Jeff entered his plea of guilty on January 13, 1992, and the insanity trial began on January 30, 1992, under Judge Laurence Gram.
During the trial, Jeff was kept protected behind an eight foot bulletproof glass barrier with a cost of $15,000 and the cost of security for Jeff's trial was one of the highest, a the time, for any court case.
On February 14, 1992, closing arguments were made by the defense and prosecution with defense presenting first and prosecution following, each having two hours to present their close.
The following day, after just ten hours of deliberation, on February 15, 1992, the jury returned their verdict of sane and not suffering from mental disorders. Two of the jurors abstained on all counts.
[NOTE: Jeff was not charged with the death of Tuomi because here was no physical evidence available and the murder could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.]
Two days later, on February 17, 1992, and requesting no leniency from the court, Jeff was sentenced to life plus ten years on the first two counts and then life plus seventy years on the remaining thirteen counts. The death penalty was not an option as Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853. It was during his insanity hearing that Jeff read a four page typewritten, prepared statement. The victim's families were allowed to address Jeff and some of those who chose to address Jeff became very vocal during their comments.
JEFF'S STATEMENT TO THE COURT
Your Honor,
It is over now. This has never been a case of trying to get free. I didn’t ever want freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself. This was a case to tell the world that I did what I did, but not for reasons of hate. I hated no one. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness, and now I have some peace.
I know how much harm I have caused. I tried to do the best I could after the arrest to make amends, but no matter what I did I could not undo the terrible harm I have caused. My attempt to help identify the remains was the best I could do, and that was hardly anything. I feel so bad for what I did to those poor families, and I understand their rightful hate. I now know I will be in prison for the rest of my life. I know that I will have to turn to God to help me get through each day. I should have stayed with God. I tried and failed and created a holocaust. Thank God there will be no more harm that I can do. I believe that only the Lord Jesus Christ can save me from my sins.
I have instructed Mr. Boyle to end this matter. I do not want to contest the civil cases. I have told Mr. Boyle to try and finalize them if he can. If there is ever money I want it to go to the families. I have talked to Mr. Boyle about other things that might help ease my conscience in some way of coming up with ideas on how to make some amends to these families, and I will work with him on that. I want to return to Ohio and quickly end that matter so that I can put all of this behind me and then come right back here to do my sentence.
I decided to go through this trial for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was to let the world know these were not hate crimes. I wanted the world and Milwaukee, which I deeply hurt, to know the truth of what I did. I didn’t want unanswered questions. All the questions have now been answered. I wanted to find out just what it was that caused me to be so bad and evil. But most of all, Mr. Boyle and I decided that maybe there was a way for us to tell the world that if there are people out there with these disorders, maybe they can get help before they end up being hurt or hurting someone. I think the trial did that.
The judge in my earlier case tried to help me, and I refused his help, and he got hurt by what I did. I hurt those policemen in the Konerak matter, and I shall ever regret causing them to lose their jobs, and I only hope and pray they can get their jobs back because I know they did their best, and I just plain fooled them. For that I am sorry. I know I hurt my probation officer, who was really trying to help me. I am so sorry for that and sorry for everyone else I have hurt. I have hurt my mother, and father, and stepmother. I love them all so very much. I hope that they will find the same peace I am looking for.
Mr. Boyle’s associates, Wendy and Ellen, have been wonderful to me, helping me through this worst of all times. I want to publicly thank Mr. Boyle. He didn’t need to take this case. But when I asked him to help me find the answers and help others if I could, he stayed with me and went overboard in trying to help me. Mr. Boyle and I agreed that it was never a matter of trying to get off. It was only a matter of which place I would be housed the rest of my life, not for comfort, but for trying to study me in hopes of helping me and learning to help others who might have problems. I know I will be in prison. I pledge to talk to doctors who might be able to find the answers.
In closing, I just want to say that I hope God has forgiven me. I think He has. I know society will never be able to forgive me. I know the families of the victims will never be able to forgive me for what I have done. But if there is a God in heaven, I promise I will pray each day to ask them for forgiveness when the hurt goes away, if ever. I have seen their tears, and if I could give up my life right now to bring back their loved ones, I would do it. I am so very sorry.
Your honor, I know you are about to sentence me. I ask for no consideration. I want you to know that I have been treated perfectly by the deputies who work for the jail. The deputies have treated me professionally and I want everyone to know that. They have not given me special treatment.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” -1 Timothy 1:15-17
I know my time in prison will be terrible, but I deserve whatever I get because of what I have done. Thank you your honor, and I am prepared for your sentence, which I know will be the maximum. I ask for no consideration.
