By Alan Butterfield, In Madison, Wisconsin, For Dailymail.Com 20:29 05 Oct 2022, updated 11:27 06 Oct 2022
- Osvaldo Durruthy, 65, originally tried to kill Jeffrey Dahmer by slashing him in the throat five months before the serial killer was murdered by another inmate
- The Cuban-born convict, who was sentenced to 31 years behind bars in 1992, was unsuccessful but was hit with an additional five years for the 1994 attack
- In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com this week, Durruthy admitted he has no regrets and was always intent on killing the notorious Milwaukee Monster
- ‘I wanted to kill Dahmer; he ate people. But I guess God was watching over me and didn’t want me to kill him,’ he said
- Durruthy, who was jailed for drugs and firearm offenses, revealed he even feigned mental illness in order to be transferred to the same facility as Dahmer
- After months of planning, he made a four-inch shank using the blades from his prison razor and attached them to an old toothbrush handle
- He hid the weapon in his waistband and struck during a prisoner church service on Sunday July 3, 1994, but the blade broke before it could do any damage
- Dahmer’s case has sparked interest decades later thanks to New Netflix series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, with audiences of nearly 200 million
The inmate who tried to kill serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in prison in a botched attack, is standing by his actions almost 30 years later – even admitting he would do it again if he had the chance.
Months before the notorious Milwaukee Monster was murdered by fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver in 1994, Osvaldo Durruthy had attempted to take Dahmer out himself by slashing his throat with a razor blade.
The failed attack resulted in another conviction for the Cuban-born refugee, ultimately prolonging his time behind bars by five years.
But in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com three decades later, Durruthy, 65, said he doesn’t regret what he did and explained he was always intent on killing the notorious murderer and cannibal.
The ex-con, who had never met Dahmer, revealed how he even found a way to get himself transferred to the same prison where he was incarcerated so he could get his chance.
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Speaking from his home outside Madison, Wisconsin this week, Durruthy said: ‘I don’t have an ounce of regret on what I did to Jeffrey Dahmer. I tried to kill him, and I failed.
‘I don’t even regret having to spend an extra five years in prison because I tried to kill him. And I’m glad someone else got him.’
Dahmer is considered one of America’s most terrifying serial killers, having killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
His victims ranged from age 14 to 33. Many of his murders involved necrophilia and cannibalism.
Interest in the infamous case has recently spiked again thanks to the success of new Netflix series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which has drawn an audience of nearly 200 million.
Durruthy, who has spent more than half of his life in prison in his native Cuba and in the United States, came to the US during the Mariel boatlift – the mass emigration of Cubans in 1980.
Many of these Mariel refugees were prisoners and mental health patients. Durruthy was one of them, having served five years of a 10-year sentence for pickpocketing in a Cuban prison.
When he arrived in the United States in 1980 he was sent to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for a short time to be processed.
He didn’t speak any English nor did he have any family in the United States.
Durruthy said he did what he had to do to survive and within a few years ended up in a US prison for his first time.
In 1984 he was convicted of selling and manufacturing cocaine, for which he was given a seven-year sentence.
He was released in 1991 but within seven months was arrested again. This time he was convicted and sentenced to 31 years in prison for possession with intent to deliver of more than 2kg of cocaine and a firearms possession.
He was sent to prison in Waupun, Wisconsin. At the same time in 1992, Dahmer was starting his sentence 40 miles away at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.
Durruthy had heard of Dahmer and his horrific crimes at the time and would eventually become fixated on killing him.
‘I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life that wouldn’t make my family too proud. I thought that if I killed him, I could make up for some of the bad things I had done,’ Durruthy said.
‘At the time I thought I had nothing to lose, I was facing years in prison that seemed like a life sentence.
‘I wanted to kill him for my family and for the black community,’ he said, as most of Dahmer’s victims were poor black, Latino or of Asian descent.
As soon as Durruthy heard that Dahmer was in Columbia he hatched a plan to get transferred there.
Knowing that he couldn’t just request a transfer, he had come up with an excuse to get to Columbia, which has an extensive mental health unit for prisoners.
So Durruthy started to act crazy, taking pills and doing whatever he needed to do to get to the mental health unit in Columbia.
It took him more than two years, but he was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia by a prison doctor and transferred mid-June 1994.
When he arrived, he couldn’t believe he was housed in a single cell right next door to Dahmer.
