Almost All of Jeffrey Dahmer's Victims are Missing from the Social Security Death Index
Why SSDI Records Matter
The Social Security Death Index isn’t sexy, but it’s the kind of federal database that keeps the whole “dead or alive” thing from becoming a debate. You die, someone files paperwork, and your name goes in the system. Boom. End of story.
Usually it’s a funeral director who sends in the form. It’s routine. Mechanical. Bureaucracy at its most basic: this person is dead, here’s the proof.
When a name doesn’t show up in the SSDI, it doesn’t mean the person’s still alive. It just means the Social Security Administration was never formally notified of the death. That can happen sometimes, especially if no benefits were being paid, or if no one filed the paperwork.
But when fifteen of Jeff Dahmer’s supposed victims don’t appear in the SSDI? That’s not a glitch. That’s a red flag the size of Wisconsin.
The 15 “Dahmer” Victims Who Aren’t in the SSDI
Here’s where the official story starts to fall apart like a lawn chair in a hurricane. These names are the core of the “Dahmer” legend. They’re the reason for the media frenzy, the courtroom drama, the made-for-TV horror parade. And yet…not a single one of them is listed in the Social Security Death Index.
Not one.
In a country where the DMV knows when your goldfish dies, that kind of bureaucratic black hole doesn’t happen by accident.
So here they are. Fifteen men who were supposedly murdered, identified, autopsied, reported, and buried. Only the federal system never got the memo:
Richard Guerrero
Curtis Straughter
Edward Smith
Jamie Doxtator
Konerak Sinthasomphone
Errol Lindsey
Anthony Sears
Jeremiah Weinberger
Ernest Miller
Anthony Hughes
Matt Turner
David Thomas
Ricky Beeks
Steven Hicks
Steven Tuomi
How the SSDI Works (and Doesn’t)
In theory, the Social Security Death Index is pretty straightforward: Someone dies → Someone tells the government → Their name goes into the big national book of the dead.
That’s it.
Here’s the usual chain of custody:
- A funeral director, attorney, or next of kin reports the death to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
- The SSA logs it.
- The name shows up in the SSDI
But here’s the catch: if nobody files the paperwork, the Social Security Administration never hears about it. And if the SSA never hears about it, that person’s name never gets added to the SSDI.
So yes, a person can be dead, buried, and six feet under… and still not show up in the system. My own aunt died in the 1980s – funeral, obituary, the whole nine – and she’s still a ghost in the SSDI. It happens. However, it’s not the norm.
Note that this applies to deaths before 2014. That’s when Congress put a lid on how much SSDI data could be shared publicly. If someone died after that, it’s harder to look them up.
But Jeff Dahmer’s alleged victims? They were all supposed to have died well before the SSDI curtain dropped. Which means you should be able to find them in the database.
And yet…you don’t.
And that’s where this whole story starts to smell like reheated bureaucratic fiction.
Wisconsin’s Death Index: Welcome to Schrodinger’s Morgue
Here’s where the “Dahmer” myth starts to wobble like a drunk on ice skates.
Most of the men we’re told were murdered by Jeff Dahmer don’t appear in the Social Security Death Index…the federal government’s official log of the deceased. That’s bizarre enough. But then you check the Wisconsin Death Index, and guess what? Boom, some of them are in it. Dead as disco.
So let’s get this straight: these guys are dead in Wisconsin, according to state records…but somehow didn’t make the cut for the national death registry?
That’s not how this is supposed to work. When someone dies – especially in a case with alleged homicides, trials, confessions, and national media coverage – their name doesn’t just “forget” to show up in the SSDI. Death certificates are filed, funeral directors report it, and the data flows straight to the feds. That’s the pipeline. It runs on rails. It doesn’t skip most of the cast.
And this didn’t happen once. It happened 15 times.
You can’t blame this on a lazy clerk or a fax machine that jammed in 1991. The odds of this many “victims” slipping through a system built to track exactly this kind of thing? Statistically ridiculous.
This isn’t a glitch. It’s a feature. A bureaucratic hall of mirrors where the facts are bent just enough to hold the story together for the cameras, but not enough to withstand a second look.
Which tells you everything you need to know: “Dahmer” was staged.
Trust Us, They’re Really Dead
Let’s take a closer look at four of these so-called murder victims, the ones we’re absolutely supposed to believe were identified, buried, and mourned…despite public records quietly suggesting they kept right on living.
Richard Guerrero
Born: 1959
Died: 1960
Official story: Murdered by Jeff Dahmer in 1988
Reality: Died before Jeff Dahmer was even born
According to the myth, Jeff Dahmer drugged and dismembered Richard Guerrero in his grandmother’s basement in 1988. There’s just one small issue: Richard Guerrero died in Texas in 1960…when he was six months old. Jeff Dahmer wasn’t even born yet.
His death certificate? Real. On file. Sign up to Ancestry.com and see it for yourself.
The so-called “victim photo”? That’s actually his older brother, Reynaldo Guerrero, who was still getting arrested in 2006.
And why isn’t Richard Guerrero in the SSDI? Because he probably never had a Social Security number to begin with seeing as how he died when he was just six months old.
