Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (born May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , † November 28, 1994 in Portage , Wisconsin) was an American serial killer .

After his arrest in July 1991, 16 of 17 confessed murders that he had committed between 1978 and 1991 on young men and adolescents, most of whom came from the Milwaukee gay scene, could be proven. He almost always proceeded according to the same modus operandi : First, he lured his victim into his apartment under a pretext, where he drugged, sexually abused and strangled him. He then performed necrophilic acts on the corpse and photographed its dismemberment. He frequently picked up his victim's skull and other body parts and, in some cases , practiced cannibalism , which has earned him the nickname The Milwaukee Cannibal (alternativelyThe Milwaukee Monster ).

Although Dahmer was diagnosed with several mental health problems , a Milwaukee jury declared him sane and sentenced him to the maximum sentence of 15 consecutive life sentences with no prospect of release. In Ohio , where Dahmer had committed his first murder, he received one more lifetime. In prison, he was killed by a fellow inmate when he was 34 years old.

Dahmer is one of the world's most famous serial killers of the 20th century and is often mentioned in the ranks of Ted Bundy , John Wayne Gacy and Richard Ramírez . Unlike many other serial killers, he expressed remorse for his actions, was cooperative in the police investigation and also admitted murders that would not have been discovered without his confession. He stressed on several occasions that he was solely responsible for his actions and that neither his parents, society nor law enforcement agencies, who had committed a number of investigative errors in his case, were not to blame.

Life

childhood

Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 at Evangelical Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee, the elder of two sons of Joyce Annette (née Flint) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer. At this time his father, whose ancestors came from Germany and Wales, was studying analytical chemistry at Marquette University . His mother, who had Norwegian and Irish roots, worked as a housewife and later earned a master's degree in psychosocial counseling. According to Lionel Dahmer, his wife suffered from seizures during pregnancy and was given morphine and barbiturates by her doctor . He speculated that these drugs a teratogenic effect might have unfolded. Dahmer's mother denied these claims. They are just an attempt to make her complicit in her son's crimes. After giving birth, she fell ill with postpartum depression and in the years that followed she suffered from various mental and physical illnesses, some of which confined her to bed for a long time and the treatment of which led to drug addiction. Lionel Dahmer focused primarily on his career and was often absent due to work. As a result, both parents paid less and less attention to their son.

In September 1962, the family moved to Ames , Iowa , where Dahmer's father was a graduate student at Iowa State University . In March 1964, at the age of just under four, Dahmer had to undergo surgery for a bilateral hernia . After this experience, the carefree and lively child developed into a quiet and withdrawn boy. In the fall of 1966, Lionel Dahmer received his PhD and found a job as a chemist in the research department of a factory in Akron , Ohio. The family then moved to nearby Doylestown , where Dahmer attended Hazel Harvey Elementary School from October 1966 . He was reluctant to go to school, was considered unusually shy, and rarely socialized with other children in the schoolyard. In his spare time, Dahmer had a few playmates and in retrospect he said: “When I was a little kid I was just like anybody else.” ("As a small child, I was just like everyone else.")

Bath

Location of Bath, Ohio - Jeffrey Dahmer's home and first crime scene - in the United States.

After the birth of his younger brother David on December 18, 1966, the Dahmers settled in a house with a large wooded property in Bath, Ohio, in 1968. Dahmer moved to Bath Elementary School, where he went to class with future Grammy Award winner Joe Henry . Reports that he was sexually assaulted by a boy from the neighborhood when he was eight years old were later denied by both Lionel and Jeffrey Dahmer himself. In 1970, his mother spent several weeks in a mental hospital due to severe anxiety. The Dahmers' marriage, which was difficult from the beginning, was severely stressed and began to fall apart. Dahmer often witnessed violent arguments between his parents that had to be mediated several times by the police. Blaming himself for his mother's persistent poor health and the breakdown of his parents' marriage, he responded to his frustration by hitting trees behind the house with branches and sticks.

From the age of ten he withdrew more and more from his family and spent a lot of time alone in the forest. He seemed apathetic to those around him , his way of speaking was often monotonous and monosyllabic, and his gait and overall posture were stiff and tense. To get him out of his isolation, his father tried to get him excited about various sports and sent him to the Boy Scouts , but Dahmer's interest in these activities never lasted. The only thing that he had been enthusiastic about since early childhood was the bones and entrails of dead animals. He collected lifeless insects, birds and small rodents and preserved them in jars with formaldehyde , which he kept in a shed behind his parents' house. From the age of twelve he began to pick up dead carcasses from the roadside near his parents' property in order to dissect them . Unlike many other serial killers, however, he did not take pleasure in torturing animals or killing them himself, and he was loving to his pets.

Youth and high school time

Dahmer discovered his homosexuality at the onset of puberty . However, he kept his sexual orientation a secret, especially from his father, who would not have accepted it. At the age of 14 he developed the first violent sex fantasies in which he had control over a completely submissive or unconscious man. These fantasies increased in frequency and intensity over time and eventually included necrophilic acts on corpses and their dismemberment. Dahmer described his situation at the time with the words: “[It] just got worse and worse. I didn't know how to tell anyone about it. " ("[It] just got worse and worse. I didn't know how to tell anyone about it.") He first planned to put his fantasy into action when he was around 15 years old. He lay in wait with a baseball bat in order to knock out a jogger who regularly passed the Dahmers house, and then to assault him. The jogger did not come by that day, which is why he gave up his plan without achieving anything.

From 1974 he attended Revere High School in Richfield together with the later comic book writer Derf Backderf . Although Dahmer was rated by his contemporaries as above average intelligent and was said to have an IQ of 117 to 145, his grades were mixed. He was a member of the school band, played tennis on the school team and worked for the school newspaper, but despite these activities, his classmates regarded him as a loner and eccentric who had no close friends and was bullied . For some time he managed to attract the attention of his classmates by faking spastic or epileptic seizures and pranks like the photobombing of the group picture of the Honor Society , so that they founded a "Dahmer fan club" and "doing a Dahmer" ( "Make a fool of you") became the epitome of silly, strange behavior at his school.

In 1976, his classmates first noticed he smoked marijuana and regularly got drunk with hard alcohol before, during, and after class. When asked about it by a classmate, Dahmer replied that alcohol was his "medicine". He had already secretly started drinking at the age of 14 and gained noticeably weight as a result, but his parents and teachers seemed to take little or no notice of his alcohol and drug consumption. With his polite and respectful manner, he kept the appearance of normality in adults. During a school trip to Washington, DC , he managed to get a spontaneous tour of the office of the Vice President of the United States for himself and his classmates with just one phone call , during which he not only spoke to Walter Mondale , but also to the publicist Art Buchwald met personally.

School yearbook photo by Jeffrey Dahmer, 1978

The parents' marriage was finally broken in August 1977. Joyce Dahmer had obtained a court ban against her husband, whereupon Lionel Dahmer moved to a nearby motel. In the months that followed, Dahmer's family life was shaped by his parents' ongoing divorce proceedings and the dispute over custody of his brother, who was still underage. By the time he graduated from school on June 4, 1978, most of his classmates had turned away from him because of his drinking. Shortly thereafter, his mother and his brother - without their father's knowledge - moved back to Wisconsin. From then on, Dahmer lived alone in his parents' house. With the exception of a few phone calls and rare visits, contact with his mother was broken off and only resumed after his arrest in 1991.

The first murder

Dahmer committed his first murder shortly after his 18th birthday. On June 18, 1978, he hitchhiked Steven Hicks, who was the same age, and invited him to his home for a few beers. When Hicks wanted to leave after a while, Dahmer knocked him unconscious with a dumbbell. He then strangled Hicks with the dumbbell and masturbated while raping the corpse. When it got dark he took the body to a crawl space under the house, where he cut it up with a hunting knife the next day. He put the body parts in garbage bags on the back seat of his car and made his way to a nearby landfill at around 3:00 a.m. to dispose of them there.

Halfway there he was stopped by a police patrol because he had crossed the center line. He had to get out and take an alcohol test. When the policeman shone a flashlight over the garbage bags on the back seat and asked about the smell they emitted, Dahmer claimed that he couldn't sleep because his parents divorced and that he wanted to dispose of household waste. The policeman was satisfied with this explanation, left it with a parking ticket and let Dahmer drive on. (Coincidentally, it was the same policeman who, after Dahmer's arrest in the summer of 1991, was sent to Milwaukee by the Bath Police Department to question him on the murder of Hicks, and who was shocked to discover during the interrogation that he was Dahmer's series of murders that night could have prevented.)

Dahmer drove the body parts back to his parents' house, where he first hid them in a drainpipe in the garden. Three years later, he took out the remaining bones and smashed them into small pieces, which he scattered widely across the forest property. Hicks was thought to have disappeared without a trace for 13 years. Dahmer later said of his first murder: “Nothing's been normal since then. It taints your whole life. After it happened I thought that I'd just try to live as normally as possible and bury it, but things like that don't stay buried. " ("Nothing has been normal since then. It overshadows your whole life. After it happened, I thought I would just try to go on living as normally as possible and forget about it. But something like this keeps catching up with you.")

Time in college, in the army, and in Florida

His parents' divorce became final in July 1978. Lionel Dahmer returned to his home after months of absence and persuaded his son to enroll in economics at Ohio State University in Columbus for the fall semester beginning in September . But instead of attending the lectures, Dahmer indulged in alcohol. To finance his addiction, he donated blood so often at the university's plasma center that his donations were eventually limited to one per week. According to his quarterly report card, he had not qualified for an advanced course and his father took him out of college. When Lionel Dahmer was picking up his son's personal belongings from campus, he discovered a whole supply of beer and wine bottles in his room and realized for the first time that Dahmer had a serious drinking problem.

Hoping discipline would put his son back on track, he sent him to the United States Army , to which Dahmer signed up for three years on January 12, 1979. After an abandoned training with the military police in Anniston , Alabama , Dahmer completed a six-week training course as a paramedic in the military hospital of Fort Sam Houston from May 11, 1979 . The medical knowledge that he acquired here, he also applied in his later deeds. From July 13, 1979 he was stationed in Baumholder in Rhineland-Palatinate . One of his roommates there later stated that he was severely mistreated, bullied and raped by Dahmer while they were on duty together. The superiors had not followed up his request for help at the time. With other comrades, however, Dahmer did not leave a violent impression, but was considered a sexually inexperienced, introverted loner and coward who was only prone to outbursts under the influence of alcohol and often got drunk for days to the point of unconsciousness.

