Jeffrey Dahmer

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Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
Born	May 21, 1960 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Died	November 28, 1994 Portage, Wisconsin, USA
Charge(s)	Murder
Penalty	Life imprisonment
Status	Deceased
Occupation	Ex-soldier

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer. He murdered at least 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 (with the majority of the murders occurring between 1989 and 1991). His murders were particularly gruesome, involving acts of necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Later murders 3 Trial, imprisonment and death 4 Aftermath 5 Known Victims 5.1 Attempted victim 6 Pop culture references 6.1 Film 6.2 Literature 6.3 Music 6.4 Television 6.5 Video games 6.6 Games 6.7 Poetry 7 See also 8 Footnotes 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] Early life

Dahmer was born May 21, 1960, 4:34 pm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Annette Joyce Flint (b. February 7, 1936 d. November 27. 2000) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer.^[1] At age four, he had surgery to correct a double hernia. His family soon moved to Bath, Ohio, where he attended Revere High School. He reportedly dissected already dead animals as a child.^[2] He started drinking alcohol at the age of 14 and suffered from extremely low self-esteem. After years of constant fighting, Dahmer's parents underwent a divorce when he was 18. Dahmer committed his first murder at the age of 18, killing Steven Hicks, a 19-year-old hitchhiker. Dahmer invited Hicks to his house, and killed him because he "didn't want him to leave."

Dahmer attended Ohio State University, but he dropped out after one term. Dahmer's father then forced him to enlist in the United States Army, where he was to serve for a six-year enlistment, but he was discharged after two, due to his excessive drinking.

When the Army discharged Dahmer in 1981 they provided him with a plane ticket to anywhere in the country. "Dahmer told police he couldn't go home to face his father, so he headed to Miami Beach because he was tired of the cold,"[1]

In 1982, Dahmer moved in with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin, where he would live for six years.

In August 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 Laotian boy in Milwaukee (who turned out to be the older brother of his future victim, Konerak Sinthasomphone), for which he served 10 months of a one year sentence in a work release camp and was required to register as a sex offender. He convinced the judge that he needed therapy, and he was released with a 5-year probation on good behavior. Shortly thereafter, he began a string of murders that would end with his arrest in 1991.

[edit] Later murders

One of Dahmer's victims escaped, only to be returned to him by police. When it was later publicized, there was widespread condemnation of the officers. In the early morning hours of May 27, 1991, 14-year old Milwaukee Laotian Konerak Sinthasomphone was discovered on the street, wandering nude. Reports of the boy's injuries varied. Dahmer told police that they had an argument while drinking, and that Sinthasomphone was his 19 year-old lover. Against the teenager's protests, police turned him over to Dahmer. They had no suspicions, but reported smelling a strange scent. That scent was later found to be bodies in the back of his room. Later that night Dahmer killed and dismembered Sinthasomphone, keeping his skull as a souvenir.

John Balcerzak 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, including an audiotape of the officers making homophobic statements to their dispatcher and laughing about having reunited the "lovers." The two officers appealed their termination and were reinstated with back pay. They were named officers of the year by the police union. Balcerzak would go on to be elected president of the Milwaukee Police Association in May 2005.

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

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer lured another man, Tracy^[3] (Traci^[4]) Edwards, into his home. According to the would-be victim, Dahmer struggled with Edwards in order to handcuff him. Edwards escaped and alerted a police car, with the handcuffs still hanging from one hand.

Edwards led police back to Dahmer's apartment, where Dahmer at first acted friendly to the officers, only to turn on them when he realized that the officers suspected something was wrong. As one officer subdued Dahmer, the other searched the house and uncovered multiple photographs of murdered victims and human remains including three severed heads. A further search of the house revealed more evidence, including photographs of victims and human remains in his refrigerator.

The story of Dahmer's arrest and the gruesome inventory in his apartment quickly gained notoriety: several corpses were stored in acid-filled vats, severed heads were found in his refrigerator, and implements for the construction of an altar of candles and human skulls were found in his closet. Accusations soon surfaced that Dahmer had practiced necrophilia, cannibalism and possibly a form of trepanation in order to create so-called "zombies". Dahmer admitted to eating the biceps of his eighth victim, Ernest Miller, whose skeleton he also kept, noting that human flesh "tasted like beef" to him.

