March 15, 2026

Best of Season 1: "THE MILWAUKEE CANNIBAL: DAHMER'S TRIAL, PRISON DEATH & LEGACY - PART 2"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter concludes the Jeffrey Dahmer special with the trial that captivated America. January 1992: Dahmer pleaded guilty but insane to 15 murders. Defense claimed necrophilia and multiple personalities made him kill. Prosecution argued he was calculating, organized, and in complete control. February 15, 1992: Jury deliberated 10 hours—guilty but sane on all counts. Sentenced to 957 years in prison. November 28, 1994: Fellow inmate Christopher Scarver beat Dahmer to death with a metal bar in the prison gym. Crushed his skull. Dahmer was thirty-four. Prison justice for the Milwaukee Cannibal who showed zero remorse.

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WEBVTT

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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.

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Good morning.

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I'm Reed Carter. Sunday, October twenty sixth, twenty twenty five.

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Yesterday we covered Jeffrey Dahmer's thirteen year killing spree, seventeen victims,

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a criminal justice system that failed at every level, Tracy

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Edwards escape that finally ended the murders. Today what happened

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after the arrest July twenty second, nineteen ninety one, Jeffrey

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Dahmer was taken into custody at Milwaukee Police Headquarters. Began

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confessing immediately, matter of fact, no emotion, describing murders like

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he was discussing construction projects. I killed thirty or thirty three,

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I don't remember exactly. Over the next two weeks, detectives

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Patrick Kennedy and Dennis Murphy interviewed Dahmer for more than

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sixty hours, compiled a one hundred seventy eight page confession.

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Dahmer waived his right to an attorney, said he wanted

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to confess everything. I created this horror, and it only

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makes sense I do everything to put an end to it.

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He described his methods in detail, the drugs he used,

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how he strangled victims, the dismemberment process, the cannibalism, which

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body parts he kept, and why where he disposed of remains,

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all described clinically without remorse. Investigators confirmed seventeen victims, Stephen

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Hicks in Ohio nineteen seventy eight, sixteen more in Wisconsin

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between nineteen eighty seven and nineteen ninety one. Dahmer couldn't

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remember exact numbers, said there might have been more. The

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victims blurred together in his memory. January thirteenth, nineteen ninety two,

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Dahmer appeared in Milwaukee County Circuit Court before Judge Lawrence Graham,

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charged with fifteen counts of first degree murder. Wisconsin couldn't

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charge him with Stephen Twomey's death no physical evidence, Dahmer

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claimed he didn't remember committing it. Dahmer changed his plea

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from not guilty to guilty but insane. That plea changed everything.

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No criminal trial to determine guilt. Guilt was admitted. The

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only question was Jeffrey Dahmer legally saying when he committed

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these murders. January thirtieth, nineteen ninety two, the trial began

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not about whether Dahmer killed seventeen people, about whether he

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understood his actions were wrong, about whether he could control

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his impulses, about whether necrophilia, cannibalism, and creating zombies by

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drilling holes in skulls was insanity or evil. The jury

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would decide. Ten out of twelve jurors needed to agree.

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If they found him insane, Dahmer would go to a

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mental institution for treatment. If sine, prison for life. Wisconsin

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had no death penalty. February fifteenth, nineteen ninety two, after

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ten hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict

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Jeffrey Dahmer was sane legally responsible for his actions, guilty

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of fifteen counts of murder. Judge Graham's scheduled sentencing for

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February seventeenth, fifteen consecutive life terms nine hundred fifty seven years.

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Jeffrey Dahmer would die in prison, but he wouldn't serve

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even three years. November twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four, Dahmer

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was working a cleaning detail in the Columbia Correctional Institution Gymnasium,

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left alone with two other inmates, Christopher Scarver and Jesse Anderson.

