Jeffrey Dahmer Research Paper

Haize Fassett

What Caused Jeffrey Dahmer to Kill? Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the most infamously known serial killers from the 20th century. What made his murders so notable was not necessary how he killed his 17 victims but what he did with them before and after death. For many of his victims, he drilled a hole in their head and poured acid or boiling water into their brain to attempt to create “a living zombie”. He would often have sex with his living victims or their bodies after murdering them. Occasionally, he had eaten parts of his victims bodies, he said “it made me feel like they were a permanent part of me”. Throughout his entire murder spree, he kept photos of the dismembership of his victims as well as their mummified body parts

All of the murders happened because of Dahmer’s sexual desires or fascination with the human body. These could have been a result of physical and sexuality issues from his younger years. When Dahmer was four years old, he had a double hernia in his scrotum. He had a surgery that fixed it but it made him very uncomfortable about his genitals after that. He felt as if he were different and weird. This uncomfortability of his body could have been one of the reasons he had intimacy issues. He always wanted a companion, a sexual partner. But whenever one of the men he had contact with showed he had any slight desire of leaving, this is when Dahmer killed the man. He would spend days on end with the bodies after mortem and attempted to make a living zombie. So he could have a partner, per se, that did whatever Dahmer desired. “The killings was just a means to an end. That was the least satisfactory part. I didn’t enjoy doing that. That’s why I tried to create living zombies,” (CITE QUOTE PAGE). He needed this feeling of companionship because during his childhood years, his mother and father were very distant from Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s mother refused to breastfeed when he was a baby, which sometimes can weaken the bond through mother and child later on in life. When the divorce was finalized, Jeffrey’s mother moved thousands of miles away, leaving Jeffrey alone for many

Although he is not a monster, he had many mental issues despite being deemed sane. He needed a feeling of companionship, to be with somebody, but did not know how to acquire such a thing. His actions were cruel, torturous, repulsive, and unforgivable but he is misunderstood by many. Although many see his childhood as completely normal, it was a huge factor in his actions as an adult. Between the mental damage and physical damage he experienced very early on in life, it is no surprise he had issues growing up. They do not justify his actions, but this is one possible explanation as to why Jeffrey Dahmer committed such horrendous