He had one brother, David born December 18, 1966. He had some friends, but most felt he was a loner. He was a white male of German and Welsh ancestry. During his childhood, he was a quiet and a reserved child. His father was hardly around as he was in school studying chemistry. His mother wanted attention from the father and had attempted suicide. Jeffrey was neglected by both parents as early at the age of 6. He, however, did enjoy collecting animal carcasses off the roads and bringing them home to dismember. Jeffrey than put the animal bones in jars storing them in the family’s barn. At the age of eight, he asked his father what would happen if chicken bones were put in a bleach solution. The father thought it was just curiosity and showed him how to preserve animal bones, which he would later use on his victims. …show more content…
As a student he was very polite and highly intelligent, but his grades were only average. It was during this time that he discovered he was homosexual. Later his grades began to fail and his parents began to argue more and more and therefore, decided to divorce. He moved out of his house prior to graduating from high school.
He committed his first murder the summer of 1978, at the age of 18. He picked up an 18 year old hitchhiker named Steven Mark Hicks, brought him back to his house for drinks. When he tried to leave, Jeffrey hit him in the head twice with a dumbbell, than strangling him with the dumbbell. He buried his body in the backyard.
He attended Ohio State University, but only finished one semester of college because of his addiction to alcohol. In January, 1979, he joined the Army, training as a medical specialist before he was deployed to West Germany. During his time in the army a soldier had