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Twenty minutes unsupervised, Scarver picked up a twenty inch metal

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bar from the weight room, cornered Dahmer in the staff

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locker room, crushed his skull, beat him until his head

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was unrecognizable, then killed Anderson two. When a guard asked

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Scarver why he was back in his cell early, he said,

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God told me to do it. You will hear about

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it on the six o'clock news. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey

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Dahmer are dead. Jeffrey Dahmer died at the hospital an

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hour later. He was thirty four years old. I'm reed, Carter,

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this is celebrity trials today. The trial of Jeffrey Dahmer,

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the insanity defense that failed prison, Christopher Scarver, and the

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legacy of the Milwaukee Cannibal, Part two of two. January

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thirtieth nineteen ninety two Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Graham,

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Presiding District Attorney Michael McCann and assisted District Attorney E.

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Michael McCann Prosecuting defense attorneys Gerald Boyle and Wendy Patrickis

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representing Dahmer. The courtroom was packed, families of victims, media

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from around the world, true crime observers. Everyone wanted to

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see the man who had shocked America with the most

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grotesque killing spree in modern history. And there sat Jeffrey Dahmer,

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thirty one years old, glasses, short brown hair, wearing a

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tan suit, expressionless, calm. He looked like an accountant, a librarian,

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a neighbor you'd wave to while mowing your lawn, not

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a serial killer who murdered seventeen people and ate their flesh.

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The trial lasted two weeks, battle of the psychiatrists, defense

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experts versus prosecution experts, all trying to answer one question.

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Was Jeffrey Dahmer insane? Wisconsin law defined insanity narrowly. Did

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Dahmer lack substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct?

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Could he conform his behavior to the requirements of law?

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Not whether he was mentally ill. Everyone agreed he was

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mentally ill, But was he so mentally ill he didn't

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know right from wrong. The defense argued, yes, Dahmer suffered

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from necrophilia sexual attraction to corpses. This wasn't a choice,

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this was a compulsion. He couldn't control, a paraphilia so

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overwhelming it drove him to murder. Defense psychiatrist doctor Fred

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Berlin testified that Dahmer was unable to conform his conduct

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at the time he committed the crimes, that his necrophilia

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was a mental disease that overpowered his ability to make

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rational decisions. That he preferred unconscious or dead sexual partners

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because he wanted complete control, complete submission. Doctor Judith Becker,

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professor of psychiatry and psychology, diagnosed Dahmer as a necrophiliac.

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Testified that he told her he preferred comatose partners to

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dead ones seventy five percent of the time, that he

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killed because death was the ultimate form of control and possession.

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Doctor Carl Walstrom, forensic psychiatrist, diagnosed Dahmer with necrophilia, borderline

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personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, alcohol dependence, and a psychotic disorder.

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Said all these conditions combined to make Dahmer unable to

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resist his impulses. Defense attorney Gerald Boyle described his client

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as a steamrolling killing machine and a runaway train on

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a track of madness. Said Dahmer got sicker as his

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killing spree, continued that by July nineteen ninety one, he

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was completely out of control, killing every few days, couldn't stop.

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But the prosecution had a different story. They presented evidence

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of Dahmer's planning, his deliberate victim selection, his methods of

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avoiding detection, his clean up procedures, his explanations to neighbors

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about the smell, his lies to police, all evidence of

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a calculating mind, not insanity. Doctor Frederic Faustall, prosecution witness,

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testified that Dahmer had told him I had choices to make.

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I made the wrong choices. That's not insanity. That's a

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man who knew exactly what he was doing and chose

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to do it anyway. Doctor park Elliott Deets, prosecution expert,

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said Dahmer's killings were well planned and deliberate. Pointed out

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that Dahmer used condoms because he feared contracting aids. Someone

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afraid of disease as someone making rational decisions about consequences.

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Someone insane doesn't care about getting sick. Doctor George Palermo,

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court appointed psychiatrist, diagnosed Dahmer with antisocial personality disorder, but

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didn't find he met the legal definition of insanity. Said

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Dahmer was in control of his behavior, knew right from wrong,

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chose to kill anyway. The prosecution argued that Dahmer carefully

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selects did vulnerable victims, men without cars because missing persons

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could be traced through vehicles, runaways, minorities, men from poor neighborhoods,

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people who wouldn't be immediately missed. That's not insanity, that's strategy.

