FREE ESSAY ON JEFFERY DAHMER

JEFFERY DAHMER

Childhood When I was a little kid I was just like anybody else. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer came
into the world at 4.34pm on the 21st of May at the Evangelical Deaconess Hospital in
Milwaukee 1960. Little did his parents know at the time of his birth that there son would
become one of America's most famous serial killers not only for the amount of victims
which he had killed but also for dismembering them and his necrophilic tendencies.
Jeffrey's childhood started like any other he had two parents who loved and adored there
son dearly giving him what ever his heart desired. Joyce Dahmer started a scrap book on
her son recording events that happened in his life, his first step, his first accident,
his first tooth, his first haircut and even his first scolding. While Jeffrey was still
very young his father worked long hours in his laboratory and his mother worked as a
teletype machine instructor. But the carrying of Jeffrey had been hard on Joyce Dahmer
and every little thing seemed to annoy her. So Lionel being the the husband that he was
and wanting the best for his wife they moved to his mothers house in West Allis, but the
crack's in the marriage started to show early. There were constant fights between Joyce
and Lionel Dahmer and Jeffrey took each of these fights to heart. Little did they realise
that there constant fighting would be the one of the reasons for Jeffrey's downfall. I
decided I wasn't ever going to get married because I never wanted to go through anything
like that A short time before Jeffrey's fourth birthday, Jeffrey was diagnosed with a
double hernia that needed to be operated on. This operation left Jeffrey feeling open and
exposed nobody explained to Dahmer what was going on. He felt scared by the operation,
complete strangers coming up to him and exploring his body. This experience is said to
have marked his subconscious forever. But like every little boy of Jeffrey's age he was
just like anybody else climbing apple trees, riding his bike and playing in coal dust and
coming home dirty. Though he was painfully shy while growing up he over came this in
time. By the time Jeffrey turned six his mother gave birth to a second son who she called
David. Though this did not have a dramatic effect on Dahmer's life he stayed pretty much
neutral to his brothers existence and they never became close. By the time of his second
son's birth Lionel Dahmer and his family moved into there own house at 4480 West Bath
Road, surrounded by open forest where Jeffrey could lose himself in a world of make
believe. As Jeffrey grew towards puberty, his sinking isolation and shyness was confirmed
once again. An early sexual experiment with a another boy proved to be disappointing and
joyless. Jeffery should have come to a time in his life where he wanted to experience the
joys of life and the companionship of friends, but Jeffrey withdrew into himself and kept
his life somewhat of a secret. Jeffrey's Dahmer's life conditioned him for the hard
struggle that lay ahead, little did he know that in just over 16 years he would become
one of America's most famous serial killers having murdered 17 people, dismembering them
and sleeping with there corpses and keeping parts of his victims for trophy's.  This is
the grand finale of a life poorly spent and the end result is just overwhelmingly
depressing..... a sick pathetic, miserable life story, that's all it is The Baptism of
Jeffrey Dahmer (Reprinted from the Christian Woman May/April 1995) by Roy Ratcliff
Convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten and killed Nov. 28, 1994, by a fellow
inmate at the Colombia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wis. The attack occurred
while Dahmer and another inmate were cleansing a bathroom in the prison gymnasium. The
minister who baptized Dahmer shares his story and tells about a courageous woman who
thought Dahmer was worth saving. I first heard about Jeffrey Dahmer's desire for baptism
through Roy McRay, a preacher in Milwaukee. He had received a phone call from Curtis
Booth of Crescent, Okla., who had sent a Bible correspondence course to Jeffrey. Just a
couple of weeks later, Mary Mott of Arlington, Va., had done the same; and at the end of
the course, Jeffrey had requested baptism. After making the necessary arrangements with
the prison chaplain to meet Jeffrey and to confirm his understanding, I learned about
Mary. She had sent Jeffrey a World Bible School correspondence course after seeing a TV
report about the book written by Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey's father. Mary felt a deep
conviction that this young man needed to hear the Gospel. She sent him a letter that said
essentially, I don't know if you want to do this, but I believe it would help you if you
studied the Bible. In the New Testament, Paul wrote about Timothy's sincere faith, which
first came from the women in his life, his grandmother and his mother. Paul then added
these words: For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love
and of self- discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Mary is to be commended for the faithful spirit
of power and love that drove her to reach out, even against the advice of other people,
and try to save the soul of someone so commonly despised. Mary did not know whether her
efforts would be well received. She simply acted on faith. To her delight and surprise,
Jeffrey answered positively. At the end of the Bible study course, he wrote both Mary and
Curtis requesting baptism. Mary didn't know whom to call, but she tried the best she
could to tell others that Jeffrey wanted to be baptized. When I first was informed of
this request, I contacted the prison chaplain. I told him that the congregation in
Baraboo, Wis., was closer than mine. I said that I would contact the minister and that we
