- 4 months ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00...of all time. Today, an Inside Edition world exclusive Jeffrey Dahmer talks about his obsession to kill and why he got away with it for so long.
00:10The world watched in horror as the savagery of serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer unfolded.
00:35It was almost addictive. It was almost a surge of energy.
00:43The nation was stunned by the magnitude of the crime.
00:46No one had a clue as to what was happening for over a decade.
00:50How could this shy child grow into a modern-day monster?
00:54I started having these obsessive thoughts when I was about 15 and 16, and they got worse and worse.
01:02Today, another Inside Edition world exclusive. Nancy Glass talks to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
01:09If you were out on the street now, would you still be committing the crimes?
01:14Probably. If this hadn't happened, there's no doubt I probably would be.
01:18Two, one...
01:19Hello, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching this very special Inside Edition.
01:32How could a normal-looking man with normal parents and a normal job commit some of the most brutal crimes the world has ever seen?
01:40Jeffrey Dahmer has never talked publicly about killing 17 people until now.
01:44Nancy Glass is here with a very chilling interview.
01:47Nancy, first set the scene for us. What impression does Dahmer give when you first meet him?
01:52Well, Bill, surprisingly, he is very articulate, and when he is talking, you can see how he was able to manipulate his victims
02:00and how he was able to get away with it for so long.
02:03He also talks about his horrendous crimes in great detail, but in a very clinical manner,
02:09and you realize that none of it has touched him.
02:12Cold matter-of-fact.
02:13And Nancy will be back in just a few moments with the first part of her interview.
02:19It was almost addictive. A surge of energy.
02:23I wouldn't have to worry about any of their needs or anything.
02:28I just had complete control of the situation.
02:33He is 32 years old, and he is pure evil, but you'd never know it by looking at him.
02:39But when you hear him, that's another story.
02:41His killing field was Milwaukee, and he got away with murder for more than a decade.
02:46But how could any of this happen?
02:47For the first time ever, Nancy Glass is here inside the world of Jeffrey Dahmer.
02:52Bill, when I sat down opposite Jeffrey Dahmer for this interview, I wondered what he would tell me,
02:57how hard it would be to get him to discuss his horrific crimes.
03:01What I found was that he was very forthcoming.
03:04He volunteered details that may be difficult to hear.
03:07I began by asking what he wanted from the men he picked up.
03:12I had these obsessive desires and thoughts wanting to control them, to, I don't know how to put it, possess them permanently.
03:27And that's why you killed them?
03:28Right. Right.
03:29And as my obsession grew, I was saving body parts, such as skulls and skeletons.
03:49Jeffrey Dahmer is recalling his monstrous past.
03:53Almost two years ago, in this little apartment in Milwaukee, police discovered the grisly remnants of one of the most horrible crime sprees in American history.
04:04Jeffrey Dahmer, an unassuming chocolate factory worker, would eventually confess that he had seduced, murdered, and dismembered 17 young men.
04:13He even ate some of his victims' body parts.
04:16He instantly became the center of worldwide media attention, a serial killer unmasked.
04:25There were protests and press conferences in Milwaukee as people tried to understand how this could have happened in their midst.
04:33How did Jeffrey Dahmer get away with murder after murder for 13 years?
04:38How did a boy born into a hardworking, middle-class family turn into the worst kind of monster imaginable?
04:46In this exclusive interview, we put those questions to Jeffrey Dahmer himself.
04:51We met with him at the maximum security prison where he is serving his sentence of 999 years.
04:58For the first time, he talks about his crimes and gives us a chilling look inside the mind of a serial killer.
05:06It's a process that doesn't happen overnight when you depersonalize another person and view them as just an object, an object for pleasure instead of a living, breathing human being.
05:22It seems to make it easier to do things you shouldn't do.
05:33The reason why Jeffrey Dahmer was able to get away with his crimes was because of just what you are seeing here.
05:41Jeffrey Dahmer is intelligent and articulate.
05:44That is what makes him so frightening.
05:46But if you listen carefully to his words throughout this interview, you realize it is a thin disguise.
05:52You do sound though like the kind of person who could have said to himself, this is wrong, I must stop.
