Transcript Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer
Profiling Psychopathology
Dr. Kline
FSU-PC
Jeffrey Dahmer-early years

Jeffrey Dahmer had a fairly normal childhood
living with his parents in the Mid-West.

Dahmer, an attractive, shy kid, did okay in school,
and kept to himself.

None of the folks that knew him would have
thought him capable of the horrors he committed
against young males.
Dahmer-teens & young adulthood

During Dahmer’s adolescence, his parents went through
an acrimonious divorce. It was during this time that
Dahmer killed his first victim, a hitch-hiker named
Stephen Hicks. He didn’t kill another person until 9
years later.

After graduating from high school, Dahmer went to
college briefly before dropping out. Feeling a lack of
direction, Dahmer joined the Army, but was thrown out
for being a drunk.

Jeff, in need of money & direction, got a job in a
chocolate factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Dahmer is arrested & convicted for child
molestation

Dahmer was convicted of child molestation in 1989.

He received probation & went on with his life.

When this occurred, Lionel Dahmer, Jeff’s father, wrote,
“I could not imagine how he had become such a ruined
soul. For the first time, I no longer believed that my
efforts and resources alone would be enough to save my
son. There was something missing in Jeff. We call it a
‘conscience.’ That had either died or had never been
alive in the first place.”
Dahmer’s Modus Operandi

Dahmer frequented gay bars to pick up his victims,
young gay or bisexual males who were predominantly
African American, Asian, or Hispanic.

Dahmer offered his victims money to pose for pictures or
he just invited them to come back to his apartment to
watch videos or to drink.

He drugged his victims by lacing their drinks & once
they were asleep, he would either strangle them or stab
them to death.

Following this, Dahmer usually dismembered them with
a hacksaw.
Dahmer’s MO (contd.)

A. Victims bodies
 Dahmer kept the victims heads and genitalia as
trophies. He froze these body parts.

Dahmer also froze the victims’ biceps and
other muscles which he would later eat.

The rest of the body was boiled down using
chemicals & acids, which were disposed of via
the drain.
Dahmer’s MO (contd.)
B. Dahmer’s experiments
 Sometimes Dahmer wouldn’t kill the victims
outright. Instead, he would perform experiments
on his “drugged” alive victims.


He lobotomized a number of his victims. Most
died immediately. However, he claimed that 1
victim lived, following an experiment, where
Dahmer drilled a whole into the victim’s skull &
poured muriatic acid into it. Dahmer argued the
man was turned into a zombie & lived for several
days.
Dahmer’s MO (contd.)

C. Rituals
 Dahmer believed in the occult & planned to create
a shrine to an evil force he thought influenced
him.
Dahmer used his skulls, other human trophies, & a
statue of a griffin that he owned. He thought the
shrine would give him special powers & energies
to help him socially & financially.
Dahmer’s Victims
Over 17 young men were killed by Jeffrey
Dahmer.
Dahmer killed from 1978 to 1991 when he
was finally caught.
The Victims
Stephen Hicks – Jun 1978
Matt Turner- 6/91
 Steven Toumi- Sep. 1987
Jeremiah Weinberger-7/91
 Jamie Doxtator – Oct. 1987
Oliver Lacy- 7/91
 Richard Guerrero- March 1988
Joseph Bradeholt- 7/91
 Anthony Sears – Feb. 1989
 Eddie Smith- June 1990
 Ricky Beeks- July 1990
 Ernest Miller- Sep. 1990
 David Thomas – Sep. 1990
 Curtis Straughter, Feb. 1991
 Errol Lindsey- April 1991
 Tony Hughes- May 1991
 Konerak Sinthasomphone- May 1991

A Fatal Mistake made by the police

The morning of May 27th, 1991, a 14 year-old Asian
male, Konerak Sinthasomphone, was found running
naked & speaking incoherently (as he was drugged) in
the streets of a suburb of Milwaukee.

Two African American women found Konerak & called
the police for help.

The women were approached by a tall Caucasian male
who told them that Konerak was his 19 year-old lover.

The man argued that he & Konerak had simply had a
fight & that he wanted the young male to go back with
him to his apartment.
Dahmer escapes
When the police arrived they believed the Caucasian
male over the African American women. The police
agreed to escort the teenager back to the man’s
apartment and left them.
Shortly after the police left Dahmer, he strangled
Konerak, sexually abused his lifeless body, &
dismembered him.
As the police didn’t do a routine check on Dahmer, they
missed the fact that he was a known child molester on
probation.
The police finally catch Dahmer

In July 1991, police spotted a young African American
male stumbling along the street with a single handcuff on
his wrist.

The man, Tracy Edwards (32 years-old), told police he
was invited back to the home of a strange man to watch
videos. He became sleepy after a couple of drinks & was
handcuffed & threatened by the man with a knife.

Edwards, managed to punch the man, and escaped his
apartment. The officers asked the man to escort him back
to the apartment.
The Chamber of horrors!

Dahmer opened the door when police arrived.
He said he had lost his job at the chocolate
factory & his temper after getting drunk. He
offered to get the key to unlock the handcuff
from Edwards.

While the police followed Dahmer into his
bedroom, they saw many polaroid photos of
dismembered bodies & skulls in the
refrigerator.
The refrigerator

The police officer walked into the kitchen & opened
Dahmer’s frig. He saw a human head on the
refrigerator shelf staring blankly at him.

The officer screamed to his partner, “There’s a
goddam head in here.”

Dahmer then tried to escape, but was wrestled to the
ground as the police handcuffed him.

Terry Edwards, was overcome by terror as he realized
Dahmer’s threats to cut out his heart & to consume it
weren’t just a sick joke.
Dahmer’s Apartment

Contents of human remains & torture:
 Four heads (3 in freezer)
 Several pairs of hands
 Male genitalia in formaldehyde
 Human steaks in the freezer
 Two boiled & fleshless skulls in the bedroom
closet.
 Hundreds of photos of victims (before & after
death, many showed dismemberment).
Dahmer’s plea

July 13th, 1992- Dahmer pled guilty by reason of
insanity. After a short trial, the jury found Dahmer
guilty, but sane.

He was sentenced to serve 15 life terms-957 years in
prison.

Dahmer was murdered (bludgeoed) two years later by
another inmate, Christopher Scarver, a 25 year-old
African American man who suffered from
schizophrenia and messianic delusions.
Milwaukee tries to atone for Dahmer’s
murders

The city of Milwaukee raised over $400,000 to buy
Dahmer’s possessions (photos of his victims, murder
weapons, & the refrigerator) in 1996.

Many in the city feared that these items could be
acquired by others to create a “Dahmer museum.”

To provide some closure for the families of the victims,
the contents of Dahmer’s killings were burned.