Q: What Did Dahmer's Father Do For A Living?

The serial killer's father, Lionel Dahmer , spent much of his son's childhood pursuing his doctorate, which meant that he was often busy and away from home. He later established a career as a research chemist.

Q: Did Dahmer Kill His Brother, David?

No, Jeffrey Dahmer did not kill his brother, David Dahmer . But the two siblings did have a very complicated relationship. More than six years younger than Jeffrey, David was often the subject of his brother's jealousy and resentment. Jeffrey allegedly felt that his brother had "stolen away" some of his parents' love and affection. And unlike their father, David wanted nothing to do with the Dahmer name once Jeffrey's crimes came to light. After graduating from college, he changed his name. Since then, he's avoided the spotlight.

Question 1

Who Is Jeffrey Dahmer?

Accepted Answer

Born on May 21, 1960, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was an American serial killer who operated between 1978 and 1991. Dubbed the "Milwaukee Monster," he murdered at least 17 boys and young men between the ages of 14 and 32, some of whom he met at nightclubs or bars. After his arrest in 1991, Dahmer was found guilty of multiple murders and sentenced to life in prison. However, he was killed by a fellow inmate in 1994. After graduating high school there and serving in a number of locations during a brief stint in the military, Dahmer lived with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin. He committed many of his crimes in her home and at various locations around Milwaukee, where he prowled for victims. After getting out of prison in 1990, he moved into his own apartment at 924 North 25th Street in Milwaukee, where he perpetrated one of his worst crimes and where he was finally arrested in 1991.

Question 2

Where Did Jeffrey Dahmer Live?

Accepted Answer

After spending their earliest years in Milwaukee, the Dahmer family moved to Doylestown, Ohio in 1966, when Jeffrey was six, then moved to nearby Bath Township shortly after.

Question 3

How Many Animals Did Dahmer Kill?

Accepted Answer

Most accounts state that Dahmer only killed one animal — a tadpole he'd given to a grade-school teacher, who then gave it to a different student. AETV reports that Dahmer was so enraged about the regifting that he went to the other child's house, poured gasoline on the tadpole, and lit it on fire. That said, Dahmer did have a fascination with animals that were already dead. AETV additionally reports that he and his father used bleach to remove hair and tissue from dead rodents they found near their house. In addition, Dahmer once impaled the carcass of a dog he found and showed his friends the grisly sight, but the animal was already dead by that point.

Question 4

What Did Dahmer's Father Do For A Living?

Accepted Answer

The serial killer's father, Lionel Dahmer, spent much of his son's childhood pursuing his doctorate, which meant that he was often busy and away from home. He later established a career as a research chemist.

Question 5

What Did Lionel Dahmer Say About His Son And His Crimes?

Accepted Answer

Lionel Dahmer supported his son, even after learning about his murders.

"We've gotten very close since his... arrest," he told Oprah Winfrey in 1994. "I still love my son. I'll always stick by him — I always have."



He wondered — like many others — why Dahmer had become a killer.

"I considered all kinds of things," Lionel explained. "Was it environmental, genetic? Was it, perhaps, medications that were taken at the time of — you know, in [his mother's] first trimester? Was it the effect of, you know, the popular subject now, media violence?"

His son's death in 1994 "gravely" impacted him, but Lionel also said that he'd never thought about changing his last name.

Question 6

What Happened To Jeffrey Dahmer's Grandmother?

Accepted Answer

Jeffrey Dahmer's grandmother, Catherine, died on December 25, 1992, at age 88. But she played an important role in her grandson's early life.

Dahmer lived at her Wisconsin home on and off in the 1980s. During that time, Dahmer dismembered one of his victims in her basement — who he'd killed elsewhere — and murdered three more beneath her feet.

Question 7

Did Dahmer Kill His Brother, David?

Accepted Answer

No, Jeffrey Dahmer did not kill his brother, David Dahmer. But the two siblings did have a very complicated relationship. More than six years younger than Jeffrey, David was often the subject of his brother's jealousy and resentment. Jeffrey allegedly felt that his brother had "stolen away" some of his parents' love and affection. And unlike their father, David wanted nothing to do with the Dahmer name once Jeffrey's crimes came to light. After graduating from college, he changed his name. Since then, he's avoided the spotlight.

Question 8

Are Jeffrey Dahmer's Parents Still Alive?

