MurderousMinds
MurderousMinds takes a deep dive into the dark world of serial killers. Each episode features an in depth analysis of some of history's most notorious murderers. We examine the impact these crimes have had on families and communities, as we attempt to gain a better understanding of what drives these individuals to do what they do. Narrated by Top5s, from the popular YouTube channel Top5s, join us as we make sense of why these individuals committed such brutal acts and discover what drives them, here on the MurderousMinds podcast.
MurderousMinds
The Milwaukee Cannibal: Jeffrey Dahmer | The MurderousMinds Podcast
Join us on a chilling expedition into the mind of one of history's most infamous killers, Jeffrey Dahmer. What drives a man to not only take other's lives but to also engage in necrophilia, cannibalism, and the preservation of body parts? Could it be traced back to a neglected childhood, or his deeply rooted morbid fascination with death? Experience the eerie narrative unraveling the transformation of a young Jeffrey, from his seemingly ordinary childhood marked with a peculiar interest in dead animals to the years of his horrifying murder spree.
This episode unveils the grim details of Dahmer's despicable acts, like his attempts to fabricate a living zombie, his ritualistic posing of victims' bodies, and his terrifying cannibalistic tendencies. Are you ready to confront the raw horror as we delve into his chilling confessions, where he unflinchingly admitted to murdering 16 young men? Brace yourself as we scrutinize the controversial trial that ensued, a trial that debated whether Dahmer's morbid sexual obsessions made him insane or if he was fully cognizant of his monstrous acts.
Finally, we shed light on the enigmatic circumstances surrounding Dahmer's demise in prison. We probe the theories suggesting Dahmer may have wished for his own death as a form of reparation, and the shocking allegations of guard complicity in his murder. This episode is not for the faint-hearted, but promises a riveting exploration of the mind of a killer, the gruesome specifics of his crimes, and the tragic aftermath for his victims and their families. Prepare for a journey that will shake your understanding of the human psyche.
From murderers to money launderers, thieves to thugs – police officers from the...
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Thank you for tuning in to MurderousMinds, the chilling true crime podcast that delves deep into the darkest minds. Join us as we explore the captivating stories of notorious killers, analyze their motives, and unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts. Stay connected with us on Patreon for updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes insights. Remember, listener discretion is advised.
Welcome to Murderous Minds, a documentary series started by the Top 5's YouTube channel back in 2018, dedicated to exploring the twisted minds of serial killers. The following podcast episode is the audio version of our video series over on the Top 5's Patreon page. If you would like to watch the video instead of just listening, and would also like to support our show, then please head on over to Patreon using the link in the show notes. Thank you for joining and now let's take a journey into the minds of murderers.
Speaker 2:Between 1978 and 1991, one man raped, murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys. Many of his later murders also involved necrophilia, cannibalism and the storage and preservation of body parts Not something a sane individual would even think about, let alone act on. But, shockingly, this man was considered a sane individual who carried out some of the most heinous and perverse crimes in history. His name was Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born on May the 21st, 1960 at the Evangelical Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee, wisconsin. He was the first born son of Joyce and Lionel Dahmer, who were a young couple who were born and bred in Wisconsin. The family lived in the suburb of West Ales, milwaukee. After Jeffrey was born, his mother found it difficult to bond with a child and was possibly suffering from postnatal depression. But this was the 1960s and it wouldn't have been as recognized or treated as it is nowadays. Her condition wasn't halved by Lionel who, at the time of Jeffrey's birth, was a student at Marquette University, working towards a degree in chemistry, and who spent long periods away from his wife and baby as he buried himself in his books. Although Joyce indicated she was struggling, lionel assured her it would all be worth it in the end and when he finished his studies, he would have a well-paid job and they would have a good life.
Speaker 2:When Jeffrey was two years old, his father was offered a place at Iowa State University to study for his PhD, so the family moved from Wisconsin to Ames, iowa. At this time, jeffrey was described as being an energetic and happy child. But Jeffrey's behavior changed when, at the age of four, he underwent surgery for a double hernia in his scrotum. The surgery corrected the problem, but after the operation, jeffrey became notably subdued and withdrawn, and this was possibly a turning point that later influenced feelings of sexual inadequacy and insecurity. There were also problems in his parents' marriage, and for much of Jeffrey's early years he lived with extreme tension between his parents and constant arguments. Although there has never been any suggestion that Jeffrey was mistreated in any way, he was, by his parents' own admission, neglected at times as his mother battled a mental illness and his father chased his academic goals. However, despite their difficulties, in 1966, joyce was pregnant again and the family moved to Doylestown, ohio. Later that year, jeffrey had a baby brother named David, a name Jeffrey himself chose. Lionel had also achieved his degree and secured employment as an analytical chemist in the city of Akron, ohio.
Speaker 2:It was during this period that one of Jeffrey's teachers noticed that he seemed to feel neglected. At the time it was put down to the arrival of the new baby and just a normal reaction for a sibling used to being the only child. But for Jeffrey, it was more than just a reaction to his brother's birth. Even his father was concerned about how extraordinarily shy and withdrawn he was and how terrified he was of new people and situations. This probably wasn't helped by the problems in his parents' marriage, because, despite an initial period immediately after David's birth when things calmed down, it wasn't long before Lionel and Joyce's volatile relationship resumed and eventually they were sleeping in separate bedrooms.
Speaker 2:By now, jeffrey was exhibiting signs that were not normal for a young boy, and he was becoming increasingly lethargic and solitary. He was also developing a growing fascination with dead animals, something that started at the age of four, when he had been watching his father remove animal carcasses from the crawl space beneath the family home and placing the bones in a bucket. Young Jeffrey became mesmerised by what his father was doing and the noise the bones made as they were dropped into the bucket. However, this interest had now manifested into an unusual curiosity in dead creatures. He wasn't interested in killing them, but he was fascinated in dissecting them and learning how they were composed. However, rather than being alarmed at his son's macabre new hobby, lionel encouraged it, believing it was his son showing an interest in chemistry and biology, and using his scientific background, he showed Jeffrey how to safely bleach and preserve animal bones. He would have no clue that his son would one day use this knowledge in the dissection of his human victims.
