Original subtitles

[music]

[Male narrator] You think you know the full story

about America's most famous monster.

One of the nation's worst mass murder cases ever.

[Male reporter] Police found a grisly scene.

A human head, plus several more skulls,

and parts of bodies.

Jeffrey, I hate you, mother[bleep]!

I hate you!

[Narrator] But Jeffrey Dahmer's twisted tale

doesn't end with his conviction.

This is the story of the next horrific chapter

in the Milwaukee Cannibal's life--

his brief time behind bars.

Convicted mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer has been killed.

[Narrator] Told by those who knew him best.

Prison life was not gonna be easy for Mr. Dahmer.

[Roy] Okay, I baptize you in

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

for the forgiveness of your sins.

He went from being a monster to becoming a real person.

[Nancy] I've interviewed a lot of criminals,

and Jeffrey Dahmer's demeanor was sad.

[Man] Did you kill Dahmer?

No exception to the rule.

[Gerald] He said, "I killed him because

I did not feel he had the right to be called a murderer."

I thought right away that it was a setup.

Somebody finally did something.

He's finally facing some sort of justice.

[music]

[music]

[Narrator] It's an ordinary Monday

at the Columbia Correctional Institution

in Portage, Wisconsin,

the maximum security prison

housing one of the country's most terrifying bogeymen,

serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer.

[Alvin] On the morning of November 28, 1994,

Jeffrey Dahmer finds himself on a work detail

with two other inmates,

Jesse Anderson and Christopher Scarver.

They had been assigned to clean the gym and the locker rooms,

and then go back to their cells.

[Nisha] Dahmer, he's still supposed to

kind of have a guard there watching him,

and for whatever reason,

the guards, they left all three of these men alone.

Just stepped away.

[Kayla] Jeffrey's just minding his business, cleaning,

when he hears someone creeping up behind him.

[Narrator] It's Christopher Scarver.

[Kayla] And when Dahmer turns around,

he's met with a weighted metal bar to the face

and brutally beaten until he is near death

and bleeding out on the floor.

[Narrator] And Scarver's not done yet.

He then attacks Jesse Anderson.

He lays Jesse Anderson out.

He just started beating him in the head.

And then the inmate just calmly walks back to his cell.

[Narrator] Back in the gym, all hell breaks loose.

[Nisha] The guards immediately rush in

and they find Dahmer in a bloody heap just on the floor.

And Jesse Anderson with his head bludgeoned in.

[Narrator] When the guards realize

Scarver's missing from the work detail,

they go to his cell to question him.

[Kayla] He responds, "God made me do it.

You'll see it on the six o'clock news."

[Narrator] News of the attack on Dahmer

spreads like wildfire among the inmates.

The prison goes into a frenzy.

Ambulances have to be called.

The whole prison goes on a lockdown.

Guards are trying to get control of the situation,

but really, everyone's freaking out,

and the place is full of chaos.

[Narrator] Medics rush the badly-bludgeoned serial killer

and Anderson to a local hospital,

but neither make it.

Convicted mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer has been killed.

Fatal injuries suffered this morning

at Columbia Correctional Institute.

[music]

[Narrator] For some, news of Dahmer's murder is a shock.

[Roy] I go out in the car, turn the radio on,

and they announce that Jeffrey Dahmer's been killed.

I couldn't hardly believe it.

Oh my God, it's Jeffrey Dahmer.

[Michael R] Murder is murder.

It wasn't Mr. Scarver's responsibility

to end his life.

The murderer's now a celebrity.

[Narrator] But for others, it's no surprise.

[Debra] There was, like, a sense of relief, like,

okay, it's finally done.

Somebody finally got it taken care of.

To me, Christopher Scarver was kind of like a hero.

For Jeffrey Dahmer to suffer until he passed,

I think he deserved every bit of heck he went through.

[Dr. Berlin] Some people just feel that vengeance is justice.

It's not hard to understand that at a human level.

[Gerald] Scarver thought Dahmer was a rat

because he was a bad human being

and did not deserve to live

and did not deserve to have the title "murderer."

Scarver, he said, "I'm the murderer.

Dahmer was not."

[Vernell] Knowing Jeffrey Dahmer the way that I did

as my neighbor

and then having been incarcerated myself,

I kind of thought that he would have a difficult time

while incarcerated because in prison,

the majority of the population is Black.

And the majority of his victims were Black.

[Narrator] Seventeen victims in total.

Most of whose remains are uncovered three years earlier

inside Dahmer's innocuous Milwaukee apartment.

One of the nation's worst mass murder cases ever.

[Male reporter] Police found a grisly scene.

A human head, plus several more skulls,

and parts of bodies.

To kill multiple men, human beings,

and retain their body parts in your refrigerator

where your butter is?

Your juice, your jelly?

Who does that?

Not a normal person.

[Michael M] He wasn't the first serial slayer

that I prosecuted,

but he was probably the worst human being

in terms of what he did to those bodies.

[music]

[Narrator] When arrested, Dahmer simply admits

to all his unspeakable deeds.

[Michael M] He was cooperative.

The police officers told me they thought he was,

to a very good extent, truthful.

[Gerald] Dahmer confessed to crimes

the police didn't even know existed.

A whole bunch of homicides that Dahmer testified to,

there was no report of any missing persons.

Dahmer didn't put up any defense to anything.

He just said, "I did this, and this is how I did it."

He was never about getting away with it in the first place.

Dahmer is all about looking for

a sense of structure and normalcy

and attention-seeking.

He wants to feel love and connection,

which is somewhat different from other serial killers.

So when he was finally caught,

he had nothing to gain by keeping it to himself.

In fact, he had an opportunity to get more attention

than he's ever had, to tell a story.

[Narrator] Although police discover various parts

of 11 different victims inside Dahmer's apartment,

he confesses to murdering 17 men and boys.

Including his youngest victim,

14-year-old Jamie Doxtator.

[Debra] I had made lasagna that night.

He asked me to save him an extra piece.

He said he met his friend Tony. They were gonna go next door,

and they were going to play video games.

He didn't show up.

I couldn't find him after that.

[music]

[Debra] I seen an interview with Dahmer,

and they specifically asked him

why he chose the Native American boy.

He said he had been watching him.

He said he was always so clean, good looking.

Always well dressed, always took care of himself.

And he said that's what attracted him to my son.

Jamie was always adventurous. He had no fear.

He wasn't scared of getting hurt.

[music]

[Mike K] People didn't see him as a threat

or a dangerous person.

Nobody was afraid of him.

He was always able to be polite and well spoken.

[Nancy] Here's this mild-mannered guy

who worked in a chocolate factory.

And it turned out he was killing people

and he was a cannibal.

What was terrifying about Jeffrey Dahmer was

how normal he appeared.

