‘Foolish Shyster’ Update

A few months ago, I made a post examining three fake Jeffrey Dahmer documents originating from the same source.

The response to that post was considerable –with several people sharing their own observations, additional examples of spurious material, and raising similar questions about authenticity and provenance.Some also registered concerns aboutpeople becoming duped, especially when heavy-hitting genuine artifacts were utilised as ‘proof’ of being on the level.

Since then, several other questionable pieces have emerged (or reemerged) from this source which – though not all related to the Milwaukee Cannibal – collectively shed more light on the illegitimacy of the fake Dahmer ones. Some of which are examined below.

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Klebold and Kuklinski Similarities

A note attributed to contract killer Richard Kuklinski surfaced a few years ago, along with artwork purportedly taken from the journal of Columbine High School shooter Dylan Klebold (the latter allegedly supplied by Sue Klebold after its recipient claimed to have posed as a woman to gain the bereaved mother’s trust).

^{Alleged Kuklinski piece (l) and alleged Klebold art (r) with the words ‘Beaufitul. Beautiful. Beautifl’ (sic.)}

However, some of ‘Klebold’’s writing bears a striking similarity to the aforementioned ‘Kuklinski’ piece -particularly where letters are so distinctively constructed:

Although a single shared letterform might not be conclusive in isolation, the recurrence of distinct lettering across multiple pieces is unusual and, when considered alongside other inconsistencies and previously identified fakes, further undermines their claimed provenance.

Dahmer Card (and Kallinger Signature)

While an individual’s handwriting can show some variation on any given day due to several factors (mood, injury, writing tool, haste, etc.), Dahmer’s was known to be relatively uniform, even when sick, injured or depressed (unlike less lucid convicts such as Charles Manson, whose handwriting was said to be often unrecognisable).

This has been grounds for questioning the legitimacy of a Christmas card allegedly sent from Dahmer to a Bob in Missouri, given its sharp wobbly lettering that bears little resemblance to Dahmer’s smooth consistent cursive:

^{(l) Real ✅ and (r) Fake ❌}
_{Dahmer’s hand displays a consistent right-slant, smooth flow and overall uniformity. The card to ‘Bob’ fluctuates in its italicisation and letters are drawn and spaced haphazardly}

It’s also been noted that the distinctly open ‘B‘ on Bob’s Christmas card looks very similar to the one found on a note supposedly written by serial killer Joseph Kallinger:

In addition, the capitalised ‘B‘ on Bob’s card doesn’t match examples of Dahmer’s:

^{Several examples of Dahmer’s cursive compared to that found on the ‘Bob’ card}

Distinct letterforms littered across multiple pieces (including the ‘Kuklinski’ and ‘Klebold’ ones) now become a pattern, rather than coincidental.

Another Dahmer ‘shrine’ drawing

Dahmer’s infamous idea for an altar adjorned with 10 human skulls and flanked by two full skeletons was intended to grant him power and prosperity, and is often regarded as one of the more bizarre elements of his case.

Only three confirmed Dahmer shrine diagrams have been documented in the three decades since Dahmer’s investigation:

• One drawn for defence attorney Wendy Patrickus in Nov. 1991
• One drawn for psychiatrist Dr. Kenneth Smail (retained by the defence), also in Nov. ’91
• And one drawn for psychiatrist Dr. Judith Becker (testifying on behalf of the defence) in Jan. ’92

In 2019, a friend of Patrickus attempted to broker the shrine diagram Dahmer had drawn for the lawyer 28 years earlier.

Using social media to gauge the interest of any prospective buyers, ‘Lucy’¹ uploaded a photo of themselves holding the diagram and, shortly after, a collector made a post of their own alluding to having purchased the piece for its $10,000 asking price:

Suspicious of the persons claim, another collector reached out to Lucy to check if the drawing had really sold, only to be told that it hadn’t.

“That same guy is messaging me about buying it right now!” Lucy replied. “What kind of scam is this?!”

