March 14, 2026

Best of Season 1: "THE MILWAUKEE CANNIBAL: DAHMER'S 17 VICTIMS & THE SYSTEM THAT FAILED THEM - PART 1"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter exposes how Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 young men between 1978 and 1991 while Milwaukee police ignored every warning sign. Convicted in 1988 for molesting a 13-year-old Laotian boy, served just 10 months. May 1991: Three police officers returned the victim's 14-year-old brother—naked, bleeding, and drugged—to Dahmer's apartment. Thirty minutes later, Konerak Sinthasomphone was dead. July 22, 1991: Tracy Edwards escaped with handcuffs dangling from his wrist and led police to apartment 213. Inside: eleven bodies, severed heads in the refrigerator, body parts in acid barrels. The Milwaukee Cannibal's thirteen-year killing spree finally ended.

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Celebrity Trials is kicking off season two with a new

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host and new name. Hey, I'm Garrett Fisher, and starting

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March sixteenth, I'll be the new host on Daily Crime

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and Justice. It's the same great show, now with extra

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crime and extra justice in the meantime. Please enjoy this

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encore performance of one of Celebrity Trials classic episodes. See

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you on March sixteenth. We'll miss you, Read Carter and

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wish you the best.

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Callaroga Shark Media, Good morning, I'm Read Carter. Saturday, October

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twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, July twenty second, nineteen ninety one, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,

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eleven thirty pm. Thirty two year old Tracy Edwards is

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running down North twenty fifth Street, shirtless, terrified, handcuffs dangling

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from his left wrist. He flags down a Milwaukee Police

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squad car. Officers Robert Routh and Ralph Muller stop up.

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Edwards is hyperventilating, tells them a man just tried to

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kill him, held him at knife point for four hours,

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said he was going to eat his heart. The officers

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look at the handcuffs, look at Edward's face. This isn't

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a prank. This is real terror. Edwards points to apartment

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two one three at the Oxford Apartments. That's where he lives.

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Jeffrey Dahmer, he's got a knife. He tried to kill me.

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Officers Routh and Muller tell Edwards to get in the car.

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They drive one block to nine twenty four North twenty

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fifth Street, walk up to apartment two one three, knock

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on the door. Jeffrey Dahmer answers. Thirty one years old, calm, polite,

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soft spoken. How can I help you? Officers They explain

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Edward's allegations. Dahmer says it's a misunderstanding. He and Edwards

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had been drinking. Things got out of hand. The handcuff

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key is in his bedroom. He'll get it, but something

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isn't right. Officer Muller follows Dahmer into the bedroom. See

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these photographs scattered on the bed, Polaroids, dismembered bodies, nude men,

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body parts. Mueller radios for backup, tells Dahmer he's under arrest.

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Dahmer tries to resist. They subdue him, cuff him, read

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him his rights. Then they search the apartment. The refrigerator

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head inside, human head severed, preserved the freezer, more body parts, hearts, livers,

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organs in plastic bags. The bedroom filing cabinet full of polaroids,

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hundreds of them, different victims, different stages of death and dismemberment.

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The bathroom fifty seven gallon blue barrel filled with acid,

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three torsos dissolving inside the living room skull painted gray,

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human skeleton, hands, genitals, and jars. Apartment two one three

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wasn't just a crime scene. It was a burial ground,

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a factory of death, a place where seventeen young men

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had been drugged, strangled, dismembered, cannibalized. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, the

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Milwaukee Cannibal, thirteen years of murder, seventeen confirmed victims, and

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a criminal justice system that failed at every level to

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stop him. I'm reed, Carter, this is celebrity trials today.