After the sentencing, Jeff's dad, Lionel, and his stepmother, Shari, requested that they be allowed ten minutes with their son and that request was granted by the judge prior to his transfer to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage.
PRISON
“I couldn't find any meaning for my life when I was out there, I'm sure as hell not going to find it in here. This is the grand finale of a life poorly spent and the end result is just overwhelmingly depressing.”
Jeff Dahmer
“If I was killed in prison, that would be a blessing.”
Jeff Dahmer
At Columbia, Jeff became Inmate 177252 and was placed in solitary confinement away from others for his own safety. If Jeff left his cell, he was transported while locked in leg and hand restraints.
On May 1, 1992, Jeff was extradited to Ohio to answer to the charge of murder for the death of Steven Hicks, his first victim. Jeff pled guilty and was sentenced to his sixteenth life term.
In prison, other inmates would sometimes refer to Jeff as “Dahmer, the murderer.” He was housed in a regular cell with other prisoners with the exception there were no inmates next to him. His relationship with the guards was simple and mainly consisted of small talk like “Good morning” or “Want a newspaper?” Jeff did not get special meals or special treatment. The only visitors Jeff had were his dad, police officers, a pastor, and his attorneys. From all appearances, Jeff adapted quite well to his new prison life and surroundings. Interesting because Jeff's one positive comment about his time in the Army was that he liked the structure it gave him. His prison life certainly was full of structure.
About a year into his incarceration, Jeff was removed from his isolation and was placed where he could have interaction with the other inmates and was given permission to receive some perks such as being allowed to have reading materials which consisted of a Bible, up to thirty books, fifteen magazines, and newspapers. He was also allowed to have up to three visitor
s each week along with two telephone calls and to attend prison classes. The prison staff allowed Jeff to possess a radio and a television inside his prison cell. He was also allowed to work and was paid 24 cents an hour. [During his incarceration, Jeff would also occasionally receive money from people outside the prison, sometimes from people he did not even know.]
Jeff expressed an interest in reading about Christianity and, Lionel, realizing his son's interest, provided his son with Christian reading materials. Jeff contacted a pastor and asked to be baptized which was granted and Jeff was baptized in the prison whirlpool on May 10, 1994. After his baptism, Jeff would receive visits from the pastor until November 1994.
Jeff was very happy with his baptism, perhaps bringing back his time with his grandmother and perhaps fulfilling a desire he had for some years, to live right.
Unfortunately, just a few short weeks after the baptism, on July 3, 1994, Jeff was leaving the prison chapel when a fellow inmate, Osvaldo Durruthy, attempted to kill Jeff by sneaking up behind him and trying to cut his throat with a toothbrush that had been converted to a make-shift knife using a razor blade.
[Durruthy stated that he heard voices telling him to kill someone and he related that by picking Jeff, he would be sent back to his home country, Cuba, sooner. Unfortunately, for Durruthy, the attack did not get him deported but, instead, gained Durruthy five additional years in prison.]
The attempt on Jeff's life was unsuccessful with the weapon broke apart during the attack and he escaped with relatively minor scratches. Fearing for Jeff's safety, he was once again placed in an isolated cell area, but Jeff requested to be placed back in the prison population. His request was granted and he was placed back in his eight foot by ten foot cell, number 648.
With his prison routine back to normal, Jeff decided to take up tennis to try to lose some of the additional pounds he had gained while in prison.
On Monday, November 28, 1994, Jeff, according to his normal routine, went to his assigned work area which was to clean the prison showers and locker rooms. With him were two other inmates, Christopher Scarver and Jesse Anderson. While Jeff and Jesse were each cleaning different areas, Christopher left the two and went into the gym where he retrieved a long twenty-inch bar from the barbell sets and made his way back into the shower area. Once there, he repeatedly struck Jeff with the pole causing severe head trauma. Once Jeff was down and unconscious, Christopher then made his was to where Jesse was cleaning and beat him in the same fashion. Jeff and Jesse discovered lying on the shower floor, in their own blood, a little after 8:00 am and were taken to a hospital. Jeff died within the hour and Jesse passed away after two days.
Upon his death, Jeff wished for his body to be cremated and that there be no funeral service.
EPILOGUE
“I don't care if I live or die. Go ahead, kill me.”