^{(L) Conversation between two former collectors and (R) Wendy Patrickus’ broker confirming the individual claiming to have purchased Wendy’s shrine drawing did not purchase it}

Later, when the alleged buyer showcased the arrival of their new ‘shrine’ piece, it bared no resemblance to the diagram Patrickus had been selling²:

In another brazen act of contradiction, the individual behind the fake shrine drawing both supported its display at a recent serial killer exhibit, yet later told a Dahmer researcher, in private, that they “were never convinced on it.”

^{Post about the fake shrine drawing (legitimised by its exhibition amongst other artifacts) and the original forger revealing that it had been passed onto several parties after its conception}

^{The forger tells a Dahmer-centric researcher that they “were never convinced” by the shrine drawing they forged during a tactical conversation about fake pieces}

Despite this, another Dahmer ‘shrine’ drawing has recently materialised via the same party – this time claiming to have been taken direct from Dahmer’s official court files.³

As with the earlier diagram, the latest also displays numerous red flags, such as:

🚩 Handwriting descrepencies

Although the handwriting discrepancies aren’t as abundant here as they are in other fake Dahmer pieces, multiple contextual inconsistencies further undermine any inkling of credibility. Including:

🚩 Smiley faces on skulls and skeletons

A level of detail not characteristic of Dahmer’s three other confirmed shrine drawings, given that the cooperatively polite killer did not divulge serious details of his crimes in such a gleefully cartoonish way.

Likely under the assumption that the face on the wall plaque was included by Dahmer as some kind of cute, quirky or jokey detail – which would translate into how he’d illustrate his skulls and skeletons – the source failed to recognise that Dahmer’s face-bearing plaque (depicting Dionysus) was an integral part of his vision by design, so drawing it with a face was simply an objective descriptor.

Just as Dahmer explicitly stated that his altar curtains needed to be “blue”, and drew exactly 10 ‘skulls’ on each real shrine diagram (details this ‘artist’ got right).

🚩 Nonsensical addition of ‘apt 213’ 

Not included on any of Dahmer’s other known shrine drawings, as his vision of an altar was not bound to Apartment 213. Had it ever materialised, his shrine would’ve been set up wherever Dahmer was living come the time of assembling it⁴.

“Apt 213” is instantly evocative for most true crime fans (even without a specialised interest in Dahmer), making its inclusion feel like aggrandized overselling.

Similarly to why the smiling skulls and skeletons are a red flag, such detail is unlike the succinct and understated Dahmer, who never glorified or sensationalised his own crimes when recounting them.

🚩 Nonsensical date of Jan. 16, 1992

Dahmer had finished his talks with police⁵ by Autumn 1991, had drawn the shrine for his attorney on Nov. 14, 1991, and had his last appointment with a psychiatrist (Dr. Dietz) on Jan. 8th, 1992, so the timeframe of when he would’ve drawn this alleged altar doesn’t match documented, real-life events.

Additionally, only one drawing of Dahmer’s shrine was retained by the court and presented as evidence in his trial: that drawn for psychiatrist Dr. Judith Becker on January 3, 1992.

🚩Excessive detail and mixed media

Doesn’t match the simpler three drawings Dahmer did for Dr. Smail, Dr. Becker and Wendy Patrickus: in which ‘chair’ is a rectangular block; the ‘rug’ is not patterned; skulls and skeletons are not expressive; and skeletons are not horned or ribbed. Dahmer’s drawings were functional and matter-of-fact – as expected for their purpose.

Such level of detail is also inconsistent with Dahmer’s state of mind at the time. When former FBI agent Robert Ressler interviewed him shortly after attorney Gerald Boyle announced a plea change on January 13, 1992 (three days before this drawing is dated) Dahmer had come to find the concept of his shrine “ridiculous.”

He would therefore not have been sat meticulously rendering his vision with a fantastical, almost wistful, attention-to-detail, or strategically alternating between drawing in felt-tip and annotating in biro, just to really bring the whole thing to life again in a state of rapt absorption. Dahmer’s real shrine drawings were simplistically informative, not vehicles for creative expression or mixed-media experimentation.

It’s also difficult to see why a 20-something attorney or middle-aged clinician would be in possession of felt-tips in a formal forensic setting, rather than a remedial art class.

