Beach incident was first time Jeffrey Dahmer's killing obsession began to show itself

Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the most notorious serial killers in the world, having committed unspeakably heinous acts – and his obsession with killing began from an early age. Watch here:

Dahmer became known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, after he killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.

His murders also involved necrophilia, cannibalism and the preservation of body parts, and the warped mindset that led him to carry out such horrific acts began to rear its head from an early age.

As a kid, he showed an interest in dead animals, which started with a family trip to the beach when he discovered a dead crab.

In a 1994 interview with NBC from behind bars, Dahmer said: "All I know is that I wanted to see what the insides of these animals looked like.

"There may have been some violence involved, some underlying subconscious feelings of violence. It was a compulsion. It became a compulsion."

From searching for animals' bodies, Dahmer quickly escalated to killing creatures.

"In ninth grade, in biology class, we had the usual dissection of foetal pigs," the killer recalled.

"And I took I took the remains of that home and kept the skeleton of it. And I just started branching out. Dogs, cats.

"I suppose it could have turned into a normal hobby like taxidermy, but it didn't, it veered off into into this."

His crimes have recently come under the spotlight once again following the release of controversial Netflix series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

Netflix

The dramatisation was released on 21 September and remains the top TV programme in the UK on the streaming service.

The synopsis reads: "Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer gruesomely took the lives of seventeen innocent victims.

"Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that exposes these unconscionable crimes, centered around the underserved victims and their communities impacted by the systemic racism and institutional failures of the police that allowed one of America's most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade."

But while the show has been a hit with viewers, it has also drawn criticism, with some arguing it is insensitive.

Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey – one of Dahmer's victims – told Insider: "I was never contacted about the show.

"I feel like Netflix should've asked if we mind or how we felt about making it.

"They didn't ask me anything. They just did it."