Christopher Scarver

{{Short description|American murderer (born 1969)}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox murderer | name = Christopher Scarver | image_name = Christopher Scarver Mugshot.png | image_caption = Mugshot of Scarver in 1992 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|7|6}} | birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. | charge = | conviction = First degree intentional homicide (3 counts) | conviction_penalty = Life imprisonment without parole | spouse = | parents = | criminal_status = Incarcerated | children = 1 | victims = 3 | motive = Robbery (murder of Lohman)<br />Vigilantism (murders of Dahmer and Anderson)<ref name="NYTimes"/> | date = June 1, 1990 (Steve Lohman)<br />November 28, 1994 (Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson) | known_for = Murdering Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson | imprisoned = Centennial Correctional Facility }}

'''Christopher J. Scarver Sr.''' (born July 6, 1969) is an American convicted murderer who is known for the 1994 murders of his fellow inmates Jeffrey Dahmer and Jesse Anderson, both convicted murderers, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.

==Early life== Scarver is the second of five children and was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended James Madison High School before dropping out in the eleventh grade. Shortly after, Scarver was hired as a trainee carpenter in a Wisconsin Conservation Corps job program. He said that his supervisor, Edward Patts,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-27 |title=What Netflix's The Jeffrey Dahmer Story leaves out about how he died |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a41405492/how-did-jeffrey-dahmer-die-death-netflix/ |access-date= |website=Cosmopolitan |language=en-GB}}</ref> promised that upon completion of this one-year program he would be hired full-time.<ref name="NYTimes" /> After Patts was dismissed, Scarver did not gain a full-time job there and lost his traineeship in January 1990.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=November 30, 1994 |title=Dahmer suspect claims he was "The Son Of God" |url=https://books.google.de/books?id=r8McAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA28&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false |work=The Bryan Times |pages=13}}</ref>

Afterwards, Scarver began drinking and smoking heavily, consuming three 40 oz. bottles of malt liquor and four marijuana cigarettes each day. Scarver later told his psychiatrist that he believed the corps had rejected him due to racial discrimination. When he was forced to move out of his mother's home after his girlfriend became pregnant, Scarver began planning vengeance against the carpenter site.<ref name="NYTimes" />

Scarver stated at his first murder trial that he began hearing the voices of a family while drunk, calling him "the chosen one" and "the son of God".<ref name="NYTimes"/> Scarver came to believe he was Jesus Christ, further reasoning that they were both carpenters, had a mother named Mary and a similar first name,<ref name=":0" /> signing documents with the signature "Christ".<ref name=":1">[https://books.google.de/books?id=Lz0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16&dqr#v=onepage&q&f=false Why Jeffrey Dahmer Killed So Many Black Men] (December 19, 1994) ''Jet'' , pp. 14-17</ref> He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and described as having messianic delusions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 30, 1994 |title=Dahmer Slaying Suspect Linked to Mental Illness |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-30-mn-3121-story.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 15, 2007 |title=Qualified Immunity Upheld on Supermax Mental Illness Aggravation |url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2007/may/15/qualified-immunity-upheld-on-supermax-mental-illness-aggravation/ |access-date=October 3, 2022 |website=prisonlegalnews.org}}</ref>

==Murder of Steve Lohman== On June 1, 1990, Scarver went to the Wisconsin Conservation Corps training office and found site manager John Feyen and 27-year-old Steve Lohman, a visiting carpenter crew chief from Superior, present.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="pioneer" /> Forcing Lohman down at gunpoint with a .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol, Scarver demanded money from Feyen. Upon receiving only US$15 from him ({{Inflation|US|15|1990|fmt=eq}}), 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." Feyen wrote Scarver a check for US$3,000 ({{Inflation|US|3000|1990|fmt=eq}}), with Scarver firing into Lohman's head again, stating "This is still not enough". As Feyen was in the process of retrieving his paycheck roll, Scarver shot Lohman's body a third time. When Feyen handed over his car keys, wallet, credit cards, and the paychecks, Scarver asked if Feyen believed in God. Feyen answered yes and expected to be killed as well, but upon noticing that Scarver had not immediately shot him, Feyen knocked the gun out of Scarver's hand and ran away.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="sentinel3" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 20, 1990 |title=Robber shot co-worker 3 times, witness say |url=https://www.newslibrary.com/newspapers/news/0EB826156383B26A |url-access=subscription |work=Milwaukee Sentinel}}</ref> It is sometimes reported that Scarver shot Lohman's body a fourth time before fleeing the scene.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Razner |first=Sarah |date=May 7, 2019 |title=Brendan Dassey, Jeffrey Dahmer among those held at Wisconsin's Columbia Correctional |url=https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/2019/05/07/wisconsin-prisons-brendan-dassey-jeffrey-dahmer-among-infamous-inmates-columbia-correctional-portage/3630678002/ |access-date= |website=The Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref> Police arrested Scarver a few hours later at his girlfriend's apartment, still in possession of the gun and the stolen items, with Scarver stating that he had planned to turn himself in.<ref name="NYTimes" />