He said he didn’t know how he was going to kill him, but he was ready to do it when he got the chance.
The first time he saw Dahmer was in the dining hall where all the prisoners in the unit ate together.
‘Dahmer ate alone at a table in the dining hall,’ Durruthy said. ‘But prisoners would go up to him and ask him for his food, a cookie or whatever they were serving that day for dessert and Dahmer would gladly give it to them.’
‘I’ve never said a word to Jeffrey Dahmer in my life. I would sit a few tables away at the dining hall observing him while he ate, with a smile on my face thinking to myself, I’m going to kill you one day.’
A few days later, he finally got his opportunity in the prison yard.
Dahmer was sitting alone near the weight area. Durruthy was going to grab a weight or a metal weight bar and smash his head in. He figured he could get several shots in on Dahmer before prison guard could stop him.
While waiting for the right time, Durruthy said he recognized another inmate who he had known from a different prison in the yard.
Durruthy had only been at the facility for a week so seeing someone he knew was a comforting. He struck up a conversation with his inmate pal and told him of his plan.
But he didn’t expect the inmate to want in on it as well.
Durruthy was intent on killing Dahmer himself, so he scrapped those plans.
Later that night, by coincidence, Durruthy was transferred to another unit, away from Dahmer. At that point he believed he was never going to see him again and had lost his opportunity.
But then he remembered that on Sundays all inmates were allowed to attend services and he was hoping Dahmer would be there.
In preparation, he took his prison razor and pulled out the blades, attached them to an old toothbrush handle and made a shank about four inches in length.
On Sunday July 3, 1994, he hid the shank in between his shirt and waistband. When prison guards searched him as he entered the hall, they failed to find it.
When he took his seat, he saw Dahmer sitting three rows ahead of him. He knew that he couldn’t remove the shank from his waistband and make it to Dahmer to slash his throat in time before guards would get to him, so he had to get closer without attracting too much attention.
He told a guard that he had an upset stomach and needed to use the bathroom. He left for the toilet, removed the shank from his waistband and put it in his sock and returned to the services.
Knowing the guards wouldn’t remember exactly which row Durruthy was sitting he was able to take a seat in a row directly behind Dahmer.
‘As soon as I sat down, I removed the shank from my sock, put it in my right hand,’ he recalled.
‘I stood up, with my left arm I put Dahmer in a head lock and with my right hand I began to slash his throat with the razor shank. I was slashing him back and forth as fast as I could.
‘After a few slashes the shank broke. It wasn’t strong enough, it fell out of my hand on to the floor.
‘He was still in a headlock with my left arm so with my right hand I started to punch him in the face and many times as I could before prison guards jumped in and pulled me off him.’
Dahmer was pulled away screaming, ‘I didn’t do anything.’
Durruthy was thrown into solitary confinement and Dahmer was taken to the prison hospital ward and treated for superficial lacerations.
Durruthy was charged and pleaded guilty to assaulting an inmate – adding another five years to his sentence.
He was paroled in 2016 after serving 25 years in prison.
‘I wanted to kill Dahmer; he ate people. But I guess God was watching over me and didn’t want me to kill him,’ Durruthy said.
‘I don’t regret what I did, if I had the chance to do it again I would.
‘I really tried to kill him. I’m glad Dahmer is dead. Maybe when word got out that I tried to kill him, it gave other inmates ideas.’
Dahmer would eventually be killed in prison five months later – but by another inmate.
Fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver, who was serving a life sentence for murder, attacked Dahmer with a 20-inch metal bar on November 28, 1994.
Now a free man, Durruthy lives in an apartment in a city outside of Madison, Wisconsin. He spends time with his 38-year-old son and two grandchildren.
‘I was incarcerated for a majority of my son’s life I’m trying to make it up to him now and I don’t want to miss spending any time with my grandchildren.’
Durruthy’s attack is recreated in the Netflix series, but he says he has not watched it as he doesn’t subscribe to the streaming service. Actor Leroy Edwards III plays him in the docuseries.
He said he was disappointed the production company didn’t reach out to him.
He is now finishing up a book about his life as a Cuban immigrant and spending time in prison, called ‘America Mis-interpreted a Cuban’s Perspective.’
‘My prison days are over. I want to live the rest of my life on the outside now.’
But he added: ‘I’m glad Dahmer is dead.’