05:59I always knew that it was wrong, but after the first killing was not planned, I was coming back from the shopping mall back in 78.
06:18I had had fantasies about picking up a hitchhiker and taking him back to the house and having complete control and dominance over him.
06:32The hitchhiker's name was Stephen Hicks.
06:34He was just 18.
06:36Jeffrey Dahmer took him to his parents' house.
06:39There he strangled him with a barbell.
06:41He dismembered the body and hid it in a drain pipe.
06:44It was Jeffrey Dahmer who gave those details to the police in his confession.
06:50No one, no one had a clue as to what was happening for over a decade.
06:56During that time, Jeffrey Dahmer joined the Army and was sent to Germany.
07:00He was eventually discharged for a drinking problem and returned to Ohio.
07:05Nine years after Stephen Hicks' murder, the killing began again.
07:09What happened to you in the nine years in between that you were able to stop?
07:14That you were able to control yourself?
07:17There just wasn't an opportunity to fully express what I wanted to do.
07:24There was just not the physical opportunity to do it then.
07:27And I started, when I moved to Milwaukee in 81, I started reading pornography, going to the bookstores.
07:42Eventually that led to frequenting the gay bars.
07:48And then I, one time I brought this young man back to the hotel room, the Ambassador Hotel.
07:57I was just planning on drugging him and spending the night with him.
08:02I had no intention of hurting him.
08:04When I woke up in the morning, he had a broken rib here.
08:09I was heavily bruised.
08:10Apparently I had, uh, beaten him to death with my fists.
08:15And you have no memory of it?
08:15I have no memory of it.
08:17But that's what started the whole spree all over again.
08:20Dahmer says he snuck the corpse of his victim, Stephen Toomey, out of his hotel room in a suitcase.
08:26Then he took it to his grandmother's house, where he cut up the body and put it in plastic garbage bags.
08:32When you killed these men, afterwards, were you repulsed?
08:38Were you upset?
08:39No, it, at the time, uh, it was, it was almost addictive.
08:45It was almost, uh, a surge of energy.
08:51Uh, I wouldn't have to, uh, worry about, um, any of their needs or anything.
08:59I just had complete control of the situation.
09:01But Jeffrey Dahmer was out of control.
09:04The urge to kill had overpowered him.
09:06As police later learned, he wasn't satisfied with his victim's death.
09:10He wanted more.
09:11Why did you photograph them?
09:14It was my way of remembering, uh, their appearance, their physical beauty.
09:22Uh, I also wanted to keep some, if I couldn't keep them there with me whole,
09:30I, at least, I felt that I could keep, uh, their skeletons.
09:36And, uh, I even went so far as planning on, uh, setting up an altar with, uh, the, uh, ten different, uh, skulls and skeletons.
09:46And what was the purpose of the altar going to be?
09:49Uh, as a sort of, uh, memorial.
09:55Uh, a point where I could, I don't know.
10:01It's, it's, it's so bizarre and strange, it's hard to describe.
10:04A place where I could collect my thoughts, uh, and feed my obsession.
10:11When the bodies were still in your apartment, there was no time when you would see them and say,
10:19this is grotesque, what have I done?
10:23There were times, there were times, but the compulsive obsession with, uh,
10:31doing what I was doing overpowered any feelings of revulsion.
10:34This man, with a quiet, almost shy demeanor, became a master manipulator
10:39who was able to lure strangers he met at gay bars to his apartment.
10:43He was even able to con the police into returning a 14-year-old boy to him
10:48after neighbors called 911 upset that the child was in the street, naked and bleeding.
10:54Dahmer convinced the police that he and the boy were simply having a lover's quarrel.
10:59He was an intoxicated, uh, boyfriend of another boyfriend.
11:05How old was this child?
11:07He wasn't a child, he was an adult.
11:08After the police left, Jeffrey Dahmer murdered that boy.
11:12Conorak sent us some phone.
11:14This man says he had a near-fatal encounter with Jeffrey Dahmer.
11:18He wanted to take some picture of my back.
11:21He hit me with a rubber hammer on my neck.
11:24He was lucky to escape because by then the killing had become almost routine.
