"The Jeff Dahmer Impact"

Jeffrey Dahmer reaction to George Palermo misunderstandings

Context: during his trial Jeff complained about some of Dr Palermo states, writing down some notes.

Official paper where Dahmer wrote his considerations

Published notes and Jeffrey reaction, writing the notes down

Real notes source:

Important announcement!

Hello everyone, Pyramid here.

I wanted to tell you I’ll take a break from tumblr and from Jeffrey Dahmer’s case in general. My mental health needs a pause because it’s suffering a lot from it. I already had my personal issues and now they got worse, and Dahmer case’s not helping, but it brings lot of negativity and depression instead. Actually I only need to take a breath and a change of scenery. The comeback’s date is still unsure, it all depends on my recovery. I frankly hope it will be as soon as possible because I love to manage this blog and I still have a lot to say, I want to give my contribute because I’m so fascinated by Jeffrey Dahmer, but at the same time I don’t want to force anything and I want to take my time.

So bye for now, hopefully we will see each other again soon! Stay healthy and take care!

THIEF UPDATE

I tried to contact Twitter asking if it was possible to remove the content and some minutes later they deleted the post accepting my request! So glad! Please guys be careful too! Thank you very much for all the support and help you showed, I have no words for your kindness!

Grilling Dahmer - Chapter 18:

“I concentrated on the man himself. The most surprising thing was how very much like me and other regular people he was. In between sessions or during lunch, I pulled out the daily Milwaukee newspaper and read aloud what was being reported. Dahmer perused the latest info on the case, and we discussed other current world events. He was intelligent and articulate, pleasant and polite at all times. The give and take between us went so smoothly that anyone observing would conclude that we were friends. He displayed all the normal human emotions of love, fear, anger, and loneliness during these conversations, and it was only when we returned to his deeds that a distinct "other" personality emerged. Sitting erect and emotionless, he slipped into a trance-like monotonous state as he described the horror of his actions, his blue eyes glazed over and lifeless. Only then did I feel the chill of evil. It was extraordinary.”

Extract from “Grilling Dahmer” book. Fanart by me.

! On a personal note, I always found the relationship between the two men fascinating, and I’m a bit sad we got nothing of Dahmer and Kennedy together, so I decided to draw a moment of the two together. “If we don’t have any photos of the duo, then I’ll create one by myself”, that’s what I told myself. However, I ask to be respectful with this drawing of mine, since I’m still reluctant about posting it. I feel like drawing something about this case can be very delicate, I don’t want to be disrespectful in any way and mostly I don’t want to glorify Jeffrey Dahmer. If you don’t mind, I ask to do not save/post this somewhere else in other socials without my consent. Let’s keep it here and let’s consider it as a “journalistic” piece, since my intent was to document a specific scene which happened. Hope you can understand, thank you!

▵ Hello everyone, Pyramid here! ▵

Long time no see, how are you? Almost two months have passed since my inactivity here, and I must say I had huge results. I feel better and I’m doing so good. Jeffrey Dahmer’s case interest is been so much reduced and moderate, I can happily say it’s not an obsession-like thing, it was so unhealthy. Now the big question is what to do with this blog, I considered it almost as an exaggeration, something I could avoid, yet I have some things more to post. I decided I can post some things Dahmer case related without obligation, just when inspired. But because of this I can take my time not considering this blog a “job” (-never has been but still).

As always this blog was born and still wants to be an informative blog about Dahmer, I disassociate myself from some questionable behaviors from some people of the community and most of all I don’t condone anything Dahmer did, this is a purely educational place only. Thanks to everyone who stayed with me till now, see you soon with more content!

Dahmer’s behaviour in prison

Jeffrey Dahmer, Stone Philips Interview, 1994

Regarding Dahmer’s behaviour in prison, there are various opinions on why he would act like that. He was known for playing with food, putting ketchup on his meal to resemble body parts; he once placed a sign in his cell “Cannibal Anonymous Meeting”; he taunted scared guards next to him making them jump by whispering “I bite”.