It's how he got away with it for so long.

It was how he was able to escalate

and become this horrible serial killer.

[Michael R] You would think a monster's

gonna be unattractive.

Well, he was exactly the opposite.

He was very attractive--

blond hair, blue eyes, I remember those.

People said, wonder how he killed 19 people.

That's how.

Frankly, I don't think there's been a serial killer

as fierce as Jeffrey Dahmer since Jeffrey Dahmer.

[music]

[Narrator] That January,

the country watches with bated breath

as Dahmer heads to trial.

[Nancy] Jeffrey Dahmer never wanted to be put on trial.

He just wanted to be put to death.

He knew he was guilty, and he told me

that he didn't wear his glasses during much of the trial

because he didn't want to be in the courtroom.

He didn't want to see what was going on.

[Narrator] But Dahmer's attorney, Gerald Boyle,

believes there is one plea

that may spare his client's life.

My first order of business was to see

if there was an insanity defense,

because if you read his confession,

you would see, no questions asked,

that there was something wrong with him.

[Dr Berlin] And here's a man who was killing folks.

He was having sex with their dead bodies.

At one point, he was drilling holes

in the heads of individuals,

thinking that he could create zombies

who would continue to live with him.

I certainly didn't think that he was a man of sound mind

who was just misbehaving.

[Dr Drane] Dahmer could fully explain what he did

and he can fully explain that his actions were wrong.

[Nancy] What he did was horrible.

It was unimaginable.

It was the worst kind of crime that could ever happen.

Was it insane?

To you and me, yes.

To the law?

Maybe not.

It was a hard trial to sit through.

Hearing from people

who had been victimized by Jeffrey Dahmer was horrible.

The details were unbearable.

And the sorrow and anger of the victims' families

was heartbreaking.

How could you blame them for being angry

and for being devastated by what this monster did?

[Narrator] But a jury finds Dahmer sane,

and after a grueling two-week trial,

convicts on him 15 counts of first-degree murder.

Dahmer barely flinches.

[Michael M] He was completely calm, quiet, collected.

No evidence of stress.

[Gerald] Dahmer was the easiest client I've ever represented.

He never asked for anything.

He never demanded anything.

He never suggested that we could do a better job.

Never one time did he complain.

[Narrator] While Dahmer's trial is emotionally exhausting,

it's nothing compared to the final impact statement

a victim's relative gives before his sentencing.

Jeffrey, I hate you, mother[bleep]!

I hate you!

This is out of control!

[Michael M] He didn't react at all.

I'll never forget that.

The bailiffs jumped in and stopped the lady

before she got to him.

But you can understand, she was overwhelmed.

[Narrator] Then it's Dahmer's turn to deliver a statement

to the victims' families.

I know my time in prison will be terrible,

but I deserve whatever I get because of what I have done.

I ask for no consideration.

[Narrator] He receives the maximum sentence.

Fifteen consecutive terms of life imprisonment,

which is basically about 950 years.

[Narrator] While Dahmer awaits transfer to the prison

where he'll spend the rest of his life,

across town, another accused killer bides his time

behind bars as well.

His name is Christopher Scarver.

And he has no idea that one day,

fate will put him directly in the path

of the monster on his screen.

[music]

[music]

[Narrator] In the winter of 1992, Dahmer settles into

the Columbia Correctional Institution,

a maximum security prison in Portage, Wisconsin,

to live out the remainder of his life.

[Troy] The kinds of people that are kept in CCI

are severe cases.

It's a maximum security prison for a reason.

[Narrator] The local townsfolk aren't thrilled

with their new resident.

[Troy] It did kind of ruffle some feathers.

The people in Portage didn't want their town to be

known for the place that houses a horrific serial killer.

They would rather be known for other things that go on there,

like all the festivals and their historic downtown.

[Narrator] Prison officials are aware of

the dangers Dahmer faces

and place him in solitary confinement.

Columbia Correctional Institution

houses a few hundred people there, probably overcrowded.

So even though the vast majority of inmates

probably weren't looking to

have anything to do with Jeffrey Dahmer,

there's a few crazy ones out there

who feel like they need to carry out vengeance.

[Dr. Drane] When somebody like Jeffrey Dahmer goes to prison,

they often have a target on their back

because of their celebrity,

but also because their crimes are usually more heinous

than your average prisoner in jail.

So, the prisoner population now has somebody to vilify.

Now they're not the villains. They got a new villain.

[Nisha] They knew that somebody was gonna kill him,

so it was really to protect him

because it was like if they would've put him

in general population

as soon as he would've stepped on the floor,

it just would've been over.

[Narrator] Dahmer's isolation is a difficult tradeoff.

[Michael R] You don't see other people.

You don't get to talk to other people.

It's boring.

It gets very lonely.

We think we don't need people, but stay in there are a while.

[Dr. Drane] Humans are social creatures.

The human brain relies pinging off of other people

in order to understand who we are.

And when we lose everybody around us,

we have nothing in the external world to stimulate us,

so we go internal.

To take us away from other people

is to slowly drive us insane.

[Narrator] Dahmer endures his time in isolation,

but after a long, lonely year,

reaches his limit being alone.

I think that started to eat at him because

one thing about Jeffrey Dahmer is he needs attention.

And I think that is, uh...

I think that started to make him a little stir crazy

when he got there, for sure.

Jeffrey petitioned to actually be released

to general population.

Dahmer figures he's gonna take his chances with the population

rather than continue to be in solitary confinement.

[Nisha] Just put me in gen pop and whatever happens, happens,

you know, 'cause you're technically dead right now.

You're in solitary.

Yeah, you're breathing and stuff, but I mean, it's over.

[Narrator] In the summer of 1992,

prison officials grant Jeffrey Dahmer's request

to live among his fellow inmates.

Where Jeffrey Dahmer ends up was a specific ward for

the mentally unstable, almost a prison within a prison.

And Dahmer, when he's not in his cell,

he's being taken from place to place in shackles, with guards.

He is not left alone.

[Narrator] Many wonder if Dahmer will face prison justice

from his fellow inmates.

[Michael R] We like to think we're in control,

but the reality is,

there's always more inmates than staff--always.

[Alvin] The last thing you wanna be

is a person with a target on their back in a prison.

To be a person who

the prisoners universally want to harm

is not a good place to be.

He was in real shark-infested waters.

[Narrator] It's in gen pop that convicted murderer

Christopher Scarver sees

the infamous serial killer in person for the first time.

[Alvin] I think Christopher Scarver was,

like everyone else in the prison,

angry and disgusted at the actions of Jeffrey Dahmer,

but also just kind of wanted to avoid him,

because he's a weird guy.

[Narrator] Neither man knows it yet,

but they're on a collision course for destiny.