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Dahmer lured victims with specific stories, job offers, money for photographs, alcohol,

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promises of companionship. Tailored his approach to what each victim wanted.

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That's manipulation. That's planning. He drugged them systematically, knew exactly

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how many sleeping pills to use, started with three, increased

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to seven, experimented to find the right dosage. That scientific method.

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That's calculation. He cleaned up after murders, dismembered bodies in

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his bathtub to avoid mess. Wrapped body parts, carefully disposed

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of remains, methodically kept his apartment organized despite having body

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parts stored throughout. That's not someone out of control, that's

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someone managing evidence. When police questioned him about missing persons,

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he had explanations ready. They ran away, they moved on,

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they were unreliable. He was calm, cooperative, plausible. That's not insanity,

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that's deception. Prosecution argued that Dahmer's real motive wasn't necrophilia,

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it was control possession. He wanted people who would never

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leave him. He killed to create permanent companions. That selfishness,

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taken to its most extreme conclusion, not mental illness, pure evil.

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And here's the key evidence that destroyed the insanity defense.

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Dahmer functioned normally between murders, went to work, paid his bills,

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interacted with neighbors, performed as Pogo the clown at children's hospitals.

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Wait wrong, serial killer. But the point stands Dahmer maintained

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a normal facade. If he was so insane he couldn't

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control his actions, how was he functional the rest of

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the time. The prosecution displayed photographs of all fifteen victims

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during closing arguments, put their faces in front of the

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jury made them real, made them human. These weren't abstract concepts.

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These were sons, brothers, fathers, people with families who loved them.

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Michael McCann's closing argument. Jeffrey Dahmer was a sane man,

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in full control of his actions, who simply strove to

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avoid detection. He killed to control his victims and retained

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their bodies merely to afford himself a prolonged period of

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sexual pleasure. By pleading guilty but insane, he seeking to

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escape responsibility for his crimes. Gerald Boyle's closing argument. He

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was so impaired as he went along this killing spree

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that he could not stop. He was a runaway train

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on a track of madness. February fifteenth, nineteen ninety two.

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The jury deliberated ten hours longer than expected. Families waited,

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media waited, everyone wondered which way they'd go. The verdict

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came back. Ten out of twelve jurors found that Jeffrey

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Dahmer did not suffer from a mental disease or defect

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that prevented him from appreciating the wrongfulness of his conduct.

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Two jurors dissented, but ten was enough. Guilty but sane

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on all fifteen counts of murder. The courtroom was silent.

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Then the families began crying, some from relief, others from grief.

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The verdict brought back everything they'd lost. Shirley Hughes, mother

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of victim Anthony Hughes, said, I had my faith in God,

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and I believed, and I know this man was not insane.

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Juror Carl Stahl later told reporters he was a con artist.

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His whole conduct showed that he was a con artist.

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He had planned well, and he is above average intelligence.

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He had plans, and he had just one thing on

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his mind, to satisfy his ego and to satisfy himself.

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And I didn't even think of anybody else. February seventeenth,

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nineteen ninety two, sentencing day, Dahmer asked to address the court,

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first time most people heard him speak. His voice was soft, flat, emotionless.

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He said, I wanted to find out just what it

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was that caused me to be so bad and evil.

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I know my time in prison will be terrible, but

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I deserve it. I created this horror, and it only

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makes sense I do everything to put an end to it.

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Judge Graham sentenced him to fifteen consecutive life terms nine

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hundred fifty seven years in prison, no possibility of parole.

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Dahmer would die in prison May one, nineteen ninety two.

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Three months later, Dahmer was extradited to Ohio to face

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charges for Stephen Hicks's murder. The hearing lasted forty five minutes.

