The Dahmer Case And The Cannibalism Topic

Jeffrey Dahmer and the question of the “inside”

Jeffrey Dahmer, 1978

The hernia operation

In the year 1964, the three/four year old kid Jeffrey Dahmer, complained due to a pain in the groin area. The doctors found out he suffered from a double hernia, and soon after that he got operated. The recovery isn’t been easy for the kid, the pain was a lot and he even asked if they cut out his penis.

The operation is been traumatic indeed. He was very little, left in the hands of the doctors who he didn’t even know. He was left in a unfamiliar place where strangers operated him in a very private part, while he was immobilized, unable to react, while doctors could see the inside of him. As much as this is the procedure and doctors simply did their job, this was a huge trauma for Jeffrey Dahmer to digest, and it’s when he lost trust in doctors.

The corpses

Jeffrey Dahmer had this morbid fascination towards dead bodies. It was since the early adolescence he went looking for roadkill, dissecting the dead animals he found on the road. He cut them up all along the stomach, from neck to the groin area, exposing the internal organs, to then end preserving the bones.

In the adult age the dissection shifted on human corpses. At first it was born as a necessity to dispose the bodies, but then Dahmer found pleasure on cutting them, exposing the organs. He was attracted by the inside and he loved to place his hands between the innards and feel them. Like in the adolescence years, he preserved and kept the bones of the victims.

A withdraw man

The eldest son of the Dahmer family has never expressed his feelings but kept all to himself. The difference between the two Dahmer brothers was big, while David Dahmer was an extrovert, charismatic and successful boy, Jeffrey was an introvert, quiet and locked up man. He didn’t talk with family, he’d rather preferred to express himself in other ways like his brother remembers “[Jeff] never learned to be open with his feelings of frustration . . . he went out to the forest by himself and cut down trees for firewood.” (The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer). Indeed he felt lot of anger but yet he kept all inside.

When his mother was taken to an hospital due to her mental health, Jeffrey blamed himself for his mother’s illness and wanted to keep the house calmer as possible. He didn’t want to be a trouble and so made himself isolated. His father instead, tried to make him exit from his isolation. He tried to made the son interested in sports or hobbies, but none of that resulted successful. But it was the father himself who apparently made the son so withdraw and private, teaching him how to control his emotions and be quiet. But both father and mother didn’t give him too much attention at the end, they decided to ignore the signals thinking it was just the way Jeff was and there wasn’t nothing wrong at all.

“A little private world”

As the puberty came Jeffrey Dahmer realized his thoughts and sexual desires weren’t sane and normal at all. He started fantasizing about lifeless bodies he could explore while they were still, he even targeted a jogger hoping he could hit him with a baseball bat to make him unconscious. Adding to that he knew of his sexual orientation, but knowing he wouldn’t have meet the favor of his family he kept this secret to himself.

When he started to accept the thoughts, he put everything together and called the place where he kept them “a little private world”. It was a metaphor he used to describe his welcomed lifestyle where he was free to live and act how he wanted. At job or with his family he hid the thoughts and acted normally while inside of him he had a whole horror world he exposed only in gay bars or indoors his home.

Dahmer’s Books Reviews

I decided I could post my personal reviews about Dahmer’s books I’ve read, with a unique review template I created hoping it works well. I hope these can help people who wants to buy Dahmer’s books or just create a discussion with people who read them as well. With this I don’t mean to say my opinion is absolute, tastes are different and I saw people who have different opinions than mines already. I also want to state I’m not a professional at this, everything is amateurish and I manly did this for fun. I’m not even a big reader too. So let’s take it easy, everything is personal! Also: I’m currently reading more, so as I’ll finish the other books I can post the new ones too!

These are all the books I’ve read till now, but more are coming since I have some more few books at home which are waiting. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to start/finish them, but for now I can offer you the most discussed Dahmer books at least.

Books I’m going to do a review next:

The Psych Reports by Taylor James*;

Monster: The True Story of the Jeffrey Dahmer Murders by Anne E Schwartz*;

Milwaukee Massacre: Jeffery Dahmer and the Milwaukee Murders by Robert Dvorchak;

The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: An American Nightmare by Don Davis.

*the books I’m planning to read next

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.

Faye Cole was a young Mother who lived in Jeff Dahmer’s old neighborhood of Pammel Court. Jeff would play with her three year old son and can be seen in a photo attending the child’s birthday party. Faye remarked that she always remembered Jeff’s “beautiful blue eyes.”

Jeffrey Dahmer - A Psychological Insight

We all know about the atrocities of the Milwaukee Cannibal, but what drove him to commit such acts?