[music]

[Narrator] Fellow inmates Jeffrey Dahmer

and Christopher Scarver

have more in common than they realize.

Christopher Scarver, much like Jeffrey Dahmer,

grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

At a young age, he started to do bad in school

because of his alcohol use,

and that caused him to fail out.

[Nisha] So he drops out of school,

and his mom kicks him out of the house

because of all the alcohol and drug use that he was doing.

His mom had five kids, single mother.

She was like, I can't have that around my other four kids.

[Narrator] A couple years later,

Scarver manages to get his life back on track,

enrolling in the Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program.

The Job Corps is basically like a place

where you rebuild your life, you learn skills,

and if you do a really good job,

then they'll give you a job at the end of it.

He was taking the carpentry program.

[Narrator] Edward Patts, one of the instructors at the Corps,

takes Scarver under his wing.

[Nisha] Edward Patts really took a liking to him.

He promised him. He said, "When you get out of here,

"I'm definitely gonna have a job for you.

I'm gonna make sure I take care of you."

[Alvin] Scarver moved in with his girlfriend.

He finds out that she's pregnant.

Life seems to be going the way that it should be going

for Christopher Scarver, you know?

He has a lot of things to look forward to.

[Narrator] Then, without warning,

Scarver has the rug pulled out from under him.

Edward Patts is fired,

and the site manager, John Feyen,

gives the promised job to someone else.

[Nisha] When that happened, that really threw Christopher

off on a deep end, you know?

He got more in the marijuana, uh, drugs, alcohol.

And then around this time as well

is when he was having voices in his head.

He was saying the voices was telling him

he's the chosen one.

Now, all this is happening at the same time

his girlfriend was pregnant as well.

[Devin] To do all the right things

and get affirmation for them,

and then have that affirmation taken away,

is, uh, really devastating.

It's a terrible feeling, and terrifying as well,

to be 19, having a family to support.

[music]

And just, it seems like he didn't care anymore at all.

He went to this, like, little black hole of depression.

[Narrator] With his life spiraling out of control,

Scarver thirsts for revenge.

On June 1, 1990, he goes to

the Conservation Corps training site

and confronts John Feyen

and another employee, Steve Lohman.

[Nisha] Christopher comes in with a gun,

and he demands money.

So John pulls $15 out of his wallet

and he says, you know, "This is all I have."

And Christopher turns around and shoots Steven.

After he shoots him, he says,

"Okay, now you know that I'm not playing."

John says, "I really don't have any money."

So he writes him a check for $3000.

[Narrator] But Scarver still isn't satisfied.

He shoots Steve, like, about three more times.

He starts shooting into his dead body.

[Kayla] John, who was terrified, runs away

as fast as he can.

While he's running away, though,

Chris is still shooting at John,

but fortunately misses.

And after that, Chris flees the scene.

[Narrator] Police immediately put out an APB for Scarver.

He's surprisingly easy to locate.

Within a matter of hours, Chris was arrested

at his girlfriend's house with both the gun

and the $3000 check still in his possession.

[Narrator] They charge Scarver with the murder of Steve Lohman

and attempted murder of John Feyen.

He pleads not guilty by reason of mental disease.

Eventually it was found out that he has schizophrenia.

He would hear voices that would say he's the chosen one.

[Kayla] Psychiatrists at his trail testified that

although there are many people that have schizophrenia,

they're not violent.

She felt that if Chris went untreated,

he would definitely become extremely dangerous

to himself and others.

He had what's called messianic delusions,

delusions of grandeur, religious-type delusions,

thinking that he was some embodiment of, of God,

some higher power.

In that psychotic state,

where you're responding to voices

and things telling you what to do,

it becomes very easy to justify any actions that you take.

[Narrator] Like Jeffrey Dahmer,

a jury also finds Scarver sane,

and therefore guilty of murder.

They sentence him to life without parole

and eventually send him to

the Columbia Correctional Institution,

where he comes face to face with Jeffrey Dahmer.

He studies him, but he keeps his distance.

He wants nothing to do at all with Dahmer.

[Narrator] But that will change.

[Narrator] Jeffrey Dahmer isn't making many friends

inside prison.

But he does develop a devoted cadre of pen pals.

Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes have put him into the ranks

with Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy

to where it was so shocking,

that people gravitated towards him

instead of running away from it.

So he's now in prison receiving fan mail

with money inside of it for commissary,

love letters, devotees singing his praises.

He was getting mail from not only men, but women as well

that wanted to pursue a relationship with him,

even though they knew that he was a homosexual.

[Dr Drane] Hybristophilia,

sometimes called Bonnie and Clyde syndrome,

is the attraction to criminal behavior.

It gives the person,

who usually has a more beta personality,

somebody who is not as secure in themselves,

winds up being attracted to that sense of danger,

that sense of take charge,

that serial killers often provide.

And that's why Dahmer winds up getting

all these letters in prison.

People who are so fascinated with him,

they just can't leave him alone.

They start to empathize with Jeffrey Dahmer,

to correspond with him from prison.

That gives you enough room, enough space,

to fill in your own fantasies, your own desires,

and what you want the relationship to be.

[Narrator] But Dahmer has other,

more celestial, interests.

Jeffrey gets out of solitary confinement

and he seemed like a new man because he's found religion.

[Narrator] As Dahmer promised in his courtroom statement...

I promise I will pray each day to ask for their forgiveness

when the hurt goes away, if ever.

[Narrator] He turns toward his faith behind bars.

[Alvin] Religion became a big part of his day-to-day life.

He would go to the chapel and pray,

starts to read the Bible.

[Dr Drane] The part of Jeffrey Dahmer that turns to religion

is the same part of him

that feels remorse for what he's done.

The part of him that is human

and has a sense of morality.

And so religion offers an escape from that.

It offers him a second chance,

a way to be forgiven and wipe the slate clean.

[Narrator] It's not the first time

Dahmer's turned to Christianity.

In 1981, a few years after committing his first murder,

Dahmer moves in with his grandmother in Milwaukee

and tries to reform his evil ways.

[Michael M] His grandmother was a spiritual person,

and she seemed to have a beneficent influence on Dahmer.

Dahmer started reading the Bible,

started thinking about these things

and assessing what he had done.

[Savannah] When Jeffrey was 13 years old,

he had engaged in a romantic physical relationship

with a boy in his neighborhood.

And this was the first inclination to Jeffrey

that he had that he was, in fact, gay.

But it was something that Jeffrey felt like

he had to hide.

[Savannah] Religion was like his last effort

on trying to fix what he thought was broken,

which was being gay. And he really dove into that

and spent a lot of time studying religion,

going to church.

And everyone around Jeffrey

thought that this was going to be a really good thing for him.

