Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, the Milwaukee Cannibal and Theme of Netflix’s Upcoming Documentary Series Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapesmurdered 17 people of black and Hispanic descent from 1978 until his arrest in 1991.
However, Dahmer’s arrest for murder was not the first time the police had arrested him. The serial killer was arrested three times before that. Find out why.
Jeffrey Dahmer’s first arrest took place in September 1981 after his military discharge.
Before joining the army, Dahmer had already experienced his first kill in 1978. He would not kill again until 1987, but Dahmer told authorities that the urge was always present while he was abroad. “There just wasn’t an opportunity to fully express what I wanted to do,” his file says. “There was no physical opportunity to do so at the time.”
According to the FBI record on Dahmer, he joined the United States Army in 1979 at the insistence of his father. He was stationed in Germany but was discharged in 1981 due to excessive alcohol consumption.
In 1981, Dahmer was arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct. He was fined, given a suspended prison sentence, and then sent to live with his grandmother.
Jeffrey Dahmer’s arrest for indecent exposure in 1982
Less than a year after his first arrest, Dahmer was arrested in August 1982 for indecent exposure at a Wisconsin State Fair Park. He was convicted and fined $50 for his crime.
The serial killer’s third arrest took place in 1986.
Dahmer was arrested for a third time in August 1986. He was charged with disorderly conduct for masturbating in front of two boys. Dahmer was sentenced to a year of probation and had to attend counseling.
Jeffrey Dahmer’s sexual assault allegations
In September 1988, Dahmer was arrested once again for sexual assault. After moving out of his grandmother’s house and living in his own apartment, Dahmer was charged with second-degree sexual assault and seducing a child when he lured 13-year-old Keison Sinthasomphone, brother of Dahmer’s later victim Konerak.
He drugged and molested the boy, but he escaped. Dahmer spent a week in prison before being released on bail.
How was Jeffrey Dahmer finally caught for murder?
Tracy Edwards, the man who escaped from Dahmer, played a major role in his final arrest on July 22, 1991. After breaking free from Dahmer’s apartment, Edwards found two offers from Milwaukee Police. He told them that a “freak” had him handcuffed.
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So Edwards took the police back to Dahmer’s apartment, where the serial killer invited them in. Police found polaroid photos of Dahmer’s previous victims in various dismemberment states. They also found human remains in Dahmer’s fridge and freezer, as well as decomposed body parts in an oil drum in his room.
Dahmer tried to escape but was eventually arrested. After admitting to 17 murders in his 1992 trial, the judge sentenced Dahmer to several life sentences. However, Dahmer was killed in prison by fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver in 1994.
Learn about the story of Dahmer and his victims at Ryan Murphy’s DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
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