Did Jeffrey Dahmer take polaroids of his victims? Here’s what police found in his apartment

3 October 2022, 09:12

Evan Peters opens up about playing Jeffrey Dahmer

By Sam Prance

It was Jeffrey Dahmer's polaroids in his bedroom drawer that led to his eventual arrest. [CW // Extreme violence, sexual assault]

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CONTENT WARNING: This article contains details of extreme violence and sexual assault that some readers may find triggering and disturbing.

Jeffrey Dahmer took actual polaroids of his victims and the real evidence that police found in his apartment is bone-chilling.

As depicted in Netflix's Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Jeffrey Dahmer took dozens of graphic polaroids of his victims' dead bodies. In fact, it was these polaroids that led to his arrest. When Tracy Edwards managed to escape Dahmer, officers went into his apartment and arrested him after finding incriminating polaroid photos in a drawer in the serial killer's bedroom.

Following Dahmer's arrest, a full search was carried out and investigators found everything from skulls to severed genitals in his apartment.

What did police find in Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment?

Did Jeffrey Dahmer take polaroids of his victims? Here’s what police found in his apartment. Picture: Netflix

As mentioned above, it was the polaroid photos that actually led to Dahmer's eventual imprisonment and, had they not been found, it's possible that Dahmer wouldn't have been caught. Despite a criminal record and multiple public complaints about his behaviour, police had failed to investigate Dahmer or his apartment before Tracy Edwards reported him in 1991.

In total, 74 polaroids were found. The majority were taken in Dahmer's apartment. Some were of his victims when they were alive but the majority of them were of his victim's dismembered body parts, often laid out in sexual positions. After finding the photos, police called for backup and, after opening Dahmer's fridge, they found the severed head of a Black man.

When a full investigation was completed, four severed heads were discovered in Dahmer's kitchen and seven skulls in his bedroom. Meanwhile, his fridge contained two human hearts and a portion of arm muscle. His freezer contained a whole human torso, a bag of human organs and remnants of human flesh.

Elsewhere in Dahmer's apartment, investigators found two entire skeletons, two severed hands, two severed penises, a mummified scalp, and an acid drum containing three torsos. Dahmer later admitted to cooking and eating parts of his victims and said that he was collecting the skulls to form an altar.

According to The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Dahmer took the polaroid photos to have as momentous and "keep him company".

Jeffrey Dahmer polaroids: Why did he take photos of his victims? Picture: Netflix

Dahmer killed 17 victims in total and, in 1992, he was sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment. In 1994, he was murdered at the Columbia Correctional Institution by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver.