What Will Happen to the House?
I’m surprised that this issue hasn’t been raised yet, but what will happen to the blue house?
Jeffrey Dahmer murdered many—but not all—of his 17 victims in this four-story apartment building where he lived in Milwaukee, which was torn down after Dahmer was caught. There’s an empty lot today where Dahmer’s apartment building once stood.
I thought of Dahmer’s apartment when I looked at a picture of the blue house before our issue went to press last night. I thought, Could anyone live in that blue house now? Would anyone buy it? Should we be talking about tearing it down? That empty lot in Milwaukee is not a fitting memorial to Dahmer’s victims, and I don’t think an empty lot would be a fitting memorial to Kyle Huff’s victims. But I can’t imagine anyone slapping a coat of paint on to that house and moving in like nothing happened.
So what’s to become of the house?
[I originally posted this Tuesday night at 9 P.M., but I moved it to Wednesday A.M. so that it wouldn’t get lost—and because Megan’s post about the gathering at the blue house was a better note to end Tuesday’s Slogging on than mine.]
Consider what happens to any real estate which is the scene of a multiple-homicide. Other houses, Denny's, Luby's Cafeteria etc etc There's your answer.
And I don't know that answer -- but I suspect it's not much. The market discounts for the tragedy. Time passes. People forget.
But it's an interesting question.