When Jeffrey Dahmer was killed and his murder explained (2024)

Jeffrey Dahmer went on a bloodthirsty killing spree lasting more than a decade.

Now his story and those of his victims is being retold in a new 10-episode Netflix series being aired on Wednesday, entitled DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

But how was he caught and how did he die? Here’s everything you need to know.

Who was Jeffrey Dahmer?

Jeffrey Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Monster or Milwaukee Cannibal, killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991, when he was captured.

All of them were young men.

His first victim was Steven Hicks, a hitchhiker he befriended and invited back to his parents’ home in Ohio for beers on 18 June, 1978. There, he knocked the 18-year-old unconscious with a dumb-bell, strangled him, dissected the body and buried the remains in a shallow grave in the garden.

Steven Tuomi was his second victim, killed in a rented room at the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee on 20 November, 1987. Dahmer claimed he had no intention of killing the 25-year-old after inviting him back to his room but awoke to find him dead on his bed.

His third victim was 14-year-old James Doxtator, whom he met outside a gay bar in Wisconsin on 16 January, 1988. Dahmer lured him to his grandmother’s home in West Allis, where he strangled him and kept his body in the basem*nt before dismembering it and discarding it with the rubbish.

No remains were ever found.

On 24 March the same year, Dahmer drugged and strangled Richard Guerrero in his bedroom in West Allis. After dismembering and discarding the 22-year-old’s body, he kept the skull for several months.

A year later on 25 March, Dahmer drugged and strangled Anthony Sears at his grandmother’s home. The 24-year-old’s skull and genitals were found in a filing cabinet at Dahmer’s home when he was arrested in 1991.

In 1990, Dahmer took the lives of four men in the space of as many months while living at his apartment in Milwaukee.

On 20 May, he killed Raymond Smith at the apartment by drugging him with sleeping pills and then strangling him. He later spray-painted the 32-year-old’s skull and kept it in a filing cabinet.

A month later on 14 June, he drugged and strangled a former acquaintance Edward Smith. He accidentally destroyed all the remains and so was unable to keep any body parts.

Dahmer met Ernest Miller outside a bookshop on 2 September in 1990, drugged him and then knifed him in the neck at his apartment.

Then three weeks later on 24 September, he strangled David Thomas at his apartment and then dismembered him. No remains were ever found.

In 1991, Dahmer began the most prolific part of his killing spree, taking the lives of eight men before his eventual capture.

On 18 February, he lured 17-year-old Curtis Straughter to his apartment where he drugged and strangled him. Dahmer kept his skull, hands and genitals. Errol Lindsey was killed on 7 April after Dahmer drilled into his skull.

The following month, he took the lives of Tony Hughes on 24 May and 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone on 27 May. The youth had managed to escape the apartment and alerted police but Dahmer convinced officers they were lovers.

Dahmer met Matt Turner on 30 June at the Chicago Pride Parade, brought him back to his apartment, and drugged and strangled him. The following month he murdered Jeremiah Weinberger on 5 July after drilling into his skull. Then he killed Oliver Lacy on 15 July by drugging and strangling him.

And finally, on 19 July, Dahmer he killed father-of-three Joseph Bradehoft.

When was Jeffrey Dahmer captured?

Dahmer was finally captured by police after he invited Tracy Edwards back to his apartment on 22 July 1991. Dahmer had handcuffed the 32-year-old but he managed to escape and raise the alarm with two police officers patrolling the street.

The officers went to the apartment, where Dahmer was arrested. He was convicted of 15 of the 16 murders he had committed in Wisconsin and sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment. He was later sentenced to a sixteenth term for the murder he committed in Ohio.

How old was Jeffrey Dahmer when he died?

He was beaten to death by a fellow inmate at Columbia Correctional institution in Wisconsin on 28 November, 1994.

He was born on 21 May, 1960, meaning he was 34 when he died.

After he was imprisoned at Columbia Correctional institution in Wisconsin, Dahmer was originally placed in solitary confinement for his own safety.

After his initial year in solitary, he was moved by his own consent to a less secure unit.

He became a born-again Christian while inside, and in May 1994 was baptised and had weekly meetings with a minister.

On 3 July, 1994, fellow inmate Osvaldo Durruthy tried to slash Dahmer’s throat using a razor blade embedded in a toothbrush during a weekly chapel service. The attempt was unsuccessful and Dahmer received only superficial wounds.

However, on 28 November the same year Dahmer had left his cell to carry out his two-hour daily task of cleaning the toilet block. He was accompanied by fellow inmates Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver.

After being left supervised in the shower block of the prison gym, Dahmer was found on the floor with severe head wounds shortly after 8am. He appeared to have been bludgeoned with a metal bar.

He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later. Anderson had also been beaten with the bar and died from his injuries two days later.

In September 1995, Dahmer’s body was cremated and his ashes handed to his parents.

What happened to his killer Christopher Scarver?

Scarver was already serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of Steven Lohman, a worker at Wisconsin Conservation Corp. He is reported to have shot him three times after asking for money and being given $15.

He admitted he first attacked Dahmer and then Anderson while they were on cleaning duty. Dahmer was said to have remained silent during the attack, according to Scarver.

After returning to his cell, Scarver told a prison guard: “God told me to do it. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer are dead.”

He claimed he had not planned the murders, though he later said he had concealed the 20-inch iron bar in his clothing before the attacks.

Scarver was sentenced to two additional terms of life imprisonment for the murders of Dahmer and Anderson on 15 May, 1995. He remains behind bars at Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado.

Scarver claimed Dahmer would taunt other inmates, use ketchup to mimic blood, and mould his food into the shape of body parts, it has been reported.

Scarver told the New York Post: “He crossed the line with some people – prisoners, prison staff. Some people who are in prison are repentant – but Dahmer was not one of them.” He has since refuted some parts of the article in a blog post.