Serial Murder and The Case of Jeffrey
Serial Murder and The Case of Jeffrey
Serial Murder and The Case of Jeffrey
illustrated in the case history of Jeffrey Dahmer (JD), namely antisocial personality disorder
and paraphilia, particularly necrophilia. The bio-psycho-social model will be using to explain
the causal factors that cause a child, coming from an outwardly normal family background, to
is meant by the various psychological and criminality terminology used, specifically what is
murders, an emotional cooling off period between homicides, murders taking place at
different locations, the relationship between the victim and perpetrator typically being that of
a stranger, the murders are sexual in nature, motive largely related to murder’s desire to have
power over his victim and that the perpetrator must be fully or partially culpable (Ressler,
1988, Holmes and DeBurger 1988, Egger 1990, Harbort and Mokrox, 2001, Pistorius, 1996,
Labuschagne, 2003). Within this general definition of serial murders research has been put
forth to classify sub-groups such as disorganised and organised offenders (Ressler &
Leibman, 1989.
ingrained maladaptive patterns of behaviour that are perceptibly different in quality from
psychotic and neurotic symptoms. Generally, these are life-long patterns, often recognizable
individuals who are basically unsocialized and whose behaviour pattern brings them
repeatedly into conflict with society. They are incapable of significant loyalty to individuals,
groups, or social values. They are grossly selfish, callous, irresponsible, impulsive, and
unable to feel guilt or to learn from experience and punishment and have low tolerance for
frustration. They tend to blame others or offer plausible rationalizations for their behaviour.
Sexual deviations, as defined in the DSM-III, are for individuals whose sexual
interests are directed primarily toward objects other than people of the opposite sex, toward
sexual acts not usually associated with coitus, or toward coitus performed under bizarre
many find their practices distasteful, they remain unable to substitute normal sexual
behaviour for them. Specifically necrophilia is described as the presence, over a period of six
months, of recurrent and intense urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving corpses
Nichols, 2006 presents a timeline of JD’s life pulling from testimony, news-paper
report and the family of JD. The case history presented here draws on these sources to give a
chronological recount of his life history and the major events therein with emphasis on
possible early social traumas and the various criminal activities that occurred. Jeffrey Lionel
Dahmer was born in Milwaukee on the 21st of May 1960. Soon after his mother, Annette
Joyce Flint was admitted to hospital for severe postpartum depression. The family moved
when his mother reported tense relationships with her husband’s mother, suggesting familial
discord from the off-set of JD’s life. This was to be one of six familial moves during JD’s
childhood. At age three and a half JD had a double hernia operation and complained to his
reported that JD was exuberant, outgoing, curious, would play with other kids and had a
fascination with animals. Aged four JD saw his father collecting dead mice from underneath
their property and was fascinated. Age six his brother David Lionel was born. Aged seven JD
began to turn from outgoing and talkative to shy and withdrawn. At age 8 his father, Lionel,
reported that JD had been molested by a neighbour, although this was denied. He began to
experiment with animals and at one point impaled a dog’s head in his parent’s property. His
mother was treated for anxiety when JD was ten years old. He began collecting road kill to
dissect and dismember in secret. At fourteen years of age he had obsessive thoughts about
violence and sex which he kept inside and unconscious. In high school he was described as
acting bizarre, ‘doing a Dahmer’ with no friendships and a polite aloofness to classmates. He
was a straight-A student and at other times failed, often fooling authority figures and he
ultimately became less interested in academics. He drank heavily and became an outcast who
was mocked heavily and disengaged from normal school social life and internalised and
fantasised instead. When JD was aged seventeen, his father filed for divorce and both parents
cited extreme cruelty and gross neglect in the marriage. A custody battle began for his
younger brother. JD was left on his own while his mother took his brother away and it was in
this period that he murdered his first victim, Steven Hicks at age eighteen, smashing his head,
strangling and dismembering the body and scattering the pulverised bones about his parent’s
property. Soon thereafter his parent’s divorce was finalised and his mother and younger
brother moved leaving him home alone with his father having previously moved out. In
September 1978 JD attended Ohio State University but after heavy drinking dropped out after
only three months. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and was again troubled by alcoholism
eventually settling into training to become a medical specialist. It was here, alongside
knowledge gained from his father who was a chemist, where JD learnt of the various drugs
dispose of their bodies. Two years into his three year stint in the army he was discharged for
alcohol abuse. He moved into his grandmother’s house in 1981 and after being arrested for
indecent exposure in August, 1982 began to attend religious services with his grandmother
and read the bible. In 1985, after a period of two years working to stay sober and control his
fantasies, he was given a note in a public library by a man offering oral sex. Soon, thereafter
he stopped worshipping and returned to heavy drinking. He once more was arrested for lewd
and lascivious behaviour and indecent exposure after boys spotted him masturbating in 1986.
