biography of jeffrey dahmer

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Jeffrey Dahmer

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• University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository - The Romance of Revenge: An Alternative History of Jeffrey Dahmer's Trial
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Jeffrey Dahmer (born May 21, 1960, Milwaukee , Wisconsin , U.S.—died November 28, 1994, Portage , Wisconsin) was an American serial killer whose arrest in 1991 provoked criticism of local police and resulted in an upsurge of popular interest in serial murder and other crimes.

Dahmer committed his first murder in Bath township, Ohio , in 1978. A second murder followed in 1987, and during the next five years he killed—mostly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin—another 15 boys and young men, who were for the most part poor and African American, Asian, or Latino. Although other serial murderers had claimed far more victims, Dahmer’s crimes were particularly gruesome, involving cannibalism and necrophilia. In February 1992 Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms; a 16th consecutive life sentence was added in May for the murder he committed in 1978. Dahmer was murdered by a fellow inmate in a Wisconsin prison in 1994.

The circumstances of the crimes became the subject of much controversy. Some claimed that the fact that Dahmer had escaped detection for so long showed that Milwaukee police attached a low priority to investigating the disappearance of victims who were homosexual or members of racial minority groups.

Dahmer’s life and crimes and the controversy engendered by his arrest were discussed in several books, including The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough: The Secret Murders of Milwaukee’s Jeffrey Dahmer (1992; reissued 2011), by Anne E. Schwartz.

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Biography of Jeffrey Dahmer, Serial Killer

Dahmer Was Known as the "Milwaukee Monster"

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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 in Milwaukee on July 22, 1991.

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."

Jeffrey Dahmer was born 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. Jeffrey 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 collecting road kill, stripping animal carcasses, and saving the bones.

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

High School and Army Service

Jeffrey 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 lived with his father who traveled often and was busy nurturing a relationship with his new wife.

After high school, Jeffrey Dahmer enrolled at The 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 issued him an ultimatum: get a job or join the Army .

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

Jeffrey Dahmer's First Kill

Unknown to anyone, Jeffery Dahmer was mentally disintegrating . In June 1978, he was struggling with his 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. Jeffrey Dahmer 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.

Dahmer then cut up the body and put it in garbage bags, which he buried in the woods surrounding his father's property. Years later he returned to dig up the bags, crush the bones, and disburse the remains around the woods. As insane as Jeffrey 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

Jeffrey 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, Dahmer 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 Jeffrey Dahmer's behavior. He realized 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 TV personality John Walsh.

Murder Spree

In September 1987, while on probation on the molestation charges, Jeffrey 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 corpses 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 Street 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 roadkill collection—and often refrigerated organs , which he would occasionally eat.

Known Victims of Jeffrey Dahmer

• 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 Jeffrey Dahmer Victim Who Nearly Escaped

Jeffrey Dahmer's murdering activity continued uninterrupted until an incident on May 27, 1991. His 13th victim was 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, 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 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, police officers John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish joked with their dispatcher about reuniting the lovers. Within hours, Jeffrey Dahmer killed Sinthasomphone and performed his usual ritual on the body.

His Killings Escalate

In June and July 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer's killing escalated to one each 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, 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' handcuff 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.

The officers decided to place Jeffrey Dahmer under arrest and attempted to handcuff him, but his calm demeanor changed and he began to fight. With Dahmer under control, the police 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

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 Jeffrey 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 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 .

The Jeffrey Dahmer Trial

Jeffrey Dahmer was indicted on 17 murder charges, which were 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 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 .

Jeffrey Dahmer 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 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.

Jeffrey Dahmer Death

On November 28, 1994, Dahmer and inmate Jesse Anderson were beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver while on 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 prisoners 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 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 his 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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Jeffrey Dahmer's Life (and Death) in Prison

His heinous crimes and murders sentenced him to life in prison, but after less than three years behind bars, the cold-blooded killer became the victim.

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to slaying 17 young men and boys between 1978 and his arrest in 1991. His horrific crimes, which involved attempted lobotomies to create "living zombies," sex with corpses, dismembering his victims, and cannibalizing parts of their bodies, made him a notorious figure. He told Dateline in 1994 that he killed his victims because he'd wanted to "keep them with me as long as possible, even if it meant just keeping a part of them." Dahmer was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms — more than 900 years — but being infamous meant his time behind bars would never be that of an average prisoner.

WATCH: Invisible Monsters on A&E Crime Central

Originally isolated, Dahmer was granted more freedom after one year

In February 1992, Dahmer arrived at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. Due to his notoriety — the egregious nature of his crimes had drawn worldwide attention — prison officials felt it was safer to keep Dahmer away from the general population, rather than risk another inmate trying to make a name for himself by attacking the famous serial killer. In protective custody, Dahmer was isolated from other prisoners and had to be shackled when not in his cell.

