fantasies. His nonconfrontational attitude with his parents was considered an attribute, but in reality, it was his apathy toward the real world that made him appear obedient.

High School and the Army

Dahmer continued being a loner during his years at Revere High School. He had average grades, worked on the school newspaper, and developed a dangerous drinking problem. His parents, struggling with issues of their own, divorced when Jeffrey was almost 18. He remained living with his father who traveled often and was busy nurturing a relationship with his new wife.

After high school, Dahmer enrolled at Ohio State University and spent most of his time skipping classes and getting drunk. He dropped out and returned home after two semesters. His father then issued him an ultimatum—get a job or join the Army.

In 1979, Dahmer enlisted for six years in the Army, but his drinking continued and in 1981, after just two years, he was discharged because of his drunken behavior.

Unknown to anyone, Jeffery Dahmer was mentally disintegrating . In June 1978, he was struggling with his own homosexual desires, mixed with his need to act out his sadistic fantasies. Perhaps this struggle is what pushed him to pick up a hitchhiker, 18-year-old Steven Hicks. He invited Hicks to his father's home and the two drank alcohol. When Hicks was ready to leave, Dahmer bashed him in the head with a barbell and killed him.

He then cut up the body, placing the parts in garbage bags, which he buried in the woods surrounding his father's property. Years later, he returned and dug up the bags and crushed the bones and disbursed the remains around the woods. As insane as he had become, he had not lost sight of the need to cover his murderous tracks. Later, his explanation for killing Hicks was simply that he didn't want him to leave.

Prison Time

Dahmer spent the next six years living with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin. He continued drinking heavily and often got into trouble with the police. In August 1982, he was arrested after exposing himself at a state fair. In September 1986, he was arrested and charged with public exposure after being accused of masturbating in public. He served 10 months in jail  but was arrested soon after his release after sexually fondling a 13-year-old boy in Milwaukee. He was given five years probation after convincing the judge that he needed therapy.

His father, unable to understand what was happening to his son, continued to stand by him, making certain he had good legal counsel. He also began to accept that there was little he could do to help the demons that seemed to rule Dahmer's behavior. He realized that his son was missing a basic human element: a conscience.

Over the years, there was speculation that Jeffrey Dahmer may have been involved in the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh , son of later TV personality John Walsh.

Murder Spree

In September 1987, while on probation on the molestation charges, Dahmer met 26-year-old Steven Toumi and the two spent the night drinking heavily and cruising gay bars before going to a hotel room. When Dahmer awoke from his drunken stupor, he found Toumi dead.

Dahmer put Toumi's body into a suitcase, which he took to his grandmother's basement. There, he discarded the body in the garbage after dismembering it, but not before gratifying his sexual necrophilia desires.

Unlike most serial killers , who kill then move on to find another victim, Dahmer's fantasies included a series of crimes against the corpse of his victims, or what he referred to as passive sex. This became part of his regular pattern and possibly the one obsession that pushed him to kill.

Killing his victims in his grandmother's basement was becoming increasingly difficult to hide. He was working as a mixer at Ambrosia Chocolate Factory and could afford a small apartment, so in September 1988, he got a one-bedroom apartment on North 24th St. in Milwaukee.

Dahmer's killing spree continued and for most of his victims, the scene was the same. He would meet them at a gay bar or a mall and entice them with free alcohol and money if they agreed to pose for photographs. Once alone, he would drug them, sometimes torture them, and then kill them usually by strangulation. He would then masturbate over the corpse or have sex with the corpse, cut the body up and get rid of the remains. He also kept parts of the bodies, including the skulls, which he would clean—much like he did with his childhood road kill collection—and often refrigerated organs, which he would occasionally eat.

Known Victims

• Stephen Hicks, 18: June 1978
• Steven Tuomi, 26: September 1987
• Jamie Doxtator, 14: October 1987
• Richard Guerrero, 25: March 1988
• Anthony Sears, 24: February 1989
• Eddie Smith, 36: June 1990
• Ricky Beeks, 27: July 1990
• Ernest Miller, 22: September 1990
• David Thomas, 23: September 1990
• Curtis Straughter, 16: February 1991
• Errol Lindsey, 19: April 1991
• Tony Hughes, 31: May 24, 1991
• Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14: May 27, 1991
• Matt Turner, 20: June 30, 1991
• Jeremiah Weinberger, 23: July 5, 1991
• Oliver Lacy, 23: July 12, 1991
• Joseph Bradeholt, 25: July 19, 1991

The Dahmer Victim That Nearly Escaped

Dahmer's murdering activity continued uninterrupted until an incident on May 27, 1991. His 13th victim was 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, who was also the younger brother of the boy Dahmer was convicted of molesting in 1989.

Early in the morning, the young Sinthasomphone was seen wandering the streets nude and disoriented. When police arrived on the scene there were paramedics, two women who were standing close to the confused Sinthasomphone, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer told police that Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old lover who was drunk and the two had quarreled.

The police escorted Dahmer and the boy back to Dahmer's apartment, much against the protest of the women, who had witnessed Sinthasomphone fighting off Dahmer before the police had arrived.

The police found Dahmer's apartment neat and other than noticing an unpleasant smell, nothing seemed amiss. They left Sinthasomphone under Dahmer's care.

Later, the police officers John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish joked with their dispatcher about reuniting the lovers. Within hours, Dahmer killed Sinthasomphone and performed his usual ritual on the body.

The Killing Escalates

In June and July 1991, Dahmer's killing had escalated to one a week until July 22, when Dahmer was unable to hold captive his 18th victim, Tracy Edwards.

According to Edwards, Dahmer tried to handcuff him and the two struggled. Edwards escaped and was spotted at around midnight by police, with the handcuff dangling from his wrist. Assuming he had somehow escaped from the authorities, the police stopped him. Edwards immediately told them about his encounter with Dahmer and led them to his apartment.

Dahmer opened his door to the officers and answered their questions calmly. He agreed to turn over the key to unlock Edwards's handcuffs and moved to the bedroom to get it. One of the officers went with him and as he glanced around the room, he noticed photographs of what appeared to be parts of bodies and a refrigerator full of human skulls.

They decided to place Dahmer under arrest and attempted to handcuff him, but his calm demeanor changed and he began to fight and struggle unsuccessfully to get away. With Dahmer under control, the police then began their initial search of the apartment and quickly discovered skulls and other various body parts, along with an extensive photo collection Dahmer had taken documenting his crimes.

The Crime Scene

The details of what was found in Dahmer's apartment were horrific, matching only to his confessions as to what he did to his victims.

Items found in Dahmer's apartment included:

• A human head and three bags of organs, which included two hearts, were found in the refrigerator.
• Three heads, a torso, and various internal organs were inside a free-standing freezer.
• Chemicals, formaldehyde, ether, and chloroform plus two skulls, two hands and male genitalia were found in the closet.
• A filing cabinet that contained three painted skulls, a skeleton, a dried scalp, male genitalia, and various photographs of his victims.
• A box with two skulls inside.
• A 57-gallon vat filled with acid and three torsos.
• Victims' identification.
• Bleach used to bleach the skulls and bones.
• Incense sticks. Neighbors often complained to Dahmer about the smell coming from his apartment.
• Tools: Clawhammer, handsaw, 3/8" drill, 1/16" drill, drill bits.
• A hypodermic needle.
• Various videos, some pornographic.
• Blood soaked mattress and blood splatters.
• King James Bible.

