Lionel Dahmer is the father of one of the most notorious serial killers in history, Jeffrey Dahmer. Lionel was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1936 and was a chemist by trade. He was married to Joyce Annette Flint, and together they had two sons, Jeffrey and David.
Lionel was a strict disciplinarian and was known to be a very strict father. He was also known to be a heavy drinker and was often seen drinking in public. He was also known to be a very controlling and domineering father, often trying to control his sons’ lives.
Lionel and Joyce divorced in 1978, and Lionel moved to Ohio. He remarried in 1981 and had two more children. He was known to be a loving father to his new family, but he was still distant from his sons Jeffrey and David.
Lionel was unaware of his son Jeffrey’s horrific crimes until 1991, when Jeffrey was arrested for the murder of 17 people. Lionel was devastated by the news and was known to be in a state of shock. He was also known to be very remorseful and regretful for not being a better father to Jeffrey.
Lionel was also known to be a very private person and rarely spoke publicly about his son’s crimes. He did, however, write a book in 1994 titled “A Father’s Story”, in which he discussed his feelings about his son’s crimes and his own role as a father.
Lionel Dahmer passed away in 2018 at the age of 82. He was remembered as a loving father to his new family and a man who was deeply remorseful for not being a better father to his sons Jeffrey and David.
After the massive release of ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’, Netflix began working on releasing more documentary series. Well, in recent times, we have got to learn about a lot of new incidents through the means of these shows. A lot of portions of these shows are acquired by Netflix because most of the serial killer’s stories have been documented and released on the platform.
Netflix Brough Huge Attention to the ‘Dahmer’ series!
As soon as the show was released, it became popular on Netflix. The show is among the Top 10 categories and already managed to get a lot of viewership. Jeffery Dahmer is a known serial killer and his story has been already witnessed by millions of people. Netflix is not the first platform to direct and cover the story because many other platforms have already worked on it.
However, what happens to Jeffery Dahmer’s family? Well, the release of ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ brings more aggression among the fans regarding the serial killer. The fans of the series became “hostile and aggressive” and fans started to rush to his dad. This makes him pit a gun for his protection.
After the release of the documentary film. It has been reported that Lionel and his team are considering filing a lawsuit against Netflix. The OTT platform has allegedly not contracted them for the release of the most recent shows.
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as Milwaukee Monster reportedly murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. The Story of the serial killer didn’t end here. In 1992, he was also accused of crimes in Wisconsin and Ohio and was subsequently killed in prison two years later.
The story of the notorious killer has already been hyped among the people. There is rarely anyone whose attention has not been brought by this serial killer. as all these incidents were recorded in the 90s, it still shocks the world. After Netflix renewed the series, we came to learn about a lot of new things. The OTT platform is already huge and has already gotten a lot of attention from people.
In the first episodes, Richard Jenkins appears as Lionel Dahmer (Jeffery Dahmer’s father) who is brought into the police station where he learns all the information regarding his son. He came to learn that Jeffery has murdered 17 people.
You may also like: Everything You Need to Know About DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story!
Netflix’s Dahmer series faces backlash from victims’ families
The release of the documentary series brings huge attention to the people. The victim’s family started to comment against it. In 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted of murdering 15 boys and men between the years of 1978 and 1991. Later he admitted the killing two more.
Later, Lionel Dahmer confirmed that he felt something weird regarding his behavior. Along with this, he publicly admitted that there were some warning signs of his son during the early stages.
Lionel, 86, has mostly stayed away from the news because of all these things. He has earlier made some public appearances and given some shocking updates. Along with that, he has also written a book that featured his experience living as the father of a serial killer.
Lionel Dahmer Tried Hard to keep Jeffrey in prison!
After his 1989 conviction, Linoel tried to put Jeffrey in Jail. Later, in the same year, he was again arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault. However, his punishment ended after one year and the notorious killer was later released in 1990. According to the report published by the FBI, he was [laced for five years.
During the time, Lionel Dahmer wrote a letter to the judge and pleaded with him to keep his son under punishment. He also believed that his son is not fully cured and that he need mental treatment. While on the other hand, the victim’s family was shocked that he had been released and not executed by that time.
The letter has already been read in another documentary series, “Jeffrey Dahmer: Mind of a Monster.”
