Curtis Durrell Straughter was a 17-year-old Black/African American male whose life ended in Milwaukee on February 18, 1991. His grandmother, Katherine Straughter, later told investigators that she last saw him that day. According to Jeffrey Dahmer’s subsequent statement to police, he noticed Curtis waiting for a bus near Marquette University and approached him with an offer of money if he would accompany him to his apartment.
Curtis agreed and went with Dahmer to his residence at 924 North 25th Street, Apartment 213, in Milwaukee.
Once inside the apartment, Dahmer gave Curtis a drink that had been drugged. After Curtis became incapacitated, Dahmer sexually assaulted him and then strangled him with a strap. Dahmer told investigators that he subsequently dismembered Curtis's body, photographed portions of the process, and retained his skull. The account of what happened inside the apartment came principally from Dahmer himself after his eventual arrest.
For months, Curtis's disappearance remained unresolved. That changed after Dahmer was arrested on July 22, 1991, following the escape of Tracy Edwards from Dahmer's apartment and the subsequent police search of the residence. Investigators discovered photographs and human remains that revealed the extent of Dahmer's crimes. In Curtis's case, an unpainted human skull recovered from the apartment was compared with his known dental records. Dr. I. T. Johnson determined that the skull belonged to Curtis, providing physical confirmation of his death and connecting his remains directly to Dahmer's apartment.
Milwaukee County prosecutors formally charged Jeffrey Dahmer with first-degree intentional homicide for Curtis's killing. In the amended criminal complaint, Curtis's death was listed as Count 05, alleging that Dahmer intentionally caused his death on or about February 18, 1991, at 924 North 25th Street. Curtis was one of the numerous victims whose deaths formed the Milwaukee County prosecution against Dahmer.
Dahmer ultimately pleaded guilty but insane to 15 Milwaukee County killings, including Curtis's. Because the guilty pleas established that Dahmer had committed the murders, the major trial that followed focused on whether he was legally responsible for his actions or legally insane at the time. On February 15, 1992, the jury found him legally sane in each of the 15 killings. He was therefore subject to criminal punishment rather than commitment following an insanity finding.
On February 17, 1992, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laurence C. Gram Jr. sentenced Dahmer to 15 consecutive life prison terms. During the sentencing proceedings, Curtis's mother, Dorothy Straughter, addressed the devastation Dahmer had caused her family and made clear that she would not allow the murder of her son to destroy the remainder of her life. The sentence ensured that Dahmer would remain imprisoned for the Milwaukee murders, bringing the criminal prosecution for Curtis's killing to a conclusion even though his family was left to live with the permanent loss caused by his murder.