Jeffrey Dahmer was indicted on 17 murder charges, which was later reduced to 15. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Much of the testimony was based on Dahmer's 160-page confession and from various witnesses, who testified that Dahmer's necrophilia urges were so strong that he was not in control of his actions. The defense sought to prove that he was in control and capable of planning, manipulating, and covering up his crimes.

The jury deliberated for five hours and returned a verdict of guilty on 15 counts of murder. Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life terms, a total of 937 years in prison. At his sentencing, Dahmer calmly read his four-page statement to the court.

He apologized for his crimes and ended with:

"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...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 ask for no consideration."

Life Sentence

Dahmer was sent to the Columbia Correctional Institute in Portage, Wisconsin. At first, he was separated from the general prison population for his own safety. But by all reports, he was considered a model prisoner who had adjusted well to prison life and was a self-proclaimed, born-again Christian. Gradually, he was permitted to have some contact with other inmates.

On November 28, 1994, Dahmer and inmate Jesse Anderson were beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver while on a work detail in the prison gym. Anderson was in prison for killing his wife and Scarver was a schizophrenic convicted of first-degree murder . For reasons unknown, the guards left the three alone for 20 minutes. They returned to find Anderson dead and Dahmer dying from severe head trauma. Dahmer died in the ambulance before reaching the hospital.

In Dahmer's will, he had requested upon his death that his body be cremated as soon as possible, but some medical researchers wanted his brain preserved so it could be studied. Lionel Dahmer wanted to respect his son's wishes and cremate all remains of his son. His mother felt his brain should go to research. The two parents went to court and a judge sided with Lionel. After more than a year, Dahmer's body was released from being held as evidence and the remains were cremated.

• “ Jeffrey Dahmer .”  Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 18 Jan. 2019.
• “ Jeffrey Dahmer | Crime Library | Serial Killers .”  Crime Museum .
• Jenkins, John Philip. “ Jeffrey Dahmer .”  Encyclopædia Britannica , 11 Feb. 2019.
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• Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog
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• Serial Killer Edward Gein

Jeffrey Dahmer

By most accounts Dahmer had a normal childhood; however he became withdrawn and uncommunicative as he got older. He began showing little to no interest in hobbies or social interaction as he entered adolescence, turning instead to examining animal carcasses and heavy drinking for entertainment. His drinking continued throughout high school but did not stop him from graduating in 1978. It was just three weeks later that the 18-year-old committed his first murder. Due to his parents’ unfolding divorce that summer, Jeffrey was left in the family home alone. He seized the opportunity to act on the dark thoughts that had been growing in his mind. He picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and offered to take him back to his father’s house to drink beer. But when Hicks decided to leave, Dahmer hit him in the back of the head with a 10 lb. dumbbell. Dahmer then dissected, dissolved, pulverized, and scattered the now imperceptible remains throughout his back yard, and later admitted to killing him simply because he wanted Hicks to stay. Nine years would pass before he killed again.

Dahmer attended college that fall but dropped out due to his alcoholism. After that his father forced him to enlist in the army, where he served as a combat medic in Germany from 1979 to 1981. However, he never kicked the habit and was discharged that spring, moving back home to Ohio. After his drinking continued to cause problems, his father sent him to live with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin. By 1985 he was frequenting gay bathhouses, where he would drug men and rape them as they lay unconscious. Although he was arrested twice for incidents of indecent exposure in 1982 and 1986, he only faced probation and was not charged for the rapes.

Steven Tuomi was his second victim, killed in September of 1987. Dahmer picked him up from a bar and took him back to a hotel room, where he woke up the next morning to Tuomi’s beaten dead body. He later stated that he had no memory of actually murdering Tuomi, implying that he had committed the crime on some sort of blacked out impulse. The killings occurred sporadically after Tuomi, with two victims in 1988, one in 1989, and four in 1990. He continued to lure unsuspecting men from bars or solicited prostitutes, whom he then drugged, raped, and strangled. At this point though, Dahmer also began carrying out particularly disturbing acts with their corpses, continuing to use the bodies for intercourse, taking photographs of the dismemberment process, preserving with scientific precision his victims’ skulls and genitals for display, and even retaining parts for consumption.

During this period, Dahmer was arrested for an incident at his job at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, where he drugged and sexually fondled a 13-year-old boy. For this he was given a sentence of five years’ probation, one year at a work release camp, and was required to register as a sex offender. He was released two months early from the work program and subsequently moved into a Milwaukee apartment in May of 1990. There, despite regular appointments with his probation officer, he would remain free to commit four murders that year and eight more in 1991.

Dahmer began killing around one person each week by the summer of 1991. He became infatuated with the idea that he could turn his victims into “zombies” to act as youthful and submissive sexual partners. He used many different techniques, such as drilling holes into their skull and injecting hydrochloric acid or boiling water into their brains. Soon, neighbors began to complain about strange noises and awful smells coming from Dahmer’s apartment. On one occasion, a lobotomized victim left unattended even made it out onto the street to ask several bystanders for help. When Dahmer returned, however, he successfully convinced the police that the irrational young man was simply his extremely intoxicated boyfriend. The officers failed to run a background check that would have revealed Dahmer’s sex offender status, allowing him to narrowly escape his fate for a little while longer.

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer lured Tracy Edwards into his home with the promise of cash in exchange for his company. While inside, Edwards was then forced into the bedroom by Dahmer with a butcher knife. During the struggle, Edwards was able to get free and escape out into the streets where he flagged down a police car. When the police arrived at Dahmer’s apartment, Edwards alerted them to the knife that was in the bedroom. Upon entering the bedroom, the officers found the pictures of dead bodies and dismembered limbs that allowed them to finally place Dahmer under arrest. Further investigation of the home led them to find a severed head in the refrigerator, three more severed heads throughout the apartment, multiple photographs of the victims, and more human remains in his refrigerator. A total of seven skulls were found in his apartment as well as a human heart in the freezer. An altar was also constructed with candles and human skulls in his closet. After being taken into custody, Dahmer confessed and began divulging the gruesome details of his crimes to the authorities.

Dahmer was indicted on 15 murder charges and the trial began on January 30, 1992. Even though the evidence against him was overwhelming, Dahmer pled insanity as his defense due to the nature of his incredibly disturbing and uncontrollable impulses. Following two weeks of trial, the court declared him sane and guilty on 15 counts of murder. He was sentenced to 15 life terms, for a total of 957 years in prison. In May of the same year, he entered a guilty plea for the murder of his first victim, Stephen Hicks, and received an additional life sentence.

Dahmer served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. During his time in prison, Dahmer expressed remorse for his actions and wished for his own death. He also read the Bible and declared himself a born-again Christian, ready for his final judgment. He was attacked twice by fellow inmates, with the first attempt to slice his neck open leaving him with only superficial wounds. However, he was attacked a second time on November 28, 1994, by an inmate as they cleaned one of the prison showers. Dahmer was found still alive, but died on the way to the hospital from severe head trauma.

Additional information : Oxygen’s Dahmer on Dahmer: A Serial Killer Speaks

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Jeffrey Dahmer Biography: The Cannibal Killer

Undoubtedly one of modern history’s most notorious and abhorrent killers — his crimes are the stuff of nightmares. Over the course of 13 years, he prowled for men and lured them back to his house before drugging and strangling them. In all he took the lives of 17 men between 1978 and 1991. But simply killing his victims wasn’t enough for Jeffrey Dahmer. He never wanted them to leave him so he saved “trophies” — including severed heads. Eventually, he ate parts of his victims.