Speaker 2:There was another sign that Jeffrey was not the sweet little boy that he looked. At the age of seven he caught a bucket of tadpoles as a present for his favourite teacher. He took them into school and excitedly presented his gift to her. As you would expect, she was grateful and thanked you, jeffrey. However, he later found out that she had given the tadpoles away to another pupil who was a friend of his. Jeffrey saw this as rejection and when no one was looking, he emptied engine oil into the bucket, killing all the tadpoles, so his friend couldn't have them.
Speaker 2:In 1968, the family moved to Bath, ohio, but home life for Jeffrey was not getting any better and by 1970, his mother was hospitalised twice for psychiatric problems. According to Lionel, she had been taking drugs to deal with her extreme nervousness for years, but they didn't work well, and she was not a stabilising influence in Jeffrey's life. As he approached adolescence, he was becoming more and more erratic and isolated and had built a reputation at school as an oddball with an inclination for stupid pranks and very heavy drinking. Some of his pranks included shouting things out at inappropriate times and faking epileptic fits. Despite being bright and intelligent, the only subject he exiled in school was biology, where he could dissect animals and nurture his interest in how bodies worked. What nobody realised was that this was stirring unnatural impulses in young Jeffrey that eventually he would be unable to suppress.
Speaker 2:By the age of 14, jeffrey was reliant on alcohol and even drank in school, and although it was no secret that he had a problem with drink, no one seemed to address it. If they had, they may have discovered he was using alcohol to try and suppress his homicidal and sexual urges, and by now he had realised he was gay, something that he was ashamed of and confused about, fearing that his family would shun him. However, it wasn't his sexuality that was a problem. It was his sadistic and masochistic violent thoughts that were overwhelming him, and this, combined with his twisted obsession with dissecting with a deadly concoction in his mind. It would only be a matter of time before he acted on it. At the age of just 14, jeffrey planned his first attack. His victim was to be a male jogger he had become attracted to. He began noting the man's route and intended to hide in a bush with a baseball bat and attack the jogger, rendering him unconscious so he could sexually violate him. But the day he chose to act out his fantasy, the jogger didn't show up In a moment of realisation. Jeffrey never attempted to implement this plan again, at least not by this method.
Speaker 2:In 1978, just before Jeffrey graduated from high school, his parents finally separated in what turned into an acrimonious and bitter divorce. As Jeffrey was 18 and legally an adult, there was no custody battle over him. His parents, however, fought for custody of his young brother, david, and it was his father who was eventually awarded custody, leaving Jeffrey out in the cold with neither of his parents taking responsibility for him. Not long after, both his parents and his brother left the family home, leaving Jeffrey in the house alone, and for the first time he was able to indulge unchecked in his morbid desires. The family rarely checked in on him and his newfound freedom suited Jeffrey just fine. He could drink as much as he liked, with no one to answer to, and he was free to work on his murderous fantasies.
Speaker 2:On June 18th 1978, jeffrey started his day with a drink, but by late afternoon he was all out of beer, so he drove his car into the liquor store to pick up supplies. On his way back he spotted a young man hitchhiking. He immediately pulled over and offered him a lift. This man was 18-year-old Stephen Hicks, and he was on his way to a rock concert in Cleveland. He accepted Dharma's lift and inexplainably agreed to go back to his house for a beer. It's not known how Jeffrey persuaded Hicks to go back with him. As it was known, he was keen to get to the concert on time. He was not a known homosexual either and was considered streetwise. However, jeffrey was polite and charming and this may have given a false impression of his real motives. Back at the house, the two drank and Jeffrey planned in his mind what his next move was, but Hicks grew tired of the chat and went to leave. When Jeffrey tried to stop him, hicks was able to fight him off, but as he turned his back to walk out the door, dharma hits him with a barbell, rendering him unconscious. He then strangled him using the same barbell.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey now had a dead body lying on the floor of his parents' house, a house that was relatively secluded and on the edge of a forest. Jeffrey knew that he had all the time in the world to do as he wished with the cause of Hicks and, after lying with the body for several hours and satisfying his sexual urges, jeffrey set about cleaning up the place and disposing of the body. He dragged the body into the bathroom and set about dissecting it, just as he had dissected many animals before throughout his childhood. The process took hours and Jeffrey relished every moment, but soon realized he had to hide the body. As his father was due to visit, jeffrey hid Steven's body in a drainage pipe. He later retrieved it and dissolved what was left in acid and flushed it down the toilet. The bones that did not dissolve properly. He smashed the pieces with a sledgehammer and scattered them in the woods behind his house. In interviews Jeffrey gave after his conviction, it was apparent that his first murder was the catalyst for what was to come.
Speaker 3:I don't know if nothing's really been normal ever since then and I thought that I just try to live as normally as possible and just bury it in all the memory of it and everything. But things like that don't stay buried forever.