[Narrator] It appears to work

until Dahmer has an encounter at the local library.

The young man dropped a note in his lap saying,

"Let's meet in the bathroom and have a sexual encounter."

Dahmer didn't do that, but he started rethinking

the spiritual aspects of his life,

and then made a conscious decision

to step away from what had been

the good influence of his grandmother.

[Narrator] Desperate to act out on his dark desires,

Dahmer finds a new romantic partner--

a mannequin he steals from a local department store.

[Dr Drane] Dahmer has this mannequin

as a kind of stopgap measure,

somebody he can impose his will on

that won't fight back.

[Narrator] Dahmer keeps his new love a secret,

storing the mannequin in his closet

whenever he's away.

But it's only a matter of time

before his forbidden partner's exposed.

[Savannah] One day, his grandmother went into his room,

opened his closet,

and was shocked and disturbed at seeing this mannequin.

So she completely freaked out

and forced him to get rid of it.

[Narrator] Now Dahmer must turn to other ways

to get his kicks-- outside the home.

Bathhouses were a place that you could go

and anticipate you would meet a sexual partner.

But the men there found Jeffrey Dahmer to be incredibly creepy.

[Michael M] He would drug them.

He'd say, "Here, have a drink of my coffee"

or whatever he'd be using.

The guy would take the drink and pass out.

And then Dahmer would sexually exploit him

according to his desires.

The underlying driving force with Dahmer

was the fantasy of sex with an unconscious person.

[Dr Drane] There becomes a point of no return.

He's like a shark that's had a taste of blood.

There really is no going back for Dahmer.

[Narrator] The rest is history.

[Male reporter] Police found a grisly scene.

A human head, plus several more skulls,

and parts of bodies.

[Narrator] Now in prison,

Dahmer appears to fully embrace his newfound faith.

He even requests to be baptized.

[phone ringing]

[music]

Got a phone call in 1994 saying

that an inmate wanted to be baptized.

Would I please baptize him?

I said "Okay, uh, I've never done a prison baptism,

but tell me what his name is and we'll do this."

Said, "Well, you might want to sit down for this."

"Oh, why is that?"

"'Cause his name is Jeffrey Dahmer."

[Narrator] Pastor Ratcliff heads behind the razor wire

to meet with the man he only knows as legend.

[Roy] I first heard about Jeff on the television, of course.

I remember thinking, why would a person do that?

I didn't know quite what to expect

because I'd never been to a prison before.

And I anticipated, well,

I'll probably be in a room with a glass wall between us

while I talked to him on the telephone.

I was quite surprised when I was escorted to a simple room,

10 by 12 feet or so,

with a table and chairs and told, "Sit down."

Finally, someone comes to the door.

It's Jeffrey Dahmer.

I recognized him 'cause I'd seen him on TV.

So there I am in a room all by myself,

with nothing but a table between the two of us.

And I'm thinking, "Wow, I'm in a room with a man

who's killed a bunch of other people."

You have a moment of panic there.

But because I'm a preacher,

"Why do you want to be baptized?"

So he begins to quote scriptures for me,

which is a surprise.

The man needs to have his sins washed away.

It changed my view of him.

I mean, he went from being a monster

to becoming a real person.

[Narrator] Prison officials approve Dahmer's baptism

for May 10, 1994.

[Roy] On the day that Jeff was baptized,

there was a total solar eclipse,

so it got dark on that day.

It was also the day that

John Wayne Gacy was put to death,

which is, I think, ironic.

Jeffrey Dahmer died to his sins

and John Wayne Gacy died for his crimes.

The chaplain and two guards, uh, escort Jeff and myself

from the chaplain's office through various hallways.

And we passed other inmates,

and they said, "Hey, JD! How's it going?"

And he said, "Hey, I'm gonna be baptized today."

And they thought, "Well that, that's great."

[Narrator] The guards lead the pastor and serial killer

to the medical area, which has numerous tubs.

[Roy] And Jeff takes off his clothes,

then puts on this white little outfit

that the chaplain had made for him.

And then climbs into the tub.

So then I simply put my hand on his head and said,

"Okay, I baptize you in the Father,

the Son, the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins."

I pushed his head under the water.

And then he comes back up.

I said, "Welcome to the family of God."

[Narrator] But not everyone's pleased with Dahmer's embrace

of Christianity.

[Roy] On the day that Jeff was baptized,

some anonymous person called on my phone

and described me as a piece of human anatomy.

Well, he used a more crude word to describe it.

Well, he didn't understand why I did what I did.

[Debra] When I heard that Dahmer

had apparently found religion,

I thought it wasn't real with him.

He didn't take it to his heart.

I didn't feel like he ever would.

I don't feel that he should've been baptized

because he didn't believe.

[Alvin] I think it infuriated a lot of people,

but also left a lot of people conflicted because

if you are a devout religious person,

and this person is now saying I've accepted this religion,

and now I've repented for my sins,

then you've gotta forgive Jeffrey Dahmer.

And it's hard to forgive a guy

when you've seen the bag of hearts and the arms

and shoulders and heads come out of their apartment.

So I think it really made people question their religion,

in a way.

[Dr Berlin] It's easy to think of him as all evil or good,

but he was a complicated person.

And so he did awful things,

but I think it's also conceivable

that he could've been genuinely remorseful

and struggling and conflicted,

and that we shouldn't just dismiss

the complexity of that

as though he's just pretending to look good.

I think it's much more complicated than that.

I never got the sense that he was, uh,

being anything other than genuine with me.

This is very serious stuff, as far as I can tell with him.

[Narrator] Following the baptism,

Dahmer continues on his new spiritual path,

reading the Bible and meeting once a week

with Pastor Ratcliff.

So the chaplain arranges for what's called

a permanent pastoral pass.

Every Wednesday from that point on,

I could come to Jeff and meet with him for an hour

and talk about anything that we want to talk about.

But my encouragement to him was don't put yourself in your cell

by yourself, alone.

Try to be around other Christians

as much as you possibly can.

[Narrator] The Milwaukee Cannibal

takes the advice to heart

and begins attending Sunday services

in the prison chapel.

It's there he'll come face to face with a new threat.

[Narrator] A reborn Jeffrey Dahmer

is living his new life behind bars,

holding weekly Bible study with his pastor.

But some of his fellow inmates,

like Christopher Scarver,

believe it's all an act.

[Alvin] Christopher Scarver mentioned

that Jeffrey Dahmer had these unremorseful eyes.

He didn't buy the religious act

that Jeffrey Dahmer was putting on,

and it made him want to commit violence against him.

Dahmer was very mischievous, for lack of a better term.

I've heard stories of him taking his lunches

and, you know, whittling them into body parts,

and then pouring ketchup on them

and kind of leaving them there on the table for people to see.