On June 5, 1990, Scarver was charged with first-degree intentional homicide while armed, attempted first-degree homicide while armed and armed robbery.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 6, 1990 |title=Former trainee charged in slaying at state agency |url=https://www.newslibrary.com/newspapers/news/0EB82611A56B4343 |url-access=subscription |work=The Milwaukee Journal}}</ref> He pled not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, after which psychiatrists disagreed whether he was fit to stand trial. A police officer who arrested Scarver testified that he had planned on turning himself in since he understood that what he was doing was morally wrong.<ref name="NYTimes" /> Prosecutors also argued that Scarver's repeated post-mortem shooting of Lohman's body was a deliberate scare tactic to intimidate Feyen into giving him more money.<ref name="sentinel3" /> During psychiatric evaluations at a state-run mental facility in July 1991,<ref name=":0" /> Scarver voiced his belief that he was being targeted by a government conspiracy for his skin color, which he blamed the loss of his traineeship and his murder trial,<ref name=":1" /> acting hostile with white orderlies while referring to black staff members as "traitors". A psychiatrist described Scarver's delusions of persecution as a means of denying responsibility for his crimes.<ref name=":0" />

On April 13, 1992, the Milwaukee County Circuit Court convicted Scarver of the murder of Steve Lohman at a jury trial and sentenced to life in prison,<ref name="pioneer" /> with an additional 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of John Feyen.<ref name="sentinel2" /> He was incarcerated at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.<ref name="sentinel1" /> Scarver was originally not eligible for parole until April 13, 2037,<ref name="sentinel2" /> which was late pushed back to 2042.<ref name=":1" />

==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 Jeffrey Dahmer, 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."<ref name=trib/><ref name=philly/>

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.<ref name=sentinel2/> He changed his "not guilty" plea to "no contest" in exchange for being transferred to a federal penitentiary, was convicted of each murder, and received two more life sentences.<ref name=trib2/> When asked if he believed his sentence was just, Scarver was quoted as having said "Nothing white people do to blacks is just."<ref name="NYTimes"/>

===Aftermath=== In 1995, Scarver was transferred into the custody of the Federal Bureau of 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, the federal supermax in Florence, Colorado, where he remained until 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FindLaw's United States Seventh Circuit case and opinions. |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1115674.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Findlaw |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2000, Scarver was transferred to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility when it opened.<ref name="th" /> 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.<ref name=th/>

In 2005, Scarver brought a federal civil rights suit against officials of the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility<ref name=court/> arguing that he had been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, contrary to his constitutional rights.<ref name=Poplar/> 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.<ref name=court/> 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.<ref name=letters/>

In 2012, an agent representing Scarver announced that he was willing to write a tell-all book about the murder of Dahmer.<ref name=sjmn/><ref name=huff/><ref name=dj/>

==See also== * List of homicides in Wisconsin

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/30/us/suspect-in-dahmer-killing-said-i-m-the-chosen-one.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090516091631/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/30/us/suspect-in-dahmer-killing-said-i-m-the-chosen-one.html | archive-date = May 16, 2009 | title = Suspect in Dahmer Killing Said, 'I am the Chosen One' | date = November 30, 1994 | newspaper = The New York Times | access-date = February 8, 2009 | first = Don | last = Terry}} </ref>

<ref name=pioneer>{{cite news | title = Man Sentenced To Consecutive Life Terms | date = April 14, 1992 | newspaper = St. Paul Pioneer Press | url = https://www.newslibrary.com/newspapers/news/0EB5DBB987A4CDB4 | access-date = January 31, 2015 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name=sentinel1>{{cite news | first = Jim | last = Stingl | title = Man receives life sentence in executing-style slaying | date = April 13, 1992 | newspaper = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | url = https://www.newslibrary.com/newspapers/news/0EB827090DA2F5BB | archive-url = https://archive.today/20150201024338/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB827090DA2F5BB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-access=subscription | archive-date = February 1, 2015 | access-date = January 31, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=sentinel2>{{cite news | first = Daniel | last = Bice | title = Scarver is competent to stand trial, judge rules | date = January 25, 1995 | newspaper = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GJdQAAAAIBAJ&pg=1679,6699579 | access-date = January 31, 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

