The Netflix series “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” tells the story of cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (1960-1994). By the time he was arrested in July 1991, the “Milwaukee Cannibal” had killed at least 17 young men, desecrated their bodies and eaten parts of them.
In an interview, the father of the real Dahmer now talks about his son’s childhood. Compared to the American cult psychologist Dr. Phil tells Lionel Dahmer, 86, that he only found out about some of the atrocities during the trial. Among other things, that his son impaled a dog’s head on a pole.
Box with head opened late
He also describes the experiences associated with a wooden box. The corresponding scene can also be seen in the Netflix series. The father thought his son had a porn problem and wanted to open a box he found in his child’s closet. What he doesn’t know is that a victim’s severed head is in the coffin.
However, the son stops the father from opening the wooden box at the last moment. He convinces him to wait a little longer. When they open the box together the next day, the head is already gone and exchanged for porn magazines.
In an interview, Lionel Dahmer now says in retrospect that if he had looked in the box the day before, “it (the murder) would have stopped”. When he later asked his son what he would have done if he had opened the box on the first day, he replied, “The dance would have been over.” For Dahmer Senior it is therefore clear: “More lives could have been saved.”
“Mysterious and cunning”
Dr Phil wants to know from Dahmer if there were any warning signs he should have seen as a father. The 86-year-old replies that his son had many hiding places. He was very “mysterious and cunning”.
But how does the father explain that his son could become a murderer and cannibal in the first place? In an interview, Lionel Dahmer says that he thinks it has to do with sexual pleasure. As a child, the boy was only interested in animal carcasses, which he later dissected and stuffed.
“Somewhere between the ages of 12 and 14, when he came out of puberty, his sexual engine kicked in. At that moment he touched the entrails of these animals.”
Apparently something went wrong in his brain. The “sexual pleasure” was nervously associated with “guts and (dead) bodies”. He never asked this question directly to his son and instead made sure he could get psychiatric help for him.
Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in 1922 to more than 900 years in prison. In prison, the then 34-year-old was murdered by a fellow inmate. (Man)