“Konerak” Sinthasomphone
Born: Never
Died: In a script
Official story: Escaped from Jeff Dahmer, returned by cops, lobotomized, killed.
Reality: A recycled identity with no paperwork and no pulse.
In the official “Dahmer” mythology, “Konerak” was the acid-zombie kid…14, supposedly bleeding from the rectum, half-dead, returned to his “killer” by Milwaukee police in a moment of bureaucratic psychosis. But scratch the surface and you find…nothing. No SSDI record. No legal footprint.
The supposed parents of “Konerak” never filed any Social Security claims for him – or for Somsack either – though they did for their other children. And in a 1992 lawsuit, Somsack Sinthasomphone had a guardian ad litem, legal code for: “We’re not convinced these are actually his parents.”
Translation? “Konerak” wasn’t real. He was a character. A placeholder. An identity created to sell a bigger lie.
The photo they use for “Konerak”? It’s just an older picture of Somsack Sinthasomphone, the same boy Jeff Dahmer was accused of molesting in a separate case that also comes with no mugshots, no jail time, and an address tied not to Jeff Dahmer, but to District Attorney Michael McCann. Because in Milwaukee’s criminal justice system, the call was coming from inside the house.
“Edward Warren” Smith
Born: As Ernest Richard Smith
Died: 1999
Official story: Murdered by Jeff Dahmer and turned to sludge.
Reality: Lived nine more years, died after a botched sexual surprise.
In the grand “Dahmer” opera, “Eddie Smith” got the acid bath exit. Offstage, his real name was Ernest Richard Smith, and he kept breathing for almost a decade before dying in a bedroom incident gone sideways. That’s why there’s no SSDI entry for “Eddie”…because characters in fictional tales don’t need federal death certificates.
So how did Ernest end up in the “Dahmer” body count?
Twelve days before Jeff Dahmer’s trial, Ernest had a felony robbery charge quietly dismissed…the kind of legal magic that doesn’t happen for free. In return, he got a new role in the state’s courtroom drama: “Eddie,” the victim. And to really sell it? He threw on a wig and played “Carolyn Smith,” the grieving sister, making talk show rounds to cry on cue.
Steven Hicks
Born: June 1959
Died: Probably 1978
Official story: Jeff Dahmer’s first alleged kill, bludgeoned with a barbell in 1978.
Reality: No SSDI record, no DNA, no body.
Steven Hicks was Jeff Dahmer’s first alleged victim, a teenager who vanished in 1978 after reportedly hitchhiking to a rock concert and never returning. Jeff Dahmer later “confessed” to picking up Hicks, killing him, and scattering his remains behind the family home in Bath Township, Ohio.
Hicks is not listed in the Social Security Death Index. On its own, that’s not entirely shocking…he was only 18, with no known employment history, and no immediate survivors seeking benefits. But here’s where it gets more interesting: Hicks also doesn’t appear in the Ohio Death Index.
This absence is significant. No death certificate means no legal confirmation that Hicks died. And no legal death means no notification to the Social Security Administration…which means no SSDI entry.
So, why doesn’t Steven Hicks have a death certificate?
The small box of alleged remains returned to the Hicks family in the 1990s was never DNA tested. The identification was based on Jeff’s alleged confession and some alleged X-ray comparisons to cervical vertebrae and dental fragments…speculative at best. In any other case, this would raise red flags. Here, it was treated as closure.
It’s possible – even likely – that the Hicks family didn’t buy it. Maybe they sensed the story they were being told didn’t add up. Maybe they suspected the bone fragments weren’t Steven’s. Or maybe, deep down, they weren’t convinced their son was even dead. And if that doubt existed, refusing to sign a death certificate would make sense.
The Check Engine Light on “Dahmer”
There’s a point where coincidence turns into comedy, and then keeps going until it’s just institutional gaslighting with a badge.
Fifteen missing SSDI records? That’s not a clerical error. No mutilation charges in a case that supposedly involved buckets of body parts? Maybe the state just didn’t want to harsh the vibe. A confession with no recording, no signature, and someone else’s Social Security Number? Sure, sounds airtight.
The guilty pleas don’t even exist in the official record…the very documents that locked Jeff into his virtual cage. Poof. Gone. Like they were written in crayon and eaten by the family dog.
This isn’t a case. It’s a script. A bad one. And anyone still buying it at face value is either high AF, on the state payroll, or the kind of person who thinks Netflix counts as evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims missing from the Social Security Death Index?
Publicly available SSDI records show that most of the men linked to the Jeffrey Dahmer case do not appear in the federal death registry. The reasons for this are unclear. However, the absence of so many entries connected to a single, high-profile case is statistically unusual and warrants further examination.
Does missing from the SSDI mean the Dahmer victims are still alive?
Not necessarily. A missing SSDI entry doesn’t automatically mean a person is alive—it just means the death was never formally reported to the Social Security Administration. However, the absence of so many names tied to one case is statistically unusual and raises legitimate questions about documentation.
How are deaths normally added to the Social Security Death Index?
Deaths are typically reported by funeral directors, family members, or attorneys. Once the Social Security Administration receives a verified report, the individual’s name and date of death are added to the index. This process is designed to ensure accurate federal records for identity and benefit tracking.