Hands and Teeth will Reveal the True Killer Underneath
Hooper Mills
Cumberland University/Forensic Science
Introduction
Between the times of 1978 and 1991 the Milwaukee police
department and surrounding areas were being crippled by a
young man that would later be named Jeffery Dahmer.
Through his vicious and foul crimes Dahmer was giving the
nickname, the “Milwaukee cannibal-murderer.” The reason for
this nickname was due to Dahmer drugging, raping,
dismembering, and sometimes eating his male victims. During
his rein of terror Dahmer was able to kill 17 people. Time
magazine reported on the day of his capture in his home,
Dahmer’s apartment contained severed heads in his fridge,
freezer, filing cabinet, even in a kettle, many other things
contained hands and male genitals. But for many the question
will we ever know who the victims Jeffery Dahmer murdered
still remained at large. This was due to the lack of commonly
known practices we have today in fingerprinting, dental
records, and other important access in technology like today.
Experimental
Throughout the crime scene Dahmer had his personal
collection of skulls, limbs, genitalia, teeth, hearts, and many
other important identification items. These were used in
helping identification of the victims.
Investigators were able to positively identify 4 of the 11 victims
whom body parts were present at the scene. These victims
were identified through the use of fingerprint analysis.
When looking into Dahmer interviews after being detained he
would state he wanted to create a sexual partner that would
listen to whatever he said. When he failed he would keep
souvenirs like skulls. These skulls were able to also help
investigators identify victims through the use of Dental
comparison.
Thorough investigation also helped to find that Dahmer was
not only killing these people but was doing it after he drugged
them and raped them.
Results and Discussion
What types of fields were used to help understand what exactly
Dahmer did to his victims. This can be considered a complex and
wide spacing crime scene that used many different fields of the
justice system.
▪Forensic Analysis.
▪Forensic Anthropology.
▪Forensic Odontology.
Once victims were recovered the FBI was able to recover through
evidence in the bones that the victims were being tortured. The
FBI conducted chemical, biological and tool mark analyses:
undertook photographic and computer examinations: and
performed other test.
How it was Used
The Justice system uses many different methods
in order to collect enough evidence to convict a
criminal. Through DNA, fingerprints, blood splatter,
and many different methods. Dahmer had an
overwhelming amount of evidence that pointed to
him, whether was the type of chemical found in his
apartment to save his victims body parts, or to
knock them out in order to rape and murder them.
Dahmer was a vicious killer and the FBI was able
to use all their resources on finding him.
Conclusions
The FBI was able to use all of their assets in order to find
Dahmer to be the killer. Through Dental work, and bone
identification, and DNA found on and around the victims and
Dahmer's home. With this type of investigation, the justice
system can improve on many areas to help find and identify more
victims.
References
Jentzen, J. M. (2017). Micro disasters: the case of serial killer Jeffrey
Dahmer. Academic forensic pathology, 7(3), 444-452.
Strubel, A. (2007). Jeffrey Dahmer: His complicated, comorbid
psychopathologies and treatment implications. The New School Psychology
Bulletin, 5(1), 41-58.
Dahmer, L. H. (n.d.). Chromatographic separations of niobium, tantalum,
molybdenum, and tungsten. doi:10.31274/rtd-180817-3432
