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CHILLING MEMENTOES

Why did Jeffrey Dahmer take Polaroid pictures of his victims?

JEFFREY Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys in a 13 year killing spree and his crimes included rape, necrophilia and cannibalism

Dahmer was arrested in July 1991 and given 16 consecutive life terms, before being killed by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver three years later.

Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in July 1991 after victim Tracey Edwards escaped and led cops to his apartment
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Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in July 1991 after victim Tracey Edwards escaped and led cops to his apartmentCredit: Getty

Did Jeffrey Dahmer take Polaroid pictures of his victims?

Dahmer was able to hide 17 murders of men and boys from the authorities for years.

However, Tracy Edwards, one of his victims who managed to escape, led officers to his apartment in July 1991.

When they investigated his home they discovered a bedside table drawer full of disturbing of his victims and their dismembered bodies.

Reports stated officers found images of victim's decapitated heads, as well as Dahmer - who was labelled - engaging in necrophilia with some corpses.

Why did Jeffrey Dahmer take pictures of his victims?

In The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, written in 1994, it is stated that Dahmer photographed and engaged in these activities because: "he wanted to keep them as mementos to keep him company".

According to : "He frequently took photos of his victims at various stages of the murder process, so he could recollect each act afterward and relive the experience."

Police also found sketches of a plan to construct an altar in his house.

The serial killer confessed to making his victims pose for pictures on a black table that he planned to make part of his altar.

What did Jeffrey Dahmer take pictures of?

Almost 80 polaroids were discovered by officer Rolf Mueller, and all revealed naked dismembered bodies in different poses.

They include severed heads, arms and feet, bodies that have been cut open from neck to groin.

Anne E. Schwartz wrote in her book, The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough, one Polaroid "showed a man's head, with the flesh still intact, lying in a sink".

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Another depicted "a victim cut open from the neck to the groin, like a deer gutted after the kill".

Officer Mueller was reportedly in shock after finding 84 Polaroids and told his partner: "These are real."

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