Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Serial Killer: Jeffrey Dahmer (Part I)

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (/ˈdɑːmər/; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who committed the murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys from 1978 to 1991. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeleton.

Although he was diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and a psychotic disorder, Dahmer was found to be legally sane at his trial. He was convicted of 15 of the 16 murders he had committed in Wisconsin and was sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment on February 15, 1992. He was later sentenced to a 16th term of life imprisonment for an additional homicide committed in Ohio in 1978.

On November 28, 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death by Christopher Scarver, a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution.

Early life

Childhood

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born at the Evangelical Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, on May 21, 1960, the first of two sons born to Joyce Annette (née Flint) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer. Dahmer's mother worked as a teletype machine instructor, and his father was a student at Marquette University, working towards a degree in chemistry. His father was of German and Welsh ancestry, and his mother was of Norwegian and Irish ancestry.

It has been claimed that Dahmer was deprived of attention as an infant. Other sources, however, suggest that generally, Dahmer was doted upon as an infant and toddler by both parents, although his mother was known to be tense, greedy for both attention and pity, and argumentative with her husband and their neighbors.

As her son entered first grade, Joyce Dahmer began to spend an increasing amount of her time in bed recovering from weakness. Lionel's university studies kept him away from home much of the time; when he was home, his wife demanded constant attention. She reportedly worked herself into a state of anxiety over trivial matters simply to appease her husband. On one occasion, Joyce Dahmer attempted suicide from an overdose of the Equanil pills to which she had become addicted. Consequently, neither parent devoted much time to their son.

Dahmer has been described as being an "energetic and happy child" until he became notably subdued after undergoing a double hernia surgery, which was performed shortly before his fourth birthday. He recalled his early years of family life as being of "extreme tension" which he noted between his parents, whom he observed to be constantly arguing with each other. At elementary school, he was regarded as both quiet and timid by his peers. On his first-grade report card, one teacher described Dahmer as a reserved child whom she sensed felt neglected. This teacher did note that this sense of neglect seemed to stem from his mother's illnesses. Nonetheless, although largely reserved and uncommunicative in grade school, Dahmer did have a small number of friends.

From an early age, Dahmer manifested an interest in dead animals. Friends later recalled Dahmer initially collected large insects, such as dragonflies and butterflies, which he placed inside jars. Later, he collected animal carcasses from the roadside, occasionally accompanied by one or more of his few friends; he dismembered these animals either at home or in an expanse of woodland behind the family home. According to one friend, Dahmer dismembered these animals and stored the parts in jars in the family's wooden toolshed, always explaining that he was curious as to how each animal "fitted together".

In one instance, he decapitated the carcass of a dog before nailing the animal's body to a tree. He later impaled the skull of this dog upon a stake beside a wooden cross in woodland behind his house. Dahmer's fascination with dead animals might have begun when, at the age of four, he noted his father removing animal bones from beneath the family home. According to Lionel Dahmer, his son was "oddly thrilled" by the sound the bones made, and instantly developed a fixation for playing with and collecting animal bones. He occasionally searched beneath and around the family home for additional bones. With live animals, he explored their bodies to discover where their bones were located.