Shraman Mitra
Netflix’s ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story‘ recounts the horrifying crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and shows how he was eventually captured and convicted. Incidentally, most serial killers develop their murderous instinct from either a challenging childhood or some sort of mental trauma. Moreover, Jeffrey was a registered sex offender and had sexually abused multiple victims. Hence, it is quite natural for people to wonder if the serial killer had seizures or any kind of sexually transmitted disease. Well, fret not because we come bearing answers.
Jeffrey Dahmer Was Never Diagnosed With Seizure Causing Illness
According to official reports, Jeffrey was never diagnosed with any illness that could have resulted in seizures. Although his childhood was quite challenging, as his parents could not see eye to eye on minor issues and ultimately divorced, Jeffrey was generally a healthy kid and didn’t seem to have any serious health issues. Nevertheless, by the time Jeffrey came into this world, his mother, Joyce Dahmer, had already begun depending on prescription drugs and was allegedly turning into a hypochondriac. Naturally, such strong drugs had an adverse effect on her body, and reports claim that she would often have minor seizures or fits right in front of Jeffrey.
Moreover, Joyce was scared of her condition and did not want to infect Jeffrey, which made her stay away from the boy. Nevertheless, Jeffrey was fascinated to find that even though his parents had significant verbal altercations, his father, Lionel Dahmer, would drop all anger and give his wife constant attention if she ever fell into a seizure. This made the young boy believe that mimicking such an incident might help others notice him.
Incidentally, Jeffrey was a quiet boy at school, and sources have stated that he was often bullied. Moreover, he had just a handful of friends and was almost starved of attention. Hence, reports claim that Jeffrey began faking seizures in order to make others notice him. Although the children soon discovered the pretense, Jeffrey’s imitation of a seizure turned him into the class clown and helped him get the attention he needed. In fact, he became popular in school for his act, which was known as “doing the Dahmer.”
Jeffrey Dahmer and AIDS: Debunking the Myth
Although many believe that Jeffrey Dahmer might have had AIDS, there is no official confirmation of that assumption. In 1987, around the time Jeffrey carried out his first murder, the city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin witnessed a dangerous AIDS outbreak. In fact, according to official records, the United States had over a million individuals battling HIV, and the disease was killing people left and right. Scott Gunkle, a bartender back in 1987, recounted the experience and said, “One year I went to 19 funerals, and it was just devastating. Every other week you’d find somebody that passed away. I would talk to other people who knew certain people and say, ‘Where’s so-and-so,’ and they’d be like, ‘Oh, he passed away,’ or ‘Oh, he’s sick and he’s in a hospice,'”
However, one must keep in mind that while the AIDS outbreak hit Milwaukee with all its force in 1987, Jeffrey was still in Ohio, where he was residing with his parents. He later shifted to his grandmother’s house and only started living in Milwaukee in 1990. Moreover, apart from there being no report about Jeffrey having AIDS, none of his sexual assault victims complained of falling prey to the disease. Thus, we can safely affirm that Jeffrey Dahmer did not have AIDS.
Read More: Did Jeffrey Dahmer Have a Boyfriend? Did He Have a Job?