Due to his excessive consumption of alcohol, his lack of willingness to take therapy and several unsuccessful disciplinary measures, he was honorably discharged from the army early. On March 24, 1981, he flew back to the United States, where he moved into a motel room in Miami Beach , Florida and found work in a sandwich shop. Since he invested his wages almost exclusively in alcohol, he could soon no longer afford the motel. He slept on the beach for a while before he finally managed to call his father and ask for money. Lionel Dahmer then bought him a plane ticket that brought him back to Ohio in September 1981.

Return to Ohio and Milwaukee

Back in his home country, Dahmer moved in with his father, who had since remarried. On October 7, 1981, he was arrested for disorderly conducts after he had visibly consumed alcohol in public and defied the summoned police officers. He hung around bars all night and was often beaten out for not wanting to leave. Lionel Dahmer then sent his son to his grandmother Catherine Dahmer in West Allis , a suburb of Milwaukee, in the winter of 1981/82 . Dahmer had a very close relationship with his grandmother and his life was initially back to normal with her. He helped around the house and garden, found employment with a blood bank, attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and tried to suppress his sexual urges and fantasies. This lifestyle, which he described as "virtuous", did not last long. He was arrested on August 8, 1982 after exposing himself to a group of women and children at the Wisconsin State Fair , for which he was fined $ 50. A few weeks later, he lost his job due to poor performance and was dependent on government support for the following two years of unemployment.

One day a strange man in a public library sent him a note saying that he was offered oral sex in the men's room. Dahmer did not accept the offer, but later rated it as a key experience after which he decided to live out his homosexuality. Since neither the consumption of gay pornography nor the simulation of sexual acts on a stolen male mannequin did not satisfy him, he tried to steal the corpse of a young man from a cemetery in order to realize his sexual fantasies on it. However, he was unable to dig out the coffin because the ground was frozen. From January 1985, he worked six nights a week as a chocolate mixer at the Ambrosia Chocolate Company in Milwaukee. In his spare time, he went to the city's gay saunas. With the men he met there, he withdrew to the private room , where he drugged them with sleeping pills and sexually abused them. He had various doctors prescribe the necessary supply of sleeping pills on the pretext that he was having trouble falling asleep due to his night shifts.

He indulged himself in public on several occasions and was reported on September 8, 1986 by two twelve-year-old boys who had involuntarily witnessed one of the incidents. When he was subsequently arrested for lewd behavior, Dahmer claimed in his defense that he felt unobserved and merely urinated. The charges were reduced to Disorderly Conduct and Dahmer was sentenced on March 10, 1987 to a one-year suspended sentence. The court also ordered psychotherapy. The therapist described him as a closed, insensitive and uncooperative patient who sometimes turned his back on her in the sessions and accused her of conspiracy with the legal system. She diagnosed a schizoid personality disorder with paranoid tendencies and noted that he was “definitely SPOOKY!”. In another court-ordered investigation by a psychiatrist from the University of Wisconsin , Dahmer was found to be extraordinarily fluent in language and a remarkable ability to think abstractly, but the other test results led the doctor to the prognosis that he might develop into a sociopath with schizoid tendencies.

His gay sauna hustle and bustle came to an end in the summer of 1987 after one of the estimated 10 to 15 victims had to be hospitalized for an overdose. Dahmer was banned from the house, but was not prosecuted. From then on, he shifted his activities to the city's gay bars and nightclubs. On the weekends he often took a cheap hotel room, where he took at least six male acquaintances whom he drugged and sexually abused, but not killed. On these occasions he also spent a lot of time listening to the heartbeat and other organ noises of his unconscious victims - a behavior that he later also practiced with his murder victims.

Second through fourth murders

At the end of November 1987 Dahmer visited Club 219 in Milwaukee, where he met 25-year-old Steven Tuomi. At curfew, they took a taxi to the Ambassador Hotel, where they emptied a bottle of rum in Dahmer's room and there was consensual sexual activity. He had secretly put sleeping pills on Tuomi's glass and after they had taken effect he abused him. When Dahmer woke up the next morning, Tuomi's body was lying next to him with its chest broken. Dahmer could not remember what had happened, but since he had bruises and injuries on his arms and hands himself, he decided that he must have killed Tuomi. He bought a large suitcase in which he transported the body from the hotel and by taxi to his grandmother's house. He hid the body in the basement for about a week before chopping it up and throwing it away with the trash. Tuomi's remains have never been found.

After getting away with impunity for the second time, he gave up resisting his fantasies and began actively looking for victims. "By that time my moral conscience was so shot, so totally corrupted, that [my fantasies were] my main focus of life." ("At this point my moral conscience was so worn out, so totally corrupted that [my fantasies] were at the center of my life.") Dahmer met fourteen-year-old James Doxtater on January 17, 1988 at around 1:00 am at a bus stop in near the 219 club . According to Dahmer's statement, he estimated the Native American youth to be 18 years old and offered him $ 50 for a night. Doxtater, known to the police as a hustler, accepted the offer and accompanied Dahmer to the grandmother's house. After the sex, Dahmer drugged and strangled the youth and went on the corpse for days. When the smell of putrefaction got so strong that his grandmother noticed it, he put it in the litter box and disposed of the body in the same way as his previous victim.

On March 27, 1988, Dahmer met 23-year-old Richard Guerrero in the Phoenix Bar in Milwaukee and lured him into his grandmother's house for one night for $ 50. She slept when he strangled Guerrero in his bedroom and acted out his sexual fantasies on the corpse. After breakfast with his grandmother, he took the lifeless body to the basement, where he dismembered it and disposed of with household waste while Catherine Dahmer attended Sunday services. He prepared the skull and kept it for several months.

Incidents

On the night of April 2-3, 1988, Dahmer brought home a man from Club 219 who woke up in the hospital two days later. The last thing the man could remember was drinking Dahmer's coffee and then passing out. No anesthetic residue was found in his blood and there were no traces of rape on his body. The man nevertheless filed a complaint against Dahmer because he lacked jewelry and money. He had also found strange bruises on his neck and found that he was wearing his underwear inside out. When he was interrogated by the police on April 5, 1988, Dahmer stated that he only helped the man because he had drunk too much. The proceedings were then discontinued. After his arrest in July 1991, he admitted having drugged and abused the man. However, he did not kill him because his grandmother noticed his presence.

Catherine Dahmer was increasingly concerned about her grandson's nighttime activities and alcohol consumption. Dahmer's family suggested that he find an apartment of his own, after which he rented an apartment on North 24th Street in Milwaukee. On the afternoon of September 26, 1988, he approached a thirteen-year-old boy of Laotian origin on the street who followed him to his apartment for US $ 50 and posed shirtless for Polaroid photos. When Dahmer touched the boy immorally, he fled the apartment and reported the incident to the police.

Dahmer was arrested and sentenced on January 30, 1989 by a Milwaukee court to one year in a reformatory with subsequent five years probation for second-degree sexual assault and seduction of a minor. The judge granted him daily leave for the duration of his detention so that he could continue to work in the chocolate factory. Dahmer spent the time leading up to his custody at large. He moved out of the 24th Street apartment and went back to live with his grandmother in West Allis, who took him back despite his conviction.

The fifth murder and imprisonment in an open prison

On the evening of March 25, 1989, he met the 24-year-old half-African American Anthony Sears in the gay bar La Cage . After midnight they drove to West Allis for sex in his bedroom. Then Dahmer Sears mixed a drink with several sleeping pills, strangled him and assaulted the corpse before disassembling it in the bathtub. He prepared the head and genitals and kept them in a small suitcase, which he stowed in his locker in the chocolate factory. On May 23, 1989, Dahmer began his sentence in open execution . During a day outdoors in November 1989, he went to Club 219 , where he got into conversation with a stranger and got drunk until he passed out. When Dahmer came to, he was handcuffed in the apartment of the stranger who had obviously raped him. The man let him go and Dahmer returned to the reformatory.

Two weeks later, he sent a letter to his judge expressing remorse for his crime and asking for his early release from custody. He did not write the letter himself, but copied it from what was presented by a fellow inmate, but the words had the desired effect: the judge ordered the arrestee for March 2, 1990. As a condition of probation, Dahmer had to attend regular group therapy sessions until December 1990, and from the end of March 1990 he had to meet with his probation officer every two weeks. While he did not reveal much about himself in group therapy and attracted attention through increasing neglect of his personal hygiene, he was so cooperative with the probation officer that she refrained from making mandatory home visits during the entire care period due to her high workload.

Continuation of the series of murders in Apartment 213

On May 14, 1990, Dahmer moved to Apartment 213 in the Oxford Apartment Complex on North 25th Street in Milwaukee. In order to deter burglars and prevent accidental discovery of his actions, he installed a security system consisting of several door locks, an alarm device and a dummy camera. Raymond Smith was the first victim he took to his new apartment. The 32-year-old African American was straight, but moved as a hustler in the gay scene. Dahmer had met him at the 219 tavern and offered him $ 50 for sex. Since Smith did not want to stay the whole night for this sum, Dahmer gave him several sleeping pills in the early morning of May 21, 1990. He then strangled him and masturbated while photographing the lifeless body in various poses. The following day, Dahmer missed his group therapy session because he was busy dismantling and disposing of the body.

The 27-year-old African American Edward Smith, whom he had met in the Phoenix Bar , murdered Dahmer on June 24, 1990 in Apartment 213. A few days later he visited the Phoenix Bar again, where he spoke to a fifteen-year-old acquaintance and with money for photos lured into his apartment. Running out of sleeping pills, he hit him on the back of the neck with a rubber mallet. The teenager reacted angrily and left the apartment, but shortly afterwards knocked again on Dahmer's door to ask him for money for the bus. They spent the rest of the night talking about the attack, and Dahmer later stated that he was no longer able to kill the youth after getting to know him better.