[edit] Trial, imprisonment and death

Jeffrey Dahmer was officially indicted on 17 murder charges, which were reduced to 15. The murder cases were already so notorious that the authorities never bothered to charge him in the attempted murder of Edwards. His trial began in July 1992. With evidence overwhelmingly against him, Dahmer chose to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing that his necrophiliac urges were so strong that he could not control them.

The court found Dahmer sane and guilty on 15 counts of murder and sentenced him to 15 life terms, totaling 937 years in prison. At his sentencing hearing, in a stance unusual for serial killers, Dahmer expressed remorse for his actions, also saying that he wished for his own death.

Dahmer served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, where it is claimed he became more and more religious over time and ultimately declared himself a born-again Christian. On November 28, 1994, Dahmer and another inmate named Jesse Anderson were beaten to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver while on work detail in the prison gym. Dahmer died from severe head trauma in the ambulance en route to the hospital.

Much controversy surrounded both the decision to allow Dahmer such a privilege as work detail, as well as the pairing of Dahmer with Scarver, a man with a history of brutality who was incarcerated for murder.^{[citation needed]} Before his murder, Dahmer survived a previous attempt on his life. After attending a church service in the prison chapel, an inmate tried to slash Dahmer's throat with a razor blade. Dahmer escaped the incident with superficial wounds.

After Dahmer's death and the subsequent legal proceedings, Dahmer's remains were cremated and divided in half between his birth mother Joyce, and his father and stepmother. Popular myth states his brain was donated to scientific study, but it was not, having been too badly damaged in the assault to be of any scientific value.

[edit] Aftermath

After the murders, the Oxford Apartments were demolished and the site is now a vacant lot. At the time the apartments were demolished there were plans to turn the site into a memorial garden, but no garden exists on the site. The site is mostly overgrown with grass and a tall chain link fence surrounding the perimeter of the property and is generally considered to be in a poor neighborhood on the north central side of Milwaukee.

Lionel Dahmer published a book, A Father's Story, and donated a portion of the proceeds from his book to the victims and their families. Most of the families showed support for Lionel Dahmer and his wife, Shari. He has retired from his career as an analytical chemist and resides with his wife in Medina County, Ohio. He consults on the evolution versus creationism topic occasionally (he believes in creationism), and his wife was a member of the board of the Medina County Ohio Horseman's Council.^[5] Both continue to carry the name Dahmer and say they love their son despite his crimes. Lionel Dahmer's first wife, Joyce (Flint), died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 64. She was later buried in Atlanta, Georgia. Dahmer's younger brother David changed his last name and lives in anonymity.

In January 2007, evidence surfaced potentially linking Dahmer to Adam Walsh's 1981 abduction and murder in Florida.^[6] However, Adam's father, John Walsh doesn't believe Dahmer was behind the killing, and instead believes Ottis Toole committed the crime.^[7]

[edit] Known Victims

Name	[3] Age	Date of Death
Stephen Hicks	18	June, 1978
Steven Toumi	26	September, 1987
Jamie Doxtator	14	October, 1987
Richard Guerrero	25	March, 1988
Anthony Sears	24	February, 1989
Eddie Smith	36	June, 1990
Ricky Beeks	27	July, 1990
Ernest Miller	22	September, 1990
David Thomas	23	September, 1990
Curtis Straughter	16	February, 1991
Errol Lindsey	19	April, 1991
Tony Hughes	31	May 24, 1991
Konerak Sinthasomphone	14	May 27, 1991
Matt Turner	20	June 30, 1991
Jeremiah Weinberger	23	July 5, 1991
Oliver Lacy	23	July 12, 1991
Joseph Bradeholt	25	July 19, 1991

[edit] Attempted victim

Name	[3][4] Age	Date of Abduction
Tracy (Traci) Edwards	32	July 22, 1991

[edit] Pop culture references

[edit] Film

• 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 somewhat sympathetic light, met with protest from the victims' families, and quickly went to video.
• Dahmer is mentioned in the Wes Craven film Scream 2 (1998), sarcastically as having been described as a nice, quiet guy by his neighbors.
• Dahmer was one of the serial killers emulated by the villain in the movie Copycat (1995). Like Dahmer, the villain went to gay bars and drugged his victims' drinks; he also cuts off one victim's head with a surgical saw.
• In the movie Demolition Man (1993), the criminal Simon Phoenix (played by Wesley Snipes) discovers Dahmer's name in a list of cryogenically frozen people and decides to release him, declaring, "Jeffrey Dahmer? I love that guy!" This scene is frequently deleted in modern broadcasts of the film due to the anachronistic reference.
• In the 2005 movie, The Ringer, starring Johnny Knoxville, Knoxville acts as a mentally retarded person trying to win money in the special Olympics; throughout the movie Knoxville's character is known as "Jeffy Dahmor".
• In School for Scoundrels (2006 film), the main character (portrayed by Jon Heder, who bears some resemblance to Dahmer) is called "Dahmer" by his girlfriend's best friend.

