Jeffrey Dahmer Killed Konerak While On Probation For His Brother's Assault
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Trigger Warning: Sex abuse
Jeffrey Dahmer is one of America's most famous serial killers, notorious for his years-long horrific killing spree that spanned from 1978 to 1991. The mass murderer preyed mainly on Black, Asian, and Latino men and boys, per Encyclopedia Britannica. Two of his victims were even brothers, but only one survived their encounter with Dahmer.
At the time of his arrest, Dahmer had killed 17 men, leaving a wake of destruction in his path, according to Biography. But this wasn't the only run-in Dahmer had with the law.
Netflix’s limited series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, examines Dahmer's crimes while delving into the life stories of his victims. Konerak Sinthasomphone, the younger of the brothers, was just 14 years old when Dahmer murdered him, per The Tab. A few years earlier, his older brother, Somsack, had been victimized and abused by Dahmer at just 13.
Here's what to know about Konerak and the Sinthasomphone brothers.
Who was Konerak Sinthasomphone?
Konerak was the 14-year-old son of Laotian immigrants who lived near Jeffrey Dahmer in Milwaukee. He was killed by Dahmer in 1991, and was the killer's 13th victim.
Konerak was born in 1976, according to Find a Grave. He grew up in Wisconsin with his family and older brother, Somsack. The Sinthasomphone family struggled with financial challenges, so Konerak and Somsack tried to help out by earning their own money, The Tab reported.
What happened to Konerak's brother, Somsack?
Somsack męt Jeffrey Dahmer in 1988. At the time, the 13-year-old was persuaded to go to Dahmer's apartment after being offered money in exchange for nude photos. Dahmer then drugged Somsack and sexually abused him in his apartment.
However, Somsack managed to escape, per The Tab. The incident was reported to the police.
Jeffrey Dahmer was charged with sexually assault in 1988.
On Sept. 27, 1988, Dahmer was arrested for second-degree sexual assault and enticing a minor, per Showbiz Cheatsheet.
Although he was sentenced to one year in prison with work release and five years of probation, Dahmer only spent a week in jail before he was released on bail, according to Showbiz Cheatsheet and The Tab.
Dahmer was still on probation for assaulting Somsack when he murdered his brother, Konerak.
What happened to Konerak?
Three years after Somsack's assault, the killer lured his younger brother into his apartment under similar pretenses, promising money in exchange for nude photographs.
When Konerak arrived at the apartment, Dahmer drugged the 14-year-old and tortured him, per The Tab. The Netflix series says that Dahmer drilled a hole into his skull, and he then filled it with acid. Konerak managed to escape from Dahmer's apartment briefly, running away from the building while naked and bleeding.
The daughter and niece of one of Dahmer's neighbors, Glenda Cleveland, called the police after they found the incoherent boy on the street, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Officer John Balcerzak and his partner responded to the call. However, the officers returned the young victim to Dahmer's apartment after the serial killer insisted Konerak was his drunk, 19-year-old friend, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Despite the vigorous protestations of several African-Americans on the scene, the officers and Dahmer led Sinthasomphone back to Dahmer's apartment, where the body of one of Dahmer's victims lay unnoticed in an adjoining room," court documents read.
"Concluding that Dahmer and Sinthasomphone were adult homosexual lovers, the officers ultimately left Sinthasomphone with Dahmer. Thirty minutes later, he became Dahmer's thirteenth victim."
Jeffrey Dahmer was finally caught in 1991.
After murdering 17 people, Dahmer was finally caught on July 22, 1991, when would-be victim Tracy Edwards escaped and brought police back to his apartment.
During their investigation, police found dissolving body parts, drugs for sedating victims, and photographs of dismembered corpses around Dahmer's home, according to The New York Times.
Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences for his murders in 1992. He was beaten to death two years later by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institute, according to History.
The Sinthasomphone family filed a case against the city of Milwaukee.
After the horrific trauma their family endured at the hands of Jeffrey Dahmer, the Sinthasomphone family filed a case against the city of Milwaukee and the police department, claiming that the police failed to uphold Konerak's constitutional right to equal protection of the law, based on race, sex, and sexual orientation, per Justia.
"The Sinthasomphone plaintiffs have not merely alleged that the police officers failed to protect Konerak Sinthasomphone from Jeffrey Dahmer. Rather, they allege, among other things, that the officers actively prevented private citizens from helping Sinthasomphone and, in fact, delivered Sinthasomphone, who was a minor, not to his parents, but into Dahmer's custody," the chief justice's decision to send the case to trial reads.
"In other words, the allegations are not just of police inaction, but of police action, action which violated Konerak Sinthasomphone's substantive due process rights."
The officers asked for the family's claim that they violated due process to be dismissed from the case, arguing that they had qualified immunity as police officers. The due process claim was dismissed by the judge, but the claim of Konerak's denial of equal protection was not.
The case went to trial in March of 1995, and by April, the city had agreed to a settlement in which it paid the family $850,000, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Where is Konerak's brother now?
After his brother's death and his own traumatic experience with Dahmer, Somsack has been living a very private life.
He currently lives in Wisconsin with his wife, The Tab reported. Otherwise, there aren't many details about Somsack's life after Dahmer.
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