Serial murder, necrophilia, and cannibalism in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1978–1991
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer — widely known by the monikers the Milwaukee Cannibal and the Milwaukee Monster — was an American serial killer and sex offender born on May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over a period spanning thirteen years, from 1978 to 1991, Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys, committing acts that included necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism. His crimes were concentrated primarily in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, though his first murder took place in Ohio at his parents' home. Dahmer's case became one of the most extensively documented and studied in the history of American criminal justice, drawing attention not only for the extreme nature of his offenses but also for the systemic failures that allowed him to operate undetected for over a decade.
Dahmer's modus operandi followed a calculated and consistent pattern. He targeted young men from the fringes of society, luring them to his home — most frequently his Milwaukee apartment — with promises of money or sexual encounters. Once there, he would drug his victims, often lacing their drinks with alcohol or sedatives, before strangling them to death. Following the killings, Dahmer engaged in necrophilia and, in a number of later murders, practiced cannibalism. He dismembered the bodies of his victims, preserved selected body parts such as skulls, and documented his crimes through photographs.
Of his 17 confirmed murders, the majority were carried out at his Milwaukee apartment, with three additional killings taking place at his grandmother's residence in Milwaukee and his first murder committed at his parents' home in Ohio. One victim was killed at the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee. The crimes intensified significantly in the period between 1987 and 1991, during which Dahmer killed with increasing frequency.
The discovery of Dahmer's apartment in July 1991 shocked investigators and the public alike. Inside, police found preserved body parts, photographs of victims, and other evidence of the systematic and methodical nature of his crimes.
Dahmer's 17 confirmed victims were men and boys. According to research, he consistently targeted individuals from the fringes of society — a pattern that his modus operandi of luring with promises of money or sex was specifically designed to exploit. His victims spanned the period from 1978 through 1991, with the majority of the killings concentrated in the final years of his active period between 1987 and 1991. The crimes occurred across two states — Ohio and Wisconsin — though Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the primary location of his offenses.
Dahmer's criminal career came to an end on July 22, 1991, when an intended victim, Tracy Edwards, managed to escape from Dahmer's Milwaukee apartment and alert police. The subsequent police investigation uncovered overwhelming evidence of Dahmer's crimes at the scene.
His trial was held at Milwaukee County Circuit Court in Wisconsin in 1992. Dahmer was convicted of 16 counts of murder — 15 in Wisconsin and 1 in Ohio — and on February 17, 1992, he was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Despite being diagnosed with personality disorders, Dahmer was declared legally sane at trial. Wisconsin statutes governing first-degree murder formed the legal basis for the majority of his convictions, with sentencing carried out under provisions allowing for life imprisonment without parole.
Dahmer did not survive long in the prison system. On November 28, 1994, he was murdered by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver at a correctional facility in Portage, Wisconsin, bringing his life to an end at the age of 34.
The Jeffrey Dahmer case has generated a substantial body of media coverage across multiple formats in the decades since his arrest and conviction.
In the documentary space, Netflix released **Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes** in 2024, directed by Joe Berlinger. The three-part series draws on newly unearthed recorded interviews with Dahmer's legal team and examines the case through the lens of race, sexuality, class, and policing. An earlier documentary, **The Jeffrey Dahmer Files** (also known as "Jeff"), was directed by Chris James Thompson and released theatrically by IFC Films on February 15, 2013. Running 1 hour and 16 minutes, the film focuses on the summer of Dahmer's arrest and features interviews with medical examiner Jeffrey Jentzen, detective Pat Kennedy, and neighbor Pamela Bass. It is available on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, AMC+, and Google Play. Additional documentaries include **Raising Jeffrey Dahmer** and **The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer**.
In the realm of books and graphic literature, **My Friend Dahmer** — an acclaimed graphic novel by John Backderf — offered a firsthand account of knowing Dahmer before his crimes and was subsequently adapted into a feature film.
Feature films about Dahmer include **My Friend Dahmer**, **Dahmer vs. Gacy**, and a film simply titled **Dahmer**.