Christopher J. Scarver Sr. (born July 6, 1969) is an American criminal who is known for the 1994 murders of his fellow inmates

Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismemberment, dismembered seventeen men and boys b ...

and Jesse Anderson, both convicted murderers, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. The three inmates were on a work detail together in the prison gymnasium, and had a confrontation while unsupervised. Scarver had concealed a metal bar that he used to beat and fatally injure Dahmer and Anderson. Scarver was convicted and sentenced to two further

life sentences Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

for these murders. He had already been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the murder of Steve Lohman in 1990.

Early life

Scarver is the second of five children and was born and raised in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. He attended James Madison High School before dropping out in the eleventh grade. His mother forced him out of her house after he became addicted to alcohol and marijuana. Scarver was hired as a trainee

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

in a Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program. He said that his supervisor, Edward Patts, promised that upon completion of this program he would be hired full-time. After Patts was dismissed, Scarver did not gain a full-time job there. He began to drink heavily. Later he said that while drunk, he started to hear voices calling him the "chosen one". He was later diagnosed with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

and was said to have been suffering from messianic delusions.

Murder of Steve Lohman

On June 1, 1990, Scarver went to the Wisconsin Conservation Corps training office and found site manager John Feyen and employee Steve Lohman present. Forcing Lohman down at gunpoint, Scarver demanded money from Feyen. Upon receiving only US$15 from him (), the enraged Scarver shot Lohman once in the head, killing him. According to authorities, Scarver said: "Now do you think I'm kidding? I need more money." After Scarver shot Lohman twice more, both

post-mortem An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death ...

, Feyen wrote Scarver a check for US$3,000 (). As Feyen fled outside to his car, Scarver fired at him, but missed. In 1992, Scarver was convicted of murder at a jury trial and sentenced to life in prison. He was incarcerated at the Columbia Correctional Institution in

Portage, Wisconsin Portage is a city in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 10,581 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in Columbia County. It is part of the Madison metropolitan area. Portage was named for ...

Murders of Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson

Two years later, on the morning of November 28, 1994, Scarver was assigned to a work detail in the gymnasium with two other inmates: Jesse Anderson, convicted for murdering his wife; and

, a serial killer. When corrections officers left the three unsupervised, a confrontation ensued. Scarver went out and retrieved a metal bar from the weight room, which he used to bludgeon Dahmer. He then attacked Anderson with a wooden stick at the showers. He returned to his cell and informed a corrections officer "God told me to do it. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer are dead." Both men were mortally wounded by the beatings. Dahmer was declared dead an hour after arriving at the hospital. Anderson died two days later after doctors removed him from life support. Scarver was assessed for mental illness and found competent to stand trial on murder charges for the two killings. He changed his "not guilty" plea to "

no contest ''Nolo contendere'' () is a type of legal plea used in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. It is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an ...

" in exchange for being transferred to a federal penitentiary, was convicted of each murder, and received two more life sentences. When asked if he believed his sentence was just, Scarver was quoted as having said "Nothing white people do to blacks is just."

Aftermath

In 1995, Scarver was transferred into the custody of the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

under the register number #08157-045. At the time, prison officials in Wisconsin believed they did not have a facility secure enough to house Scarver. Scarver underwent psychiatric evaluation again at the MCFP Springfield and was later transferred to

ADX Florence United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (abbreviated as USP Florence ADMAX; commonly known as ADX Florence, Florence Supermax, and the Alcatraz of the Rockies) is a United States federal prison in Fremont County, Colorado, op ...

, the federal

supermax A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries. The objective is to ...

Florence, Colorado Florence is a statutory city in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,822 at the 2020 United States census. Florence is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corr ...

, where he remained until 2000. In 2000, Scarver was transferred to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility when it opened. In 2001, federal district court judge Barbara Crabb ordered that Scarver and about three dozen other seriously mentally ill inmates be relocated from the Wisconsin facility. Scarver was eventually relocated to the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado. In 2005, Scarver brought a federal civil rights suit against officials of the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility arguing that he had been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, contrary to his constitutional rights. A district court judge dismissed the suit against several of the defendants and ruled that the actions of the remaining officials could not be considered unlawful. Scarver unsuccessfully appealed the decision in 2006. Scarver would later say that he had been held for 16 years in solitary confinement as a result of the murders of Dahmer and Anderson. In 2012, an agent representing Scarver announced that he was willing to write a tell-all book about the murder of Dahmer.

References

External links