The Life and Mind of Jeffrey Dahmer: A window into the dark world of a serial killer

Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the rape, murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. His crimes, which resulted in 15 convictions, occurred in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. Dahmer was sentenced to 16 life terms in prison on February 15, 1992 and died from complications arising from ketone pneumonia at Columbia Correctional Institution on November 28, 1994 after a monthlong illness. In prison he claimed to have murdered an additional person between 1979-81 in Ohio. The victims were all males aged 14 – 28 years old (average age 19 years).

Biography

Jeffrey Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer, necrophile, and cannibal. He committed 15 murders between 1978 and 1991 before being captured by police. He spent more than 11 years at Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institution until his death in 1994. Biographers have pointed out that despite his crimes, he was charismatic and highly intelligent with an unusually high IQ of 135. In 2016 a movie titled My Friend Dahmer starring Ross Lynch was released depicting events from his teenage years growing up in Bath Township Ohio with flashbacks to him living with alcoholic parents who are constantly fighting.

Family Background

Born in 1960 to Joyce Annette (née Flint) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer. His parents had married two years earlier, when his mother was approximately 19 years old. She became pregnant shortly after their marriage; her family initially objected to the union, but relented when Lionel proved to be a diligent, devoted partner. He was an industrial chemist employed with Grede Foundries until being laid off after major reductions in its workforce due to shifts in metal-casting industry. Lionel subsequently became employed at Fisher Body as an assembly line worker earning $7/hour; he would hold that job for 30 years before retiring at age 55.

Diagnosis

The disorder that defined Dahmer is called paraphilia. It’s an intense, persistent sexual attraction to objects, body parts, or people who aren’t typically considered sexual. The official diagnosis—which comes from Chapter III in his autobiography (aka. his confession to police after he was arrested)—is Paraphilia NOS (Not Otherwise Specified). It falls under other disorders of adult personality and behavior. His doctors diagnosed him with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, necrophilia, & an organic psychotic disorder. Independent diagnoses were made by two psychiatrists. One diagnosed him as having Antisocial Personality Disorder with Paranoid Features; another diagnosed him as having Schizoid Personality Disorder with Antisocial Traits.

Connection To Others

One of his first psychiatrists said he was so profoundly detached that he had never seen someone become so dissociated from himself. He lived in his own reality, where there were no other people, just objects to be used at his whim. The psychiatrists who worked with him speculated that he kept his distance because other people reminded him too much of what he couldn't have. When asked about it later, Dahmer said he kept to himself because if you hurt somebody or something, then there's always consequences. In short, when things go wrong for him or when someone disapproves of something he does, people reject or punish him.

Criminal Activities Begin

With his newfound freedom, Dahmer’s killing spree begins. He first started picking up hitchhikers, murdered them, dismembered them and buried their remains in shallow graves in woods near his parent’s home. He was even known to kill animals with his bare hands before moving on to humans. Eventually, he moved away from hitchhiking victims to luring them via newspaper ads for male models for an upcoming magazine. As soon as his victims would arrive at his apartment, he would drug them with sleeping pills (rohypnol), strangle them with whatever tool was close by and then commit various sexual acts on their bodies. Then came necrophilia.

People Suspect Him

On May 27, 1991, officers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin arrested Dahmer on charges relating to one of his victims. Later on July 22, he was charged with fourteen more. When police searched his house, they found photos and videos documenting various stages in each victim's dismemberment. They also found materials relating to witchcraft & cannibalism; it would later be discovered that these were souvenirs taken from previous victims.

Arrest & First Imprisonment

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer was arrested for indecent exposure. He later received probation for this charge as well as for disorderly conduct that he had been charged with on July 27. On September 25 of that year, Dahmer was fired from his job after being accused of harassment by four Black men who worked with him at a fried chicken restaurant. Two days later, he killed his first victim, Steven Tuomi. According to reports about his confession in prison (which has never been confirmed), Dahmer lured Tuomi to his home in Wisconsin by promising him work on some photographs.

Second Imprisonment

After his transfer to Columbia Correctional Institution, Dahmer was housed with Jamie T. Woods, who later became notorious for having killed several inmates while incarcerated in other prisons. In May 1994, at Columbia Correctional Institution, Woods was beaten nearly to death by another inmate; although he accused Dahmer of instigating it, there is no evidence to suggest that it was anything but random violence. The two were also known to be socializing during recreation hours until very shortly before Woods' beating. 

It has been suggested that Dahmer's presence may have contributed to Woods' beating, as some prisoners resented him for being gay. Dahmer himself claimed not to know why he had been targeted, stating only that I don't know what they got against me. He was removed from general population after just one week following an incident where he spat on a prisoner and made threatening remarks towards him. As punishment, he spent 23 hours per day in solitary confinement and lost all of his good-time credit.[12] It took just six weeks for prison officials to decide to move him again.[12] Write a professional essay based off the following description: How do you feel about gay marriage? Do you support it or do you oppose it?

Third Imprisonment

In May 1994, Dahmer was charged with killing his third victim at West Allis, near Milwaukee. He beat Steven Hicks to death on April 30, then posed him for photographs before dismembering him. When authorities arrived at Dahmer's house after seeing bloody drag marks in his apartment complex, they discovered various body parts in his refrigerator. On June 1st he pleaded guilty to 15 charges of murder and was sentenced to fifteen terms of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. As part of a plea agreement, three additional murders were ruled aggravating factors, making him eligible for the death penalty under Wisconsin law; Judge Laurence Gram used this as justification for imposing multiple life sentences instead.

Fourth Imprisonment

In May 1991, Dahmer was again arrested for lewd conduct involving a minor. He had been spotted at Will Rogers Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. On July 13, 1991, he pleaded guilty to one count of gross indecency with a male minor and was sentenced to one year's probation. The court ordered that he continue receiving counseling from Dr. Raymond Pope; failure to do so would result in revocation of probation which could have resulted in another prison sentence.[17] Dr.

Final Days & Death

After being beaten up by his cellmate, Jesse Anderson, on November 28, 1994, he was hospitalized in critical condition at Milwaukee County General Hospital. During an interview with FBI Special Agent Robert Ressler on December 5, 1994 (just over two weeks before his death), he described himself as bisexual. On that same day prison officials performed an unsupervised transfer of him to a room in segregated Cell Block C. Upon returning to Segregation, Dahmer was ambushed by Jesse Anderson who had fashioned a noose from torn sheets and T-shirts. The prisoner was able to loop it around Dahmer's neck through his cell bars after offering him coffee laced with sedatives which he refused because he feared it might be drugged.