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How Jeffrey Dahmer got away with murder for thirteen years,

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the warning signs, police ignored the victims who should still

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be alive. And July twenty second, nineteen ninety one, The

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Knight Tracy Edwards survived, Part one of two. June eighteenth,

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nineteen seventy eight, bath Township, Ohio. Jeffrey Dahmer, eighteen years old,

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just graduated from Revere High School. Parents recently divorced, father

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moved out, mother moved to Wisconsin, abandoned him in the

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family home alone, drinking constantly, fantasizing about killing. That afternoon,

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Dahmer drove to a shopping saw Stephen Hicks hitchhiking, nineteen

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years old, just graduated high school, long hair, handsome, heading

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to a rock concert. Dahmer offered him a ride, said

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they could go back to his house, drink beer, smoke weed,

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hang out. Hicks agreed, seemed like a nice guy. They

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went to Dahmer's parents' house on Bath Road, drank, talked,

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hours passed. Eventually, Hicks said he needed to leave, had

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to get to that concert. Dahmer didn't want him to go,

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picked up a barbell, hit Hicks in the head, strangled

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him with the bar. Stephen Hicks, nineteen years old, became

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Jeffrey Dahmer's first victim. Dahmer panicked he'd killed someone. What

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do you do with a body? He dragged Hicks's corpse

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to the crawl space, cut it apart with a knife,

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packed the pieces in trash bags, initially buried them behind

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the house later, dug them up, smashed the bones with

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a sledgehammer, scattered them in the woods. Steve Hicks was

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reported missing. Police investigated, found nothing, no body, no evidence,

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no leads. The case went cold. Dahmer got away with

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murder and learned he could. There was just not the

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physical opportunity to do it. Dahmer would later say about

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the nine years between Hicks and his second victim, the

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urge was always there, He just needed the right circumstances.

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Make it make sense. A teenager commits murder, dismembers a body,

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scatters the remains, and nobody notices Stephen Hicks should be

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forty seven years old today, should have gone to that concert,

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should have had a life. Instead, he trusted the wrong

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person on the wrong day. But here's where the system

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failures really begin. September nineteen eighty seven, Dahmer killed Stephen

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Toomi in a Milwaukee hotel. Claimed he woke up and

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Toomi was dead, didn't remember killing him, packed the body

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in a suitcase, took it to his grandmother's basement, dismembered it,

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disposed of the remains. No investigation. Nobody reported Toomi missing.

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Dahmer learned he could kill and not get caught. January

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through March nineteen eighty eight, two more victims, James Doxtater

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fourteen years old Richard Guerrero twenty five, both killed at

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Dahmer's grandmother's house. Both dismembered in the basement, both disposed

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of without detection. Then came the moment that should have

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stopped everything. September twenty sixth, nineteen eighty eight, Dahmer approached

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thirteen year old Keison Syntha Psomphone outside the two hundred

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nineteen Club, a gay bar in Milwaukee, offered him money

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to come back to his apartment pose for photographs. Keison agreed.

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Dahmer took the boy to his grandmother's house, drugged him,

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sexually assaulted him, photographed him unconscious, but Kison escaped, made

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it home, told his parents. They called police. Milwaukee Police

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Department investigated, arrested Jeffrey Dahmer, charged with second degree sexual

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assault of a child, enticing a child for immoral purposes.

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Bail set. Trial scheduled January thirtieth, nineteen eighty nine. Dahmer

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pleaded guilty, could have received up to fifteen years in prison,

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could have been put away before he killed again. The

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judge sentenced him to one year in the House of

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Correction and five years probation, eligible for work release after

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ten months your tax dollars at work. May nineteen eighty nine.

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Dahmer released after serving ten months, moved back to his

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grandmother's house, required to register as a sex offender, required

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to check in with his probation officer monthly. March nineteen

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eighty nine, while still on probation for molesting a child,

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Dahmer killed Anthony Sears, twenty four years old. Aspiring model

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met Dahmer at a bar, went to Dahmer's grandmother's house,

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was drugged, strangled, and dismembered. Dahmer kept his skull and

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genitals as trophies. The probation officer never noticed, never searched

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Dahmer's residence, never found the human remains Dahmer was storing.

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The system that was supposed to protect children from a

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convicted child molester did nothing, and people kept dying. Welcome

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to justice in America. A man convicted of drugging and

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sexually assaulting a thirteen year old boy serves less than

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a year and immediately goes back to killing, and nobody

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not the Probation Department, not the parole officers, not the police.

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Nobody stops him. Stephen Hicks, Stephen Toomi, James Doxtater fourteen

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years old, Richard Guerrero, Anthony Sears. Five victims before Dahmer

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was even caught molesting a child, twelve more victims after

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he was convicted and released. Make it make sense. May

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nineteen ninety Dahmer's grandmother finally told him to move out.

