Milwaukee Cannibal

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the rape, murder, and dismemberment of seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with many of his later murders also involving necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeletal structure.

Although diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and a psychotic disorder, Dahmer was found to be legally sane at his trial. Convicted of fifteen of the sixteen murders he had committed in Wisconsin, Dahmer was sentenced to fifteen terms of life imprisonment on February 15, 1992. He was later sentenced to a sixteenth term of life imprisonment for an additional homicide committed in Ohio in 1978.

On November 28, 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death in prison by Christopher Scarver, a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution.

Early childhood

Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in West Allis, Wisconsin, the first of two sons born to Joyce Annette (née Flint) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer. Dahmer's mother worked as a teletype machine instructor, whereas his father was a student at Marquette University, working towards a degree in chemistry. His father was of German ancestry, and his mother was of Welsh ancestry.

Although Dahmer was doted upon as an infant and toddler by both parents, his mother was known to be tense, greedy for attention, and argumentative with both her husband and her neighbors. As her son entered first grade, Joyce Dahmer began to spend an increasing amount of her time in bed recovering from weakness. Lionel's university studies kept him away from home much of the time; when he was home, Joyce demanded constant attention. She reportedly would work herself into a state of anxiety over trivial matters simply to achieve appeasement from her husband. On one occasion, Joyce Dahmer attempted suicide from an overdose of the Equanil pills to which she had become addicted. Consequently, neither parent devoted much time to their son.

Dahmer himself recalled his early years of family life as being of "extreme tension" which he noted between his parents, whom he observed to be constantly arguing with each other. At elementary school, he was regarded as both quiet and timid by his peers. On his first grade report card, one teacher described Dahmer as a reserved child whom she sensed felt neglected. This teacher did note that this sense of neglect seemed to stem from his mother's illnesses. Nonetheless, although largely reserved and uncommunicative in grade school, Dahmer did have a small number of friends.

From an early age, Dahmer manifested an interest in animals. Friends later recalled Dahmer initially collected large insects, dragonflies, and butterflies, which he placed inside jars. Later, Dahmer—occasionally accompanied by one or more of his few friends—would collect animal carcasses from the roadside; these animals Dahmer would dismember either at home or in an expanse of woodland behind the family home. According to one friend, Dahmer would dismember these animals and store the parts in jars in the family's wooden toolshed, always explaining that he was curious as to how each animal "fitted together". In one instance, he is known to have impaled a dog's head upon a stake behind his house. Dahmer's fascination with dead animals might have begun when, at the age of four, he noted his father removing animal bones from beneath the family home. According to Lionel Dahmer, his son was "oddly thrilled" by the sound the bones made, and instantly developed a fixation for playing with and collecting animal bones. He would occasionally search beneath and around the family home for additional bones. With live animals, he would explore their bodies to discover where their bones were located.

The Dahmer family relocated to Doylestown, Ohio, in October 1966. At the time, Joyce Dahmer was pregnant with her second child. When she gave birth to a baby boy on December 18, 1966, Jeffrey was allowed to choose the name of the baby. He chose the name David for his younger brother. The same year, Lionel Dahmer achieved his degree and subsequently obtained employment as an analytical chemist in the city of Akron.

In 1968, the family relocated to Bath, Ohio. Two years later, over a family meal of chicken, Dahmer asked his father what would happen if the bones of the chicken were to be placed in a bleach solution. Lionel Dahmer was, by this stage, concerned as to his elder son's placid and lethargic attitude and his solitary existence; therefore, he was delighted at the initiative displayed by his son towards what he believed to be scientific curiosity. He willingly demonstrated to his son how to safely bleach and, later, preserve animal bones. This knowledge regarding the cleansing and preserving of bones would be used by Dahmer on many of the animal remains which he continued to avidly collect.

Adolescence and high school

From his freshman year at Revere High School, Dahmer was seen by his peers as an outcast with few friends. Many of Dahmer's classmates later recollected being disturbed by the fact that he was known to drink both beer and spirits, which he smuggled into school inside the lining of his army fatigue jacket and which he is also known to have surreptitiously concealed inside his locker. This alcohol abuse was known to occur before, during, and after school, and was first noted when Dahmer was 14. On one occasion, a classmate observed Dahmer consuming a cup of gin and asked him why he was drinking liquor in class, to which Dahmer casually replied, "It's my medicine". Nonetheless, in his freshman year at Revere High School, Dahmer, although largely uncommunicative, was observed by staff to be a polite student who was known to be highly intelligent. He initially achieved only average grades, which staff attributed to his apathy. He was also known to have been a keen tennis player and to have briefly played in the high school band.

