Jeffrey Dahmer’s mom defends serial killer, says son ‘didn’t hurt’ his victims

The mother of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer — who killed, dismembered, and ate his victims — told a criminal psychologist that her son never tried to hurt anybody.

“He killed them, but he never tried to hurt them,” she said to Dr. Eric Hickey, a renowned criminal psychologist who has spent decades studying serial offenders.

Hickey is now applying his profound insights, gleaned from cases like Dahmer’s, to a new investigation into Christopher Wilder.

Wilder, previously known for a brutal 1984 rampage across the United States, is now believed to have a death toll significantly higher than the nine victims historically attributed to him — including the two 15-year-old best friends killed at Wanda Beach.

New evidence suggests his true victim count could rival that of Ted Bundy, potentially reaching as many as 30.

This extensive re-examination, spearheaded by Australian investigators Andy Byrne and Mark Lewellyn through their hit true crime podcast Catching Evil, call on Hickey for this critical re-evaluation, as well as other expats including Dr. Nelson Andreau, a former Miami homicide detective who investigated Wilder directly, and Michael Rowbotham, an international crime writer with a unique personal encounter with Wilder from decades ago.

Hickey says Dahmer, despite his horrific acts, exhibited traits of a sociopath, capable of a distorted form of guilt and even a semblance of love for his mother.

Wilder, however, is categorized as belonging to a far more chilling category: a true psychopath. For such individuals, Hickey explains, sadism is at their core, and torture is not an incidental act but “how they process the world.”

These true psychopaths are often “social chameleons” — charming, intelligent, and adept at presenting a flawless façade to the world while meticulously concealing their true, predatory nature.

Wilder, according to Hickey, possessed “all the tools of the trade”: good looks, charisma, wealth, and a practised ability to deceive without betraying a flicker of discomfort. His true, monstrous self, Hickey notes, was always just below the surface, tragically unseen by those closest to him until it was too late.

The investigation further reveals disturbing details from Dahmer’s case, extending beyond the grave-digging. Hickey recounts Dahmer’s infamous tableau: eight human heads meticulously arranged on a table, a large black chair positioned in front, a scene chillingly modelled on Hellraiser III.

Dahmer’s own explanation, as recalled by Hickey, carried its own terrible logic: “Now I could be surrounded by my friends. They can never leave me. And they’re also physically part of me — because I ate them.”

Hickey also shares a terrifying statistic: 40 percent of necrophiles work in mortuaries and funeral parlours in the United States, light-heartedly remarking, “I mean, when you die, we’ll be waiting for,” before explaining, “We’re all sexual beings, so we know that at some point people have to express their sexuality. I think sometimes people who don’t have sex with other people will in the end, seek out dead people because it’s better than nothing.”

Wilder’s method, Andreau details, was almost theatrical: a camera around his neck, the enticing promise of modelling work, and a carefully constructed persona of a successful, sophisticated man offering young women a life-changing opportunity.

Andreau describes Wilder’s emotional state during these approaches as one of “escalating euphoria” – the excitement building with every step the woman took toward him, every question she answered, every moment the elaborate lie held firm.

Once a victim was in his car, Andreau states, she had already ceased to exist as a human being in Wilder’s mind. The language from Andreau’s academic thesis, quoted directly in the investigation, is clinical and devastating: the killer’s entire purpose at that point is to reduce his victim “to the very lowest depth of misery and despair” – because it is through that profound degradation that he feels, in his own eyes, “enlarged.”

Rowbotham offers a perspective that fundamentally reframes Wilder’s entire criminal history. He suggests that the Wanda Beach murders in Sydney – which this investigation has now revealed as Wilder’s first kills – were “almost accidental” and “clumsy,” the frenzied work of someone without experience or a refined method.

What unfolded across America in the spring of 1984, however, was categorically different. This was the work of a man who knew his time was running out, whose internal fantasies demanded constant escalation, and who had spent years quietly refining exactly what he was capable of.

“He just went berserk”, Rowbotham says, with the measured calm of someone who has contemplated this for a very long time. “The fantasy needs to be fed — and it gets quicker and quicker and quicker.”

This comprehensive investigation is described as uncomfortable in places but absolutely gripping, offering some of the most genuinely illuminating true crime content in recent memory.

These are not commentators speculating from a distance; they are individuals who investigated, studied, and even sat in the same rooms as these perpetrators. For anyone who has ever sought to understand not just what these men do, but why, this exploration comes closest to providing a real answer.

The team behind this investigation continues to actively seek more information about Wilder or anyone who encountered him.

Investigator Andy Byrne is particularly keen to re-establish contact with a woman named Tina, who was the daughter of Wilder’s first boss and is believed to possess crucial insights into Wilder and the Wanda Beach murders. Tina, and anyone else with relevant information, is urged to contact [email protected].

“Catching Evil” is available on Spotify and Apple.