Jeffrey Dahmer - A Psychological Insight

▵ Hello everyone, Pyramid here! ▵

I wanted to thank you all for the support you showed me since I opened this blog (very few days ago). I had a very warm welcome and I met a very nice community. I opened this blog to post news, facts and informations, and the response is been more than great! Unfortunately it’s my very first approach with Tumblr, I hope I can learn fast, please be patient!

I hope the blog will last as much as it can, I’ll keep doing my best to give you the best posts and I can’t wait to see yours! Thank you all!

Remember: my goal is to make this blog an educational place only. I don’t mean to post anything about Dahmer’s glorification but informations.

List of items found in Jeffrey Dahmer's cell after his death

Robert Dvorchak's "Milwaukee Murders: Nightmare in Apartment 213"

Ernest Becker "Escape From Evil"

Mary Rose McGeady "Am I Going To Heaven?"

"The History of Western Philosophy"

"Bulfinch's Mythology"

Books on paintings from the Louvre

A bird encyclopedia

books on fish

a book on 'the world's most beautiful flowers'

works by Shakespeare and Henry David Thoreau

Cassettes of music by Mozart, Handel and Tchaikovsky

506 letters

several Bibles

religious flyers

English Leather Cream Cologne

Mennen Speed Stick deodorant

Goody brand braided elastic ponytail holders

hand-rolled cigarettes

Dutch Master President cigars

hard candy

grape drink mix

Source: Milwaukee Journal, article by Mary Carole McCauley "Pulling up the curtain on Dahmer's domain" / credits for the find to paleblueeyez on twitter and @dumbestass1978

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

Grilling Dahmer, chapter 2:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grilling Dahmer, chapter 22/23:

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

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

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

More about Kennedy perspective:

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

If you’re interested to know more support the author and get the book!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serial murder

Rape

Child molestation

Sexual assault

Sexual harassment

Public nudity

Necrophilia

Cannibalism

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

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

- The Shrine Of Jeffrey Dahmer

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

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

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

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

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

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

- The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

Jeffrey Dahmer reaction to George Palermo misunderstandings

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

Official paper where Dahmer wrote his considerations

Published notes and Jeffrey reaction, writing the notes down

Real notes source:

Important announcement!

Hello everyone, Pyramid here.

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

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

▵ Hello everyone, Pyramid here! ▵

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

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

The most bizzarre incident with Dahmer according to Backderf

“The 1978 Revere variety show, Acts from Our Attic, ran for three performances, March 9–11, 1978. The comedy troupe, the Acme Ash Company, named after the local garbage hauling company that picked up the trash in Bath, was essentially the members of the Dahmer Fan Club. All the bits were written by us. The Hitler skit was the hit of the show (CAL, The Reverie 1978).”

-My Friend Dahmer, Derf Backderf

Derf Backderf (real name John Backderf) is an American cartoonist whom most famous work is “My Friend Dahmer”, an international bestseller. Backderf grew up in Richfield, Ohio, and he attended Revere High School. He was a classmate of Jeffrey Dahmer, and one of the founders of the “Dahmer’s Fanclub”. My Friend Dahmer is the culmination of a comic book project first started in 1994, and it tells various facts and stories of a shy kid, a teenage alcoholic, and a goofball pre-murderers Jeffrey Dahmer.

If you’re interested to know more support the author and get the book!

Oxford apartments neighbor speaking about Jeffrey Dahmer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What's happening?"

"Hey Vern, not much."

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

"How was your day?"

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

"Do you have to punch in tonight?"

"Yeah, got to pay rent."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"None! You know how that goes."

"Well I'll talk to you later."

"Sure Jeff, later."

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

THIEF UPDATE

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

Grilling Dahmer - Chapter 18:

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

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

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