He was given one year’s probation and ordered to attend counselling. On the 21st of October
1987, some nine years after his first murder, he murdered his second victim Steven W. Tuomi
after picking him up in a gay bar. He murdered three victims, in total, while living with his
grandmother and in September 1988 moved to an apartment. He molested a 13 year old boy,
Sounthome Simthasomphone, and was arrested and charged with Second Degree Sexual
Assault and Enticing a Child for Immoral Purposes. He entered a House of Correction in
May, 1989 and was given work release to work in Ambrosia Chocolate Company. During
this period his father pleaded with the judge to force JD to attend treatment for alcoholism. In
May 1990 he moved to a new apartment and began to build a shrine to showcase the skulls
and body parts of his victims. JD’s rate of killing intensified and from May 1990 to July 1991
he murdered twelve more victims. These victims were coerced into his home, drugged and
killed with the lure of money, friendship or sexual relationships. He carried out experiments
using acid and hot water to attempt to turn some of the victims into zombies, dismembered
and ate others, photographed them in various states of decomposition, had sexual relations
with the bodies and kept various parts of their anatomy from skulls and hands to penises. On
the 22nd of July 1991 he attempted to murder Tracy Edwards, who managed to escaped and
alert the police. JD was charged with several counts of first degree intentional homicide and
his insanity trial began but he was found not insane. On February 17th 1992 he was convicted
and given fifteen consecutive life terms in prison. On the 28th of November, 1992 Dahmer
JD declared that it was a ‘cop out to blame parents’ and there was ‘no right to blame
parents [they were] totally innocent’. The life history detailed above, taken in conjunction
with the previous research laid out below would give indication that from a social, biological
In the words of his father, Lionel, the ‘prospect of school frightened him. The little
boy who’d seemed so happy and self assured had been replaced by different person who was
now deeply shy, distant, nearly uncommunicative.’ As a child he had been social and
inquisitive but there is a suggestion that something traumatic diminished his self-esteem and
confidence. This could be due to his hospitalisation and Blom, 1958 has shown that operative
procedures in children can reach traumatic significance, especially in children under five, as
was the case with JD’s operation. JD also made reference to dreams of having his penis
removed or missing, Freud gives this sort of dream great signification in terms of the mental
development of the young child and its relation to the phallus, mother and the father. This can
be related psycho-dynamically to the malformation of the ego, super-ego and id but also to a
feeling of inadequacy and of something missing from the child compared to their peers and
care-givers. ‘More than anything he seemed to grow more inward, sitting quietly for long
There is no indication that his parents physically or sexually abused JD while growing
up but in JD’s words, they were ‘constantly at each others throats’, Masters 1991, and the
preoccupation, a father who himself had admitted to being socially isolated and emotionally
inaccessible and the parents seeming indulgence in the younger child while leaving JD to find
his way points to important causal factors in JD’s ultimate dissociation and isolation from
reality. Early childhood in particular needs to bring with it positive experiences with parental
figures and with friends. These experiences foster a sense of attachment and security. Such an
environment was lacking in JD’s case. He felt lonely most of the time, even when in others
company and felt no one understood him (Nichols, 2006). These items from the Social
Alienation Scale reflect the effects of emotional deprivation that JD felt. His first grade
teacher reported that they felt he had being neglected, that the younger brother was the
recipient of much more attention. This could only heighten JD’s sense of isolation and his
impression that he was the unfavoured and unwanted child. Nichols’, 2006, use of the MMPI
scale indicated that JD saw himself as a loner and that this was a choice he made, having had
however and indicated that he liked having people around him and denied being happy when
alone.
This sense of loneliness is suggested as one of the major causal factors for his
succession into dark thoughts and murder. As a child he escaped to fantasy, to play-acting
and to experimentation with animals and finally to murdering strangers to keep himself
rooted in fantasy and to not deal with the reality of isolation. ‘The guy wanted to leave and I
didn’t want him to leave’ Schwartz, 1992, p43. His goal in murdering his victims was to keep
the relationship alive, if they left it would be tantamount to abandonment, total rejection and
another failure in the social arena in which he had struggled to find any connection. Nichols
suggests that his inability to deal and fortify himself against this lack of interpersonal
relationship caused him to lose his sense of control and mastery, allowing fantasy to overrun
related to self-esteem and Coopersmith, 1967 has found that children’s self-esteem depends
on unconditional loving and acceptance of the children by their parents. Kline, 1993, found
that self-esteem is affected by parents’ behaviour and extraversion and neuroticism are
affected by the social process. Martens, Palermo have shown that loneliness plays a
significant role in development and continuation of violent antisocial attitudes and behaviour.
