Unearthing Dark Secrets: The Dahmer Family and the 1978 Disappearance of Steven Hicks
Steven Hicks, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Missing Pieces – PART 2
In Part 1 of this three-part series on Steven Hicks, we uncovered the story behind Martha Hicks’ 1992 $10m civil lawsuit against the Dahmer family. Now, in Part 2, we dive deeper into the mysterious disappearance of Steven Hicks and the unsettling anomalies surrounding his case.
The story goes that Steven Hicks crossed paths with Jeffrey Dahmer on June 18, 1978. Hicks was reportedly on his way to—or possibly returning from, depending on which account you believe—a rock concert at the Second Annual Ohio Music Festival at Chippewa Lake Park, an event that really did happen.
According to Dahmer’s confession, he lured Hicks back to his home at 4480 West Bath Road in Ohio. What began as a seemingly ordinary encounter took a dark and tragic turn when Dahmer ended Hicks’ life using a barbell.
But upon closer inspection, surprising contradictions come to light, raising questions about the widely accepted version of the incident. Let’s delve into these findings further.
Uncovering Contradictions and Anomalies in the Official Story
Here are some key examples from the confession, paired with intriguing details uncovered in the FBI vault.
According to the confession, Jeff engaged in a homosexual encounter with Hicks before their interaction took a violent turn. A heated argument escalated into a physical fight, during which Jeff struck Hicks with a barbell, tragically killing him. Afterward, Jeff moved the body to a wooded area near his home, where it remained hidden for two weeks.
In this version, once again based on the confession, it’s made clear that Jeff did not engage in any homosexual relations with Hicks. Interestingly, Jeff states he met Hicks ‘‘around October of 1978’’—but this claim doesn’t hold up. At that time, Jeff was attending Ohio State University. Even more puzzling, this date is four months after Steven Hicks was reported missing on June 18, 1978.
Was Jeffrey Dahmer shielding his mother, Joyce, to keep her from being drawn into allegations of complicity and cover-up surrounding Steven Hicks’ death in June 1978? It’s an intriguing possibility. Because, contrary to popular belief, Joyce didn’t actually leave the family home until late August 1978—a key detail often overlooked (we will dive deeper into this revelation in Part 3).
This next account, also based on the confession, offers yet another version of the story. Interestingly, Jeff’s father, Lionel Dahmer, was reportedly staying at a motel just 5 to 10 miles away at the time. According to Jeff, Hicks was either sitting on the bed or in a chair when he approached from behind. In a chilling turn, Jeff struck him on the head with a barbell and then used it to strangle him.
The body was hidden in the crawl space beneath the house, dismembered, and packed into plastic bags. These bags found their way to the back seat of a car parked in the garage. At one point, Jeff was pulled over by officers for driving left of center. He passed a sobriety test and was sent on his way, but what happened next raises eyebrows. Once home, he disposed of the body in a drainage pipe behind the house, leaving it there for weeks. It’s hard not to question the plausibility of this chain of events. Especially since his mother still lived at the house.
According to this account, Dahmer then began his studies at Ohio University in August 1978.
In this next revealing excerpt from his confession, Jeff admits he saw his first homicide as an accident—a tragic event that haunted him for years and plagued his nights with relentless nightmares. The weight of this moment followed him even through his time in the army.
The narrative shifts dramatically once more in this excerpt from the FBI vault. In this account, the hitchhiker is picked up and brought to Jeff’s residence, where homosexual acts occur before the victim is killed by a blow to the head with a barbell.
Subsequently, Hicks is transported to a nearby field, and after several days, the body is dismembered and the evidence is destroyed.
To sum it up, the confession document and the FBI vault tell conflicting tales. Yet, one detail remains consistent throughout: the mysterious role of a barbell.
What’s your take on these conflicting stories about Steven Hicks so far?
In Part 3, we’ll dive into the claims surrounding his identification and uncover what really happened. Stay tuned!
This is one of the strangest aspects of Jeff's case. Hicks seems to be the origin of this strange tale we call "Jeff Dahmer, the serial killer." The barbell detail remaining consistent is interesting. Did they do a workout together and Hicks had an accident? Or was there another type of accident and they tried to come up with a believable cause for the injury in case anyone found the body? This one is just bizarre.
It's amazing how many stories there are and how the timelines are so mismatched. I have a hard time imagining someone with polymyositis picking up a barbell and swinging it around. I'd love to know how much weight was on that barbell because my barbells are set for dead lifting and curls, and cannot be causally picked up and swung around!