Lionel Dahmer confirmed that he stands outside of Columbia Correctional Institute where his son is imprisoned.
“I have reservations regarding Jeff’s chances when he hits the streets. I have experienced an extremely frustrating time trying to urge initiation of some type of treatment,” Lionel wrote. “I sincerely hope that you might intervene in some way to help my son, who I love very much and for whom I want a better life. I do feel, though, that this may be our last chance to initiate something lasting and that you can hold the key.”
However, the series portrayed how Dahmer was released two months before the expected date. After that, he went ahead and murder 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, the brother of the man he was accused of molesting.
You may also like: Jeff Dahmer Death: How Did America’s Worst Serial Killer Die?
Jeffrey’s next arrest was already near. However, in the later year, Dahmer was again confirmed to kill dozen of people. He was arrested and charged for this. At the same time, the people were protesting against the judicial system for leaving such a serial killer without any execution. He was charged with killing 15 people and for that, he was sentenced to 15 consecutive years. Sadly, this was heartbreaking for the people who felt that the judiciary failed to give justice to those people who were innocently killed by him. 15 years seems so little to them and eventually, it brought a lot of attention to the media.
In 1994, Lionel Dahmer appeared on Oprah Winfrey Show where he confessed to visiting his son for at least a month and also spoke on the phone at least once a week.
“We’ve gotten very close since his … arrest,” he told Winfrey. “I still love my son. I’ll always stick by him — I always have.”
Lionel was on Winfrey’s show to promote his book, “A Father’s Story.” He shared his idea of the book and told them that he wrote the book to share his experience as a parent and also wants other parents to see the possible warning signs. He also brings the idea of the treatments that they can go through in the initial stages.
Lionel opens his Son’s Mysterious Behavior!
Lionel opened up about his attempts to understand Dahmer’s desire to kill while speaking to Winfrey in 1994.
“I considered all kinds of things. Was it environmental, or genetic? Was it, perhaps, medications that were taken at the time of — you know, in the first trimester? Was it the effect of, you know, the popular subject now, media violence?” he asked.
In another interview, we came to learn that Jeffery was extremely shy as a kid. As he grew older, he became socially awkward and started to live his life quite lonely. However, he never showed anything strange as a kid and was already considered a normal boy by everyone.
But little did they know, Jeffery was obsessed with collecting the bodies of the dead animals. But Lionel and her wife never came to learn about it. They later learn all these extremely ill behavior of him when he grew older and he revealed this on his trial.
You may also like: Who Is Shari Dahmer Where Is Jeffrey Dahmers Stepmother Shari Now?
“We found out that he had been collecting at the age of 12 to 14 — you know, when your hormones are raging, puberty — he was collecting dead animals, road kill, riding around the rural roads and collecting them in bags,” Lionel said. “His mother didn’t know. I didn’t know. And apparently, none of his playmates knew.”
“If I had known about the roadkill, that would have been a red flag,” he continued. “I would have done something immediately, intervened.”
But in the 1993 biography “The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer,” Brian Masters wrote that David Dahmer saw his older brother once conduct an animal dissection.
“David Dahmer knew about the animal graveyard and thought his brother was ‘doing a good service’ by burying dead creatures,” Masters wrote.
Lionel’s last interview: What does it Say?
In 202, Lionel appeared in another documentary series, “Jeffrey Dahmer: Mind of a Monster,” where he tells how he felt when he found out about his son.
In 1994, Jeffery was murdered and he said, “When I find out that Jeff was murdered, it was just devastating,” he said, “It affected me very gravely.”
The couple argued for the remains of their kid because they couldn’t find a mutual way to it. Flint told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she wants his mind to be sent to the medical examiners so that they can get him better.
On the other hand, Lionel wants his son to get cremated because that was his last wish. His father also said that he doesn’t want his name to be changed after his brother did.
“I’m proud of the name Dahmer. My father was a schoolteacher and a barber. He brought himself up from the bootstraps,” he told King in 1994. “His father and mother died at a very young age. I have a very good ancestry, and I’m proud of the name.”
“The only thing is when we go out, sometimes we’ll give a different name so that — you know, at a restaurant, for example, so that we don’t cause a lot of people to — you know, to move their heads around and look,” he continued.