would make arrangements to meet with Jeffrey. The minister in Baraboo told me he was
planning to move out of state and could not come with me. He also had been contacted by
Mary. He had received a phone call from her and photocopies of her letter to Jeffrey,
including his reply asking for baptism. I was given the photocopies, and we wished each
other well. After my initial meeting with Jeffrey, I phoned Mary to tell her how the
meeting had gone. We have been in contact with each other ever since. When I first met
Jeffrey, I asked him why he wanted to be baptized. He answered that he always had thought
from watching televangelists that baptism was optional. But he had concluded from his
Bible study that baptism was necessary. Physically, Jeffrey was an average-sized man of
33. He did not appear to be a weight-lifter but looked quite normal in build. I would
guess his height to have been around 6 feet and his weight about 190 pounds. His hair was
slightly blond, and he wore glasses. Some days he was shaven; other days he was not. He
usually wore prison clothing and looked like all the other prisoners. Jeffrey appeared to
get along well with the other inmates. One earlier physical attack was made on him in
prison, but that was exceptional. The attacker only recently had been placed in Jeffrey's
unit, and he later confessed that he had attacked Jeffrey only to gain publicity. Jeffrey
revered the Bible as God's Word. Because of some information he had read, he preferred
the King James translation more than others, believing it to be more accurate. We spent
quite a lot of time discussing Bible translations. He also was influenced deeply toward
the premillennial viewpoint of the second coming of Christ and the
once-saved-always-saved viewpoint of the televangelists. But he was very open to Bible
study and studied on his own as much as he could. He also read everything that was sent
to him. I asked Jeffrey what his religious background was. He explained that his parents
had attended the church of Christ when he was a small child and continued to attend until
he was about 5 years old. From that time on, he had not had any religious contact at all
except for television and the times he lived with his grandmother. He did note that his
father had been a faithful member of the church when Jeffrey was a child. I was not able
to study the Bible much with Jeff before baptizing him. Most of our time was taken up
with how to accomplish the baptism in a prison setting. The chaplain was resistant to
bringing in a baptistry, even a donated one. Apparently, he had received a similar
request before because he said prison policy did allow using the prison whirlpool tub for
that purpose. Someone previously had donated a baptismal robe, which was in storage. Once
permission was granted, which took two weeks, I met with Jeff, the chaplain, and two
prison guards. After taking Jeff's confession, we were escorted to the medical facility
where the tub was located. Jeff was concerned about the baptismal formula to use. I
normally say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for
the forgiveness of your sins. He had been told that baptism was invalid unless the name
of Jesus was the only name mentioned. After studying with him about this matter, he
agreed to allow me to us the words with which I was comfortable. After Jeff changed into
the baptistry robe, I went in and baptized him. Nearly everyone raises the question about
Jeff's sincerity. But I was there, and these questioners weren't. I deal with people who
want to be baptized all the time. Knowing for certain the sincerity of the one requesting
baptism is impossible. I just accept the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 12: [O]ut of
the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (v.34 NIV). I cannot know the condition of
another person's heart unless I listen to his or her words. I listened to Jeff's words,
and I watched his eyes and his body language. I listened to the tone of his voice and
observed his mannerisms, and I am convinced that he was totally sincere in his desire.
Some people wonder how baptism might have benefited Jeff in terms of his stature with the
prison system. The answer is that it had absolutely no effect on his life sentences. He
still had 15 life sentences to serve in Wisconsin and one in Ohio, if he was ever
released from the Wisconsin prison. But being released never would have happened. He had
accepted the fact that he would die in prison. Jeff had nothing to gain in this life by
being baptized; he had everything to gain in the next life. He was baptized for the same
reason anyone else is baptized. In the light of the Bible, he surveyed his life and
concluded that he needed to be saved. Jeff's death comes as a major surprise to me and
his family. I last saw him when we studied together the day before Thanksgiving. He was
in good spirits. He led a prayer and gave me a Thanksgiving card, expressing his
gratitude to me for studying the Bible with him. Jeff was beginning to embrace the
Christian spirit. His father and several pen pals saw a major transformation in who he
was after he became a Christian. His father has been restored and is again a faithful
member of the church, as is a younger brother, who was converted in college. A memorial
service was held for Jeff, which was attended by his family, several Christians, and two
sisters of one of his victims who had grown close to the Dahmer family since their
brother's death. I developed a very good sense of friendship with Jeff, and I am feeling
a sense of loss. He had a hunger and a thirst for righteousness like I haven't seen in a
long time, and I will miss him. "Roy Ratcliff, a graduate of York College and Oklahoma
Christian College, has been a minister for 24 years and works with the church of Christ
in Madison, Wis. He and his wife, Susan, have two grown children."