At around 3:00 a.m. on the morning of September 3, 1990, Dahmer met 23-year-old African American Ernest Miller in front of an adult bookstore and offered him money for photos. In Dahmer's apartment, Miller had himself photographed in erotic poses before consensual sex took place. As soon as the sleeping pills began to work, Dahmer took it on until he noticed Miller waking up. Dahmer believed that he could no longer strangle him without resistance. So he decided on the gentlest alternative method he could think of and picked up a knife to cut Miller's throat with. After the victim bled to death, he dismembered the body in the bathtub and captured the process with his Polaroid camera.

The murders escalate

In the early morning hours of September 24, 1990, Dahmer murdered the 22-year-old African American David Thomas following his usual pattern. During the next five months there was no further crime until Dahmer's series of murders escalated in 1991 and he killed a further eight victims at ever shorter intervals from February until his arrest in July. Looking back, Dahmer said that he was completely swept away by his compulsions. “It was an incessant and never-ending desire to be with someone at whatever cost. [...] It just filled my thoughts all day long. " ("It was a ceaseless, never-ending need to be with someone, no matter what the cost. I couldn't think of anything else all day.") Curtis Straughter was the first to sacrifice him at this stage fell. The nearly eighteen-year-old African American had followed Dahmer from a bus stop near Marquette University in Apartment 213 in mid-February 1991, where he was incapacitated with sleeping pills. After Dahmer photographed him in various poses and strangled him with a leather strap, he documented the dismemberment of the corpse with his Polaroid camera. The same fate befell 19-year-old African American Errol Lindsey on April 7, 1991.

At the instigation of his probation officer, Dahmer was sporadically in psychiatric treatment from May 1991 onwards because he suffered from depression and had expressed intentions to commit suicide. According to the psychiatrist, he posed no danger to himself or others, so he only prescribed him an antidepressant. On May 24, 1991, Dahmer murdered the deaf-mute African American Tony Hughes, whose body was still in his bedroom days later when he was bringing the next victim to his apartment.

The Grand Avenue Mall in Milwaukee was one of the places Dahmer looked for victims. Here he met Konerak Sinthasomphone and Tracy Edwards, the last victim who escaped.

On the afternoon of May 26, 1991, Dahmer approached 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone in Grand Avenue Mall and offered him money for photos. Sinthasomphone, whose juvenile criminal record showed entries for prostitution, accepted the offer and posed in Dahmer's apartment for Polaroid pictures in underwear. After drugging and sexually abusing the teenager with sleeping pills, Dahmer left his apartment at around 1:30 a.m. on the morning of May 27, 1991 and went to a nearby bar. On the way back he saw Sinthasomphone at a crossroads, who was sitting naked and bleeding on a sidewalk and was being cared for by Afro-American residents. The youth had come to during Dahmer's absence, had left the apartment and had wandered the streets disoriented. Since he could not articulate himself clearly, the women suspected that he was under the influence of drugs. Sinthasomphone was reluctant when Dahmer tried to take him back to his apartment so the women called the police.

When the patrol car arrived, Dahmer explained to the police that Sinthasomphone was his lover of age, who had just drunk too much and ran away in an argument. Although the women expressed serious doubts about Dahmer's claims, the officers failed to review his police record, which would have revealed his criminal record and ongoing probation. Instead, the police escorted the youth back to Apartment 213, where Dahmer showed them the underwear photos to support his story. The officers then left without noticing Hughes' body in the next room. Shortly afterwards, Dahmer killed the youth. (It was later revealed that Sinthasomphone was the younger brother of the boy Dahmer sexually molested in 1988. Dahmer testified that he would not have spoken to him if he had known.)

He was looking for his next two victims in Chicago , where on June 30, 1991 he met the 20-year-old Afro-American Matt Turner at a bus stop and a week later the 23-year-old half-Puerto Rican Jeremiah Weinberger in a gay bar. Both accepted his invitation to Milwaukee, where he killed her in his apartment and photographed the dismemberment of their bodies.

arrest

In the days leading up to his arrest, Dahmer's life got more and more out of hand. On July 15, 1991, he killed the 24-year-old African American Oliver Lacy. After dismembering the body, he put the severed head in his refrigerator. On July 19, 1991, his employer fired him because he was absent too often. On the same day he murdered his last victim, 25-year-old Joseph Bradehoft, and slept next to the corpse for days until maggots gathered in his bed. In his shower tray he cooled two corpses with ice, which is why he could only take cold showers. Nonetheless, the decomposition progressed faster than he could manage to dispose of the corpses. His neighbors had complained several times about the foul smell that was pouring out of his apartment. Dahmer had claimed to the property management that the stench came from spoiled food; another time he had stated that the fish in his aquarium had died. Since the smell did not subside, the property management threatened him on July 22, 1991 with eviction from his apartment by the end of the month.

That afternoon, Dahmer went to Grand Avenue Mall , where, according to witness reports, he approached several men and offered them money for photos before 32-year-old Tracy Edwards accepted his offer and escorted him to Apartment 213 at around 6:30 p.m. Later, Dahmer could only vaguely remember the following events in his apartment. According to Edwards, Dahmer went through several personality changes over the course of the evening. At first he seemed completely normal and friendly, they talked and drank alcohol. Suddenly Dahmer had become threatening, handcuffed him and pulled out a knife. To appease Dahmer, Edwards took off his shirt and let him listen to his heartbeat. While watching a video of The Exorcist III , Dahmer fell into a trance-like, absent-minded state. Edwards took advantage of Dahmer's inattentiveness and fled the apartment.

With Dahmer's handcuffs on his wrist, Edwards stopped a passing police patrol around 11:30 pm and told the two detectives that a "freak" had threatened him with a knife. He asked the police to open the handcuff, but since the detectives key did not fit the model on his wrist, they escorted him back to the Oxford Apartments. Dahmer willingly let the police go to his home and let one of the officers look for the handcuff key in the bedroom. The detective discovered the knife under the bed and the Polaroid images of the victims in an open drawer, whereupon the officers arrested Dahmer. When they continued to look around the apartment and saw Lacy's head in the refrigerator, they called for reinforcements. In addition to several police officers, the forensic team and the coroner came to the scene between 0:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Dahmer was taken to Milwaukee Police Headquarters.

Preliminary investigation

Forensics, interrogation and confession

Jul 23, 1991 - Mugshot of Jeffrey Dahmer
after his arrest

That night, the homicide detective of the Milwaukee Criminal Investigation Department began interrogating Dahmer. According to the record, the first interrogation lasted from 1:30 am to 7:15 am on the morning of July 23, 1991. Dahmer waived the presence of a lawyer, but initially refused to provide information about the findings in his apartment. In the meantime, his apartment was completely searched by forensics and crates of evidence were seized. In the refrigerator, the investigators found two human hearts wrapped in plastic bags and a piece of arm muscle next to the severed head. In a freezer, they discovered three more heads, a torso and various wrapped human organs. In the bedroom and in a hallway cupboard, the officers seized a total of seven skulls, as well as two complete skeletons, a pair of severed hands, a mummified scalp and the mummified genitals of two men. A company specializing in hazardous substances transported a 200 liter plastic bin that Dahmer had set up in his bedroom and in which the torsos of three victims dissolved in an acid bath. In addition to chemicals such as chloroform , hydrochloric acid and formaldehyde asservierte forensics a blood-soaked mattress and 74 polaroids, which showed the bodies of victims in various stages of fragmentation. The coroner responsible later stated that Dahmer's apartment was more like a museum than a crime scene.

Given the overwhelming evidence, Dahmer realized that his silence would no longer help, and so he made a comprehensive 178-page confession over the next six weeks and during the 60-hour interrogation. He admitted that he had protected oral and anal sex with the bodies of his victims and that he had performed sexual acts on their bowels. He described in detail how he proceeded to dismember the bodies and throw them into the trash or break them down in acid and flush them down the toilet. He also confirmed investigators' suspicions that he had practiced cannibalism on three victims and consumed pieces of the heart, hamstrings and biceps. After the coroner found conspicuous skull and brain injuries in four cases when performing the autopsies on the victims, which had been inflicted ante mortem , Dahmer confessed that he had attempted a type of lobotomy on these victims . He had drilled holes in their skulls by injecting hydrochloric acid or hot water in the hope of creating a mindless zombie that he could keep as a sex slave. One of the men survived the procedure in a severely dazed condition for two days, but ultimately resulted in the death of the victim in all cases. Dahmer agreed to help identify his victims in order to take away their parents' uncertainty. (“[…] To relieve the minds of the parents.”) Since he could not remember a victim's name except in the case of Hicks and the DNA analysis method was not yet mature enough at the beginning of the 1990s, the other victims were mostly based on the Polaroid photos and their dental status. Several victims had appeared to the police, so that a comparison with fingerprints already recorded was possible. In those cases where there were no remains, investigators used Dahmer's memory to narrow down the time frame and look for missing persons who fell during the same period. Dahmer then identified his victims using the missing photos. To test his credibility, investigators also presented him with photos of living people, but he did not claim any of them as his victim. On the property of his former home in Bath, which had since changed hands, investigators found over 50 bone fragments that could be assigned to Hicks.

The investigators were convinced of Dahmer's credibility. Although he did not always provide information immediately, but often only when asked by the officials, his information could mostly be verified by the available evidence . However, some of his statements were also inconsistent (e.g. he made contradicting statements about whether sex had occurred between him and Hicks), which, however, was not questioned further by the investigators or later by the psychiatric experts and therefore was not discussed in court.