Accepted Answer

As of December 2023, both of Jeffrey Dahmer's parents are deceased. Lionel Dahmer died that month of a heart attack at age 87 in a hospice in Medina, Ohio, whereas Jeffrey Dahmer's mother, Joyce Dahmer, died in 2000.

Question 9

How Did Dahmer's Mother Joyce Die?

Accepted Answer

Joyce Dahmer died of breast cancer. She was 64 years old.

Question 10

Why Did Jeffrey Dahmer Get Kicked Out Of The Army?

Accepted Answer

Military.com reports that Jeffrey Dahmer served in the U.S. Army between January 1979 and March 1981, during which time he trained in Texas and was stationed as a combat medic in West Germany. Though he was considered an "average or slightly above average" soldier, Dahmer had a noticeable drinking problem that got worse as time went on. In 1981, he received an honorable discharge because his superiors decided that his drinking negatively impacted his ability to serve. While he was stationed in Europe, Dahmer also reportedly indulged in some of his violent sexual fantasies. He allegedly raped two of his fellow soldiers, Billy Joe Capshaw and Preston Davis.

Question 11

Was Jeffrey Dahmer Gay And Did He Date Anyone?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Jeffrey Dahmer was gay. Dahmer described himself as gay to a judge in 1989 (when he was found guilty of sexual assault and enticing a child for immoral purposes). Dahmer and his mother also had conversations about his "gayness." In addition, he told a probation officer in 1991 that he'd "admitted to [him]self he is gay."

That said, it doesn't appear that Dahmer ever had a serious relationship. Indeed, he expressed loneliness as one of his motivations to kill.

Question 12

Who Was Dahmer's First Victim?

Accepted Answer

In June 1978, Dahmer murdered his first victim, 18-year-old Steven Hicks. He picked up Hicks while the teen was hitchhiking to a rock concert, and took him back to the Dahmer family home in Bath Township, Ohio. But when Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer beat him with a barbell and strangled him. He later said that Hicks' murder "was not planned," though he admitted that he'd had fantasies of picking up a hitchhiker and "controlling" him.

Question 13

How Many People Did Jeffrey Dahmer Kill?

Accepted Answer

Steven Hicks was the first, but far from the last, of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims. Dahmer would kill 16 more, bringing his total victim count up to 17. The youngest, Konerak Sinthasomphone, was just 14 years old.

Question 14

Where Did Dahmer Kill His Victims?

Accepted Answer

Aside from Steven Hicks, who Dahmer killed in Ohio, most of the serial killer's victims were murdered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dahmer killed 12 of his 17 victims at his apartment at 924 North 25th Street in Milwaukee.

Question 15

Why Did Jeffrey Dahmer Kill Only Black Men?

Accepted Answer

Jeffrey Dahmer did not kill only Black men, though many of his victims were racial and ethnic minorities. Eleven of Dahmer's victims were Black, and others were white, Indigenous, Asian, and Latino. One opinion piece in The Washington Post argues that Dahmer was able to get away with his gruesome crimes for so long because of his tendency to prey on men and boys in minority communities.

Question 16

Did Jeffrey Dahmer Kill A Deaf Man?

Accepted Answer

Yes, he did kill a deaf man, and his name was Tony Hughes. Dahmer met the 31-year-old at a Milwaukee gay bar and invited him back to his apartment. There, Dahmer drugged and strangled him.

Question 17

Did Dahmer Kill Any Female Victims?

Accepted Answer

No. All of Jeffrey Dahmer's known victims were male.

Question 18

Did Jeffrey Dahmer Eat People — And Why?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Jeffrey Dahmer was a cannibal who ate some of his victims. Why? He later told Inside Edition that his habit of eating victims started in 1990. "I was branching out, that's when the cannibalism started," Dahmer explained. "The eating of the heart and the arm muscle. It was a way of making me feel that [my victims] were a part of me." He added: "I had these obsessive desires and thoughts about wanting to control them, to, I don't know how to put it, possess them permanently. Not because I was angry with them, not because I hated them, but because I wanted to keep them with me. As my obsession grew, I was saving body parts such as skulls and skeletons."

Question 19

How Many People Did Dahmer Eat?

Accepted Answer

It's unknown exactly how many victims Dahmer cannibalized.

Question 20

How Was Jeffrey Dahmer Finally Caught?

