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‘Five hours in hell’: Jeffrey Dahmer's sole surviving victim Tracy Edwards recalls horror after 3 decades

'Dear God, don't let this butcher kill me,' Tracy Edwards recalled praying when he has held hostage by Jeffrey Dahmer

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Tracy Edwards, who famously escaped serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s Milwaukee home on July 22, 1991, and who is the only surviving victim, has finally spoken out about the horror he went through. He said, “I'd seen a human head in Dahmer's bedroom, hands hanging in his closet, and body parts in his refrigerator.” It was Edwards who led the Milwaukee cops to the remains of Dahmer’s 17 dismembered victims, whom the serial killer killed between 1978 and 1991, also shown in Netflix's series 'Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.'

And this eventually, put an end to an almost a decade-long homicides that shocked the country. However, by 2011, Edwards was homeless and got himself involved with several drug and theft charges. He also got sentenced to prison for a year and a half for his involvement in a death, Reuters reports. Following this, the whereabouts of the now 63-year-old man were not known but now Radar Online has shared his own account where Edwards narrated, "Only a few hours earlier at 5 PM on July 22, I had met a clean-cut Jeffrey Dahmer at a mall near our Milwaukee neighborhood. I'd seen him before in the neighborhood, but this time he introduced himself, saying he'd recently moved from Chicago. He showed me a hundred dollars and said we could spend it on beer and party with friends. It sounded great to me, so we went back to the neighborhood and told my friends about it." 

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"While they were getting ready, Jeff suggested we go to his place and have a couple of beers. I went with him — and it was the biggest mistake of my life!," said Edwards. "I spent five hours in hell."

'It smells like somebody died'

When Edwards arrived at Dahmer's place he noticed Damher's apartment was an overwhelming stench. "'It smells like somebody died in here! I said. Jeff laughed. He told me there was a sewer problem. In spite of the smell, his three-room apartment was clean and neat, with a beige carpet and couch in the living room area. But the walls were various pictures of young men without shirts. I began to wonder whether Jeff might be homosexual. We sat on his couch, drank a couple of Budweisers and made small talk about Chicago. After we finished, I wanted to leave because of the smell, but Jeff quickly brought me a rum and coke. When I drank it, I started to feel groggy. Later, I figured out that the drink had been drugged."

"I turned my head to the right to look at a fish tank and suddenly, I felt a handcuff snap around my left wrist. Then Jeff jabbed a black knife against my chest. At first, I figured this was some kind of sick joke. But then Jeff narrowed his eyes and said in an icy voice: 'Do exactly what I tell you — or I'll kill you,'" Edwards recalled.

'Hands hanging in his closet'

Sharing the details of the terror, he described what Dahmer said to him. "'I'm going to cut your heart out!" My blood turned to ice and I shuttered as I heard those chilling words from brutal mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer. I was lying face up on his bedroom floor. He had slapped handcuffs on my left wrist, pulled my arm under my back, and pressed a 12-inch knife to the crotch of my pants. His head was against my chest as he listened to the pounding of my terror-stricken heart. 'I can hear it beating now,' he said in a quiet voice. 'Soon it will be mine!' I wanted to run for my life, but I was trapped by the crazed cannibal in his real-life house of horrors," told Edwards and further recalled by saying, "I'd seen a human head in Dahmer's bedroom, hands hanging in his closet, and body parts in his refrigerator. And with the stench of rotten flesh in my nostrils, I knew he'd already picked out his next victim — ME!" And added, "'Dear God, don't let this butcher kill me,' I prayed. In my mind, I struggled."

Dahmer, who pleaded guilty to 15 murders, killed 17 men and boys over the course of 13 years, many of whom were Black and gay. Shaun Brown, who portrayed Edwards in the Netflix series, took to Twitter to share his feelings about the man he played. He wrote, "I have so much love for Tracy Edwards and I hope that through my portrayal you will also."