When he reached puberty, Dahmer discovered that he was homosexual. He did not divulge his sexual orientation to his parents, although in his early teens, he did engage in a brief relationship with another youth, although the pair never had intercourse. By his own later admission, as he began to fantasize sexually, issues of dominance and control over a completely subservient partner were prevalent in his thoughts. These thoughts gradually became intertwined with dissection. On one occasion, when he was approximately 16 years old, Dahmer conceived a fantasy of rendering a particular male jogger he found attractive unconscious and then making sexual use of his unconscious body. To render the man unconscious, Dahmer concealed himself in bushes on the route he had noted the jogger took, baseball bat in hand, and lay in wait for the jogger. On this particular day, the jogger did not pass him and, although Dahmer never attempted to implement this plan again, he later stated this was his first attempt to attack another individual.

Despite being regarded as a loner and an oddball among his peers at Revere High School, Dahmer nonetheless became something of a class clown among some students due to the pranks he regularly staged—some of which were done to amuse his classmates, others apparently to simply attract attention. These pranks became known as "Doing a Dahmer" and included bleating, simulating epileptic seizures or cerebral palsy, and knocking over items at school and at local stores. By 1977, Dahmer's grades had declined, owing to his alcohol abuse and his continuing apathy toward academic and social interactions. His parents hired a private tutor for their son, but the tutor only had limited success. The same year, Dahmer's parents attended counseling sessions to try and resolve personal differences and thus save their marriage. The counseling was ultimately unsuccessful, and they decided to divorce. Although initially on amicable grounds, both of Dahmer's parents began to quarrel frequently in the presence of their sons and, in early 1978, Lionel Dahmer moved out of the house.

In May 1978, Dahmer graduated from high school. A few weeks before his graduation, one of his teachers observed Dahmer sitting close to the school parking lot, drinking several cans of beer. When the teacher threatened to report the matter, Dahmer informed him he was experiencing "a lot of problems" at home and that the school's guidance counselor was aware of them. Shortly after this incident, Joyce was awarded custody of her younger son and vacated the family residence, moving in with family members of hers; Dahmer, having just turned 18, was legally an adult and therefore not subject to court custodial considerations.

Late teens and early twenties

First murder and Army service

Dahmer committed his first murder in the summer of 1978 at the age of 18, just three weeks after his graduation. At the time, he was living alone in the family home. Owing to his recent divorce from Dahmer's mother, Dahmer's father temporarily lived in a nearby motel and his mother had relocated to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin with his younger brother. On June 18, Dahmer picked up an 18-year-old hitchhiker named Steven Mark Hicks Dahmer lured the youth to his house on the pretext of the two young men drinking alcohol together. Hicks, who had been hitchhiking to a rock concert in Lockwood Corners, agreed to accompany Dahmer to his house. According to Dahmer, after several hours' drinking and listening to music, Hicks "wanted to leave and [I] didn't want him to". In response, Dahmer bludgeoned him with a 10 lb. dumbbell. Dahmer later stated he struck Hicks twice from behind with the dumbbell as he (Hicks) sat upon a chair. When Hicks fell unconscious, Dahmer strangled him to death with the bar of the dumbbell, then stripped the clothes from Hicks' body before masturbating as he stood above the corpse. The following day, Dahmer dissected Hicks' body in his crawl space; he later buried the remains in a shallow grave in his backyard before, several weeks later, unearthing the remains and paring the flesh from the bones. He dissolved the flesh in acid before flushing the solution down the toilet; he crushed the bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them in the woodland behind the family home.

Six weeks after the murder of Hicks, Dahmer's father and his fiancée returned to his home where they discovered Jeffrey living alone at the house. That August, Dahmer enrolled at Ohio State University, hoping to major in business.[43] Dahmer's sole term at Ohio State University was completely unproductive, largely because of his persistent alcohol abuse throughout the majority of the term. On one occasion, Lionel Dahmer paid a surprise visit to his son, only to find his room strewn with empty liquor bottles. Despite his father having paid in advance for the second term, Dahmer dropped out of university after just three months.

In January 1979, on his father's urging, Dahmer enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he trained as a medical specialist at Fort Sam Houston before July 13, 1979, when he was deployed to Baumholder in West Germany where he served as a combat medic. According to published reports, in Dahmer's first year of service, he was an "average or slightly above average" soldier. Two soldiers attest to having been raped by Dahmer while in the army; one of whom stated in 2010 that while stationed at Baumholder, Dahmer had repeatedly raped him over a 17-month period, while another soldier believes he was drugged, then raped by Dahmer inside an armoured personnel carrier in 1979. Owing to Dahmer's alcohol abuse, his performance deteriorated and, in March 1981, he was deemed unsuitable for military service and later formally discharged from the Army (albeit honorably, as his superiors did not believe that any problems Dahmer had in the Army would be applicable to civilian life).