11:29Before you went out to pick up a man, was there any kind of ritual you went through?
11:35I'd go to the nightclubs, drink, watch the, uh, the striptease shows.
11:41And, uh, if I didn't meet anyone at the bars, I'd, uh, go to the bath clubs and, uh, meet, meet someone there, offer them money, and we'd go back to the apartment, um, have a few drinks.
11:59I'd have the, uh, the, uh, sleeping pill mixture already prepared.
12:05A person would drink it, fall asleep, and, uh, that's when they would be strangled.
12:13Watching the movie, Exorcist III was also part of his ritual.
12:17It put him in the mood for murder.
12:19I felt so hopelessly, uh, evil and perverted that, uh, that I, I actually derived a sort of pleasure from watching that tape.
12:35Did you like feeling evil?
12:36No, no, no, I didn't, but, uh, I tried to overcome the thoughts, and it worked for a while, but eventually I gave in.
12:48While Jeffrey Dahmer may say things today that make it seem like he understands what went on in his mind, he does not.
12:55All he can do is tell you what happened, but he cannot stop whatever it is that drove him to kill in the first place.
13:04Do you still feel those same urges? Do you still feel that compulsion, that obsession?
13:10Uh, I wish I could say that, uh, it just left completely, but, uh, no, there are times when I still do, still do have, uh, the old compulsions.
13:21And coming next, as we continue, Dahmer talks about how his obsessions became more and more out of control.
13:30I was dead set on, on going with this compulsion.
13:34It was the only thing that gave me any, uh, any satisfaction.
13:45Your interview.
13:46Bill, Jeffrey Dahmer says as time went on, his mind became more and more warped, and yet, he was clever enough to continue to elude police and lure young men to his apartment.
13:57We should warn you, the details are very graphic.
14:00I started having these obsessive thoughts, uh, when I was about, uh, 15 and 16, and they got worse and worse.
14:08What were your fantasies about?
14:10Uh, they were sexual fantasies of control, power, uh, complete dominance, uh, they became reality.
14:20Was there pleasure in that fantasy?
14:22There was excitement, uh, fear, pleasure, all mixed together.
14:28Jeffrey Dahmer fulfilled his fantasies by murdering and dismembering 17 young men.
14:33In time, his desires became more extreme, his deeds more grotesque.
14:39Listen to him talk about the most unnatural things in the most matter-of-fact of ways.
14:45That's when you realize that none of it has touched him.
14:48I was, uh, branching out.
14:50That's when the cannibalism started.
14:53Eating of the heart and, uh, the arm muscle.
14:57It was a way of, uh, making me feel that, uh, they were a part of me.
15:05At first, it was just curiosity, and then it became compulsive.
15:10Then I tried to, uh, keep the person alive by inducing a zombie-like state.
15:18Um, by, uh, injecting, uh, first, uh, dilute acid solution into their brain or, uh, hot water.
15:32And, uh, it never did completely work.
15:36Could someone like you be stopped?
15:38Could you be helped?
15:39No, I, I was, I was dead set on, on going with this compulsion.
15:46And it was the only thing that gave me any, uh, any satisfaction.
15:53He became so warped by his evil impulses that he even took a victim's head with him to work at the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory.
16:01I kept the, uh, the mummified, uh, head and skull of one of the victims in, uh, a carrying case in my locker at work.
16:13Were you almost flaunting it?
16:14Yes, but that's how strong the compulsion was.
16:18That's how bizarre the, the desire was.
16:20I wanted to keep something of, of the person with me.
16:25Jeffrey Dahmer exhibited some disturbing behavior early on.
16:29He began drinking heavily as a teenager, dropped out of college,
16:33was arrested for indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, and fondling a 13-year-old boy.
16:39Tragically, one of his murder victims would be that boy's brother.
16:43Do you know what started it?
16:44Was there any kind of incident that you can remember?
16:47To this day, I don't know what started it.
16:49And, uh, the person to blame is sitting right across from you.
16:53That's the only person.
16:54Not, uh, parents, not society, not pornography.
16:59I mean, those are just excuses.
