Editing Jeffrey Dahmer (section)

===Murder of Steven Hicks===
Dahmer committed his first murder in 1978, three weeks after his graduation. On June 18,{{sfn|Norris|1992|p=93}} Dahmer picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Mark Hicks, who was 18 years old.{{sfn|Dvorchak|Holewa|1992|p=40}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Mary B.W.|last=Taylor|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/12/us/sorrow-and-frustration-on-trails-of-the-missing.html|title=Sorrow and Frustration On Trails of the Missing|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 12, 1991|access-date=July 21, 2017|archive-date=July 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706130438/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/12/us/sorrow-and-frustration-on-trails-of-the-missing.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Dahmer lured Hicks to his house on the pretext of drinking. Hicks, who had been hitchhiking to a rock concert at [[Chippewa Lake Park]], Ohio, agreed to accompany Dahmer to his house upon the promise of "a few beers" with Dahmer as he had the house to himself.{{sfn|Dvorchak|Holewa|1992|p=40}}

According to Dahmer, the sight of the bare-chested Hicks standing at the roadside stirred his sexual feelings, although when Hicks began talking about girls, he knew any sexual passes he made would be rebuffed.{{sfn|Masters|1993|p=66}} After several hours of talking, drinking and listening to music, Hicks "wanted to leave and I didn't want him to leave".{{sfn|Purcell|Arrigo|2006|p=77}} Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks with a {{convert|10|lb|adj=on}} dumbbell. He later stated he struck Hicks twice from behind{{sfn|Masters|1993|p=67}} with the dumbbell as Hicks sat upon a chair. When Hicks fell unconscious, Dahmer [[strangulation|strangled]] him to death with the bar of the dumbbell, then stripped the clothes from Hicks' body before exploring his chest with his hands, then [[masturbation|masturbating]] as he stood above the corpse. Hours later, Dahmer dragged the body to the basement.{{sfn|Masters|1993|p=67}}{{refn|group=n|A September 1992 FBI report on Dahmer indicates he also confessed to engaging in sex with Hicks' body prior to dismembering the corpse.<ref name=FBIReportPart3>{{cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/jeffrey-lionel-dahmer/jeffrey-lionel-dahmer-part-03-of-19|title=Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts: Subject: Jeffrey Dahmer (Part 3 of 19)|publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]|url-status=live|date=September 11, 1992|access-date=October 6, 2022|archivedate=September 19, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919043732/https://vault.fbi.gov/jeffrey-lionel-dahmer/jeffrey-lionel-dahmer-part-03-of-19}}</ref>}}

The following day,{{sfn|Masters|1993|p=68}} Dahmer dissected Hicks' body in his basement. He later buried the remains in a shallow grave in his back yard.{{sfn|Roy|2002|p=102}} Several weeks later, he unearthed the remains and [[paring knife|pared]] the flesh from the bones.{{sfn|Norris|1992|p=99}} He dissolved the flesh in acid before flushing the solution down the toilet; he crushed the bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them in the woodland behind the family home.{{sfn|Dvorchak|Holewa|1992|pp=43–44}} He threw Hicks' necklace and the knife used to dismember him from the West Bath Road bridge into the [[Cuyahoga River]].{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=42}}