Dahmer didn't cause any big waves in his first year in prison. So when he requested more freedom of movement and interaction with other inmates, prison officials listened. Dahmer was moved out of his isolated cell to a unit for prisoners with emotional problems. He also ended up being able to attend classes, eat communal meals and perform work duties. However, though he seemed to get along with his fellow inmates, this closer, sometimes unsupervised, contact with others would prove fatal for Dahmer.

Dahmer often indulged in morbid jokes and taunts that linked to his past. He once put up a sign advertising a meeting for "Cannibals Anonymous." He would tell prisoners and guards, "I bite," then delight in any nervous reaction. And the cannibal killer would mold prison food to resemble body parts or severed limbs, with ketchup used as blood, in order to disturb his fellow prisoners. The fake body parts in particular unnerved the inmate who would end up killing Dahmer.

Dahmer had a religious calling and was baptized in prison

Some of Dahmer's time behind bars was spent in religious study; his father, a born-again Christian, had sent him some materials, and the prisoner had followed a Bible correspondence course. In the spring of 1994, Dahmer expressed interest in conversion. Roy Ratcliff, a Church of Christ minister, came to visit him and agreed to help. In May 1994, a robed Dahmer was submerged in a whirlpool bath at the prison and baptized by Ratcliff.

At the time of his religious conversion, many questioned Dahmer's sincerity, as he was a skilled manipulator who'd used his intelligence to get away with crimes in the past. But Dahmer was committed enough to meet the pastor who'd baptized him for weekly Bible study sessions. They last got together five days prior to Dahmer's death. During this meeting, they discussed the Book of Revelation, whose subjects include death, punishment for sins, and damnation.

At a chapel service in July 1994, another prisoner tried to slash Dahmer's throat. But the blade of the homemade weapon broke off, so Dahmer was just scratched. He was sent into temporary isolation afterward but didn't want to remain there. Dahmer offered an explanation that his attacker, a Cuban, had been trying to do something to get deported home. This prompted the prison to label the attack an "isolated incident," and officials therefore decided their famous prisoner could return to live among the general population.

READ MORE: Mugshots of Famous Serial Killers (PHOTOS)

Dahmer was murdered while cleaning the prison's bathroom

On the morning of November 28, 1994, Dahmer was on cleaning duty — which he'd begun three weeks earlier — in the prison's gym bathrooms with two other inmates, Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver. The three were left alone for 20 minutes; when guards returned they found the bludgeoned bodies of Dahmer and Anderson, who'd been beaten by Scarver. Dahmer was pronounced dead an hour later; Anderson also ended up dying from the attack. In a 2015 interview, Scarver stated he'd abhorred Dahmer, and raised the question of whether prison personnel, who'd been aware of this, had left them alone on purpose.

Some think Dahmer had a death wish

At his sentencing in 1992, Dahmer had said, "I never wanted freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself." He'd later told his pastor, "I think I should have been put to death by the state for what I did." (Wisconsin has no death penalty, so capital punishment was never an option.) And Dahmer's willingness to join the general prison population made some of those who'd known him wonder if he'd deliberately courted death while behind bars. After the fatal attack, his attorney, Gerald Boyle, said, "Dahmer had a death wish, and I know that he didn't have the gumption to do it himself, so I predicted that the day would come when he would be killed in prison."

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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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Who Is Jeffrey Dahmer? Inside The Crimes Of The ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’

Serial killer jeffrey dahmer murdered 17 boys and men between 1978 and his capture in 1991 — then fellow inmate christopher scarver beat him to death in 1994..

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images “Milwaukee Monster” Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 victims and ate many of them before he was murdered in prison by a fellow inmate in 1994.

Of all the many serial killers who haunt the darkest corners of American history, Jeffrey Dahmer may remain the most terrifying to this day. Between 1978 and 1991, he not only viciously murdered 17 young men and boys in and around his native Milwaukee, but also dismembered and cannibalized some of them. So, who could be capable of such a thing — who is Jeffrey Dahmer, really?

After Dahmer’s arrest in 1991, when his crimes came to light, many asked that same question. How did a quiet boy from Wisconsin develop such an appetite for murder? Why did he kill? And what drove him to eat his victims?

From the story of his first victim to the account of his own brutal murder in 1994, this is the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, who he really was, and why he did what he did.

Who Is Jeffrey Dahmer?