Fox and Levin, 1999 have found that serial murderers are typically non affiliated
loners. His father describes ‘his face was a wall. His eyes were blank, utterly void, beyond the
call of the most basic forms of sympathy and understanding, beyond even the capacity to ape
with emotions’ Dahmer, 1994, pp99-100. This, alongside JD’s belief that he was not happy
most of the time, had a dearth of things to keep him interested, that his life was not
worthwhile and that he had an impending sense of dread and condemnation gives strong
indication that he was depressed. This pessimistic apathy and disillusionment can be related
to Harlow and Harlow’s 1991 work that showed the devastating effects of emotional and
social deprivation.
Attachment theory asserts that the affective bonds formed in relationships between
Blehar, Waters, Wall, 1978). Levy, Blatt 1999, and Bowlby’s research emphasised the
attachment patterns of infants formed, attenuated, or severed through interaction with the
mother and state that this relationship is pivotal to social, emotional and personality
development of an individual. Alexander, 1993 takes this further and relates insecure
attachment, that it is inferred occurred during JD’s childhood, is linked to such phenomena as
avoiding memories of abuse and personality disorders. This could explain why JD denied his
father’s report of abuse by a neighbour. Fonagy, 1997, argues that the attachment system is
implicated in both affective and predatory violence. He states that in searching for close
Meloy, 1992 and Stone, 1998 suggests that one of most significant factors predisposing a
another person. This difficulty in forming an attachment with his parents tallies with work by
Rothbard and Shaver, 1994, where adults with avoidant attachment patterns have low levels
of parental communication, emotional support and poor relationships with their fathers during
childhood. Terr, 1992 and Douglas, 1995 discuss childhood trauma of rejection and how it
Lionel Dahmer stated that ‘I have always found it difficult to read the exact emotional
state of another person’, Dahmer, 1994 p 36 and that ‘I was strangely disassociated….
Limited in my ability to respond with feeling to another’s feelings’, Dahmer, 1994, p 205 and
‘it struck [him] that he probably inherited this same dread [from me]’ Dahmer, 1994, p65.
This inherited or modelled trait of disconnection from others, and damaged empathy has been
shown to be catastrophic (van der Kolk 1987, p133). Rechlens 1950, 1973 states that the
environmental influence during formative years plays a significant role and the thoughts and
predisposition of JD’s father, the atmosphere of a long and acrimonious divorce and custody
battle for his younger brother could have had an adverse affect on JD’s personality and
ultimately pushed him into antisocial personality disorder. This relates to research by Shaw,
1999 where homicidal offenders have symptoms of mental illness, most often personality
disorder.
Miller, Keller discuss how psychological factors and biology have central roles in
personality of an individual. JD’s maternal grandmother was an alcoholic and his mother
abused pharmaceutical substances. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
1997 state that alcohol dependency and violence is learned from modelled behaviour. The
model for JD’s behaviour in terms of alcohol can be attributed to a number of factors
Brody and Crowley, 1995 state that it is a mistake to study environmental influences on
personality without a consideration of possible genetic effects and as such they should not be
discounted. JD’s alcoholism enabled him to engage in actions he fantasised and wished to
commit but felt unable to when sober (Masters, 1995). Matza and Sykes, 1957 state that
neutralisation techniques allow the deviant individual to continue his or her deviant behaviour
while protecting himself or herself from guilt, shame or negative self-image. Alcohol can be
Reckless, 1967 puts forth social control theory which discusses the various internal
and external factors that push and pull an individual towards and away from deviant
behaviour. Internal factors such as favourable self-image and a well developed ego alongside
external factors such as consistent moral values, positive role models and a sense of
belonging all play into the causal factors that pushed JD into serial murder. Martens, 2000
lists chaotic family life, lack of parental attention and guidance, antisocial behaviour and poor
relationships as some of the main characteristics of a psychopath. JD may have had a form of
Stockholm syndrome (Strentz, 1980) or repressed the trauma brought about by his parents
(Freud) and as such denied getting a raw deal in life but also said the one thing he would
change is that ‘[he] would change that [his] parents didn’t get along’ Masters, 1991, p 256.
