I didn't know how to
tell anyone, so I didn't. I just kept it all inside.'" (Odom, 1) Indeed,
the Odom article contends that Dahmer's drinking became a coping mechanism
but that his control over his violent sexual fantasies was dashed apart in
1978. Perhaps by no coincidence, the year that he graduated from high
school and his parents got divorced would be the same in which he committed
his first murder. Indications are also that Dahmer was exposed to violence
between his parents during the dissolution of their marriage.
The 1978 murder of hitchhiker Steven Hicks would allow Dahmer to live
out his fantasies of homosexual intercourse, murder, necrophilia and
various experimental dissecting procedures with the body. This would
satiate his urges for a reported 9 years. (Odom, 1) The next decade would
find Dahmer descending into a psychic haze over his homosexual orientation.
As he attempted to fight his urges by appealing to the Christian faith, he
was charged in both 1982 and 1986 with indecent exposure to young boys.
(Odom, 1) It was at this point that he was recognized by the authorities
as a sex offender and at which his grandmother, with whom he had been
living, kicked him out of her house for his bizarre behavior and the
terrible smells coming from the basement.
Ultimately, something would occur to set Dahmer off in 1987, at which
point he would begin his spree. Frequently gay clubs and bathhouses,
Dahmer would take men whom and drug...
He
also became obsesses with the body parts of his victims, practicing acts of
mummificaton, freezing, boiling and storage of dismembered body parts,
pointedly retaining skulls and genitals as souvenirs. This would allow for
the grisly discoveries of police who would be led to his Milwaukee
apartment by an escaped would-be victim.
After his murder in prison, there emerged "requests from several
researchers who want hair follicles and brain tissue from Dahmer to use in
studies on abnormal behavior and episodes of anger." (AP, 1) These
requests reflect a continued interest by the psychiatric community to
understand what could create a man such as Dahmer. But clearly, beyond
that which might be reflected in an imbalanced neurology, Dahmer
demonstrated throughout his life all the conditions to suggest this was in
his experiential and psychological makeup.
Works Cited:
Associated Press (AP). (1995). DAhmer's Brain Kept For Research. BNet.
Online at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/miqn4207/is19950317/ain10189382/?tag=c
ontent;col1
Montaldo, C. (2008). Profile of Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer. About
Crime/Punishment. Online at http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/dahmer.htm
Odom, B. (2008). Jeffrey Dahmer: The Truth. Socyberty. Online at
http://socyberty.com/crime/jeffrey-dahmer-the-truth/
.
