Jeffrey Dahmer was born May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee into the loving household of Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. He was a happy child until the age of 6, when he had some minor surgery for a double hernia and was never quite the same again. He was weaker, more vulnerable, less confident, and increasingly isolated. Around the same time, his family moved from Iowa to Ohio which caused his self esteem issues and shyness to worsen. He became disengaged and largely friendless by his early teens, and the attempts at friendships he did make ended horribly. He never overcame his lack of confidence, and a lack of communication that was spurred on by those insecurities, prevented his parents and anyone else who could help him from realizing that he was becoming obsessed with incredibly violent and necrophiliac fantasies beginning as early as age fourteen. His inability to cope with his parents divorce and other psychological stresses inevitably turned these fantasies into reality.
Family and friends discuss Jeffery's childhood
"Jeffrey Dahmer." Crime Library on TruTV.com. TruTV.com, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2012.