Following the prison staff insight, he was a model inmate, but based on Christopher Scarver’s opinion, “He crossed the line with some people — prisoners, prison staff. Some people who are in prison are repentant — but [Dahmer] was not one of them”.

However it's important to consider Scarver never really had a direct contact with Dahmer, plus he suffered from a severe mental illness, which makes his statement of doubtful authenticity.

The same Gerald Boyle, Jeffrey Dahmer’s defence attorney, stated “Dahmer was such a milquetoast. He would never have done that stuff. He killed people, but he didn't taunt people. I never saw him do anything that would lead me to believe that he would mimic the deaths that he caused. I just don't believe that.”, claiming it wasn’t the serial killer’s “style”.

On the other hand, Roy Ratcliff, the pastor who baptised Dahmer, backed up the topic saying he'd been told by prison guards Dahmer would joke about cannibalism, effectively affirming the serial killer's ambiguous behaviour.

Last seen of Jeffrey Dahmer in the prison library, 1994

On why of these actions, the theories are three:

Causing outrage to find death: we are aware of Dahmer’s death wish. He claimed multiple times he wanted to be dead, from having suicidal thoughts, to requesting for the death penalty. He was conscious of the risk of his health by being included in the general population, yet, even after people’s recommendations, he chose to be moved anyway. He wasn’t able to commit suicide himself so he provoked people to get what he wanted. Relevant information is also they didn’t find marks on Dahmer’s body, meaning Dahmer didn’t fight back during the attack, accepting his fate. He also said these words no longer before his death to the mother Joyce “It doesn’t matter, Mom. I don’t care if something happens to me”.

His sense of humour: it is known that Dahmer had a particular dark humour. During highschool years Dahmer was known as the clown/mascotte to the students at Revere High School. He staged pranks and he bleated and simulated epileptic seizures or cerebral palsy, which became known as "Doing a Dahmer". Even during interrogation, “He picked up the brown bunch and commented that they held a remarkable resemblance to a person's fingers after they had been immersed in muriatic acid for a while. He placed the banana in his mouth and chewed. "It's not bad."”(cit. Grilling Dahmer). It’s possible he was just spending time as he could.

He had become a shadow of himself: he portrayed himself as THE cannibal in an attempt to attract attention, giving people what they expected from him. He didn’t have real friends, he never had, so he kept this attitude for say “stay away from me”. He toyed with the idea of cannibal quite a bit, because he didn’t trust people. This is the insight Roy Ratcliff gave after he learnt about Jeffrey’s behaviour in prison. Roy became one of the latest and only true friends Jeffrey met.

Roy Ratcliff holding the card Jeffrey Dahmer gave him for thanksgiving

After 28 years, we don’t know why of this behaviour yet, and we will never know. All the theories above are valid, meaning he could’ve acted that way because of a mix of those reasons. Jeffrey Dahmer will find death at Columbia Correctional Institution on 28th November 1994.

Jeffrey Dahmer was a terrifying person and no one should forget that

Because of the Dahmer Netflix series, always more people approached the case and informed themselves by reading books or following old interviews. Jeffrey Dahmer’s figure is been brought back and became subject of discussion worldwide again after 30 years. He became a trend topic but it has also aroused much criticism, especially from the families of the victims.

But Jeffrey Dahmer was different, he was a unique type of serial killer, and this is the reason why he made people feel so fascinated. His crimes were gruesome, horrible and extreme, something that the human mind struggles to understand, yet Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t a sadistic psychopath and he felt some kind of remorse too. At the end, he also wanted and tried to help victims’ families he felt sorry to. He’s indeed a man who surprised people with his behaviors and so many people came close trying to figure him out. But like a double-edged sword, some people’s response isn't all puppy dogs and rainbows.