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The smell in her basement was unbearable, strange men coming

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and going at all hours. She didn't know he was

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killing them, but she knew something was wrong. Dahmer rented

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apartment two won three at the Oxford Apartments on North

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twenty fifth Street, one bedroom, private, perfect for what he

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had planned. May through July nineteen ninety four more victims

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Raymond Smith thirty three, Edward Smith twenty eight, Ernest Miller

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twenty two, David Thomas twenty three. The method was consistent.

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Dahmer prowled Milwaukee's gay bars Club two one nine La

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Cage Carol's Speakeasy, approached young men, usually black, Latino or Asian,

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often from poor neighborhoods, runaways, vulnerable people who wouldn't be

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immediately missed. He offered them money, fifty dollars one hundred.

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Do come back to my apartment, pose for photographs, have

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some drinks, easy money. They went, Why not? Dahmer was polite,

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soft spoken, seemed harmless, just a lonely guy willing to

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pay for company. Back at apartment two one three, Dahmer

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offered them drinks, beer, mixed drinks, always laced with sleeping pills, halcion,

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rowe hipnol, powerful sedatives. The victims would drink, start feeling drowsy,

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pass out. Once unconscious, Dahmer strangled them, sometimes manually, sometimes

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with a leather strap. Sometimes he'd have sex with them first,

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sometimes after they were dead. Always photograph them, documentation of

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every stage, alive, unconscious, dead, dismembered. Then came the dismemberment.

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Dahmer used knives, saws, cut the bodies apart in his bathtub,

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kept parts he wanted, skulls, skeletons, genitals, hearts, biceps, stored

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them in his refrigerator, freezer filing cabinet. The parts he

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didn't want went into the fifty seven gallon drum he'd

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bought specifically for disposal. Filled it with acid, let the

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remains dissolve, poured the liquefied remains down the toilet, or

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threw them in the dumpster behind his building. His apartment reeked,

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decomposing flesh, death, chemical smell from the acid. Neighbors complained constantly.

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Management sent people to investigate. Dahmer always had excuses. My

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freezer broke, the meat spoiled, a raccoon died in the walls,

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the plumbing is backed up. They believed him. Why wouldn't they.

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He was polite, paid his rent on time. Sure he

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was weird, and his apartment smelled like death, but lots

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of apartments smell bad. Smart enough to plan murders, too

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stupid to realize that an apartment constantly reeking of decomposition

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might raise questions. September nineteen ninety to May nineteen ninety one,

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seven more victims. Curtis Strawder seventeen, Errol Lindsay nineteen, Anthony

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Hughes thirty one, Conorac Synthesomphone fourteen, Matt Turner twenty, Jeremiah

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Weinberger twenty three, Oliver Lacy twenty three. Dahmer's compulsions were escalating.

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The killing wasn't enough anymore. He wanted to create zombies,

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living victims who would stay with him forever, completely submissive.

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He started experimenting. Drilled holes into victim's skulls while they

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were unconscious, poured hydrochloric acid or boiling water directly into

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their brains, trying to destroy just enough of the frontal

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lobe to make them compliant without killing them. It never worked.

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The victims either died immediately or regained consciousness in agony,

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at which point Dahmer killed them, but he kept trying.

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Each victim became an experiment how much acid, what angle,

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how deep? Let me paint you the picture of what

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Apartment two thirteen looked like by July nineteen ninety one.

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The refrigerator contained a human head. The freezer contained more

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body parts wrapped in plastic bags. The filing cabinet in

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the bedroom held polaroid photographs of over a dozen murdered

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men in various states of dismemberment. A human skull painted

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gray sat on a shelf. A complete human skeleton hung

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in the closet. Jars containing human hands and genitals lined

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another shelf. The blue barrel in the bathroom contained three

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torsos dissolving in acid, and Dahmer was planning to build more.

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He called it a shrine, a meditation space, black table,

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blue lights, surrounded by skulls and skeletons, a place where

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he could sit and feel powerful. If this had happened

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six months later, that's what they would have found, Dahmer

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told investigators after his arrest. But before he could complete

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his shrine, he made a critical mistake. He picked the

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wrong victim. The victims in Apartment two hundred and thirteen

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had names. Raymond Smith, thirty three years old, worked at

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an AIDS outreach center. His mother said he was a

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caring person who wanted to help people. Should be sixty

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eight years old today, should have retired, should have grandchildren.