Jeff Dahmer
To kill an innocent person is incomprehensible. To murder many innocent people, there are no words. There are no words to put into context what Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer did regarding the murder of seventeen men and boys during his killing spree. No excuses or rationale is good enough to justify his heinous murders and cannibalism.
What we do have, however, is a sad tale of a wantonly misguided individual who simply wanted to be loved, accepted, and to have a friend who wouldn't leave him. Jeff grew up in a home that was, by his own admission, stressful and with parents who had little time for him. What little stability he had at home was destroyed when his parents divorced. Jeff was even embarrassed by his parents divorce causing him even more issues.
Adding insult to injury, after his dad moved out during the divorce, his mom took his younger brother and left town, leaving Jeff to fend for himself, alone in their home as if no one wanted or even cared about him.
Perhaps the rejection, all of the isolation, all of the loneliness culminated in desperation. As Jeff stated, he had deep feelings about being left alone. He simply wanted someone to stay with him. During Jeff's trial, one of the psychiatrists was asked if Jeff had been successful in creating a zombie who would have stayed with him and done as he had asked, would the killing have stopped and the psychiatrist answered in the affirmative.
Jeff primarily murdered his victims when they would want to leave, different from a lot of other serial killers who kill for the pleasure. Jeff cared nothing about hurting his victims and, as we have read, would give them sleeping pills to knock them out so they did not feel any pain. For Jeff, the murders were not the purpose, but simply the means to an end – to keep them from leaving him. Even just having a body part of them was, to Jeff, better than having them leave. A similar rationale was applied to his cannibalism, he stated that by eating them they would be always be a part of him.
Jeff was searching. Searching for the meaning of life, his life. He was looking for answers. He sought psychological help. Jeff tried religion and even the occult. Nothing seemed to fill the void. Sadly, perhaps as a way to fill that emptiness he felt inside he had planned to build an altar in his apartment. It was to be a table with incense at both ends and the skulls of his victims lined from left to right along the table. On either side of the table, he planned to placed the skeletons of Miller on the left and Lacy on the right. He was to have a black satin chair that would sit in front of this altar where he could empower himself, regroup, if you will. Perhaps a place he could go to find the answers he sought and to be amongst his victims – those he never wanted to leave him. Those whom he wanted to keep him from being lonely.
Seventeen men and boy were seduced, drugged, killed, and mutilated so one man would not be lonely. Ironically, in the end, he was surrounded by men yet he died the lonely man he never wanted to be.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FBI Case File, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (7-HQ-21976; 7-MW-26057-S1, S2, Sub A1, Sub A2; 95-HQ-299705; 163-HQ-63701; et al)
Milwaukee Police Department Case File (Confession), Jeffrey Dahmer.
CNN
Frustrated Witness, Willis Morgan
Milwaukee Journal
Interview Willis Morgan
Interview Christopher Stewart
OpenSource Maps
Radford University Department of Psychology
Zillo.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven spent twenty-one years in a career as police officer and SVU detective. Steven was the arresting officer of The Clairemont Killer (serial killer) featured on America's Most Wanted® and case coverage on such television networks as Investigation Discovery™, The Discovery Channel™, FOX™, and TruTV™ as well as the New York Times™ and Los Angeles Times™.
Steven developed, implemented, and supervised a new Special Victim's Unit (SVU) criminal investigative sex crimes against children division. He was the arresting officer of a Fugitive from Justice on Canada's Most Wanted and worked closely with the FBI, DOJ United States Attorney's Office, United States Postal Inspector's Service, and Alabama Attorney General's office under Troy King (2006-2011).
He received two awards for Police Officer of the Year as well as numerous departmental and civilian commendations.
Steven now uses his experience as a speaker and trainer presenting How to Catch a Liar seminars across the country to police academies, colleges and universities, corporations, businesses, organizations, and associations. Steven is also an author penning true crime books (all of Steven's books have five star ratings).
He also presents a speaking program entitled Forensics 101: Forensics for the True Crime Fan.
Steven is a regular guest on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and is a contributor to various magazines including Law Enforcement Today.
As a radio show host, he can be heard each week as host of the acclaimed Crime & Forensics aired on KCAA in Los Angeles and on great radio stations across the country. Crime & Forensics can also be heard on Spotify™, iTunes™, iHeart Radio™, Stitcher™, Spreaker™, and other media sources.
You may reach the author through his website
www.StevenDavidLampley.com
The Dahmer Book Page 8