Jeffrey Dahmer in 1991 in his first court appearance - via The Milwaukee Journal

People felt close to him, after the news broke out many people find themselves to feel for Jeffrey. It’s not a very big new news, the most infamous serial killers always found out themselves having “groupies” often assisting at their trials, or people writing to them stating how similar they felt. In the worst occasions, it was a case of Hybristophilia.

In modern days the same thing is happening and it’s too easy to forget the man’s abhorrent crimes. Too easily people tend to minimize the eerie of the acts, making appear Jeffrey like a wounded victim as well. Jeffrey suffered for some things too, and had a couple of mental diseases. It was undeniable that he too was a human being and displayed of human emotions. “Humanising” a serial killer is not a bad thing, it makes us realise we don’t have a monster but another person. Defining a criminal “monster” or “devil” only help us to dissociate from him, not considering him “one of us”. It makes us feel safer, having a demoniac entity to point the finger to, but the sad truth criminals are humans as well. Jeffrey was human.

Jeffrey Dahmer during Inside Edition interview with Nancy Glass in 1993.

But in the other side, some people tended to overemphasize the man’s problems too much, and made him become a new victim. But Jeffrey Dahmer was a murder first of all and took the life of 17 innocent people. He was selfish and careless, he saw people as objects for his own sexual purposes and he disposed of them when they were no longer needed.

“Reflecting on the invitation, Jackson remembered how he and Dahmer were outside on the rear landing. Dahmer on the steps going upstairs to the second floor while Jackson was below. Dahmer starred straight ahead, transfixed, never looking at Jackson when he extended the invitation.”

- From ‘Monster The True Story of Jeffrey Dahmer Murders’. Writer Anne E. Schwartz describes the meeting she had with a Oxford Apartments tenant Doug Jackson

Jeffrey Dahmer was aware of what he was doing, and even if he knew it was wrong, he allowed himself to act how he wanted. His modus operandi was the same: inviting the person at home, drugging them, raping them, killing them, using the corpse how he wanted to then disposing the body. Jeffrey Dahmer was responsible for the following crimes:

Serial murder

Rape

Child molestation

Sexual assault

Sexual harassment

Public nudity

Necrophilia

Cannibalism

Jeffrey Dahmer victims. From left to right: Steven Hicks; Steven Tuomi; James Doxtator; Eddie Smith; Oliver Lacy; Matt Turner; Ricky Beeks; Richard Guerrero; Ernest Miller; David Thomas; Joseph Bradehoft; Curtis Straughter; Errol Lindsey; Anthony Hughes; Konerak Sinthasomphone; Anthony Sears; Jeremiah Weinberger

“Konerak, colloquially known as ‘Khum’ or ‘Kolack’, was a friendly, high-spirited youngster who did not make enemies. The next evening, Saturday, 25 May, he went to a party at Crystal Palace with Laotian friends. On Sunday morning he took a shower at 10 a.m., then went downtown. That was the last time his brother saw him. The brother was called Somsack; for Konerak Sinthasomphone was about to be the second member of this immigrant family to fall into the hands of Jeffrey Dahmer”

