How was Jeffrey Dahmer caught? The real story behind the Netflix series ‘Monster’
The events leading up to the serial killer’s arrest was littered with failures by police and authorities that let Dahmer escape justice.
Nearly two weeks after its release, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story remains at the top of Netflix’s most watched list. The series has proved controversial; families of his victims have railed against the show while a number of critics have been very positive about it. Either way, millions of people have and will be watching it.
The seires goes out of its way to show the blunders by authorities that prevented Dahmer from being stopped earlier. This includes police ignoring the concerns of neighbours in a black neighbourhood who complain to officers about a young, drugged boy who is in the care of Dahmer.
He was finally caught on July 22, 1991. One of his would-be victims, Tracy Edwards, managed to trick Dahmer and make an escape. Edwards flagged down a police car and convinced the officers to bring him back to Dahmer’s house. Inside the police officers found weapons, photos of dismembered corpses and a head in the freidge.
Dahmer was arrested and confessed to the murders.
What happened after he was finally caught?
Dahmer was convicted on 15 counts of murder and was sentenced to 15 life sentences in 1992, with an additional life sentence later added for a 1978 murder in Ohio.
The ‘Milwaukee Butcher’ did not live for long in prison, but was instead murdered by a fellow inmate named Christopher Scarver. Along with another inmate, Jesse Anderson, the three were tasked with cleaning some rooms in the jail. In a moment when they were left unguarded, Scarver battered Dahmer’s head with a metal bar. He later did the same with Anderson.