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Born on May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was an American serial killer who operated between 1978 and 1991. Dubbed the “Milwaukee Monster,” he murdered at least 17 boys and young men between the ages of 14 and 32, some of whom he met at nightclubs or bars.

After his arrest in 1991, Dahmer was found guilty of multiple murders and sentenced to life in prison. However, he was killed by a fellow inmate in 1994. After graduating high school there and serving in a number of locations during a brief stint in the military, Dahmer lived with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin.

He committed many of his crimes in her home and at various locations around Milwaukee, where he prowled for victims. After getting out of prison in 1990, he moved into his own apartment at 924 North 25th Street in Milwaukee, where he perpetrated one of his worst crimes and where he was finally arrested in 1991.

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By All That's Interesting

After spending their earliest years in Milwaukee, the Dahmer family moved to Doylestown, Ohio in 1966, when Jeffrey was six, then moved to nearby Bath Township shortly after.

Most accounts state that Dahmer only killed one animal — a tadpole he’d given to a grade-school teacher, who then gave it to a different student. AETV reports that Dahmer was so enraged about the regifting that he went to the other child’s house, poured gasoline on the tadpole, and lit it on fire.

Wikimedia Commons Jeffrey Dahmer as a teen, when he repeatedly mutilated animal remains.

That said, Dahmer did have a fascination with animals that were already dead. AETV additionally reports that he and his father used bleach to remove hair and tissue from dead rodents they found near their house. In addition, Dahmer once impaled the carcass of a dog he found and showed his friends the grisly sight, but the animal was already dead by that point.

The serial killer’s father, Lionel Dahmer , spent much of his son’s childhood pursuing his doctorate, which meant that he was often busy and away from home. He later established a career as a research chemist.

Lionel Dahmer supported his son, even after learning about his murders.

“We’ve gotten very close since his… arrest,” he told Oprah Winfrey in 1994. “I still love my son. I’ll always stick by him — I always have.”

Steve Kagan/Getty Images Lionel Dahmer outside Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institution, where his son was imprisoned.

He wondered — like many others — why Dahmer had become a killer.

“I considered all kinds of things,” Lionel explained. “Was it environmental, genetic? Was it, perhaps, medications that were taken at the time of — you know, in [his mother’s] first trimester? Was it the effect of, you know, the popular subject now, media violence?”

His son’s death in 1994 “gravely” impacted him, but Lionel also said that he’d never thought about changing his last name.

Jeffrey Dahmer’s grandmother, Catherine, died on December 25, 1992, at age 88. But she played an important role in her grandson’s early life.

Dahmer lived at her Wisconsin home on and off in the 1980s. During that time, Dahmer dismembered one of his victims in her basement — who he’d killed elsewhere — and murdered three more beneath her feet.

No, Jeffrey Dahmer did not kill his brother, David Dahmer . But the two siblings did have a very complicated relationship.

More than six years younger than Jeffrey, David was often the subject of his brother’s jealousy and resentment. Jeffrey allegedly felt that his brother had “stolen away” some of his parents’ love and affection.

Facebook An undated family photo featuring David Dahmer (left), Lionel, and Jeffrey.

And unlike their father, David wanted nothing to do with the Dahmer name once Jeffrey’s crimes came to light. After graduating from college, he changed his name. Since then, he’s avoided the spotlight.

As of December 2023, both of Jeffrey Dahmer’s parents are deceased. Lionel Dahmer died that month of a heart attack at age 87 in a hospice in Medina, Ohio, whereas Jeffrey Dahmer’s mother, Joyce Dahmer , died in 2000.

Joyce Dahmer died of breast cancer. She was 64 years old.

Joyce Flint Jeffrey Dahmer’s mother Joyce Dahmer along with Jeffrey (left) and her other son, David.

Military.com reports that Jeffrey Dahmer served in the U.S. Army between January 1979 and March 1981, during which time he trained in Texas and was stationed as a combat medic in West Germany.

Though he was considered an “average or slightly above average” soldier, Dahmer had a noticeable drinking problem that got worse as time went on. In 1981, he received an honorable discharge because his superiors decided that his drinking negatively impacted his ability to serve.

While he was stationed in Europe, Dahmer also reportedly indulged in some of his violent sexual fantasies. He allegedly raped two of his fellow soldiers, Billy Joe Capshaw and Preston Davis.

Yes, Jeffrey Dahmer was gay. Dahmer described himself as gay to a judge in 1989 (when he was found guilty of sexual assault and enticing a child for immoral purposes). Dahmer and his mother also had conversations about his “gayness.” In addition, he told a probation officer in 1991 that he’d “admitted to [him]self he is gay.”

