The Cannibal Who Collected Skulls The Chilling Case of Jeffrey Dahmer, Traumatized Child Turned Serial Killer

By Davis Truman

Jeffrey Dahmer was a notorious American serial killer who murdered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 21, 1960, and committed his first murder at 18. Dahmer was known for his shocking crimes, including cannibalism, necrophilia, and preserving body parts as souvenirs. He was arrested in 1991 after one of his intended victims managed to escape and alert the police. Dahmer was eventually sentenced to multiple terms of life in prison, where he was murdered by a fellow inmate in 1994. Despite the heinous nature of his crimes, Dahmer remains a topic of fascination for many due to the sheer brutality of his actions and the unanswered questions surrounding his motivations and mental state.

In this book, you will read about Jeffrey Dahmer's life, murders, and psychosocial factors that contributed to the development of his criminal behavior:

• Childhood trauma
• Mental illness
• Substance abuse
• Social isolation
• Sexual issues

It's important to remember that these factors are not excuses for Dahmer's actions but rather possible contributing factors to his criminal behavior.

• Language: English
• Publisher: vincenzo nappi
• Release date: Feb 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215065174

Book preview

The Youth

LIONEL AND JOYCE WERE married on August 22, 1959, in Milwaukee, and they began by living in an apartment on the ground floor of Mrs. Dahmer's mother's home in the lovely suburb of West Allis, just outside of town. Jeffrey Lionel, the couple's first child, was born on May 21, 1960, at Evangelical Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee. Lionel, the father, was still a student at the time, and he graduated from Marquette University in 1962 with a degree in electrical engineering. Jeffrey's brother David was born in 1966. Lionel and Joyce began to plan for the future, looking for a larger home in a more pleasant neighborhood to raise their children. They didn't have to look far in the lovely countryside surrounding Bath. However, it is never easy for a child to adjust to a new community. It was especially difficult for Jeffrey, who turned eight on May 21, just four days after purchasing the house in Bath. He was lonely and had no friends. He'd spent his first two years of high school in Doylestown, and his few friends were far away. His younger brother was diminutive. Because it was summer, there was no school, and the children were on vacation. Jeffrey was alone.

Jeffrey was eight years old when he was sexually assaulted by a neighborhood boy. For insiders, the assault of a child is a red flag, a possible source of adult life disorders. Finally, back to school arrived, and Jeffrey had the opportunity to meet with children his own age. A young boy, who made the same trip every morning on the yellow bus, remembered Jeffrey as a funny but rather strange friend. Despite being tall for his age, Jeff never played rough. He didn't bully his younger friends, but at the same time, if one of them got hurt, his first reaction was to laugh, not to help. Even as a boy, he kept his distance from others. He was fascinated by the mystical nature of things, especially how they live and die.

While classmates had difficulty relating to him, adults liked Jeffrey. He was polite, tidy, eager to please, and had a gentle, shy smile when praised. Georgia Scharenberg, a neighbor, recalled Jeff as a sweet boy who, when not at school, spent his time running in the woods, climbing rocks and trees. He had few playmates, she said. "Jeff was mainly with his brother, not with other kids. Other adults agree that his education and good manners stood out about Jeff as a child.

By the time he entered high school, the deep loneliness that would haunt his life was already overwhelming and distinguished this tall, thin, blond boy with large round glasses. Mrs. Scharenberg, a cashier in the high school cafeteria, said he would exchange a few words with Jeffrey when he passed by and went to the cashier's desk and then took his tray to sit with other students, but when he left, he was always alone. Breaking with his habits, Jeffrey tried to connect with people. While continuing to attend school, he found work selling plants for a local nursery worker. He had rushed to the Scharenbergs with a catalog and, brimming with enthusiasm, convinced them to buy two apple trees and a forsythia that would bloom in the spring.

By the time Jeffrey left high school, he had apparently made an important discovery: he had tasted alcohol for the first time and found relief. For a guy prone to depression, it all seemed a bit rosy after a few sips of gin, which he hid. Life then got easier. At fourteen, Jeffrey Dahmer was already on the dark slope of alcoholism. As most teenagers do, he didn't occasionally drink on the sly. He got drunk. There was something else going on in his life in the woods behind the brown house, something Jeffrey himself was not supposed to understand. When he was about ten years old, he began experimenting with things that had once been alive: bleaching chicken bones, sticking insects into jars of formaldehyde, and decapitating small rodents. It was an exciting hobby for him, but one that would leave its mark and grow with him. Searching and groping, he learned to use acid to unhinge dead animals' bones. It became almost second nature. Finding animal bones among dead leaves or vines in the forest behind West Bath Road was not uncommon. In 1975, while Jeffrey was still in high school, three local teenagers walking in the woods discovered the carcass of a dog behind the Dahmer house. The head had been cut off, and the gutted body was hanging from a tree behind a cross of dead branches. These young people would say that they thought it was a demonic cult years later, but they had no idea who might have done it.

When he asked Bridget Geiger, 16, to go out with him for his senior prom, she did not hesitate; she knew that while he was a fool with friends, he was rather shy with girls. He had promised not to drink or create accidents all evening, but he did not feel comfortable being a polite chaperone to a pretty girl in a prom dress. Instead of