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Christopher Scarver

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Christopher Scarver
Mugshot of Scarver in 1992
Born (1969-07-06) July 6, 1969 (age 55)
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

Christopher J. Scarver Sr. (born July 6, 1969) is an American convicted murderer. He is best known for the 1994 murders of his fellow inmates Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson, both convicted murderers, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. The three inmates were on a work detail together in the prison gymnasium, and had a confrontation while unsupervised. Scarver had concealed a metal bar that he used to beat and fatally injure Dahmer and Anderson. Scarver was convicted and sentenced to two further life sentences for these murders. He had already been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the murder of Steve Lohman in 1990.

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. His mother forced him out of her house after he became addicted to alcohol and marijuana.

Scarver was hired as a trainee carpenter in a Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program. He said that his supervisor, Edward Patts, promised that upon completion of this program he would be hired full-time. After Patts was dismissed, Scarver did not gain a full-time job there.

He began to drink heavily. Later he said that while drunk, he started 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 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 $35 in 2023), the enraged Scarver shot Lohman once in the head, killing him. According to authorities, Scarver said: "Now do you think I'm kidding? I need more money." After Scarver shot Lohman twice more, both post-mortem, Feyen wrote Scarver a check for US$3,000 (equivalent to $6,996 in 2023). As Feyen fled outside to his car, Scarver fired at him, but missed.[1][4]

In 1992, Scarver was convicted of murder at a jury trial and sentenced to life in prison.[5] He was incarcerated at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.[6]

Murders of Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson

Two years later, on the morning of November 28, 1994, Scarver was assigned to a work detail in the gymnasium with two other inmates: Jesse Anderson, convicted for murdering his wife; and Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer. When corrections officers left the three unsupervised, they fell into a confrontation. Scarver went out and got a metal bar from the weight room, using it to bludgeon Dahmer. He attacked 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. Anderson died two days later after doctors removed him from life support.

Scarver was assessed for mental illness and found competent to stand trial on murder charges for the two killings.[9] He changed his "not guilty" plea to "no contest" in exchange for being transferred to a federal penitentiary, was convicted of each murder, and received two more life sentences.[10] 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 again at the 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] arguing 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 the decision in 2006.[13] Scarver would later say that he had been held for 16 years in solitary confinement as a result of the murders of Dahmer and Anderson.[15]

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

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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.[permanent dead link]
  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.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ "Inmate goes public with why he killed serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  11. ^ "FindLaw's United States Seventh Circuit case and opinions". Findlaw. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  12. ^ a b "Mentally ill killer of Dahmer sent to Colorado". Telegraph Herald. August 15, 2003. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  13. ^ a b 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), archived from the original.
  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.
  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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