Jeffrey Dahmer walking tours draw protests in Milwaukee

A walking tour of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's Milwaukee, Wis., haunts where he met and stalked his victims is drawing protests from victims' families and others who call it exploitative.

Opponents want the tour stopped before the first sightseers hit the sidewalks Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

But tour-organizer Bam Marketing and Media isn't deterred. Each of the company's first two trips through the Walker's Point neighborhood had nearly reached the 20-person capacity by Thursday, spokeswoman Amanda Morden told the AP.

She said the company was sensitive to victims' families, and would address a concern if one was raised.

"There's also the Manson family tour in California and the Boston Strangler tour. This is not a unique product, but it is something that is new to the city. It's a different format of information provided," Morden told Milwaukee TV station WISN.

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Dahmer, a chocolate factory worker, spent years frequenting Walker's Point-area gay bars. He was arrested in 1991 and admitted killing 17 young men, some of whom he mutilated and cannibalized. He was serving life prison sentences when a fellow inmate beat him to death in 1994, according to the AP.

Walker's Point Association president Victor Ray told the AP there are plans by victims' relatives and others to protest the first tour Saturday afternoon. He said the mother of one of victims' families asked him to "do what you can to stop (the tour)," the AP reported.

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Groupon was offering a discount on the tours this week, but pulled the deal due to the criticism, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

"I think it's in very poor taste. There's a lot of families of the victims, and their wounds are still healing," Alderman James Witkowiak, who represents that area of the city, told the Journal Sentinel.