This week, Netflix released Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a limited series based on the life of the American serial killer.
The youngest of Dahmer’s confirmed victims was only 14 years old, and the program is a dramatized version of his 17 killings. More than a decade passed during which time necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism were used in the crimes.
His victims were killed between 1978 and 1991, but he served in the military at the time. Dahmer boasts about some of his killings while on active duty, and this is alluded to in episode four of the show.
After being tracked down and tried in 1992, Dahmer was given 15 consecutive life sentences. In 1994, fellow inmate Christopher Scarver beat him to death in prison.
Learn more about Jeffrey Dahmer’s military career, including how long he served, what led to his discharge, and whether or not he committed any murders.
Don’t try with me. First I didn’t say anything about the man you idiot second alot of people serve in different capacities. Jeffrey Dahmer served 8 years in the Army
— Brandon (@realbravery85) October 28, 2018
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Was Jeffrey Dahmer in the Army?
Yes, Dahmer served as an Army medic in Germany for a total of three years. According to The Cinemaholic and AP News, he served there from July 1979 to March 1981.
In June of 1978, just weeks after committing his first murder (of 18-year-old Steven Hicks), he enrolled at Ohio State University to study business, as reported by Newsweek. According to The Cinemaholic’s reporting, Dahmer’s dad wanted him to go to college but he dropped out after three months, so he was urged by his mom to join the military instead.
According to Distractify, Dahmer’s initial reports described him as a “typical” or “slightly above average” soldier.
What Did Jeffrey Dahmer Do in the Military?
In the Army, Dahmer was a medic with the 2nd Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, as reported by The Cinemaholic.
How Long Did Jeffrey Dahmer Serve in the Army?
Dahmer was in prison for over two years.
In January 1979, he enrolled and began his medical specialised training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, as reported by The Cinemaholic. Afterward, in July of 1979, he was posted to Baumholder, West Germany, where he served as a combat medic. In March of 1981, Dahmer received an honorable discharge.
Where Did Jeffrey Dahmer Serve?
According to AP News, Jeffrey Dahmer was stationed in the Rhineland-Palatinate state in central Germany.
Dahmer moved in with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin, two months after returning home. A phlebotomist at the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Center, he now works to collect blood samples from patients. After working for 10 months at the Milwaukee Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, Dahmer was fired in 1985 (as reported by HITC).
According to Newsweek, he was detained on multiple occasions for indecent exposure, lewd and lascivious behavior, and disorderly conduct.
Did Jeffrey Dahmer Kill Anyone While He Was in the Army?
When news of Dahmer’s murders broke in 1991, the military investigated other homicides that occurred during his service. According to The Cinemaholic, German authorities reexamined instances from Dahmer’s stay in the nation but found no links.
Jeffrey Dahmer S*xually Assaulted Two Men While in the Military.
A man called Preston Davis, 20 at the time, worked in the same medic unit as Dahmer at one point, and The Sun reports that Dahmer was friends with Davis. Davis, a Black guy, said that Dahmer was a “racist individual” and that “after he started drinking, he became a very obnoxious individual,” as reported by the New York Daily News.
Dahmer would boast about killing in the military barracks: “Jeffrey had slain his first victim a year before joining the military, and he would get drunk in the barracks and proclaim, ‘I killed the guy in Ohio.'”
According to his survivor narrative published on Protect Our Defenders, a national human rights organization working to prevent sexual assault and racism in the military, Davis worked with Dahmer from October 5 to October 25, 1979. Together, they were in training when their car broke down and they had to spend the last few days of the drill wheeling their luggage to the train station.
Davis claims that he was alone with Jeffrey at this time: “Somewhere in that time frame, I was sexually attacked, which included penetration. Because of the time I lost and the holes in my memory, I think I was drugged. I remember only fragments of the event,” he wrote.
According to The Sun, Davis claims that Jeffrey would have killed him if given the chance, but refrained because they were lost in the middle of Belgium and Jeffrey had no idea how to get back to Germany.
Davis moved on to a new unit after the incident, but his career took a nosedive as a result of the trauma, as reported by The Cinemaholic. Davis wrote on Protect Our Defenders, “still blames himself for all the terrible things that Jeffrey Dahmer did to another victim.”
Dahmer’s 17-year-old roommate Billy J. Capshaw claimed that he was also the victim of sexual assault at the hands of Dahmer. He said that Dahmer raped him “eight to ten times,” as reported by The Independent. It was reported by the New York Daily News that Dahmer would lock Capshaw in their room and go through his family’s letters.
Capshaw claimed that sober Dahmer was pleasant, but that his vicious side emerged when he drank. Capshaw recalled, “He was tying me to the bunk with motor-pool rope.” What I was wearing, he took. He would always hit me, either right before or right after he raped me. The Sun reports that, despite widespread knowledge of Jeffrey’s assault, bystanders repeatedly gave Capshaw back to him despite his attempts to flee.
According to The Cinemaholic, Dahmer continued assaulting people for another 17 months after Capshaw reported him and submitted to a rape test. According to Distractify, Davis and Capshaw have become friends because of their common knowledge of the serial killer.