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Dahmer pleaded guilty, received a sixteenth consecutive life term sixteen

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life sentences for seventeen confirmed murders. The numbers don't even

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add up to the horror. Make it make sense. We'll

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be right back with Jeffrey Dahmer in prison, his interviews,

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his zero remorse, and November twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four,

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the day Christopher Scarver crushed his skull with a metal bar.

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February nineteen ninety two, Jeffrey Dahmer arrived at Columbia Correctional

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Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, maximum security prison home for the

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rest of his life. For the first year, Dahmer was

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held in solitary confinement, his choice. Prison officials were concerned

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for his safety. Child killers rank at the bottom of

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the prison hierarchy, below rapists below, cops below, snitches and

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Dahmer wasn't just a child killer. He was the child

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held killing Cannibal. In solitary, Dahmer had minimal contact with

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other inmates, received mail, bought cigarettes and magazines with money

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sent by supporters. Yes, he had supporters. People who wrote

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to him, sent him money, defended him, Welcome to America.

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He gave interviews, told reporters he'd become a born again Christian,

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was baptized in May nineteen ninety four. Said he was remorseful,

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said he wanted to be studied so science could understand

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what created him. Said he deserved to die. But in private,

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according to inmates, Dahmer showed no remorse. He made jokes,

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taunted other prisoners, fashioned food into severed limbs, drizzled ketchup

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on them to look like blood, left them where inmates

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would find them, dark, sense of humor, testing boundaries, seeing

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how far he could push before someone snapped. July nineteen

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ninety one, while Dahmer was still in jail awaiting trial,

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inmate Osvaldo de Ruthi tried to slash his throat with

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a razor in front of guards. Didn't succeed. Dahmer wasn't

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seriously hurt, but it was a warning, a preview of

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what was coming. After a year in solitary, Dahmer requested

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transfer to general population, said he was ready, didn't care

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what happened to him, told family members he was prepared

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to repent and meet his maker. Prison officials approved the transfer,

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assigned him a two hour daily work detail cleaning the

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toilet block. Easy job. Low. Interaction with other inmates should

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be safe, but nothing is safe when you're a child

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killing cannibal in prison. Enter Christopher Scarver, thirty five years

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old in nineteen ninety four from Milwaukee, same city where

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Dahmer killed. Serving life without parole for murdering his boss

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during a robbery. In nineteen ninety shot Stephen Lohman three

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times after receiving only fifteen dollars, said he heard voices

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calling him the chosen one. Scarver arrived at Columbia Correctional

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Institution around the same time as Dahmer. Knew exactly who

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Dahmer was, kept a newspaper clipping about Dahmer's crimes in

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his pocket. Read it constantly, felt fiercely disgusted by what

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Dahmer had done. Scarver watched Dahmer from a distance, like

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a wolf watching prey. Never approached him, didn't want to

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be part of his sick games. But he saw the food,

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limbs with ketchup routine, saw Dahmer taunting other inmates, saw

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him showing no remorse. Some people who are in prison

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are repentant, Scarver later said, but he was not one

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of them. November twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four, Monday morning,

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eight am, three inmates were assigned to clean the prison gymnasium.

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Jeffrey Dahmer, Jesse Anderson, serving life for murdering his wife

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in nineteen ninety two, and Christopher Scarver. Correction officers led

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the three men to the gym unshackled them standard procedure

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for work details, then the offers left. Twenty minutes unsupervised,

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three convicted murderers alone in a gymnasium with access to

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weight room equipment. Scarver was filling a mop bucket with

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water when he felt something poke him in the back.

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Turned around. Dahmer and Anderson were laughing under their breath, smirking.

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Scarver looked at both of them, couldn't tell which one

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had poked him, didn't matter, they were both laughing at him.

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Both treating this like a joke. Scarver said nothing, walked

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to the weight room, picked up a twenty inch metal

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bar from exercise equipment, heavy solid a weapon. He followed

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Dahmer into the staff locker room, pulled out the newspaper

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clipping he'd been carrying, the detailed account of Dahmer's crimes,

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the murders, the dismemberment, the cannibalism, the drilling holes and

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skulls to create zombies. Scarver held up the article. I

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asked him if he did those things, because I was

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fiercely disgusted. Dahmer was shocked, didn't expect confrontation. He started

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looking for the door, trying to leave. Scarver blocked him.

