The Inmate Who Killed Jeffrey Dahmer Now Writes Poetry
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Netflix dropped a limited series about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer late last month, and the bone-chilling show has caused waves of chatter and speculation over the past few weeks.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, is co-created by American Horror Story’s Ryan Murphy and his frequent collaborator Ian Brennan. Murphy is also an executive producer.
AHS alum Evan Peters plays the serial killer, while actor Richard Jenkins plays Jeffrey’s father Lionel. Molly Ringwald plays his stepmother, Shari. And Niecy Nash plays Jeffrey’s neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, who repeatedly reported Dahmer to the police—and was ignored.
There's no doubt about it: This story is an upsetting one. It involves murder, cannibalism, necrophilia, and many other truly horrifying details. Jeffrey was eventually convicted and sent to prison, but with the new series exploring his life and victims, everyone has a lot of questions about where he is now.
Viewers are especially curious about what happened to Dahmer’s family after his arrest, what his victims’ loved ones had to say at his trial, and all about the prison inmate that eventually murdered the serial killer.
So, here's everything to know about one of the most infamous serial killers in American history.
Who is Jeffrey Dahmer?
Jeffrey was an American serial killer. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Lionel and Joyce Dahmer on May 21, 1960, according to Biography.com.
Jeffrey was an energetic and happy kid but got quieter after a childhood hernia surgery, according to his father. He became disengaged, tense, and turned into a loner. In high school, he was in the band and played intramural tennis, according to the New York Times.
Jeffrey then went on to do a semester at Ohio State University before enlisting in the army, where he was honorably discharged, the paper reported.
Jeffrey said he began to fantasize about necrophilia and murder around the age of 14.
What did Jeffrey do?
It all began in 1978 when Jeffrey murdered his first victim.
Jeffrey, who had recently graduated from high school, picked up hitchhiker Steven Hicks and took him back to his parents' house in Ohio. He gave Hicks alcohol, had sex with him, and then when Hicks tried to leave, Jeffrey hit him in the head and strangled him with a barbell.
“I always knew that it was wrong. The first killing was not planned,” Dahmer told Inside Edition in 1993. “I was coming back from the shopping mall back in ’78. I’d had fantasies about picking up a hitchhiker, taking him back to the house, and having complete dominance and control over him.”
Between 1978 and 1991, he murdered 16 more people, and what's even more disturbing (if that's possible) is that he had sex with some of their corpses, kept some body parts, and ate others, according to reports at the time.
One detective said during the trial that he "put Crisco on the bicep, softened it with meat tenderizer and fried it on a skillet," per The Washington Post.
“No one had a clue as to what was happening for over a decade,” Dahmer later said.
Who were his victims?
By the time he was finally caught, Jeffrey had killed 17 men and boys, including Joseph Bradehoft, 25 of Milwaukee, Jamie Doxtator, 14, of Milwaukee, Richard Guerrero, 25 of Milwaukee, Anthony Hughes, 31 of Madison, Oliver Lacy, 23 of Milwaukee, and many others, according to Deseret News.
What was he charged with?
Jeffrey was eventually charged with 15 counts of first-degree murder during his 1992 trial in Milwaukee. He initially pleaded not guilty and then plead guilty by way of insanity, according to Biography.com.
After 10 hours of deliberation, a jury found Jeffrey guilty on all charges, and he was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms and a sixteenth life term in Ohio in May of that same year.
Where was he sent to prison?
After the trial, Jeffrey was sent to Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. He supposedly adjusted well to life in prison, Biography.com reported.
He was initially kept away from the general population, but eventually convinced officials to allow him to mix with the other inmates. Jeffrey became religious while in prison, and was granted permission to be baptized by a local pastor.
How did he die?
Jeffrey was beaten to death on November 28, 1994, by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver. After an officer left Scarver alone with Dahmer and another inmate, Scarver took his opportunity and confronted Dahmer about his crimes.
“I asked him if he did those things ’cause I was fiercely disgusted. He was shocked,” Scarver told the New York Post. Moments later, he killed Dahmer using a metal bar.
Scarver shared that he killed Jeffrey because of his creepy sense of humor, which included pretending prison food was fake limbs, and covering them in ketchup to emulate blood. He also said many people in prison had repented, and he felt Dahmer was not one of them, per the New York Post.
Additionally, Scarver believed that the officers who disappeared at the time of Dahmer's death had something to do with it. But when further questioned, he held back out of fear for his safety. “I would need a good attorney to ensure there would not be any retaliation by Wisconsin officials or to get me out of any type of retaliatory position they would put me in,” explained Scarver.
In 1995, Scarver pled no contest and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 30 years in prison—he won't be eligible for parole until 3077, per AP News.
Who is Christopher Scarver?
Christopher Scarver was a prisoner at the same time as Jeffrey Dahmer.
Before murdering Dahmer, Scarver was sentenced to life in prison after killing Steven Lohman, a worker at Wisconsin Conservation Corps, in 1990, per Distractify.
Scarver had just been fired from his job at the corporation and returned to the workplace to demand money from a site manager. When he only received $15, he shot Lohman three times, Distractify reported.
Scarver was moved from the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin to the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado in 2003, per The Telegraph-Herald.
Now, Scarver focuses on writing poetry, songs, music, short stories, and prison policy proposals, in addition to creating art, according to Amazon. Multiple books of his work are for sale on the site, including The Child Left Behind, published in 2015.
What did the victims' families say about Dahmer's death?
Before his death, the parents of Steven Hicks, Dahmer's first victim, spoke out.
″If I thought that killing him would bring my son back, I’d do it myself. And if I thought killing him would stop it from happening in the future, I’d do it myself,″ Steven's father, Richard Hicks, told Cleveland television station WKYC, per AP News.
Hick's mother also expressed anger about Dahmer not receiving the death penalty. ″I don’t believe that we should have to pay our taxes and support these monsters and give them their rights for the rest of their lives when they took away the basic right of life," said Martha Hicks. At the time, the death penalty was abolished in Wisconsin.
Where is Jeffrey Dahmer’s family now?
Before Dahmer’s death, his biological mother, Joyce Flint, kept in touch with him in prison. Joyce spoke to her son on the phone once a week, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Flint attempted suicide on the date of Dahmer’s birthday in 1996, the source reported. The same year, Flint founded "The Living Room," an HIV community center, in Fresno, according to Desert News. She worked at the Central Valley AIDS Center until her death. She died in 2000 from breast cancer, per Today.
Dahmer’s father, Lionel Dahmer, wrote a book about his experiences, A Father’s Story, published in 1994, only a few months before Jeffrey's death.
The book “describes his shock at hearing the news of his son's crimes, his entry into a world of complete denial, and how, during Jeffrey's trial, he placed himself in his son's shoes,” according to its Amazon description.
Lionel’s wife, Shari Dahmer, still lives in Ohio with Lionel Dahmer, per The Cinemaholic. She is now in her eighties.
Dahmer’s younger brother, David, has a career, a wife, and at least two children—as of June 2004, which was the last time there was a public update on his life. Lionel and Shari went on Larry King Live and gave very little information when asked about David, according to Distractify.
However, Lionel mentioned on the show that David had legally changed his name to keep his life out of the public spotlight.
Where is his body now?
Well, for a while after Jeffrey's death, his brain was kept in formaldehyde at the state pathologist's office while his parents decided whether to cremate their son, per NBC 5 Chicago. Apparently, his mom wanted the brain to be studied.
His brain and body were both eventually cremated, and the ashes were given to his parents.
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