- The Shrine Of Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey’s first victim was named Steven Hicks. It was 1978 and Jeffrey was just 18 years old. He found himself alone at home and decided to take a ride with his car. It’s when he met Steven, a hitchhiker, and together reached Dahmer’s house to have some fun. June 18 1978, the last day Steven Hicks was seen alive, his parents were waiting for him to come home to celebrate his dad’s birthday. Dahmer killed him because he didn’t want to let him go, he tried to dispose the body throwing the parts from a ravine he knew but when a police office stopped him he decided to spread the rests on the yard behind his house. After 9 years he tried to behave correctly trying to moderate his impulses, but in September 15, 1987 he fell again and Steven Tuomi, a 24 years old man, became his second victim. Dahmer put him in a suitcase and disposed of the body at the grandma’s house. Following these two killing accidents, many more would follow, and Dahmer would eventually surrender. He gave in to his impulses, making a total of 17 victims, among which two were minors of 14 years old of age. In between of the years before the homicides arrest, Dahmer was arrested for other crimes as indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and sexual assault of a 13 year old boy, Somsak Sinthasomphone. After that he was followed by probation officer Donna Chester, they had to meet twice a week, and even if Dahmer was a cooperative client, he never expressed himself about the crimes he was committing and he didn’t seek for help. He continued to commit his crimes, drugging and raping attractive gay men he found, killing some as well. He kept rests of the victims, reducing what was left to three black garbage bags, and so from a day to another a human being was wiped off the face of the Earth. And more he continued, less careful he became, turning himself into a killing machine. He lost his job, he was going to loose the apartment as well, but he was only interested to follow a sexual pleasure, trying to find more boys to carry home. He wondered around the place unstoppably asking from a man to another to come to his house, when the escape of Tracy Edwards followed and Dahmer was subsequently arrested.

From left to right: Shirley Hughes, mother of Tony Hughes; Catherine Lacy, mother of Oliver Lacy; Dorothy Straughter, mother of Curtis Straughter

“One of his workmates, Richard Burton, was driving with a friend when he saw him standing on a street corner and gave him a ride. Dahmer said he wanted to get out of Wisconsin and go to Florida. Burton wished him luck, and he got out. To his friend, Burton said he thought Jeff had ‘lost it all’ – no job, no friends. A little later he spotted him again talking to a black man at a bus-stop.

On 21 July, after dismembering the body of Joseph Bradehoft, he was wandering around the Grand Avenue Mall where, in two separate incidents, he propositioned Hispanic men with the invitation to earn money by posing for pictures and watching videos. They were Joseph Rosa and Ricardo Ortiz. Both refused.

The events of 22 July depict a mind at once unfocused, listless, and delirious, unhinged. Dahmer got up late, in the midst of his human debris, and went out for a beer. Sopa Princewill accosts him in the corridor with a 40-ounce bottle, and warns him that he may not last until his lease runs out at the end of the month – he may be evicted sooner because his place smelt so awful. He listens, but does not react in any noticeable manner. He goes downtown and is walking along 3rd Street near Wells Street at 2 p.m. when he sees a black man sitting on a sidewalk bench. This is twenty-year-old Ormell Holmes. He asks Holmes if he wants to earn $50. What do I have to do for that? asks Holmes. Pose for pictures and drink some rum. Holmes indicates that he is not interested in that kind of thing, and Dahmer moves on. He approaches another man in the same street, with the same result.

He now goes to his favourite haunt, the Grand Avenue Mall, and has some fast food. He is seen there at 3.30 talking to a man on one of the benches. A little later, he asks a sixteen-year-old black boy called Anderson to come home with him and watch movies, and his offer is again declined. At 4.30 Dennis Campbell, who works at Milwaukee’s famous German restaurant, Karl Ratzch’s, is in the Mall with his girlfriend Julie Weyer, and goes to the men’s room on the first floor. Having urinated, he is drying his hands on a wall dryer when the door opens and a scruffy white man with several days’ growth of beard walks in and stands behind him, then moves beside him. There is no long preparatory choreography. The white man says straight out, ‘Do you want to make fifty dollars real quick?’ ‘Doing what?’ says Campbell. ‘Come to my apartment and watch videos.’ ‘I don’t think so,’ says Campbell, and the man, whom he thought ‘weird, creepy and very unusual’, says, ‘O.K.’ He told Julie about it afterwards and she laughed.”

- The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

Oxford apartments neighbor speaking about Jeffrey Dahmer

One evening in June of 1990, I held my first conversation with our neighbor who lived across the hall. I introduced myself to him as Vern and he introduced himself to me as Jeff.

