Although he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder BPD , [ 7 ] schizotypal personality disorder StPD , [ 8 ] and a psychotic disorder , Dahmer was found to be legally sane at his trial. He was convicted of fifteen of the sixteen homicides he had committed in Wisconsin and was sentenced to fifteen terms of life imprisonment on February 17, Some sources report Dahmer was deprived of attention as an infant. As Dahmer entered first grade, Lionel's studies kept him away from home much of the time.
When he was home, his wifeโa hypochondriac who suffered from depression โdemanded constant attention and spent an increasing amount of time in bed. Dahmer had been an "energetic and happy child" but became notably subdued after undergoing double hernia surgery shortly before his fourth birthday.
One teacher recollected she detected early signs of abandonment [ 22 ] due to his father's absence and mother's illnesses, the symptoms of which increased when she became pregnant with her second child. In October , the family moved to Doylestown, Ohio. From an early age, Dahmer manifested an interest in dead animals. His fascination with dead animals may have begun when, at the age of four, he saw his father removing animal bones from beneath the family home. According to Lionel, Dahmer was "oddly thrilled" by the sound the bones made, and became preoccupied with animal bones, which he initially called his "fiddlesticks".
He occasionally searched beneath and around the family home for additional bones, and explored the bodies of live animals to discover where their bones were located. Two years later, during a chicken dinner, Dahmer asked Lionel what would happen if the chicken bones were placed in bleach. Dahmer incorporated these preserving techniques into his bone collecting.
He also began collecting dead animalsโincluding roadkill [ 35 ] โwhich he would dissect and bury beside the hut, with the skulls occasionally placed atop makeshift crosses.