Speaker 2:About a month after the murder of Steven Hicks, lionel and his new girlfriend returned to the house to check on Jeffrey and they were shocked by the state he was in. His father described him as having a dead look in his eye. He was drinking heavily and his life was spiraling out of control. Not long after Jeffrey enrolled in Ohio State University, he stayed only one semester before dropping out after his father paid him a surprise visit and found him drunk and disheveled in his dorm. Later that same year, his father remarried. By now, jeffrey's father was becoming increasingly dismayed at his son's behaviour and refused to fund his drunken lifestyle. After some heated discussions, in early 1979, jeffrey joined the US Army, where he trained as a medical specialist. His early year service record was good and, although he was considered a bit of a loner, he got on well with his fellow soldiers. However, after he was transferred to Baumholder, west Germany, his demons returned and he started to drink heavily again. Two soldiers later attested to having been raped by Jeffrey during his army service, one of whom claimed that while he was stationed in Germany, jeffrey repeatedly raped him over a 17 month period. Another soldier also came forward and claimed Jeffrey drugged and raped him inside an armoured personnel carrier in 1979. But Jeffrey's army career didn't last long and by 1981 he was drinking heavily and his performance had deteriorated so much that in March of that year he was deemed unsuitable for military service and was discharged. Remarkably, jeffrey received an honourable discharge and his supervisors did not believe that the problems Dahmer had in the army would be applicable to civilian life. Jeffrey had now hit rock bottom and was ashamed to contact his parents. So instead of returning home he used his discharge plane ticket to travel to Miami Beach, florida. Here he found employment at a delicatessen and rented a room in a nearby motel. But he spent most of his salary on alcohol and was soon evicted from the motel for non-payment. After spending a few nights sleeping on the beach, he eventually phoned his father and asked if he could return to Ohio. Jeffrey moved back into the family home with his father and his new wife. But just two weeks after his return he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. Final could take no more of his son's behaviour and in December 1981 sent him to live with his grandmother in West Alice, milwaukee.
Speaker 2:Initially Dahmer's living arrangements with his grandmother were harmonious and he was the perfect grandson. He accompanied her to church, did chores and actively sought work, and in early 1982 Jeffrey found employment as a phlebotomist at the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Centre, where he worked for 10 months before being laid off. But shortly before losing his job he was arrested for indecent exposure After he exposed himself to women and children at Wisconsin State Fair Park. He was convicted and fined $50 plus court costs. Jeffrey remained unemployed and living off his grandmother for the next two years Before in January 1985 he was hired as a mixer at the Milwaukee Ambrosia Chocolate Factory.
Speaker 2:By now Jeffrey was a frequent visitor to gay bars and bath houses. He resisted killing but was barred from one bath house because of allegations that at least on four occasions he took someone to a private booth and drugged them. No charges were ever filed, despite one of the victims being hospitalized for a week. Jeffrey later revealed the reason he drugged his victims was because he became frustrated that his partners moved too much during the sexual act and he preferred the control he had over them if they were unconscious. At one point before he killed again, he considered digging up the freshly buried corpse of an 18 year old local boy who had just passed away. He abandoned the plan after the digging tied him out. In August 1986, jeffrey was arrested again for masturbating in front of two 12 year old boys. Initially he admitted the charge, but quickly changed his story and claimed he had merely been urinating. Nevertheless, he was charged with disorderly conduct and sentenced to one year's probation, with instructions to undergo counselling. However, just a year later, the pent up frustration and deprived thoughts finally took over and, after a nine year hiatus, jeffrey killed again.
Speaker 2:On the evening of September 15th 1987, dahmer met 25 year old Steve Tuomi at a gay bar in Milwaukee. The pair ended the night at the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee, wisconsin, where Jeffrey had rented a room for the evening. According to Jeffrey, he had not planned on murdering Tuomi and only meant to drug him and rape him as he lay unconscious. The following morning, however, he woke to find Tuomi dead, hanging over the side of the bed, his chest crushed and black and blue, with bruises, with blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Jeffrey noticed his own fists and forearm were also extensively bruised.
Speaker 2:He later claimed that he had absolutely no memory of beating Tuomi to death. But he had, and at that moment he panicked, not because he had just killed a man, but how he was going to dispose of the body. Eventually, he put a do not disturb sign on the hotel room door and went out to purchase a suitcase large enough to fit a body in. Luckily for him, when he returned with the suitcase, rigor mortis had not yet set in and he was able to manipulate the corpse to fit into the case. However, he had no car, so in an audacious move, he carried the suitcase out of the hotel and hailed a cab. The unsuspecting cab driver helped Jeffrey with the case and drove him and the corpse back to his grandmother's house. When he arrived, she was asleep, so he put the suitcase in the basement in preparation for his disposal.
Speaker 2:He then used the corpse for his own sexual pleasure Before setting out, dissecting the body first by slicing the flesh from the bones and putting it in garbage bags, and then smashing the bones to a powder with a hammer before flushing them down the toilet. He saved the head and genitals and later bleached them to preserve them and, as he did with several of his victims, he locked them in a box that he kept in his bedroom closet. But after two weeks the skull became too brittle and Jeffrey smashed it up and disposed of it. His grandmother was completely oblivious to what Jeffrey was doing. On the other hand, his father was becoming increasingly suspicious of his son's behaviour and after visiting one day, he searched his son's room and demanded to know what was in the locked box. Jeffrey refused to open it, and an altercation between him and his father ensued. Jeffrey managed to divert attention away from opening the box, and his father didn't learn about the contents of it until after his son was arrested. But this second murder and the ease with which he was able to commit it and disposed of the body only fuelled Jeffrey's desire, and his compulsion to kill again was too strong.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey was now actively seeking victims, and two months after he murdered Stephen Dharma was on his way to a gay bar when he met a 14 year old Native American boy named James Doxtator, who was prostituting himself. Jeffrey struck up a conversation with the boy and lured him to his grandmother's house with an offer of $50 to pose for nude pictures At the house. The pair engaged in sexual activity before Dharma drugged and strangled him. He then left the boy's body in his grandmother's cellar for a week before dismembering it. Much the same way as he had with Tuomi, he then put James's remains in the trash, retaining the head which he later boiled before pulverizing it.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey's next victim was 22 year old Richard Guerriero, who he met on March the 24th 1988 outside a gay bar called the Phoenix. He lured the man to his grandmother's house, offering him $50 if he would stay the night. He later drugged him with the sleeping pills and strangled him with a leather strap and, after sexually violating his corpse, he dismembered his body in less than 24 hours, again retaining his head and esposing off the remains in the trash and down the toilet. However, just a month after Richard's death, jeffrey's murder spree almost came to an end.
