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What Does ‘Crime Scene Photos On TikTok’ Mean? Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Author

Ava Arnold

Published Jan 01, 2026

A new trend has grown popular on TikTok through the rise of the recent Jeffrey Dahmer show called Crime Scene Photos Trend.

This trend is similar to the True Crime Stories videos and podcasts on YouTube and Spotify, among other platforms, where people talk about crimes.

However, what separates this trend from those sorts of videos and content is that they share direct crime scenes and photos from the crime to the degree that many have thought to cross the line.

Also, there is another trend side by side where people are thirsting after and sharing crime scene photos and polaroids of serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer.

This trend is part of a larger social media trend that seems to be occurring where people are thirsting over, meaning they are growing attracted to, serial killers like Bundy and Dahmer.

What Does ‘Crime Scene Photos On TikTok’ Mean?

Crime Scene Photos on TikTok are a trend where people share photos and mugshots of serial killers.

Offshoots of this trend include photos and documents of such crime scenes.

These photos and videos have become popular due to the rise of the popularity of movies and shows like Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evile, and Vile.

The former is about the titular Jeffrey Dahmer, while the latter is about Ted Bundy. These two serial killers have also become very popular not only due to the already present popularity of the movies and shows but because of the trend that seems to center around them.

What Is Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story?

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is an American limited biographical crime drama series.

Ryan Murphy created the series alongside Ian Brennan that aired on Netflix for one season on September 21, 2022.

Murphy and Brennan both also serve as showrunner and executive producer.

The limited series is about the life of serial killer  Jeffrey Dahmer, played chillingly by Evan Peters.

Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, was born on May 21, 1960.

The serial killer was also called the Milwaukee Monster or the Milwaukee Cannibal.

Dahmer was an American offender and serial killer famous for having committed the dismemberment and murder between 1978 and 1991 of seventeen men and boys.

Many of the Milwaukee Monster’s later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of human body parts — typically all or parts of the multiple skeletons.

Although doctors diagnosed Dahmer with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and a psychotic disorder, the serial killer was found to be legally sane at his trial.

After the trial, he was convicted of fifteen of the sixteen murders he had committed in Wisconsin.

Additionally, on February 17, 1992, he was sentenced to fifteen terms of life imprisonment.

After discovering an additional homicide committed in Ohio in 1978, Dahmer was sentenced to a sixteenth term of life imprisonment.

However, he wouldn’t be able to serve these sentences as on November 28, 1994, Dahmer was beaten to passing away by Christopher Scarver, a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.

Other main characters include Dahmer’s father, Lionel, played by Richard Jenkins; stepmother Shari, played by Molly Ringwald; suspicious neighbor Glenda, played by Niecy Nash; and grandmother, Catherine, played by Michael Learned.

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story reached the number-one spot on Netflix in the first week of its release. Critics praised the acting.

What Is The Jeffrey Dahmer Limited Series About?

The limited television series tackles Jeffrey Dahmer’s motives and how he turned into one of the most dangerous serial killers of the 20th century.

The series looks at Dahmer’s murders – consisting of men and adolescent boys, between 1978 and 1991 in Milwaukee, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

The limited series also looks at the last year due to what happened between Dahmer and his neighbor.

In 1991, Jeffrey’s neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, complained about frequent screams and an unpleasant odor from his apartment. Despite Dahmer’s reassurances that the smell is just that of spoiled meat, Glenda continued to be wary of him, which became a big aspect of the series.

Glenda then complained to the police about her concerns for months, but they were unresponsive because she was African-American. The series also showcases how Dahmer operated. For example, one scene showed Dahmer at an LGBT bar.

Here, Dahmer met Tracy Edwards and invited him for a drink at his apartment.

Dahmer handcuffed Tracy and threatened him with a knife to prevent him from leaving. To get away from him, Tracy tries to distract Jeffrey by seducing him with an erotic dance.

Soon, while Dahmer and Tracy lie together on Dahmer’s bed, he touches Tracy’s chest and claims he will eat his heart. Horrified by the expression, Tracy tries to escape Jeffrey’s apartment, to which the victim succeeds.

Thankfully, he comes across the police, and they take Tracy to Jeffrey’s apartment to find the keys to the handcuffs. When they arrive, the police search Jeffrey’s drawer since that is where he says the keys are.

