NOTORIOUS serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, was arrested in 1991 for the murders of 16 boys and men between the ages of 14 and 33 years old.
He was convicted and sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms in prison in 1992 but was killed by a fellow inmate two years later.
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Was Jeffrey Dahmer diagnosed with a mental illness?
Forensic psychiatrists looked into the explicit details of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims to determine if he should be considered for prison or a mental institution.
If Dahmer was sent to a mental institution, he would be considered for release every six months.
For nearly a decade, Dahmer lured men into his home under the pretense of posing for nude photos in exchange for payment.
Dahmer would discreetly put a drug in their drink, causing them to lose consciousness before drilling a hole in the top of their head and pouring acid into the hole.
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He said he wastrying to create"living zombies" that he could have to keep him company, but "it never worked."
Police revealed 60 hours of recorded testimony from Dahmer, who admitted to killing the men and dismembering their bodies.
He admitted to submitting to cannibalism and spoke of eating the bicep of one victim out of "curiosity," but over time the desire grew out of wanting them to become a part of him.
The evidence and details of the murders led forensic psychiatrists to believe Dahmer suffered from psychopathy or an antisocial personality disorder.
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"That intense fear of abandonment and intolerance of being alone is found in people with a borderline personality disorder," said Dr Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist told The New York Times in 1991.
He continued: "People who fear abandonment can become outraged when someone is about to leave who they want to stay."
The defense argued that Dahmer suffered from necrophilia - the desire to have sex with corpses - and therefore suffered from mental illness.
A judge ruled that under Wisconsin state law, necrophilia was not a mental illness, but a personality disorder.
University of Arizona psychologist Judith Becker spoke on behalf of the defense and testified that Dahmer ″has a mental disease and that’s what drives his crime.″
Why was Jeffrey Dahmer diagnosed with psychopathy?
Throughout Dahmer's childhood, he had reportedly felt neglected on numerous occasions, according to police.
His teachers notated on his report card that he complained about feeling "neglected" when his mother became ill.
After his arrest, Dahmer told authorities that his parents left him alone in the house after they divorced.
He was a senior in high school at the time, and his father had moved out.
Dahmer's mother then moved to Wisconsin to live with his younger brother, all of which he said left him feeling very alone.
Dahmer moved in with his grandmother, and it was shortly thereafter that he lured hitchhiker Steven Hicks to his home under the pretense of sharing a few beers.
However, when Hicks said it was time to leave, Dahmer told police he became angry, struck him with a dumbbell, and strangled him.
This anger resurfaced with each of the 15 murders, and it was his fear of being left alone and his inability to cope with them leaving that prompted him to kill them.
He hoped to turn them into "living zombies" so they would stay with him always.
Dahmer was quoted in a homicide detective's report as saying, "it was better to have them with him dead than to have them leave."
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Did his mental illness cause his cannibalism?
A detective's report said that Dahmer's fear of abandonment led him to cannibalism.
At first, Dahmer told authorities he had just been "curious" when he decided to cannibalize one of his victims.
"I had these obsessive desires to wanting to control them … possess them permanently,” Dahmer toldInside Editionin 1993.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Eric Hickleytold A&E:“Cannibals tend to feel really insecure and can’t have normal relationships. Eating their victims gives them a sense of power because their victims can never leave.”
He said their victims' deaths are generally quick. “They’re not interested in their victim suffering, likeTed Bundywas," he said.
However, with Dahmer and other cannibals, Hickley said: "They’re not looking for sadism. They simply want access to the body."
Despite the testimony of forensic psychiatrists, a jury determined Dahmer was fit to stand trial and did not suffer from an official mental illness.
Court-appointed psychiatrist Dr George Palermo told the court at the time that while Dahmer is "very sick," he was not legally insane.
A jury of 12 men and women voted on Dahmer's mental health at the time of the killings, but only two voted that Dahmer was mentally insane.
The law requires ten jurors to agree on a verdict, and the majority ruled he did not suffer from a mental illness that incapacitated him, saying Dahmer knew what he was doing was wrong.
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"This met my fondest hope," Milwaukee County District Attorney E Michael McCann said after the verdict.
He continued: "The tragedy here is I think he could have stopped at any time."
