Milwaukee Officers Had Entered Dahmer’s Apartment : Crime: The three policemen saw no evidence of foul play, union says. They are charged with failing to conduct a proper investigation.

Three police officers were inside Jeffrey L. Dahmer’s apartment two months before body parts were found there, and one said they let a naked boy stay because they thought he was an adult and it was “a boyfriend-boyfriend thing,” it was disclosed Thursday.

The 14-year-old Laotian boy’s remains were found July 22 among 11 dismembered bodies in Dahmer’s apartment.

Police Chief Philip Arreola filed undisclosed administrative charges Thursday against the three suspended officers, saying that they had “failed to conduct a basic, proper investigation.” He has not released their names.

After having entered Dahmer’s apartment on May 27, one of the officers joked about his partner having to be “deloused,” according to a tape-recording released Thursday of the officers’ conversations on police radio.

Police say that Dahmer, 31, has confessed to killing 17 persons since 1978, including three at his grandmother’s home in suburban Milwaukee and one in Ohio.

The Milwaukee Journal, quoting sources familiar with the internal police investigation, reported that Dahmer later told officers that he killed the boy, Konerak Sinthasomphone, as soon as the officers left the apartment.

Photos of previous victims were strewn on the floor, and Dahmer has said that there was a body in an adjoining bedroom, the newspaper said.

But Laurie Eggert, a union lawyer who confirmed that the three officers had been in the apartment, said they had seen no evidence to suggest anything was wrong.

Two girls had reported to police that the boy was walking in the street naked, dazed and bruised. Witnesses have said he was bleeding from his buttocks, but Eggert said the officers did not see any blood. She said the officers tried to interview the boy but he appeared to be highly intoxicated and “did not respond.”

Eggert said paramedics determined that he did not require treatment, then officers took Dahmer and the boy back to the apartment.

In the tape released Thursday, a woman who called police back after the incident told an officer: “ . . . Young child being molested . . . no information was taken . . . . I am sure further information must be needed. The boy was naked and bleeding.”

The woman later questioned the officer six times as to whether the naked male was a child.

“Are you positive, because this child doesn’t even speak English . . . “ the woman said.

“It’s all taken care of, ma’am,” the officer said.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Ma’am. I can’t make it any more clear. It’s all taken care of. That’s, you know. He’s with his boyfriend . . . “ the officer said.

“I mean are you positive this is an adult?” the woman asked again.

“Ma’am. Like I explained to you. It is all taken care of. It’s as positive as I can be. I can’t do anything about somebody’s sexual preferences in life,” he said.

Eggert said the officers believed the boy was a man who was willingly living with Dahmer.