It’s chilling to view images of innocent children… only to come to the realization that some of them eventually became mass murderers.
We instinctively perceive kids as pure, delightful, and beyond harm. That’s why witnessing a joyful baby and knowing they later committed horrific acts is so impactful.
And the seemingly sweet, innocent child we are about to present would eventually evolve into one of the most fearsome killers in American history.
On a warm day in May 1960, a baby boy entered the world in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents — a 23-year-old chemistry student and a 24-year-old teletype machine instructor — embraced their first child with hopes and aspirations for his future.
By all accounts, he was a lively, cheerful boy in his earliest years, full of energy and promise. But something changed.
Shortly before his fourth birthday, he underwent double hernia surgery, and his family noticed an immediate shift in his behavior. The once-bubbly child became quiet, withdrawn, and increasingly uneasy.
Resentment toward his baby brother
By the time he started school at six, the boy was reportedly already grappling with feelings of abandonment and had begun to harbor resentment toward his baby brother. Teachers described him as timid and reserved, often sensing feelings of neglect as his father’s studies kept him away and his mother battled depression and hypochondria.
The household was tense. Arguments between his parents were frequent, and his mother even attempted suicide at least once, demanding constant attention and spending much of her time bedridden. The boy later admitted that he never felt his family was stable, never sure if his home would remain intact.
However, the thin, blonde-haired boy did have a few friends growing up.
“He was a fun kid to be around as a child,” said Ted Lee, who grew up in the same neighborhood.
As the young man matured, a dark fascination began to take shape. Some believe it all started when he was merely four years old, watching his father unearth animal bones beneath their home.
The sounds of the bones ignited a peculiar thrill within him, leading to an obsession he referred to as his “fiddlesticks.” He delved deeper, hunting for bones and even dissecting live creatures to examine their skeletons.
When the family relocated to Bath Township, Ohio, his interest grew even stronger. He began amassing large insects and small animal skeletons in a hut on their wooded property, some of which he preserved in jars filled with formaldehyde.
His father, thinking it was merely scientific curiosity, taught him how to clean and preserve bones, skills that the boy eagerly embraced.
Escalating obsession
The obsession quickly intensified. He began collecting roadkill, dissecting animals, and burying them near his hut. Occasionally, he would place skulls on makeshift crosses.
By the age of 14, he had started drinking heavily, concealing liquor in his jacket and referring to it as “my medicine.” His parents’ marriage fell apart, culminating in a bitter divorce. By the time he graduated in May 1978, his mother had moved out with his younger brother, leaving the 18-year-old alone in the family home.
At 15, he had decapitated a dog, nailed its body to a tree, and impaled its skull on a stick. In high school, he gained notoriety for his strange pranks, bleating and faking seizures to attract attention.
For instance, he began imitating the slurred speech and awkward movements of a man with cerebral palsy, who he claimed his mother had once hired as an interior decorator. Some dismissed it as odd behavior, even cruelty – but to others, particularly his teenage peers who overlooked the tastelessness, he was genuinely amusing. Their laughter seemed to energize him.
He would often stumble past open classroom doors while lessons were ongoing, peek through windows from outside the building, or make odd bleating sounds just beyond the teacher’s hearing range.
“He would bleat like a sheep,” remembered former friend and classmate John Backderf.
“Sometimes he did it loudly. He knew it made us laugh.”
First victim
However, beneath the humor, darker urges were developing.
Just three weeks later, on June 18, 1978, the young man picked up a hitchhiker — and committed his first murder.
Over the next 13 years, he took the lives of 16 more young men, dismembering some and, in chilling instances, consuming parts of their bodies. Most of his victims were first sedated with drugs and then strangled to death.
His offenses also included necrophilia, cannibalism, and attempts to create compliant “zombies” by drilling into victims’ skulls and injecting acid into their brains.
Caught in 1991
He was ultimately apprehended on July 22, 1991, when one of his intended victims managed to escape and led the police to his apartment. Inside, authorities discovered photographs of dismembered bodies, severed heads in the refrigerator, and a horrifying collection of human remains.
The boy who once innocently played with “fiddlesticks” had transformed into Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, the Milwaukee Cannibal, one of America’s most notorious serial killers, later depicted in Netflix’s Monster.
Jeffrey Dahmer met a violent end on November 28, 1994, when he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate at the age of 34.
The inmate responsible for Dahmer’s death, Christopher Scarver, claimed that he was instructed by God to carry out the act.
When the news of Dahmer’s demise was announced, his mother, Joyce, expressed her anger towards the media, stating, “Now is everybody happy? Now that he’s bludgeoned to death, is that good enough for everyone?”
Reactions from the families of the victims were mixed. Some felt a sense of relief, while others indicated that the news only intensified their suffering. Catherine Lacy, the mother of victim Oliver Lacy, remarked, “The hurt is worse now, because he’s not suffering like we are.”
The district attorney who prosecuted Dahmer urged the public not to glorify Scarver, reminding everyone that Dahmer’s killing was still an act of murder.