[Nisha] He would walk up to guards and say,

"I do bite."

A lot of people said, oh, that's disgusting.

And I said, "No, that's Jeff Dahmer.

That's his sense of humor."

I saw that in junior high and high school,

and that was still his sense of humor in prison too.

The word "cannibal," it's a persona that he adopted,

he pursued, and tried to get people to think

in that way of him.

[Alvin] I think in general,

Jeffrey Dahmer was very much a bear off a leash

to a lot of people.

Unassuming guy, scrawny, gigantic glasses.

But once you know what he's done,

you are, you know, apprehensive.

And now you have a person who is

playing the role of Hannibal Lecter

and making jokes and smiling at you and,

you know, being cheeky.

[Kayla] He even went as far as to put up a sign in his cell

that said, "Cannibals Anonymous Meeting."

So he was definitely leaning into the ideals

that everyone already had of him,

which is this man is playing the game,

and he probably still has these same sick feelings that he had

when he was out doing these killings.

[Narrator] It's with his eighth victim, Ernest Miller,

in September 1990,

that Dahmer crossed the Rubicon

from serial killer to cannibal.

[Nancy] After he killed Miller and dismembered him,

he cooked him, and he ate him.

Like, what does that even taste like?

Dahmer realizes if you eat them, they'll always be with you.

And that provides a satisfaction

and even sometimes a sexual component

to the psychopath, that he'll never leave me.

[Savannah] He is keeping their bodies in his apartment.

He is preserving them and they're stacking up.

You can only imagine the smell

that was coming from Jeffrey's apartment.

The level of depravity was way beyond.

[Narrator] Some believe Dahmer's actions in prison

aren't an attempt to make light of his crimes,

but to get the attention that he craves.

[Dr Drane] When you look at Jeffrey Dahmer

when he was young, when he was in high school,

this profoundly socially awkward person

that only knew how to get attention

by making weird faces and jumping around

and acting in this bizarre way,

any attention for a guy like a Dahmer--

any attention is good attention.

And so Dahmer's gonna do whatever it takes

to get any kind of attention, even if it's ridicule,

even if he's being laughed at.

As long as he's not ignored.

[Mike K] One of the things I clearly remember

about Jeff Dahmer

is that, you know, he would be walking down the hall,

and you'd be standing there,

talking to somebody by your locker,

just doing nothing, and he'd just stoop over

and put his head on your chest,

say, "I wanna listen to your heart."

[Roy] And I think he used the cannibal persona

as a defense mechanism

because it accomplished two things.

One thing, it attracted attention.

"Come look at me! Look! I'm doing something weird!"

You know, at the same time, it also was a way

of saying to people, "Don't get too close to me

because I don't trust you,"

because he didn't really have friends.

[Narrator] And while he doesn't know it,

Dahmer is making enemies.

One inmate in particular is beginning to harbor

deep animosity toward him--

37-year-old Osvaldo Durruthy.

[Alvin] Osvaldo Durruthy was a Cuban native.

He was serving 30 years in prison for, uh,

drugs and weapons possession.

And he heard about the Jeffrey Dahmer case,

and he had this self-righteous feeling

that this is an opportunity for me to wipe the slate clean.

[music]

[Narrator] Durruthy comes to America in 1980

as part of the Mariel boatlift,

a mass emigration of Cubans to the United States.

[Narrator] But Durruthy,

who had been serving a 10-year sentence for robbery

in a Cuban prison, has no skills.

[Narrator] In 1991, Durruthy gets in over his head.

[Narrator] Durruthy is sent to Waupun Correctional Institution

in Waupun, Wisconsin.

That's where he first learns of Jeffrey Dahmer,

watching his trial unfold on TV.

[Narrator] The more he hears about Dahmer,

the more Durruthy's anger builds.

When Dahmer is sent to prison,

Durruthy decides he wants vengeance.

[Narrator] But when Dahmer's sent to

the Columbia Correctional Institution,

one of Wisconsin's few prisons with a mental health unit,

Durruthy knows their paths will never cross.

That's when he devises a plan.

Durruthy decides to fake mental illness

so he can be transferred to Dahmer's prison.

[Narrator] In late June 1994,

after nearly two years of acting crazy,

prison officials finally send Durruthy

to the state's mental health institution.

It's in the mess hall where Durruthy gets his first look

at his prey in person.

But Dahmer isn't the bogeyman he had envisioned.

[Narrator] He knows getting close enough to attack Dahmer

isn't going to be easy.

[Narrator] But Durruthy's not bringing his Bible.

Instead, he creates a makeshift knife, a shiv,

by attaching a razor blade to his toothbrush.

On Sunday, July 3, 1994,

just one week after Durruthy arrives at the prison,

he prepares to strike.

[Narrator] But in a flood of adrenaline,

Durruthy presses too hard on his shiv,

and the razor blade snaps off.

[music]

[Narrator] Much to Durruthy's disappointment,

the wound to Dahmer's neck is superficial.

[Kayla] Osvaldo took premeditated

to a whole new level.

I mean, think about having to fake an illness--

not just an illness, a mental illness--

for over two years just to get to this one person.

I mean, there was a lot of hard work that went into that,

so I can imagine the amount of disappointment that he felt

to know that he failed.

[Narrator] For his attempted murder of Dahmer,

authorities tack on an additional five years

to Durruthy's existing 31-year sentence

and send him back to Waupun Correctional Institution

to serve his time.

While Durruthy's assassination attempt fails,

it does inspire other inmates

who share his hatred for Jeffrey Dahmer.

In prison, news travels fast.

So the fact that there's a murder attempt on Jeffrey,

it got around.

I had heard that someone had tried to get at him,

but that they weren't successful.

And I said, "Give it time.

"Sooner or later, someone is gonna put an end to

"this monstrous deviant.

It's just inevitable."

[Narrator] She has no idea how right she is.

[Alvin] In the shadows and in the background

is Christopher Scarver observing every move

and fuming at the evil acts that Dahmer did,

and it made him truly infuriated.

And he started to brew and fantasize about

what he would do if he ever was faced with the ability

to get revenge for the people who Jeffrey Dahmer killed.

Since Osvaldo acted first,

he got permission to what he wanted to do.

[Narrator] But Dahmer won't be Scarver's only intended victim.

[Narrator] At the time of Jeffrey Dahmer's arrest

in 1992, the nation's attention is focused on

the grisly details of his murders.

But across town, in northwest Milwaukee,

there's another drama unfolding,

one that will soon introduce another new character

into Dahmer's orbit.

On April 21, 1992,

Jesse Anderson and his wife, Barbara,

are enjoying a pleasant evening out on the town

with a movie and dinner.

Jesse Anderson, he was a salesperson

for, like, an oil company, getting paid really good money

'cause he was a good salesman.

