By Mary Beth Breckenridge, Akron Beacon Journal –
BATH TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The childhood home of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is up for sale.
The three-bedroom, 2,170-square-foot house is listed for $329,000 by Keller Williams Realty.
The current owner, musician Chris Butler, said he listed the house because he no longer has reason to spend much time in the Akron area. When he bought the house in 2005, he was living in New York but spending a lot of time here as part of a revival of the band Tin Huey.
His mother was also living here at the time but has since died, he said. Now he wants to be closer to his son in Hoboken, N.J.
The house was the site of Dahmer’s first murder, in 1978. Dahmer killed and dismembered Coventry Township resident Steven M. Hicks in the house and scattered his remains on the property.
Dahmer moved to Wisconsin in 1982 and went on to kill 16 more victims before his spree was discovered in 1991. He was attacked and killed in prison in 1994.
The ranch house was built in 1952 by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Arens. It was featured in the Akron Beacon Journal’s Roto section a year later for its modern style, open layout and floor-to-ceiling windows that provided views of the wooded hillside.
Dahmer’s parents bought the house in 1968.
Butler, who founded the rock group The Waitresses, said he was drawn to the house by its 1950s style and big, wooded lot. The house was perfect for his collections of midcentury modern furniture and British Invasion music equipment, he said, and it was an ideal place for him and his bandmates to make music without disturbing the neighbors.
Still, he couldn’t understand at first why the house had been on the market for six months at a price that seemed low for the neighborhood. Then his agent called to disclose the home’s infamous history.
“I didn’t stop shaking for another 24 hours,” he said.
In the end, Butler decided to buy, and he hasn’t been sorry. “I love, love, love the place, but I just don’t get back there that often,” he said.
Butler said his Realtor, Gregory Greco, vets potential buyers to weed out curiosity seekers. The sale has drawn attention from national media such as the Huffington Post.
He believes the right buyer will be someone like him who appreciates the home’s vintage style.
“You’ve gotta kind of get past the horror factor,” he said.