JD murdered and experimented with his victims in order to make them a ‘permanent
part of [him]’, out of ‘sheer curiosity’, for ‘sexual satisfaction where he would ‘cook it, and
look at pictures and masturbate.’ but that the ‘killing means to an end. That was least
satisfactory part .[he] didn’t enjoy doing that. That’s why [he] tried to create living
zombies… with acid and the drill’. Taking the work by Rosman and Resnick, 1989, from a
to significant loss. To cope with this loss an individual can develop a fantasy of sex with
corpse. This coincides with Nichols, 2006 reports that Dahmer grew panicky if the men
moved to leave. He felt excitement over being in such exalted control, with the fear of
discovery and profound loss. Egger, 1990 speaks to power as a function of the interpersonal
relationship between perpetrator and victim. This power was the main goal of JD’s reign of
murder. Uebelherr, 1992, p6A reports that his probation officer spoke of him ‘basically
mistrusting’ other people. This mistrust led to fear and tallied with strong depressive
tendencies JD did not want to lose the relationship he struck up with these young men. Lane
and Gregg, 1992 have shown that this power control seeker type is related to low self-esteem.
Serial killers, according to Douglas and Olshaker, 1990 and Warren and Hazelwood, 1996,
are thought to crave power and control and only via fantasy can they achieve this in
murdering their victims. By watching films such as ‘The Return of the Jedi’ (Kazanjian &
Marquand, 1983) and identifying with an evil emperor who wields absolute control over his
subjects this fantasy of absolute control was strengthened and reinforced. In building a shrine
he could feel close to his victims, equally in retaining items from the bodies, in terms of
photographs, body parts and eating of the flesh his memory of the times he had with these
men could be retained. He would not lose control, they would remain with him forever. This
For JD lust and control were the main tenets of his multiple murders. ‘My consuming
last [was] to experience their bodies. The desire never left me… The cannibalism and saving
of body parts were just offshoots. Killing was the ultimate selfishness… I was trying to think
of a way not to have to kill them. I wanted to find a way to create a person who would be
open to my suggestion so I wouldn’t have to go out looking for partners’ Stingl, 1992, p10.
to gain full and complete control over another person. This quest was illustrated by his theft
of a mannequin from a department store, with which he had sexual relations. His
estrangement from others in the real world led him to construct a fantasy world where his
victims were like mannequins that could be easily manipulated to whatever sexual and
emotional desire he needed and hadn’t been able to find with another human. It could be
argued that his psyche made a reaction formation, a reversal. In wishing to keep a mate, e
destroyed them. He only slew those he wished to keep. Matthews, 1992, p31, reports that ‘he
wanted to create zombies – people who were there for him’ and that ‘[he] didn’t want to keep
killing people and have nothing left except the skull’. ‘He ate body parts because he could not
create such zombies and in eating human flesh ‘[his victims] would become alive again in
him’ (Stingl, 1992b pp1-8). Rosman and Resnick, 1988, state that sadism itself is not usually
an intrinsic characteristic of true necrophilia and for JD he did not want to cause pain and
suffering to his victims, indicated in part by their drugging and death in sleep. He merely
wished to gain absolute control and the only means open to his psyche was to murder them
It can be seen that necrophilia and cannibalism was for JD an ultimate expression of
his need to be in absolute control by having his intimates rendered absolutely passive. The
victims could never rebuff, reject or mock him like he had been as a child in social
interaction. As Kraft-Ebing, 1886 stated the corpse is a human form absolutely without will –
and via cannibalism and necrophilia an individual can satisfy an abnormal desire, in that the
resistance.
The causal factors of these paraphilia relate to the previously discussed early
and Norris 1988 state that there is a connection between paraphilia and brain anomalies,
genetic defect, chemical imbalances and psychological factors such as the loss of sense of
self. White, 2007, puts forth the encompassing concept that paraphilia are a manifestation of
psychological development push a person to commit illegal and sometimes act violent. This
agrees with a bio-psycho-social model of the causal factors of abnormal psychology in JD.
Conclusion
instincts that predisposes a person to act out deviant, criminal behaviour, no matter what
social influences might exist. These primitive instincts can be argued to be a combination of
cognitive, humanistic and existential concerns that makes a child a serial murderer. JD had
several traumas at an early age, subjectively inadequate parenting, marital discord, divorce,
maladaptive peer relationships, social change and uncertainty throughout his life. This relates
to Hickey, 1997, trauma control model which brings pre-dispositional factors, traumatic
events, dissociation, low self-esteem and fantasies together to inform how and why a serial
murderer kills but also how and why such an abnormal psychopathology can exist. The
question can be asked why JD was so different from any other socially awkward and retiring
child and what drove him to become a murderer of seventeen people but as Wade, 2002,
that may predict risk. Turvey, 1998 points out that only via greater awareness of the
respective elements of a serial murderer can law enforcement profile, catch or prevent serial
murder from occurring. Treatment of abnormal psychology must start in understanding the
case history of JD and related two aspects, namely antisocial personality disorder and
necrophilia to base causal factors. General treatment programs can then be assessed and
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