Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood home

This is Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood home.

It is located at 4480 West Bath Road in Akron, Ohio.

Dahmer lived here with his parents, Lionel and Joyce, and his younger brother, David.

Dahmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 21, 1960. His family moved to Doylestown, Ohio, when he was six years old.

Bath Township

After living in Doylestown for two years, Lionel and Joyce bought this three-bedroom house in Bath Township.

The couple purchased the remote property hoping it would be a suitable place to raise their two sons.

As a child, Dahmer developed an unusual fascination with animal bones. Over the years, this interest escalated, and he eventually started collecting them.

Although his morbid obsession started before he moved to this address, the 1.92-acre patch of woodland at the back of his new home gave him the privacy to indulge it. There, hidden among the trees, he could decapitate dead squirrels, chipmunks, and other roadkill.

As a teenager, Dahmer started abusing alcohol and fantasizing about dominating and controlling a male partner. By that stage in his life, he had long realized he was sexually attracted to men.

After becoming fixated on a male jogger who regularly ran past his house, Dahmer eventually decided to ambush him with a baseball bat.

Fortunately, the man did not jog past the residence that day.

Family breakdown

Dahmer's family fell apart while he was a teenager. His parents' relationship was a deeply unhappy one, and the pair constantly argued. Joyce also suffered from depression and anxiety.

Although they attempted to fix things by attending counselling sessions, any hope of reconciliation was lost after Lionel learned that Joyce had an affair while she was out of state at her father's funeral.

A bitter divorce and custody battle ensued, and Lionel eventually left the family home to live in a nearby motel.

In May 1978, Joyce decided to move to Chippewa Falls in Wisconsin. Dahmer was not bound by any custody agreements because he had just turned 18 and graduated from high school.

Joyce reportedly gave Dahmer the choice to accompany her and David. However, he opted to remain in Ohio.

She did not inform her ex-husband about her plans to relocate, as it broke a court order relating to their custody of David. This ultimately resulted in Dahmer living alone at the family home without Lionel's knowledge.

Relationship with brother

Dahmer reportedly harbored resentment toward his younger brother, believing he was their parents' favored child. He also felt overshadowed by David's naturally outgoing and social personality.

The pair drifted apart following their parents' divorce, as his brother stayed with Joyce.

When Dahmer's crimes came to light in 1991, David changed his surname and chose to live in anonymity.

Steven Mark Hicks

Dahmer's first victim was murdered at this address in June 1978. The killing took place just one month after his mother and David moved to Wisconsin.

On June 18, 1978, Dahmer picked up an 18-year-old hitchhiker named Steven Mark Hicks and lured him back to his house with the promise of free alcohol.

The pair spent several hours drinking together before Hicks eventually expressed his desire to leave.

However, when he turned to go, Dahmer attacked him from behind with a dumbbell and then strangled him to death.

Following the murder, Dahmer dismembered Hicks' body in the basement before burying it in the woods at the back of his house.

A few weeks later, he dug up the remains and removed the flesh from the bones.

After dissolving the flesh in acid and pouring it down the drain, he crushed Hicks' bones into dust with a hammer and scattered them in his backyard.

When Hicks went missing, his parents hired a private detective to track him down. They didn't find out what happened to him until 13 years later, when Dahmer finally confessed to the crime.

Move to West Allis

Dahmer continued living at this address until July 1979, when he joined the US Army and was deployed to West Germany.

However, his drinking problem steadily worsened while he was stationed abroad. Consequently, the army discharged him, and he returned to the United States.

After a brief period of staying with his father and his new stepmother, he was eventually sent to live with his grandmother in West Allis, Wisconsin.