Notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer revealed the reason he murdered 17 people in an unearthed prison interview tape.
Dahmer was known as the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’ after he was arrested in 1991, having spent the last 13 years murdering men and boys.
His crimes have spurred many reports, books, and shows - most notably the first season of Netflix's Monster - all aiming to find out why this seemingly normal boy would grow up to go down in history as one of the US’ most prolific killers.
Dahmer was caught in the act, after he had attempted to murder his last victim.
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However, they were able to run away, and flagged down officers outside of his apartment, who stumbled upon photographs of dismembered bodies.
Two years later, journalist Nancy Glass conducted an interview at the Columbia Correctional Institution
There, she asked him why he murdered his victims, the youngest being 14 years old.
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The video showed Dahmer, in his infamous square glasses, casually recalling his crimes in detail, showing a very matter-of-fact response to the horrors he inflicted.
He explained to Glass: “It's a process that doesn't happen overnight when you depersonalize another person, and view them as just an object - an object for pleasure - instead of a living breathing human being, it seems to make it easier to do things you shouldn't do.”
Noting that he ‘always knew’ that it was wrong, after murdering his first victim in 1978, it was a high he couldn’t escape.
Steven Hicks was just 18 when he was lured by Dahmer back to his home before being strangled with a barbell and dismembered.
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As for why he did it, Dahmer admitted: “I had these obsessive desires and thoughts [of] wanting to control them to - I don't know how to put it - possess them permanently.”
He continued: “Not because I was angry with them, not because I hated them, but because I wanted to keep them with me and as my obsession grew, I was saving body parts such as skulls and skeletons.”
Dahmer was then enlisted in the army after murdering Hicks, which stopped his killing for eight years.
The killer revealed the only reason he didn’t kill during his time in the military in Germany, was that there ‘wasn't an opportunity to fully express what I wanted to do to do there’.
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But after being dishonorably discharged due to his alcohol abuse in 1981, he moved to Milwaukee in and started reading ‘pornography’ and ‘frequenting the gay bars’.
From there, he had ample opportunities to kill, and he took every one.
He explained that he could not stop, and ‘it was almost addictive’.
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He said: “It was almost a surge of energy. I wouldn't have to worry about any of their needs or anything, I just had complete control of the situation.”
Soon, his methods escalated and he began to photograph the dismemberment process to keep as a trophy.
He also ‘wanted to keep something if I couldn't keep them there with me whole’, so he kept skulls and skeletons. He attempted to create an altar to display those parts.
While he admitted ‘there were times’ he was revolted by his actions, 'the compulsive obsession with doing what I was doing overpowered any feelings of revulsion’.
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As for how this could have been prevented, Dahmer admitted that there was no way he would have been stopped had he not been arrested.
He said: “I was I was dead set on going with this compulsion it was the only thing that gave me any satisfaction.”
Fellow inmate, Christopher Scarver murdered Dahmer in the prison’s gym on November 28, 1994, a year after the interview aired.
Topics: Jeffrey Dahmer, Crime, True crime
Britt Jones