More Letters from Mr. Dahmer

Of the many myths surrounding Dahmer, one that has often been perpetuated is the idea that he wrote only to a handful of people whilist in prison.

In reality, the number of civilians whom Dahmer corresponded with (be it on a regular basis or as a one-off) ran well into double-figures.

Being in a cell for most of the day left the residents of Columbia Correctional Institution with nothing but time, and Dahmer passed his by reading, watching TV, practicing the penny whistle, submerging himself in his return to religion, volunteering for menial cleaning work, trying to learn to paint, and replying to some of the hundreds of people who wrote to him.

While many have circulated online over the years and traded hands among collectors, below are three rarer letters sent from the Milwaukee Cannibal.

Letter to Barbara

One of Dahmer’s regular pen pals, Barbara was a high school student whom Dahmer appeared to have an avuncular soft spot for.

Across various letters, he encourages her to focus on her school work, assures her that she’ll do well in her studies, provides anecdotes and grievances about his time in prison (sometimes repeated word-for-word to other pen pals), and at one point shares his hope that a giant tidal wave will smash the place to pieces. As he often did with other women, he also sent her affectionate poems and lyrics.

11-3-94

Dearest Barbara,

“Do You Know How Important You Are To Me?”

Think of something you couldn’t live without, and multiply it by a hundred.
Think of what happiness means to you, and add it to the feeling you get on the best days you’ve ever had.
Add up all your best feelings and take away all the rest, and what you’re left with is exactly how I feel about you.

You matter more to me than you can imagine and much more than I’ll ever be able to explain.

– Alin Austin¹

“You Mean The World To Me!”

Hello Barbara, I hope that all is well with you! May I ask a favor of you? I need this book to complete my in cell book collection; I’d really love to have it! If you’re able, would you please order it for me? I keep you in my heart. Try to find some time to rest in between your school work OK?

all my love, Jeff

Barbara routinely donated money to Dahmer, so it’s most likely she helped add to his book collection.

Card to Wendy

Despite Dahmer’s well-documented homosexuality, numerous women found themselves wanting to converse with him – with reasons ranging from the empathetic to the erotically charged.

One such woman was a 20-something true crime enthusiast named Wendy², who had a fascination with the killer and wrote to him sometime in 1993. In response, she received the following Christmas card:

Dear Wendy,

How are you this week, well I hope. Thanks for the card and beautiful picture! Your³ really very pretty. Sorry that I’ve not written sooner, but this has been a bad year for me. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year!

Sincerely, Jeff

Decades on, Wendy’s card remained one of her most prized posessions.

Letter to Mary

To further stave off boredom, Dahmer told regular pen pal Mary that he wanted to learn to type, which would also help with the hand cramps he got from writing.

He routinely asked correspondents for money towards this typewriter and, by the summer of ’93, had acquired a Canon U100-U110 (though he still occasionally wrote by hand when his ribbon ran low).

7-24-93

Dear Mary,

Hello, how are you this week? Fine I hope. Thank you for the letters and generous gift that you sent. I bet that your really enjoying the nice summer weather that we are having. I suppose that the weather in ILL. is about the same as the weather here in Portage. Its been raining here over the weekend but thats good because it cools things off. I didnt like all of the humidity that’s been around over the past few weeks.

Im sorry to hear that your mother is not well. Its too bad that older people with medical problems cant go to a better place than a nursing home. Their so expensive, and who knows how well they are treated. I hope that everything works out for her somehow.

I prefer to just be called “Jeff,” but my full name is “Jeffrey.”

I’ll close for now Mary. You take care and enjoy the summer!

Sincerely, Your Friend,
Jeff.

Mary received more than 30 letters from Dahmer during the roughly 16 months they corresponded – this evidently being one of the earliest, judging by the clarification on how he preferred to be addressed.

Foot notes:

1. Alin Austin compiled Hallmark-style poems and platitudes for the Blue Mountain Arts company in the early 90s. The full poem can be found here, as published in a later book ↩︎
2. Not Dahmer’s attorney Wendy Patrickus ↩︎
3. Spelling and grammatical errors are Dahmer’s own ↩︎

Sources:

• CCI documents
• Blue Mountain Arts

Thanks to Gunnar and Steve.