Jeffrey Dahmer Once Created His Own Secret ‘Private Cemetery’ out of ‘Adolescent Obsession’
Many true crime fans are curious to learn more about the childhood of serial killers to learn about wher it all began. However, they each differ in the homes they grew up in. Jeffrey Dahmer had a private cemetery that he managed to keep secret from his family for quite some time, even though it became an “adolescent obsession” for him at the time. His father, Lionel, explained the discovery of the disturbing site.
Jeffrey Dahmer’s father tried to interest him in normal hobbies
According to Lionel’s book, A Father’s Story, he noticed that his son had a general disinterest in social activities. Dahmer was withdrawn and had no interest in the arts or other “normal” hobbies. Therefore, Lionel decided to give him a little nudge in the right direction to discovering healthy ways to spend his time as a teenager. So, he introduced his son to bodybuilding, which initially showed great promise.
Unfortunately, the Bullworker only kept Dahmer busy for about a year at 16 years old. He frequently discarded items that his father would purchase for him in the pursuit of finding typical amusements for his son. Nevertheless, Lionel would soon discover that Dahmer was actually working on a private cemetery that he would never forget.
Jeffrey Dahmer created his own ‘private cemetery’ out of animals as a part of his ‘adolescent obsession’
Lionel wrote in A Father’s Story that he didn’t know about Dahmer’s private cemetery and obsession with bones that blew up into an “adolescent obsession” until the trial in Feb. 1992.
“He would begin to roam the nearby streets of our neighborhood, always on his bike, but further equipped with a supply of plastic garbage bags with which he could retrieve the remains of animals he found along his way,” Lionel wrote. “He would gather together these animal remains and create his own private cemetery, he would strip the flesh from the bodies of these putrescent road kills and even mount a dog’s head on a stake.”
Dahmer’s father blamed this revelation on both those surrounding him that didn’t alert him, as well as himself for not picking up on it. However, Lionel later discovered that the private cemetery was on “a small mounded area on a neighbor’s property” and the dog’s head was in the woods.
He first killed in 1978
Dahmer would eventually move from the private cemetery including animal remains to humans. He committed his first murder in 1978 soon after he graduated from high school. He picked up 18-year-old Steven Mark Hicks, who was a hitchhiker. Dahmer lured him back to his home for conversation, music, and beer, but it ultimately ended in murder.
The killer strangled him to death after striking him in the head with a dumbbell. Dahmer was very intentional with how he broke down the body to eliminate as much evidence as he possibly could. However, he later admitted to the crime and explained the incredibly disturbing process that included a sledgehammer for the bones and acid for the flesh.