That said, it doesn’t appear that Dahmer ever had a serious relationship. Indeed, he expressed loneliness as one of his motivations to kill.

In June 1978, Dahmer murdered his first victim, 18-year-old Steven Hicks. He picked up Hicks while the teen was hitchhiking to a rock concert, and took him back to the Dahmer family home in Bath Township, Ohio.

Twitter Dahmer’s first victim, Steven Hicks, was just 18 when he was murdered.

But when Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer beat him with a barbell and strangled him. He later said that Hicks’ murder “was not planned,” though he admitted that he’d had fantasies of picking up a hitchhiker and “controlling” him.

Steven Hicks was the first, but far from the last, of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims . Dahmer would kill 16 more, bringing his total victim count up to 17. The youngest, Konerak Sinthasomphone , was just 14 years old.

Aside from Steven Hicks, who Dahmer killed in Ohio, most of the serial killer’s victims were murdered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dahmer killed 12 of his 17 victims at his apartment at 924 North 25th Street in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Police Department Jeffrey Dahmer’s bedroom inside his Milwaukee apartment, where untold horrors took place.

Jeffrey Dahmer did not kill only Black men, though many of his victims were racial and ethnic minorities. Eleven of Dahmer’s victims were Black, and others were white, Indigenous, Asian, and Latino.

One opinion piece in The Washington Post argues that Dahmer was able to get away with his gruesome crimes for so long because of his tendency to prey on men and boys in minority communities.

Yes, he did kill a deaf man, and his name was Tony Hughes. Dahmer met the 31-year-old at a Milwaukee gay bar and invited him back to his apartment. There, Dahmer drugged and strangled him.

No. All of Jeffrey Dahmer’s known victims were male.

Yes, Jeffrey Dahmer was a cannibal who ate some of his victims. Why? He later told Inside Edition that his habit of eating victims started in 1990.

“I was branching out, that’s when the cannibalism started,” Dahmer explained. “The eating of the heart and the arm muscle. It was a way of making me feel that [my victims] were a part of me.”

He added: “I had these obsessive desires and thoughts about wanting to control them, to, I don’t know how to put it, possess them permanently. Not because I was angry with them, not because I hated them, but because I wanted to keep them with me. As my obsession grew, I was saving body parts such as skulls and skeletons.”

It’s unknown exactly how many victims Dahmer cannibalized.

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Getty Images Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders came to an end after his capture by police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 23, 1991.

Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested on July 22, 1991, after his would-be victim Tracy Edwards managed to escape from his apartment and flag down the police. Edwards explained that he’d agreed to pose nude for Dahmer for money, but Dahmer had handcuffed him and threatened him with a knife instead.

“Dahmer told me that he would kill me,” Edwards later said of the harrowing encounter, according to PEOPLE . “He was listening to my heart because at a point, he told me he was going to eat my heart.”

Jeffrey Dahmer went to prison after his arrest in 1991. He was 31 years old.

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

No, the serial killer did not get the death sentence, because it’s not available in Wisconsin. After being convicted of multiple homicides, he was handed 15 life sentences, ensuring he’d never see the light of day again.

No. Jeffrey Dahmer died on November 28, 1994, during his imprisonment at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.

Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death near a locker room in the prison by a fellow inmate, who used a 20-inch metal bar as the murder weapon.

Wikimedia Commons Christopher Scarver’s mugshot, taken in 1992.

Jeffrey Dahmer was killed by a fellow prisoner named Christopher Scarver . Scarver claimed that Dahmer would taunt the other prisoners by using ketchup to recreate severed limbs with his food. In Scarver’s telling, things came to a head when they were both assigned to clean a prison gymnasium. Near a locker room, Scarver confronted Dahmer about his crimes.

“I asked him if he did those things ’cause I was fiercely disgusted,” Scarver later claimed. “He was shocked. Yes, he was… He started looking for the door pretty quick. I blocked him.”

Scarver then fatally beat Dahmer — and another inmate named Jesse Anderson who was cleaning the gymnasium. He later said that God told him to kill Dahmer. “Some people who are in prison are repentant,” he said. “[B]ut he was not one of them.”

YouTube The glasses that Dahmer wore in prison went up for sale for $150,000 in 2022.

Dahmer was known for wearing glasses, so what became of them? Apparently, he’d left his last pair in his prison cell before Scarver murdered him. Dahmer’s glasses were in his family’s possession until a housekeeper sold them to a “murderabilia” site called Cult Collectibles.

After reading these disturbing facts about Jeffrey Dahmer, discover the true story behind serial killer Ted Bundy . Then, look through these chilling images from serial killers’ homes .

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