Christopher Scarver says it wasn’t a single moment that made him snap — it was a pattern of disturbing behavior from one of America’s most infamous serial killers.
Scarver, now 56, was already serving a life sentence at Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institution for the 1990 murder of Steve Lohman when he crossed paths with Jeffrey Dahmer. Diagnosed with schizophrenia while behind bars, Scarver was described by prison officials as distraught and prone to severe delusions.
In a 2015 interview with the New York Post, Scarver recalled how Dahmer — who was serving 16 life sentences for the murders of 17 young men and boys — seemed to take pleasure in taunting other inmates.
According to Scarver, Dahmer would shape food into fake severed limbs, smearing ketchup on them to resemble blood. He would leave these grisly “sculptures” where people would find them, upsetting inmates and staff.
“He crossed the line with some people — prisoners, prison staff,”
Scarver told the outlet. Dahmer also reportedly made up fake “Cannibals Anonymous” meetings and would smirk as he told people, “I bite.” His former prison minister, Roy Ratcliff, later confirmed that Dahmer had a dark sense of humor and often used it to get under people’s skin.
On Nov. 28, 1994, Scarver, Dahmer, and fellow inmate Jesse Anderson were assigned to clean a gym bathroom without guards watching. Scarver says someone poked him in the back with a mop handle — though he couldn’t be sure if it were Dahmer or Anderson.
“I turned around, and [Dahmer] and Jesse were kind of laughing under their breath,” Scarver recalled.
He then confronted Dahmer privately, pulling a newspaper clipping about his crimes from his pocket.
“I asked him if he did those things ‘cause I was fiercely disgusted. He was shocked. Yes, he was,” Scarver said.
Dahmer reportedly tried to get away, but Scarver struck him twice in the head with a metal bar from the weight room. Anderson was attacked soon after.
Dahmer died an hour later. Anderson succumbed to his injuries two days afterward. When guards arrived, Scarver said he told them,
“God told me to do it. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer are dead.”
Scarver was handed two more life sentences for the killings and transferred to federal custody the following year. He has since been held at ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Colorado.
While some — including Dahmer’s former attorney Gerald Boyle — have questioned parts of Scarver’s story, multiple witnesses confirm Dahmer’s bizarre food sculptures and other taunting acts. Prison officials even kept him in protective custody during his first year behind bars, aware of the threats he faced.
For Scarver, those unsettling moments in the prison cafeteria and hallways weren’t jokes. They were the spark that set off one of the most infamous killings inside an American prison.