Identified victims

Surname	Age	Date of death	crime scene
Steven Mark Hicks	18th	June 18, 1978	Bath, Ohio
Steven Walter Tuomi	25th	Late November 1987	Ambassador Hotel, Milwaukee
James Edward Doxtator	14th	Jan. 17, 1988	West Allis, Wisconsin
Richard Guerrero	23	March 27, 1988
Anthony Lee Sears	24	March 26, 1989
Raymond Lamont Smith aka Ricky Lee Beeks	32	May 21, 1990	Oxford Apartments 924 North 25th Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Edward Warren Smith	27	June 24, 1990
Ernest Miller	23	3rd Sep 1990
David Thomas	22nd	Sep 24 1990
Curtis Straughter	17th	Feb. 18, 1991
Errol Lindsey	19th	Apr 7, 1991
Tony Anthony Hughes	31	May 24, 1991
Konerak Sinthasomphone	14th	May 27, 1991
Matt Turner aka Donald Montrell	20th	June 30, 1991
Jeremiah Benjamin Weinberger	23	circa July 7, 1991
Oliver Lacy	24	July 15, 1991
Joseph Bradehoft	25th	July 19, 1991

Motive, victim profile and modus operandi

Since most of his victims came from the gay scene and / or were of African American descent, it has been speculated that Dahmer acted out of gay and racial hatred. On the other hand, he asserted several times that his actions were not motivated by hatred. He did not choose the men because of their race or sexual orientation, but because of their attractive appearance and because they were the easiest to lure into his apartment. His victims were all of the same physical profile: young (teens to early 30s), tall, lean, and muscular. With the exception of Hicks and Tuomi, whose killings were spontaneous and unplanned, Dahmer chose his victims carefully and prepared the deeds carefully. He murdered almost exclusively on weekends so that he had enough time to clear up the evidence afterwards, and he used the anonymity of the nightlife, the street or large shopping malls to remain undetected. As a rule, he only addressed men who were traveling alone and therefore were not immediately missing. Since he was attractive to many homosexual men, with his boyish appearance aroused the protective instinct of his victims and promised them money or sex, each of the men went voluntarily so that he never had to force them into his apartment.

According to his own statements, Dahmer preferred living but absolutely passive and docile sexual partners over whom he could exercise control and whose needs he did not need to take into account. Since he could not find a man who met these requirements and had erectile problems with awake sexual partners, he anesthetized them in order to be able to satisfy their motionless bodies undisturbed and without time or performance pressure. After his arrest, he admitted: “I was always quite selfish. I trained myself to view people as objects of potential pleasure instead of human beings. " ("I've always been pretty selfish. I've gotten into the habit of viewing people as potential objects of pleasure instead of human beings.")

When the men left him after sex, he felt empty and alone, and because no one wanted to have a long-term relationship with him, he started killing his sexual partners so they could not leave him. The killing was only a means to an end for him and did not give him any pleasure. In order to remove his inhibitions and to be able to carry out the act of killing at all, he had to get drunk every time beforehand. Since he did not succeed in creating a mindless sex slave that would have made the killing of further victims unnecessary, and the necrophilous acts did not satisfy him permanently, he started looking for new victims. "It was a craving, a hunger, [...] a compulsion, and I just kept doing it [...] whenever the opportunity presented itself." ("It was a desire, a hunger, [...] a compulsion, and I just kept going [...] whenever the opportunity arose.")

He told investigators that it was not his aim to torture his victims, so he had anesthetized them and chose the quick and painless way of killing them. His cannibalistic actions were initially carried out out of curiosity and ultimately also served to keep the victim with him forever through the incorporation. He experienced the dismemberment of the corpses with mixed feelings. On the one hand he felt power and sexual arousal, on the other hand it was a necessary evil for him, as he had to destroy evidence and this also meant the loss of his victim. He described the process itself as disgusting work, which he also always had to overcome with the help of alcohol.

He picked up the heads because for him they embodied the "true essence" of the victims and he wanted to build an altar with them that would give him power. As role models he named the film characters Imperator Palpatine in The Return of the Jedi and the Gemini Killer in The Exorcist III . His fascination with the two characters went so far that he occasionally wore yellow contact lenses to look like them and watched the films to get himself in the mood for the victim search.

Review of unsolved murder cases

After Dahmer's deeds became internationally known, the investigators in Milwaukee received numerous inquiries from other police authorities about unsolved murder and missing persons from almost all states of the USA and Germany. These were cases in which the missing or murdered person corresponded to Dahmer's victim profile or the commission of the crime showed similarities to his approach.

One of the inquiries was about the on-file murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh . The boy was abducted from a mall in Hollywood , Florida on July 27, 1981 . Two weeks later, the child's severed head was found, and the rest of the body has disappeared. The serial killer Ottis Toole retracted his confession and could not be charged for lack of further evidence. When Dahmer's picture went through the media after his arrest, several witnesses came forward who believed they had seen him at the mall on the day of the kidnapping. Despite these statements and the fact that Dahmer was in Florida at the time of the crime, investigators could not find any solid evidence of his perpetration. Dahmer denied in several interrogations that it had anything to do with the kidnapping and murder of the boy. Since he had frankly confessed to other murders and had helped solve the crime, and Adam Walsh did not match his victim profile, investigators continued to assume that Toole was the boy's killer when the case files were closed in 2008.

The public prosecutor's office in Bad Kreuznach and the State Criminal Police Office of Rhineland-Palatinate , in cooperation with the US authorities, investigated five unexplained murders of women that had occurred while Dahmer was stationed in Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the investigators found no evidence of his perpetration and Dahmer protested that he had not murdered in Germany.

Previous investigative errors and omissions from the authorities

In the course of his series of murders, Dahmer came into contact with the police and other authorities several times. However, a number of investigative errors and regulatory failures prevented his actions from being discovered earlier. He felt strengthened in the feeling of being "invincible".

date	authority	incident
June 25, 1978	Bath Police Department	During a traffic check, the policeman failed to thoroughly search Dahmer's car, which had the dismembered corpse of his first murder victim in the back seat.
September 1988	Milwaukee Police Department	During Dahmer's six days of pre-trial detention for seducing a minor, the police searched his home but failed to see the prepared skull of the fourth murder victim.
March 1990 to July 1991	Probation Office	Dahmer's probation officer refrained from the actually prescribed apartment visits during the entire period of care. During this period, he killed 12 people in his apartment.
July 1990	Milwaukee Police Department	After the youth attacked by Dahmer with a rubber mallet reported the incident, the police did not believe the allegations and failed to investigate further. (A review of his police record would have revealed Dahmer's ongoing probation for seducing a minor.)
unknown	Milwaukee Police Department	One day the smell of putrefaction emanating from Dahmer's apartment became so strong that the police were called and they questioned every tenant of the Oxford Apartments. However, she was unable to locate the source of the stench - a torso that was lying in Dahmer's bathtub at the time.
May 27, 1991	Milwaukee Police Department	The 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone managed to escape from Dahmer's apartment. When residents alerted the police, Dahmer was able to convince the officers that the young person was his adult lover and that they had only argued. The officers then brought Sinthasomphone back to Dahmer's apartment. Had they inspected it more closely, they would have stumbled upon the body of his previous victim in the next room. The also failed review of Dahmer's criminal record would have shown that he was on probation for seducing a minor at that time. After the police left the apartment, Dahmer killed the youth.
May 30, 1991	FBI, Milwaukee Police Department	A witness to the May 27, 1991 incident identified Konerak Sinthasomphone in a missing person photo in the Milwaukee Sentinel and called the FBI and the Milwaukee Police Department to inform them of their observation and the possible connection. However, the trail was not followed up by either authority.

Judicial processing

Procedure

The Milwaukee County Courthouse , where the 1992 Dahmer Trial took place.

On August 6, 1991, a Milwaukee court set Dahmer's bail at $ 5 million. At the same court hearing, he officially released the remains of his victims to the undertakers. (Under Wisconsin law, Dahmer could have refused to release it because it was evidence. In the unlikely event of his acquittal, the remains would have become his property and should have been returned to him if requested.)

After it examines a psychologist and stand trial had declared that Dahmer was charged with fifteen counts of murder on 30 January 1992 by jury in Milwaukee. (The murder of Hicks was dealt with in a separate process at a later point in time, as the crime fell within the jurisdiction of the US state of Ohio. In the case of Tuomi, no charges were brought because the events on the night of the crime could no longer be unequivocally reconstructed .) His defense was carried out by a team of four lawyers. Since he had made a full confession and pleaded guilty on January 13, 1992, the State of Wisconsin vs. Jeffrey L. Dahmer only about the question of his sanity (Insanity Trial) .

Fearing acts of retaliation, Dahmer was brought into the courthouse with handcuffs and ankle shackles on every day of the trial under strict guard and elaborate security precautions. In addition to an explosives detection dog, a bulletproof glass wall was used to shield Dahmer from the audience in the courtroom. The resulting costs of over US $ 120,000 made the Dahmer trial the most expensive trial in Milwaukee court history. The trial was broadcast live on US television. So that sensitive viewers could switch off the sound when the descriptions in court became too cruel, the transmission was delayed by a few seconds, so that a red signal point could be faded in for appropriate scenes. Due to the enormous media coverage, the twelve-person jury was isolated from the outside world for the duration of the process in order to avoid interference ( sequestration ). The jury was also given psychological support in order to be able to process the acts described in court better.

In addition to numerous media representatives and relatives of the victims, Dahmer's father and stepmother were also present in the auditorium, who heard the details of their son's crimes for the first time during the trial. A total of 28 people were called to the stand. Including the two policemen from the Milwaukee Police Department who had taken his confession and took turns reading it in court, and Tracy Edwards, the victim who escaped. In addition, eight psychiatric experts had been appointed to examine Dahmer's mental health for days prior to the trial.

Psychiatric report

Diagnoses

Borderline personality disorder Paraphilias : necrophilia (controversial) , sadism (controversial), frotteurism , partialism Schizoid personality disorder Schizotypic personality disorder Dissocial Personality Disorder Schizophrenic and / or affective psychosis (controversial) Alcohol sickness Asperger's Syndrome (suspected, undiagnosed during lifetime)

The three experts from the defense took the view in court that Dahmer was insane and therefore not sane. They diagnosed compulsive necrophilia that made him unable to control himself. In addition, he was diagnosed with borderline , dissocial , schizoid and schizotypic personality disorders as well as frotteurism , partialism and chronic alcoholism. One of the defense reviewers also described Dahmer as psychotic . He has an extremely primitive personality structure and bizarre delusions, with which the reviewer referred to Dahmer's attempt to create a zombie and the planned construction of a power-giving altar. His psychosis can be both schizophrenic and affective in nature.

