The Untold Truth Of Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested at his Milwaukee apartment in 1991, and when the full extent of his crimes came to light, everyone was shocked — even the FBI, who described his apartment as "what could have been the set of a horror movie — numerous body parts belonging to multiple victims." It wasn't until 1992 that prosecutors charged him with 15 murders. Remains of 11 of those victims were still in his apartment at the time of his arrest. Dahmer would ultimately be sentenced to life in prison before being shipped off to Ohio, where he was convicted of one additional murder.

After his conviction, Dahmer spoke about what drove him to kill. He once told Inside Edition (via Oxygen), "It's a process, it doesn't happen overnight, when you depersonalize another person and view them as just an object. An object for pleasure and not a living, breathing human being. It seems to make it easier to do things you shouldn't do." Dahmer explained at his trial he had always known what he was doing "was sick or evil," and continued — "Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness and now I have some peace."

Jeffrey Dahmer remains one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history. So what was never revealed until much later ... and how much has the world forgotten?

Jeffrey Dahmer's arrest wouldn't have happened ... if it weren't for a few Polaroid pictures carelessly left in plain sight. It wasn't until officers got a glimpse of those that they realized something was deeply wrong, as they doubted the man who fled to them for help.

Dahmer was originally arrested in 1988, on charges of (via Time) "fondling a 13-year-old Laotian boy." After 10 months in jail, he regularly met with his probation officer who, in turn, never checked his home. That freedom, History says, coincided with Dahmer the first of the victims later found in his apartment, who had vanished in March 1989. Just two months after that disappearance, Dahmer was before a judge — and promised his child-molesting ways were behind him.

Fast forward to July 22, 1992. That's when Tracy Edwards escaped from Dahmer's apartment, and he later testified (via the Los Angeles Times), "He put his head on my chest, was listening to my heart, and said he was going to eat my heart." After watching "Exorcist III," Edwards was able to hit — and flee from — a distracted Dahmer. Heading out into the city, Edwards found a police car and told officers what had happened — and showed them the handcuffs still around his wrist. When he took the doubting officers back to the apartment, Dahmer originally tried to explain the incident away as a "domestic dispute," but that's when officers spotted the pictures. Dahmer was arrested without incident.

Research done by Regis University suggests Jeffrey Dahmer's fascination with death started at about the same time as his hernia surgery — and an incident recounted by his father. Lionel Dahmer says 4-year-old Jeffrey was fascinated with a pile of bones under their home, and while Lionel noticed it, he didn't do anything about it — and Jeffrey's interest in the dead and dying only increased.

When Jeffrey Dahmer was in the ninth grade, he was given a biology assignment that might sound familiar to those of a certain age: the dissection of a fetal pig. He not only happily completed the assignment but kept the skeleton — and that kicked off an obsession with collecting others. At first, those came from along the roadside; Dahmer spent much of his formative years collecting dead animals and mutilating them further. 

The Miami Herald says Dahmer also killed the pets of his neighbors, mounting their heads on sticks. Today, animal cruelty is considered one of the warning signs a child might escalate in adulthood. The FBI started maintaining a database to track instances of animal cruelty in 2016, and stress that instances of abuse need to be reported.

Jeffrey Dahmer's parents finalized their divorce on July 24, 1978 (via the Los Angeles Times). About a month prior to that, he killed his first victim. Steven Hicks had been hitchhiking to a concert, says The New York Times, and when he didn't come home, his parents didn't think anything of it. They reported him missing six days later, but he was already dead.

Months passed ... then years. It wasn't until 1991 that law enforcement connected Hicks' disappearance with Dahmer, and it was also then they started taking a close look at Dahmer's 1978 home in Ohio. Hours into the search, they "found more than 50 bone fragments," along with a "'substantial quantity of blood' and a bloody handprint in the crawl space" of the home.

That would quickly escalate to 500 bone fragments, and Dahmer would eventually confess to picking up Hicks, inviting him home for a drink, and smashing him first with a barbell, then destroying his remains with a sledgehammer. And he was nearly caught. Dahmer was pulled over by police when he was disposing of Hicks' body, and officers asked him why he had plastic bags in his car. He convinced them he was just getting some air — and, distraught over his parents' impending divorce — he was taking the garbage to the dump while he was out. Officers let him go.

St. Mary's University says Konerak Sinthasomphone was among the 11 victims whose remains were discovered at Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment, and his story starts years prior. The 13-year-old boy Dahmer had been convicted of molesting in 1988 was Konerak's older brother, Keison. The family was told Dahmer was "put away for good," but in 1991, he lured Konerak Sinthasomphone to his apartment with promises he'd pay him for posing for a few photos. Dahmer drugged him, drilled a hole in his skull, and injected him with hydrochloric acid.

He was still unconscious when Dahmer left for the store, and Dahmer was still gone when he woke. Sinthasomphone was running down the street when he came across Nicole Childress and Sandra Smith. They called police, but by that time, Dahmer was on the street again to reclaim his victim. Dahmer claimed the boy was his "houseguest," and was ultimately released by police — who escorted them both back to Dahmer's apartment, then threatened to arrest Smith for her continued insistence that something was deeply wrong. Sinthasomphone was dead half-an-hour later. 

In spite of the fact that Dahmer already had another body in his apartment, the officers testified (via The New York Times) they believed the two had "a caring relationship." Officer Joseph Gabrish said, "We're trained to be observant ... I've been doing this for a while, and usually if something stands out, you'll spot it. There just wasn't anything there."

Jeffrey Dahmer's parents have spoken out about their son, and his father — Lionel — even wrote a book in an attempt to make sense out of what had happened. In it (via Oxygen), he said he "blamed himself for Jeffrey's (severe) flaws," particularly his own "negligent" nature. 