He appeared to be very polite as he and I stood in the hall in front of our apartments. He stated he was leaving to go to the corner store to buy a pack of cigarettes and when he saw I had a pack in my shirt pocket he asked if I had a cigarette I could spare.

Of all the times I had seen this guy he was always casually dressed in faded jeans, a flannel shirt and casual shoes. He wore glasses and his hair was cut medium length always looking well groomed. He had the appearance of a college student or someone who had been to college. He was clean shaven and had boyish look.

I guess the word I would choose to describe my impression of him is intelligent, highly intelligent. He had a slim built appearing to be 6 feet tall, weighing maybe 165 pounds. I'd guess his age to be 30 or 31 years old.

Through the times that I'd see him our conversations would mainly be small talk about my car, my job, the weather, his job and the building or something of that nature. He always appeared to be soft spoken as we would stop in the hall on his way in or out of his apartment.

Never did he give me any impression that he had hang ups about living in a dominantly black building or living in the neighborhood which also was dominantly black. As time went on Pam also had begun to have small conversations with him. She also thought that he was pretty pleasant to talk to. We were neighborly with all the tenants living in the building.

Being that I was the only black man at my place of employment and Pam being raised in Madison where blacks were few, neither she nor I had a problem with him being white. Our typical conversations went something like this whenever we would talk to each other in the hall.

"What's happening?"

"Hey Vern, not much."

He would notice that I would be just getting in from work most of the evenings when we'd see each other...

"How was your day?"

"Not too bad," I'd reply. From earlier conversations in our passing, I had informed him that I was a Draftsman. He like-wise told me he worked 3rd shift at a chocolate factory downtown and that he's been employed there for a couple of years.

"Do you have to punch in tonight?"

"Yeah, got to pay rent."

"Talk to you later," I'd respond. His reply was... "yeah, take care."

There had been various other conversations and I must admit talking to him made me feel appreciative of our small conversations. I felt sad for the guy living alone, never seeing him associate with anyone or have friends visit him at his apartment.

Amongst all of the tenants in the building Jeff stood out the most, not only because he was white but to me because he never had visitors or a girlfriend which to me appeared strange but not the type of out of the way strange. He was always alone.

He didn't own a car therefore, his means of transportation was the city bus. After becoming acquainted with him, we'd see Jeff standing on the bus stop or getting off the bus walking towards the apartment building.

He appeared to be weird to the other tenants but I never thought of him as such because of the fact that the area where we lived was nothing but a danger zone and keeping to himself was a safe thing to do. It was not safe for anyone walking that didn't fit in.

It was no surprise to see Jeff wearing his light gray jacket walking at 9:00pm through someone's backyard or taking a short cut through the alley headed towards the Oxford Building. He'd walk among dope peddlers to have them approach him and ask him "you looking..?" "You straight..?"

Meaning do you want to buy drugs but He would either shake his head negatively or ignore the peddlers all together.

He would be approached by addicts trying to con him in any way possible for money and women working the streets would confront him with offers of sexual pleasures for money but he would ignore them all.

I recall once telling Pam that I thought he had a lot of heart to live in this area. He never showed any sign of being fearful, he didn't have a kick ass type of attitude. It was more of an "I don't bother you and you don't bother me" type of attitude.

In June there was a series of burglaries and apartments in our building were broken into. Everyone was on lookout for any strangers walking through the halls. The police were called and they questioned everyone that lived in the building to see if anyone may have seen anyone or knew anything. Two apartments were broken into and everyone in the Oxford Apartments had high concerns about the break-ins.

The tenants began to look out for each other's apartments when the tenant was away. I had two of my nearest neighbor's phone numbers and I had also given them our number to inform each other when we were going to be out of our apartments. Our neighbor Jeff had gotten a phone but said he had it for only a week or so because he couldn't afford the bill.

"Hey Jeff, we're starting to look out for each other's apartment due to the break-ins. Give me your telephone number so that we can call you to just let you know when we're not going to be in so that you can keep an eye on our apartment."

