The Dahmer Book
Page 3
Jeff's entry physical data was height 71½ inches with a weight of 200 pounds.
Upon his successful completion of the MEPS processing, Jeff was enlisted to be a military police officer (95B) to attend basic training and his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Ft. McClellan, Alabama.
TRAINING
On January 12, 1979, Jeff was transferred to Ft. McClellan, Alabama, for basic training.
It seemed to go well for Jeff in basic training and he successfully completed the eight weeks on March 1, 1979. Jeff earned a Marksman Qualification badge for his shooting score with the M16 on February 1, 1979, a Sharpshooter Qualification Badge for his score with the hand grenade on February 16, 1979, and Marksman Qualification Badge for the .45 caliber handgun on March 3, 1979. Jeff received additional training regarding Military Justice on January 23, 1979; the Geneva-Hague Convention on January 24, 1979; Benefits of an Honorable Discharge on January 25, 1979; and Race Relations training on Thursday, January 26, 1979.
As well as his basic training went, his Advanced Individual Training as a Military Police Officer did not fare so well. AIT as an MP is where his troubles in the military first began.
While at Ft. McClellan, Jeff got beat up by several other members of his unit because he caused them to have extra physical training because of his excessive alcohol problem. That was not the only time such an occurrence took place.
Enlistment Form
Enlistment Form
On another day, the entire unit was disciplined because of one of Jeff's infractions and two very large soldiers took Jeff to the men's bathroom and beat him until he was bloody. By the time they finished Jeff's beating, he had received a concussion and his left eardrum was ruptured. Because of the severity of his injuries, Jeff was transferred to Ft. Benning for three days to receive medical treatment and then he was returned to Ft. McClellan.
Jeff ultimately washed out of the MP school and, because of his high Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test (GT Score of 120 and ST Score of 113), he was then transferred to the Academy of Health Sciences at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, for the six-week training program as a Medical Specialist (91B).
Ft. Sam was a laid-back military post with open gates that anyone could enter and leave as they desired. Some said it was the country club of the military.
I was there as well during this time and was training as a Medical Specialist, but was to continue my medical training to include the advanced Clinical Specialist (91C) course.
The barracks and training for both the Medical and advanced Clinical Specialist students were in an area at Ft. Sam frequently called “down the hill” as the quads were situated in a low-lying area of the fort and close to Salado Creek.
On top of the “hill” were the barracks and classes for other medical specialties such as laboratory, x-ray, nutrition, operating room specialist, veterinary, and other adjunct medical services. Between the top of the hill and down the hill was the NCO club.
While at Ft. Sam, Jeff would go to the NCO club and have beer with some of the other students, Jeff was quiet, but nice, mannerly, and friendly.
The Medical Specialist course was a basic course in emergency medicine and consisted of such topics as splinting, wound bandaging, and similar topics.
There have been some who have said that Jeff was able to perform the dissecting and dismemberment because of what he learned during his medical training in the Army. This is not true, his military medical course did not teach this. I was there and took the same course.
TRANSFER TO GERMANY
Jeff successfully completed his medical training and was then transferred to Baumholder, Germany, to the 286th Armor Division, 2nd Battalion, 68th Armor as a Medical Specialist on July 13, 1979.
United States Army Garrison in Baumholder is known as "the rock." It is located in an area centrally located among France, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Luxembourg, and the Bavarian Alps and within a close travel by road to each.
If Jeff thought he had problems in MP school, he was about to have far bigger problems, all brought by his own hands.
He continued to drink and drink excessively. His drinking and antics set him on a direct course with military justice.
Jeff was housed in the 8400 Harold D. Smith Headquarters Building. There were approximately fifty rooms, three of which were reserved for medics. Out of the twenty-one medics assigned, only nine lived there.
In the early days at Baumholder, Jeff was a loner. At the week's end on Fridays, Jeff would shutout from the rest of the world, listen to his music, drink until he passed out, wake up, and start all over again. He would often don his headphones plugged into an older eight-track player and listen to Black Sabbath and drink. (On his walls were posters of hard rock bands.) He often missed meals in preference to drink.
Jeff's area was simple in appointment. He slept on a bottom bunk and had a dormitory style refrigerator that he bought from another soldier who was leaving to return to the United States. The mini-refrigerator, close to his bunk, was where he kept ice for his mixed drinks.
His locker consisted of minimal clothing. In his locker was four sets of Army fatigues, civilian clothing consisting of a blue plaid shirt, pair of blue jeans, paid of brown corduroy pants, a grey light-weight zip-up cool weather shirt, a blue bath robe, belt and pair of shoes. Also in his locker were several issues of Rolling Stone magazine.
After Jeff loosened up a bit, he and some of the other medics would often mix martinis in the room with the mixer, stirrers, and glasses they kept hidden in a black briefcase.
Unfortunately, for them, the fruits of having a portable bar in the barrack was short-lived as the briefcase was discovered and confiscated as possession of hard liquor in the barracks was prohibited.
Originally, Jeff was assigned to room 103, but because no one liked him, he was transferred to room 104.
According to his new roommate – a reflection after Jeff's murders and carnage - “I could see how he'd lure them in, he was a likable guy, except when he was drinking.”
