Jeffrey Dahmer And Nilsen Comparison

Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen: One of the Same

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there are between twenty to fifty serial killers roaming the United States at any given moment. The infamous serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen together have killed at least thirty-two people using similar methods and portraying the same behaviors such as necrophilia and cannibalism yet, they lived in completely different countries their entire lives. Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen both portrayed signs of abandonment and neglect and that may be a reason they became the monsters shown in the media. Based on biographies of their lives, both Dahmer and Nilsen lost people they looked up to at a young age, suffered with alcoholism

The first murder Jeffrey Dahmer committed occurred right after his high school graduation in June of 1978. This happened when his parents were freshly divorced. His mother and brother fled and his father was away on business which left him all alone. Dahmer, who had been heavily drinking picked up a hitchhiker by the name of Steven Hicks. He took the nineteen-year-old to his family home where they each drank an excessive amount of alcohol. After they spent a lot of time together, Hicks attempted to leave but instead, Jeffrey Dahmer hit Steven Hicks over the head with a ten pound dumbbell (crimemuseum.org) . “[He] admitted to killing him because he didn’t want him to leave. (crimemuseum.org).” To get rid of Steven Hicks’ remains, Dahmer dismembered him, put them in plastic bags and buried them behind his parents’ house. Later, Dahmer crushed the bones and scattered them across the yard (biography.com). These actions show that Dahmer may have had abandonment issues because he was left right after his graduation by his mother, father, and brother. Goodtherapy.org says that, “a child who was physically abandoned by a parent or caregiver may struggle with mood swings or anger throughout life.” Jeffrey Dahmer was left out a lot in his childhood so a lot of Dahmer’s built up rage was let out on Steven Hicks. Jeffrey wanted to be in control and brutally murdering Hicks gave him some of that control