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Ernest Miller, twenty two dance major, dreamed of performing on stage.

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His grandmother got a phone call two weeks after he

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went missing, groaning voice saying help, help help, Dahmer taunting

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her Ernest should be fifty seven years old today, should

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have had a career, should be teaching the next generation

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of dancers. Curtis Strauder, seventeen high school student, aspiring model

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his grandmother raised him, filed missing persons reports. Police did nothing,

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Curtis should be fifty two years old today. Should have

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graduated college, should have built a life. Errol Lindsay nineteen

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His girlfriend was pregnant when he went missing. His daughter

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was born six months after Dahmer killed him. She never

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met her father. Errol should be fifty four years old today.

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Should have raised his daughter. Should have been there for

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her first steps, her graduation, her wedding. These weren't statistics.

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These weren't just Dahmer's victims. They were sons, brothers, friends, fathers,

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people with dreams and families and futures. And they all

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died because Milwaukee police didn't stop a convicted child molester

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who was obviously escalating. Make it make sense, We'll be

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right back with. May twenty seventh, nineteen ninety one, the

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night police officers returned a naked, bleeding fourteen year old

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boy to Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment, and July twenty second, nineteen

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ninety one, the night Tracy Edwards escaped and finally ended

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the killing. May twenty sixth, ninety one, Jeffrey Dahmer, walking

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through the Grand Avenue Mall in Milwaukee, spotted fourteen year

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old contrac cynthesomphone, the same age as the boy Dahmer

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had molested in nineteen eighty eight, same family. Contrac was

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Caisen's younger brother. Dahmer didn't know, or maybe he did

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and didn't care. Either way, he approached the boy same

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offer he'd made to Contract's older brother three years earlier,

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fifty dollars. Come back to my apartment, pose for some photographs.

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Contrac agreed, needed money, thought it was harmless, just photos.

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Apartment two hundred and thirteen. Dahmer gave Conorrac a drugged drink.

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The boy passed out. While unconscious, Dahmer molested him, photographed him,

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then took it further than usual. Drilled a hole into

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Contract's skull, poured hydrochloric acid into his brain, another zombie experiment.

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While Contract was unconscious, Dahmer left to buy more beer.

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When he got back, the boy was gone. Conorrac had

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regained partial consciousness, stumbled out of the apartment, made it

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to the street, naked, bleeding from the head, drugged, disoriented,

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couldn't speak coherently. Three women found him, Sandra Smith, Tina Spivey,

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and Nicole Childress saw this child, clearly a child naked

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injured bleeding called nine one one. Immediately, officers John Valcurzak,

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Joseph Gabrisch, and Richard Perubkin responded. Found Conorac sitting on

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the ground bleeding, the three women explaining what they saw.

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This boy needs help. Something's wrong, he's hurt, he's terrified.

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Then Jeffrey Dahmer arrived. Calm, polite officers. This is my boyfriend.

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His name is John Hummung. He's nineteen. We had a fight.

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He drank too much. Everything's fine. Conorac couldn't speak, brain

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damaged from the acid, drugged into semi consciousness, blood streaming

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from the hole in his skull, fourteen years old, five

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foot three, one hundred and ten pounds, looked like a

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child because he was a child. The three women protested,

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that's not a grown man, that's a boy. Something's wrong.

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Don't let him take him back. The officers told them

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to shut up, to leave, to mind their own business.

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This was a domestic dispute between two gay men, not

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their concern. The officers didn't run Dahmer's ID. If they had,

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they would have discovered he was a registered sex offender,

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convicted in nineteen eighty eight for molesting a thirteen year

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old Laotian boy on probation for child sexual assault. They

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didn't check Kooniak's age, didn't call for medical assistance despite

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obvious head trauma, didn't investigate why a supposedly nineteen year

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old man couldn't speak, was bleeding from the head and

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was naked in the street. They walked Conorac back to

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apartment two one three, Bowserzak and Gabriish went inside. Smelled

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something foul. Dahmer said it was spoiled food. They accepted

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that explanation. Unknown to the officers, the body of Anthony Hughes,

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killed three days earlier, was decomposing in the bedroom. Polaroids

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of previous victims were scattered on the floor. Body parts

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were in containers throughout the apartment. The blue barrel in

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the bathroom contained three torsos dissolving in acid. The officers left,

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told Dahmer to take care of his boyfriend, drove away.