Speaker 2:On April the 23rd 1988, jeffrey took a man called Roland Flowers back to his grandmother's house. She was usually asleep and he could carry out his rape and murder without her noticing, but on this occasion she was awake and heard Jeffrey come home with a man, and after he had drugged him, she called out to remind him that he was not allowed visitors late at night. Jeffrey was shocked. This had never happened before and he had to make a decision about whether to kill flowers or let him come to and escape. By now the man was in a bad way, so Jeffrey decided to spare his life and ordered a cab to take him to hospital. When flowers came around he reported Jeffrey for assault but due to his intoxicated and sedated state they did not believe him as he remembered little of the event and in the end they put it down to a domestic tiff.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey had a very lucky escape, but for his grandmother it was the final straw. She had had enough of his lifestyle and asked him to move out. She could no longer stand the foul mess in the basement and the constant stream of young men he was bringing back to the house. So in September 1988 Jeffrey moved into an apartment at 808 North 24th Street in Milwaukee which was close to the chocolate factory where he worked. It was not the greatest of areas, but it meant Jeffrey could indulge uninterrupted in his twisted fantasies and murder. The night after he moved in he learned a 13 year old boy back to the flat, offering him $50 to pose nude for photographs. But after the boy took a few sips of a drug to drink Jeffrey had given him. The boy was sick and fled the apartment. The boy's parents took this into hospital and he had his stomach pumped and doctors notified the police. Jeffrey was arrested the following day for drugging and sexually assaulting a minor, and in January of the following year he was convicted of second degree sexual assault and of enticing a child for immoral purposes.
Speaker 2:Sentencing for the crime was suspended until May, and during this period Jeffrey was forced to move back into his grandmother's house, although this time she expected him to stop drinking and stop bringing men back to the house. But Jeffrey had no intention of listening to his grandmother's house rules. He was intent on finding another murder victim. His name was Anthony Sears, a 24 year old aspiring model who Jeffrey met at a gay bar on March, the 25th 1989. Again, jeffrey lured Sears to his grandmother's home with a pair engaged in sex before Dharma drugged and strangled him. The following morning Jeffrey dragged the corpse in his grandmother's bathtub where he decapitated it before stripping the flesh from the body and pulverizing the bones. Later Jeffrey revealed he found Sears exceptionally attractive and he was the first victim from whom he prematurely retained any body parts. He preserved Sears' head and genitalia in acetone and stored them in his work locker.
Speaker 2:Two months after Sears' murder, jeffrey was sentenced to five years probation and one year in the house of correction. Part of his plea bargain meant he had a work release permit so he was able to keep his job. He was also required to register as a sex offender. During his sentence he attended work every day before returning to jail every evening. Throughout this period, anthony Sears' head and genitals were still kept in Jeffrey's locker.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey was released early from his sentence as, ironically, he was deemed as no longer a threat to the community. On release, he temporarily moved back to his grandmother's house before, in May 1990, moving into the Oxford apartments located on the north 25th street in Milwaukee. This was the perfect place for Jeffrey to recommence his killing spree, and he celebrated moving into apartment number two and three by retrieving Anthony Sears' head from his work locker and placing it in his new home. His housewarming also included another victim. This time it was 32 year old male prostitute Raymond Smith, also known as Ricky Beaks. Jeffrey had lured him to his apartment with the promise of $50 for sex. Once there, he gave Smith a drink laced with seven sleeping pills and manually strangled him. Then, in a change to his normal after-killing routine, jeffrey purchased a Polaroid camera and took several pictures of Smith's corpse posed in suggestive positions. He then dismembered him in the bathroom before boiling his legs, arms and pelvis in a steel kettle with soy legs, which allowed him to rinse the bones in the sink. He then dissolved the remainder of Smith's skeleton, including the skull, in a container he filled with acid. To finish off, he spray painted the head and placed it alongside the skull of Anthony Sears. However, it seems Jeffrey was getting a little too confident, and just a week later the tables were turned when he lured another man back to his apartment, only to accidentally drug himself instead of his intended victim by drinking the wrong drink. When he woke up, he had been robbed of several valuables.
Speaker 2:His next victim was 36 year old Eddie Smith, a fun, loving, kind-hearted man who was an acquaintance of Jeffrey's. He had been a guest at Jeffrey's apartment in the past, but on the evening of June the 14th 1990, smith became Jeffrey's eighth victim. After drugging, strangling and dismembering his friend, jeffrey tried to remove moisture from his skeleton by freezing it for several months. However, this did not work, so the skeleton was disposed of in acid, but the skull was retained, and when Jeffrey tried drying it out in the oven, it exploded. This failed experiment greatly angered Jeffrey, as it meant he had nothing left of Smith's body Less than three months later.
Speaker 2:In September 1990, jeffrey met 22 year old dancer Ernest Miller outside a bookstore in Milwaukee and after enticing Miller back to his apartment with the promise of money, he started to prepare a spiked drink. But he soon realized that he did not have enough sedatives to effectively drug Miller. He decided to go ahead anyway with the reduced dose and the unsuspecting Miller soon fell unconscious. But the victims induced sleep didn't last long and when he suddenly woke up, jeffrey panicked and, in a change of tactics, he grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the neck, severing his carotid artery. He then grabbed his polaroid camera and took photographs as the man laid bleeding to death before sexually defying the corpse. Jeffrey found Miller particularly attractive and spent a lot of time talking to his corpse as he dismembered it, repeatedly kissing his severed head. Jeffrey was also impressed with Miller's biceps and he kept these, along with his heart and flesh from his legs, in plastic bags in the fridge, ready to eat. He also kept his skeleton. After dissolving the flesh and after a drying period, he kept the skeleton in a closet.