"Vern, my phone was turned off because I'm having a hard enough time paying my rent and feeding myself, so there's no reason to give me your phone number. I do however intend to get a burglar alarm for when I'm away at nights working. There's no way I can afford to have my stuff ripped off and there's no real security around here that I trust."

"Yeah, it's getting pretty tough around here." I said.

"Yeah Vern I know what you mean. Any news about the guys' stuff that was stolen?"

"None! You know how that goes."

"Well I'll talk to you later."

"Sure Jeff, later."

Extract from Vernell Bass’ book “Across the Hall”, chapter 2. If you’re interested to know more support the author and get the book!

"Jeffrey is a very, very, very private person," said his lawyer, Gerald Boyle. “He's very cordial, very polite, very, very ashamed of what he is."

His demeanor changed only once. The afternoon the case went to the jury, he carried into court a copy of a supermarket tabloid with his picture on the corner. The headline read: ‘Milwaukee Cannibal Kills His Cellmate.' The accompanying story said Dahmer also ate the man.

"Isn't it amazing what they come up with?" Jeff quipped, flashing the tabloid which had been doctored to include The Milwaukee Journal's masthead.

Thank you Patrick Kennedy, you’re a true inspiration

Detective Patrick Kennedy is best known for extricating a horrifying confession from one of history’s most notorious serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer. He was the first person that broke through to Dahmer, and one of the only people to do so in Dahmer’s short 34 years. A fourth generation police officer and a ten year veteran of the Milwaukee police dept., he’d been recently promoted to a detective in the Criminal Investigation Bureau, an “elite homicide unit”. Kennedy’s method of dealing with suspects was to kill them with kindness, offering them cigarettes and coffee, and trying to connect with them as people, to gain their trust and give them some dignity. This was the key to getting through to Dahmer, and it worked- Jeffrey Dahmer’s confession is known as one of the most thorough and insightful confessions of all time. Plied with plenty of coffee and hundreds of packs of cigarettes over the course of six weeks, Dahmer discussed the grotesque and often disturbing details of his 17 murders: drugging, raping, mutilating, and on three occasions, eating his victims. Kennedy describes this experience as life changing, and he found himself surprised at how much he connected with one of the most dangerous and cold hearted murderers in the last century. Working with Jeffrey Dahmer had a massive impact on his life: six years sober at the point of Dahmer’s arrest, Kennedy fell back into drinking. He got divorced and fell into a depressive state. He says for one of his birthdays he had no telephone and no TV, just a bottle of whiskey that he drank while crying alone.

However, the case ended up changing him for the better: he quit the police department and went to graduate school in 1999 to get his PhD in police education and training with the goal of changing policy in how the Milwaukee police force relates to their city’s neighborhoods. A driving force for this focus was how the department handled the case of Konerak Sinthasomphone, a 14 year old disoriented Laotian boy who was handed back to Jeffrey Dahmer hours before being murdered by him because of the rampant culture of racism and homophobia, Dahmer being the only other white man in an all-black area who convinced the cops he and the boy were “lovers”. Kennedy wanted to do his part in examining why racism and homophobia were so rampant, and investigate effective procedures for preventing stories such as Konerak Sinthasomphone’s. In fact, Kennedy’s contract for The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, states that he receives no money from the award winning film, but instead it goes to an athletic league in Milwaukee’s inner city, because he wanted “to try to help stop something like this from happening again”. He also taught Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin as well as Marquette University in the hopes of passing along his priceless insight and knowledge.

Tragically, Patrick Kennedy passed away on April 18, 2013; he was 59 years old. He is survived by his three children and his ex wife. He is immortalized in his memoir, Dahmer Detective, as well as in the film The Jeffrey Dahmer Files. His contributions to the field of forensic psychology as a whole are immeasurable: he remains an inspiration to all those interested in the minds of killers, and is an example of the importance of compassion and empathy.