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An audio recording of their radio conversation captured Balsarzak and

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Gabrish laughing, making homophobic jokes. Intoxicated Asian naked mail was

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returned to his sober boyfriend. They thought it was funny.

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Thirty minutes after police left, Jeffrey Dahmer strangled Conorac's synthesome phone.

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Fourteen years old, had sex with his corpse, dismembered his body,

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photographed every stage, added his skull to the collection contract.

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Should be forty eight years old today. Should have graduated

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high school, should have gone to college, should have had

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a career, a family, a future. Instead, three police officers

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delivered him to a serial killer who was on probation

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for molesting his older brother. Your tax dollars at work.

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After Dahmer's arrest in July, the audio tape became public.

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The community erupted protests outside Milwaukee police headquarters. How did

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this happen? How did three officers return an injured child

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to a registered sex offender. Officers Balcurzak, Gabrisch, and Perubkin

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were fired in September nineteen ninety one. Good justice served

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right wrong, They appealed. In nineteen ninety four. A judge

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reinstated them with full back pay, said it was unfair

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to judge them in hindsight. John Balcurzak went on to

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become president of the Milwaukee Police Union, served until two

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thousand and nine. Retired with full pension. In two thousand

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and seventeen, Joseph Gabrisch became interim police chief of Grafton, Wisconsin,

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also retired with full pension. Richard Perubkin continued serving as

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a Milwaukee officer, also retired with full pension. The family

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of conorac Cynthasomphone sued the city for civil rights violations.

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The case was dismissed. Welcome to justice in America. Three

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officers delivered a naked, bleeding, drugged child to a known

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sex offender, and they all retired with pensions. The child

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they failed to protect died, screaming his family got nothing.

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Make it make sense. July twenty second, nineteen ninety one,

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Jeffrey Dahmer spent the day at the Grand Avenue Mall.

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By evening, he was at a bar looking for victim

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number eighteen. He approached three men, offered them one hundred

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dollars each to come back to his apartment, pose for photographs,

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drink some beer, keep him company. Two declined. One thirty

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two year old Tracy Edwards agreed. Needed the money seemed

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like easy cash. For a few hours, they took a

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taxi to apartment two pet three walked inside. Edwards immediately

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noticed the smell overwhelming chemical death. Asked Dahmer about it.

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Management knows they're fixing it. They sat on the couch

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Dahmer put on the exorcist offered Edwards a drink. Edwards accepted,

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but noticed it tasted strange, stopped drinking it. Pretended to

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keep drinking, but didn't. That decision saved his life. Dahmer's

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behavior changed, became agitated, pulled out handcuffs. I need to

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take some photos. Let me cuff you. Edwards refused. Dahmer

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became aggressive, pulled out a large knife, held it to

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Edwards's chest, snapped one handcuff onto Edwards's left wrist. I'm

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going to eat your heart. Dahmer laid his head on

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Edwards's chest, listening to his heartbeat, eyes closed, chanting along

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with the exorcist rocking back and forth. Edwards realized he

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was about to die. This wasn't a misunderstanding, This wasn't

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a weird date. This was a serial killer deciding how

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to murder him. For four hours, Edwards talked, stayed calm, bargained,

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you don't want to do this, let me go. I

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won't tell anyone, we can be friends. Anything to stay alive,

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anything to keep Dahmer from finishing the cuffing, from moving

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to the next stage, from using that knife. He noticed

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Dahmer glancing at the bedroom, whatever was in there. Dahmer

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wanted to move him there. That's where the photographs were,

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the polaroids, the bodies, That's where previous victims had died.