Speaker 2:After killing Miller, jeffrey's urges were getting even more out of control and he was leaving less time in between his murders. Within a couple of weeks he sought another victim, and on the 24th of September he enticed his ninth victim back to his apartment. He was 23 year old, david Thomas, a father of two children. Again, jeffrey lured the man with the promise of money to pose for photographs. Once there, dharma gave him a sedative-laced drink and he was soon unconscious. But in a sudden change of heart, jeffrey realized he was not attracted to the man as he was not his type, but he was at the point of no return and strangled him anyway. He dated a scarred all of Thomas' body parts. Jeffrey considered this murder a waste due to the lack of attraction, and he was so disappointed that he didn't kill again for another five months.
Speaker 2:During this brief hiatus, jeffrey began building a grotesque altar in his apartment using the skulls he had retained from his victims. He also became obsessed with the film the Exorcist 3, a film he later filed a connection with. It wasn't long before the urge to kill again became too intense and by February 1991, he began prowling the streets looking for his next victim. He met 19-year-old Curtis Strauter and after offering the young man money to pose for him, the pair went back to Jeffrey's apartment where he drugged, raped and strangled him. He then dismembered his body and kept his head in the refrigerator.
Speaker 2:However, for his next victim, jeffrey would ramp up his depravity in the vilest way. Jeffrey's fetish had always been a totally subservient sexual partner. The reason he killed them was because they moved around. So he decided that rather than kill his next victim, he would try and create a living zombie, a completely super-servient partner, without the need to kill them. So when he enticed 19-year-old Errol Lindsay back to his apartment after drugging him, instead of killing him, he cut a hole in his head and poured muriatic acid into his brain. But the experiment didn't go to plan and Lindsay woke up clutching his head and complaining of a headache, before collapsing on the floor. Jeffrey realised he had to act fast, so he drugged the terrified man again and then strangled him. He decapitated Lindsay and retained his skull. He also tried to preserve his skin by placing it in a solution of cold water, but eventually Jeffrey disposed of the skin when it became too frail and brittle. By now, fellow residents of the Oxford apartments were repeatedly complaining to the management about the foul odour emanating from apartment 2 and 3, as well as the strange noises, and although Jeffrey was contacted about the issue, he used his charm to explain a malfunctioning fridge causing the smell and that several of his tropical fish had also recently died.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey's next victim was a casual friend who he had known for a while. His name was Anthony Hughes, a deaf and mute man who communicated through sign language and lip reading. He lured Hughes back to his apartment to hang out, where he drugged him before drilling a hole into his skull and injecting acid into the cranial cavity. This time, though, the acid injection killed Hughes. Jeffrey later claimed that he didn't intend to kill him, but rather he hoped for Tony to become zombie-like. Jeffrey left Tony's body to rot on his bedroom floor before dissolving it in acid. Several days later he again kept the skull to add to his macabre collection. Now it's hard to believe that Jeffrey could have been any cruder to his victims, but what he did to his next one shows just how vile and twisted this man was.
Speaker 2:On May 27th 1991, jeffrey walked the streets of his neighborhood in search of a victim. He came across 14-year-old Conrack Synthema phone. Coincidentally, he was the brother of Kieson, who the previous year Jeffrey had drugged and molested, resulting in a charge of sexual assault and enticing a child. Sadly for Conrack, he did not recognize his brother's attacker and readily accepted Jeffrey's offer for $50 to go back to his apartment. After drugging and assaulting the child, jeffrey drilled a hole into his skull and injected myriatic acid into his brain.
Speaker 2:The child fell deeply unconscious and Jeffrey was frustrated that his experiment had once again failed. So he left the sedated child in his apartment and spent a few hours drinking in a nearby bar. But while he was away, conrack woke up and managed to escape into the street naked. He was incoherent, injured and barely able to stand, and when Jeffrey returned he found the boy sitting with three young women who were tending to the traumatized child. When the priest pulled up, jeffrey managed to convince them that this boy was his 19-year-old lover, named John Hymong, who had drunk too much. Incredibly, the policeman laughed it off and seemingly ignored the fact the boy was bleeding from his buttocks and was unable to explain or defend himself due to the damage to his brain. The police picked the boy up by the arms and carried him back to Jeffrey's apartment. Jeffrey showed them his neatly folded clothes and some polaroids of the boy in a pair of black underwear as proof of their relationship. Before the police were satisfied and left, had they taken the time to search the apartment or noted the pungent smell, they would have discovered the rotting corpse of Tony Hughes that was still laying on the bedroom floor. As soon as they were gone, jeffrey injected another shot of acid into the frontal lobe of the child's brain, killing him. He then dismembered the boy's body along with Tony Hughes' corpse. A few days later, a newspaper story was released in regards to a missing child, and the mother of one of the two women that tried to protect Conrack called the police department to tell them that the boy from a few days prior looked just like the missing boy from the paper. Sadly, no one was ever sent to talk with her about it.
Speaker 2:What is astonishing in this case is how Jeffrey was able to fool everyone, including the police and his family, and how, throughout his killing spree, he maintained his job in the chocolate factory, leading some to believe that maybe he was using the plant to dispose of some of the body parts. But Jeffrey was a charming, intelligent man. He was well organized and didn't look like a serial killer or a pedophile. He often dressed smartly and his father later admitted that he had a silver tongue. And whilst his family started to suspect he was homosexual, they had no real inkling to the life he was hiding. Whenever they visited his apartment and they often did Jeffrey cleaned it up as if nothing had ever happened there, and when his neighbors started to complain even more about the smells and noises, he solved the problem not by stopping his killing but by purchasing a 57 gallon drum that he filled with hychloric acid to ensure his victims were never smelt again. Jeffrey was also intelligent enough to know he had the changes tactic and instead of choosing his victims from gay bars and the streets of Milwaukee, he decided to travel further afield, to a new killing ground two hours away in Chicago. As he didn't drive, he made the trip on a Greyhound bus and on June 30th 1991, he met Matt Turner, a 20 year old social butterfly. It's likely that Jeffrey offered him money for photographs and he ended up on a Greyhound bus back to Milwaukee with Jeffrey. Once inside apartment, two and three, jeffrey drugged and strangled Turner before dismembering him, dissolving his body in the 57 gallon drum of acid and keeping his skull to add to his collection.