Dahmer pled guilty but insane before the actual trial. Psychiatric experts testified that he knew right from wrong, regardless of psychological state. So what did Dahmer suffer from, and how did this impact his crimes?

 Psychological Summary

There are many different possible diagnoses for Jeffrey Dahmer. Upon psychological inspection, many different possibilities arose for Dahmer’s mental state. 

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Perhaps the most obvious diagnosis, APD is a disorder that has been flirted with by psychologists to explain Dahmer’s behaviour. It is catagorised by the following: 

- Exploit, manipulate and violate the rights of others - No remorse or regret - Irresponsible, no regard for social norms - Very few long term, meaningful relationships  - Problems with temper and frustration - Lack guilt for their actions - Blame others for their own short-comings - Break the law consistently

This may seem like, on the surface, an appropriate diagnosis for Dahmer. However, the way in which he killed, and his self professed reasons for doing so, do not fit the criteria. Many psychologists deny this as the driving force behind his crimes, as his motives seemed to be propelled more by insecurity, self gratification and instability, rather than anger. 

Autistic Development Disorder 

Many children suffer from a form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, which inevitably carries through to adulthood. It is categorized by the following:

- Social & communication difficulties  - Exhibit behaviours that other would deem “different” and “repetitive” - Intense obsessions  - Is often coupled with Social Anxiety and General Anxiety Disorder - Monotonous or flat speech - Uncomfortable with human touch

No two people present the same Autistic behaviors, so categorization is difficult.

Jeffrey Dahmer developed from a very young age an obsession with bones, namely animal bones. Lionel Dahmer (father) said in his book “A Fathers Story” that he encouraged this behavior, as he felt it may lead to a career in the medical field. He ultimately viewed this obsession as a harmless one.

In school, Dahmer had a lot of trouble with social interaction. He spoke of this himself in a later interview from prison, stating that  “The subtleties of social life were beyond my grasp. When children liked me, I did not know why. Nor could I formulate a plan for winning their affection. I simply didn’t know how things worked with other people…. And try as I might, I couldn’t make other people seem less strange and unknowable” 

Experts that assessed Dahmers behaviour, say that there is a connection between Aspergers and sexual development, aggressive behavior and low mood.

Borderline Personality Disorder 

After molesting a 13 year old, psychologists found Dahmer to be uncooperative, angry, manipulative and emotionally unstable. He later told his probation officer that his life lacked meaning and purpose. Could this empty feeling, coupled with an unstable disposition be a sign of BPD?

Categorization:

- Emotional Instability - Disturbed patterns of thinking or perceptions - Impulsive and reckless behavior - Unstable sense of self - Extreme fear of abandonment and rejection - Intense and unstable relationships with others  - Obsessive behaviors such as obsessing over other people

In his confession, Jeffrey Dahmer said he murdered the men to prevent them from leaving and abandoning him. This intense fear of being “left” is very common among BPD sufferers, and this, coupled with his extreme denial of his homosexuality (unstable sense of self) may make BPD a likely diagnosis. 

Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified; with Schizoid, Antisocial, and Schizotypal Traits

Psychiatrists that assessed Dahmer found that they were unable to conclude what afflictions he suffered from. The above diagnosis was given.

How would JD have been treated on the outside?

There are many different therapies that are available for the above mental health problems. Below is a selection of these that may have been implemented: 

Borderline Personality Disorder 

- DBT - Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Coupled with medication for related depression and anxiety

Aspergers  - A combination of Social Skills Training, Speech and Language therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Applied Behavioral Analysis and Medication

Many psychologists also think that a combination of Psychotherapy, Psychopharmacology and Hormone Therapy would have helped Dahmer to live a functional life.

How was Dahmer treated in prison?

Dahmer received no official therapy in prison for his mental health issues, other than the pastoral care of the prison minister.  He converted to Christianity whilst in prison. Was this a genuine move one Dahmer’s part to seek forgiveness and live a better, more fulfilling life? Or was it yet another desperate attempt to fit into a group and establish an identity for himself? 

Had Jeffrey been given the opportunity to receive quality mental health assessments and care, some believe he could’ve served as a “guinea pig” in how to treat extreme deviance such as this. 