On March 24, 1981, Dahmer was sent to Fort Jackson for debriefing and provided with a plane ticket to travel anywhere in the country. Dahmer later told police he felt he could not return home to face his father, so he opted to travel to Miami Beach, Florida, both because he was "tired of the cold" and in an attempt to live by his own means. In Florida, Dahmer found employment at a delicatessen and rented a room in a nearby motel. Dahmer spent most of his salary on alcohol, and was soon evicted from the motel for nonpayment. He initially spent his evenings on the beach as he continued to work at the sandwich shop before, in September 1981, phoning his father and asking to return to Ohio.

Return to Ohio and relocation to West Allis

After his return to Ohio, Dahmer initially resided with his father and stepmother, and insisted on being delegated numerous chores to occupy his time while he looked for work. However, he continued to drink heavily and, just two weeks after his return, Dahmer was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct, for which he was fined $60 and given a suspended ten-day jail sentence. Dahmer's father tried unsuccessfully to wean his son off alcohol. In December 1981, Dahmer's father and stepmother sent him to live with his grandmother in West Allis. Dahmer's grandmother was the only family member to whom he displayed any affection; they hoped that her influence, plus the change of scenery, might inspire Dahmer to refrain from alcohol, find a job, and live responsibly. Initially, Dahmer's living arrangements with his grandmother were harmonious: he accompanied her to church; willingly undertook chores; actively sought work; and abided by most of her house rules (although he did continue to drink). This new influence in his life initially brought results and, in early 1982, Dahmer found employment as a phlebotomist at the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Center. He held this job for a total of 10 months before being laid off. He remained unemployed for over two years, during which he lived upon whatever money his grandmother gave him.

Shortly before losing his job, Dahmer was arrested for indecent exposure. On August 7, 1982, at Wisconsin State Fair Park, Dahmer was observed to expose himself to a crowd of 25 women and children. For this incident, he was convicted and fined $50 plus court costs.

In January 1985, Dahmer was hired as a mixer at the Milwaukee Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, where he worked from 11 p.m.–7 a.m. six nights a week, with Saturday evenings off. Shortly after Dahmer found this employment, an incident occurred in which he was propositioned by another man while sitting reading in the West Allis Public Library. The stranger threw Dahmer a note offering to perform fellatio upon him. Although Dahmer did not respond to this proposition, the incident stirred in his mind the fantasies of control and dominance he had developed as a teenager, and he began to familiarize himself with Milwaukee's gay bars, bookstores, and gay bathhouses. He is also known to have stolen a male mannequin from a store, which he briefly used for sexual stimulation before his grandmother, having discovered the item stowed in a closet, demanded that he discard it.

By late 1985, he had begun to regularly frequent the bathhouses, which he later described as being "relaxing places", but during his sexual encounters, he became frustrated at his partners' moving during the sexual act. Following his arrest, he stated: "I trained myself to view people as objects of pleasure instead of [as] people". For this reason, from June 1986, he began to administer sleeping pills to his partners, to whom he would give liquor laced with the sedatives, then make sexual use of their unconscious bodies. After approximately 12 such instances, the bathhouses' administration revoked Dahmer's membership, and he began to use hotel rooms to continue this practice. Shortly after his membership of the bathhouses was revoked, Dahmer read a report in a newspaper regarding the upcoming funeral of an 18-year-old male; he conceived the idea of stealing the freshly-interred corpse and taking it home. According to Dahmer, he attempted to dig the coffin from the ground, but found the soil too hard, before abandoning the plan.

In August 1986, Dahmer was arrested for masturbating in front of two 12-year-old boys as he stood close to the Kinnickinnic River. Dahmer initially admitted the offense and was again charged with indecent exposure, but quickly changed his story and claimed he had merely been urinating, unaware that there were witnesses. The charge was changed to disorderly conduct and, on March 10, 1987, Dahmer was sentenced to one year's probation, with additional instructions he was to undergo counseling.

