The Full Timeline of Jeffrey Dahmer’s Murders: Lawyer Monthly Uncovered
Ten hour-long episodes of Netflix’s true crime drama Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, fall short of fully portraying the horrific murders and immense suffering inflicted by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, portrayed by Emmy-winning actor Evan Peters.
The series only focuses on a small number of Dahmer’s 17 victims from 1978 to 1991, and even fewer are given a well-rounded representation of their lives and identities. Given the factual inaccuracies and the concerns raised by the victims’ families, it is crucial for the public to understand the true stories of those who fell victim to Dahmer’s brutal obsession with killing.
The series, co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, who are also known for Glee, follows Dahmer’s journey from his childhood to his death in prison. Prior to the Netflix adaptation, Dahmer had already become a troubling cultural figure, referenced in songs by artists like Katy Perry, Kesha, and Eminem. Since the show’s debut, interest in Dahmer has surged, with rapper Rick Ross absurdly seeking out “Dahmer shades” that no one really needs. TikTok has been inundated with questionable memes that range from discussing Dahmer’s looks to highlighting the irony of people who criticize him while enjoying music that references him.
Related: How Jeffrey Dahmer Died 30 Years Ago: The Chilling Details and Connection to His First Murder
Dahmer’s notoriety is deeply intertwined with the 17 lives he took. Whether you’re considering dressing as Dahmer for Halloween (please reconsider) or choosing to boycott Netflix’s recent series, the victims are always a part of that choice. Using archived articles from 1991, such as those from The Washington Post and The Seattle Times, along with FBI case files, we have compiled a comprehensive timeline of the 17 men who fell victim to Dahmer’s horrific actions and the lives they led before their tragic encounters with him.
What Were Dahmer’s Charges?
Dahmer’s killing spree came to an end on July 22, 1991, when Tracy Edwards managed to escape from his apartment and alerted the Milwaukee Police about the horrific acts Dahmer had attempted on him just hours before. He faced 15 counts of first-degree murder. Following a two-week trial, Dahmer received a sentence of 15 consecutive life terms, a punishment he only served for two years before being killed in prison in 1994.
Who Were the Victims of Jeffrey Dahmer?
Steven Hicks, 18 [June 18, 1978]
Dahmer’s first victim was 18-year-old hitchhiker Steven Hicks, whom he lured to his family home with the false promise of a ride to a concert shortly after graduating high school. In the series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the two are shown working out before Dahmer violently attacks Hicks with a weight after Hicks rejects his advances. The reality was far more gruesome. While the show depicts Dahmer kissing Hicks’ corpse in a disturbing manner, the FBI’s unsealed report reveals that Dahmer admitted to having sexual relations with the deceased body, fulfilling a long-held fantasy since he was 16. After dismembering Hicks’ body, Dahmer initially buried the remains in a small grave, only to later dig them up to dissolve the flesh in acid, crush the bones to dust, and scatter the ashes in the woods.
Steven Tuomi, 24 [November 20, 1987]
Dahmer recounted that his second victim was taken nearly a decade after he murdered Hicks, as he was unsettled by police officers who had stopped him while he was on his way to dispose of Hicks’ remains. After bringing Tuomi from a Milwaukee bar to a room at the Ambassador Hotel, Dahmer claimed he woke up the next day to find Tuomi dead. Similar to the situation with Hicks, Dahmer insisted that Tuomi’s death was not intentional. The series depicts Dahmer attempting to revive Tuomi’s body before he stuffed it into a suitcase and made his way to his grandmother’s house, where he was residing. It omits the detail that Dahmer told investigators a taxi driver, unaware of the suitcase’s contents, assisted him. When the driver noticed a foul odor emanating from the suitcase and inquired about it, Dahmer chose not to respond and had him take him to his grandmother’s home, where he dismembered and dissected Tuomi’s remains. Dahmer’s narrative, along with the Netflix portrayal, includes him keeping Tuomi’s severed head as a grotesque keepsake.