The public prosecutor's experts were unanimous of the opinion that Dahmer was not mentally ill within the meaning of the law and was therefore sane. He did not suffer from delusions because he was aware that the altar could not really have given him power. They confirmed the borderline diagnosis, but denied the existence of compulsive necrophilia, since he preferred living sexual partners and a truly compulsive murderer does not need to get drunk in order to carry out the act of killing. That he was able to control himself is shown by the nine-year period between his first and second murder, during which he did not kill, and the fact that he only had protected sex with the corpses. Dahmer was not an impulsive, but a calculating murderer who went to great lengths to make his deeds possible and to keep it secret. He is also unique among sexually driven serial killers because he did not intentionally act cruelly or sadistically, which is otherwise typical for this type of serial killer. Instead, he stunned his victims to save them unnecessary suffering.

One of the two experts at the court, however, classified Dahmer as a sadist . His aggressive, hostile tendencies drove him to the deeds, his sex drive was the outlet for his destructiveness. He has a serious personality disorder that requires treatment, but does not suffer from either psychosis or necrophilia. Furthermore, the appraiser did not believe that Dahmer killed the men to prevent them from leaving him, but because he was sexually attracted to them and wanted to get rid of what he hated most about himself - his homosexuality. He doubted that Dahmer would have drilled holes in the heads of his victims or ate parts of them while they were alive. He just wanted to make his deeds appear even more gruesome than they already were. Despite everything, Dahmer is "not such a bad person". The other court expert diagnosed a borderline personality disorder, denied the presence of a psychosis and described Dahmer as "amiable, pleasant fellow, polite, humorous, conventionally handsome and of charming demeanor".

The FBI - case analyst Robert Ressler , the Dahmer was interrogated for two days at the request of the defense, later explained that he had nothing felt as compassion for the tortured and twisted person sitting in front of him. He categorized him as a "mixed offender" because he had characteristics of both the "organized" and the "unorganized" serial killer type. In Ressler's view, Dahmer committed at least his later murders during psychotic episodes and thus in a state of incapacity. Since Ressler was not a psychiatrist, he was not approved by the court as an expert. In later reports it is assumed that there is a high probability that Dahmer also had Asperger's Syndrome , but this diagnosis was not made during his lifetime. According to another report written after his death, Dahmer scored 22 items on Robert D. Hare's psychopathy checklist , from which it was concluded that he was probably not a psychopath, even if he had some psychopathic properties. ( According to Hare, at least 30 points are required for the diagnosis of psychopathy .)

Plea and judgment

The defense pleaded "guilty but insane" in (guilty but insane) . Dahmer recognized the injustice of his actions, but because of his mental constitution he was not in control of his actions. If this defense strategy had been successful, he would not have been jailed, but would have been placed in a closed psychiatric institution for an indefinite period of time, where he would have undergone therapy. The public prosecutor tried to convince the jury in their plea that Dahmer was very well able to control himself. He was a master of manipulation , was cold-blooded and calculating, and made fools of a lot of people.

On February 15, 1992, after five hours of deliberation, the jury declared Dahmer to be sane with ten to two votes on all counts. Before the sentence was pronounced on February 17, 1992, the judge allowed the victims' relatives to speak and finally gave the defendant the last word. Dahmer, who had remained silent during the trial, read a statement in which he expressed remorse for the suffering he had caused and wished that the deeds could be undone. He faced the process so as not to leave any unanswered questions and to show the world that his crimes were not motivated by hate. Hopefully people like him will be helped by his case before they harm themselves or others.

Dahmer was sentenced to the maximum possible sentence of 15 consecutive life sentences with no prospect of release. Since he was also considered a repeat offender due to his previous convictions , he received an additional ten years for each murder, so that his total sentence was over 900 years in prison. A few weeks later he was transferred to Akron, Ohio, where he pleaded guilty to the murder of Hicks on May 1, 1992 in just under an hour before a criminal court, and was sentenced to another life imprisonment.

In court and in subsequent interviews, Dahmer stated that he deserved the death penalty and wished himself to be dead. Ohio reintroduced the death penalty in 1974, but the law at the time was considered unconstitutional, so he could only be sentenced to life imprisonment for his first murder in 1978. In Wisconsin, the death penalty had been abolished in 1853. Dahmer's case led to increased demands for its reintroduction in the early 1990s, and 22 corresponding bills were tabled between 1991 and 1996, but all of them failed.

Imprisonment

The Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, where Dahmer served his sentence until his death in 1994.

After his conviction, Dahmer started his detention at inmate number 177252 at the Columbia Correctional Institution , a maximum security prison with approximately 600 inmates in Portage, Wisconsin. He spent the first year of his imprisonment in solitary confinement because there were fears for his safety because of his "fame". With his consent, Dahmer was eventually transferred to the general prison wing, where he came into contact with other inmates. In prison, too, he stood out for his morbid humor and played mainly with his image, for example by inviting people to meet the "Anonymous Cannibals" on the bulletin board.

He received regular visits from his family and from strangers from all over the world, boxes of letters containing hateful messages as well as expressions of sympathy, autograph requests, pen pal offers, declarations of love from hybristophile followers and monetary gifts totaling 12,000 US dollars.

During his incarceration, Dahmer cooperated with the FBI . In addition to Edmund Kemper , Richard Speck and Jerome Brudos , he is one of the convicted serial killers who, in several interviews , gave agents John E. Douglas and Robert Ressler an insight into their world of thoughts and feelings and thus the knowledge structure of the Behavioral Science Unit (a forerunner of the Behavioral Analysis Unit ) and supported the search for other serial killers.

While in custody, Dahmer turned to Christianity and mused that his previous turning away from God may have been the cause of his crimes because he felt he was not answerable to anyone. After completing a correspondence Bible course, he was baptized in prison on May 10, 1994 and received weekly visits from his pastor to study the Bible with him and to strengthen his faith.

In the summer of 1994, after a prison service, Dahmer was attacked by a fellow inmate with a razor blade, but he was not seriously injured. The prison administration rated the risk of repetition as low and Dahmer insisted on being transferred back from the temporarily imposed solitary confinement to the general prison wing. He told his mother that he didn't care if something happened to him.

Death and reactions

Three weeks before his death, he was assigned to a work unit that did janitorial work. On the morning of November 28, 1994, Dahmer and fellow inmates Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver were assigned to clean the bathroom facilities next to the gym. When the prison guards left the three inmates unattended for a few minutes, Scarver hit Dahmer and then Anderson with the iron bar of a dumbbell. Dahmer was still alive but was unresponsive when a prison guard found him in a pool of blood around 8:10 am. He was taken to Divine Savior Hospital in Portage with severely fractured skull and face, where he was pronounced dead at 9:11 am. Anderson died of his injuries two days later. Dahmers autopsy showed that he was killed from the front, but his body did not show the defensive injuries to be expected.

The reactions to his death varied. Many of the victims' relatives were happy and relieved to hear the news. Others, however, were sad and dismayed. A sister of Edward Smith, who visited Dahmer while in custody to learn the details of her brother's death, said of Dahmer's murder: “I couldn't stop crying when I heard the news. [...] He shouldn't have been murdered like that. " ("I couldn't stop crying when I heard the news. [...] He shouldn't have died that way.") The prosecutor who charged Dahmer said: "This is the last sad chapter in a very sad life. […] I hope there will be no […] celebration as a folk hero for the man that killed Jeffrey Dahmer. " ("This is the last sad chapter of a very sad life. [...] I hope that the man who murdered Jeffrey Dahmer [...] is not celebrated as a folk hero.") Dahmer's father found comfort in the fact that his son was there found God after his death and no longer had to suffer. His mother reacted angrily and asked: “Now is everybody happy? Now that he's bludgeoned to death, is that good enough for everyone? ” ("Is everyone happy now that he was bludgeoned to death?")

In December 1994, Dahmer's family held a memorial service, which was also attended by a sister of Edward Smith. After his death, Dahmer's parents argued over the fate of his remains. Joyce Flint wanted to make her son's brain available to science for research purposes, Lionel Dahmer wanted to respect the last will of his son and have his body completely cremated. In December 1995 a court ruled in favor of the father. Dahmer's ashes were shared between his parents.

The on schizophrenia and delusions suffering African American Scarver, already serving time for murder and had declared immediately after the attack on his fellow inmates that God the order had granted to him, was sentenced to two more life imprisonment for the murders of Dahmer and Anderson. Vengeance was not ruled out as a motive for the crime because Dahmer had killed many African American men and the White Anderson tried to accuse two African Americans of the murder of his wife that he himself had committed. In 2015, Scarver finally stated that he had killed Dahmer because he was disgusted by his actions and Dahmer had shown no remorse in prison. He also claimed that the guards purposely left her unattended so that he could kill him. The official investigation into Dahmer's death in 1994, however, concluded that Scarver had acted alone. According to the prison authorities, Dahmer got along well with other inmates and it was not uncommon for him to be left unattended at times.

aftermath

After Dahmer's crimes became known, there were protest marches and rallies in Milwaukee, which were mainly organized by the non-white population and directed against the Milwaukee Police Department. The protesters accused the police of bias and indifference towards African-Americans, homosexuals and other minorities, and in particular criticized the behavior of the police in the case of Konerak Sinthasomphone. After they had brought Sinthasomphone back into the care of the serial killer, they had made fun of the alleged quarrel between the homosexual "lovers" by radio. African-American politicians were also of the opinion that the police would have acted differently and taken the concerns of women seriously, had the youth and women been white and Dahmer black. The officers were suspended at full salary for the duration of the internal police investigation into the incident and then discharged from the police force after the incident. In court, Dahmer regretted that the police had lost their jobs because of him; they are not to blame for the youth's death. A court later upheld the police officers' lawsuit and they were reinstated. Sinthasomphone's family received US $ 850,000 from the City of Milwaukee in reparation for police neglect.

During Dahmer's lifetime, the relatives of his victims sued him for compensation and were awarded US $ 80 million, but since he had only limited financial resources, this sum was never repaid. After his death, eleven victims' families sought compensation from his estate. The roughly 300 items in it - including the refrigerator in which he had kept body parts of his victims, the drill and other tools - should first be auctioned and the proceeds shared among the families. Other victim families, however, found this idea tasteless. Eventually, business people bought the estate for $ 407,225. The sum was divided among the relatives of the victims and all property was destroyed in June 1996. The Oxford Apartments had already been demolished in November 1992.