Arrest

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer approached three men with an offer of $100 to accompany him to his apartment to pose for nude photographs, drink beer, and simply keep him company. One of the trio, 32-year-old Tracy Edwards, agreed to accompany him to his apartment. Upon entering Dahmer's apartment, Edwards noted a foul odor and several boxes of muriatic acid on the floor, which Dahmer claimed to use for cleaning bricks. After some minor conversation, Edwards responded to Dahmer's request to turn his head and view his tropical fish, whereupon Dahmer placed a handcuff upon his wrist. When Edwards asked, "What's happening?" Dahmer unsuccessfully attempted to cuff his wrists together, then told Edwards to accompany him to the bedroom to pose for nude pictures. While inside the bedroom, Edwards noted nude male posters on the wall and that a videotape of The Exorcist III was playing; he also noted a blue 57-gallon drum in the corner, from which a strong odor emanated.

Dahmer then brandished a knife and informed Edwards he intended to take nude pictures of him. In an attempt to appease Dahmer, Edwards unbuttoned his shirt, saying he would allow him to do so if he would remove the handcuffs and put the knife away. In response to this promise, Dahmer simply turned his attention towards the TV; Edwards observed Dahmer rocking back and forth and chanting before turning his attention back to him: he placed his head on Edwards' chest, listened to his heartbeat and, with the knife pressed against his intended victim, informed Edwards he intended to eat his heart. In continuous attempts to prevent Dahmer from attacking him, Edwards repeated that he was Dahmer's friend and that he was not going to run away. (Edwards had decided he was going to either jump from a window or run through the unlocked front door upon the next available opportunity.) When Edwards next stated he needed to use the bathroom, he asked if they could sit with a beer in the living room, where there was air conditioning, to which Dahmer consented, and the pair walked to the living room when Edwards exited the bathroom. Inside the living room, Edwards waited until he observed Dahmer have a momentary lapse of concentration before requesting to use the bathroom again. When Edwards rose from the couch, he noted Dahmer was not holding the handcuffs, whereupon Edwards punched him in the face, knocking Dahmer off balance, and ran out the front door.

At 11:30 p.m. on July 22, Edwards flagged down two Milwaukee police officers at the corner of North 25th Street. The officers noted Edwards had a handcuff attached to his wrist, whereupon Edwards explained to the officers that a "freak" had placed the handcuffs upon him and asked if the police could remove them. When the officers' own handcuff keys failed to fit the brand of handcuffs, Edwards agreed to accompany the officers to the apartment where, Edwards stated, he had spent the previous five hours before escaping. When the officers and Edwards arrived at Apartment 213, Dahmer invited the trio inside and acknowledged he had indeed placed the handcuffs upon Edwards, although he offered no explanation as to why he had done so. At this point, Edwards divulged to the officers that Dahmer had also brandished a large knife upon him and that this had happened in the bedroom. Dahmer made no comment to this revelation; indicating to one of the officers, Rolf Mueller, that the key to the handcuffs was in his bedside dresser in the bedroom. As Mueller entered the bedroom, Dahmer attempted to pass Mueller to himself retrieve the key, whereupon the second officer present, Robert Rauth, informed him to "back off".

In the bedroom, Mueller noted there was indeed a large knife beneath the bed; he also saw an open drawer which, upon closer inspection, contained scores of Polaroid pictures—many of which were of human bodies in various stages of dismemberment. Mueller noted the decor indicated they had been taken in the very apartment in which they were standing. He walked into the living room to show them to his partner, uttering the words, "These are for real." When Dahmer saw that Mueller was holding several of his Polaroids, he fought with the officers in an effort to resist arrest. The officers quickly overpowered him, cuffed his hands behind his back, and called a second squad car for backup. At this point, Mueller opened the refrigerator to reveal the freshly severed head of a black male on the bottom shelf. As Dahmer lay pinned on the floor beneath Rauth, he turned his head towards the officers and muttered the words: "For what I did I should be dead."

A more detailed search of the apartment, conducted by the Criminal Investigation Bureau, revealed a total of four severed heads in Dahmer's kitchen. A total of seven skulls—some painted, some bleached—were found in Dahmer's bedroom and inside a closet. In addition, investigators discovered collected blood drippings upon a tray at the bottom of Dahmer's refrigerator, plus two human hearts and a portion of arm muscle, each wrapped inside plastic bags upon the shelves. In Dahmer's freezer, investigators discovered an entire torso, plus a bag of human organs and flesh stuck to the ice at the bottom. Elsewhere in Apartment 213, investigators discovered two entire skeletons, a pair of severed hands, two severed and preserved penises, a mummified scalp and, in the 57-gallon drum, three further dismembered torsos dissolving in the acid solution. A total of 74 Polaroid pictures detailing the dismemberment of Dahmer's victims were found. In reference to the recovery of body parts and artifacts at 924 North 25th Street, the chief medical examiner later stated: "It was more like dismantling someone's museum than an actual crime scene."