[edit] Literature

• Horror writer Poppy Z. Brite has written several works with protagonists inspired by Dahmer, including the short story "Self-Made Man" and the novel Exquisite Corpse, in which a pair of homosexual necrophiliac-cannibalistic lovers plot the murder of a young Vietnamese man.
• Joyce Carol Oates's novel Zombie was based on Dahmer's life.^[8]
• In Chuck Palahniuk's novel Lullaby, a paramedic named John Nash references Dahmer. “You remember Jeffrey Dahmer... He didn’t set out to kill so many people. He just thought you could drill a hole in somebody’s skull, pour in some drain cleaner, and make them your sex zombie. Dahmer just wanted to be getting more.”
• The comic book "Mindbomb", a psychological analysis of Spider-man's nemesis Carnage, has Carnage referencing himself walking down the street "making Jeffrey Dahmer eyes" at the people he passes. Writer: Warren Ellis, Pencils and Inks: Kyle Hotz, 1996, Marvel Comics.

[edit] Music

• The song "I'm The Bomb" by the Electric Six features a reference to Dahmer's apartment. "I know you think I'm just another psycho perpetrator living in the 213".
• Pearl Jam's song "Dirty Frank" references Jeffrey Dahmer. The song tells the tale of "Dirty Frank Dahmer," a cannibalistic tour bus driver who prowls concert venues across the nation looking for fans to eat, all the while driving drunk and transporting a terrified band who mostly hide under their bunks. Mike McCready meets a grisly fate at the end of the tale: "My god, he's been ate!"
• The track entitled "Respect List" by Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) features the computer generated 'Whisper' voice giving thanks and respect to assorted people & artists. At one point it mentions: "Special thanks to Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish".
• The American father of Death Rock, Rozz Williams wrote the song "Still Born / Still Life, Part I (for Jeffrey Dahmer) (with love)" in Dahmer's honor.
• The Canadian grindcore band Dahmer is named after Jeffrey Dahmer.
• The Cleveland, Ohio Power violence band Apartment 213 is a reference Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment number.^{[citation needed]}
• On Big L's LP, Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, on the track "the graveyard", party arty declares "Not jeffrey Dahmer/ Im the sequel, head or gut like illegal/"
• The American death metal band Macabre has written a concept album about Jeffrey Dahmer titled Dahmer, along with several songs about him on various of their albums.
• The song "Dahmer is Dead" by the Violent Femmes clearly references the killer.
• There is a track on Venetian Snares' album Meathole titled Sinthasomphone, a reference to Dahmer's thirteenth victim.
• The song "Way Cool" by Freestyle Fellowship is about Jeffrey Dahmer.^{[citation needed]}
• Punk singer Tesco Vee sold aprons with a photoshopped image of Dahmer as Chef Boyardee with the tagline "Chef Jeff".^{[citation needed]}
• The song "E=MC5" by LA rapper Key Kool featuring Ras Kass contains the line, "Grillin Niggas like Jeffrey Dahmer's Labor Day picnic."
• The song "Do the Charles Manson" by American death-rapper Necro has Jeffrey Dahmer reference in the chorus "Do the Charles Manson/ Do the Jerrery Dahmer"
• The song "Room 213" by GGFH is about Jeffrey Dahmer.^{[citation needed]}
• The song "Jeffrey Dahmer's Cookbook" by death/grind band Fuck...I'm Dead is a reference to Jeffrey Dahmer.
• The song "213" by the thrash metal band Slayer is about Jeffrey Dahmer. The title refers to the address number of Jeffrey's famous Milwaukee apartment.^{[citation needed]}
• The song "Trigger Inside" by Therapy? contains the lyric "I know how Jeffrey Dahmer feels, lonely, lonely".