Jeffrey's mother, Joyce Flint, said in 1993: "I wake up every morning and for a split second, I don't know I'm Jeffrey Dahmer's mother, and then it all floods in." She later told Hard Copy, "I still love my son. I've never stopped loving my son." Flint died of breast cancer in 2000, and in reporting her death, Deseret says she spent much of her life working as a case manager for the Central Valley AIDS team. She also founded an HIV community center called The Living Room, and associates described her as "just this wonderful person."

Jeffrey Dahmer's stepmother, Shari, has also spoken about her infamous stepson. She says (via In Touch Weekly), "He was very vulnerable. He needed love and he needed attention." She adds that they did try to get him psychiatric help after he left the military, and when asked why they hadn't changed their names, she adds: "I didn't feel ashamed. We were not guilty ... Because we were not involved, we didn't feel ashamed in that respect."

Jeffrey Dahmer was ultimately sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms, says Biography, and at first, he spent some time in protective custody. After a year in jail, he asked to be returned to a more communal area, and he started to spend time — sometimes, unsupervised — with other prisoners. That's where things went sideways.

There was an attempt on his life in 1994, at a chapel service the newly-baptized Dahmer was attending. Then, on November 28, 1994, Dahmer was bludgeoned to death by another inmate named Christopher Scarver. Scarver later talked to the NY Post and explained why he'd done it, saying: "He crossed the line with some people — prisoners, prison staff. Some people who are in prison are repentant — but he was not one of them." Scarver wasn't the only one unnerved by Dahmer, he said. Dahmer was well-known for hanging up signs for "Cannibals Anonymous," and reminding guards and fellow inmates alike that, "I bite." He made severed limbs out of his food while in the mess, added ketchup for blood, and taunted those around him.

Scarver said that he had gone out of his way to avoid Dahmer, but then he found himself on bathroom-cleaning duty with him. He was poked in the back, and when he confronted Dahmer with his crimes — and Dahmer confirmed that he was guilty — Scarver said, "He ended up dead. I put his head down."

Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment was full of ghastly discoveries when police were called there in July 1991. Along with the murder weapons and various instruments used to dissect his victims, investigators discovered multiple body parts stashed in locations throughout apartment 213.

Among the relics Dahmer had collected from his victims was a crude set of hand-drawn plans for a shrine made with human skulls. Fox News reports that Dahmer's plans revealed a black table, illuminated with overhead blue lighting that would shine on the painted skulls that he collected from his victims. The shrine would be guarded on either side by two human skeletons, also painted. 

For Dahmer's plan to come to full fruition, many more victims would have been required. And Dahmer had no plans on discontinuing his cruel and morbid hobby. In a 1993 prison interview with Inside Edition, Dahmer was asked if he would still be committing murder. His chilling response was "There's no doubt I probably would be. I can't think of anything that would have stopped me."

You can probably imagine the running jokes about a cannibal being employed in a chocolate factory that were tastelessly made (no pun intended here) when Jeffrey Dahmer's most recent vocation was revealed after his 1991 arrest. No doubt, these attempts at humor were woven into a fabric of real horror that was being exposed after Dahmer was brought to justice and throughout his 1992 sanity trial. 

Biography reveals that Dahmer began to collect trophies from his victims, in the form of body parts that he harvested from them after they were viciously murdered. The first time Dahmer admitted to doing this was with the body of his fifth victim, Anthony Sears. The 24-year-old man was lured to Dahmer's grandmother's house where he was strangled to death and dismembered. Dahmer carefully removed Sears' head and genitals, storing them inside a wooden box.

This box was brought to work at Ambrosia by Dahmer, who kept the box and its contents in his work locker.

Those wanting to drive by and sneak a peek at the apartment building that Jeffrey Dahmer lived in while he committed the majority of his murders will be disappointed to discover that it hasn't been standing in 30 years. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the structure at 924 N. 25th Street was demolished in 1992, a little over a year after the remains of multiple victims were recovered from Dahmer's home. 

The building was purchased by The Campus Circle Project, in conjunction with Marquette University. Though some discussions were had about what to do with the property over the years, nothing has come to fruition. Newsweek reports that after the buyers helped the existing residents of the building acquire new housing, they deliberated on using the now-vacant lot for a memorial garden for victims, a neighborhood park, and other projects. Three decades later, the grassy lot still sits undeveloped behind a fence.

The decision to purchase and raze the dwellings where brutal murders have occurred is not uncommon. The high levels of publicity might be a dominant motivating factor in this move, as it keeps curiosity seekers from bothering neighboring property owners. Over time, true crime aficionados have seen the homes of the Kansas City Butcher, John Wayne Gacy, and others destroyed so that adjacent residents can move on with their lives (per The Pitch KC and Chicago Business Journal, respectively).

Amid Jeffrey Dahmer's trial in 1992, his father and stepmother sat down with TV's "Inside Edition" in an exclusive interview (per Deseret News). During the session, Shari Dhamer pointed out that her stepson was not wearing his prescription glasses in the courtroom. Not wanting to be able to see the jury or onlookers in the chamber, he sat through the legal proceedings without them. She stated, "He's not wearing glasses so that he can't see people. He panics." Whether this feeling was from guilt or regret, she did not speculate. 

On February 17, 1992, Dahmer stood before the court once more after the jury found him legally sane two days prior. Facing multiple life terms for having been found guilty of 15 counts of first-degree murder, Dahmer found himself listening to multiple statements from the family members of many of his victims (via CBS News). After sitting silently throughout some very passionate and emotional testimony to the court, Dahmer was given the opportunity to address the judge and those in attendance. 

Deseret News reports that the only time that Dahmer wore his glasses was during this sentencing hearing.