Jeffery Dahmer Could Have Sold His Life Story But a Victim’s Mother Could Have Intercepted $10 Million of Any Offer
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer rose to notoriety in the ’90s when he was caught after a string of murders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Recently, he attracted a lot of interest thanks to two Netflix true crime series: Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.
Dahmer, who died in 1994, did not sell his story to media production companies. However, if he did, a victim’s mother would have won the right to gain money.
Jeffrey Dahmer died without ever selling his story
Dahmer was arrested in 1991 after murdering numerous people in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. Dahmer died in 1994 after being murdered by a fellow convict.
Dahmer did not sell his story to the media in the years that he was alive. However, he was open with law enforcement about his murderous, cannibalistic, and necrophilic activities.
In the book, Serial Killer’s Soul, Dahmer’s former cell block mate Herman Martin recalled how Dahmer explained his tendency to talk openly to law enforcement.
“Because I find it extremely sexual to go over the crimes I committed, and I get off telling exactly how I took the worthless lives of those people,” Dahmer reportedly said. “Why shouldn’t I be proud and tell others? I only did what needed to be done, and I told them of all 17 because I’m proud of my attempt to rid the planet of that type of trash.”
A victim’s mother could have received $10 million if Jeffrey Dahmer sold his story
Perhaps a production company in the ’90s could have bought Dahmer’s story and made millions. Even so, much of that money might not even go to Dahmer.
According to The Guardian, Shirley Hughes, the mother of one of Dahmer’s victims, Tony Hughes “won a civil court judgment allowing her to intercept $10 million of any money offered to the serial killer for a movie, publication, or television rights to his story.”
Did Netflix pay the victims’ families?
Netflix has seen success with the series about Dahmer. But the victims’ families were neither consulted nor paid for the right to use their stories.
Shirley Hughes told The Guardian about Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, “I don’t see how they can do that. I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff like that out there.”
Victim Errol Lindsey’s sister, Rita Isbell, also told Insider, “I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.”
According to Mashable, Netflix did not have legal obligations to consult or pay the victims’ families. Why? These stories were already in the public records.
“The only obligation Netflix has to victims is to be accurate and factual and not to use anything about the victims that may be protected by privacy laws,” said Tre Lovell, an attorney at the Lovell Law Firm.
