Dahmer's survivor charged in man's death

[July 30, 2011]  MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The man who led Milwaukee police to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer 20 years ago was charged Friday in the death of a homeless man who drowned after he was thrown off a bridge.

Tracy Edwards -- who escaped Dahmer's Milwaukee apartment in July 1991, leading police and the world to Dahmer's crimes -- was charged along with Timothy Carr with first-degree recklessly endangering safety in the death of Johnny Jordan, 43.

According to the criminal complaint filed Friday, a witness saw Edwards, Carr and Jordan arguing on a downtown bridge. The witness says Carr, 44, and Edwards, 52, picked up Jordan and threw him off the bridge, head first. After Jordan went in, Carr jumped in from the riverbank while Edwards stayed on the riverbank, the complaint said.

A police officer arrived shortly after and threw a life ring to Jordan and Carr, the complaint said. Carr swam to the life ring, and Jordan went under and was not seen again until the rescue squad arrived and pulled him from the water, the complaint said.

If convicted, the men could be sentenced up to 12 years and six months in prison and $25,000 in fines.

Edwards' address is listed as a Milwaukee homeless shelter. A message left at the shelter was not immediately returned, and a listed phone number could not be found for Carr. Court records did not list attorneys for the men and the public defender's office said it wasn't representing them at this point.

Edwards was 32 when he met Dahmer at a downtown Milwaukee mall and went to his apartment. There, they drank and watched a movie before Dahmer threatened Edwards with a knife, according to trial testimony.

Edwards, a handcuff dangling from his wrist, was able to get away and flag down police patrolling the neighborhood. Police later found body parts of 11 males -- four severed heads, preserved genitalia and several torsos soaking in an acid-filled barrel.

Dahmer admitted killing 17 young men and boys, some of whom he mutilated and cannibalized, between 1978 and his 1991 arrest. Dahmer was serving life sentences when he was beaten to death in prison by a fellow inmate in 1994.

Edwards testified at Dahmer's 1992 trial that he planned his escape from Dahmer's home after Dahmer clamped a handcuff on his wrist and listened for his heartbeat.

"At one point, he said he was going to eat my heart," Edwards said. "For some reason, God told me not to let this guy handcuff me. He laid across me and put his head across my chest and was listening to my heart.

"He had a knife at my groin," Edwards testified. "I said, 'At least I'm going to die trying.' I hit him and got out of the apartment."

According to online court records, Edwards has been convicted of several misdemeanor drug charges and a bail jumping charge since 1997. He was convicted of felony manufacturing/delivering cocaine in 2009.

[Associated Press; CARRIE ANTLFINGER]

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