Christopher Scarver opens up about why he thrashed fellow inmate Jeffrey Dahmer to death

Trigger Warning: This article contains graphic images of crime which some readers may find distressing.

Jeffrey Dahmer was found guilty in 1992 for the gruesome murders of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. In both Wisconsin and Ohio, he was given fifteen terms of life in prison after confessing to cannibalism. The killer, who is currently the focus of Ryan Murphy's newest Netflix original series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, was killed in 1994 at Wisconsin's Columbia Correctional Facility by another prison inmate, Christopher Scarver.

In an interview with the New York Post in 2015, Scarver described what Dahmer was like in jail. He remembered how Dahmer would frequently get into "heated" arguments with other prisoners. Then 45, Scarver shared what he thought of Dahmer during the interview, “He (Dahmer) crossed the line with some people — prisoners, prison staff. Some people who are in prison are repentant, but he was not one of them.” He continued, “I saw heated interactions between (Dahmer) and other prisoners from time to time."

Scarver claimed that he kept his distance from the serial killer in the prison yard because he didn't want to be the subject of his twisted sense of humor. He claimed to the outlet that he had never even spoken to Dahmer. On November 28, 1994, however, while Scarver and Dahmer were in the prison gym with a third inmate, Jesse Anderson, things took a severe turn. Scarver, a convicted murderer, had kept a newspaper item describing Dahmer's killing, dismemberment, and even eating of his predominantly black victims in his pocket because he had been "fiercely disgusted" by them. On a fateful morning, prison guards escorted Dahmer, Scarver, and Anderson to clean the weight room and gym. They were released from their chains and left alone for about 20 minutes while the cleaning was done.

Scarver claimed he felt a poke in the back while filling a bucket with water. “I turned around, and [Dahmer] and Jesse were kind of laughing under their breath,” he said. “I looked right into their eyes, and I couldn’t tell which had done it.”  After the group of three dispersed, Scarver followed Dahmer to the staff restroom while carrying a 20-inch, 5-pound metal bar from the weight room. Finally, he used the newspaper piece he had in his pocket to face the serial killer. “I asked him if he did those things ’cause I was fiercely disgusted," Scarver recalled, "He was shocked. Yes, he was. He started looking for the door pretty quick. I blocked him.” He then smashed Dahmer's head with the metal bar, causing his skull to get crushed.

“He ended up dead. I put his head down," he said. After bludgeoning Dahmer, he went over to a locker room where Anderson — who was reportedly serving a life term for killing his wife — was assigned work. “He stopped for a second and looked around,” Scarver remembered. “He was looking to see if any officials were there. There were none. Pretty much the same thing [happened] – got his head put out.” After attacking Dahmer, he went over to a locker room where Anderson was assigned work. “He stopped for a second and looked around,” Scarver recalled. “He was looking to see if any officials were there. There were none. Pretty much the same thing [happened] – got his head put out.” 

According to the New York Times, Anderson, a white man who had killed his wife, had claimed two black men were responsible for the murders to frame them. Most of Dahmer, a white man's, victims were black or Hispanic. Scarver, a black man, stated in a 1990 interview with William Crowley, a court-appointed psychiatrist, that he anticipated spending the rest of his life behind bars.

"Nothing white people do to blacks is just," Mr. Scarver responded when asked if he believed that was a just fate. Scarver is presently serving three life sentences after entering a no contest plea to the murders at the Centennial Correctional Facility in Canon City, Colorado. 

Scarver, who previously explained his motivation for bashing the serial killer to death, apparently thinks he may have been set up. He apparently thinks it wasn't a coincidence that he was left with Dahmer alone and claims prison guards intended him killed. He said that the guards had left the area just before the attack and that "They had something to do with what took place." His son Chris Scarver, who has his father's name, reiterated the stance in a 2014 CNN interview.

Cover Image Source: YouTube/Grunge