• The song "Fearless" by Insane Clown Posse contains the lyric "I'll meet Jeffrey Dahmer at some kind of bar, then let him take me home and eat me"
• The song "Jokers Wild" by Insane Clown Posse briefly mentions Dahmer
• The Hardcore.metal Belgian masters "Bloodshot" had released a full album about Jeffrey Dahmer "Ultimate Hatred" which contains songs like "Pleasure through pain, Lair 213,Welcome to Milwaukee and Two faced freak".^{[citation needed]}
• Swedish metal band Terror 2000's song "Satan's Barbeque" is about a barbeque at Satan's house with Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and George Foreman^{[citation needed]}
• The band The Calm Before have a song called "Jeffrey Dahmer Eat Your Heart Out"
• Eminem's "Fubba U Cubba Cubba" contains the lyrics "Jeffrey Dahmer left me with his legacy to carry on".
• The song "Jeffery Dahmer Went to Heaven" by Room full of Walters referenced statements from one of Dahmer's last interviews, in which he stated he had become a Christian.
• The band Desecration wrote a song "No More Room In The Freezer" which in the beginning features a news report about the discoveries in his home.
• The song "Pass That Dutch" by Missy Elliott contains the lyrics "I can write a song sicker than Jeffrey Dahm'".
• The Faster Pussycat song "The Body Thief" contains several references to Dahmer.^{[citation needed]}
• The song "Natural Born Killaz" by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube references Jeffrey Dahmer in the line "So I'ma pull a fuckin' Jeffrey Dahmer".
• The song "God Bless" by Combichrist, the lyrics of which consist mainly of the names of male American serial killers and criminals, includes Dahmer's name.
• The song "Lord Abortion" by Cradle of Filth contains the lyrics "I know I'm sick as Dahmer did, but this is what I do".
• The song "Hazy Shade of Criminal" by Public Enemy contains the lyric "Jeffrey Dahmer enter the room without cuffs"
• The song "Arc Arsenal" by post-hardcore/indie rock band At the Drive-In is about Jeffrey Dahmer.^{[citation needed]}
• The song "Part Of Me", a cannabalism song by horrorcore rapper Q Strange, has parts from a documentary about Jeffrey Dahmer.^{[citation needed]}
• The song "Bunch of Niggas" by Heavy D and featuring many other artisits, has a line by Notorious B.I.G. that says "Cannibalistic like that nigga Jeffrey Dahmer"
• Witchita, KS band A Room Full of Walters wrong a song about Jeffrey Dahmer's conversion to Christianity entitled "Jeffery Dahmer Went to Heaven"
• The song "Straight Boys" by Jeffree Star has the line "I want a boy like me but hotter, to eat me out like Jeffrey Dahmer"
• Canadian underground death metal band Belladonna Homicide have a song entitled "Ode To Dahmer" in wich the band speaks of Dahmer's killing methods and his refrigerator.
• Rapper and Producer Count Bass D references Jeffrey Dahmer in his track Subwoofer on his album Dwight Spitz with the following lyrics, "Timothy McVeigh got iced on Grimm's birthday; Grim Reaper for real hook up your canned tuna. You think they'll ever get seen though down in Tunica? Unibomber, Jeffrey Dahmer, Joey Farmer, Dalai Lama. We the victorious O-N-E-S"
• "Dahmer the Embalmer" by Australian groove death metal band Blood Duster is particularly about Dahmer's crimes.
• Ras Kass mentions Dahmer twice, once in each song. In "Nature of the Threat", he says "But up until 1848 there's documented cases of whites bein the savage cannibals/eatin Indians/In 1992, it's Jeffery Dahmer". In Ordo Abchao, he says "Dog eat dog like Jeff Dahmer/and most brothers ain't solders cause you gots no code, you gots no honor".