Indictment

On July 25, 1991, Dahmer was charged with four counts of murder. By August 22, he would be charged with a further 11 murders committed in the state of Wisconsin. On September 14, investigators in Ohio, having uncovered hundreds of bone fragments in woodland behind the address in which Dahmer had confessed to killing his first victim, formally identified two molars and a vertebra with X-ray records of Steven Mark Hicks.[169] Three days later, Dahmer would be charged by authorities in Ohio with the murder of Steven Hicks.

Dahmer was not charged with the attempted murder of Tracy Edwards, nor with the murder of Steven Tuomi. He was not charged with Tuomi's murder because the Milwaukee County District Attorney only brought charges where murder could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and Dahmer had no memory of actually committing this particular murder, for which no physical evidence of the crime existed. At a scheduled preliminary hearing on January 13, 1992, Dahmer pleaded guilty but insane to 15 counts of murder.

Trial

The trial of Jeffrey Dahmer began on January 30, 1992. He was tried in Milwaukee for the 15 counts of murder before Judge Laurence Gram. By pleading guilty on January 13 to the charges brought against him, Dahmer had waived his rights to an initial trial to establish guilt (as defined in Wisconsin law). The issue debated by opposing counsels at Dahmer's trial was to determine whether he suffered from either a mental or a personality disorder: the prosecution claiming that any disorders did not deprive Dahmer of the ability to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to deprive him of the ability to resist his impulses; the defense arguing that Dahmer suffered from a mental disease and was driven by obsessions and impulses he was unable to control.

Defense experts argued that Dahmer was insane due to his necrophilic drive- his compulsion to have sexual encounters with corpses. Defense expert Dr. Fred Berlin testified that Dahmer was unable to conform his conduct at the time that he committed the crimes because he was suffering from paraphilia or, more specifically, necrophilia. Dr. Judith Becker, a professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, was the second expert witness for the defense; Becker also diagnosed Dahmer with necrophilia. The final defense expert to testify, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Carl Wahlstrom, diagnosed Dahmer with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, necrophilia, alcohol dependence, and a psychotic disorder.

The prosecution rejected the defense's argument that Dahmer was insane. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick testified that Dahmer did not suffer from primary necrophilia because he preferred live sexual partners as evidenced by his efforts to create unresistant, submissive sexual partners devoid of rational thought and to whose needs he did not have to cater. Another prosecution expert to testify, Dr. Fred Fosdel, testified to his belief that Dahmer was without mental disease or defect at the time he committed the murders. He described Dahmer as a calculating and cunning individual, able to differentiate between right and wrong, with the ability to control his actions. Although Fosdel did state his belief that Dahmer suffered from paraphilia, his conclusion was that Dahmer was not a sadist.

The final witness to appear for the prosecution, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, began his testimony on February 12. Dietz testified that he did not believe Dahmer to be suffering from any mental disease or defect at the time that he committed the crimes, stating: "Dahmer went to great lengths to be alone with his victim and to have no witnesses." He explained that there was ample evidence that Dahmer prepared in advance for each murder, therefore, his crimes were not impulsive. He also felt that Dahmer's habit of becoming intoxicated prior to committing each of the murders was significant, stating: "If he had a compulsion to kill, he would not have to drink alcohol. He had to drink alcohol to overcome his inhibition, to do the crime which he would rather not do." Dietz diagnosed Dahmer with substance use disorder, paraphilia, and schizotypal personality disorder.

Two court-appointed mental health professionals—testifying independently of either prosecution or defense—were forensic psychiatrist George Palermo and clinical psychologist Samuel Friedman. Palermo stated that the murders were the result of a "pent-up aggression within himself [Dahmer]. He killed those men because he wanted to kill the source of his homosexual attraction to them. In killing them, he killed what he hated in himself." Palermo concluded that Dahmer was a sexual sadist with antisocial personality disorder, but legally sane. Friedman testified that it was a longing for companionship that caused Dahmer to kill. He stated, "Mr. Dahmer is not psychotic." He spoke kindly of Dahmer, describing him as "Amiable, pleasant to be with, courteous, with a sense of humor, conventionally handsome, and charming in manner. He was, and still is, a bright young man." He diagnosed Dahmer with a personality disorder not otherwise specified featuring borderline, obsessive-compulsive, and sadistic traits.