17:01His macabre 13-year crime spray finally ended when this man, Tracy Edwards,
17:07brought the police to the infamous apartment.
17:09Like the others, he had gone there with the promise of money.
17:12He was listening to my heart, because at a point he told me he was going to eat my heart at that point.
17:17I hit him, and I ran.
17:19What was the turning point for you that made you suddenly realize that you had done something terribly wrong,
17:25something you should be sorry for?
17:27It was, uh, the night of the arrest.
17:30I have no memory of what happened, uh, during the six hours before, uh, the last victim ran out of the apartment.
17:39I heard a knock on the door, and the police were there, uh, with, with the last victim.
17:48Uh, they asked me where the key was to the handcuffs.
17:52I was, my mind was in a haze.
17:56I sort of pointed to the bedroom, and that's where they, uh, found the pictures.
18:01And they, they yelled, cuff them.
18:03I was handcuffed.
18:05And, uh, it, it was just the realization that there was no point in trying to hide, hide, uh, my actions anymore.
18:16The, the best route was to help, help the police identify all the victims, and just, uh, make a complete confession.
18:25When it was revealed that most of the victims were black or homosexual, people in Milwaukee were incensed.
18:32Many felt that was why he went after them, and why the police didn't seem to care when their families reported them missing.
18:39Ten of your 17 victims were black.
18:42Were they racially motivated?
18:44It was not racially motivated.
18:46It was not, uh, sexual preference.
18:48It was just to find an obsession with, uh, the best-looking young man I could find.
18:56While you just heard him say that his sexual preference had nothing to do with the killings,
19:00he has not come to terms with his homosexuality.
19:03Never understood it.
19:05There was no use trying to fight it because I, I couldn't rid myself of it.
19:08It was, it was too powerful and persistent.
19:12Do you dislike it?
19:13Yes, it's caused, uh, a lot of problems for me.
19:18A lot of conflicts and, uh, unanswered questions.
19:22The conflicts remain with him, and so do his compulsions.
19:25But in prison, he finally cannot act on his savage desires.
19:30If you were out on the street now, would you still be committing the crimes?
19:35Probably.
19:35If this hadn't happened, there's no doubt I probably would be.
19:39I can't think of anything that would have stopped me.
19:43Boy, does he come across as cold-blooded.
19:45Did you see any remorse?
19:46Well, he says he's sorry, Bill, but I'm not sure he knows what that means.
19:50Tomorrow, he talks about how he disassociated himself from his crimes
19:54and what lengths he went to to hide them.
19:57We will see you tomorrow, Nancy.
19:58Thanks for that report.
20:00And Inside Edition, we'll be right back.
20:06Tomorrow, more of Nancy Glass's interview with Jeffrey Dahmer.
20:09What do you want to say to the families of the victims?
20:13I had no intention of hurting them.
20:17I was extremely selfish.
20:18I was only thinking of myself.
20:20My life.
20:20It's the interview the nation is talking about.
20:35Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer speaking for the first time.
20:38Why was it so easy, though, for you to hide it all?
20:41I bought security systems, installed them myself in the apartment.
20:46I had a video camera in the corner of the room.
20:49Today, Nancy Glass continues her remarkable interview with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
20:55There's one question.
20:59There's a line.
21:00She was home alone when an intruder turned her evening into a night of terror.
21:08She reached for the phone in a desperate call for help.
21:13But it was too late.
21:15Or was it?
21:16The phone was off the hook.
21:17We were able to record almost the entire conversation.
21:21Let's go.
21:30Oh, baby, it's cold.
21:31Inside edition today, what would you do if a thug broke into your house?
21:35Could you avoid?
21:36It is one thing to read about his crimes, quite another to hear how dispassionately this killer
21:41talks about his grisly deeds.
21:44Nancy Glass joins us now to continue her exclusive interview with Dahmer.
21:47Nancy.
21:47Bill, Jeffrey Dahmer is now in jail serving 15 consecutive life terms for his terrible crimes.
21:54Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.
21:57In prison, he is getting therapy, but he says it hasn't helped him.
22:01He spends his time reading the Bible and volumes of mail.
