Christopher Scarver

Christopher J. Scarver Sr. (born July 6, 1969) is an American convicted triple-murderer who is best known for the murders of his fellow inmates Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer, as well as Jesse Anderson, a murderer, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin in 1994. Scarver used a 20-inch (51 cm) metal bar which he had removed from a piece of exercise equipment in the prison weight room to beat and fatally wound Dahmer and Anderson. Scarver was sentenced to two further life sentences for the murders of Dahmer and Anderson, after being sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Steve Lohman in 1990.

Christopher Scarver
Scarver in 1992
Born (1969-07-06) July 6, 1969
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Known forMurdering Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson
Criminal statusIncarcerated
Children1
MotiveRobbery (murder of Lohman)
Vigilantism (murders of Dahmer and Anderson)[1]
Conviction(s)First degree intentional homicide (3 counts)
Criminal penaltyThree consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole
Details
Victims3
DateJune 1, 1990 (Steve Lohman)
November 28, 1994 (Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson)
Imprisoned atCentennial Correctional Facility

Early life

Scarver is the second of five children and was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended James Madison High School before dropping out in the eleventh grade, and was eventually kicked out of his mother's house after becoming addicted to alcohol and marijuana. Scarver was hired as a trainee carpenter at a Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program. He said that he had been promised by his supervisor, Edward Patts, that upon completion of this program he would be hired full-time, but Patts was dismissed, and as a result, Scarver's full-time position never materialized. This resulted in Scarver drinking heavily, and while in his drunken state, he began to hear voices calling him the "chosen one".[1] He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and was said to have been suffering from messianic delusions.[2][3]

Murder of Steve Lohman

On June 1, 1990, Scarver went to the Wisconsin Conservation Corps training program office and found site manager John Feyen and employee Steve Lohman present. Forcing Lohman down at gunpoint, Scarver demanded money from Feyen. Upon receiving only US$15 from him (equivalent to $34 in 2022), the enraged Scarver shot Lohman once in the head, killing him. According to authorities, Scarver then said: "Now do you think I'm kidding? I need more money." After Scarver shot Lohman twice more, both post-mortem, Feyen finally wrote Scarver a US$3,000 check (equivalent to $6,720 in 2022). As Feyen then fled to his car outside, Scarver fired at him but missed.[1][4]

In 1992, Scarver was convicted and sentenced to life in prison[5] and sent to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.[6]

Murders of Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer

Two years later, on the morning of November 28, 1994, Scarver was assigned to a work detail with two other inmates: Jesse Anderson, serving time for the murder of his wife; and Jeffrey Dahmer, a cannibalistic serial killer. The detail included him cleaning the prison gymnasium toilet. When corrections officers left the three unsupervised, Scarver attacked Jeffrey Dahmer with a metal bar that he had removed from a piece of exercise equipment in the prison weight room; he then beat Jesse Anderson with a wooden stick at the showers. He returned to his cell and informed a corrections officer: "God told me to do it. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer are dead."[7][8]

Both men were mortally wounded by the beatings. Dahmer was declared dead an hour after arriving at the hospital, and Anderson died two days later after doctors removed him from life support. After being found competent enough to stand trial,[9] Scarver received two more life sentences for Dahmer and Anderson's murders.[10] It is believed that Scarver murdered Dahmer and Anderson, who were both white, because of Dahmer's murders of black males, and because Anderson had stabbed his wife to death and then attempted to frame two black males as the perpetrators of the attack. Scarver was quoted as having said: "Nothing white people do to blacks is just."[1]

Aftermath

In 1995, Scarver was transferred into the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the register number #08157-045. At the time, prison officials in Wisconsin believed they did not have a facility secure enough to house Scarver. Scarver underwent psychiatric evaluation at MCFP Springfield and was later transferred to ADX Florence, the federal supermax in Florence, Colorado, where he remained until 2000.[11]

In 2000, Scarver was transferred to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility when it opened.[12]

In 2001, federal district court judge Barbara Crabb ordered that Scarver and about three dozen other seriously mentally ill inmates be relocated from the Wisconsin facility. Scarver was eventually relocated to the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado.[12]

In 2005, Scarver brought a federal civil rights suit against officials of the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility[13] in which he argued that he had been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, contrary to his constitutional rights.[14] A district court judge dismissed the suit against several of the defendants and ruled that the actions of the remaining officials could not be considered unlawful. Scarver unsuccessfully appealed against the decision in 2006.[13] Scarver would later state that he spent 16 years in solitary confinement as a result of the murders of Dahmer and Anderson.[15]

In 2012, an agent representing Scarver announced that Scarver was willing to write a tell-all book about the murder of Dahmer.[16][17][18]

See also

References
  1. Terry, Don (November 30, 1994). "Suspect in Dahmer Killing Said, 'I am the Chosen One'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 16, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2009.
  2. "Dahmer Slaying Suspect Linked to Mental Illness". Los Angeles Times. November 30, 1994. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  3. "Qualified Immunity Upheld on Supermax Mental Illness Aggravation". prisonlegalnews.org. May 15, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  4. Doege, David (June 6, 1990). "Fatal shooting is called methodical". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  5. "Man Sentenced To Consecutive Life Terms". St. Paul Pioneer Press. April 14, 1992. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  6. Stingl, Jim (April 13, 1992). "Man receives life sentence in executing-style slaying". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  7. Worthington, Rogers (December 16, 1994). "Inmate Charged In Dahmer Killing Says God Ordered It". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  8. Enda, Jodi (November 30, 1994). "Dahmer Suspect Has Mental-illness". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  9. Bice, Daniel (January 25, 1995). "Scarver is competent to stand trial, judge rules". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  10. "Inmate goes public with why he killed serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer". Chicago Tribune. May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  11. "FindLaw's United States Seventh Circuit case and opinions". Findlaw. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  12. "Mentally ill killer of Dahmer sent to Colorado". Telegraph Herald. August 15, 2003. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  13. Christopher J. Scarver, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jon Litscher, et al., Defendants-Appellees, No. 05-2999 U.S. 434 F.3d 972 (United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit January 18, 2006).
  14. Poplar, Stephen G., Jr; Kelly, D. Clay (December 1, 2006). "Farmer Progeny". Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online. 34 (4): 561. Retrieved February 8, 2009.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. Jacobs, Mike (July 20, 2011). "Dahmer: Letters from his killer". WTMJ. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  16. Hicks, Tony (April 27, 2012). "Hicks: Jeffrey Dahmer's killer is shopping a memoir". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  17. "Jeffrey Dahmer's Killer, Christopher Scarver, Shopping Tell-All Book On 1994 Murder". The Huffington Post. April 27, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  18. Strachan, Yukio (April 28, 2012). "Man who murdered Jeffrey Dahmer seeking tell-all book deal". Digital Journal. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
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