And Barbara ended up, you know,

just being a stay-at-home mom because they had three kids.

They had two girls and a boy.

[Kayla] People that knew him said

that he was a model guy, really.

He worked hard.

Not only did he go to church, but he would volunteer.

He was active at his children's school.

He just seemed like the perfect family guy.

A couple months before, Jesse and Barbara

actually went on a second honeymoon together to Jamaica.

So the couple seemed like they were connecting,

enjoying each other's company,

and things were going really well.

[Narrator] But shortly after 10:00 PM that night,

the Andersons' date devolves into chaos.

[Kayla] According to Jesse,

once they were leaving the restaurant,

two Black teenagers approached them trying to rob them.

They then attacked Barbara

and started stabbing her multiple times.

And Jesse said he tried to save her and got stabbed as well.

There was a struggle, and he said one of the teenagers

left an LA Clippers hat behind and fleed the scene.

[Nisha] The manager of the restaurant ran outside,

along with another man who happened to be a EMT.

Jesse actually had the knife in his chest.

The police arrive on the scene, and Jesse gives them

the Los Angeles Clippers basketball hat.

[Narrator] Paramedics rush Barbara to the hospital

and directly into surgery

for her more than 20 stab wounds.

But her injuries prove too great.

She dies two days later.

The brutal murder shocks the local community

and sends the media into a frenzy.

This perfect family was just the victim of random violence

committed by young violent Black teens.

The police appealed to the public

to see if anybody was familiar with the LA Clippers hat

or maybe had an idea of who may have committed these crimes.

[Narrator] But investigators have questions

about the attack.

Particularly the disparity between the couple's wounds.

[Nisha] Barbara had been stabbed 21 times

in her head and in her face.

And one of the knife wounds

actually went through to her brain.

All his injuries are superficial.

[Alvin] For Barbara Anderson's wounds

to be so vicious and gruesome,

and for Jesse Anderson's wounds to be so superficial

as the man that, you would assume,

would be the defender

and the one who would put up more of a fight,

raised alarms very quickly.

[Narrator] Then, several days after the attack,

a young man comes forward with a story

that blows the case wide open.

[Nisha] Tommy Myles, who he had saw the hat on the news,

said that he was at the mall

and a man came up to him--

it was a white man, balding, glasses--

and he was like, "Can I buy that Clippers hat from you?"

He offered $20.

And at the time, Tommy Myles was happy

'cause he said he originally bought the hat for $14.

And then he saw it on the news.

He feels like basically he's implicated in that murder.

[Narrator] Tommy's description of the man

who bought the hat from him

fits Jesse Anderson to a T.

Things after that start to really unravel.

Police started to investigate further

and talk to people close to the couple.

They learned that there was abuse involved.

Detectives found notes from Barbara

that really painted the real picture of family life

with Jesse, where she details the abuse that she suffered

and the constant threats of him leaving her and the family.

I think the nail in the coffin for Jesse

was when police were able to track the murder weapon

back to a military surplus store

that Jesse had actually bought it from

a few weeks prior.

They were even able to find the receipt.

So there's no way that Jesse can deny

that that knife was attached to him

and not some random killers.

[Narrator] Police charge 34-year-old Jesse Anderson

with first-degree murder.

The public was furious, and understandably so.

He's trying to frame two innocent people

for something that he did.

[Alvin] I think what Jesse Anderson did is

one of the more evil things that you could do.

Things like that is what got Emmett Till killed.

It's an easy lie with very severe consequences.

[Narrator] In August 1992, Anderson is convicted

and sentenced to life without parole for 60 years.

[Woman] We, the jury, find the defendant, Jesse Anderson,

guilty of first-degree--

[people exclaiming]

[Narrator] Anderson is sent to

the Columbia Correctional Institution.

He finds himself at the same prison

where Christopher Scarver is,

and Jeffrey Dahmer is as well.

[Kayla] And Jesse didn't know it at the time,

but eventually, he would be linked to

one of the most notorious serial killers of all time.

[Narrator] For the past two years,

convicted murderer Christopher Scarver

has been quietly watching his fellow inmate, Jeffrey Dahmer,

from across the prison.

[Dr Drane] Scarver becomes so obsessed with Jeffrey Dahmer

because it gives him that sense of direction,

something to focus on in prison,

which to the idle mind of your average prisoner

is more important than oxygen.

It keeps the social mind engaged.

It keeps them feeling like

there's a meaning to their life,

rather than them just being this husk

rotting away in prison.

Now I have a sense of direction.

[Narrator] Many believe Scarver's untreated

mental health issues are putting him

in a precarious position.

Grandiose delusions are relatively common

within psychotic disorders.

If you believe that you are special,

it gives your sense of self a higher purpose.

This made Dahmer a prime target to Scarver.

[Narrator] On November 28, 1994,

Christopher Scarver decides it's time to act.

[Alvin] Christopher Scarver was serving a life sentence

for, uh, murdering a boss.

There was a job promised to him that he didn't get.

While Jeffrey Dahmer couldn't have cared less about anybody,

Christopher Scarver had already created this, you know,

holy cold war in his mind of good versus evil,

and I'm going to smite this evil person Jeffrey Dahmer.

[Narrator] That morning, prison officials pair Scarver up

on a work detail with Jeffrey Dahmer

and convicted wife killer Jesse Anderson.

[Alvin] They are tasked with cleaning up

the gym's locker room,

and as fate would have it on this day,

somehow, Jesse, Jeffrey, and Christopher

are left alone.

According to Chris, after the guard steps away,

he's filling up the mop bucket with water.

And while his back is turned to the two men,

he feels a poke in his back.

When he turns around, he sees Jeffrey and Jesse,

and he said that they had a little bit of a smirk.

They were kind of giggling under their breaths.

So he didn't really know which one of them

actually poked him.

[Alvin] It infuriated Scarver,

and he made a decision right then and there

that this was the moment he was gonna take his vengeance

upon Jeffrey Dahmer for the actions that he had caused

in Wisconsin.

[music]

[Narrator] The men split up for their cleaning duties.

[music]

[Narrator] That's when Scarver makes his move.

[music]

[Narrator] He picks up a 20-inch metal exercise bar

and closes in.

[Kayla] Scarver decides to follow Jeffrey

to the staff locker room.

And when he gets in there, he said he asked Jeffrey

if he really did the things that the media said that he did.

[Alvin] Dahmer started to realize

that he was in some sort of imminent danger

and he tried to evade Christopher Scarver.

[Kayla] Christopher blocked him, and that's when he started to

hit him in the head several times.

[music]

[Kayla] After viciously attacking Jeffrey...

Christopher's not done...

and decides to walk over to the inmate locker room

and attack Jesse.