Dahmer was captured in 1991 and sentenced to 16 life terms. He was killed by fellow prison inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994. Today let’s take a look back on the serial killer’s life.

Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. He was described by his mother as a beautiful baby, and both parents considered him to be a normal child. His teachers saw him differently. At least one — his first grade teacher — wondered if Jeffrey was neglected at home and noted he was a reserved child on his report card. It’s true, both of Jeffrey’s parents didn’t spend a lot of time with him. When Jeffrey was young, his father was in college earning his chemistry degree and Jeffrey’s mother was often bedridden recovering from illnesses. Jeffrey’s parents had a tumultuous marriage that he later described as “extreme tension” from the constant arguing at home. Yet, there was no doubt Lionel and Joyce Dahmer loved their son and tried to do the best for him. When he was six years old, worried Jeffrey might not take well to a new baby brother, they let him pick out his name. Jeffrey named his younger brother David. The Dahmer family moved a few times before eventually settling in Bath, Ohio in 1968.

If there were any red flags that indicated future violence in the young Jeffrey, it was his fascination with animal bones and how they “fit together.” The interest in carcasses began when he was four years old. One day, Jeffrey was helping his father clear animal remains from under the house and Jeffrey was “oddly thrilled” by the sound of the bones dropping into the metal bucket. He later started collecting them; searching in ditches and along streets for roadkill. He began dismembering the bodies behind the house in a patch of wooded area and stored the various body parts in jars in the family’s woodshed. On one occasion, Jeffrey decapitated the corpse of a dog before nailing the body to a tree. When he was ten years old, over dinner, Jeffrey asked his father what would happen if chicken bones were placed in bleach. Lionel, a chemist, interpreted his son’s question as mere scientific curiosity and he took the opportunity to teach his son about the proper way to clean and preserve his collections.

Jeffrey later admitted at the age of 14 he began experiencing sexual “compulsions.” He desired boys, not girls, and the sexual fantasies involved submission, violence, and death.

He began drinking as a teenager to suppress his urges and didn’t talk to anyone about the disturbing thoughts he was having. At the age of 16, he fantasized about raping a jogger he saw regularly and planned to attack the man. One day Jeffrey lay in wait with a baseball bat in the bushes along the man’s regular route. The man didn’t come by that day, and Jeffrey never attempted to carry it out again.

At Revere High School, most of his classmates thought of Dahmer as an outcast with a few friends; some were troubled by his heavy drinking. He drank both beer and liquor while at school by smuggling it inside the lining of his army fatigue jacket. His grades were average and then took a dive as his drinking spun out of control in 1977. He played clarinet briefly in band, and was a decent tennis player. Overall, his teachers observed Jeffrey as polite and quiet. Although he was awkward, he regularly amused his classmates by staging pranks such as acting out seizures, knocking over items, and making loud, obnoxious noises. The pranks were so popular, similar behavior was referred to as “doing a Dahmer.”

By the end of his high school, Dahmer’s parents’ troubled marriage finally came to an end after an unsuccessful attempt at counseling. In early 1978, Lionel moved out of the house. Dahmer graduated in May the same year.

A few weeks after graduation, Dahmer committed his first murder when he picked up a hitchhiker. Eighteen-year-old Steven Mark Hicks was on his way to a rock concert when Dahmer lured him back to his house to hang out and drink a few beers before the show. By now, Dahmer lived alone at his parents’ house — his mother had moved out with younger brother David while his father took up residence at a local motel. Hicks and Dahmer spent a few hours together listening to music and drinking. When Hicks was ready to leave, Dahmer didn’t want him too, so he struck him in the head with a 10 lb. dumbbell and strangled him to death while Hicks was unconscious. He then masturbated over his body, moved him to the crawl space under the house and dissected his body before burying it in a shallow grave. Several weeks later, Dahmer unearthed Hicks’ body, pared the flesh from the bones and dissolved it in acid. He crushed Hicks’ bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them all in the woodlot behind the house.

A short time later, Dahmer’s father visited his son and learned he was living alone. He moved back in the house and convinced Dahmer to enroll in college. Dahmer spent three months at Ohio State University before dropping out. In early 1979, at the urging of his father, he joined the U.S. Army. Dahmer served as a combat medic in Germany but his performance deteriorated due to his drinking. He was honorably discharged in March of 1981. At least two soldiers later attested Dahmer raped them while in the service — one repeatedly over the course of 17 months and the other once after Dahmer drugged him.

Killing Spree

“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.”

Following his discharge, Dahmer returned home to Ohio but stayed only a brief time. He was arrested for disorderly conduct which prompted his father to arrange for Dahmer to live with his grandmother in Wisconsin. His alcoholism continued and he was arrested for indecent exposure. He was arrested again in 1986 when two boys accused him of masturbating in front of them.

In September of 1987, Dahmer took his second victim, Steven Tuomi. According to Dahmer, he has no memory of killing Tuomi — they had checked into a hotel room together and drank heavily…when Dahmer woke in the morning he discovered Tuomi’s dead body, with blood on his hands. Dahmer bought a large suitcase to transport Tuomi’s remains to his grandmother’s basement, where he dismembered and masturbated on the corpse before disposing of the remains. Only after Dahmer killed another two victims at his grandmother’s home did she tire of her grandson’s late nights and drunkenness — although she had no knowledge of his other activities — and she forced him to move out of the premises in 1988.

“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.”

That September 1989, Dahmer had an extremely lucky escape: 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, sodomized, 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.

Years later, in an interview with CNN, Lionel Dahmer stated that he wrote a letter to the court that issued the sentence, requesting psychological help before his son’s parole. However, Jeffrey Dahmer was granted an early release by the judge, after serving only 10 months of his sentence. He briefly lived with his grandmother following his release, during which time he does not appear to have added to his body count, before moving back into his own apartment.

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 crude lobotomies, drilling into victims’ skulls while they were still alive and injecting them with muriatic acid. He was careful to select victims on the fringes of society, who were often itinerant or borderline criminal, making their disappearances less noticeable and reducing the likelihood of his capture. As the murders piled up, Dahmer was still unsatisfied, he said later:

“I was completely swept along with my own compulsion. I don’t know how else to put it. It didn’t satisfy me completely, so maybe I was thinking, ‘Maybe another one will. Maybe this one will.’ And the numbers started growing and growing and just got out of control, as you can see.”

On May 27, 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 — a white man in a largely poor African-American community — 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 and, clearly not wishing to become embroiled in a homosexual domestic disturbance, took only a cursory look around before leaving. Once the police left the scene, Dahmer killed the boy and proceeded with his usual rituals. Had they conducted even a basic search, police officers would have found the body of Dahmer’s 12th victim, Tony Hughes. Before he was finally arrested, on July 22, 1991, he killed four more men.

The Crime Scene

Dahmer’s killing spree ended when he was arrested on July 22, 1991. That day, two Milwaukee police officers picked up Tracy Edwards, a 32-year-old African American man who was wandering the streets with a handcuff dangling from his wrist. They decided to investigate the man’s claims that a “weird dude” had drugged and restrained him. They arrived at Dahmer’s apartment, where he calmly offered to get the keys for the handcuffs.