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He started looking for the door pretty quick. I blocked him.

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Then Scarver swung the metal bar, hit Dahmer in the

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head hard. Dahmer's skull cracked. He fell. Scarver hit him

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again and again, crushing his skull, beating him against the floor,

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against the wall until Jeffrey Dahmer stopped moving. He ended

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up dead. I put his head down. Then Scarver went

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to find Jesse. Anderson found him in another locker room.

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Anderson looked around looking for guards, saw none. Scarver beat

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Anderson with the metal bar too same method, head trauma,

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skull crushed. At approximately eight ten am, correction officers found

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Dahmer on the bathroom floor with extreme head wounds. He

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was still alive, barely rushed to the hospital, pronounced dead

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one hour later. Jesse Anderson died two days later from

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his injuries. Christopher Scarver walked back to his cell. When

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a guard asked why he was back early, Scarver said,

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God told me to do it. You will hear about

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it on the six o'clock news. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey

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Dahmer are dead. Scarver was convicted of two additional murders

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received two more life sentences. Claimed prison officials wanted Dahmer

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dead and deliberately left the three inmates unsupervised. Said it

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was no accident. Officials knew Scarver, hated Dahmer, knew what

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would happen. Prison officials never commented on the allegation. Scarver

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spent sixteen years in solitary confinement for the murders, still

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serving three life sentences at Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado.

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November twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four. Jeffrey Dahmer was thirty

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four years old, served less than three years of his

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nine hundred and fifty seven year sentence, beat to death

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by a fellow inmate who thought he wasn't repentant enough.

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Sometimes justice comes from a jury, Sometimes it comes from

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a metal bar. Prison hierarchy is r real. Child killers

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are at the bottom, and prisoners handle it their own way,

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not celebrating it, just explaining it. That's the reality of

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prison culture. Dahmer knew it. He chose to taunt inmates anyway,

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and Christopher Scarver made him pay. When Jeffrey Dahmer's mother, Joyce,

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learned of his death, she responded angrily, Now is everybody

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happy now that he's bludgeoned to death? Is that good

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enough for everyone? But the families of victims had mixed reactions.

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Catherine Lacey, mother of Oliver Lacey, said the hurt is

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worse now because he's not suffering like we are. Some

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families celebrated, some were saddened, Some felt robbed of the

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chance to see Dahmer serve his full sentence, but all

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agreed on one thing. Jeffrey Dahmer got what he deserved.

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Dahmer's body was cremated, his ashes divided between his parents.

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His brain was initially retained for medical research. Both parents

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fought over whether it's should be studied. Eventually cremated in

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December nineteen ninety five. No services, no ceremony, no memorial.

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Jeffrey Dahmer simply ceased to exist. Why do we keep

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talking about Jeffrey Dahmer? Thirty one years since his arrest,

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seventeen confirmed victims, yet we're still making documentaries, Netflix series, movies,

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podcasts about the Milwaukee cannibal Part of it is the

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sheer horror, the worst aspects of human nature, cannibalism, necrophilia,

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drilling holes and skulls, keeping body parts as trophies, creating

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a shrine of skeletons. It's incomprehensible. We study it, trying

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to understand it. Part of it is the system failures.

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Nineteen eighty eight, convicted of molesting a thirteen year old,

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released after ten months, immediately killed again. May ninety three,

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police officers returned a naked, bleeding fourteen year old to

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Dahmer's apartment. The boy was murdered thirty minutes later. These

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aren't unfortunate coincidences. These are catastrophic failures that cost lives.

