Shraman Mitra
Netflix’s ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story‘ portrays how infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer gradually developed cannibalistic tendencies while dismembering and storing his victim’s bodies. Although he was known to keep most of his victims’ skulls as horrific memorabilia, reports suggest that he cooked and ate quite a few of their body parts. In fact, his cannibalistic habit earned him the moniker of the Milwaukee Cannibal. If you are intrigued to find out if Jeffrey was a cannibal and how many victims he ended up consuming, we have you covered.
How Many Victims Did Jeffrey Dahmer Eat?
Jeffrey killed for the first time on June 18, 1978, when he bludgeoned and strangled 18-year-old Steven Mark Hicks, at his parents’ house in Ohio. Similarly, his last victim was 25-year-old Joseph Arthur Bradehoft, who he strangled at his Milwaukee apartment on July 19, 1991. Between 1978 and 1991, it was reported that Jeffrey killed at least 17 men and boys in the states of Ohio and Wisconsin. Unfortunately, it is unclear how many of his victims he consumed, as he never talked about his cannibalistic habit in detail.
However, we know that the prolific serial killer preferred to decapitate and dismember his victims before preserving their skulls and parts of their bodies. Some reports claim Jeffrey consumed some body part or the other from all his seventeen victims. Albeit, this assumption is debatable and should be taken with a grain of salt, as we know that he dismembered his first victim before dissolving his flesh in acid and pulverizing his bones. Despite him similarly discarding all of his earlier victims, Jeffrey did not start collecting body parts until he murdered 22-year-old Richard Guerrero on March 24, 1988.
When it came to Guerrero, Jeffrey followed his usual modus operandi of dissolving the flesh in acid, but this time, he saved the skull, cleaned it, and kept it in his macabre collection. Nevertheless, there is nothing to indicate that he consumed the 22-year-old. Jeffrey’s next victim, Anthony Lee Sears, who died on March 25, 1989, was the first victim with a body part stored permanently in his collection. After the serial killer’s arrest in 1991, the police found Anthony’s skull and genitals preserved in the Milwaukee apartment.
After killing Anthony, Jeffrey moved into his apartment at 924 North 25th Street, Milwaukee, following which he began exploring his cannibalistic instincts. The serial killer has never spoken about his cannibalism explicitly, yet he mentioned that he began storing and eating body parts from his later victims and that he only consumed human meat when he felt like it. Besides, Jeffrey allegedly solely consumed flesh from his victim’s hearts, biceps, and thighs and even mentioned how the bicep tasted like beef.
Was Jeffrey Dahmer a Cannibal?
Yes, Jeffrey Dahmer was a cannibal, as he confessed to storing and eating some of his victims. While some believe that Jeffrey’s cannibalistic habit was a fabricated lie as his defense wanted to prove that he was insane, the police found enough evidence in his refrigerator and apartment that indicated otherwise. At the time of his arrest, authorities found several skulls, four severed heads, a few human torsos, as well as other organs and body parts, including two human hearts and some muscles.
Interestingly, the Netflix show portrays Jeffrey Dahmer giving his neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, a human meat sandwich. Although there is nothing in official reports that indicate the same, a neighbor who appeared in the 2012 documentary ‘The Jeffrey Dahmer Files’ stated that they fear Jeffrey might have fed them human meat, as he often shared cooked food with them. Moreover, Tracy Edwards, his last intended victim who managed to escape with his life, claimed that the serial killer wanted to consume his heart.
According to experts, Jeffrey Dahmer wanted to experience complete control over his victims, and cannibalism was another way to assert dominance over the people he killed. Furthermore, seeing as how he didn’t feel any remorse after his capture, we believe that he enjoyed what he did and would not lie about such a heinous act that he was proud of.
Read More: Did Jeffrey Dahmer Kill His Grandmother? Did He Kill Any Women?