The trial lasted two weeks. On February 14, both counsels delivered their closing arguments to the jury. Each counsel was allowed to speak for two hours. Defense attorney Gerald Boyle argued first. Repeatedly harking to the testimony of the mental health professionals—almost all of whom had agreed Dahmer was suffering from a mental disease—Boyle argued that Dahmer's compulsive killings had been a result of "a sickness he discovered, not chose." Boyle portrayed Dahmer as a desperately lonely and profoundly sick individual "so out of control he could not conform his conduct any more." Following the defense counsel's 75-minute closing argument, Michael McCann delivered his closing argument for the prosecution, describing Dahmer as a sane man, in full control of his actions, who simply strove to avoid detection. McCann argued that the act of murder was committed in hostility, anger, resentment, frustration, or hatred, and that the 15 victims for whose murder he was tried "died merely to afford Dahmer a period of sexual pleasure." McCann further argued that by pleading guilty but insane to the charges, Dahmer was seeking to escape responsibility for his crimes.

On February 15, the court reconvened to hear the verdict: Dahmer was ruled to be sane and not suffering from a mental disorder at the time of each of the 15 murders for which he was tried,[194] although in each count, two of the 12 jurors signified their dissent. On the first two counts, Dahmer was sentenced to life imprisonment plus ten years, with the remaining 13 counts carrying a mandatorysentence of life imprisonment plus 70 years. The death penalty was not an option for Judge Gram to consider at the penalty phase as the State of Wisconsin had abolished capital punishment in 1853.

Upon hearing of Jeffrey's sentencing, his father Lionel and stepmother Shari, requested to be allowed a 10-minute private meeting with their son before he was transferred to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage to begin his sentence. This request was granted and the trio exchanged hugs and well-wishes before Dahmer was escorted away to begin his sentence.

Three months after his conviction for 15 murders in Milwaukee, Dahmer was extradited to Ohio to be tried for the murder of his first victim, Steven Hicks. In a court hearing lasting just 45 minutes, Dahmer again pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to a 16th term of life imprisonment on May 1, 1992.

Imprisonment

Upon sentencing, Dahmer was transferred to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. For the first year of his incarceration, Dahmer was placed in solitary confinement due to concerns for his physical safety should he come into contact with fellow inmates. With Dahmer's consent, after one year in solitary confinement, he was transferred to a less secure unit, where he was assigned a two-hour daily work detail cleaning the toilet block.

Shortly after completing his lengthy confessions in 1991, Dahmer had requested to Detective Patrick Murphy that he be given a copy of the Bible. This request was granted and Dahmer gradually devoted himself to Christianity and became a born-again Christian. On his father's urging, he also read creationist books from the Institute for Creation Research. In May 1994, Dahmer was baptized by Roy Ratcliff, a minister in the Church Of Christ and a graduate of Oklahoma Christian University, in the prison whirlpool. Following his baptism, Ratcliff visited Dahmer on a weekly basis up until November 1994. Dahmer and Ratcliff regularly discussed the prospect of death, and Dahmer questioned whether he was sinning against God by continuing to live.

In July 1994, a fellow inmate, Osvaldo Durruthy, attempted to slash Dahmer's throat with a razor embedded in a toothbrush as Dahmer returned to his cell from Roy Ratcliff's weekly church service conducted in the prison chapel. Dahmer received superficial wounds and was not seriously hurt in this incident. According to Dahmer's family, he had long been ready to die, and accepted any punishment which he may endure in prison. In addition to his father and stepmother retaining regular contact, Dahmer's mother, Joyce, retained regular contact with her son (although prior to his arrest, the two had not seen each other since Christmas 1983). Joyce Dahmer related that in her weekly phone calls, whenever she expressed concerns for her son's physical well-being, Dahmer would respond with comments to the effect of: "It doesn't matter, Mom. I don't care if something happens to me."

Death

On the morning of November 28, 1994, Dahmer left his cell to conduct his assigned work detail. Accompanying him were two fellow inmates: Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver. The trio was left unsupervised in the showers of the prison gym for approximately 20 minutes. At approximately 8:10 a.m. Dahmer was discovered on the floor of the bathrooms of the gym suffering from extreme head and facial wounds; he had been severely bludgeoned about the head and face with a 20-inch (51 cm) metal 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. Anderson had also been beaten with the same instrument, and died two days later from his wounds. Scarver, who was serving a life sentence for a murder committed in 1990, informed authorities he had first attacked Dahmer with the metal bar as he (Dahmer) was cleaning a staff locker room, before attacking Anderson as he (Anderson) cleaned an inmate locker room. According to Scarver, Dahmer did not yell or make any noise as he was attacked. Immediately after attacking both men, Scarver returned to his cell and informed a prison guard: "God told me to do it. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer are dead." Scarver was adamant he had not planned the attacks in advance, although he would later divulge to investigators he had concealed the 20-inch iron bar used to kill both men in his clothing shortly before the killings.