James Doxtator, 14 [January 18, 1987]
One of Dahmer’s youngest victims was James Doxtator, a 14-year-old who fled his home to escape an abusive stepfather, as recounted by his mother, Debbie Vega, in a 1991 interview with the Tampa Bay Times. Dahmer told investigators that he encountered Doxtator at a bus stop near the now-closed 219 Club. He lured the young boy to his grandmother’s house with the promise of money, where he drugged Doxtator with sleeping pills before assaulting and ultimately killing him.
Richard Guerrero, 25 [March 24, 1988]
Guerrero became one of Dahmer’s tragic victims when the serial killer lured him with an offer of $50 to spend the night at his grandmother’s house. Using sleeping pills to incapacitate Guerrero, Dahmer then strangled and dismembered him. The remains were disposed of, and it wasn’t until a family photograph surfaced that Dahmer was linked to his death. In the film Monster, Guerrero is not named but is included in a montage showcasing the men Dahmer targeted at his grandmother’s residence, illustrating his chillingly systematic approach to murder.
Anthony Sears, 26 [March 25, 1989]
Sears, an aspiring model, had his promising life abruptly ended after encountering Dahmer, who kept his skull and genitalia in his apartment following the murder. Dahmer was able to commit this crime due to Judge William Gardner granting him work release as part of a one-year sentence for a previous sexual assault on 13-year-old Somsack Sinthasomphone just two months earlier.
Raymond Smith (also known as Ricky Beeks) [May 20, 1990]
Smith was the first individual Dahmer murdered in his apartment located at 924 North 25th Street in Milwaukee. A sex worker, Smith was approached by Dahmer with a $50 offer for his services. After strangling him, Dahmer took explicit photographs of Smith’s lifeless body. He then dismembered Smith and boiled the remains, dissolving them in acid, while keeping the skull in a cabinet.
Latest: Could Richard McCoy Jr. Be D.B. Cooper? New Evidence Could Solve the 1971 Hijacking Mystery
Eddie Smith, 28 [June 1990]
Although Eddie’s remains were never recovered, Dahmer admitted to the murder during police questioning. In a disturbing moment depicted in Monster, Eddie’s sister, Carolyn Smith, recalls receiving a phone call in April 1991 from someone who ominously told her, “don’t bother looking for your brother; he’s dead.”
Ernest Miller, 22 [September 1990]
During the Labor Day weekend in 1990, Miller went to visit his aunt in Milwaukee and crossed paths with Dahmer outside a bookstore. Dahmer lured Miller to his apartment with the promise of money, and they engaged in sexual activity before Dahmer drugged the unsuspecting college student and brutally cut his throat. In a disturbing twist, Dahmer preserved Miller’s biceps in the freezer, painted his skull, and bleached his skeleton. Similar to Eddie Smith’s sister, Corrine Miller, Ernest’s grandmother remembers receiving a strange phone call two weeks after the family reported him missing, where a faint voice could be heard saying, “Help, help, help.”
David C. Thomas, 23 [September 24, 1990]
Thomas was a happy father to a two-year-old daughter when Dahmer took his life after they met by chance at The Grand Avenue Mall and Dahmer invited him back to his apartment.
Curtis Straughter, 17 [February 18, 1991]
Dahmer admitted to spotting Straughter waiting for a bus near Marquette University and enticing him with money for nude photographs. After killing him, Dahmer documented each step of Straughter’s dismemberment and kept his skull as a trophy.
Errol Lindsey, 19 [April 7, 1991]
Lindsey’s murder marked a dark escalation in Dahmer’s already horrific behavior. Michael Lindsey, Errol’s brother, shared with the Associated Press in July 1991 that Errol might have encountered Dahmer while heading to a key shop around the time he vanished. After meeting the teenager, Dahmer drugged him and drilled a hole in his head, pouring hydrochloric acid into it to induce a zombie-like state. Miraculously, Lindsey regained consciousness before Dahmer ultimately strangled and dismembered him, retaining his skull as a macabre keepsake.
Anthony “Tony” Hughes, 31 [May 24, 1991]
Among the tragic deaths depicted in Monster, the murder of Anthony “Tony” Hughes, who was deaf and mute, stands out as particularly sorrowful. In the series, Dahmer meets Hughes while he is dancing at a gay club and tries to entice him to come home, but Hughes initially resists, prompting Dahmer to put in more effort to win his affection. They develop a romantic bond, with Dahmer learning sign language to enhance their communication, and they appear to engage in consensual intimacy on the day Hughes was killed.