Edwards claimed that the knife Dahmer had threatened him with was in the bedroom. When the officer went in to corroborate the story, he noticed Polaroid photographs of dismembered bodies lying around. Dahmer was subdued by the officers. Subsequent searches revealed a head in the refrigerator, three more in the freezer and a catalog of other horrors, including preserved skulls, jars containing genitalia and an extensive gallery of macabre Polaroid photographs of his victims.

Dahmer’s refrigerator and Polaroid photographs became inextricably associated with his notorious killing spree.

In 1996, following Dahmer’s death, a group of Milwaukee businessmen raised more than $400,000 to purchase the items he used for his victims — including blades, saws, handcuffs and a refrigerator to store body parts. They promptly destroyed them in an effort to distance the city from the horrors of Dahmer’s actions and the ensuing media circus surrounding his trial.

Trial and Imprisonment

Jeffrey Dahmer’s trial began in January 1992. Given that the majority of Dahmer’s victims were African American, there were considerable racial tensions and so strict security precautions were taken, including an eight-foot barrier of bulletproof glass that separated him from the gallery. The inclusion of only one African American on the jury provoked further unrest, but was ultimately contained and short lived. Lionel Dahmer and his second wife attended the trial throughout.

Dahmer initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, despite having confessed to the killings during police interrogation, but he eventually changed his plea to guilty by virtue of insanity. His defense then offered the gruesome details of his behavior, as proof that only someone insane could commit such terrible acts. Dahmer later said in an interview, “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.”

The jury chose to believe the prosecution’s assertion that Dahmer was fully aware that his acts were evil and chose to commit them anyway. On February 15, 1992, they returned after approximately 10 hours’ deliberation to find him guilty, but sane, on all counts. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison, with a 16th term tacked on in May.

“It is now over. 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… 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 ask for no consideration.”

Dahmer reportedly adjusted well to prison life, although he was initially kept apart from the general population. He eventually convinced authorities to allow him to integrate more fully with other inmates. He found religion in the form of books and photos sent to him by his father, and he was granted permission by the Columbia Correctional Institution to be baptized by a local pastor.

On November 28, 1994, in accordance with his inclusion in regular work details, Dahmer was assigned to work with two other convicted murderers, Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver. After they had been left alone to complete their tasks, guards returned to find that Scarver had brutally beaten both men with a metal bar from the prison weight room. Dahmer was pronounced dead after approximately one hour. Anderson succumbed to his injuries days later.

In 2015, Christopher Scarver spoke to the New York Post about his reasons for killing Dahmer. Scarver alleged that he was disturbed not only by Dahmer’s crimes, but by a habit Dahmer had developed of fashioning severed limbs from prison food to antagonize other inmates. After being taunted by Dahmer and Anderson during their work detail, Scarver said that he confronted Dahmer about his crimes before beating the two men to death. He also claimed that prison guards allowed the murders to happen.

In Dahmer’s will, he had requested upon his death that his body be cremated as soon as possible, but some medical researchers wanted his brain preserved so it could be studied. Lionel Dahmer wanted to respect his son’s wishes and cremate all remains of his son. His mother felt his brain should go to research. The two parents went to court and a judge sided with Lionel. After over a year Dahmer’s body was released from being held as evidence and the remains were cremated as he had requested.

In August 2012, nearly two decades after his death, it was reported his childhood home in Bath, Ohio — where he committed his first murder in 1978, and buried his victim’s remains — was on the market. Its owner, musician Chris Butler, stated that the property would make a great home, as long as the buyer could “get past the horror factor.”

In March 2016, Butler put the house up for rent for $8,000 for the week of the Republican National Convention. As of July 2017, the house was no longer listed on the market, according to Zillow.com.

Jeffrey Dahmer Video Biography

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Movie Reviews

Portrait of the killer as a young man: 'my friend dahmer'.

Andrew Lapin

Ross Lynch stars as Jeffrey Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer , a film based on the graphic novel by Derf Backderf. FilmRise hide caption

Ross Lynch stars as Jeffrey Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer , a film based on the graphic novel by Derf Backderf.

We always want to know where evil comes from, even though the "answer" rarely solves anything. Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered, sodomized and brutally dismembered the bodies of 17 young men between 1978 and 1991, came from the same Midwestern middle-class background as many Americans. He had a family and went to public school. His classmates knew who he was, and some came over to his house. In the end, none of that really explains his compulsions, which seemed to arise from some level of personal darkness most of us never have access to. Instead, these details explain our ability to reckon with Dahmer as one of our own, a fellow member of the human race instead of an otherworldly monster.

It's OK if trying to peek inside the mind of a gruesome killer feels icky and wrong. Our entertainment media's worst instincts tend to come out around figures like Dahmer; it's churned out countless shock-value dramas around the Dateline predator-of-the-week. But My Friend Dahmer , based on the acclaimed graphic memoir by Derf Backderf, is something different. It's a nuanced and sad high school movie, a portrait of lonely, damaged youth that only gradually reveals itself as the origin story of a psychopath.

Backderf, who attended the same Ohio high school as the serial murderer, began drawing comics about his memories of Dahmer shortly after news of his former classmate's crimes became public in 1991, and published a full-length book in 2012 after years of his Dahmer stories circled the underground scene. It's a fascinating document. The future alt-comics star was, from the looks of things, one of Dahmer's only friends — though "friend" in the title is a loose term, since Dahmer often was more of a pet monkey, amusing Backderf and his buddies with public antics that seem just this side of sane. You can read a good amount of residual guilt into Backderf's perspective, the way he interrogates himself for pushing a mean-spirited sense of humor that may have warped Dahmer's views on social life. (It says something that the first time Dahmer earns respect from his peers, he does so by mocking a man with cerebral palsy.)

In the film, Jeffrey is played by Disney Channel star Ross Lynch in a brilliantly unnerving performance. Hidden under a thick head of hair and wide-rimmed glasses, he's never quite sure what "normal" behavior looks like: He knows only that he enjoys dissolving dead animals in acid, courtesy of his chemist father (Dallas Roberts). When Jeffrey's dad forces him out of his woodshed in an effort to get him to socialize more, Jeffrey's solution is to start "spazzing" in the school halls, shaking his body violently and making animal yelping noises, in a way that's just appealing enough to the school's comedy oddball crowd. Derf (Alex Wolff) appoints himself president of the "Dahmer Fan Club," and brings his new muse to libraries and shopping malls — perfect settings for "doing a Dahmer," a.k.a., setting the freak loose.

Considering that Dahmer murdered his first victim at age 18, the period just after My Friend Dahmer is set, it's fair to say there was more to his teenage years than being the butt of some jokes. Director Marc Myers does an admirable job painting his subject's deteriorating state of mind on a broad canvas. We get Jeffrey's pill-popping mother (a buzzing Anne Heche) launching shouting matches on a daily basis; and his budding sexuality, expressed via his obsession over a muscular doctor (Vincent Kartheiser) who jogs by his house "every Monday, Wednesday and Friday." Yet Myers can't resist dropping some ghoulish breadcrumbs, either, as when Jeffrey's dad buys him some dumbbells in the hopes he'll land a girl with them (Dahmer would go on to subdue his first victim with a dumbbell). There may be some times when Easter eggs are not the best approach to a story.