[music]

And Christopher does exactly what he did

to Jeffrey to Jesse.

[music]

[Narrator] Shortly after, the absent prison guard returns.

The guard finds both men suffering severely

from their injuries.

[Narrator] He calls for help,

and the gravely injured prisoners

are rushed to the hospital.

I was in the office at the newspaper

when I heard the scanner go off,

calling for an ambulance out at the prison.

I was just thinking, you know,

it's just probably a couple inmates

got into a fight, but probably something I should check out.

Just as I got there,

I saw two ambulances pull out.

[Narrator] The reporter goes with his gut

and decides to follow the ambulances to the hospital.

[Troy] So, I get to the hospital

and I see, uh, Jim Smith, the sheriff.

He was like, "I don't think one of these guys

"is gonna make it.

And one of them is the most infamous inmate in the prison."

That's when it really hit me,

oh my God, it's Jeffrey Dahmer.

[music]

[Narrator] Dahmer has multiple skull fractures

and brain trauma.

He dies an hour later.

There were so many ironies in all of this.

The way in which his first victim had died in Ohio...

[Narrator] The year is 1978.

A then 18-year-old Dahmer

picks up hitchhiker Steven Hicks

and invites him back to his house

to drink beer and smoke some weed.

But the evening takes a turn

when Jeffrey begins making sexual advances.

[Savannah] When Steven realized that Jeffrey

was trying to make a move on him

and feed him alcohol in order to, you know,

get into bed with him,

that was not something that Steven was willing to do,

and that's when he tried to leave.

And that, in turn, made Jeffrey angry and upset

because he felt like he was being rejected.

[Narrator] Dahmer snaps

and bashes Hicks in the head with a dumbbell.

Sixteen years later,

Dahmer is killed nearly the same way,

as is Jesse Anderson.

The news spreads like wildfire.

[Connie Chung] Possibly the most notorious serial killer

in American history met his brutal end today.

[Nisha] Everybody on the outside world was shocked.

Needless to say, most people were happy.

I knew that it was just a matter of time

that he would get his own death sentence.

I know a lot of people rejoiced about it.

I'm not gonna say I was elated,

but there was, like, a sense of relief,

like, okay, it's finally done.

I think Scarver did what needed to be done.

I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer had a death wish of his own.

I just don't think he thought

it would be as agonizing as it was.

[Alvin] I don't know how you can hear

the story of Christopher Scarver

and not believe in karma, you know?

It was this serendipitous event

that put two people on a collision course,

and I'm not mad at the outcome.

Sometimes, you know, the universe is always talking.

[Michael R] This person who had caused

so much chaos and confusion

in our city for so long

was now no longer alive.

Was I glad that somebody had killed him?

No.

What would I get out of that?

Didn't bring any of those 19 men back that he killed.

Him being dead wasn't the answer to the problem.

[Roy] I was at the grocery store with my wife.

And I got in the car, turned the radio on.

And they announced that Jeffrey Dahmer had been killed.

I couldn't hardly believe it.

[Narrator] But Pastor Ratcliff isn't just surprised.

He's angry.

After the attempt on Dahmer's life

by Osvaldo Durruthy four months earlier,

prison officials promised to increase security.

After the July attack,

the, the chaplain, uh, took me aside and said,

"We're very embarrassed about what happened.

"And we're going to great lengths to make sure

Jeff is always protected."

So when this murder occurs, I feel betrayed.

[Narrator] Many raise questions about the attack.

How could something like this happen

in a maximum-security prison?

It's very Epsteinian in the way that it went down.

It's very sketchy, somebody that high profile dies in your jail.

There needs to be an explanation

as to how something like that can happen.

[Vernell] I thought right away that it was a setup

because there's no way that you can be

in a maximum-security prison

and the guards aren't with you.

Jeffrey Dahmer was the most hated man in Wisconsin.

And you had correctional officers

that were from Milwaukee.

So for them to arrange for Christopher Scarver

to be alone with Jeffrey Dahmer,

knowing what the outcome would be,

I think that they didn't have a problem

putting two and two together

and coming up with what we know now as it happened.

[Narrator] And the investigation into Dahmer's murder

will only raise more questions.

[music]

[Narrator] Even after Jeffrey Dahmer's murdered in prison,

he continues making headlines

when his parents publicly fight over his cremated ashes.

[Roy] At the time that I met Jeff,

his mother and father were divorced.

And Lionel was married to someone else.

And there was a great bitterness between the two of them,

which I didn't realize until after Jeff was murdered

that they would fight over how many ashes each one got.

[Narrator] Dahmer's parents even fight over their son's brain.

[Roy] That was a big issue because in Lionel's book,

he implied that she was taking medication

while she was pregnant was Jeff.

he thought that affected Jeff's brain

that made him into the killer that she was.

She was rejecting that.

So much bitterness between the husband and wife.

[Narrator] But Dahmer's parents

aren't the only ones stirring up controversy.

Their son's murder while in maximum security

raises myriad unanswered questions.

We're not just talking about any regular old inmate, right?

We're talking about Jeffrey Dahmer.

So the fact that he was murdered in prison

when he was supposed to be under supervision,

the conspiracy theories started popping up left and right.

[Alvin] There are some people who believe

that the guards were sick of Jeffrey Dahmer themselves

and walked away just to see what might happen.

There are other theories that

maybe there was money that was paid

to make these guards happen to step away to the bathroom

for an extended amount of time.

Leaving inmates unsupervised is a no-no.

That's why they hire correction officers,

so inmates are always supervised.

Even if they're using the bathroom.

Even if they're in the shower.

They're not supposed to be alone.

[Narrator] Authorities charge Christopher Scarver

with two counts of first-degree murder

for killing Dahmer and Jesse Anderson.

But at his arraignment,

Scarver provides few clues to his motives.

[Troy] Sheriff's deputies had him out in the hallway.

And I thought, "This is just so bizarre."

It was really strange, unexpected response.

[Narrator] Vernell Bass, who once lived next door

to Jeffrey Dahmer,

also served time with Christopher Scarver

and remembers his unusual behavior.

[Vernell] I did meet him while I was in prison.

And he was someone to be avoided.

It was as if, though, the lights were on,

but no one was home.

He don't make his bed up, don't wash his face,

don't brush his teeth, none of that.

That's a sign of someone whose mind is not correct.

Christopher Scarver, in my opinion,

needed to be somewhere where he could get help

for the criminally insane.

[Narrator] In an attempt to put the conspiracy rumors to rest,

the Wisconsin Department of Corrections

appoints a panel to investigate Dahmer's murder.

One member of that panel is Dahmer's former attorney,

Gerald Boyle.

[Gerald] I was obviously honored and delighted to get the call,

'cause I thought maybe I could be of some help.

