Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer, born on May 21, 1960. Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer took the lives of 17 males in horrific ways. Rape, cannibalism, necrophilia, and dismemberment were all accomplices to his murders.

Childhood

Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960, to parents Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. Others described him as happy and energetic up until the age of 4, when a surgery he had seemed to change him. He became withdrawn following the birth of his younger brother, David Dahmer. By his early teens, he had become disengaged from things, and quite frankly was friendless. He claims his obsessions towards necrophilia and murder began around the age of 14, but it seems that the breakdown of his parents marriage and their divorce a few years later may have had a big effect on the young boy. He would have sexual fantasies of control, power, complete dominance. They became a regular thing for Dahmer. He found excitement, fear, and pleasure all mixed together in these fantasies.

Killings

Dahmer murdered 17 men between 1978 and 1991. He would select victims who were seen as borderline criminal, making their disappearances less noticeable and reducing the likeliness of his capture. He would lure them home with promises of money or sex, and would then proceed to strangle them to death. He would engage in necrophilia and would keep their body parts and photos he had taken of them as souvenirs. He would attempt to keep the person alive by injecting acid into their brains to induce them in a zombie-like state. It never worked.

Trial

Dahmer's killing spree ended when he was arrested on July 22, 1991. His trial began in January of 1992. At first, Dahmer pleaded not guilty, despite confessing to the killings during police interrogation. He eventually changed his plea to guilty by virtue of insanity. The jury believed that Dahmer was fully aware that his acts were evil, but chose to commit them anyway. On Feburary 15, 1992, he was found guilty, but sane, on all counts. He was then sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison, with a 16th term counted in May.