22:04I asked him if he was afraid of what might happen in prison, and he said,
22:08no, what difference does it make if someone comes after him because he doesn't care if he lives or dies?
22:13He prowled gay bars, picking up men to seduce and murder.
22:21Jeffrey Dahmer says his desire to control and possess his victims drove him to inhuman acts on the living and the dead.
22:30He was a killing machine out of control.
22:32How should you be punished?
22:35Well, there's no question that I deserve the death penalty.
22:39I've wondered myself why I don't have the death penalty.
22:48That's what I deserve.
22:49I deserve death.
22:50What do you think happens after you die?
22:52Right, that's the big unknown.
22:57I've thought of, uh, I've had thoughts of, of suicide, uh, but I just, uh, haven't been able to, uh, carry them through.
23:09So, I don't know what the future will hold.
23:12In the past, Jeffrey Dahmer was very sure of what he wanted and how to get it.
23:17Seventeen young men would die at his hands.
23:19Later, when he made this confession to the police, he included crimes too grotesque to repeat on television, too gruesome to be believed.
23:29Dismemberment, cannibalism, and worse.
23:31And he was cunning enough to get away with it for 13 years.
23:35Why was it so easy, though, for you to hide it all?
23:38I desensitized myself to it.
23:40I, I, I, uh...
23:43I don't know.
23:47I went to great lengths.
23:48I, I bought security systems, uh, installed them myself in the apartment.
23:53I had, uh, video camera in the corner of the room, uh, installed locks on the doors, uh, sirens and stuff in case anyone broke into the apartment.
24:06And although his victims' body parts were in the apartment, when his father and stepmother came to visit, they detected nothing.
24:14They said it was absolutely clean, perfect.
24:18Right.
24:18How'd you hide from them?
24:19Everything was locked up, either in the freezer or in the, uh, uh, file chest.
24:29And so there was no evidence laying in the, in the, uh, open.
24:34There was nothing abnormal about the look of the apartment.
24:37And he almost got caught after a 14-year-old victim escaped into the street naked and bleeding.
24:44When neighbors called 911, Dahmer managed to talk his way out of trouble.
24:49During the incident where the police were called, and the young boy was returned to you, that didn't wake you up at all?
24:57The police on your doorstep?
24:59They were, they were in the apartment.
25:02They were actually in the apartment, and there was a, a dead young man in the bedroom on the floor.
25:09I couldn't believe it when, uh, when it turned out that they, they, they didn't see anything.
25:16I just, I couldn't believe it.
25:18And yes, it, it did shock me, but not enough to quit.
25:21That's how strong the compulsion was.
25:23Jeffrey Dahmer describes the unspeakable with no emotion.
25:27It is as if he sees his victims as objects, not people.
25:31In fact, when he confessed, he remembered every horrific detail of what he did to them.
25:36But he couldn't remember their names.
25:38Do you ever think about your victims?
25:45I've often wondered why I haven't had more, more dreams or, or nightmares about what I've done.
25:53For some reason, it's like, it's, it's blocked off from part of my mind.
25:58If I dwelled on the subject all the time, I would, I wouldn't be able to function.
26:05Jeffrey Dahmer prefers to hide from the difficult truth about himself.
26:10That has always been his pattern.
26:12Even during his trial, he found a way to tune out.
26:16You're wearing glasses now.
26:17Right.
26:18You didn't during the trial.
26:21Why not?
26:22I, I didn't want to, I felt uncomfortable looking anyone in the face.
26:27I didn't want to, uh, see anyone's face clearly.
26:32It helped me disassociate myself from what was happening.
26:35That's why I do, you mother f***er!
26:38I, don't!
26:39One woman in particular really got angry.
26:43What did you think when she was doing that?
26:45I couldn't blame her a bit.
26:47I'm surprised there wasn't more of that.
26:50What do you want to say to the families of the victims?
26:52I had no intention of, of hurting them.
26:55I was, I, I was extremely selfish.
27:01I was only thinking of myself, my own pleasure, my own, uh, perverted desires.
27:10You know the families of the victims don't believe in your conversion or your sorrow.
27:16Oh, right, and, uh, uh, if, if I, if I was on the, on their end of the table, I wouldn't be there.
