Credit: CASSANDRA SWAN

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CASSANDRA SWAN

“Personally, I’m drawn to Jeffrey Dahmer. I guess I’d say that’s my favorite murder,” says Anna. “I wouldn’t go visit his house or anything like that. For me, that’s a bit much. I just like reading about him online. And I look at photos sometimes.”

Anna is a 28-year-old stay-at-home mom and self-described “murderino”โ€”meaning, a fan of the hit podcast My Favorite Murder specifically and of true crime in general. Dahmer, of course, is the serial killer who raped, murdered, and dismembered at least 17 boys and men. He had four severed heads in his kitchen and two human hearts in the fridge when he was arrested, shortly after one of his intended victims escaped.

“With the Dahmer case, the psychology of it, just trying to get into the mind of someone who does things like that…” Anna says, her voice trailing off. “That’s what I’m interested in.”

Katie Herzog is a former staff writer at The Stranger.