A Father's Story

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After Jeffrey’s conviction, Lionel Dahmer tried to apply the scientific method to his son’s life and crimes. Though Lionel Dahmer had no idea what his son was doing, he did seem to sense that something was deeply wrong with Jeffrey. Their relationship devolved during Jeffrey’s childhood, leading to a divorce in 1978 so bitter that each accused the other of “extreme cruelty and gross neglect of duty. Others had flashes of creative brilliance, of sudden illumination, but I had only the power of my own will. He received his primary education and secondary education at local Wisconsin schools and enjoyed a relatively good childhood.

I wasn’t told what these other mothers and fathers were told, that their sons were dead at the hands of a murderer,” Lionel later recounted in his book.

Then again, Joyce Dahmer had had a difficult pregnancy and had been prescribed different medications while pregnant with Jeffrey. The only signs I saw was shyness and reluctance to engage in social interactions, that sort of thing. Born on July 29, 1936, in West Allis, Wisconsin, Lionel Dahmer spent most of his life in peaceful obscurity. On July 23 1991 Lionel Dahmer discovered his son, Jeffrey Dahmer, was a serial killer but where is he now?

By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. In a handful of cases, Jeffrey also experimented with pouring hydrochloric acid into holes he’d drilled in their heads. Lionel Herbert Dahmer was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, on July 29, 1936, to Herbert Walter Dahmer, a high-school math teacher and barber, whom Dahmer described as "a good father, as caring and concerned as any child would wish", [2] and Catherine Jemima Hughes, a housewife. Curt Borgwardt/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images Jeffrey Dahmer was later sentenced to over 900 years in prison for his series of gruesome murders. Since the death of his son Jeffrey Dahmer, Lionel has been involved in several TV shows and documentaries, including Biography, Dahmer on Dahmer: A serial killer speaks and even Netflix’s latest show Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.During the early years of Jeffrey's life, Dahmer's academic responsibilities and, later on, long work shifts prevented him with spending enough time with his wife and children. He stood by his son’s side during his trial, during which Jeffrey was sentenced to 15 life sentences, and continued to visit Jeffrey while he was behind bars. Meanwhile, Lionel Dahmer tried to figure out what had gone so wrong in Jeffrey’s childhood that it turned him into a killer. Though Lionel was absent for much of Jeffrey’s childhood while pursuing his doctorate degree, he made a concerted effort to bond with his firstborn son.

Or maybe, he mused, it was something genetic, a ticking time bomb deep in Jeffrey’s DNA that he or his wife had unknowingly passed onto their children.I have experienced an extremely frustrating time trying to urge initiation of some type of treatment,” Lionel Dahmer explained.

I do feel, though, that this may be our last chance to initiate something lasting and that you can hold the key.Lionel reportedly stayed in regular contact with Jeffrey and visited him in prison alongside his wife Shari. He apparently was not contacted about the 2022 Netflix show about his son’s crimes, and has offered no public statements about it. It’s now reported Lionel lives in Ohio with his wife Shari and since 2020 he has kept away from being in the public eye. Dahmer enrolled in the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1954 and obtained his BS in chemistry in 1959.