Tracy Edwards Escaped Jeffrey Dahmer But He Spent the Rest of His Life Dealing With the Trauma

For four hours, Tracy Edwards was face-to-face with Jeffrey Dahmer, one of the world’s most notorious serial killers. And while the world remains fascinated by Dahmer, it’s Edwards’ story you should care about.

It was Edwards’ harrowing escape from Dahmer’s control that ultimately led to Dahmer’s arrest. Following Dahmer’s arrest, Edwards went on to testify against him during the trial.

Tracy Edwards Escaped Jeffrey Dahmer But He Spent the Rest of His Life Dealing With the Trauma

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And while Edwards managed to escape death on July 22, 1991, that night stayed with him 31 years later. According to Woman’s Health Magazine, following his escape that summer night, Edwards, with handcuffs still dangling from his wrist, immediately sought the help of police officers.

Edwards led police back to Dahmer’s apartment. Police searched the killer’s bedroom, looking for the knife Edwards was threatened with. It was during this search that police officers found polaroids of Dahmer’s 17 victims.

That wasn’t all police would come to find. Edwards would go on to testify that he and Dahmer met at a bar.

Edwards described Dahmer as “acting normal,” and they struck up a conversation. They talked about the military and Dahmer told Edwards that he was visiting from Chicago to care for his sick grandmother.

Eventually, Dahmer invited Edwards back to his apartment to watch a movie. Edwards was hit with a distinct odor when he walked into the apartment, but Dahmer played off the smell as an issue he notified his management company about.

It wasn’t long after that that Dahmer had handcuffed Edwards and began threatening him with a knife. During the attack, Edwards testified that Dahmer changed, that he was “not the same person” he met at the bar. “His face structure seemed different…It was like, it wasn’t him anymore.”

He told Edwards, “I’m going to have to eat your heart.”

Dahmer would go on to be convicted of murdering 15 men. Two years into his prison sentence, another inmate murdered him.

Edwards would go on to struggle with what happened to him that July night in 1991. According to his lawyer, Paul Ksicinski, Edwards’ life was “destroyed” by Dahmer’s actions.

“He could never get his life together again after that,” Ksicinski told Fox News. “[He] abused drugs and drank alcohol excessively. He had no home. He just drifted from place to place.”

And Edwards would do whatever he needed to avoid what happened to him. “[Edwards was] just so averse to wanting to remember what happened to him or even talk about it.”

Ksicinski said Edwards even declined to be a part of the civil litigation other victims’ families participated it. The lawyer believes that’s “because he’d have to remember what happened.”

Edwards’ criminal record wasn’t clean before meeting Dahmer either. In fact, after testifying against Dahmer, he was extradited back to Mississippi, where he was indicted for the sexual battery of a teen girl.

Then 20 years later, Edwards would return to Wisconsin where his trouble with the law would continue. From bail jumping and failure to pay child support to drug possession, theft, and property damage, Edwards struggled to keep out of trouble.

Then on July 26, 2011, just four days after the 20-year mark of the attack, Edwards was arrested and accused of being a part of a murder in which a man was thrown from a Milwaukee bridge to his death. Edwards pled guilty to aiding a felon.

He was sentenced to 1.5 years in jail in 2012 and two years of supervision. Several sources have confirmed that it’s unclear where Edwards is now, but following the recent release of the Netflix series about Dahmer’s brutal crimes, many people are wanting to know more about Edwards.