[Narrator] Several members of the panel

decide to personally interview Scarver,

who was being housed in conditions

straight out of a horror movie.

[Gerald] We go over to the prison,

and we were in a room like in the movie Silence of the Lambs.

He's in his cage.

We're all around the cage.

We're in a cage too.

So it's like a cage within a cage.

And we sit there, and suddenly, the gate opens up

and Scarver comes in.

I said, "Mr. Scarver,

"there are many people who are saying

"and thinking that you're doing what you did to Jeffrey Dahmer

was racially motivated."

Scarver told me the following.

"I didn't kill him because he was white.

"I killed him because I did not feel

that he had the right to be called a murderer."

I mean, if that isn't crazy in and of itself.

[Narrator] The panel ultimately concludes

there was no conspiracy to kill Jeffrey Dahmer.

One guard had stepped away to make a personal phone call

while another had gone to the kitchen.

[Kayla] When the investigation was concluded,

they decided that Christopher did indeed act alone,

and that the guards, yes, they were negligent,

but there was no premeditation behind what happened.

[Alvin] The guard that was on duty at the time

was suspended for a few months.

Everybody was, like, slapped on the wrist.

And then the world went back to how it was

because you can't fire somebody for Jeffrey Dahmer dying.

[Narrator] At his trial,

Christopher Scarver once again pleads insanity,

claiming he was told by God to kill Dahmer and Anderson.

And once again, a jury deems him competent.

[Kayla] Eventually, he pled no contest

and he was found guilty of both charges

and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

He was sent to solitary confinement,

and he spent over 10 years in solitary confinement.

He was hopped around to different institutions

for a while because basically, no one wanted to deal with him.

Their main excuse was, "We don't have the resources

to house someone like this."

But in actuality, I really think

they just didn't want the headache.

[Narrator] While authorities try hiding Scarver away,

they can't stop him from talking.

And decades after killing America's biggest bogeyman,

he's now ready to confess why he did it

and how he pulled it off.

[Narrator] In 2015,

more than 20 years after he murdered Dahmer,

Christopher Scarver grants an interview to the New York Post

and reignites the debate over the Milwaukee Cannibal's death.

Christopher Scarver insinuated

that the guards left him alone on purpose

so that he would kill Jeffrey Dahmer.

[Nisha] The way he's saying it is,

did the guards tell him to do it and kind of turn a blind eye?

[Narrator] But Scarver's admissions don't end there.

In the interview, he also provides a new motive

for why he killed Dahmer.

He claims Dahmer taunted inmates in the mess hall

by playing with his food.

He would shape his food into body parts

and then use ketchup to act like they had been dismembered

or to imitate a death.

[Alvin] Almost like thumbing his nose at people,

as like, yeah, I am the guy that eats people.

[Narrator] Is this what pushed Christopher Scarver

over the edge?

Some have doubts.

[Gerald] I just don't believe it,

'cause that certainly wasn't the Dahmer I knew

if he changed the way he was,

but I just don't remember him ever acting like that.

[Roy] I got the impression that he thought

he got along well with everyone.

When I'd ask him that, he'd say,

"Oh, I get along fine.

I don't have a problem with anybody."

[Narrator] Why, then, did Scarver kill Jeffrey Dahmer?

Despite his claims that race was not a factor,

some don't believe it.

I can't really think of another reason.

Jeffrey targeted men of color that he killed.

And Jesse Anderson tried to blame two men of color

for something that he did that was awful.

That was what connected the two of them.

[Narrator] Still, others posit a different motivation.

I think the main reason Scarver killed Jeffrey Dahmer

was pretty much due to mental illness.

It was a schizophrenic reaction to voices in your head

that are telling you that you have a higher purpose,

that you have a calling,

that if you take this guy out,

somehow you will be saved,

somehow you will be better.

Our concept of mental illness and its impact in 1994

was not what it is now.

Scarver was likely very undertreated

for his mental illness.

Had he been properly medicated,

getting the right kind of therapy

and the right kind of support,

this may never have even took place.

[Narrator] Whatever Scarver's motive,

there's no denying some view him as a hero.

He did bring karma down on Dahmer,

but how can we call him a hero

if we gotta look at his crime too?

[Kayla] There's, like, this corner of the internet now

that is honestly creating some type of fan club for Chris.

Like, they're giving him this new, new level of fame

that he never really had when the murders first happened

almost 30 years ago.

[Troy] The public perception of Scarver

was that he was the good guy here,

that he saved the taxpayers a lot of money.

[Narrator] But was justice served?

[Kayla] I think because Jeffrey was a white man

who killed men of color,

and the fact that he was killed by another man of color,

I think it's kind of like a sense of justice.

It's not a good thing, but I feel like

people are finding joy...

joy in that.

[Dr Berlin] Some people just feel that vengeance is justice.

Personally, I can't find a justification for that.

[Vernell] It made me sad because

somewhere...

someone loved that man.

And that person right now

finding out that, that their loved one

had been killed in prison,

they are suffering

the same as his victims' families suffered.

[Michael R] It wasn't Mr. Scarver's responsibility

to end his life.

Nor was it Jeffrey's responsibility

to end those 19 lives that he did.

But as my grandmother used to say,

two wrongs don't make a right.

[Alvin] Christopher Scarver kind of represents

this taking care of the thing that nobody could do,

stepping up and vanquishing evil.

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Scarver said that he has no remorse

for what he's done to Dahmer.

He feels Dahmer deserved it, and I agree with him.

I believe that the good Lord knows all his transgressions

and he's finally facing some sort of justice,

is how I feel.

[Roy] God says, "I want you to forgive as I forgive."

But we don't do that.

We want to do the justice part because that's more fun for us.

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[music]

You look out throughout time and culture,

we've always had some villain

that shocks and captivates our attention.

Whether it's Jack the Ripper,

or Richard Ramirez or Jeffrey Dahmer,

society has always and will always

have that boogeyman that they are attracted to

and repulsed by simultaneously.

[Kayla] I think the next generation

is more interested in what happened with Jeffrey

because, honestly, it's the shock value.

Right?

A lot of people are interested in the worst parts

of being a human being,

and Jeffery is one of the worst depictions

that we've ever seen.

[Nancy] Jeffrey Dahmer thought, "I'll kill someone,

and I'll feel better.

I'll dismember them, and I'll feel better."

Then he thought, "That didn't work."

So, he would have sex with the corpse.

It just kept getting worse and worse and worse.

I don't think there's any more of a headline grabber

than "cannibal".

You know, it, it just puts you in a different category,

and that became part of Jeffery Dahmer's story.

I think it made him immortally infamous.

[Mike K] Some people live good lives,

and become successful and raise families,

and other people become Jeff Dahmer...

And go down a road of no return.

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