Catherine Dahmer died in December 1992. After a failed suicide attempt in March 1994, Joyce Flint died of cancer in November 2000. While Lionel Dahmer kept his last name and agreed to several interviews, Dahmer's younger brother David changed his family name and opted for a life of anonymity.

reception

Media reporting and public perception

Until Dahmer's arrest in the summer of 1991, no one suspected that a serial killer was at work in Milwaukee. There had been no suspicious body finds, and the increasing number of cases of missing young men had received little attention even in the local press. While the media followed other famous series of murders, such as that of the BTK killer or the Son of Sam , for years until they were cleared up and the public interest was gradually increased as a result, Dahmer's crimes broke in across Milwaukee and the rest of the USA literally overnight suddenly set the media landscape in turmoil. Even before he was handcuffed on the night of July 22nd to 23rd, 1991, the first local reporters and camera crews had positioned themselves in front of the Oxford Apartments and the next morning the Milwaukee Journal announced the headline “Body parts litter” on its front page apartment "(" Apartment strewn with body parts "). The day after his arrest, Dahmer was the main topic on US news broadcasts and the New York Times ran an editorial on the case of at least half a page for ten days in a row. An estimated 450 journalists from around the world traveled to Milwaukee to report on the "Milwaukee Cannibal" or the "Monster of Milwaukee".

The media's greed for information went so far that reporters besieged the victims' families and the investigation was repeatedly hampered and endangered. For example, the New York Times published the previously strictly confidential information about Dahmer's cannibalistic acts from a stolen police report; Tracy Edwards, one of the main witnesses in the Dahmer trial, was interviewed several times and was so influenced by journalists that he had to admit under cross-examination that he exaggerated his experiences in the interviews, which damaged his credibility. The tabloids outdid each other with lurid, partly fictitious headlines such as "The Cannibal - Face of madman who killed 17 and ate them" or "Milwaukee Cannibal Killer Eats His Cellmate" ("The cannibal - face of the madman who killed and ate 17") "(" Milwaukee cannibal killer eats his cellmate ") and fueled the expectation of a second Hannibal Lecter a few months after The Silence of the Lambs started in the cinemas . At Dahmer's first public appearance on the occasion of a court hearing on July 25, 1991, observers were therefore almost disappointed that he appeared completely “normal” and that one could not see “the evil” in him. Rather, he made a vulnerable, almost fearful impression during the trial and refrained from wearing his glasses in the courtroom in order not to have to look anyone in the eye and to be able to distance himself better from what was happening.

Although Dahmer - unlike Ted Bundy, Richard Ramírez or Charles Manson - did not bask in the attention of journalists and photographers, the media fascination for him was no less great. The US magazine People Weekly dedicated a cover story to him in August 1991 and voted him among the "100 most fascinating personalities of the 20th century". Vanity Fair magazine published a multi-page article in November 1991 in which he was analyzed by the incarcerated serial killer Dennis Nilsen , whose crimes were very similar. Dahmer became a "celebrity", the police asked for autographs and whose appearances in court created an atmosphere like at a film premiere. He received over 200 interview requests and, after his conviction, finally agreed to an initial, unpaid television interview for the tabloid news program Inside Edition , which was taped in prison in January 1993. His second and last television interview, which he gave with his parents, was broadcast in March 1994 and brought record ratings for the news magazine Dateline NBC . In both interviews, Dahmer emphasized that he was solely responsible for his actions and that no one was to be blamed for complicity.

The original sensational reporting was followed by biographical works such as Brian Masters' The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer (1993) and Lionel Dahmer's memoir My Son is a Murderer (1995) in an attempt to investigate the causes of Dahmer's crimes. Critics accused Masters that his work was portraying Dahmer in a too empathic light, to which he replied that he preferred knowledge and understanding to ignorance. Lionel Dahmer was credited with his self-reflection on his role and possible failures as a father, but at the same time he admitted himself that he had found no explanation for his son's actions. Even during his lifetime, Jeffrey Dahmer aroused pity and sympathy in many people - including police officers, lawyers and psychiatrists who were involved in his case - which at least since the publication of Derf Backderf's graphic novel Mein Freund Dahmer (2013) up to the transfiguration and romanticization in numerous fan blogs and other social media is enough. The reasons given for this are in particular his shyness and problematic youth, his unfulfilled desire for love and closeness to another person, the repentance he showed in court as well as his sincerity and shame. For Backderf, Dahmer was a "tragic figure," but his sympathy for his former school friend ended at the point where he began to kill.

Popular culture

Dahmer has become a popular culture legend. His person and crimes, especially his cannibalistic actions, are thematized in numerous artistic works.

In addition to several musical pieces such as 213 by Slayer , Jeffrey Dahmer by Soulfly or the 2002 released concept album Dahmer by the death metal band Macabre , he inspired literary works such as Joyce Carol Oates ' Zombie (1995), Poppy Z. Brites Exquisite Corpse (1996) and Edward Lee's Dahmer Is Not Dead (2017).

His life has also been filmed several times (e.g. Dahmer from 2002 and My Friend Dahmer from 2017 with Jeremy Renner and Ross Lynch in the title roles) and served as a template for fictional acts in television series such as South Park and American Horror Story or Cinema strips like Copykill from 1995.

Footage

Television interviews

• 1993: Inside Edition: Serial Killers (Nancy Glass in an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer)
• 1994: The Oprah Winfrey Show ( Oprah Winfrey in an interview with Lionel Dahmer)
• 1994: Dateline NBC - Inside Evil: Jeffrey Dahmer ( MSNBC , Stone Phillips in an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer, Lionel Dahmer and Joyce Flint)
• 1994: Hard Copy (Diane Dimond in an interview with Joyce Flint)
• 2004: Larry King Live ( CNN , Larry King in an interview with Lionel and Shari Dahmer)
• 2012: Confessions of A Serial Killer (remake of the Stone Phillips interview from 1994 with previously unreleased scenes)

Documentation

• 1992: The Trial of Jeffrey Dahmer. Director: Elkan Allan
• 1992: Dahmer: Mystery of the Serial Killer. Director: Michael Husain
• 1993: Day One: Dahmer. ABC News hosted by Forrest Sawyer
• 1993: To Kill and Kill Again. Director: Patrick Fleming
• 1994: Everyman: Profile of a Serial Killer. Director: Nikki Stockley
• 1995: Jeffrey Dahmer or the Shrine of Death. ZDF
• 1996: Jeffrey Dahmer: The Monster Within. Directed by Bill Harris
• 2003: Autopsy - Mysterious Deaths . Documentary series, episode 63: The cannibal
• 2005: Born to Kill - Born a murderer? (Born to Kill?) Documentary Series, Season 1, Episode 3: Jeffrey Dahmer
• 2013: Jeff (alternative title: The Jeffrey Dahmer Files ). Director: Chris James Thompson
• 2017: How it Really Happened. The Strange Case of Jeffrey Dahmer. HLN
• 2017: Dahmer on Dahmer: A Serial Killer Speaks. Oxygen
• 2018: Dark Tourist. Netflix Documentary Series, Season 1, Episode 3: United States

Film adaptations

• 1993: The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer. Directed by David R. Bowen, Carl Crew als Dahmer.
• 2002: Dahmer . Directed by David Jacobson, Jeremy Renner as Dahmer.
• 2006: Raising Jeffrey Dahmer. Directed by Rich Ambler, Rusty Sneary as Dahmer.
• 2017: My Friend Dahmer . Director: Marc Meyers, Ross Lynch as Dahmer.

See also

• List of serial killers

literature

• Derf Backderf: My friend Dahmer: A graphic novel about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Translated from the English by Stefan Pannor. Metrolit Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-8493-0048-7 ; Original: My Friend Dahmer: A Graphic Novel. Abrams ComicArts, New York 2012, ISBN 978-1-4197-0216-7 .
• Edward Baumann: Step into My Parlor: The Chilling Story of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Bonus Books, Chicago 1991, ISBN 978-0-929387-64-2 .
• John Borowski: Dahmer's Confession: The Milwaukee Cannibal's Arrest Statements. Waterfront Productions, Chicago 2017, ISBN 978-0-9976140-2-2 .
• Lionel Dahmer: My son is a murderer: story of a father. German first edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-596-12940-0 ; Original: A Father's Story. William Morrow and Company, New York 1994, ISBN 978-0-688-12156-3 .
• Don Davis: Jeffrey Dahmer. Heyne, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-453-05700-7 ; Original: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: An American Nightmare. St. Martin's Press, New York 1995, ISBN 0-312-92840-8 .
• Robert J. Dvorchak, Lisa Holewa: Who is Jeffrey Dahmer? The shocking portrait of the Milwaukee killer. Bastei Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1992, ISBN 3-404-13415-X ; Original: Milwaukee Massacre: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Milwaukee Murders. Robert Hale Ltd, London 1991, ISBN 978-0-7090-5003-2 .
• Richard W. Jaeger, M. William Balousek: Massacre in Milwaukee: The Macabre Case of Jeffrey Dahmer. Waubesa Press, Oregon, WI 1991, ISBN 1-878569-09-0 .
• Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective: The Interrogation and Investigation That Shocked The World. Poison Berry Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-9947500-0-6 .
• Brian Masters: Cult of Death. The Jeffrey Dahmer case. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-19698-0 ; Original: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, London 1993, ISBN 0-340-57482-8 .
• Joel Norris: Jeffrey Dahmer: A Bizarre Journey into the Mind of America's Most Tormented Serial Killer. Pinnacle Books, New York 1992, ISBN 978-1-55817-661-4 .
• Roy Ratcliff, Lindy Adams: Dark Journey, Deep Grace: Jeffrey Dahmer's Story of Faith. Leafwood Publishers, Abilene, TX 2006, ISBN 978-0-9767790-2-5 .
• Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough: The Secret Murders of Milwaukee's Jeffrey Dahmer. iUniverse, Bloomington, IN 2011, ISBN 978-1-4620-6269-0 .
• Richard Tithecott: Of Men and Monsters: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Construction of the Serial Killer. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI 1997, ISBN 0-299-15684-2 .