Jeffrey Dahmer and the relationship with animals

Unlike other serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer never found interest on harming or torturing animals. In fact, abusing animals since childhood it’s an important factor which may link to future violence towards humans. However, hurting animals wasn’t under Jeffrey Dahmer’s radar.

“We’d go out and play in the fields, run around, she was a good dog to have.” -Jeffrey Dahmer

Childhood:

Since he was a kid he showed interest in animals, having a goldfish and a turtle as pets at only 18-months-old. The mother, Joyce, remembered those moments with affection, affirming the kind relationship his boy had with the animals: “Jeff was so very gentle with the turtle”.

He also had a cat, Buffy, during the time the family was living at Pammel Court. Unfortunately, due to the father’s job, The Dahmers had to move in Bath, Ohio, and they had to be sell Buffy. It was at that time, at age 7, that Dahmer was given a puppy to help distract him from the recent move. He named the puppy Frisky, she was a lovely black and white dog, and Jeffrey was very close to her.

Also around that time Jeffrey’s brother, David , was born. He loved his brother, yet he loved his dog more, as Joyce recalled: “…More adjusting for Jeff, but he loves Davy and is good to him. Frisky comes first in his heart, though. They really romp and play”. Jeffrey spent time playing and running out the camps with the dog.

Jeffrey Dahmer and a cat, possibly Buffy

Around age two or three, a curious fact had happened. His father was riding his bicycle with Jeffrey seated on the handlebars, when Jeffrey spotted what looked like a ball of dust (in the eyes of Lionel). Curious and pointing at it, Jeffrey encouraged the father to come closer, when Lionel noticed it was a baby nighthawk which had fallen from the nest. With Jeffrey’s urging, Lionel took the little bird at home and raised it with Jeffrey on his side. At the beginning they nursed it feeding it a mixture of milk and corn syrup, to switch with solid food later once the bird became strong enough. It almost became a pet, and a name was given: “Dusty”. “It was almost like a pet. It would come back when you called it, eat out of your hand and stuff like that.” Joyce said. When the bird grew and became stronger, it was ready to be released. It was Lionel who cradled it and took it outside, and when he opened the hand the bird flew away. It was a delightful moment, and all the three members of the family were happy.

Around age seven or eight instead, the first violent act of the child showed up. Jeffrey developed a certain fondness for the assistant teacher at school, and so he decided to give her a present. It was an innocent child gesture, a naive gift, but significant for little Jeffrey. He caught a bowl of tadpoles in a stream nearby a school where the family was used to go, to give them to the teacher as a sign of affection. Unfortunately after some time he would’ve found out the bowl was given to his friend Lee. He felt betrayed and as a sign of revenge he sneaked into Lee’s house garage (where the tadpoles were kept) and killed the animals pouring motor oil into their water.

“It stood about as tall as this table, short fur, looked like a Doberman, real friendly dog. My dog was chasing it into the street and this car came by and both dogs were together, right next to each other, and that car slammed into the big dog and just missed mine by that much. Boy, did I feel lucky.”

Dahmer remembering an episode with Frisky and the dog of his neighbours

Adolescence:

During adolescence he focused on his single hobby, started years before. At first he began watching and starring animals, such as snakes, toads, crabs, turtles, fish and wild rabbits. When living in Bath, Ohio, Jeffrey spent a great amount of time in a hut next to the house, collecting rests of animals. There was a skeletons collection, with the rests of squirrels, birds and chipmunks, and there was a jars collection with insects inside in formaldehyde. He even had a graveyard outside where he buried the dead animals.

