Jeffrey Dahmer is escorted into the courtroom by police. He wears a white button-down shirt and black suit jacket.

Police Pulled Jeffrey Dahmer Over When He Had a Body in His Car

Jeffrey Dahmer was pulled over by a police officer with a body in his car, but was not arrested at the time.

by Erica Scassellati

Published on September 27, 2022

2 min read

‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ depicts Jeffrey Dahmer’s first murder

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Episode 3 depicts the murder of Dahmer’s first victim, Steven Hicks. Dahmer picked up Hicks, who asked for a ride to a concert. However, Hicks first agreed to drink a few beers with Dahmer at his house. When Hicks eventually tried to leave, Dahmer beat and strangled him.

In the Netflix series, Dahmer stores Hick’s body in a crawl space while figuring out what to do. He then grabs a case of beer and a carving knife to aid him in getting rid of the body. The next scene shows him driving with his back seat full of black trash bags. Two police officers pull him over, noticing his car is swerving all over the road.

For years, he took the lives of innocent victims, undetected by police. But their stories won't be erased. DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story arrives on Netflix at midnight. pic.twitter.com/GVr1J2bOiV
— Ryan Murphy Productions (@ryanmurphyprod) September 20, 2022

The Netflix series shows Dahmer getting pulled over with Steven Hicks body in his car

In Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the officers know that Dahmer has been drinking, and one asks him about the contents of the garbage bags. “They’re clippings from the yard,” Dahmer responds. “My parents just got divorced, and I can’t really sleep, so I just do yard work. I was gonna drop them at the dump.”

The other officer states that he won’t arrest Dahmer tonight because he has his whole life ahead of him, which he doesn’t want to ruin. He instructs Dahmer to drive home and never let him see him again.

This scene from ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer’ is shockingly accurate

It’s hard to believe that this story from Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is actually true. However, Dahmer really did get pulled over with a body in his car. If police had looked in the garbage bags, his reign of terror could have been stopped after one murder.

According to the Parcast podcast, Serial Killers, Dahmer was pulled over with Steven Hicks’s body in trash bags in his car because he was swerving all over the road. The officer called for backup. However, Dahmer managed to pass the sobriety test they gave him.

Then one of the officers noticed a smell and saw the trash bags in Dahmer’s car. “The officer asked what was in the trash bags. In a stroke of inspiration, Jeff replied, ‘Trash,'” host Greg Polcyn said on the podcast. “He explained that his parents were going through a rough divorce, and their screaming was keeping him awake.”

“He needed to get out of the house, and his mom asked him to take the trash to the dump earlier that afternoon. So he figured he might as well use that as an excuse to take a drive.” Dahmer’s lie fooled the cops. One wrote him a ticket and instructed him to head home.