Upon learning of his death, Dahmer's mother Joyce Flint responded angrily to the media: "Now is everybody happy? Now that he's bludgeoned to death, is that good enough for everyone?" The response of the families of Dahmer's victims was mixed, although it appears most were pleased with his death. The district attorney who prosecuted Dahmer cautioned against turning Scarver into a folk hero, noting that Dahmer's death was still murder. On May 15, 1995, Scarver was sentenced to two additional terms of life imprisonment for the murders of Dahmer and Anderson. Although Scarver had confessed in 1994 to having concealed the weapon used to kill Dahmer and Anderson in his clothing on the morning of the murders, in 2015 he publicly stated the murders of Dahmer and Anderson had resulted from a confrontation in which one of the two men had poked him (Scarver) in the back as the three had begun their assigned work detail. In this renewed account of events, Scarver claimed that the two had laughed at him when he had turned around in response before Dahmer and Anderson each walked to separate rooms to begin their cleaning duty, with Scarver following Dahmer toward the staff locker room.

Scarver alleges that immediately before murdering Dahmer, he had cornered him, presented a newspaper article detailing Dahmer's crimes, and demanded that Dahmer answer whether the account was true. Scarver further alleged he had been revolted by Dahmer's crimes and that Dahmer had been openly unrepentant for his crimes; that Dahmer taunted prison employees and fellow inmates by shaping his prison food into imitations of severed limbs, complete with ketchup to simulate blood spattering; and that prison staff, knowing of Scarver's hatred for Dahmer, had deliberately left the two men unsupervised so that he could kill him. Furthermore, Scarver stated that Dahmer was so disliked by fellow inmates that he required a personal escort of at least one guard whenever he was out of his cell to prevent inmates from attacking him.

Dahmer had stated in his will he wished for no services to be conducted and that he wished to be cremated. In September 1995, Dahmer's body was cremated, and his ashes divided between his parents.

Known murder victims

Jeffrey Dahmer is known to have killed 17 young men between 1978 and 1991. Of these victims, 12 were killed in his North 25th Street apartment. Three further victims were murdered and dismembered at his grandmother's West Allis residence, with his first and second victims being murdered at his parents' home in Bath, Ohio and at the Ambassador Hotel in Wisconsin respectively. A total of 14 of Dahmer's victims were from various ethnic minority backgrounds, with nine victims being black, although Dahmer was adamant the race of his victims was incidental to him and that it was the body form of a potential victim which attracted his attention.

Most of Dahmer's victims were killed by strangulation after being drugged with sedatives, although his first victim was killed by a combination of bludgeoning and strangulation and his second victim was battered to death, with one further victim killed in 1990, Ernest Miller, dying of a combination of shock and blood loss due to his carotid artery being cut. Many of Dahmer's victims killed in 1991 had holes bored into their skulls through which Dahmer injected muriatic acid or, later, boiling water, directly into the brain in an attempt to render a permanent, submissive, unresistant state. On at least three occasions, this proved fatal although on none of these occasions was this Dahmer's intention.

1978

• June 18: Steven Hicks, 18. Last seen hitchhiking to a rock concert in Chippewa Lake Park. By Dahmer's own admission, what caught his attention to Steven Hicks hitchhiking was the fact that the youth was bare-chested. He was bludgeoned and strangled to death with a dumbbell before being dismembered. Remains pulverized and scattered in woodland behind Dahmer's childhood home.

1987

• November 20: Steven Tuomi, 25. Killed in a rented room at the Ambassador Hotel. Dahmer claimed to have no memory of murdering Tuomi, yet stated he must have battered him to death in a drunken stupor. His body was dismembered in the basement of Dahmer's grandmother's house and the remains discarded in the trash. No remains were ever found.

1988

• January 16: James Doxtator, 14. Met Dahmer outside a gay bar in Wisconsin. Doxtator was lured to West Allis on the pretext of earning $50 for posing for nude pictures. Dahmer strangled Doxtator and kept his body in the basement for a week before dismembering him and discarding the remains in the trash. No remains were ever found.
• March 24: Richard Guerrero, 22. Drugged and strangled in Dahmer's bedroom at West Allis. Dahmer dismembered Guerrero's corpse in the basement, dissolved the flesh in acid and disposed of the bones in the trash. He bleached and retained the skull for several months before disposing of it. No remains were ever found.

1989

• March 25: Anthony Sears, 24. Sears was the last victim to be drugged and strangled at Dahmer's grandmother's residence; he was also the first victim from whom Dahmer permanently retained any body parts. His preserved skull and genitals would be found in a filing cabinet at 924 North 25th Street following Dahmer's arrest in 1991.

