In Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, we saw a dramatisation of the serial killer’s childhood and relationship with his parents.
The Netflix series showed Jeffrey Dahmer’s life leading up to his shocking double life as a murderer.
His parents, Lionel and Joyce, claimed that the ‘Milwaukee Monster’ had a fairly normal childhood.
While that was true, the parents were also prone to argue while Jeffrey was growing up and eventually the pair got divorced.
In the series, we watched the chaos unfold in the Dahmer household as a young Jeffrey watched as his parents fight almost every night.
So who were the parents of Jeffrey Dahmer and where are they now?
Here’s everything you need to know…
Who were the parents of Jeffrey Dahmer?
While nothing could justify Jeffrey Dahmer’s adult killing spree, his childhood may hold some clues as to why he became so disturbed.
Jeffrey’s mum, Joyce Dahmer, had a very difficult pregnancy with Jeffrey, as she suffered with muscle stiffness along with other symptoms.
Lionel also explained that she was “taking about 26 tablets of different medications about one month after becoming pregnant”.
But her problems didn’t end there.
Joyce was also diagnosed with postpartum psychosis after giving birth to Jeffrey’s younger brother David.
After that, Joyce’s mental health issues started to escalate and she began overdosing on pills.
Joyce also allegedly spent a lot of time in bed and needed a lot of attention, often using sleeping medication.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey’s father, Lionel Dahmer, worked as a chemist and was often working away from home while Jeffrey was growing up.
Eventually, Lionel discovered that Joyce had been having an affair and the pair divorced in 1978.
Joyce won custody of David, but Jeffrey stayed with his dad as he was close to graduating from high school.
However, during the summer, Jeffrey was left home alone and it was around this time that he killed his first victim.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Psychiatrists had said that Rocky [Joyce] was not responsible for what her son became, but she always wondered.”
What did Lionel and Joyce say about Jeffrey Dahmer?
During the aftermath of his son’s trial, Lionel appeared on various shows such as Good Morning America and Oprah Winfrey.
In the interviews, he shared his insight into Jeffrey’s horrific crimes.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Lionel said: “The closest I could come to why – to give some type of a causality for all this – is that I think it was a cumulative thing.”
He also mentioned that his son had a double scrotum hernia operation at only four years old and he was never the same afterwards.
However, there is no evidence to prove that a double hernia surgery lead to Jeffrey’s violent crimes.
But it’s definitely a very interesting theory.
Lionel also told Oprah Winfrey in 1994 that Jeffrey was a shy kid growing up.
He said: “The only signs I saw was shyness and reluctance to engage in social interactions, that sort of thing.
“But really no overt signs of any kind.”
Lionel’s ex-wife Joyce, however, wasn’t as keen to speak publicly about her son’s crimes.
But she did talk in a 1994 interview with Hard Copy, after she received criticism for her parenting.
Joyce said: “I know I did a good job as parent and knew this had to come from something outside of Jeff.
“I still love my son.
“I never stopped loving my son.
“Jeff was a victim of compulsion. An obsession.”
Was Jeremy Dahmer’s childhood abusive?
Jeffrey Dahmer’s parents were known to have a very intense relationship.
During his trial, Jeffrey revealed that the pair were often fighting while he was growing up.
In the Netflix documentary Conversations With a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes, Jeffrey also opens up about his childhood to his defence attorney.
He even confessed that his mother used to hit his dad.
He said: “They just couldn’t seem to get a long.”
When he was asked if he’d seen any violence, Jeffrey said: “Just the slapping and hitting.”
They then asked: “Who was hitting who?”
Jeffrey replied: “Uh, mum hitting dad.”
Eventually the pair divorced in 1978, and Jeffrey ended up taking the divorce very hard as he was left home alone throughout the majority of the summer that year.
Lionel and Joyce had a tumultuous relationship even after their son’s death in jail.
After Jeffrey was killed by Christopher Scarver in prison, the pair were in dispute over what should be done with Jeffrey’s brain.
Joyce pushed for it to be given to science, but Lionel wished to have Jeffrey’s brain cremated in order to “put his son’s actions behind him”.
In the end, the judge sided with Lionel and ordered to have his brain destroyed.
Where are Joyce and Lionel now?
In 1996, on her son’s birthday, Joyce Dahmer attempted to kill herself by carbon monoxide poisoning in her garage.
She survived and lived until 2000, when she sadly died of breast cancer at the age of 64.
However, Jeffrey’s father is still alive today and lives with his wife Shari (played by Molly Ringwald in Netflix’s Monster) in Ohio.
Over the years, Lionel stopped giving interviews and was largely quiet on his son’s crimes.
However, he did reappear in the 2020 documentary Jeffrey Dahmer: Mind of a Monster, where he gave a candid interview about his son.
He even read out the letter he wrote in 1988 to the authorities pleading for his son to get help.
Lionel also released a memoir called A Father’s Story in 1994.
In the book, he explored Jeffrey’s childhood and tried to come to terms with what his son became.
Read more: Who was Tony Hughes? The heartbreaking story behind Jeffrey Dahmer’s deaf victim
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is currently available to watch on Netflix.
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