Speaker 2:Just a few days later, on July the 5th, dahmer made the same trip to Chicago, where he met 23 year old Jeremy Weinberger, an incredibly lovable man from Chicago who worked as a customer service representative. Jeffrey got chatting with him and invited him to come back to his apartment with him. Before he agreed, jeremy asked a friend what he thought of Jeffrey and after getting the green light from him, he decided to go with Jeffrey. The pair spent several days at Jeffrey's apartment and enjoyed each other's company, but when Jeremy wanted to go home, jeffrey convinced him to have one last drink, which he had heavily spiked. After Jeremy lost consciousness, jeffrey drilled into his skull and injected his brain with boiling water. This didn't work well and Jeremy woke up seemingly okay. Jeffrey forcibly drugged him again and gave him another injection of boiling water to the brain, sending him into a coma for two days. But after the second day Jeffrey returned home from work and found Jeremy dead with his eyes open. He dissolved the body in acid after dismembering him and placing his head in the freezer In a tragic post-script to his murder. The friend who had advised Jeremy to go for it when he asked his advice on Jeffrey later committed suicide after he was unable to live with the guilt of his death.
Speaker 2:By now Jeffrey was running out of space in his fridge and it was packed with human remains with little space for any normal food. But this did not stop Jeffrey. His insatiable desire meant he couldn't stop and within two weeks he was back out. Prowling his Milwaukee neighborhood On July 12th 1991, he approached 23-year-old aspiring bodybuilder, oliver Lacey, who had just moved from Illinois to live with his girlfriend and their child. Jeffrey was attracted to Lacey's muscular body and somehow managed to lure him back to his apartment where he was drugged, strangled, sexually assaulted and dismembered. Jeffrey kept the man's head in the refrigerator next to some almond hammer baking soda to try and mask the smell. He also kept his heart and some of his muscles wrapped in plastic, ready to eat later.
Speaker 2:It was also around this time that Jeffrey was suspended from work. His obsession with killing was affecting his performance and after several warnings his employment was finally terminated on July 19th 1991. On the same day he lured 25-year-old father of three, joseph Bradohoff, to his apartment. Bradohoff was down on his luck and likely went with Jeffrey after the promise of cash. Once there he was strangled and left lying on Dharma's bed covered with a sheet. When Jeffrey removed the sheets two days later he found his head covered in maggots. So he decapitated the body, cleaned the head and placed it in the refrigerator. He later acidified Bradohoff's torso in the drum of acid the man that Fought Back.
Speaker 2:Just two days after Bradohoff's murder, jeffrey was back in a bar in Milwaukee where he spotted three men. The one he was most attracted to was 31-year-old Tracy Edwards. He offered all three men money and booze to come back to his apartment and pose for photographs, but Edwards was the only one to take up the offer and the pair went back to Jeffrey's apartment in a taxi. The other two men agreed to drop around later to party, but Jeffrey deliberately gave them the wrong address. As soon as the two men arrived at the apartment, jeffrey began pressuring Edwards to undress. He also gave him his standard spiked drink, but Edwards didn't drink it. He sensed something wasn't quite right about the situation and he noticed Jeffrey's friendly demeanor had changed. As he looked around the apartment he saw boxes of acid. He also noticed the foul smell.
Speaker 2:Sensing danger, edwards got up to leave, but as quick as he could, jeffrey reached over and put a handcuff on one of his wrists. As Edwards fought, jeffrey pulled out a large knife, but in a bizarre move, instead of stabbing him, jeffrey led on Edwards' chest and listened to his heart before explaining he was going to eat it. At this point, edwards hit Jeffrey and ran into the street. He was able to flag down two police officers but, similar to poor Conorack, the police were reluctant to get involved. However, edwards was much more coherent than Conorack and eventually persuaded the police to pay Dahmer a visit. Predictably, dahmer put on the nice guy mask once more and invited the trio inside. He admitted to placing the handcuffs on Edwards, but offered no explanation as to why.
Speaker 2:One of the policemen, officer Muller, headed into Jeffrey's bedroom to retrieve the knife after Tracy told him he would find it in there. As he did, dahmer tried to push past him in an effort to keep him from going through to the bedroom, but the second policeman, officer Routh, intercepted and warned Jeffrey to back off. Jeffrey's game was up. Muller found the knife on the bedside table. He also noticed inside the open drawer piles of Polaroid photographs depicting over a dozen human bodies in various stages of dismemberment and decay, purposefully posed in hideous positions. After a brief struggle, jeffrey was arrested. Backup officers were called to the scene and Muller began searching the apartment. But just a minute or two after beginning his search, he opened Jeffrey's refrigerator and was met with the empty gaze of a freshly severed human head. He would later recall hearing someone scream, only to realise the scream had been emitting from his own throat. Tracy Edwards was deemed the hero that put an end to Jeffrey's reign of terror. However, the publicity he received backfires, as it turned out, the state of Mississippi had put out a warrant for his arrest for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, and he was later arrested and charged with the crime.
Speaker 2:A more detailed search of the apartment conducted by the Criminal Investigation Bureau revealed the full horror of Jeffrey's crimes. In total, four severed heads were found in his kitchen. A further seven preserved skulls, some that were painted and some that were bleached, were found in his bedroom and closet. In the refrigerator. Investigators collected human blood drippings from a tray at the bottom, plus two human hearts and a portion of arm muscle, each wrapped inside plastic bags placed on the shelves. The freezer revealed more body parts and contained an entire torso, plus a bag of human organs and flesh stuck to the ice at the bottom Elsewhere in the apartment two complete skeletons, a pair of severed hands, two severed and preserved penises and a mummified scalp. They were also three more dismembered torsos discovered dissolving in acid in the 57-gallon drum. Jeffrey had been caught red-handed and when 74 Polaroid photographs were recovered that detailed Jeffrey dismembering his victims, he had very few legal cars to play.