Perhaps likable, but Jeff had a stubborn streak and was often defiant. On one such occasion, Jeff was asked to take out the trash to which Jeff responded, “Go to hell!”
Jeff's roommate was also the supervisor over the medic's military vehicles and when Jeff was sent to the motor pool, his roommate would show him what he needed to do. Jeff's reply was to offer up a cold stare and crawl in a military vehicle and go to sleep.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT
One of Jeff's first assignments at Baunholder was to go on a two and one-half week field training exercise (FTX) to be held along the Belgium border. In preparation for the field exercises, Jeff and a fellow soldier went to the Baumholder train station. It was here where he was to be shown how to load an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) onto a train car and how to unload it once they arrived at the FTX location.
According to Jeff's fellow soldiers, he was sober the entire time at the field training exercise. Jeff was promoted to Private (PV-2) on October 1, 1979.
JEFF THE VIRGIN
Around the end of October 1979, it was discovered by Jeff's fellow soldiers that he was a virgin and had never even kissed a girl. Intent on remedying that situation, several of the soldiers took him to Annabella's Haus. Annabella's was a four-story brothel located in the Vogelweh section of Kaiserslautern (usually referred to as K-Town).
They introduced Jeff to one of the ladies and left him alone with her to do what needed to be done. Little did they know, Jeff did not stay. When they all returned to the barracks, they learned that, indeed, nothing had taken place and Jeff was still a virgin and remained un-kissed by a woman.
According to some of the soldiers, Jeff was caught several times masturbating in the shower.
Jeff was in the NCO club drinking and an NCO approached him saying that he had his own apartment and that there was a party going on there and invited Jeff to come with him to the party. Jeff went with him to his apartment but when he arr
ived, there was no party.
Once inside the apartment the NCO lit a bowl of hash and drank some beer before heading to the shower.
After the shower, the NCO attempts to get Jeff to go to bed with him and Jeff refused and left the apartment staggering.
THANKSGIVING 1979
On November 22, 1979, Jeff and a fellow soldier were invited to another soldier's home to celebrate Thanksgiving. While there, it began to snow and snow heavily. Jeff would later describe it as an almost blizzard. Because of the immense amount of snow, Jeff and his fellow solider were invited to stay the night instead of trying to make it back to the barracks in such deplorable conditions.
Jeff, not liking the sleeping arrangements made it very clear he was not staying and would walk back to the barracks and left the residence. (Accounts of this story as told by those who were there, say that Jeff left, but in his confession, Jeff states that he did not “remember” leaving the residence.)
Because of the storm's severity, a couple of those at the festivities left the house and attempted to find him but, after about thirty minutes in near blizzard conditions, they ceased their search and returned to the house.
Four hours later, there was a knock at the door and it was Jeff standing in the bitter cold. He was confused and was missing his eyeglasses with blood on his clothing.
After that incident, things returned to normal – as normal as possible with Jeff.
DINNER INVITATION
Spring arrived and Jeff, in mid-March of 1980, went to K-Town having been invited, along with another medic, to dinner by one of the other soldiers. They got into the 1971 Volkswagen Squareback and began the one-hour trek to Kaiserslautern and to the meal at hand.
It was after the meal when the other guest mentioned that he did not have money for the meal. Jeff also chimed in and said that, he too, did not have money to pay for his meal.
The tab was paid for by the soldier who invited them to dinner.
After dinner was paid, the group went back to Annabella's but without Jeff who refused to go inside. Jeff split with them and went to a bar instead, while they spent what money they had to pay for thirty minutes worth of services.
They went to the bar to retrieve Jeff and they returned to the barracks.
JEFF DISAPPEARS
Jeff sometimes would leave the post by himself and be gone for extended lengths of time.
In October of 1980 Jeff took the rail to attend Oktoberfest in Munich and in November 22, 1980, and did not return until November 29, 1980. It was reported that, when he did return, he had blood on his clothing. (There is some speculation that Jeff is responsible for several unsolved homicides in close proximity to the post during the time he was stationed there. Of particular interest were the homicides of Ericka Handschuk from Heidelberg who was hitchhiking to go to her boyfriend's home but never arrived.) No arrest was made and there was no hard evidence to support this. Some claim that these homicides in Germany were not properly investigated by German officials. His committing these homicides could, however, explain the claims that he had blood on him upon returning from his blizzard jaunt at Thanksgiving and upon his return after being gone several days in November of 1980.
Jeff had his share of troubles in Germany. Jeff was reprimanded on August 8, 1980, for going through a refrigerator looking for food. On August 11, 1980, he a disciplined for being picked up by the military police for being drunk and disorderly on August 2, 1980. He was also reprimanded on September 2, 1980, for having his stereo too loud in the barracks on August 30, 1980. Another disciplinary action was taken against Jeff on December 22, 1980, for being drunk and disorderly the weekend prior. On December 23, 1980, Jeff failed to perform a duty assigned to him and was also intoxicated. He was disciplined on March 7, 1981, Jeff came to formation in an improper uniform and was immediately send back to change into the proper uniform. Jeff never returned. An additional incident occurred on March 9, 1981, Jeff was given a direct order to which he refused to comply. Additionally, on March 9, 1981, Jeff was drinking on duty and due to the other incidents, the commander decided to revoke Jeff's access to classified material and was referred for discharge from the Army.