Filmed in the real Ohio locations where Dahmer grew up, including his actual childhood home, the movie still improbably dodges easy attempts to paint it as lurid-by-association. It is less pointed in its critique of the adults in Dahmer's life than Backderf's book, which asked over and over again why no one could see the warning signs, yet Myers does directly depict him realizing his own growing fascination with bones and guts — via quietly sinister shots of him cutting open a freshly caught fish and staring at a black classmate's bare chest, wondering if their insides look the same. Something is creeping in, even if it's not always clear what that is. One especially eerie scene toward the end has Dahmer shuffling home alone to an empty house at night, visible only from Derf's headlights as he drives by. The strange friend, now just a stranger ... to Derf, and to all of us.

Jeffrey Dahmer (Serial Killer Biography)

Even if you are not into true crime, you probably know the names of a few serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. These serial killers, particularly Jeffrey Dahmer, have been the center of television shows, documentaries, and even the lyrics in pop songs. 

Why does his name and story pop up everywhere? It’s not because he killed the most people out of any serial killer or is the “first” serial killer.

Who Was Jeffrey Dahmer? 

Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991. But he didn’t just kill them. After they were dead, Dahmer dismembered and even ate the bodies. What’s more, Dahmer was a timid man who didn’t endure the abuse or trauma that other serial killers may use as an “excuse” for their crimes. 

In interviews, Jeffrey Dahmer gave clear, straightforward answers about his horrific crimes, in some cases admitting his wrongdoing. The story of Jeffrey Dahmer is a wild ride, and it’s more squeamish than many stories of serial killers. Get ready to hear the real story of one of the most infamous serial killers and cannibals of all time. 

When Was Jeffrey Dahmer Born?

Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in Wisconsin. His parents lived comfortably. While most serial killers have a record of surviving abuse or other traumatic experiences, there’s not much to say about Dahmer’s childhood that could point to his later crimes. Dahmer claimed that he was never abused or molested throughout his lifetime. Although his mother suffered from mental illness and likely took prescription medication that affected Dahmer’s development, all appeared normal throughout his early life. 

Jeffrey Dahmer Childhood

Jeffrey Dahmer was a shy child, but his interest in taxidermy and dead animals may have pointed to his later crimes. Violence against animals, setting fires, and persistent bed-wetting are all common signs among serial killers. Other strange behaviors in his teenage years, including drinking alcohol in class, pointed to issues, but they were largely ignored by friends, classmates, and family. At age 17, his parents divorced and his mother left his father and Jeffrey while taking his younger brother with him. 

Jeffrey Dahmer's First Kill 

Inside, Dahmer started to have fantasies that involved sexual control and dominance. Not knowing how to act on these desires, he began to use violence. At age 18, Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker who was on his way to a rock concert. The two spent some time at Dahmer’s house - when the hitchhiker wanted to leave, Dahmer killed him. 

After Dahmer dismembered the body, he put the hitchhiker into a garbage bag and drove to take him to a dumpster. Along the way, he was stopped by police - but he was let go. He scattered the bones of his first victim in the woods near his home. 

By this time, Dahmer’s father and stepmother noticed that he was acting out. They unsuccessfully tried to enroll him in college, took him to psychiatrists, and eventually encouraged him to join the military. During this time, Dahmer didn’t commit any homicides, although multiple roommates claimed that he drugged, sexually assaulted, and tortured them. He was discharged from the army due to excessive drinking, and ended up moving in with his grandmother. 

Jeffrey Dahmer's Victims

During this time, Dahmer tried various methods to suppress his urges and bizarre fantasies. He kept a mannequin in his bed, exposed himself to women and children, and started drugging men at bath houses throughout the Chicago and Milwaukee area. After giving one of the men too much of the drugs that he used, he was banned from the bath houses. 

Around this time, Dahmer got a job at a chocolate factory. 

Shortly after, he brought a man to a hotel and drugged him. The next morning, the man was dead, beaten to death by Dahmer. He claimed he had no recollection of killing the man, and hadn’t planned on killing him when the man was brought home. From then on, he started going on a wild killing spree that would later label him a “serial killer.”

He took two victims in 1988. During this year, he also moved out of his grandmother’s house. His family members were disturbed by some of the smells coming from the basement, but assumed it had to do with Jeffrey’s old habit of experimenting with roadkill. They didn’t suspect that he was actually disposing of multiple bodies. 

After sexually assaulting a 13-year old boy in 1989, Dahmer was arrested and convicted of second-degree sexual assault. Due to delays in his sentencing, Dahmer was sent to live at his grandmother’s home for a period of months. During that time, he took another victim. The victim’s head and genitals were preserved after Dahmer disposed of the body. Shortly after, he was sentenced to five years’ probation. His sentencing included work release and mandatory time in counseling due to his remorse in front of the judge.

In 1990, Dahmer moved into an apartment and killed an additional four men. All of these men had come to Dahmer’s home voluntarily, and didn’t anticipate the violence that would take place when they arrived. He had already developed a ritual where he would watch “The Exorcist” before killing his victims.” During this year, he started to change the way he treated his victims after he killed them. He photographed their bodies, storing their bones in a filing cabinet and other parts of the body in a freezer. If not stored, the body parts were placed in vats of acid. 

Dahmer planned to build a “memorial” to these victims in the form of an altar. Sketches of this altar showed his desire to paint their skeletons and lay out their skulls on the altar. This bizarre “connection” to his victims grew into even more sickening rituals as he began to cook and eat the remains of his victims. Dahmer would go so far as to look at pictures of his victims while he ate their bodies. 

Dahmer killed one more person in 1991 before he tried something new with his victims. With his next two victims, he attempted to make them “zombies,” somewhere between life and death. He did this to try and fulfill a sexual fantasy about having sex with a zombie. Both times, he failed and the victims died.  

When Was Jeffrey Dahmer Caught? 

In May 1991, he tried again. He attempted to drill a hole into the head of a 14-year-old boy. Dahmer didn’t know that this boy was actually the younger brother of a boy Dahmer had molested a few years earlier. But when Dahmer left his apartment to go buy beer, the boy escaped. An eyewitness called the police, who came to Dahmer’s home. Dahmer wasn’t fazed by the close encounter and told the police that the two were engaging in consensual, sexual activities. 

The police left the 14-year-old child with Dahmer in his apartment. They failed to look around and see that Dahmer’s previous victim was in the next room where they discussed Dahmer’s supposed relationship with the teenager. When neighbors inquired as to the age of the child and whether or not he was actually safe with Dahmer, police assured them that everything was “taken care of.” The day after this encounter, Dahmer killed the 14-year-old boy. Over the next two months, he killed another three victims. 

At this point, neighbors contacted their landlord to report on a foul smell coming from Dahmer’s apartment. Three times, he made excuses for the smell, including telling his manager that his fish had recently died. Eventually, these excuses stopped working for the manager, and Dahmer was told that he was going to be evicted. 

During this time before his eviction, Dahmer kills one more victim - his 17th. On July 22, 1991, three days after the man was killed, Dahmer would be arrested. 

The Arrest 

Dahmer took a man back to his home on July 22, 1991. Early in the encounter, he told the man that he was going to eat his heart. But Dahmer had run out of drugs to render the man unconscious, and only managed to get one handcuff on the man’s hand. The man was able to escape and ask the police about how to get the handcuff off.