<ref name=sentinel3>{{cite news | first = David | last = Doege | title = Fatal shooting is called methodical | date = June 6, 1990 | newspaper = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | url = https://www.newslibrary.com/newspapers/news/0EB82611C8840544 | access-date = January 31, 2015 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name=letters>{{cite news |first = Mike |last = Jacobs |title = Dahmer: Letters from his killer |date = July 20, 2011 |publisher = WTMJ |url = http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/125882738.html |access-date = January 31, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150216054316/http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/125882738.html |archive-date = February 16, 2015

}}</ref>

<ref name=th>{{cite news | title = Mentally ill killer of Dahmer sent to Colorado | date = 2003-08-15 | publisher = Telegraph Herald | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9AZRAAAAIBAJ&pg=3398,2648504 | access-date = 2015-01-31 }} </ref>

<ref name=sjmn>{{cite news | first = Tony | last = Hicks | title = Hicks: Jeffrey Dahmer's killer is shopping a memoir | date = April 27, 2012 | publisher = Contra Costa Times | url = http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_20496613/hicks-jeffrey-dahmers-killer-is-shopping-memoir | access-date = January 31, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=huff>{{cite news | title = Jeffrey Dahmer's Killer, Christopher Scarver, Shopping Tell-All Book On 1994 Murder | date = April 27, 2012 | work = The Huffington Post | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/jeffrey-dahmers-killer-christopher-scarver-book-deal_n_1459315.html | access-date = January 31, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=trib>{{cite news | first = Rogers | last = Worthington | title = Inmate Charged In Dahmer Killing Says God Ordered It | date = December 16, 1994 | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-12-16-9412160144-story.html | access-date = January 31, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=trib2>{{cite news | title = Inmate goes public with why he killed serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer | date = May 1, 2015 | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | agency = Associated Press | url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-inmate-goes-public-with-why-he-killed-serial-murderer-jeffrey-dahmer-20150501-story.html | access-date = May 2, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=philly>{{cite news | first = Jodi | last = Enda | title = Dahmer Suspect Has Mental-illness | date = November 30, 1994 | newspaper = The Philadelphia Inquirer | url = http://articles.philly.com/1994-11-30/news/25868033_1_christopher-scarver-columbia-correctional-institution-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071008/http://articles.philly.com/1994-11-30/news/25868033_1_christopher-scarver-columbia-correctional-institution-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer | archive-date = 2016-06-24 | access-date = January 31, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=dj>{{cite news | first = Yukio | last = Strachan | title = Man who murdered Jeffrey Dahmer seeking tell-all book deal | date = April 28, 2012 | publisher = Digital Journal | url = http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323815 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218041605/https://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323815 | archive-date=February 18, 2013 | access-date = January 31, 2015}} </ref>

<ref name=Poplar>{{cite journal | last1 = Poplar | first1 = Stephen G. Jr | last2 = Kelly | first2 = D. Clay | title = Farmer Progeny | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online | volume = 34 | issue = 4 | page = 561 | date = December 1, 2006 | url = http://jaapl.org/content/34/4/561.full | access-date = February 8, 2009}} </ref>

<ref name=court>{{cite court | litigants = Christopher J. Scarver, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jon Litscher, et al., Defendants-Appellees | vol = No. 05-2999 | reporter = U.S. | opinion = 434 F.3d 972 | court = United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit | date = January 18, 2006 | url = http://www.projectposner.org/case/2006/434F3d972 | access-date = February 8, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080213184949/http://www.projectposner.org/case/2006/434F3d972 | url-status = bot: unknown }}</ref> }}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140407060228/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/dahmer/21.html Court TV's Crime Library] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160520052844/http://www.414scarver-solutions.com/ The Child Left Behind, The Words and Poetry of Christopher J. Scarver] (old site, archived May 20, 2015) *[https://414scarversolutions.wordpress.com/ Christopher J. Scarver blog]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarver, Christopher}} Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:1990 murders in the United States Category:1994 murders in the United States Category:African-American Christians Category:American convicts who became writers Category:American carpenters Category:American male criminals Category:American people convicted of murder Category:American people with disabilities Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Category:American vigilantes Category:Crime in Milwaukee Category:Jeffrey Dahmer Category:Male murderers Category:People convicted of murder by Wisconsin Category:Criminals from Milwaukee Category:People with schizophrenia Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Wisconsin Category:Inmates of ADX Florence Category:Vigilantism against sex offenders in the United States Category:20th-century American murderers

Christopher Scarver

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