As the police were about ready to leave, they discovered ominous polaroids of bodies being dismembered and mutilated.  After the discovery, the police took away Dahmer, and as he was being handcuffed, Dahmer stated he should not be alive for what he did.

Why Has TikTok Become Obsessed With Jeffrey Dahmer?

One of the main reasons TikTok has become so obsessed with Jeffrey Dahmer is his childhood.

Throughout Jeffrey’s childhood, his parents severely neglected him.

Lionel, Jeffrey’s father, would often travel for work. The stress from his job led to him frequently arguing with Jeffrey’s biological mother, Joyce.

Joyce was also a drug addict and suffered from depression, and she would often attempt to end her life.

When the future criminal was only three years old, he had to undergo double hernia surgery.

This surgery led to Dahmer becoming socially withdrawn and depressed.

Dahmer’s obsession with the gruesome nature of life came early. As a prepubescent, the boy’s father taught him how to dissect deceased animals, which greatly intrigued Jeffrey.

After the lesson from his father, Dahmer would often bring home deceased animals dissected in class in high school.

The boy would pleasure himself with these vile images.

Distraught at his desires, Dahmer later went to see a psychologist who diagnosed him with necrophilia, a paraphilia towards corpses.

Dahmer’s parents divorced during his adolescent years, and his mother moved away.

After moving away, Dahmer’s mother had little contact with him, which greatly affected the boy.

Dahmer’s father later remarried his new wife, Shari, who became Jeffrey’s stepmother.

Jeffrey attended Ohio State University, but the boy was soon expelled due to his alcoholism and subsequent poor grades.

Due to this failure, his father decided to enroll Dahmer in the military. Sadly, the boy was to be discharged again because of his drinking.

Due to his frequent problems, Lionel moved young Dahmer into his grandmother’s house.

While at his grandmother’s house, Dahmer temporarily worked as a phlebotomist and ingested his patients’ blood samples.

The future criminal also had intimate relations with a practice dummy.

Dahmer’s criminal activities had slowly started as a man later filed a police report claiming that Dahmer intoxicated his tea while at his grandmother’s house. After a terrible smell occurred in her basement, which Dahmer alleged was only roadkilled animals, his grandmother evicted him.

At age 18, in 1978, Jeffrey committed his first slaying while living at his childhood home in Bath Township, Ohio. It would be nine years before he was murdered again. From 1987 to 1991 in Milwaukee, Dahmer is known to have committed 16 additional murders.

Read More About Netflix shows Here: Who Is Shimon Yehuda Hayut? More To Know About The Main Character Behind The Story Of Tinder Swindler

TikTok Is Also Obsessed With Ted Bundy

The Crime Scene Photos On TikTok trend may have started with Jeffrey Dahmer, but it continued with another serial killer called Ted Bundy.

Ted Bundy, also called Theodore Robert Cowell, his birth name, was born on November 24, 1946.

Bundy was a famous American serial killer known for his kidnappings, rapes, and murders of numerous young women during the 1970s and perhaps even earlier.

The killer confessed to 30 murders in seven states between 1974 and 1978 after more than a decade of denials.

His true victim total is unknown and is likely significantly higher. Bundy was regarded and remembered as being charismatic and handsome.

He is known for exploiting his looks to win the trust of his victims and an adoring society. The way the man would typically approach his victims in public has become as popular as him.

Bundy would feign a physical impairment such as an injury or impersonate an authority figure and then bludgeon the unsuspecting victim unconscious.

Bundy would then take the victim to a secondary location where he would repeatedly assault the victim, finally strangling them after he had his fun.

The serial killer also revisited his victims after they were deceased and groomed them. He was said to have performed intimate acts with the victims’ corpses until decomposition made any further intimate interactions impossible.

The man also decapitated twelve victims and kept their severed heads as mementos in his apartment.

Not only this, but he also broke into homes at night and bludgeoned his victims as they slept on a few occasions. Despite these actions, people, especially Caucasian women, have grown fascinated with Bundy.

If anything, trends such as Crime Scene Photos on TikTok are only increasing due to the virality of these trends. Many people, especially families of the victims, have started to speak out, but many of their concerns have been met with deaf ears.

However, despite the successes of television shows and criticisms, it seems that serial killers will continue to be a part of western culture.

Read More About Netflix shows Here: “Heart Shot” Netflix Cast Details And Release Date- All About The New High School Love Drama