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Part of it is the warning signs we missed. Dahmer

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tortured animals as a child, collected roadkill, dissected them. His

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father noticed but didn't intervene. Dahmer had violent fantasies about

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unconscious men, said he thought about it constantly. Nobody connected

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the dots, but mostly we keep talking about Jeffrey Dahmer

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because he forces us to confront uncomfortable questions. How does

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someone become capable of this nature or nurture? Was Dahmer

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born broken or did something break him his parents' divorce,

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his father's absence, his mother's mental health issues. Or was

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he simply evil from the start? How did he get

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away with it for thirteen years? Stephen Hicks murdered in

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nineteen seventy eight, body started piling up in nineteen eighty seven,

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didn't get caught until nineteen ninety one. Multiple police interactions,

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multiple complaints from neighbors about smell, multiple missing persons reports.

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How did nobody stop him? How many victims would there

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have been if Tracy Edwards hadn't escaped. Dahmer said he

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wanted to build a shrine surrounded by ten skeletons. He

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had two when he was arrested. Would he have kept

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going until he had his ten or more? No ceiling,

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no endpoint, just constant killing and the uncomfortable truth. The

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system failed because Dahmer's victims were marginalized, young gay men,

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many of them minorities, many from poor neighborhoods, runaways peoples

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society tends to ignore when they went missing. Investigations were minimal.

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When neighbors complained about smell and screams, police believed Dahmer

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over them. Would the response have been different if Dahmer

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had been targeting college students for from wealthy families. Absolutely,

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the amount of police attention would have been immediate and overwhelming.

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But because his victims were black, Latino Asian gay, poor,

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they were treated as less important. Glenda Cleveland, Dahmer's neighbor,

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called police multiple times, reported suspicious activity, said something was

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seriously wrong in apartment two one three. Nobody listened to her.

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She was black, lived in a poor neighborhood. Her concerns

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were dismissed when conorrac cynth thesomphone was returned to Dahmer.

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The three women who called nine one one protested, said

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the boy was injured, said something was wrong. Officers told

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them to shut the hell up and leave. The women

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were black, their concerns didn't matter. The Milwaukee police department failed,

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the probation department failed, the child welfare system failed, the

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mental health system failed, all because the people dying weren't

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considered important enough to protect. That's Jeffrey Dahmer's real legacy,

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not the cannibal, not the body parts and the refrigerator,

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but the systematic failure to protect vulnerable people, and the

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question we still haven't answered how many Jeffrey Dahmers are

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operating right now because we're still ignoring the same populations.

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Netflix made Monster the Jeffrey Dahmer story in twenty twenty two.

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Families of victims criticized it. Said it was reliving trauma

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without their permission, said Netflix was profiting off their pain.

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Rita Ibel, sister of Errol Lindsay, said her famous courtroom

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outburst was recreated without consent. She's right, we keep telling

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Dahmer's story. We don't tell the victims' stories. We know

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everything about Jeffrey Dahmer, his childhood, his fantasies, his methods,

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his trial, his death. But do we know Stephen Hicks

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loved rock concerts, that Ernest Miller wanted to dance on stage,

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that Conorac Synthasomphone was just a kid trying to earn money.

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We remember them on we forget the people he destroyed.

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That's part two of our Jeffrey Dahmer Special. Seventeen victims,

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thirteen years of murder, a trial that asked whether evil

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is the same as insanity, a jury that said no,

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nine hundred and fifty seven years in prison, and Christopher

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Scarver with a metal bar who decided Jeffrey Dahmer had

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lived long enough. Seventeen names, seventeen futures destroyed, seventeen families

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that never recovered. Someone has to say their names. Someone

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has to remember they were people, not just victims of

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Jeffrey Dahmer. They had dreams, aspirations, people who loved them,

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futures that should have happened. The Milwaukee cannibal is dead,

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beaten to death by a fellow inmate who thought he

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wasn't repentant enough, But the damage he caused lives on

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in the families who lost sons, in the community that

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failed to protect vulnerable people in the question we still

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haven't answered about how someone like Jeffrey Dahmer exists. Make

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it make sense. Seventeen people murdered, multiple opportunities to stop him,

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