The Monster From Milwaukee

The Monster from Milwaukee

The most horrifying thing about Jeffrey wasn’t what came out in his sensational trial. For most folks, it’s what happened to him later on in prison. Jeffrey was a serial killer before mass murders became commonplace news in America. Today we hardly get time to digest one act of terror before we are confronted with another. But in the early 1990s, Jeffrey’s horror story captivated the nation. Eleven corpses had been found in his apartment. Before the investigation ended, it was discovered that he had murdered and dismembered at least seventeen young men. But the grisly discovery that horrified America was the fact that this sadistic killer also cannibalized his victims.

Search the Internet, and you will find pictures of the monster from Milwaukee sitting in the courtroom during his trial. He sits serenely with steely eyes and an impassive face. There are no signs of remorse or hints of regret. It’s no wonder that the world cheered when he was sentenced to life without parole. Even that seemed like too little justice. How could the state ever exact enough retribution for those that this monster had lured into his chamber of horrors?

But this is what folks still find most disturbing: Jeffrey Dahmer became a born-again Christian in prison. He publicly repented for his despicable deeds. After he was baptized, he sent letters of apology to his victims’ families. Most people were skeptical, dismissing his newfound faith as a jailhouse conversion. Others were outraged, arguing that God would never forgive such a monster.

Then Jeffrey did the craziest thing in his crazy life. He asked to be released from solitary confinement. Prison officials told him that he was signing his own death warrant. But the born-again serial killer wanted to share his faith. So he was transferred to the general prison population. The chaplain was so impressed by Jeffrey’s spiritual growth that he made him his assistant. The monster from Milwaukee was now reading the Scriptures and serving Communion.

At the same time, fellow prisoners were plotting to kill him. When an inmate slashed his throat, he miraculously survived. His parents begged him to return to solitary confinement. Jeffrey responded that prison was his mission field. A few days later, he was beaten to death in a prison restroom. When the news of his death was broadcast on November 28, 1994, the nation cheered. It was Thanksgiving day all over again.

Yet there was one fly in the ointment of justice. The prison chaplain told skeptical reporters that Jeffrey Dahmer was truly saved and in heaven. That claim sparked a national debate: Aren’t there some sins and sinners so heinous that they are beyond God’s grace? Maybe these questions are more relevant: are some sins in your life beyond God’s grace? Can others hurt you so badly that they are beyond your forgiveness? Jeffrey’s story is disturbing, but it drives us to consider something Corrie ten Boom said when she was faced with forgiving those who abused and killed her sister in a Nazi concentration camp:

No pit is so deep that God is not deeper still.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness, I cannot hide from you.

Psalm 139:11-12