1990

• May 20: Raymond Smith, 32. The first victim to be killed at Dahmer's North 25th Street apartment. Smith was a male prostitute whom Dahmer encountered at a tavern. Dahmer gave Smith a drink laced with sleeping pills, then strangled him on his kitchen floor. His skull was spray-painted and retained.
• June 14: Edward Smith, 27. A known acquaintance of Dahmer who was last seen in his company at a party. Dahmer acidified Smith's skeleton; his skull was destroyed unintentionally when placed in the oven in an effort to remove moisture. No remains were ever found.
• September 2: Ernest Miller, 22. Miller was a dance student whom Dahmer encountered outside a bookstore. According to Dahmer, he was especially attracted to Miller's physique. He was killed by having his carotid artery severed before being dismembered in the bathtub, with Dahmer storing his entire skeleton in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet and his heart, biceps, and portions of his legs in the freezer for later consumption.
• September 24: David Thomas, 22. Encountered Dahmer near the Grand Avenue Mall; he was lured to Dahmer's apartment on the promise of money for posing nude. Once a laced drink had rendered Thomas unconscious, Dahmer decided he "wasn't my type." Nonetheless, Dahmer strangled Thomas, taking Polaroid photos of the dismemberment process. No remains were ever found.

1991

• February 18: Curtis Straughter, 17. Approached by Dahmer as he waited at a bus stop near Marquette University. Dahmer lured Straughter to his apartment, where the youth was drugged, and then handcuffed and strangled before being dismembered in the bathtub. His skull, hands, and genitals were retained.
• April 7: Errol Lindsey, 19. The first victim upon whom Dahmer practised what he would describe to investigators as his "drilling technique;" a procedure in which he drilled holes into the victim's skull, through which he injected muriatic acid into the brain. According to Dahmer, Lindsey awoke after this practice, after which he was again rendered unconscious with a drink laced with sedatives, then strangled to death. Dahmer flayed Lindsey's body and retained the skin for several weeks. His skull was found following Dahmer's arrest.
• May 24: Tony Hughes, 31. Hughes was a deaf-mute whom Dahmer lured to his apartment upon the promise of posing nude for photographs. As Hughes was deaf, he and Dahmer communicated using handwritten notes. He was strangled and his body left on Dahmer's bedroom floor for three days before being dismembered, with Dahmer photographing the dismemberment process. His skull was retained and identified from dental records.
• May 27: Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14. The younger brother of the boy Dahmer had assaulted in 1988. Sinthasomphone was drugged and had muriatic acid injected into his brain before Dahmer left the youth unattended as he left the apartment to purchase beer. When he returned, he discovered Sinthasomphone naked and disoriented in the street, with three hysterical young women attempting to assist him. When police arrived, Dahmer persuaded them he and Sinthasomphone were lovers and that the youth was simply intoxicated. When police left Sinthasomphone with Dahmer in his apartment, Dahmer again injected muriatic acid into Sinthasomphone's brain, and this proved fatal. His head was retained in the freezer and his body dismembered.
• June 30: Matt Turner, 20. On June 30, Dahmer attended the Chicago Pride Parade. At a bus stop, he encountered a 20-year-old named Matt Turner and persuaded him to accompany him to Milwaukee to pose for a photo shoot. Turner was drugged, strangled, and then dismembered in the bathtub. His head and internal organs were placed in the freezer and his torso subsequently placed in the 57-gallon drum Dahmer purchased on July 12.
• July 5: Jeremiah Weinberger, 23. Met Dahmer at a gay bar in Chicago and agreed to accompany him to Milwaukee for the weekend. Dahmer drilled through Weinberger's skull and injected boiling water into the cavity. He later recalled Weinberger's death to be exceptional, as he was the only victim who died with his eyes open.[240] Weinberger's decapitated body was kept in the bathtub for a week before being dismembered; his torso was placed in the 57-gallon drum.
• July 15: Oliver Lacy, 24. A bodybuilding enthusiast whom Dahmer enticed to his apartment on the promise of money for posing for photographs. Lacy was drugged and strangled with a leather strap before being decapitated, with his head and heart being placed in the refrigerator. His skeleton was retained to adorn one side of the private shrine of skulls and skeletons Dahmer was in the process of creating when arrested one week later.
• July 19: Joseph Bradehoft, 25. Dahmer's last victim. Bradehoft was a father of three children from Minnesota who was looking for work in Milwaukee at the time of his murder. He was left on Dahmer's bed for two days following his murder before, on July 21, being decapitated. His head was placed in the refrigerator and his torso in the 57-gallon drum.