27:26Ultimately, I am accountable, uh, to the Lord Jesus Christ.
27:31He, he'll be my final judge.
27:33Can your sins be forgiven?
27:35The Lord Jesus Christ's shed blood is powerful enough to, to wipe out even my sins.
27:41When he had to deal with some of the terrible realities of his life, Jeffrey Dahmer's conversation would veer off into scripture.
27:49Like many other criminals, he claims he has found God in prison, and his daily routine reflects his need to shut out the world.
27:57I usually wake up at, uh, 6.30 in the morning, go eat breakfast, and then, uh, sleep until noon, wake up for lunch.
28:09And, uh, sleep until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, eat dinner, and then spend the greater portion of the night watching TV.
28:19He is up all night because he cannot face the daylight and the monstrous crimes that put him behind bars.
28:26I try not to think too, too deeply about anything, because then I get depressed.
28:32Uh, I try to figure out why this happened, what, what started these thoughts in my head at such a young age.
28:40Uh, whether this has any, any meaning to it, or whether this is all just a horrible coincidence, you know, all the events in my life.
28:51I feel that, uh, I'm better off here than I, than, than I was on the outside doing what I was doing.
28:58You're glad you're in prison.
29:00I think it's best for everyone, right.
29:03And you heard Jeffrey Dahmer say he wants to be punished.
29:06The victims' families agree.
29:08They voice their opinions tomorrow.
29:10And Jeffrey Dahmer talks about his early years and his family life.
29:14And finally, an expert on serial killers will tell us how this could have happened.
29:19Good report, Nancy.
29:20Thank you, and we'll see you tomorrow.
29:22That's their reaction on Inside Edition.
29:24Unique insight into the mind of a monster.
29:27I'm against capital punishment, but I still think that he is not suffering enough.
29:32Today, the victim's relatives speak out.
29:35I would like to ask him why.
29:36He's on a suicide watch, and from day one, he's never tried to commit suicide.
29:41So, I mean, get, you know, get a clue.
29:45He, he likes living, just like my brother did, like my sister.
29:48That's right.
29:51For the past two nights, we have heard serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer explain why he did what he did.
29:57Dahmer makes no excuses.
29:58He feels he should be executed.
30:00But what about the families of his victims?
30:02What are they going through, and what is their reaction to the words of Dahmer?
30:05Nancy Glass continues her exclusive interview.
30:07Nancy.
30:08Bill, the building where Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes were discovered has been torn down.
30:13The grisly details of his killing spree have been revealed.
30:16He will be in prison for the rest of his life.
30:19All that remains is the question, why did this happen?
30:23I had normal friendships in high school.
30:25But after that, I started in with the alcohol, drinking, a lot of solitary drinking.
30:30And, uh, really never had any close friendships after that, after high school.
30:37Just, uh, sort of lived in my own, uh, thought life, fantasy world.
30:43What created those twisted fantasies is a question many are asking.
30:48According to some experts, Jeffrey Dahmer does not fit the profile of a ritual murderer.
30:53The typical serial killer kills for the thrill, for the excitement.
30:58He wants to hear the victim scream and shout and try to get away.
31:03Northeastern University professor Jack Levin is a sociologist and criminologist
31:08who has studied hundreds of serial killers.
31:11He says what he saw in our interview surprised him.
31:14I think the very fact that he sedated his victims before he strangled them,
31:19which is the last thing that most serial killers would do,
31:22uh, gives us an indication that he may actually have felt guilty
31:26and that he did care to, at least to some extent, about his victims.
31:29He's a little bit different in a, in a number of, of ways.
31:33And the very fact that he necrophiled his victims
31:35is, is, is a clue that he felt extremely rejected, abandoned,
31:41and he couldn't even, uh, have sex, uh, with his victims while they were alive.
31:47In most cases, uh, he had to kill them first.
31:50Were you molested?
31:51Never. Never.
31:53In your childhood, do you have any memories of anything
31:56that you would associate with what you became?
31:59No, that's the, that's the strange thing.
32:01I can't pinpoint any, anything.
32:04So there was nothing in your childhood?
32:06No, no abuse, no physical abuse, no verbal abuse.
