The Night of the Arrest

 Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in the late hours of July 22^nd  and taken into custody on July 23^rd  1991 by Detective Patrick Kennedy and his partner Detective Michael Dubis. Earlier that night, at around 11:25 p.m., two policemen (Rauth and Mueller) were taken to apartment 213 by Tracy Edwards, the next would-be victim. Edwards managed to escape Dahmer's apartment as Dahmer ran out of Halcion pills to drug his victim and was too intoxicated to physically keep him restrained. He did, however, manage to put handcuffs on one of Edwards' hands. As the policemen could not get Edwards uncuffed, they returned to Dahmer's apartment to look for the key. Dahmer had actually lost the key but did not stress about it, as he could get the handcuffs off by cutting off the victim's hands postmortem. On the night of the arrest, he was too intoxicated to prevent the policemen from entering his apartment. As one of the police officers looked for the key in his bedroom dresser drawer, he stumbled upon polaroid pictures of dismembered bodies. He called for his partner to arrest Dahmer and subsequently a physical fight broke out. The police officers managed to get Dahmer restrained (hogtied) and noted that he was “no pussy” and put up a hell of a fight. 

 

“I looked at the suspect as he lay on the floor. His light colored hair was greasy and wet with perspiration. The faded denim shirt he wore was drenched with sweat, and I noticed he was bleeding slightly from the corner of his mouth. There was an obvious rug burn on his right elbow, glistening blood red. He appeared completely defeated, but his condition showed that a great struggle brought him to that point. He was motionless but made an ever-so-faint crying whine, like that of a child or cat in the night.”  Grilling Dahmer page 35

 

The officers also found a severed head in Dahmer’s refrigerator and decided to call for backup. The detectives showed up a while later and decided to call the Chief and the forensics team to inspect the scene. Det. Kennedy took Dahmer down to the squad wagon  93 and into the interrogation room, tasked with getting the confession and identifying all the victims. Det. Dubis stayed at the scene and spent the next few days uncovering the human remains scattered around Dahmer’s apartment. 

The state of Dahmer's living room at the time of the arrest. There are clear signs of a struggle occurring before the arrest. Also, note the number of cans of Budweiser beer on the coffee table. Dahmer was extremely intoxicated when he was arrested. 

One of the photos depicting Dahmer's bedroom. The open drawer contained the polaroid pictures that got Dahmer arrested. In the right corner, we can see the infamous blue drum and in the left corner, a part of Dahmer's mattress that can be seen in some polaroid photos of decapitated victims posed with their torso extended. 

Dahmer's apartment plan