Jeffrey Dahmer's Dad Dead At Age 87

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's father has died in hospice care at the age of 87. He passed away from unknown causes while under care. The exact date of his death remains unclear. 

He was a chemical analyst, and said he always stood by his son, who was dubbed the Milwaukee Cannibal, having killed 17 people. 

In 1994, he said, “I still love my son. I’ll always stick by him – I always have.”

His death comes almost a year after wife Shari died. 

Lionel was a father of two, and a regular visitor to his son in prison until he was beaten to death with a metal bar by a fellow prisoner in 1994. This was less than a year after he was convicted.

Lionel's caretaker said in 2022 that he still got "pissed" every time Christopher Scarver's name was brought up. This is the prisoner who killed Jeffrey Dahmer. 

“He is still very angry about it. As far as I know, and the last I talked to Lionel, he believes the guards looked the other way and let it happen.”

Lionel divorced Dahmer's mother in 1978 when Jeffrey was around 18 years old, and his brother David was 12. 

He wrote a book 'A Father’s Story,' which told the story of how he raised Dahmer from his perspective, and tried to examine what made him commit the crimes he did.

He admitted to being away of Dahmer's heavy drinking, aimless nature, and fascination with dead animals.

He also admitted he made many attempts to get through to him, and encourage him to live a normal life, but found little reason as to why his son became a murderer.

“At first, I couldn’t fathom how he turned out to be this far down the continuum. I mean, we’re all on a continuum, we all do bad things, we all sin."

“He was at the extreme of the continuum. I couldn’t at first understand how he could have done those things.”

Even though he lived a private life, Lionel couldn't escape his son's name, especially after Netflix released a series on the murders. 

Deranged fans would show up at his door, acting “hostile and aggressive.” One woman even left her underwear on his lawn.

“Anything Dahmer-related blows up. It seems like every time a movie or series comes out, that’s when a lot of the crazy starts happening with the fanboys and the fan girls,” his caretaker revealed.

Lionel also considered suing Netflix for glamourising his son's crimes in a series, and for not contacting his son's legal team to get access to tape recordings used in the documentary.