The police were not able to get the handcuffs off, so they went to Dahmer’s apartment to look for the key. In plain sight, the officers saw the photographs that Dahmer had taken of his victims. These photos included evidence that Dahmer had killed and dismembered multiple victims. At this point, Dahmer was finally put in handcuffs and taken into custody for the murders. 

When investigators searched the house, they found all of the remains and evidence of Dahmer’s recent killings. 

Life In Milwaukee After Dahmer's Arrest

A Redditor on the Milwaukee subreddit asked users to share their close encounters with Jeffrey Dahmer. The stories are crazy, tragic, and haunting: 

• "When my husband was 16, he was taking the bus out to Mayfair with his best friend, John. During the 40-minute journey, a young blond man sitting nearby struck up a conversation with them. He introduced himself as Jeff. He was quite chatty, and made homophobic comments about how gay men made him sick. Two weeks later, my husband got a call from John. 'Turn on the news,' he said. 'It's that guy Jeff from the bus.'"
• "It was very surreal. I was about 23 years old and I remember the news breaking on the radio while I was driving over the high-rise bridge, and I got sick to my stomach when I heard about the severed heads in the fridge. My uncle owned a pizza joint near Dahmer's apartment, and his delivery driver was so distraught when he realized he had delivered many pizzas to him over the past couple of years."
• "My husband is a retired Milwaukee firefighter and worked with the firefighter who was on the scene. Apparently in one of the rooms in Dahmer's apartment was an altar with painted skulls, and the firefighter saw the severed heads in the fridge, one of which was propped up in a pair of hands. He also saw a couple of the blue barrels filled with sludgy acid. The cops and firefighters who saw that horror that day will never unsee it - first responder PTSD is very real."

Dahmer's Confession

The next day, Dahmer decided to give a complete confession to the police about everything he had done: murders, dismemberment, cannibalism, and all. 

Before the case went to trial, Dahmer gave a confession that lasted for over 160 pages. In this confession, he was willing to confess to every single detail of the killings and dismemberment that he could remember. He recalled it all with frightening accuracy - although he couldn’t remember the names of the men that he killed. Dahmer claimed to also not remember the night that he killed his second victim. 

When his trial started, Dahmer had been charged with 15 counts of murder. (One count of murder was charged in another state. Dahmer could not remember killing his second victim, and since there was no physical evidence of the killing at the time, he was not charged for the crime.) His parents attended the trial. Dahmer pleaded guilty but on the grounds of insanity, but he told the jury that he did not wish for any sort of freedom. He believed that he deserved the death penalty. 

The state of Wisconsin had abolished capital punishment over 60 years earlier, so Dahmer was not able to get the death penalty. He was, however, sentenced to 15 life sentences plus another 70 years. (He was sentenced to a 16th life imprisonment when he was convicted for his first murder in the state of Ohio.) 

While in prison, Jeffrey Dahmer spent his first year in prison in solitary confinement for the safety of his fellow inmates, but was eventually released to a less secure area. He became a born-again Christian, reading the Bible and visiting with a pastor frequently. He was even baptized. But even with the possibility of a new life ahead of him, Dahmer felt that he was ready to die for his crimes. 

How Did Jeffrey Dahmer Die? 

In 1994, Dahmer was working a shift in the Columbia Correctional Institution when he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate. The inmate took the lives of Jeffrey Dahmer and another prisoner, and received two consecutive life sentences for his crimes in addition to the sentence that he was already serving. This was not the first time that someone attempted to take Dahmer’s life in prison, but he did not seem resistant to these acts of violence against him. Dahmer’s body was cremated and his parents received his ashes. 

Infamy 

In the short years between his conviction and his death, Dahmer gave multiple TV interviews that have been broadcast on various news channels throughout the years. He’s been the subject of multiple documentaries, movies, and TV shows. 

There were plenty of times that correctional officers and the criminal justice system could have saved the lives of many by keeping Jeffrey Dahmer in jail. Red flags were everywhere. Police and authorities visited his apartment multiple times, even leaving a minor child with him. But his parents and those close to him were easy to deny that this timid, mild-mannered boy could be such a horrific criminal. Today, he remains one of the most notorious serial killers in modern history; not just for the crimes that he committed, but also for the timid manner and matter-of-fact confessions surrounding those crimes.

Related posts:

• Albert Fish (Serial Killer Biography)
• Samuel Little (Serial Killer Biography)
• The Boston Strangler (Serial Killer Biography)
• Gary Ridgeway (Serial Killer Biography)
• Luis Garavito (Serial Killer Biography)

Reference this article:

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David Berkowitz

Gary Ridgeway

H. H. Holmes

Harold Fred Shipman

Jeffrey Dahmer

John Wayne Gacy

Luis Garavito

Samuel Little

The Zodiac Killer

Albert Fish

The Boston Strangler

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Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people. These are the victims and what we knew about them

Netflix show "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" producers said the goal of the film was to tell the victims' stories and not provide Dahmer's point of view . But the 10-episode series spends little time with anyone besides Dahmer.

That focus has led to criticism of the show, both from media outlets and from family members of the victims.

Rita Isbell, sister of victim Errol Lindsey,  told Insider that she was never consulted about the show . 

Eric Perry, Errol and Rita's cousin, issued a series of tweets in response to the show.

“I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge (right now), but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family are pissed about this show,” Perry wrote. 

“It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what?” Perry said. “How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”

The identities of the 17 boys and men Dahmer killed have frequently been lost in retellings of the crimes — lumped together as a summary of names, ages and last known sightings.

The Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, also reported a limited amount about these victims at the time.

Dahmer, who frequently lured victims to his apartment with the promise of money, targeted people who moved from place to place, a fact that left reporters with scant details of their lives.

Using what we have, as well as Anne E. Schwartz's book on the case ("Monster: The True Story of the Jeffrey Dahmer Murders"), here's what we know about each victim.

From the archives: Glenda Cleveland alerted police about Jeffery Dahmer. Read her 2011 obituary

What we know: Evan Peters stars as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in new Netflix series

Steven Hicks, 18

Steven Hicks' father, Richard, described his son as a deeply caring person, telling an anecdote to The Associated Press about a hunting trip, where Steven shot a rabbit and "was as proud as he could be, and then he bawled his eyes out.″

Hicks recently had graduated high school in Coventry Township, Ohio. He was hitchhiking to a rock concert in Chippewa Lake Park, Ohio, roughly 25 miles away, when Dahmer picked him up and brought him back to his parents' home. 

Hicks was last seen June 18, 1978, though his remains were not discovered until 1991 after Dahmer confessed to killing him. 

Steven Tuomi, 28

Steven Tuomi grew up in Ontonagon in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and worked as a short-order cook in a Milwaukee restaurant.

Classmates remembered him as quiet but artistic.

"I was in art class with him and he made a beautiful lead stained-glass lamp that I can still remember," said classmate Priscilla Marley Chynoweth. "It was just beautiful. I remember he could do just about anything artistic."

He's the only murder victim in Milwaukee for which Dahmer was not charged because of lack of evidence; Dahmer did not recall details but believes he killed Tuomi at the Ambassador Hotel. 

Tuomi's father, Walter, said he was originally told by Milwaukee police that they could do nothing because there was no sign of foul play. Tuomi was last seen Sept. 15, 1987.

Jamie Doxtator, 14

As young as he was, Jamie Doxtator was nearly 6 feet tall. He was half Stockbridge and part Oneida, and liked to play pool and ride his bike. 

