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Jeffrey Dahmer

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Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer, necrophile and cannibal, who murdered 17 men between 1978 and 1991 (with the majority of the murders occurring between 1989 and 1991).

Contents

Early life

Dahmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Christian fundamentalist parents. At age eight, his family moved to Bath, Ohio, near Akron. From his earliest youth he was extremely shy. He did not commit acts of animal cruelty but reportedly dissected already dead animals. He struggled with substance abuse and suffered from extremely low self-esteem. His parents underwent a divorce when Jeffrey was 18 (1978). In fact, Dahmer committed his first murder at the age of 18, killing Steven Hicks. Dahmer had invited Hicks over to his house after picking up the 19 year-old hitchhiker, and after drinks, he killed him because he "didn't want him to leave".

Dahmer attended The Ohio State University, but dropped out after one term. Dahmer's father then made him sign up with the Army. He signed up for a six-year stint in the Army, he was released after only two years because of his excessive drinking. In 1982, he moved in with his grandmother in West Allis, WI where he would live for six years.

There were many signs of Dahmer's increasingly unhinged frame of mind, however. The August that he moved in with his grandmother, 1982, he was arrested for exposing himself at a state fair. Four years later, he was charged again with public exposure after two boys accused him of masturbating in public. This time he was sentenced to a year in prison, of which he served 10 months.

In 1988 he was arrested for sexually fondling a 13-year-old boy, for which he served one year in a work release camp and was required to register as a sex offender. He convinced the judge that he only needed psychological help, and he was released with a 5 year probation on good behavior. Shortly thereafter, he began the string of murders that would end with his arrest in 1991.

Later Murders

Most of his victims were gay black men. He achieved notoriety after his arrest following the discovery of several decaying bodies in acid vats in his apartment. Severed heads were found in his refrigerator and plans for an altar of candles and human skulls were found in his closet. Accusations soon surfaced that Dahmer had practiced necrophilia and cannibalism. Dahmer admitted to eating the biceps of his eighth victim, Ernest Miller, whose skeleton he also kept, noting that human flesh "tasted like meat" to him.

Many people were outraged to learn that Milwaukee police returned Laotian teenager Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14, to Dahmer after he (Dahmer) convinced police that Sinthasomphone was his 19 year-old lover. This happened shortly after Konerak had escaped from Dahmer during the early morning hours of May 27, 1991. He was discovered on the street bleeding and disoriented. Dahmer claimed they had an argument. After being returned against his will by the Police, later that night Dahmer dismembered Sinthasomphone and would keep his skull as a souvenir. Konerak Sinthasomphone was the younger brother of a boy Dahmer molested in 1988.

John Balcerzak (Elected president of the Milwaukee Police Association union in May 2005) and Joseph Gabrish, the two police officers who returned Sinthasomphone to Dahmer, were terminated from the Milwaukee Police Department after their actions were widely publicized. The two officers appealed this termination and were reinstated with back pay. They were named officers of the year by the police union for fighting a "righteous" battle to regain their jobs.

By summer 1991, Dahmer was murdering around one person every week. Matt Turner was killed on June 30th, Jeremiah Weinberger on July 5th, Oliver Lacy on July 12th, and finally Joseph Brandehoft on July 19th, just three days before Dahmer was finally arrested.

Capture and death

Dahmer served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institute in Portage, Wisconsin. On 28th November, 1994, fellow inmate Christopher Scarver, a double murderer, beat Dahmer and another inmate. After Jeffrey Dahmer's death and subsequent legal proceedings regarding the study of his brain were over, his remains were cremated and divided in half, between his birth mother Joyce and his father Lionel, who had remarried a woman named Shari.

Aftermath

Victims of Dahmer will always remember the morbid way their sons died. Jeffreys father Lionel, also wrote a book in which he talks about his failure to reach his son as he was growing up.

Pop culture connections

The movie [[Jeffrey Dahmer: The Secret Life]] was released in 1993, starring Carl Crew as Dahmer. In 2002, the biopic Dahmer, starring Jeremy Renner in the title role, premiered in Dahmer's hometown. The film, which portrayed Dahmer in a human (if not sympathetic) light, met with protest from the victims' families, and quickly went to video. In a 2004 article in 3DShroom Magazine, Dahmer was described as the "most pitied serial killer in American history." The article described Dahmer's life as pathetic in comparison to less repentant killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy.

Dahmer was one of the serial killers emulated by the villain in the movie Copycat. Like Dahmer, the villain went to gay bars and drugged his victims' drinks. He also cut off one victim's head with a surgical saw. The Canadian grindcore band Dahmer is named after Jeffrey Dahmer.

American heavy metal band Macabre have written a concept album about Jeffrey Dahmer titled Dahmer. The songs "Arc Arsenal" by At the Drive-In and "213" by Slayer are also believed to be about Jeffrey Dahmer. As is the song "Dahmer is Dead" by the Violent Femmes. There is a track on Venetian Snares' album Meathole titled Sinthasomphone. The Irish rock band Therapy?'s song "Trigger Inside" features the lyric, "I know how Jeffrey Dahmer feels, lonely, lonely". Cradle Of Filth makes a reference to Dahmer in their song "Lord Abortion", when describing the technique and mindset of the necrophiliac the song is written about.

Deathrock band Christian Death has written a song titled "Still Born/Still Life" and dedicated it to Dahmer.

In the movie the Ringer, they refer to his name when Johnny Knoxville is playing a man named Steve, and he enters the Special Olympics. He uses the name Jeffy, and when he needs a last name his friend says his last name is Dahmor; it is pronounced the same but with an "O." So his name would be Jeffy Dahmor. In the movie Demolition Man, when Simon Phoenix is going over the list of cryocons, he comes across Jeffrey Dahmer's name and decides to release him ("Jeffrey Dahmer? I LOVE that guy!"). This scene is frequently deleted in modern broadcasts of the film due to Dahmer's subsequent murder in prison in 1994, thus making the scene anachronistic.

Bloody Tea vs. Human Raise has a song about Jeffrey Dahmer Called "Jeffrey Dahmer's CookBook"

Victims

Name Photo Age Date of Death
Steven Hicks 60px 19 June, 1978
Steven Tuomi 60px 24 September 15, 1987
James "Jamie" Doxtator 60px 14 October, 1987
Richard Guerrero 60px 23 March, 1988
Anthony Sears 60px 26 February, 1989
Raymond Smith
(aka Ricky Beeks) 		60px 33 May, 1990
Eddie Smith 60px 27 June, 1990
Ernest Miller 60px 22 September, 1990
David Thomas 60px 23 September, 1990
Curtis Straughter 60px 19 February, 1991
Errol Lindsey 60px 19 April, 1991
Tony Hughes 60px 31 May 24, 1991
Konerak Sinthasomphone 60px 14 May 27, 1991
Matt Turner 60px 20 June 30, 1991
Jeremiah Weinberger 60p 23 July 5, 1991
Oliver Lacy 60px 23 July 12, 1991
Joseph Bradeholt 60px 25 July 19, 1991

Attempted victims

Name Photo Age Date of Abduction
Tracy Edwards 60px 22 July,1991

Literature

External links

 

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