Serial Killer Casefiles : Jeffrey Dahmer

Known as the Milwaukee Monster and the Milwaukee Cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the most well-known and prolific serial killers in history. Dahmer terrorized the Wisconsin city for thirteen years murdering seventeen known victims from 1978 until his capture in 1991. The name Jeffrey Dahmer is synonymous with the phrase serial killer and stands out due to his victim profile, M.O., and the excessively violent and bloody nature of his crimes. The homosexual Dahmer was different in...
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Known as the Milwaukee Monster and the Milwaukee Cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the most well-known and prolific serial killers in history. Dahmer terrorized the Wisconsin city for thirteen years murdering seventeen known victims from 1978 until his capture in 1991. The name Jeffrey Dahmer is synonymous with the phrase serial killer and stands out due to his victim profile, M.O., and the excessively violent and bloody nature of his crimes. The homosexual Dahmer was different in the sense that all of his victims were men compared to the vast majority of male serial killers who tend to be heterosexual with female victims. Dahmer is also different as he showed some remorse for his crimes after his apprehension. Still, Jeffrey Dahmer is considered a real-life boogey man; a monster with the labels or rapist, cannibal, murderer, and necrophile. Over twenty years after his own murder in prison, the grisly story of Dahmer still equally fascinates and sickens those brave enough to look inside it. There is no doubt that Jeffrey Dahmer committed some of the most gruesome, violent, and horrific murders of all time but although Dahmer is put into the same category as similar infamous killers such as Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, his show of remorse and overall non-threatening personality and lack of outward charm make Dahmer different. These aspects of his personality and his shy nature counteract the often true stereotype of the charming and manipulative psychopathic serial killer. Dahmer's selective victim profile also set him apart from other prominent killers as does his sexuality, but those aspects didn't make him any less terrifying, especially to those in the marginalized population that Dahmer was preying on. Had Dahmer been alive in a different time where the things he struggled with: alcohol addiction, his homosexuality, and mental illness were less stigmatized; seventeen young men might still be alive today.