However, his interest grew more and more, and it evolved in road-kills interest: he picked up dead animals in the streets, which were invested by cars, bringing them home. He was interested on the “mechanics” of the inside, and he wanted to know how it “worked”. He cut them open down the front, exposing the innards. Still, none of the animals were alive during the process, as he picked up dead creatures specifically. He usually found foxes, opossums, cats, raccoons and dogs. One of the dogs he found was very large, and after he brought it home as his usual, he waited for the skin to rot off to collect the bones later then. Another one was a Beagle, and after examining the insides, he grabbed the skull of the creature, putting it on a pole. Curiously, another time again, a chilling fact occurred, when he kidnapped a dog of a neighbour with the intent of killing it. He didn’t find the courage to do so after watching at the dog, and so he freed it. There’s also been one time in school where he stole the feral pig from the biology laboratory, taking it home and once in the garage, he removed the skin and flesh and kept the skull of the pig.

When in highschool, Jeffrey Dahmer shared a friendship with a certain Jeff Six, another student of the Revere High School. The friendship wasn’t deep at all, and it required no specific commitment. It was with him that Jeffrey spent some time in his car. Unfortunately, Six had a weird sadistic habit which Jeffrey didn’t like at all. While on the road, if a dog was spotted, Six would speed up to hit the animal. “His big thrill was to find a dog that was walking in the road and speed up real fast and hit it. It just amazed me. In one day he went through four dogs. How many dogs just walked into the road in front of him . . . He’d speed up real fast and just tick them off.” Dahmer said subsequently. One time in particular marked Dahmer quite a lot, when Six hit a little puppy, and when the latter looked back and Dahmer noticed his terrified eyes, he insisted to stop the car so he could go away, sickened by these acts.

The dog’s skull on a pole

Jeffrey Dahmer never killed an animal himself. It is frequently the case that people who grow into multiple murderers have evolved from sadistic children, and cruelty to animals in childhood is a common characteristic shared among them. Dahmer’s case is different in this regard as in most others. He displayed no cruelty, and was not interested in watching an animal suffer or react to pain.

- The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

Adult life:

When living with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin, he took care of the grandma’s cat, Jody, who liked. Jeffrey expressed his love for cats even with his neighbours, Vernell and Pamela Bass, when he saw their cat on their apartment. “He was very impressed when he saw our cat walk out of the bedroom picking her up and saying he liked cats a lot.” Vernell explained. Douglas Jackson, downstairs neighbor, also stated he was used to see Dahmer in the backyard smoking cigarettes or drinking beers surrounded by cats, which followed him wherever he went.

As he moved in his own apartment in Milwaukee, Apt 213 at 924 North 25th Street, he allowed himself to get a fish tank. It was a 30-gallon aquarium bought from The Fish Factory, a fish shop where he would usually wander around admiring the variety of fishes there, from their colours to their shapes. He was so fascinated indeed, so much that when he got caught they found books about fish care in his apartment. “It was nice, with African cichlids and tiger barbs in it and live plants, it was a beautifully kept fish tank, very clean . . . I used to like to just sit there and watch them swim around, basically. I used to enjoy the planning of the set-up, the filtration, read about how to keep the nitrate and ammonia down to safe levels and just the whole spectrum of fish-keeping interested me.” Dahmer said. He was so enthusiastic about trigger fish and puffer fish as well. He reminded the time when he saw the puffer fish in the store with enthusiasm: “I once saw some puffer fish in the store. It’s a round fish, and the only ones I ever saw with both eyes in front, like a person’s eyes, and they would come right up to the front of the glass and their eyes would be crystal blue, like a person’s, real cute.”. This was a very precious hobby for Dahmer, and after his arrest he would recall his aquarium moments with nostalgia, missing them.

Jeffrey and Jody at grandmother’s house in 1990.

“The cat's doing fine. She always wants to be brushed."

Jeff nodded.

"You know how she likes that."

"Yeah."

"She's always trying to be brushed," I said. "Remember how you used to do it?"

He stared at me silently.

- Excerpt From A Father's Story

Sources: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer - Brian Masters; A Father’s Story - Lionel Dahmer; Across The Hall - Vernell Bass; Step into My Parlor - Edward Baumann; My Friend Dahmer - Derf Backderf