Jeffrey Dahmer: The Truth

He is remembered as the one who almost got away, but was given back to Dahmer by the police who should have saved him. Dahmer told police that he and the boy were having a lovers’ spat, the police left and Dahmer killed the 14-year-old boy that night. Sinthasomphone was also the brother of the 13-year-old boy Dahmer had molested in 1988, for which he went to prison for.

Dahmer was murdering his victim’s so fast that he was running out of room for them all. So according to his confession, he bought a 57-gallon drum, filled it up with acid and placed the dismembered body parts into it. Once the body parts would dissolve, he would flush the slushy like flesh down the toilet in his apartment. He would cook other body parts on the stove.

He took photographs of his victim’s in various stages of dismemberment and in an effort to keep his victims alive somehow, he began to eat the body parts of his victims for “sexual gratification.”

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer’s reign of terror ended when he picked up Tracy Edwards, who would later escape and bring the police straight to Dahmer’s door. Upon searching Dahmer’s residence, the police found:

• 83 photos of bodies in various stages of dismemberment

• Four fleshed skulls in the refrigerator

• Three torso’s of males in the 57-gallon drum, with maggots

• Cooked flesh and genitals on the stove

• Freezer full of arms, legs and other body parts

Dahmer confessed his crimes in a 159-page confession. He admitted to the killing of 17 men. Jeff would later admit that the confession felt, “cathartic to admit his crimes.” He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was officially charged on August 22, 1991.Wisconsin had no death penalty so if Dahmer were to be found guilty without insanity he would face life in prison. However, if he were found guilty by reason of insanity, he would serve his sentence in a mental hospital.

His trial started on January 30, 1992 and he was found guilty without insanity on February 15 and sentenced to prison for a total of 937 years. At the sentencing hearing Jeffrey Dahmer made the following statement:

“I feel so sorry for what I did to those poor families…if I could give my life to bring back their loved ones I would. I am so very sorry.”

He was sentenced to Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin where he became known as inmate #177252. Jeffrey Dahmer would later say that he blamed his atheist views and evolution for his killing spree. He told his father, “if it all happens naturally why can’t I make my own rules?”

It was in prison that Dahmer underwent his second conversion and began speaking with a priest named Roy Ratcliff in April of 1994 and in May of that same year was baptized. Despite the conversion, he continued to have the fantasies that had haunted him nearly his entire life.

Jeffrey Dahmer had several attempts on his life while he was in prison, two of which sent him to the prison hospital in July and August of 1994. On November 28, 1994, at the age of 34, Jeffrey Dahmer was bludgeoned to death by fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver.

Psychological Reasons Behind Dahmer’s Crimes

Jeffrey Dahmer suffered from several psychological disorders, which in part lead to his behavior. Was he mentally ill? Was he in fact insane? In order to qualify as being insane one has to meet one of two criteria:

1. Can the person tell right from wrong?

2. If the person meets the first criteria, can the person act accordingly or does his or her actions happen out of the person’s control?

Jeffrey Dahmer’s own actions show that he felt guilt at times, that he tried to deny his fantasies and desires by drinking and that he at times acted without remembering anything later. He was continually evolving as a serial killer. Toward the end of his killing spree, he had advanced to killing almost one to two men a week.

Jeffrey Dahmer has been labeled with the following disorders:

• Sexual sadist

• Necrophilia

• Paraphilia

• Cannibalism

• Erotic Asphyxia

• Psychopathic

Despite the definitions and labels, nothing can truly explain what makes a man like Jeffrey Dahmer do what he did. Understanding the criminal mind is not impossible, but truly understanding the criminal mind is something that will never be achieved by someone with a college degree of any kind.