How to Survive Jeffrey Dahmer

4 min read

It’s 1991, and Wisconsin police officers have walked into a literal house of horrors. Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment. Photo albums filled with pictures of body parts, severed heads in the refrigerator and a 57-gallon drum in the corner of the bedroom, containing several bodies. For 14 years, a masterclass in police negligence allowed Dahmer to satisfy his most gruesome fantasies. That is until an escaped victim ended the killing spree once and for all.
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was responsible for the horrific murders of 17 young men and boys. Dahmer lured young, primarily Black, Latino and Asian men back to his apartment with the promise of money or sex. His victims were given drug-laced alcohol before being strangled to death. Between 1978 and 1991, only a lucky few escaped with their lives. All of which reported Dahmer to the police. But how did Dahmer evade the police for so long? How did these survivors escape? And did the police really return a victim back to Dahmer?

1. Don’t accept the drink.

In 1988, Ronald Flowers woke up in the hospital with ligature marks around his neck and his underwear inside out. The last thing he could remember was drinking coffee served by Dahmer before falling to the ground. Earlier, Flowers was dancing the night away at Club 219.
When it was time to head home, Flowers’ car wouldn’t start, and his friends had already left. Enter good samaritan Jeffrey Dahmer, who invited Flowers to his grandmother’s house with the excuse of helping him with his car trouble. Once there, Flowers was drugged, quickly falling unconscious. He would have suffered the same fate as Dahmer’s other victims if not for one thing. Grandma Dahmer. During Dahmer’s trial, Flowers testified that if Dahmer’s grandmother had not intervened, he would have been killed. After waking up in the hospital, Flowers reported the incident to the authorities. When brought in for questioning, Dahmer told police that he and Flowers had a consensual relationship. Police then told Flowers that “”it’s his word against yours.””

2. Don’t Follow Strangers Home

Later that year, Jeffrey Dahmer moved into a new apartment. With the promise of money, Dahmer lured 13-year-old Somsack Sinthasomphone to come inside to pose for nude photographs. Somsack was drugged and sexually abused before he could escape and miraculously make his way home. Somsack’s family informed police, and Dahmer was subsequently arrested for second-degree sexual assault and enticing a minor. He was sentenced to just a year in prison with work release and five years probation tacked on.
In 1991 while still on probation, he murdered Somsacks own younger brother. Fourteen-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone. Somsack’s brother almost escaped but was returned to Dahmer after the killer insisted to police that Konerak was his nineteen-year-old friend who had gotten drunk. Yeah. The police gave back a 14-year-old boy to Jeffrey Dahmer. After Konerak’s murder, the Sinthasomphone family filed a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee and the police department.

3. Hold Police Accountable

On July 22, 1991, Dahmer’s terrifying murder spree finally ended. And it’s all thanks to Tracy Edwards. Earlier in the day, Dahmer offered Edwards money to come to his apartment. Once Edwards entered, he was handcuffed and threatened with a knife. Edwards was taken to the bedroom, where he was held captive as Dahmer watched a movie and rambled on. Dahmer even told Edwards that he wanted to eat his heart. Once Dahmer calmed down, Edwards hit the unsuspecting serial killer before running outside. Police found him walking in a daze and after some convincing, Edwards led them back to the crime scene. Once inside, officers would discover the horrific extent of Dahmer’s sadistic crimes. If we’ve learned one thing from these heroic survivors, it’s that nothing can prepare a person for the sheer terror they experienced. The failure on display by law enforcement could have saved lives had they listened to these victims. Instead, because of the prejudices held by those with the power, they chose not to intervene.