The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer - The Child

The baby was born at the Evangelical Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee at 4.34 p.m. on 21 May, 1960. Weighing 6 pounds and 15 ounces, he was 181⁄2 inches long, with auburn hair and luminously blue eyes. Lionel and Joyce were entranced by him, their life together momentarily joyous as a result. Joyce began a baby scrapbook in which his every twitch and turn were lovingly recorded, remarking that the baby ‘scared us by having correctional casts on his legs from birth till four months’, but all was fine. He would only need 1 1⁄8 inch lifts on his shoes up to about the age of six. Otherwise, he was absolutely perfect. They named him Jeffrey Lionel.

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Jeffrey Dahmer’s murder crime scene:

The twenty-inch bar that Christopher Scarver used to beat Jeffrey Dahmer to death.

The crime scene photograph of the bathroom of Columbia Correctional Institution where Jeffrey Dahmer was killed.

On the morning of November 28, 1994, Dahmer left his cell with other two inmates to conduct his assigned work detail. At approximately 8:10 a.m. Dahmer was discovered on the floor of the bathrooms of the gym suffering from extreme head wounds: The inmate Christopher Scarver beat him to death hitting him with a bar. His head had also been repeatedly struck against the wall in the assault. Although Dahmer was still alive and was rushed to a nearby hospital, he was pronounced dead one hour later. Dahmer’s official decease was set shortly after 9 A.M.

Source: Monster: The True Story of the Jeffrey Dahmer Murders, book by Anne E. Schwartz

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 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:

Patrick Kennedy’s first and last encounter with Jeffrey Dahmer:

Grilling Dahmer, chapter 2:

I entered first and saw three more uniformed cops, all dripping with sweat. They were straddling a Caucasian male suspect, who lay face down on the floor, handcuffed behind his back and shackled at the feet. One officer had his knee firmly in the suspect's back, another held his leg-ironed feet, and the third cop wiped his face with a hanky. Their uniforms looked just as unkempt as the first officer's.

I looked at the suspect as he lay on the floor. His light-colored hair was greasy and wet with perspiration. The faded denim shirt he wore was drenched with sweat, and I noticed he was bleeding slightly from the corner of his mouth. There was an obvious rug burn on his right elbow, glistening blood red. He appeared completely defeated, but his condition showed that a great struggle brought him to that point. He was motionless but made an ever-so-faint crying whine, like that of a child or a cat in the night.

The suspect walked slowly as he tried to negotiate the leg irons. His head was bowed over his slouched shoulders, but even in this position, I could tell he was over six feet and in good shape.

The wagon pulled up to the entrance of the apartment building, so the trip from the door was quick. I assisted the suspect into the wagon and climbed in after him. The two conveying officers got in the front and drove away toward the station. No one said a word as we cruised back downtown. I eyed the suspect as we rode. Although he was a good-sized man, he appeared almost fragile, sitting hunched over and trembling slightly. At the station, he cooperated-almost zombie-like as I led him into the prisoner elevator and up to the interrogation rooms on the fourth floor.

Once inside, I pointed to the cuffs and leg irons and said, "Take these off him."

"Look, Pat, I wouldn't do that. I had to fight with this fuckhead and he's no pussy." I looked at the copper and his pudgy partner and I knew he was not kidding.

I turned to the suspect. "Hey, if you give me your word you won't act up, we can take these off."

For the first time, the suspect looked at me directly and I caught his steely blue eyes. He nodded in affirmation and I motioned again for the officers to remove his shackles.

Grilling Dahmer, chapter 22/23:

Two deputies flanked Jeff and returned him to the holding cell. I walked over to him, standing alone, locked inside. As I approached, he moved closer to the bars of his cell. I reached through and took his outstretched hand. "Pat, I want to thank you for everything you did for me," he said. Shaking his hand for what I believed would be the last time, I said, “Good luck, Jeff. Take care of yourself." Then I turned and walked away.

People always say that I must have seen evil in his eyes as I sat down face to face with him during our interrogations, and I have to honestly tell them that I didn't. I saw a very normal, ordinary guy who-when we talked about things other than his crimes seemed very much like me, like you, like anybody you would meet.

“Despite Dahmer's crimes, Kennedy describes an odd kind of kinship that developed as he genuinely began accepting Dahmer's remorse for his numerous murders, and therefore experienced some grief when Dahmer was beaten to death a few years later. Kennedy quickly adds that he didn't befriend Dahmer at all during the time they spent meeting, and never considered him as anything other than a murder suspect. He did not continue to correspond with him and, in fact, never saw him again after Dahmer was led off to serve his sentence.”

More about Kennedy perspective:

As strange as it may seem, Jeffrey really trusted Detective Kennedy, and on the other hand Detective Kennedy low-key liked Dahmer. Without the help of Kennedy, Jeffrey wouldn’t opened up so easily.

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