32:09It was a normal childhood in a good home.
32:13Something went awry in my thought life.
32:17Uh, I don't know why.
32:19He grew up on this quiet tree-lined street in Bath, Ohio.
32:23Friends say the young Jeffrey Dahmer exhibited some unusual interests.
32:28Were you obsessed with dead animals? Is that true?
32:31I was interested in, in taxidermy in high school
32:35and experimented with, uh, preserving the bones of dogs and things like that.
32:41And, uh, whether that had anything to do with, with, um, the escalation of the crimes, I don't know.
32:50But by all accounts, his terrible crimes are far removed from his ordinary beginnings.
32:55His father, Lionel, is a chemist who taught his son how to play tennis.
32:59His mother, Joyce, was a housewife.
33:01The family split apart when Jeffrey Dahmer turned 18.
33:05A court order kept his father away from the house.
33:08His mother, who had been hospitalized for mental problems, left too.
33:12It was when he was alone in the house that Jeffrey Dahmer committed his first murder.
33:17Let me put this in perspective.
33:18There are millions of people who get divorced.
33:21There are millions of people who have step-parents.
33:22And, uh, what does it do to them?
33:26Well, it doesn't make them kill.
33:27It doesn't make them cannibalize.
33:30Um, I think we've got to understand that we might be able to explain part of this.
33:34But we're not able to predict who's going to turn out to be a serial killer.
33:39Jeffrey Dahmer's father and stepmother Sherry say when he was in trouble in the past,
33:44they tried to get him help.
33:45They were as shocked as everyone else to hear about his secret life.
33:49The pain is watching the families have, having to sit there and listen to the gory details.
33:57And yet, what do we say to these families out there who don't even have the child to bury in many cases?
34:07It's such a tragic waste.
34:10And we can't do anything about it.
34:13They say around them, Jeffrey Dahmer acted as if nothing was wrong.
34:18How did you live that double life?
34:20How did you go to work?
34:21How did you have a normal relationship with your family?
34:25When you try to keep a terrible secret like I was, it warps every other aspect of your life.
34:31But I managed to, uh, I managed to go to work, uh, conduct myself just like anyone else would.
34:39Jeffrey Dahmer is determined to try to explain his hideous crimes.
34:44But why would he take the mask off now?
34:46Jack Levin says he thinks he knows.
34:49You know, it's very hard to feel sympathy for someone who has killed 17 people and has cannibalized their remains.
34:58I think he wanted a chance to let people know that he did care, that he was a remorseful human being.
35:08Now, I'm not sure that came through, but I think that was his intention.
35:14The families of his victims disagreed.
35:16They gathered to watch what Jeffrey Dahmer had to say.
35:19They sat in stunned silence as they heard him describe the terrible end to the lives of their sons and brothers.
35:26He says he deserves it.
35:27He's on a suicide watch.
35:29And from day one, he's never tried to commit suicide.
35:32So, I mean, get, you know, get a clue.
35:36He likes living, just like my brother did like living.
35:39That's right.
35:39Him saying he's sorry to me, he does not bring back my brothers, he does not bring back 17 men.
35:44I'm against capital punishment, but I still think that he's not suffering enough.
35:49We may never know what demons drove this maniacal killer.
35:52Jeffrey Dahmer himself talks about the need to overpower and possess his victims.
35:57But Jack Levin says the serial murderer cannot face his own rage.
36:02There was this side where he actually wanted to possess his victims.
36:07But the other side was that he hated them.
36:09He was very angry with humanity.
36:12And this is kind of his way of getting even.
36:14It would be easier to understand what happened if he came across as the glassy-eyed monster we expect him to be.
36:21Instead, he's able to appear normal, which is what once made him so dangerous.
36:26Most serial killers know the difference between right and wrong.
36:30They know what they do is wrong, and they simply don't care.
36:34Jeffrey Dahmer cared, perhaps, but not enough to stop himself.
36:40And finally, I've been covering this story since it first broke.
36:44It has been very difficult at times to deal with the gruesome details, a lot of which we chose not to put on television.
36:50But I thought this was an important story to tell.
Be the first to comment