[edit] Television

• Stone Phillips' exclusive interview, (from February, 1994), with Dahmer, "Confessions of a Serial Killer", aired on MSNBC. Phillips also interviewed Dahmer's father, Lionel, with Jeffrey present. His mother, Joyce Flint, also appeared on the show, defending herself against Lionel's claims that Joyce's seizures and subsequent ingestion of psychopharmaceuticals in-vitro, contributed to Jeffery Dahmer's killing sprees. Ms. Flint appeared to be medicated during this interview.
• In the South Park episode "Hell on Earth 2006", Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy work together to pick up a Ferrari cake for Satan. The trio parody the Three Stooges. Dahmer represents Larry. He was also mentioned in the musical episode "Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics", during the song "Christmas Time in Hell": Satan sings: "There goes Jeffrey Dahmer, with a festive Christmas ham. After he has sex with it he'll eat up all he can."
• In the TV series Dexter Dexter Morgan (who is a serial killer himself) refers to Jeffrey Dahmer when finding the second victim of a Miami serial killer, who cuts up his victims bodies and displays them for the police to find without any traces of blood. Dexter thinks: "There’s something strange and disarming about looking at a homicide scene in the daylight of Miami. It makes the most grotesque killings look staged, like you’re in a new and daring section of Disney World: Dahmerland!"
• On a Comedy Inc. fake commercial for spin-offs of the sitcom Dharma and Greg, one of the proposed spin-offs was "Jeffrey Dahmer and Greg" with a shot of Jenna Elfman's severed head in a freezer.^{[citation needed]}
• On an episode of the NBC crime drama, Law & Order: Criminal Intent entitled "Want", Neil Patrick Harris guest stars as a cannibal serial killer who, like Dahmer, killed in order to have a completely submissive sexual partner (in this case, women rather than men).
• In one of his fake-news bits, soon after Dahmer's death, comic Dennis Miller showed a picture of that year's Thanksgiving parade in Milwaukee, and said that the grandmaster was the guy who killed Dahmer.
• On an episode of The Kids in the Hall airing shortly after Dahmer's arrest, Scott Thompson does a short bit titled "People I Look Like" wherein he showcases pictures of various famous people to whom he bears a resemblance, finishing out the list with Dahmer.
• In an episode of Criminal Minds, an incident where Dahmer was pulled over with a bag of body parts in his backseat is mentioned as an example of manipulation.
• In an episode of Kenny vs. Spenny, Jeffrey Dahmer is shown as a wax mannequin in the Criminal Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
• In an episode of Cops, a person states that the suspect doesn't look dangerous, and the cop responds, "Neither did Jeffrey Dahmer." The person looks at the officer strangely, and the officer says, "You don't know who Jeffrey Dahmer is, do you?" The person responds, "No sir."
• A whole scene in "Reno 911" is made that parodies Jeffrey.

[edit] Video games

• In the video game Shadow Man, In one of the early cutscenes, Jaunty asks Shadow Man to say a "howya" to Jeffrey Dahmer if he goes into the Asylum

[edit] Games

• The slang name for the poker hand J8 is Jeffrey Dahmer ("Ate Jack").[2]
• Due to the chronological proximity of the two otherwise-unrelated events, there was a joke circulating that fancied Dahmer and Lorena Bobbitt sharing dinner, with Dahmer asking, "You gonna eat that?"

[edit] Poetry

• Amiri Baraka makes a reference to Dahmer in his poem Somebody Blew up America

• Thom Gunn's poetry collection Boss Cupid includes a brief series of poems in Dahmer's persona.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• John Balcerzak

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Further reading

• Pincus, Jonathan H. Base Instincts - What Makes Killers kill?. W.W. Norton & Company, New York 2001 (Paperback 2002)
• Dahmer, Lionel. A Father's Story. William Morrow & Company, New York 1994 (Paperback 1994)
• Mann, Robert & Williamson, Miryam. Forensic Detective - How I Cracked The World's Toughest Cases. Ballantine Books (March 28 2006)
• Masters, Brian. The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer. Hodder and Stroughton Limited, London 1993 (Paperback Coronet 1993)
• Backderf, J. My Friend Dahmer. Derfcity Comics, Cleveland, OH 2002

[edit] External links

• BBC's Infamous Criminals
• Crime Library article on Dahmer
• Jeffrey Dahmer at the Internet Movie Database
• Find A Grave Entry
• Oxford Apartments in Milwaukee Wisconsin - This is an aerial view of the now demolished Oxford Apartments in Milwaukee Wisconsin.^{[citation needed]} They were located on the corner of North 25th Street and Kilbourn.
• Young Jeffrey Dahmer - comic book by Derf about his school acquaintanceship with Dahmer
• Profile of Dahmer at Carpe Noctem (Seize The Night)
• The One That Got Away - Would-be victim Traci Edwards tells journalist Denny Johnson about his ordeal with Dahmer.

Persondata
NAME	Dahmer, Jeffrey Lionel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 21, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
DATE OF DEATH	November 28, 1994
PLACE OF DEATH	Portage, Wisconsin, United States