Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 - November 28, 1994) was an American (United States) serial killer and sex offender. Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys - many of whom were of African or Asian (Asian people) descent - between 1978 and 1991, with the majority of the murders occurring between 1987 and 1991. His murders were particularly gruesome, involving rape, torture, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. On November 28, 1994, he was beaten to death by an inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, where he had been incarcerated.