Speaker 2:As details of Jeffrey's crimes started to leak out to the people of Milwaukee and eventually the world, the extent of his horror was hard for many to understand. It was almost unbelievable that a seemingly normal human being could inflict such pain and suffering on another, but the evidence in Jeffrey's apartment was overwhelming. After being taken to the police headquarters, jeffrey was interviewed by two veteran homicide detectives, patrick Kennedy and Patrick Murphy, and although they were experienced officers, they had never come face to face with a serial killer as prolific and heinous as Jeffrey, and nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to hear. Throughout his interrogations, jeffrey waved his right to have a lawyer present and stated he wished to confess all. In his own words, he said I created this horror and it only makes sense. I do everything to put an end to it.
Speaker 2:He went on to readily admit to having murdered 16 young men in Wisconsin since 1987, with one further victim, steve Hicks, his first victim, who he killed in Ohio back in 1978. Jeffrey made full and complete confessions concerning all the men and boys he killed and he described at great length all the horrific details of his murders, including necrophilia and cannibalism. The two detectives were mortified and sickened by the matter of fact descriptions Jeffrey gave about the depraved acts he performed before and after he killed his victims In total. They interviewed him for over 60 hours and when asked by detectives why he had killed his victims and what compelled him to do grotesque things to their corpses, he said it was my way of remembering their appearance, their physical beauty.
Speaker 3:I also wanted to keep something. If I couldn't keep them there with me whole, I at least I felt that I could keep their skeletons.
Speaker 2:He planned a set of an altar with the 10 different skulls and skeletons as a sort of memorial. This display of skulls was to be adorned at each side with the complete skeletons of Ernest Miller and Oliver Lacy, with incense sticks placed at each end of the black table above which Jeffrey intended to place a large blue lamp. The entire construction was to be placed before a window covered with a black shower curtain, in front of which Dahmer intended to sit in a black leather chair and admire his handiwork. He also revealed most of his victims had been rendered unconscious before their murder, although some had died as a result of having acid or boiling water injected into their brain. Jeffrey confessed he had no memory of the murder of Tuomi and was unsure whether he was unconscious when beaten to death, although he did concede it was possible that his viewing the exposed chest of Steve Tuomi may have led him to attempt to tear Tuomi's heart from his chest. Almost all the murders Dahmer committed after moving into the Oxford apartments had involved a ritual of posing the victims' bodies in suggestive positions, typically with the chest thrust outwards. He also readily admitted to performing necrophilia with several of his victims' bodies, including performing sexual acts with their heads as he dismembered their bodies in his bathtub. He confessed to first removing his victims' internal organs, then suspending their torsos so the blood drained into his bathtub Before dicing any organs he did not wish to retain and pairing the flesh from the body. The bones he wished to dispose of were pulverized or atyphied and the skeletons and skulls he wished to keep he preserved with soilex and bleach solutions, a technique he had learned from his father as a child. Jeffrey also admitted that in the year before he was arrested he had started to consume the hearts, livers, biceps and portions of thighs of several of his victims he killed and that in two months prior to his arrest he increased his rate of killings as he had been completely swept along with the compulsion to kill.
Speaker 2:Jeffrey Dahmer was initially charged with 15 counts of murder in Wisconsin and one in Ohio and was placed in protective custody in Milwaukee on a $1 million bail. He was not charged with the attempted murder of Tracy Edwards or the murder of Stephen Tuomi, because the Milwaukee County District Attorney only brought charges where murder could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and, as Dahmer had no memory of actually committing this particular murder and there was no physical evidence, the crime existed. At a scheduled preliminary hearing on January the 13th 1992, jeffrey pleaded guilty, but insane, to 15 counts of murder. The trial began on January the 30th 1992. It was not to prove his guilt, as that had already been established. It was to determine whether he suffered from either a mental or personality disorder. The verdict would determine if he spent the rest of his life in a mental health facility or whether he would be sent to a tough state prison.
Speaker 2:His defense hired several psychiatrists who diagnosed Jeffrey with a borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, necrophilia and alcoholism. They argued that due to the schizotypal personality disorder, he was driven by obsessions and impulses he was unable to control and that he was insane due to his necrophilic drive and compulsion to have sexual encounters with corpses. For the prosecution several experts were called and they claimed that any disorders did not deprive Dahmer of his ability to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to deprive him of the ability to resist his impulses, and they rejected the defense's argument that Dahmer was insane and that he did not suffer from primary necrophilia because he preferred live sexual partners, as evident by his efforts to create living zombies to use for his own pleasure. These premeditated experiments proved Jeffrey was not a true necrophiliac, as it was not a requirement for his victims to be dead. He just wanted control at whatever cost. They concluded that he was evil and sick, but he was sane and able to differentiate between right and wrong.
Speaker 2:The trial lasted two weeks and on February the 14th both councils delivered their closing arguments to the jury. Predictably, the defense argued that Jeffrey was mentally ill and stated that he was afflicted with his sickness. He discovered, not chose. The prosecution, on the other hand, admitted Jeffrey was sick but sane when he committed his atrocities and his victims died merely to accord Dahmer a period of sexual pleasure. On February the 15th 1992, the jury agreed with the prosecution and found Jeffrey Dahmer sane. He was given 15 life sentences totaling 957 years. After he was sentenced he was allowed to address the courtroom. This is what he said.
Speaker 4:Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness and now I have some peace".
