Tracy Edwards | The Man Who Stopped Jeffrey Dahmer
Tracy Edwards
The Last Would Be Victim of Jeffrey Dahmer
On July 22, 1991, Tracy Edwards met Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer outside a bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Within hours, the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’ would be revealed and Tracy Edwards would become an instant hero.
Tracy Edwards
Jeffrey and Tracy Edwards talked for a while before Jeffrey invited him up to his apartment to drink some beer and watch the movie ‘the Exorcist.’ Once inside the apartment however, Jeffrey’s personality changed. As the two sat watching the movie, Jeffrey laid his head child-like on Tracy’s chest and chanted softy with the movie.
Then suddenly, Dahmer changed again and, in a split second, turned to Tracy and threatened to kill him and eat his heart and organs.
Jeffrey then struggled with Tracy in an attempt to get the man subdued in handcuffs.
Tracy was finally able to calm Jeffrey a bit by allowing him to get a cuff on one wrist but in Jeffrey’s drunken state, he was not able to get the cuff on the other wrist of his combative next would-be-victim.
Jeffrey then grabbed a huge butcher knife and began wielding it at Tracy, forcing the man backwards into the bedroom. It was in this room that Tracy realized just how much danger he was truly in. He could see the huge blue vat that sat in one corner of the room. He could smell the stench of rotting human flesh that emanated from the barrel that was filled with acid. And he could see countless photographs of mutilated, contorted and headless corpses all over the room. It was then that his fight or flight instinct for survival really kicked in. He knew right then and there that it was truly a fight for his life.
Tracy Edwards Escapes
In an instant, that completely startled his attacker, Tracy Edwards punched Jeffery Dahmer in the face as hard as he could then kicked him in the gut until he was knocked off balance and fell to the floor. This gave Tracy time enough to race for the door and escape into the hallway.
Tracy ran as hard as he could to exit of the apartment building and continued running until he was able to flag down two Milwaukee police officers, Robert Rauth and Rolf Mueller. With one handcuff still wrapped on his wrist, Tracy quickly told the officers about the last few hours he had endured with Jeffrey Dahmer and told them that Jeffrey had first threatened, and then attempted, to murder him.
Edwards Reveals Dahmer
Edwards led the two Milwaukee police officers back to the apartment he had just escaped from and told one of the cops that the blade Jeffrey had threatened him with was in the bedroom. When the officer entered the bedroom, in search of the alleged weapon and the key that would remove the handcuff from Tracy’s wrist, the officer confronted an odor that immediately repulsed him.
While looking for the alleged weapon and the small key, the officer opened a drawer and saw the photographs of the murdered victims of the Milwaukee Cannibal. Without touching another thing, the officer slowly backed out of the bedroom and ordered his partner to cuff Jeffrey and place him under arrest.
For some reason or another, the officer then walked to the refrigerator and pulled it open. Whether he saw what he expected to see or not, is hard to say, but what he found stored inside were body parts and heads.
He moved carefully around the apartment and found seven more heads, too many photographs that looked like they came from a horror show, hands, genitals and human skeletal remains. There were boxes that contained human body parts, dismembered torsos in a vat of acid and parts of humans in the trash.
Tracy Edwards Becomes A Hero
As word of the sadistic discovery spread like wild fire, so did the name Tracy Edwards, as the man who escaped from, and stopped, the Milwaukee Cannibal. He was instantly deemed a hero.
Tracy Edwards explained to the authorities that he was only able to escape Dahmer by ‘gaining his trust.’ He added that he’d spent several hours just talking to the mad-man and trying to keep him calm, but when the minute came, he took his opportunity and ran. He also added that he felt God had sent him there ‘to take care of the situation.’
Fifteen Minutes of Fame
But Tracy’s fifteen minutes of fame would be just that. Mississippi had been looking for him and his heroic act had put him in the lime light with national exposure. As it were Tracy Edwards was a felon himself and was wanted in regards to a sexual assault charge of a 14 year old little girl in Mississippi. Hero or not, Tracy was extradited and faced those charges.
When he returned to Milwaukee, he attempted, but failed, to sue the police department for failing to do follow ups on the many complaints and tips about Dahmer that would have prevented many of the murders he was able to commit. Milwaukee threw the lawsuit out of court and, because he survived, he was not entitled to be part of the class action suit that was awarded to the victim’s families.
Nothing Good Happens
Over the next few years, Tracy Edwards had constant run-ins with the law. He had charges of theft, drug possession, failure to pay child support, jumping bail and causing property damage.
Then, on July 26, 2011, nearly twenty years after escaping Jeffrey Dahmer, Tracy Edwards was arrested again. This time for taking part in throwing a man off a Milwaukee bridge, who died due to drowning.
Tracy Edwards, the man who helped end the serial killing spree of the notorious Milwaukee Cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison and two years of extended supervision. He was also ordered to pay $2,520 to the man’s mother to cover funeral expenses. And last, but certainly not least, he was ordered to get alcohol and drug treatment.
His whereabouts are now unknown.
Source: murderpedia | allthatsintersting | wikipedia | wickedwe |
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