Dahmer even chooses to forgo drugging Hughes, opting instead for a genuine connection. However, historical accounts from the time of Dahmer’s arrest do not support the idea that they had a relationship. Reports suggest that Hughes was persuaded to visit Dahmer’s home after a night at the club with the lure of being paid for modeling. Dahmer left Hughes’s body on the floor for three days before dismembering it and taking photographs. FBI records later confirmed that Hughes’s vertebrae and skull were found in Dahmer’s apartment.
Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14 [May 27, 1991]
Konerak Sinthasomphone is introduced early in Monster as the brother of Somsack, one of Dahmer’s earlier victims who managed to escape. In the show, Konerak is aware of what Dahmer did to his brother but still goes to Dahmer’s apartment, hoping to earn money for his family by posing for photographs. Similar to his interaction with Hughes, Dahmer attempts to perform a lobotomy on Konerak by drilling into his skull while Konerak’s lifeless body lies on the bedroom floor. Although he manages to escape Dahmer’s grasp, he is tragically returned to the apartment after Dahmer convinces the police that Konerak was merely a drunken lover.
The details surrounding Konerak’s death align closely with the portrayal in Netflix’s dramatization, except for a 1991 report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that mentioned a source close to the investigation stating that Dahmer was taken aback to discover Konerak was related to Somsack. However, given Dahmer’s history as a pathological liar, this could be just another thread in the intricate web of deceit he spun to ensnare his victims and avoid capture. While the series does not show Dahmer dismembering Konerak or keeping his skull, it concludes with the chilling sound of a power drill, leaving much to the imagination.
Matt Turner, 20 [June 30, 1991]
Turner encountered Dahmer at a bus stop after the Chicago Pride Parade, where Dahmer persuaded him to come to Milwaukee for a photo shoot. Once at Dahmer’s apartment, he drugged, strangled, and dismembered Turner, who had left home to stay at a Chicago halfway house just a year prior. Dahmer stored Turner’s head in the freezer and his torso in a 57-gallon drum filled with acid.
Jeremiah Weinberger, 23 [July 5, 1991]
Dahmer also placed Weinberger’s torso in the same 57-gallon drum and kept his head in the freezer after drilling a hole in it and pouring hot water inside. Weinberger’s tragic encounter with Dahmer took place in Chicago, where witnesses saw him leave the gay bar Carol’s Speakeasy with a man believed to be Dahmer. Dahmer later told authorities that they took a Greyhound bus from Chicago to Milwaukee to spend the weekend at his apartment, where they engaged in sexual activity on the first night. When Weinberger expressed a desire to leave the following day, Dahmer killed him.
Oliver Lacy, 23 [July 15, 1991]
Lacy was a devoted father to a two-year-old son when Dahmer lured him to his apartment with an offer to pay for photographs. Tragically, after Lacy was drugged and strangled, Dahmer engaged in sexual acts with his deceased body and later stored the heart in his freezer for later consumption, as depicted in Monster. Dahmer also preserved Lacy’s head in the freezer. According to FBI records, Lacy was identified through severed hands that the Milwaukee Police found in Dahmer’s apartment. Dahmer had also handed over Lacy’s identification to the police.
Latest: Police Reveal ‘Odd’ Details About JonBenét Ramsey’s ‘Fake’ Ransom Note in Netflix Series
Joseph Bradehoft, 25 [July 19, 1991]
Dahmer’s 17th and final victim was 25-year-old Joseph Bradehoft, a father of three who unfortunately crossed paths with Dahmer while waiting for the same bus. This encounter led to Bradehoft being invited back to Dahmer’s apartment, marking the last time he was seen alive on his way to a job interview on July 16, 1991. After engaging in oral sex, Dahmer drugged Bradehoft and strangled him with a strap, following his usual method of disposal by placing the torso in a drum and the head in the freezer, a pattern he maintained until his arrest three days later.