The detail of ‘black and red paint’ also doesn’t fit when Dahmer had never specified black or red paint as part of his shrine. When police retrieved three painted skulls from his apartment in the summer of 1991, all three had been painted grey, and a can of grey-granite Plastikote was inventoried.

🚩 Rug detail

Though Dahmer made specific reference to a ‘black and white carpet’ in only one of his three shrine drawings, this version still reduces that very precise vision down to just ‘rug’. Just as the earlier duplicitous shrine drawing reduced Dahmer’s particular need for ‘blue globe lights’ down to ‘lamps’.

🚩 Presentation

Forgers sometimes attempt to make their Dahmer pieces appear aged for added authenticity. This may include deliberately tearing the paper, discolouring it, crinkling it, or adding additional materials (like tape or staples) to emphasise how it must have been handled or deteriorated over time.⁶

However, it makes little sense as to why a drawing made for either the defence team or a professional psychiatrist – particularly if retained in a court file – would bare staples or be ‘framed’ by cellotape.

Confessional evidence – like Dahmer’s shrine diagrams – would have been handled carefully by its recipient, filed away safely, and initially recorded on a yellow legal pad or a crisp sheet of paper drawn from a practitioner’s notebook.

Dahmer Christmas tree

A drawing of a Christmas tree – again claiming to have been produced by Dahmer – also recently materialised:

The shrouding context of fakes would automatically make it questionable, but other tells include several handwriting discrepancies, even within its limited penmanship:

^{Writing and drawing descrepencies between the ‘Dahmer’ Christmas tree and Dahmer’s real hand}

It is also worth noting that, while Dahmer did not consistently include a recipient’s name on all of his hand tracings, at least one sent from prison was explicitly addressed to a Dahlia, while at least one other was left unaddressed. In itself, this variation is not unusual. However, the nature of such a gesture is relevant: Tracing one’s hand in surplus to send to whomever they need to thank or appease is quicker, and less involved, than drawing a relatively detailed Christmas tree. The latter implies a more deliberate investment of time and intent – and even some layer of affection towards its intended recipient. Therefore making a lack of addresse name feel like an unusual omission here.

Finally, Dahmer’s numerous other letters were typically written on loose, intact sheets, rather than pages torn from the type of spiral-bound notebook seen on the Christmas tree paper:

Even if it were argued that perhaps he’d just taken a sheet out of a wired sketch book, the paper is clearly lined – consistent with the loose sheets he routinely used – making such a scenario unnecessary. Especially considering no wirebound books were found in his prison cell:

While the absence of a recipient name and the presence of particular paper may not be smoking guns by themselves, those two contextual curiosities, alongside the previous disparities and other aforementioned pieces, further undercut the piece’s legitimacy and form part of a wider pattern of peculiarities.

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Although no names have been mentioned on the grounds of objectivity and public decorum, buyers and researchers are encouraged to consider the patterns and evidence outlined, and to exercise caution.

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Sources: Dahmer’s FBI files, pen pal correspondence and official case documents; I Have Lived in the Monster by Robert Ressler (1998), et al.

Footnotes:

1. Not their real name ↩︎
2. The same fake shrine diagram has now made its way onto display at a European-founded serial killer exhibition currently stationed in Atlanta. Its accompanying description also claims it was made for Wendy ↩︎
3. Genuine court documents have also fallen onto the market, often utilised as a means of trying to legitimise fake pieces within the same collection ↩︎
4. Dahmer had been in posession of his black ‘altar’ table before moving into the Oxford Apartments ↩︎
5. Dahmer did not mention his shrine to the FBI agents who later interviewed him (August 1992) after his trial ↩︎
6. Despite the case concluding over thirty years ago, genuine Dahmer documents, such as letters, are seldom in poor condition. Due to their monetary value, collectors and potential sellers often take care to preserve them carefully, while their original recipients often protected them for sentimental reasons. Professional documents (like Patrickus’ real shrine) would also have been filed away securely. In a cross-section of 50 letters sent from Dahmer to numerous pen pals, only one showed very distinct signs of wear and tear – although other artifacts (like newspapers, books, or certain documents retained by Lionel Dahmer and sold via Cult Collectibles several years ago) have exhibited signs of aging, water damage, etc. ↩︎