How Jeffrey Dahmer’s Victims’ Disappearances Went Unnoticed

Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes were not noticed for years, and some of his victims were never immediately reported missing. The lessons about how missing persons reports are handled are clear for those who were connected to the case.

Allyson Smith, cousin of Glenda Cleveland, who lived near Dahmer, explained that many of Dahmer’s victims had minimal family connections, making it easier for their disappearances to go unnoticed.  Cleveland, who has since died, received national fame when she tried to stop Milwaukee police officers from returning a teenage boy to the serial killer; Dahmer later killed him.

The Dahmer case serves as a reminder of the systemic issues in how missing persons cases are handled.

“From my understanding, some of his victims didn’t have close family ties. It would have been easy for families to dismiss not hearing from them,” Smith said. “Tony Hughes, one of Dahmer’s victims, met him in May 1991 and wasn’t reported missing until July.”

Smith pointed out that family members’ mistrust of law enforcement also played a significant role, an issue that continues today. 

“The racial and LGBTQ biases of law enforcement are still a big factor. Even now, it’s hard to get police to investigate a missing person,” she said.

Dahmer’s ability to remain undetected for so long wasn’t a coincidence. 

“He was dangerously convincing,” Smith said. “He didn’t look like a serial killer. He blended in. He knew exactly how and where to choose his victims.”

Smith said that in the “Vanished” podcast, many families of missing persons across the country express their anger at the police’s inaction.

“In interviews with the loved ones of many missing people, they’ve expressed frustration and anger because the police didn’t act quickly,” Smith said.

One of Smith’s main points is that police should listen to family members when they report a loved one as missing, especially when the behavior is not normal for them. 

“I think police need to listen to family members when they report a loved one missing,” Smith said. “When they say it’s out of character or that there’s a routine, law enforcement should take that seriously.”

Smith also highlighted the issue of law enforcement not investigating missing Black women thoroughly. 

“There has been some progress with training and awareness of bias, as well as technological advances that allow investigators to look into cases—like cameras, cell phones, and social media,” she said. “But there’s still a long way to go.”

If Dahmer had been active today, Smith believes he would have been caught much sooner. “I think he would’ve been stopped sooner because of things like cell phone data, GPS, and social media,” Smith said. “Today, with the technology we have, investigators would have had more resources to track him.”

Smith shared a personal example of how technology can help prevent tragedy. “My mom has an app that lets her see where I am last. When something happened with my cousin, the police acted quickly and arrested the person responsible,” she said. “But even with technology, there’s still a lag and apathy when it comes to investigating missing women of color.”

Dahmer wasn’t caught because he was the target of an investigation, Smith pointed out. “Dahmer wasn’t caught because he was under investigation. He was caught because Tracy Edwards escaped, and his story convinced the police to go back to Dahmer’s apartment,” Smith explained.

Smith’s cousin, Glenda Cleveland, had tried to alert authorities about Dahmer’s strange behavior, but her concerns were dismissed. 

“It’s a combination of family members’ mistrust of the police, and the racial and LGBTQ biases of law enforcement,” Smith said. “Even today, it’s still hard to get police to take a missing person seriously, especially an adult.”

Smith believes that Dahmer’s ability to target marginalized individuals helped him remain undetected for so long. 

“He knew how and where to choose his victims,” Smith said. “He didn’t look like a serial killer. He blended in. He was dangerously convincing.”

Former Milwaukee Police Officer, Ruben Burgos, who was with the Milwaukee Police Department during Dahmer spoke out on why Dahmer’s victims didn’t get as much attention before Dahmer was caught.

“One other reason could be that white missing females get more media attention than minority people,” said Burgos.

Vanessa L. Smith went missing around New Year’s Eve in 1991.

Vanessa’s aunt, Betty Black, had gone to the police as early as May, around Memorial Day, after she had not heard from her niece. 

“She didn’t call, so I went to the police and filed a missing person report,” said Betty Black. “But, instead of taking immediate action, the police told her that since Vanessa was an adult, she could ‘disappear if she wanted to.’” 

In July and August, Dahmer’s arrest made headlines, and Black began to wonder if her niece might be one of his victims. Concerned, she returned to the police department, asking if Vanessa was among those Dahmer had killed.

The police could not find the report that Black had filed in May, so she had to file the missing persons report in July after Dahmer’s crimes were discovered. However, she doesn’t fit Dahmer’s modus operandi.

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into missing people’s cases in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.