Web links

Commons : Jeffrey Dahmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• FBI Records: The Vault. Ref .: 95-HQ-299714. Published extracts on Jeffrey Dahmer from the FBI archives.
• Jeffrey Dahmer - Full Trial - Serial Killer on YouTube . Video documentary by Elkan Allan of the Milwaukee trial from 1992.
• Full King Interview Dahmer parents Lionel and Shari on YouTube . Interview on Larry King Live with Lionel and Shari Dahmer from 2004 and accompanying transcript .
• Jeffrey Dahmer in theInternet Movie Database.

Footnotes

1. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 21 .
2. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 19, 22 .
3. ^ Charles Klotsche: The Silent Victims: The Aftermath of Failed Children on Their Mothers' Lives . Pan American Press, New York 1995, ISBN 0-9673890-2-X , pp. 19-20 .
4. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 20, 22 .
5. ↑ ^{a b} * Joyce Flint; Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's mother. In: Los Angeles Times . December 6, 2000, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Anil Aggrawal : Necrophilia: Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects . CRC Press , Boca Raton, FL 2011, ISBN 978-1-4200-8913-4 , pp. 127 .
7. ↑ Derf Backderf: My Friend Dahmer . 2012, p. 206 .
8. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 25, 31 .
9. ↑ Catherine Purcell, Bruce A. Arrigo: The Psychology of Lust Murder: Paraphilia, Sexual Killing, and Serial Homicide . Elsevier , San Diego 2006, ISBN 978-0-12-370510-5 , pp. 74 .
10. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 22 .
11. ↑ Michael Anft: Dahmer's dad puts blame on himself. In: The Baltimore Sun . March 9, 1994, accessed March 9, 2018 . J. Arturo Silva et al .: The Case of Jeffrey Dahmer: Sexual Serial Homicide from a Neuropsychiatric Development Perspective . In: Journal of Forensic Sciences . tape 
     47 , no. 6 , November 2002, pp. 2 ( murderpedia.org [PDF; accessed March 9, 2018]).
12. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 23-24 .
13. ↑ Quoted from Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 24 .
14. ^ Richard Lei: To Big to Fit. In: The Washington Post . January 21, 2002, accessed December 27, 2017 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Robert Dvorchak: Murder in Milwaukee: Experts Struggle to Explain Dahmer's Compulsion: Crime: His behavior which always on the edge, childhood acquaintances say. But no one intervened to help him, and his problems escalated. In: Los Angeles Times. August 11, 1991. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
16. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 38 .
17. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 31 .
18. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 31, 33-34 . J. Arturo Silva et al .: The Case of Jeffrey Dahmer: Sexual Serial Homicide from a Neuropsychiatric Development Perspective . In: Journal of Forensic Sciences . tape
     47 , no. 6 , November 2002, pp. 2 ( murderpedia.org [PDF; accessed March 9, 2018]).
19. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 33-35 .
20. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 23, 25-26, 36-38 .
21. ^ Ian Barnard: Queer Race: Cultural Interventions in the Racial Politics of Queer Theory (Gender, Sexuality, and Culture) . Peter Lang Publishing Inc. , New York 2004, ISBN 978-0-8204-7088-7 , pp. 131 .
22. ↑ Catherine Purcell, Bruce A. Arrigo: The Psychology of Lust Murder: Paraphilia, Sexual Killing, and Serial Homicide . Elsevier, San Diego 2006, ISBN 978-0-12-370510-5 , pp. 75-76 .
23. ^ ^{A b} Paula Chin: Sins of the Son. In: People. March 28, 1994, accessed January 1, 2018 . 
24. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 41 .
25. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 45 . Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p.
     56 .
26. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 35 .
27. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 40 . Margaret R. Kohut: The Complete Guide to Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies & Bullying . Atlantic Publishing Group, Ocala, FL 2007, ISBN 978-1-60138-021-0 , pp.
     128 .
28. ↑ Catherine Purcell, Bruce A. Arrigo: The Psychology of Lust Murder: Paraphilia, Sexual Killing, and Serial Homicide . Elsevier, San Diego 2006, ISBN 978-0-12-370510-5 , pp. 74-75 .
29. ↑ ^{a b} Holger Kreitling: The funny serial killer from the last bank. In: The world . April 28, 2013, accessed February 11, 2018 . 
30. ↑ ^{a b c d} Carol Jouzaitis, George Papajohn: From Class Oddball To 'Lost Soul'. In: Chicago Tribune . July 28, 1991. Retrieved June 10, 2017 . 
31. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 38 .
32. ↑ ^{a b} James Barron, Mary BW Tabor: 17 Killed, and a Life Is Searched for Clues. In: The New York Times. August 4, 1991. Retrieved January 19, 2017 . 
33. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 23 .
34. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 38, 44-45, 48-49 .
35. ^ Charles Klotsche: The Silent Victims: The Aftermath of Failed Children on Their Mothers' Lives . Pan American Press, New York 1995, ISBN 0-9673890-2-X , pp. 77-78, 139 .
36. ^ ^{A b c} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 51-55 .
37. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 55, 63 .
38. ↑ Quoted from Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 55 .
39. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 57 .
40. ^ ^{A b} Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 47 .
41. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 59 .
42. ↑ Danny Kringiel: Life with the Man- eater . In: Spiegel Online . February 15, 2012, accessed October 21, 2017 . 
43. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 48 .
44. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 62-63 .
45. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 49 .
46. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 65-69 .
47. ^ ^{A b} Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 50 .
48. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 68 .
49. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 69-70 .
50. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 71-72, 77 .
51. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 73 .
52. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 50-51 .
53. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 82-84 .
54. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 74-75 .
55. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 84-87 .
56. ↑ Quoted from Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 88 .
57. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 93 .
58. ^ ^{A b c} Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 224 f .
59. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 95 .
60. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 96-97 . Rogers Worthington: 3 Victims Testify Against Dahmer. In: Chicago Tribune. February 8, 1992, Retrieved June 14, 2017 .
     
61. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 100-101 .
62. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 103 .
63. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 63 .
64. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 103, 105-108 . Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p.
     70 .
65. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 108, 112 .
66. ↑ ^{a b} Laurie Asseo: Dad of Killer's Victim Loses Appeal. In: AP News Archive. October 20, 1997, accessed November 1, 2017 . 
67. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 109 .
68. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 4 . Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p.
     207 .
69. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. 1993, pp. 110-112. According to other sources (Schwartz, p. 78; Davis, p. 309), Raymond Smith died in July 1990.
70. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 114 .
71. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 116-117 .
72. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 309 .
73. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 81 .
74. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 122 .
75. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 156 .
76. ↑ Quoted from Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 94-95 .
77. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 84 .
78. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 124 .
79. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 108, 118 .
80. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 118, 142-144 .
81. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 138 .
82. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 137-142 .
83. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 143, 146-147 .
84. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 144-145, 148 .
85. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 127 .
86. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 149 .
87. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 150-152, 181-182 .
88. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 1-4 .
89. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 26 .
90. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 5-6 .
91. ↑ Nick McCarthy: The Jeffrey Dahmer Files. In: Slant Magazine. February 12, 2013, accessed February 12, 2018 . 
92. ↑ ^{a b c d} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 8 .
93. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. 1993, p. 180. The information on the length of the confession varies between 145 and 179 pages, depending on the source.
94. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 287 .
95. ↑ ^{a b} Gregory O'Meara: “He Speaks Not, Yet He Says Everything; What of That? " Text, Context, and Pretext in State v. Jeffrey Dahmer (Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Papers No. 9-17) . Marquette University, Milwaukee 2009, pp. 103 ( marquette.edu [accessed November 1, 2017]).
96. ↑ ^{a b} Jeffrey Jentzen et al .: Destructive Hostility: The Jeffrey Dahmer Case: A Psychiatric and Forensic Study of a Serial Killer . In: The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology . tape 15 , no. 4 , December 1994, pp. 283-294 ( marquette.edu [accessed October 22, 2017]).
97. ↑ Rogers Worthington: Dahmer May Have Stopped Killing If He Had Zombie, Doctor Says. In: Chicago Tribune. February 11, 1992. Retrieved December 26, 2017 . 
98. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 203 .
99. ^ Bone Fragments, Many Human, Are Found at Suspect's Ohio Home. In: The New York Times. July 31, 1991. Retrieved July 30, 2017 . 
100. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective. 2016, p. 275; Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. 1993, p. 180
101. ↑ Gregory O'Meara, “He Speaks Not, Yet He Says Everything; What of That? " Text, Context, and Pretext in State v. Jeffrey Dahmer (Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Papers No. 9-17) . Marquette University, Milwaukee 2009, pp. 126 ff . ( marquette.edu [accessed February 23, 2018]).
102. ↑ The sources are in some cases very inconsistent with regard to the age of the victims. The information given in the table is based on Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. 1993.
103. ↑ See individual references in the article text.
104. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 209-210 .
105. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 287-288 .
106. ↑ ^{a b} Robert Imrie: Dahmer Feared Loneliness, Officer Says. In: The Washington Post. August 4, 1991. Retrieved November 2, 2017 . 
107. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 211 .
108. ↑ ^{a b c} Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 246 .
109. ↑ Robyn Maharaj: Exorcising Dahmer's Ghost. In: Crime Magazine. September 11, 2014, accessed February 4, 2018 . Tim Sohr: The gruesome story of a serial killer who got away with it for far too long . In: Stern . July 27, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017 . Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 
      
      276 .
110. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 45, 257 .
111. ↑ Quoted from Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 73 .
112. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 50 .
113. ↑ Louis Sahagun: Dahmer Slain in Prison Attack; Inmate hero. In: Los Angeles Times. November 29, 1994. Retrieved November 1, 2017 . 
114. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 295-296 .
115. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 71-72 .
116. ↑ Quoted from Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 89 .
117. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 121, 207 .
118. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 191-192 .
119. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 287 . Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p.
      204 .
120. ↑ Rogers Worthington: Dahmer's Grisly Motivation Is Debated. In: Chicago Tribune. January 31, 1992, accessed November 1, 2017 . 
121. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 141 .
122. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 146-147 .
123. ↑ ^{a b} Gabi Vogt: The monster lived in Baumholder for almost two years. In: Rhein-Zeitung . February 17, 2012, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
124. ^ ^{A b} Gregory K. Moffatt: A Violent Heart: Understanding Aggressive Individuals . Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT 2002, ISBN 0-275-97336-0 , pp. 110 .
125. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 126 .
126. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 141 .
127. ↑ William Booth: DAHMER CHARGED IN 8 MORE MURDERS. In: The Washington Post. August 7, 1991. Retrieved January 19, 2018 . 
128. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 214 .
129. ^ Wayne A. Petheric et al .: Forensic Criminology . Elsevier, San Diego 2010, ISBN 978-0-12-375071-6 , pp. 487 .
130. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 187-188 .
131. ^ ^{A b} Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 216 .
132. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Sharrett: Mythologies of Violence in Postmordern Media . Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1999, ISBN 0-8143-2742-7 , pp. 105 .
133. ↑ Kate Dar Rauch: After the Verdict. In: The Washington Post. April 14, 1992. Retrieved July 2, 2017 . 
134. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 248 .
135. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 294-296 .
136. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 244 . Chris Dickinson: The Inner Life of A Psycho Killer. A Conversation With Forensic Psychiatrist Carl Wahlstrom, One of the Expert Witnesses Who Interviewed and Evaluated Jeffrey Dahmer. In: Chicago Reader . August 27, 1992. Retrieved July 30, 2017 .
      
137. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 194 .
138. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 206-209 .
139. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 295 .
140. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 207 .
141. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 196-197 .
142. ↑ This controversial offender typology developed by the FBI ascribes the following characteristics to the “organized” serial killer, among other things: high IQ, drunk during the crime, only child or oldest child, whereas the “disorganized” serial killer lives alone, is a social outsider and is sexual I have problems ( Stephan Harbort : Murderous profile - serial killer phenomenon. Heyne Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-453-87880-9 , pp. 201, 262).
143. ^ Robert K. Ressler, Tom Shachtman: Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI . St. Martin's Press, New York 2015, ISBN 0-312-95044-6 , pp. 604-605 .
144. ^ Brent E. Turvey: Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis . 4th edition. Academic Press, Elsevier, San Diego 2011, ISBN 978-0-12-385243-4 , pp. 106-107 .
145. ↑ Clare S. Allely et al .: neurodevelopmental and psychosocial risk factors in serial killers and mass murderers . In: Aggression and Violent Behavior . tape 19 , no. 3 . Elsevier, San Diego 2014, pp. 288-301 ( sciencedirect.com [accessed June 11, 2017]).
146. ^ J. Arturo Silva et al .: The Case of Jeffrey Dahmer: Sexual Serial Homicide from a Neuropsychiatric Development Perspective . In: Journal of Forensic Sciences . tape 47 , no. 6 , November 2002, pp. 9 ( murderpedia.org [PDF; accessed March 9, 2018]).
147. ↑ Stefan Eidt: Comparison of the 2- and 3-factor model of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised in the recidivism prognosis of offenders. (PDF; 464 kB) Dissertation. 2007, accessed September 23, 2017 . 
148. ↑ ^{a b c} Dirk Johnson: Milwaukee Jury Says Dahmer Was Sane. In: The New York Times. February 16, 1992. Retrieved September 16, 2017 . 
149. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 286 .
150. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 216-219 .
151. ↑ 15 Life Terms and No Parole for Dahmer. In: The New York Times. February 18, 1992, accessed June 11, 2017 . 
152. ↑ Don Davis: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story . 1995, p. 182 .
153. ↑ The exact sentence varies depending on the source between 936 (Kennedy / Maharaj, p. 255) and 957 years (Schwartz, p. 219).
154. ^ Dahmer sentenced to life for Hicks murder. In: UPI Archives. May 1, 1992, accessed February 23, 2018 . 
155. ^ Dahmer indicted in boyhood home. In: UPI Archives. September 24, 1991. Retrieved December 10, 2017 . 
156. ↑ John F. Galliher et al .: America Without the Death Penalty: States Leading the Way . Northeastern University Press, Boston 2005, ISBN 1-55553-639-5 , pp. 39 ff .
157. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Elizabeth Gleick: The Final Victim. In: People. December 12, 1994. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
158. ^ ^{A b c} Rogers Worthington, Louise Kiernan: Dahmer Is Beaten To Death In Prison. In: Chicago Tribune. November 29, 1994. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
159. ↑ Disciples of Satan . In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1994 ( online ). Serial Killer Dahmer Collects $ 12,000 From Pen Pals. In: AP News Archive. March 6, 1994. Retrieved June 23, 2017 .
      
160. ↑ Robert S. Mueller et al .: The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008 . US Department of Justice, Govt Printing Office, 2008, ISBN 978-0-16-080955-2 , pp. 73 .
161. ^ Roy Ratcliff, Lindy Adams: Dark Journey, Deep Grace . 2006, p. 391-392 .
162. ↑ ^{a b} Craig Spychalla: Man says Dahmer lost his death wish. In: The Chippewa Herald. November 27, 2004, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
163. ^ ^{A b} Don Terry: Jeffrey Dahmer, Multiple Killer, Is Bludgeoned to Death in Prison. In: The New York Times. November 29, 1994. Retrieved February 25, 2018 . 
164. ↑ ^{a b} Dahmer Killer Charged. In: Time . December 15, 1994. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
165. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 290 .
166. ^ Judge Orders Jeffrey Dahmer's Brain Destroyed. In: Los Angeles Times. December 13, 1995, accessed December 23, 2017 . 
167. ↑ John McCormick: Jeffrey Dahmer's 'Revelations'. In: Newsweek . December 11, 1994. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
168. ↑ Jamie Schram: Why I Killed Jeffrey Dahmer. In: New York Post . April 28, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
169. ↑ ^{a b} Rogers Worthington: Grisly Killing Trap Milwaukee In Turmoil. In: Chicago Tribune. August 5, 1991. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
170. ↑ Rogers Worthington: Could Police Have Saved Young Victim? 911 Tapes Show Officers Were In Dahmer's Place, Left Teen To Fate. In: The Seattle Times . August 2, 1992. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
171. ↑ Family Of Dahmer Victim Makes Tentative Settlement. In: Orlando Sentinel. March 22, 1995. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
172. ↑ Lisa Price: Morbid mementos. In: CNN . May 8, 1996, accessed June 11, 2017 . 
173. ↑ ^{a b} Serial Killer's Possessions to Be Destroyed. In: The New York Times. June 15, 1996. Retrieved June 11, 2017 . 
174. ↑ Joseph Boesen: Dahmer's apartment 'had a stigma to it'. In: Marquette Wire. March 8, 2007, accessed June 11, 2017 . 
175. ↑ Jeffrey Dahmer's mother attempts suicide in California. In: UPI Archives. March 31, 1994, accessed June 11, 2017 . 
176. ^ Roy Ratcliff, Lindy Adams: Dark Journey, Deep Grace . 2006, p. 341 .
177. ↑ Dirk C. Gibson: Serial Murder and Media Circuses . Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT 2006, ISBN 0-275-99064-8 , pp. 104 .
178. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 58-59 .
179. ↑ Dirk C. Gibson: Serial Murder and Media Circuses . Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT 2006, ISBN 0-275-99064-8 , pp. 102 .
180. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 24 .
181. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 28-29 .
182. ↑ ^{a b} Dirk C. Gibson: Serial Murder and Media Circuses . Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT 2006, ISBN 0-275-99064-8 , pp. 99-100 .
183. ^ ^{A b c} Scott A. Bonn: The Jeffrey Dahmer-Hannibal Lecter Connection. Two cannibal serial killers linked by the media. In: Psychology Today . September 29, 2014, accessed June 24, 2017 . 
184. ↑ Stephen McFarland: Jeffrey Dahmer, the Milwaukee Cannibal, is caught in 1991. In: Daily News . May 21, 2015, accessed on May 2, 2017 (originally an article from the Daily News of July 24, 1991, archived on its own website). 
185. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 59 .
186. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 33 .
187. ↑ Daily Mirror headline on July 26, 1991, p. 7.
188. ^ ^{A b} Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 177, 190 .
189. ^ Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 152 .
190. ^ ^{A b} Anne E. Schwartz: The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough . 2011, p. 151 .
191. ↑ James Allan Fox, Jack Levin: Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder . SAGE Publications , Thousand Oaks, CA 2005, ISBN 0-7619-8856-4 , pp. 6 .
192. ↑ Brian Masters: Dahmer's Inferno . In: Vanity Fair . Condé Nast Publications, November 1991, pp. 182 ff .
193. ↑ Ruth Penfold-Mounce: Celebrity Culture and Crime: The Joy of transgression . Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, ISBN 978-0-230-22468-1 , pp. 90-91 . Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p.
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194. ^ Brian Masters: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer . 1993, p. 216 .
195. ↑ Dahmer interview to air on 'Inside Edition'. In: UPI Archives. February 4, 1993. Retrieved October 15, 2017 . 
196. ↑ Howard Rosenberg: People's Choice: Manson, Dahmer: Television: The high ratings for news programs featuring jailed murderers show viewers get what they want. In: Los Angeles Times. March 14, 1993. Retrieved December 24, 2017 . 
197. ↑ Acting Out His Darkest Dreams, He Had Nothing Left to Hide: Jeffrey Dahmer: He not only admits his crimes, he declines to shift the blame. In: Los Angeles Times. April 4, 1994. Retrieved October 22, 2017 . 
198. ^ Charles Nevin: Interview: Empathy for the devil: Brian Masters: He is tidy, dapper, bookish and has made friends with a serial killer. Charles Nevin on a biographer with murder on his mind. In: The Independent . January 31, 1993. Retrieved October 28, 2017 . 
199. ↑ Jonathan Kirsch: BOOK REVIEW / MEMOIR: Dahmer's Father Also Asks, 'Why?': A FATHER'S STORY by Lionel Dahmer. In: Los Angeles Times. April 6, 1994, accessed February 23, 2018 . 
200. ↑ Patrick Kennedy, Robyn Maharaj: Dahmer Detective . 2016, p. 257 .
201. ^ ^{A b} Marianne Eloise: Why people feel sorry for the serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. In: VICE . February 18, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017 . 

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on March 12, 2018 in this version .