Speaker 2:After his statement, not everyone who witnessed it were convinced of his remorse. And after a series of powerful victim impact statements from the victims' families, jeffrey was led away to serve his life sentence at the maximum security Columbine Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. But before he could settle into his new, forever home, on May 1st 1992 he was extradited to Ohio to be tried for the murder of his first victim, stephen Hicks. The hearing was just a formality and lasted just 45 minutes, and Jeffrey was sentenced to his 16th term of life imprisonment, after which he was sent back to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. However, his notoriety caused a headache for the prison authorities. After all, he was locked up with some of the country's worst offenders, including rapists, gang members and serial killers, who had nothing to lose in attacking Jeffrey. For this reason, for the first year in his incarceration, jeffrey was placed in solitary confinement for his own safety and out of concern for fellow inmates. During this period, jeffrey had no contact with other inmates and only limited contact with prison staff. Everything he did was alone. He did, however, have a TV and access to books, but for the most part he was just alone with his disturbing thoughts.
Speaker 2:After a year of solitude, jeffrey was transferred to a less secure unit where he was assigned a two hour daily work detail cleaning the toilet block. He readily agreed to the move as he believed that the threat posed by his own twisted thoughts was far greater than anything he could face at the hands of other inmates. He also indicated on many occasions that he did not care if he lived or died. During this period, jeffrey gave an interview to Nancy Glass, although, despite being back with the prison population, he was still very much a loner and made few or no friends, although his family kept in regular contact with him and he enjoyed phone calls with his brother, mother and father. His father in particular was also a frequent visitor to his son and he was desperate to understand what drove Jeffrey to commit the heinous acts he did.
Speaker 2:By now, jeffrey had devoted himself to Christianity and became a born again Christian. In May 1994, he was baptized in the prison will pool by Roy Ratcliffe, a minister in the Church of Christ and a graduate of Oklahoma Christian University. Following his baptism, ratcliffe was a frequent visitor to Jeffrey and the pair regularly discussed the prospect of death. Jeffrey questioned whether he was sinning against God by continuing to live. However, jeffrey was always going to be a target for other inmates and in July 1994, fellow inmate Osvaldo Girithy attacked Jeffrey with an improvised knife.
Speaker 2:It consisted of a toothbrush with a razor blade pushed through the end. Osvaldo attempted to slash Jeffrey's throat as he returned to his cell from Roy Ratcliffe's weekly church service, but the attack was largely ineffective and he only suffered minor cuts. In the same year, jeffrey gave an interview with Stone Flips on Dateline NBC, which also featured his father, lionel. It would be the last glimpse the world would get of Jeffrey Dahmer, and at the time of the interview he had no idea that he would be dead in a few months. On the morning of November 28th 1994, dahmer left his cell to conduct his assigned work detail. Accompanying him were two fellow inmates, jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver. The trio were left unsupervised in the showers of the prison gym for approximately 20 minutes. After around 8.10am, jeffrey was discovered on the floor of the bathroom at the gym suffering from severe head and facial wounds. He had been bludgeoned with a 20 inch metal bar and his head had been repeatedly struck against the wall. Although he was still alive after being rushed to hospital, he was pronounced dead one hour later. Anderson had also been beaten with the same instrument and died two days later. Scarver, who was serving a life sentence for murder, informed authorities he had first attacked Dahmer with the metal bar as they cleaned the staff locker room. He then attacked Anderson who was cleaning an inmates locker room. According to Scarver, jeffrey did not yell or make any noise as he was attacked. Scarver was adamant he had not planned the attacks in advance, although he later admitted to investigators that he had concealed the 20 inch iron bar used to kill both men in his clothing shortly before the killings.
Speaker 2:During learning of his son's death, dahmer's mother, joyce Flint, responded angrily to the media. Now is everyone happy now that he is bludgeoned to death? Is that good enough for everyone? Jeffrey had stated in his will that he wished for no services to be conducted after his death and that he wished to be cremated. In September 1995, dahmer's body was cremated and his ashes divided between his parents.
Speaker 2:In the aftermath of his death, media outlets around the world were reporting the demise of one of the world's most heinous serial killers. There was little sympathy and many celebrated his death, in particular his victims' families. But there were questions about whether the killing had been deliberately set up by prison staff. It transpired that on the morning of Jeffrey's murder, christopher Scarver was placed with Dahmer and Anderson on the job. He had never worked with Jeffrey before or done that job, and Scarver was a dangerous man. He had mental health issues and a deep hatred of whites. He never hid his disdain for Jeffrey and it was common knowledge that he carried around with him a newspaper article that detailed Jeffrey's crimes. So, it seemed, matching Scarver with two white men, one of which was Jeffrey Dahmer, was a recipe for disaster. Also, at the time of the killing, there was no guard anywhere to be seen, which was highly irregular. As in a max security facility like Columbia, it's necessary for one guard to be in sight of each inmate at all times that they are out of their cells, but the two guards assigned to that job that morning would know it to be seen. In fact, in 2015, scarver gave an interview and indicated that the guards were complicit in the murders. However, despite investigations, to date, only Scarver has been charged with the murders, for which he received another life sentence. He also revealed that Jeffrey had been openly unrepentant for his crimes and that he'd haunted fellow inmates by shaping his prison food into imitations of severed limbs, complete with ketchup, to stimulate blood splattering.
Speaker 2:There were also allegations that Jeffrey invited his own death and even welcomed it. Even when he was sentenced, he said this has never been a case of trying to get free. I didn't ever want freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself. In an interview with Nancy Glass, he admitted that he had suicidal thoughts and when asked about the possibility of another inmate attacking him, he said there's no question that I deserve the death penalty. That's what I deserve. I deserve death.
Speaker 2:One thing is certain at the time of his attack, jeffrey was strong enough physically to fight Scarver off, and this leaves people to think that maybe he lets Scarver overpower him and finally puts him out of his misery. People who used to believe Jeffrey was genuine about his conversion to Christianity also argue that to commit suicide would go against Christian scripture, but by allowing someone to kill him he would be partially atoned for his sins and would be allowed to go to heaven as a true believer. We will never fully understand why Jeffrey Dahmer committed such depraved and heinous crimes. Was he born to kill? Was it the result of his childhood, or were there other factors that turned a seemingly normal man into one of the world's most notorious and evil serial killers?