The Tale of Christopher Scarver: From Troubled Beginnings to Infamous Murders

Christopher J. Scarver Sr., an American criminal, became infamous for the brutal 1994 murders of two fellow inmates, Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. These slayings added to his notoriety, as Scarver was already serving a life sentence for a previous murder. The story of his life and crimes is a chilling narrative of violence, mental health struggles, and the search for justice.

Early Life and Troubles

Born on July 6, 1969, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Christopher Scarver was the second of five children in his family. His early life was marred by instability and substance abuse, leading to his eventual expulsion from his mother's home due to his addiction to alcohol and marijuana. Scarver attended James Madison High School but dropped out in the eleventh grade, derailing his educational prospects.

He found employment as a trainee carpenter through a Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program, where his supervisor, Edward Patts, promised him a full-time position upon program completion. However, Patts was dismissed, and Scarver's hopes for stable employment vanished, leaving him to drown his frustrations in alcohol. During these dark times, Scarver began hearing voices, which he believed were calling him the "chosen one." These delusions were later diagnosed as symptoms of schizophrenia, compounding his struggles.

The Murder of Steve Lohman

On a fateful June 1, 1990, Scarver's mental health and desperation culminated in violence at the Wisconsin Conservation Corps training office. Scarver confronted site manager John Feyen and employee Steve Lohman, demanding money at gunpoint. When Feyen handed over only $15, Scarver shot Lohman in the head, declaring, "Now do you think I'm kidding? I need more money." After shooting Lohman twice more post-mortem, Feyen, in a panic, wrote Scarver a check for $3,000. As Feyen fled to his car, Scarver fired at him but missed.

Scarver's actions led to his arrest, and in 1992, a jury convicted him of Lohman's murder, sentencing him to life in prison. He was incarcerated at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, a facility that would later become the stage for his most notorious acts.

The Murders of Dahmer and Anderson

Two years into his life sentence, on November 28, 1994, Scarver found himself on a work detail in the prison gymnasium alongside two infamous inmates: Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer, and Jesse Anderson, convicted of murdering his wife. When corrections officers left the trio unsupervised, tensions escalated. Scarver retrieved a metal bar from the weight room and used it to bludgeon Dahmer. He then turned his aggression towards Anderson, attacking him with a wooden stick in the showers.

After the attacks, Scarver returned to his cell and informed a corrections officer, "God told me to do it. Jesse Anderson and Jeffrey Dahmer are dead." Both men succumbed to their injuries, with Dahmer dying an hour after hospital arrival and Anderson passing away two days later after being removed from life support.

Scarver underwent a mental health assessment and was deemed competent to stand trial for the murders. He pleaded no contest to the charges, securing a transfer to a federal penitentiary in exchange. Consequently, he received two additional life sentences. When questioned about the fairness of his sentence, Scarver retorted, "Nothing white people do to blacks is just."

Life After Conviction

In 1995, Wisconsin prison officials, citing security concerns, transferred Scarver to the Federal Bureau of Prisons under register number #08157-045. He was evaluated at the MCFP Springfield and later moved to ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Colorado, where he remained until 2000. That year, he was transferred back to Wisconsin, to the newly opened Wisconsin Secure Program Facility.

However, in 2001, federal district court judge Barbara Crabb ordered that Scarver and several other mentally ill inmates be relocated from the Wisconsin facility. Scarver eventually found himself at the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado.

In 2005, Scarver filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Wisconsin Secure Program Facility officials, alleging cruel and unusual punishment. The district court dismissed the suit against several defendants and found no unlawful actions by the remaining officials. Scarver's appeal in 2006 was unsuccessful. He later disclosed that he had spent 16 years in solitary confinement due to the murders of Dahmer and Anderson.

In 2012, Scarver's agent announced his intention to write a tell-all book about the murder of Jeffrey Dahmer, offering a potential glimpse into the mind of a man who became a killer behind bars.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Christopher Scarver

This narrative captures the turbulent life of Christopher Scarver, marked by early struggles, a descent into violence, and the complex aftermath of his actions, all within the unforgiving world of the American prison system.