His mother lived in Tampa, Florida, and he was the oldest of four children.

"One of my son's favorite sayings from the Bible was `Forgive them, for they know not what they do,'" Debbie Vega said. "I will never feel that way about Dahmer. He sits there so calmly and explains all the things he did. He knew what he was doing."

Doxtator was last seen Jan. 16, 1988.

Richard Guerrero, 25

Richard Guerrero hailed from a family of Mexican descent. His sister, Janie Hagen, immediately assumed he was dead when he went missing in March 1988.

"If he wanted it to be like that, he would have at least called my mom and let her know everything was okay instead of leaving us in the dark like that with my mother praying to God every day that the good lord will send her son home."

Hagen said even when her brother got in trouble with the law, the first thing he did was call his mother. He sometimes babysat for Hagen's 2-year-old daughter. 

Hagen felt police didn't take her seriously because her brother was Hispanic. The family hired a private investigator who defrauded them of money. Richard's father, who worked at a golf course, lost much of his life's savings to the act of fraud. 

Hagen spoke to Dahmer in Spanish at the trial, calling him "diablo, el puro diablo" (the devil, the pure devil). 

Anthony Sears, 24

Anthony Sears managed a Baker's Square in Milwaukee and was planning to celebrate his recent promotion to manager with his family over Easter dinner, but he never showed.

He aspired to be a model and was saving money to leave Milwaukee. His mother, Marilyn, said he loved having his photo taken and was apt to run off with friends for days at a time, so he wasn't reported missing until four weeks had gone by. 

"He never showed up, so I figured he just went out to celebrate with his friends," she said. "A few days later, I called and just got his answering machine."

She said Sears had said he wanted to get married to his girlfriend as soon as he had enough money. He was last seen March 25, 1989.

Ricky Beeks, 33

Ricky Beeks often went by the alias Raymond Smith, and it wasn't unusual for him to be gone long stretches. He'd been living with his half-sister, who took him in after he'd been released from prison, and had a 10-year-old daughter who lived in Rockford, Illinois. 

He was last seen May 29, 1990.

Eddie Smith, 28

Eddie Smith's sister said he was called "the Sheikh" because he frequently wore a turban-like wrap around his head.

He aspired to be a professional model. He was reported missing in June 1990 and his sister, Carolyn, received a call (presumably from Dahmer) in March of 1991 indicating that her brother was dead. Carolyn became a prominent figure in the subsequent coverage, including the trial. 

His brother, J.W. Smith, read statements from members of the family in court.

"Ed was raised in a Christian home where he learned how to be a loving, trusting, respectful human being," he read from the perspective of Eddie's mother, Josephine Helen. "Eddie inherited all the blessings that a family structure had to offer. The greatest of those blessings was love."

Ernest Miller, 24

Ernest Miller was about to start classes at an arts college in Chicago and hoped to become a professional dancer. He was last seen Sept. 2, 1990. 

"He was a talented dancer," said his aunt, Vivian Miller. "He was singing and performing when he was younger and used to sing at church."

Ernest Miller graduated from Milwaukee High School of the Arts at West Division, then worked for a few years before going to college, his aunt said.

He came to Milwaukee to visit relatives.

"There is no place in a civilized society for anyone who shows no regard for life," said his uncle, Stanley Miller, at the trial. "I'm not for the death penalty, but you are the perfect candidate."

David Thomas, 23

David Thomas was father to 2-year-old Courtia Beanland when he disappeared. His ex-girlfriend, Chandra Beanland, said Thomas was a fun-loving guy with a penchant for hustling.

"I try to go on with my life, but I can't let it go," she said in 1996. "Every man I meet, I think of David. He's in my dreams."

It wasn't unusual for Thomas to be gone for weeks at a time, but he was reported missing by Chandra that month.

"You took away his 2-year-old child's father," Thomas' mother, Inez, said at the trial. "She sits at the window asking, 'Where is Dada? When is Dada coming?' And I think that is a sad thing for a child to see, to go through all of her life not to know her father. I want to thank the jury for seeing this man for what he is, a sneaky, conniving person."

Thomas was last seen Sept. 24, 1990. 

Curtis Straughter, 18

Curtis Straughter was a high-school dropout who joined Gay Youth Milwaukee at age 15 and had a job as a nursing assistant that he lost shortly before he disappeared.

Straughter was planning to get his high-school equivalency certificate and attend modeling school. He went by the nicknames Demetra and Curta.

Straughter lived with his grandmother, and his mother, Dorothy, spoke at the trial. 

"You took my 17-year-old son away from me," Dorothy said. "You took my daughter's only brother away from her. She'll never have a chance to sing and dance with him again. You took my mother's oldest grandchild from her, and for that I can never forgive you. You almost destroyed me, but I refuse to let you destroy me. I will carry on."

He was last seen March 7, 1991. 

Errol Lindsey, 19

Errol Lindsey was the youngest of six children and had left to get a key cut April 7, 1991, when he crossed paths with Dahmer. He had a job making plaster figures, according to one friend.

Lindsey's eighth-grade art teacher, Dorothy Klein, had saved a watercolor Lindsey had made and shared it with other students, according to Schwartz.

"I can't understand how it happened, how he met Errol," his mother, Mildred, told reporters, Schwartz's book said. "Errol wasn't the type to talk to just anybody. He went to work and then he came home. He was a mama's boy. He wouldn't even go out with his friends without calling me to see what I was doing."

Lindsey's sister, Rita Isbell, vented her rage during Dahmer's trial when family members were given the option to speak. Her memorable and cathartic words were captured in the Netflix series. Isbell spoke to Insider about the renewed attention.

"When I think of my brother, I think of how he was such a goofball, and I think he's going to appreciate the fact that I'm still standing for him until my last breath," she said. "He knows that I'm still here for him.

"When I saw some of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself — when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said," Isbell said. 

"If I didn't know any better, I would've thought it was me. Her hair was like mine, she had on the same clothes. That's why it felt like reliving it all over again. It brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then.

"I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should've asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn't ask me anything. They just did it."

Isbell said Lindsey left behind an unborn daughter, Tatiana Banks, who's 31 years old today and a mother herself. 

Anthony Hughes, 31

Anthony Hughes had come back home to visit his Milwaukee family from Madison, where he lived, and was profiled as a missing person in the Milwaukee Journal.

Hughes was deaf, a condition brought on after a battle with pneumonia as an infant, and he's one of the few victims given a three-dimensional portrayal in the Netflix series. He could read lips and communicated through sign language and written notes. 

His mother, Shirley Hughes, taught a Bible class at a church in Milwaukee and was prominent throughout the coverage of the trial, one of several family members who filed suit against Dahmer for his crimes. She quoted a poem written by one of Tony's friends at the trial, written from Tony's point of view.

"Mom, I'm gone, my hope, my breath, my want to live have been taken away from me unwillingly. But yet, I'm not far away. When you get cold, I wrap my arms around you to warm you. If you get sad, I softly grab your heart and cheer you up. If you smile, I'll smile right along with you. When you cry, take one teardrop and place it outside your window ledge, and when I pass by I'll exchange it for one of mine. Two fingers and one thumb, Mom." She then held up two fingers and one thumb, the symbol for "I love you" in sign language.

Hughes was last seen May 24, 1991.

Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14

Konerak Sinthasomphone's name is one of the most familiar in the case because of an incident involving Milwaukee police on May 27, 1991, when Konerak Sinthasomphone was returned to Dahmer by police after Dahmer convinced them that Sinthasomphone was 19 and drunk, and the two were in a relationship.

The Sinthasomphone family came from Laos in November 1980 because of worsening conditions after the Communist takeover in 1975. Father Somthone was a farmer in Laos and came with wife Somdy and nine children.

Konerak, who was 3 years old when his family relocated, was one of three children still living at home at the time of his disappearance. Konerak regularly played soccer at Mitchell Park, and was a freshman at Pulaski High School. 

When officers John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish responded to a call about a naked Asian boy running through the alley near Dahmer's apartment, they took Dahmer's name and other information but did not write a formal report or run Dahmer's name through the police computer. If they had, he would have been flagged for a previous conviction stemming from the 1988 sexual molestation of Sinthasomphone's brother.

That Dahmer had contact with two Sinthasomphone brothers has been regarded as a horrifying coincidence.

When his family received a phone call that their son was in danger, it was a story reported in the city's newspapers. 

Matt Turner, 20

Matt Turner, a native of Flint, Michigan, lived in Chicago and aspired to be a model.

He met Dahmer after a Gay Pride parade at a Chicago bus station and agreed to ride back to Milwaukee with him. 

He was last seen June 30, 1991.

Turner, who occasionally used the name Donald Montrell, ran away from his home a year before his death and wound up at a halfway house on Chicago's north side.

"He was basically a good kid," said Debbie Hinde, who directed the Teen Living Program there. "He was bright and articulate. This whole thing was very sad."

Jeremiah Weinberger, 23

Jeremiah Weinberger, a native of Puerto Rico, lived in Chicago and worked as a customer service representative for a video store.

"He loved art and was very meticulous," his roommate, Tim Gideon, said. "His desk was always straight, and he knew where everything was. He always dressed nice and always worried about what he wore and how he looked."

He encountered Dahmer in Chicago; the two men took a Greyhound bus back from Chicago to Milwaukee. Weinberger was last seen July 6, 1991.

Flyers with his face went up around Chicago after he vanished.

Oliver Lacy, 23

Oliver Lacy was the youngest of three sons. He had a 2-year-old child named Emmanuel, and was engaged to be married.

Originally from Oak Park, Illinois, Lacy ran track at River Forest High School. His mother, Catherine Lacy, described her son as very outspoken.

He wore a cross around his neck that belonged to his late father and had moved to Milwaukee from Chicago within months of his father's death.

He went missing July 12, 1991, and was the first victim identified. 

Joseph Bradehoft, 25

Joseph Bradehoft had recently moved into a Milwaukee apartment rented by his brother, Donald, and was looking for work, having recently lived in Illinois and Minnesota.

He had a wife and three children in Minnesota, with ages ranging from 2 to 7. He loved sports and fishing.

He left for a job interview July 16, 1991, and never returned.

He met Dahmer at a bus stop near the Marquette University campus and became Dahmer's final victim.

"We lost the baby of the family," Donald said at the trial. "And I hope you go to hell."

Follow JR Radcliffe on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

Jeffrey Dahmer

• Born May 21 , 1960 · Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Died November 28 , 1994 · Portage, Wisconsin, USA (homicide)
• Birth name Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
• The Milwaukee Monster
• Height 6′ 0½″ (1.84 m)
• One of the USA's most notorious serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer was born and raised in Bath Township, Ohio, a middle-class suburb of Akron. Much has been made of his childhood tendencies -including cases of cruelty to animals- but to outward appearances, at least, he seemed to be a normal child. As an adult he was always gainfully employed and was perceived as quiet and polite by co-workers. At the time of his arrest he had been working at a chocolate factory in Milwaukee and living alone in a small one-bedroom apartment. Dahmer's home was searched on July 22, 1991, after a young man fled his apartment and flagged down a police car. An investigation revealed that the apartment contained the remains of 11 young men, most of them black, Hispanic, or Asian. The bodies had been dismembered, and Dahmer confessed that he had cooked and eaten some of the remains. Asked why he committed such heinous acts, Dahmer told police that he killed because he was "lonely" and did not want his victims to leave him. He explained that he would meet potential victims in bars, shopping malls, or adult bookstores, and invite them back to his apartment where, in exchange for money or beer, he would photograph them naked. He would then drug the beer and, once the victim was unconscious, strangle and dismember the body. Dahmer's victims ranged in age from 14 to 33. On February 15, 1992, Dahmer was found guilty on 15 murder counts in Wisconsin. He was subsequently convicted of another killing in his Ohio hometown. Charges linking him to other murders were dropped for lack of evidence. He was sent to prison in Wisconsin with 15 mandatory life sentences to serve. The first year of his sentence, Dahmer was isolated from the general prison population for his own protection. In 1994 he was sent to a maximum security facility in Portage and was allowed some contact with the other inmates. He died after a brutal beating to death late night November 28, 1994, by Christopher Scarver , a fellow inmate who claimed God had instructed him to murder Jeffrey Dahmer. Even after Dahmer's death, legal battles continue over his estate. Several families of his victims sued him and were awarded millions of dollars in restitution. Those families have since been trying to gain control of the contents of Dahmer's apartment, including a 55-gallon vat he used to decompose bodies and the refrigerator where he stored his victims' hearts. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
• Parents Lionel Dahmer Joyce Dahmer Shari Dahmer
• Relatives David Dahmer (Sibling) Catherine Dahmer (Grandparent)
• Long blond hair
• Menacing pale blue eyes
• Calm demeanor and every-man appearance
• Tall and slender frame
• Several sources claim that psychiatrists and legal experts estimated Dahmer's IQ to be around 145, which places him in the range of borderline genius. However, in the book "The Quest for the Nazi Personality" Dahmer's IQ is said to have been 121 (superior range).
• On the morning of 11/28/94 he was attacked and killed by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, Portage, WI.
• His favorite movies were The Exorcist (1973) , Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and The Exorcist III (1990) . One of his surviving victims recounts seeing him watch one of the films repeatedly, in a trance-like state.
• A resident in Dahmer's hometown was happy that he was killed. When she was interviewed, she said, "I'm gonna send him a thank- you card" (referring to the man who killed Dahmer, Christopher Scarver ).
• Tracy Edwards would have been his 18th victim but escaped on 7/22/91. His escape led to police arresting Dahmer and uncovering the murders he committed.
• When I was a little kid I was just like anybody else.
• I don't care if I live or die. Go ahead and kill me.
• If a person doesn't think there is a God to be accountable to, then-then what's the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That's how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing ...

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How about Oprah? There are better celebs to represent us than Jeffrey Dahmer. | Letters

( Editor's Note: The list was derived through an analysis of Wikipedia pageview data over the last five years to approximate public interest in each individual.)

I feel like the paper dropped the ball for Milwaukee by naming Jeffrey Dahmer our most famous resident (“ Actors, athletes, criminals and spies ,” March 10).

How about Gene Wilder , Herb Kohl , Liberace or William Harley and Arthur Davidson ? Golda Meir could have been a choice. She wasn’t born here but had lived here. Same with Oprah Winfrey who says she’s from Milwaukee since she grew up here.

Get daily updates on the Packers during the season.

Any of these people would have been a better choice than Dahmer.

Phillip Torsrud, Milwaukee

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How about Oprah? There are better celebs to represent us than Jeffrey Dahmer. | Letters