Did Jeffrey Dahmer kill Dean Vaughn? The devastating true story about his murder

28 September 2022, 16:17

Evan Peters opens up about playing Jeffrey Dahmer

By Katie Louise Smith

What happened to Dean Vaughn? Dean was murdered in the Oxford Apartments, but Jeffrey Dahmer never confessed to killing him.

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Not only does Netflix's DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story focus on the young men who were killed by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, it also touches on the suspicions that he may have killed more men than he confessed to.

In 1991, Dahmer confessed to killing 17 young men in total, and was ultimately found guilty of 16 murders. He was sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment before he was killed in jail in 1994.

Some people suspect that Dahmer may have killed and abused several other men. One of those men, Dean Vaughn, features in the Netflix series. Dean was found dead in his apartment, in the same building where Dahmer lived, in May 1991, but Dahmer never confessed or was found guilty of killing him.

What happened to Dean Vaughn? Was he killed by Jeffrey Dahmer?

Was Dean Vaughn killed by Dahmer? Picture: Netflix

Dean Vaughn is portrayed in episode 7 of the Netflix series. He's shown helping Glenda Cleveland carry something upstairs to her apartment shortly after he moves into the Oxford Apartments. (The real Glenda did not live in the same building as Dahmer in real life.)

Viewers then see Glenda and Dean in conversation, with Glenda warning him to be careful with some of the people that lived there. We then see Dean met Dahmer in the hallway. Glenda later spots Dean and Dahmer returning to the building later that night.

Shortly after that, the show reveals that Dean has gone missing and hasn't been seen in two weeks. Glenda tells the police that the last time she saw him, he was talking to Dahmer.

The series implies that Dahmer might have been responsible for Dean's death.

Was Dean Vaughn killed by Jeffrey Dahmer. Picture: Netflix

Did Jeffrey Dahmer kill Dean Vaughn?

In real life, Dean Vaughn was found dead in his apartment in the Oxford Apartment building in Milwaukee at 12:30 a.m. on May 3rd, 1991. His murder happened after few months before Dahmer was arrested, and around the same time he murdered Errol Lindsey, Tony Hughes and Konerak Sinthasomphone.

Dean's neighbours claim that they saw him with an "unknown subject" before he died, but there's never been any confirmation as to who it was or could have been.

Dean was 28 when he was found in his apartment, strangled to death. Several details about Dean also match up with details about Dahmer's other young, Black, male victims, leading several people to suspect that Dahmer might have killed him.

Who killed Dean Vaughn?

Unfortunately, no one has ever been convicted of Dean's murder.

Dahmer was eventually found guilty of killing 16 men and boys (he was not charged for the murder of Steven Tuomi, though he is counted as one of the 17 men he murdered) but it's suspected that he may have killed more. Dean was not named among the victims. Dahmer never confessed to murdering him and denied he ever had a role in his death.

To this day, Dean Vaughn's murder remains unsolved and is now considered a cold case.