Notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's father, Lionel Dahmer, passed away in a nursing home in Ohio at 87.
Lionel was a chemical analyst and a father of two, including Jeffrey Dahmer, who was dubbed the Milwaukee Cannibal.
Lionel Dies at 87
On Tuesday, an employee at the Medina County Health Department confirmed that Lionel died under care in Medina County and passed away from unknown causes. The exact date of his death remained unknown.
Lionel's death came almost a year after his wife Shari died on January 13 at a nursing home in Seville, located roughly 25 miles outside of Akron. His wife died due to various health problems and complications.
According to Mirror, he supported his son and stood by him until his last breath. He spent his final years living in his hometown in Seville, Ohio.
Lionel as a Father
Lionel said he stuck by his son despite Jeffrey killing 17 people. In 1994, he told Oprah, "I still love my son. I'll always stick by him - I always have."
He was a regular visitor of Jeffrey in prison until he was beaten to death with a metal bar by a fellow prisoner, Christopher Scarver, in 1994, less than a year after he was convicted of his heinous crimes.
Jeb, Lionel's caretaker, revealed that the elderly man still got pissed every time Scarver's name was brought up. Jeb said that Lionel was still angry about what happened and believed that the guards looked the other way and let it happen.
Lionel separated with Dahmer's mother, Joyce Flint, in 1978 when Jeffrey was around 18 and his brother David was 12.
He wrote a book titled "A Father's Story" about how he brought up Dahmer from his perspective and tried to examine what made Jeffrey commit the crimes he did. He admitted that he was aware of his son's heavy drinking, aimless nature, and fascination with dead animals.
He added that he had made many attempts to get through and encourage him to live a normal life. He admitted that he was still uncertain as to why Jeffrey became a murderer.
Lionel said in an interview with Dr. Phil aired in 2022 that, at first, he could not fathom how he turned out to be this far down the continuum. He added that we are all on a continuum, we all do bad things, and we all sin.
Lionel tried to live a private life, but he could not escape his son's name after Netflix dropped a murder series about his son. He shared that deranged fans would show up at his door, acting hostile and aggressive, and one woman even left her underwear on his lawn.
He considered suing Netflix for glamorizing his son's crimes in a dramatic series and for not contacting his son's legal team to get permission to access the tape recordings used in the documentary.
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