Accepted Answer

Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested on July 22, 1991, after his would-be victim Tracy Edwards managed to escape from his apartment and flag down the police. Edwards explained that he'd agreed to pose nude for Dahmer for money, but Dahmer had handcuffed him and threatened him with a knife instead. "Dahmer told me that he would kill me," Edwards later said of the harrowing encounter, according to PEOPLE. "He was listening to my heart because at a point, he told me he was going to eat my heart."

Question 21

When Did Jeffrey Dahmer Go To Prison And How Old Was He?

Accepted Answer

Jeffrey Dahmer went to prison after his arrest in 1991. He was 31 years old.

Question 22

Did Dahmer Get The Death Sentence?

Accepted Answer

No, the serial killer did not get the death sentence, because it's not available in Wisconsin. After being convicted of multiple homicides, he was handed 15 life sentences, ensuring he'd never see the light of day again.

Question 23

Is Jeffrey Dahmer Still Alive?

Accepted Answer

No. Jeffrey Dahmer died on November 28, 1994, during his imprisonment at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.

Question 24

How Did Dahmer Die?

Accepted Answer

Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death near a locker room in the prison by a fellow inmate, who used a 20-inch metal bar as the murder weapon.

Question 25

Who Killed Jeffrey Dahmer And Why?

Accepted Answer

Jeffrey Dahmer was killed by a fellow prisoner named Christopher Scarver. Scarver claimed that Dahmer would taunt the other prisoners by using ketchup to recreate severed limbs with his food. In Scarver's telling, things came to a head when they were both assigned to clean a prison gymnasium. Near a locker room, Scarver confronted Dahmer about his crimes. "I asked him if he did those things 'cause I was fiercely disgusted," Scarver later claimed. "He was shocked. Yes, he was... He started looking for the door pretty quick. I blocked him." Scarver then fatally beat Dahmer — and another inmate named Jesse Anderson who was cleaning the gymnasium. He later said that God told him to kill Dahmer. "Some people who are in prison are repentant," he said. "[B]ut he was not one of them."

Question 26

What Happened To Jeffrey Dahmer's Glasses?

Accepted Answer

Dahmer was known for wearing glasses, so what became of them? Apparently, he'd left his last pair in his prison cell before Scarver murdered him. Dahmer's glasses were in his family's possession until a housekeeper sold them to a "murderabilia" site called Cult Collectibles.

serial killers

Who Is Jeffrey Dahmer? Inside The Crimes Of The ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’

Who Is Jeffrey Dahmer? Inside The Crimes Of The ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’

Sarra Gilbert, The Schizophrenic Woman Who Drowned Her Puppy And Stabbed Her Mom 227 Times

Sarra Gilbert, The Schizophrenic Woman Who Drowned Her Puppy And Stabbed Her Mom 227 Times

The Monstrous Crimes Of Dorothea Puente, The ‘Death House Landlady’

The Monstrous Crimes Of Dorothea Puente, The ‘Death House Landlady’

What Does Human Meat Taste Like? Stomach-Churning Anecdotes From Notorious Cannibals

What Does Human Meat Taste Like? Stomach-Churning Anecdotes From Notorious Cannibals

The Golden State Killer Case And The 40-Year Manhunt To Find Joseph DeAngelo

The Golden State Killer Case And The 40-Year Manhunt To Find Joseph DeAngelo

Mari Gilbert Refused To Let Police Ignore Her Daughter’s Disappearance — And It Led Them To A Serial Killer

Mari Gilbert Refused To Let Police Ignore Her Daughter’s Disappearance — And It Led Them To A Serial Killer

The Story Of Sharon Huddle, The Lawyer Who Was Married To The Golden State Killer

The Story Of Sharon Huddle, The Lawyer Who Was Married To The Golden State Killer

Who Was Jack The Ripper? Inside The Century-Old Mystery And The Leading Theories Today

Who Was Jack The Ripper? Inside The Century-Old Mystery And The Leading Theories Today

Inside The Theory That Jack The Ripper Was A 19th-Century Cotton Merchant Named James Maybrick

Inside The Theory That Jack The Ripper Was A 19th-Century Cotton Merchant Named James Maybrick

Who Was The Long Island Serial Killer That Terrorized New York For Nearly 30 Years?

Who Was The Long Island Serial Killer That Terrorized New York For Nearly 30 Years?