D
Dahmer, Jeffrey
Identification American serial killer
Born May 21, 1960; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died November 28, 1994; Portage, Wisconsin
Dahmer’s murders and the subsequent acts of necrophilia,
dismemberment, preservation of body parts, and cannibal-
ism shocked America and heightened fascination with se-
rial killers.
Elements from Jeffrey Dahmer’s first murder in
June, 1978, which involved dismemberment and
the disposal of the body parts, were repeated in six-
teen subsequent murders to which Dahmer con-
fessed after his arrest in July, 1991. As a child and
teenager, Dahmer had dissected dead animals, and
he used these skills to dismember the body of Steven
Hicks before disposing of it. In 1982, Dahmer moved
in with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin,
and murdered three more victims in
September and October, 1987, and
March, 1988. He would usually target
men he picked up in gay bars or on
the street by promising them money
for posing for pictures and/or sex.
Some have speculated that he primar-
ily selected gay men because he had a
difficult time dealing with his own
homosexuality. After he moved into
an apartment in Milwaukee, his kill-
ings continued from February, 1989,
through July, 1991, with thirteen
more victims—the last six from May
24 to July 19, 1991.
The circumstances surrounding
victim number thirteen, a fourteen-
year-old Laotian boy, KonerakSintha-
somphone, were especially troubling.
Dahmer drugged his victims with a
mixture of sleeping pills put into a
beverage, but Sinthasomphone awoke
and wandered outside completely na-
ked and dazed while Dahmer left the apartment to
buy beer. People who had contacted the police
begged them to verify Sinthasomphone’s age and
not to return him to Dahmer; the officers accepted
Dahmer’s story that Sinthasomphone was twenty
years old and Dahmer’s homosexual lover. The po-
lice accompanied Sinthasomphone and Dahmer
back to Dahmer’s apartment and noticed an odd
odor in the apartment. Had they investigated, they
would have discovered dismembered body parts
from previous victims. According to Dahmer’s con-
fession, he murdered Sinthasomphone within min-
utes after the officers left.
Four more victims would follow. The escape of
intended victim Tracy Edwards on the evening of
July 22, 1991, led to Dahmer’s arrest. Edwards fled
Dahmer’s apartment with one hand handcuffed and
returned accompanied by police to the apartment,
where officers found a knife under Dahmer’s bedJeffrey Dahmer at his preliminary hearing.(AP/Wide World Photos)