Jeff was deemed unsuitable for military service and on March 24, 1981, Jeff was transferred to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, for debriefing and was honorably discharged from the United States Army on March 26, 1981. During his out-processing, Jeff was assigned a personal escort as he was forbidden from handling his own military records.
An interesting note is that after Jeff was discharged, and considering all of the problems he had during his time in the Army, he stated that he enjoyed the structure of the Army. Jeff also attributed the fact that he was constantly surrounded by other soldiers as the reason he did not, according to his statement, commit any murders.
Record of Informal Counseling
Record of Informal Counseling
Article 15
Article 15
FLORIDA
“I don't even know if I have the capacity for
normal emotions.”
Jeff Dahmer
After arrival at Ft. Jackson, the United States Army told Jeff they would give him a travel voucher to anywhere in the United States he wished to go. Citing he was tired of the cold weather, that he did not want his dad knowing he had been kicked out of the Army, and that he wished to live by his own means, he told them he wanted to go to Florida. Jeff was given an airline ticket to Miami Beach, Florida.
Jeff arrived with pretty much nothing except the clothes on his back, approximately $850 in cash, and a suitcase that had papers from the military. He left his Army fatigues in Germany, having said he never wanted to wear green again. Jeff rented a room at a hotel with the money he had left over from the Army. The first week in Miami Beach, Jeff bought a bottle of Grasshopper Liquor and became very sick forcing him to call the hotel doctor who came to help Jeff. It was a short time and Jeff found himself out of money and kicked out of the hotel, homeless.
Now living on the beach (Jeff lived on the beach for approximately two months) and rummaging through dumpsters for food, Jeff was doing just that behind the RK Village Plaza at 18,090 Collins Avenue in the Sunny Isles Beach area when a gentleman by the name of Kenneth “Ken” Haupert, Sr. was taking out the trash from his business, Sunshine Subs, and observed Jeff collecting slices of pizza from the dumpster. Feeling sorry for Jeff, he approached him and asked if he was hungry, to which Jeff replied in the affirmative. Ken invited Jeff into the sub sandwich shop and fed him a sandwich. A few days later, Ken observed Jeff digging through the dumpster again, looking for food. Ken approached Jeff again and asked him if he needed a job. He hired Jeff to be busboy and to do various other duties such as mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and do some food preparation at Sunshine Subs. Hired to work five days a week, afternoon to evening, Jeff was not the model employee and was often sent home early or, sometimes, Jeff would just not show up for work.
Location of Sunshine Subs in Miami Beach, Florida
(Map Provided Compliments of OpenStreetMap)
There were a couple of other incidents while he was sleeping on the beach.
One such incident. Jeff was mugged and the criminal took $100 from him and the other, Jeff was almost stabbed because some of the other homeless individuals did not recognize him when he returned to sleep.
Ken advanced Jeff $400 to get a motel room so he wouldn't have to sleep on the beach. Being paid on Fridays, cash, Ken took out a payment for $400 that he loaned Jeff as a deposit for his room at Bimini Bay Motel, and took out a payment for eyeglasses Jeff needed.
Jeff worked there from April until September earning what he could at the restaurant but he was also collecting unemployment compensation out of the Miami Unemployment Compensation Office.
[Bimini Bay Motel was on Collins Avenue, three-quarters of a mile from his work at Sunshine Subs and meant Jeff could walk to work. Bimini Bay Motel was a single-story structure, typical of the motel construction of the 1
950s with white painted rocks separating the grass from the asphalt to the hotel office.]
Not having to work weekends Jeff would frequently come to work on Mondays dirty and, because of his slovenly appearance, would be sent home.
Even though Jeff's time in Florida was spent making ends meet financially, he did have an account at the bank next to Sunshine Subs.
Unlike most of Jeff's life so far, he did make a friend with an English lady who also worked at Sunshine Subs and was already working there when Jeff started. She was in her late 20s, long curly and thick black hair, and was in the United States from England illegally without a Green Card. She was always worried about being caught by immigration officials.
Jeff and the lady did go out to dinner occasionally and would walk along the beach at times, but Jeff was never interested in her for anything other than a friend even though she would frequently mention to him that she would like to marry in order for her to obtain her naturalized citizenship. [When Jeff moved back home, she attempted to contact him, but he ignored her contacts.]
The English lady had a boyfriend whom she left in the United Kingdom, but he had come to the United States trying to win her back and, in doing so, also became friends with Jeff. Occasionally, the three of them would go out for drinks. The relationship reconciliation between the English lady and her ex-boyfriend did not go well.
Because he did not have a car, he used public transportation. On one occasion, Jeff took a trip to the Omni Mall in downtown Miami and recounted walking by a jewelry store that had a $250,000 broach displayed. He was amazed at such a piece of jewelry, stating they didn't have anything like that back home. A few times Jeff would frequent a bar in the area but said he did not have any homosexual experiences while in Florida and did not commit any murders.