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Edwards knew if he went into that bedroom, he wasn't

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coming out alive. Around eleven thirty pm, Dahmer got distracted,

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looked away for a second. Edwards saw his chance. Punched

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Dahmer in the face hard. Dahmer stumbled backward. He ran

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for the door, unlocked the dead bolt, ran out, handcuffs

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still dangling from his left wrist, no shirt, barefoot. Running

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down North twenty fifth Street, saw a Milwaukee Police squad car.

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Officers Robert Routh and Ralph Muller flagged them down. Explained

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what happened. That man tried to kill me. He has

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a knife, He said he was going to eat my heart.

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He lives right there, apartment two one. Three officers looked

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at each other, looked at the handcuff. This wasn't a prank.

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This was real. They drove to nine twenty four North

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twenty fifth Street, walked to apartment two one three with

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Edwards knocked on the door. Jeffrey Dahmer answered, calm, polite,

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how can I help you explain? There'd been a misunderstanding.

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He and Edwards were drinking. Things got out of hand.

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The handcuff key was in his bedroom. He'd get it,

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no problem. Officer Muller followed Dahmer into the bedroom. Saw

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potographs on the bed, polaroids dozens of them, Naked men,

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dismembered bodies, body parts, skulls. You're under arrest, don't move.

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Dahmer tried to resist. The officers subdued him, cuffed him,

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called for backup. Then they began searching. The refrigerator opened it,

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human head severed, preserved eyes open the freezer, more body parts, hands, hearts, genitals,

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all neatly wrapped in plastic bags. The bedroom closet, filing

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cabinet full of polaroids, hundreds of images, different victims, different

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stages of death. The bathroom fifty seven gallon blue barrel

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filled with acid, three torsos inside, decomposing, dissolving. The rest

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of the apartment skulls skeletons, jars containing preserved organs, tools

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for dismemberment, knives, saws, chemicals, Eleven bodies, seventeen total victims,

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thirteen years of murder, all in one small apartment. Jeffrey

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Dahmer was taken into custody, transported to Milwaukee Police headquarters.

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Began confessing immediately. I killed thirty or thirty three. I

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don't remember exactly, but investigators could only confirm seventeen Stephen

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Hicks in Ohio, sixteen more in Wisconsin. Seventeen lives destroyed,

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Seventeen families that would never see their sons, brothers, fathers again.

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Tracy Edwards survived, became a hero, the man who finally

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stopped Jeffrey Dahmer. But surviving Dahmer destroyed Edward's life. His

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attorney later described it as humpty dumpty. He was never

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able to put the pieces back together. Edwards developed PTSD,

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self medicated with drugs and alcohol, became homeless, drifted from

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shelter to shelter. Refused psychiatric treatment because it meant remembering

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what happened in apartment two one three two thousand eleven,

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Edwards's was arrested for his involvement in throwing a man

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off a bridge. The man drowned. Edwards pleaded guilty to

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aiding a felon, sentenced to a year and a half

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in prison. His attorney told reporters that Edwards called Dahmer

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the devil, that he smelled death when he entered the apartment,

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that he heard Dahmer say I'm going to eat your

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heart and felt Dahmer listening to his heartbeat. He could

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never get his life together after that, The attorney said.

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Tracy Edwards saved countless lives by escaping and leading police

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to Dahmer, but he never saved himself. That's part one

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of our Jeffrey Dahmer Special. Seventeen confirmed Victims, thirteen years

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of murder, a convicted child molester who should have been

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in prison, a criminal justice system that failed at every level.

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Stephen Hicks nineteen, Stephen Tuomi twenty four, James dockstat fourteen,

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Richard Guerrero twenty five, Anthony Sears twenty four, Raymond Smith

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thirty three, Edward Smith twenty eight, Ernest Miller twenty two,

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David Thomas twenty three, Curtis Strauter seventeen, Errol Lindsay nineteen,

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Anthony Hughes thirty one, Conorac Syntheson Phone fourteen, Matt Turner twenty,

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Jeremiah Weinberger twenty three, Oliver Lacy twenty three, Joseph Braidhoft

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twenty five, seventeen names, seventeen futures, seventeen families destroyed Tomorrow,

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Part two. The Trial Jeffrey Dahmer's insanity defense February fifteenth,

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nineteen ninety two. Guilty on all counts, prison Christopher Scarver

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November twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four, the day Dahmer's skull

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