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🕯Jeffrey Dahmer interview:

Jeff: Tell you dad.. I'm really sorry that this has happened and I love you a lot.

Lionel: I love you too.

Jeff: I'm sorry..

“We met Jeff at the Summit County Sheriff's Department. He looked much better than usual. And although he was dressed in casual prison clothes, he looked very neat and clean. He was nervous, as he was so often nervous, but he was not entirely withdrawn. For about half an hour, we talked about things peripherally related to the hearing, and I assured him that he would only be in court for an hour or so, and that there was no need for him to be nervous. The proceedings, I told him, were cut-and-dried. There would be no surprises of any kind.

The next day, only a few minutes before the hearing, Shari and I met with Jeff again. At this meeting, Jeff was clearly apprehensive about the scheduled hearing. He feared the same kind of media assault he'd faced in Milwaukee, but in addition, he dreaded the prospect of confronting the parents of Steven Hicks, or of hearing, once again, the details of their son's murder. We said a brief prayer as we all held hands.

“It'll be all right, Jeff," I assured him.

He did not look so sure.”

“It's just a formal thing," I added, "something that you have to do."

Jeff nodded softly, as resigned as ever.

I smiled. “You look good, Jeff," I said.

Which was true. He was dressed in a clean suit and neat dress shirt, but had not yet put on his tie.

"You should do your tie now," I told him. "We'll probably be going into the courtroom soon."

Jeff looked at me helplessly.

"Go ahead," I said, "tie your tie."

Jeff didn't move. "I can't," he said.

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "I don't remember how," he said.

And so I stepped up to him, wrapped the tie around his neck, knotted it, and drew it neatly up against his throat.

"Now it looks good," I said.

Jeff smiled slightly. "Thanks, Dad," he said.

Within moments, he was led into the courtroom. The hearing lasted little more than an hour. The Mozenters were there as Jeff's lawyers, and Larry Vuillemin appeared as local counsel on Jeff's behalf. Overall, the proceeding was handled with great dignity. There were no legal pyrotechnics, no press frenzy. At the end of it, Jeff was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.”

“Once the hearing was over, Jeff was quickly taken back to the waiting room, where we were given five minutes to say good-bye. He was still wearing the tie I had knotted for him.”

A Father's Story

🕯️ 𓂃 ࣪˖

𝖢𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗆𝖺𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗌,

𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝗉𝗁𝗈𝗍𝗈𝗀𝗋𝖺𝗉𝗁𝗌,

𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝗁𝗈𝗌𝗍𝗌

𝗈𝖿 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝗐𝖾 𝗎𝗌𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾.

"Your Honor: It is now over. This has never been a case of trying to get free. I didn't ever want freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself. This was a case to tell the world that I did what I did, but not for reasons of hate. I hated no one. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness, and now I have some peace.. I know how much harm I have caused...Thank God there will be no more harm that I can do. I believe that only the Lord Jesus Christ can save me from my sins...I ask for no consideration."

Jeffrey Dahmer in his grandmother’s house, recorded by his father.

“I just get angry with other people who think they have a right to somehow try to blame my parents for what happened. That’s not right at all. No one has the right to do that because they’re totally innocent. They had no knowledge of it. And that angers me. There comes a point where a person has to be accountable for what he’s done. Can’t go around making excuses, blaming other people or other things. So I alone am the one who is responsible for what’s happened. The only motive that there ever was was to completely control a person—a person I found physically attractive. And keep them with me as long as possible, even if it meant just keeping a part of them.”

By the time Jeff was two years old he was talking. He called himself ‘Jeffy’ and held fingers up to indicate his age. He could also say ‘potty’, ‘Up pease’, and ‘TV’, and within a few more months had memorised his first prayer. The words of the prayer were. ‘Now lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. God bless everyone. Make Jeffy a good boy. Amen.’